Managed to get it RWC and it has been registered and insured for a while now.
This is it on the freshly mowed zoysia. Needs a wash already. Yes it is bright and yes it does look a bit bland without the side mouldings. And no it won't be winning any car shows. But its not too low at FE2 height so it can be driven. And yes I need to adjust the bonnet alignment.
These are possibly the last photos of the ute with no dents.
Have no idea what to do about the outer door belts as there looks to be nothing available – hence why they are missing at the moment. I was hoping an Opel Senator or Omega might have had the same door belt but nothing that I can see. Also thinking that the door belt off an older Holden might go close and could be glued on to the original. I did measure up the VK commodore profile and it’s just too big.
Got new tyres and a wheel alignment for it – just Nexens – they have a stepped side wall but there’s heaps of gutter rash on the rims already. I probably should have done something with them, but that can wait for another day.
The toolbox in the tray has come up pretty neat too. Thinking a screw Toyota jack might be the go to put inside it, but just not sure they go low enough for a Commodore to change a flat tyre.
It's got provision for two tonneau cross bars but only have one in there at the moment. I've also fitted some tie down rings at the top of the tray
Seats and door trims are in and the interior is more or less done. It has cleaned up OK but the seats could use a steam clean.
Central locking is now all up and running fine – still had a drivers’ side master actuator in the wrecked wagon.
The reconditioned steering rack is in but the $200 eBay power steer pump is very noisy.
Have done nothing with the exhaust other than having a small coronary when I got a quote through for a custom exhaust. The only 3” single cat back I can find is from Manta and its single cat, and I’m not at all interested in their mufflers.
But had a few odd ball issues mostly due to my own doing.
First was the windscreen wipers. The original wiper motor had burnt out, so ended up buying one from a wreck as the one from the old wagon was long gone. Fitted it up and assumed it was all good. Turned them on and the wipers tried to move the wrong way – so it would have been parking at the top of the windscreen. The arm on the motor didn’t look like it had ever come off, but it was definitely in the wrong spot. So whatever car it came off must never have worked either. But I never checked it so I own that one. Easy fix to adjust the arm position 180 degrees, and no damage done.
Then the AC. I was intending to use HyChill but was talked out of it. I fitted a new TX valve, added a bit of oil and evacuated the system and kept that vacuum in there for a few weeks. Got it regassed with R134a but it wasn’t getting cold and it was all a bit vague with pressures and how much went in etc. But it seems because I held the vacuum on it for so long, the TX valve had stuck open which sounds legit - the pressures apparently equalised too quickly on shutdown. So have ordered a new TX. Good thing was that after all my wiring changes all the AC system including the fans work, as the VS harness is slightly different to the VR. And learnt a lesson with the Lamp Check Relay – I didn’t have one fitted and couldn’t work out why the cabin ventilation fan wasn’t working. But chased a wiring diagram and then it becomes obvious.
But now I find it’s got a leak through the gaskets on the AC compressor body. I never touched the compressor, and the prices of new ones have gone up significantly, so the gas has come back out.
And the clutch cable - I had bought one off ebay listed as being for a V8 and V6, but I assume there’s a difference to a V6 and the v8s are shorter – I was struggling to get it adjusted and there wasn’t much left in it. So I made up a 10mm thick spacer to get me by. Thinking the clutch is not long for this world anyway. Hill starts and reverse parking is something we have not attempted yet, but there's been lots of stalling, wheel spinning and compression skidding.
Then I managed to corrupt the NVRAM while trying to make changes to the tune.
I have also have been struggling to get the tune right. The 42lb green tops are way too big. I think duty cycle was just on 30%, and I wasn’t getting the progress I should have. So I changed the whole VE map to single fire and it was a massive improvement to point where I now have it quite driveable. Clearly this is not a long term fix, so will track down a set of 25lb LS injectors and start again. But there’s no real point in messing with the tune any more until I get that sorted.
I don’t think it’s got a lot of power, but the torque is really impressive. In 4th or 5th gear it just pulls away quite strongly and will quite happily lug around corners in 4th gear. Early days yet, but am not seeing a great deal of data in the histograms in the 100% VE Column at higher rpm, but to do this the road speed way up there, which is not particularly smart with an L plater at the wheel.
Still heaps to do. Need to chase up some door belts, rear mudflaps and sort this AC system out. Exhaust system and wind tinting.
