Vlad's rides thread

[vlad01]

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What alloy idler pulley is that mate?

It's a chrome plated billet steel one. No ideal what company made those, but they were common as a drop in replacement here in the early 00s. I had at least two once that came off donor cars I bought and stripped over the years and I have seen quite a few other's out there. They have the handy thing of a replaceable bearing behind a circlip.

I found cars with AC these and the OE plastic ones resonant frequency is out of tune with the engine idle, so these and the plastic ones do not rattle or get intermittent clunks and clangs that the common pressed steel ones have as they are the perfect weight that they resonant and make a racket. Took me years to figure this out, to complicate it, the non AC cars do not have this effect. I just use the OE plastic ones now days, lighter as well on the inertia side of things.

[vlad01]

Not a lot to update.

Spent a heap of hours more and have now finished the dash frame repairs as of today.

Used some tape to seal the edges and screw holes to form a mould of sorts.

Filled it with epoxy via a small hole one side in the tape and a hole up top to purge the air, bottom up filling. Kinda like casting metal.

Nice and solid now.

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Thought about how to do this one for a while. Came up with this solution.

Used the grinder to cut slots to back the screws out from the bottom since I wasn't able to get any tool from the inside of the dash frame.

Made a plate for both size, usual epoxy and rivets. I had extra long ones around for that support frame, but I ended up drilling the thread protrusions a little to get enough rivet length on the back side as it was damn close to not being long enough, even though the rivets were one of the longer ones you can get. Worked a treat though

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Then I made this to fix this one.

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[vlad01]

Area in question.

Fixed!

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Then today I finished off these these two spots and I call it job done.

The small triangle on the left and this little but kinda complex shaped one.

Ground off the jagged broke bit and made it flush with the metal support frame. Fit perfectly! The flat shape of the metal piece is like a capital K or R, then it folds to cover both the front and the angled uphill bit down the back.

There is one more spot behind that triangle repair, that is also cracked a little, but given the tight boxed in corner that it is, I think putting a patch there will probably make it crack more into the edges. It doesn't seem to do much structurally anyway looking at it, so I think it will be fine as it is. It's plenty strong now anyway.

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I also finished off the front mud flaps. I wanted the same 12g screws for the support straps, but I couldn't find any short ones anywhere, not even Bunnings had them.

So I ordered them on ebay for like 10 bucks free postage. 12g pan head zinc, 1/2" long.
These go into the foot well into the cabin, so I wanted to make sure they are short so they don't punch through anything important or through the carpet.
I also smeared a little mastic on the thread so that it ensures no water wicks past the thread.

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That's all folks!

[antus]

Thats almost some project binky level of detail there for mounts. Nice one!

[Charlescrown]

That's a clever idea with the screws with a slot cut in the end. That will definitely cause confusion for a repairer.

[vlad01]

Haven't done an update in a while.

Finished off the dash stuff.

Fixed up the foam seals and wrapping a bit.

The tool I "made" to get the center vac actuator out to put new foam around it.

And I modded the screw clip things, but compressing them with vice grips and drilling them with a similar bit size to the screws used. This cuts a deep channel on the legs of the clips so they have room for the screws under compression, stops them from spreading large amounts and breaking the dash plastic under the strain. I heard a few of my repairs making cracking sounds, so I did the mod and no more issues after that, and it still secures the screws just fine!

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[vlad01]

Had really issues getting the last duct in that goes over the clutch pedal area, the heater core pipes fouled it all and it messed the duct up a bit, buffed the deep gouges back out, but the plastic is pretty thin now. Not happy about it, now I know what the flap that feeds the duct was half loose, it was deliberate to give enough free play that the duct could squeeze in, albeit very cockeyed and tight. The brass heater core in there is the worst one I have ever seen, total shit. There is a crack on the brazing too, and it's new!

Not leaking yet (can't believe I am saying that for basically a brand new core), but I reckon it will. So I decided to look at replacing it again, but with the proven alloy Rare's one. Only issue is to do it properly, it all dash and, AC degas and HVAC out job and I'll probably break some of my repairs and break new areas in the process.

So I looked a lots of ways of cutting and re-joining without using hose and clamps since that literally never works.

I found SwageLoks. But the metal differences made me worry about pitting and galvanic corrosion of the alloy tubes. After some research, I used AI chat to help dig up info I couldn't find on normal google, the tubes of the core (that feed it) are generally made from a softer alloy of 1000 series which is preferred for forming reasons, it's galvanic protection isn't great, I already knew that from my old work days and machining different alloys on the CNC routers. The core is usually 3003 iirc, so much stiffer and resistant to galvanic environments where it matters.

SwageLok will probably allow pitting to occur, with either brass or the SS fittings. The AI actually brought up a good point about the tube being too soft to really make a reliable seal from metal to metal given the brass or SS are so much harder than the soft alloy tube, thin wall wasn't going to help either.

It recommended this based on ease of install, coolant and alloy compatibility. Out of the hours over god knows how many years looking at various joining techniques to only find some deal breaker, I never came across this, the AI chat dug up a real winner here!

https://airsept.com/products/auto/smart ... rsolutions

https://airsept.com/Products/auto/38/sm ... 90fittings

The PN is 76011 for the 5/8" straight fitting. Some specs I found is they are all 2" long, pretty sure they take up 1/4" of the pipe length, or at least that is what it adds if nothing is cut off to compensate. Point to point largest OD I think is around 30mm, so something like 6-8mm added to the footprint of the existing pipes in either direction radially. So I think you can run them side by side on the Rare's core. They can be located offset either way if that becomes a problem.


So later on, I might do this and also change the intake gaskets again, put in the euro purple coolant which is a lot better than the green for these cars. If I figure out which heater tap is good, I'll do that too. Just updated the heater tap thread about the latest type I am using also being shit, so still hunting for a good brand/design of tap.

Anyway, I digress.

I got it all together and almost sorted.

Used these CPU cooler spacers to make new feet for the console jacking points. Luckily they were metric screws and I just happen to have an M6 tap to suit. So I drilled and tapped them to about 2/3 to 3/4 of the way through.

I tossed on some vac fitting plugs/caps to aid some grip since the bare plastic kept having them jump out sideways when jacking the screws.

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Gave it all a bit of a detail. Like new! Except for that heater core, grrr!

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[vlad01]

So next I decided to sort the rear brakes and stuff out.

Got the brakes apart, and prepped this side for blasting.

Wore a mask and used water to clean the hub area since the shoes were the OG ones and very likely contained asbestos since it was never banned in Aus until 2003.

Handbrake was basically completely stuffed and it was noted on the RW cert that the rear brakes were all redone.
I also found the pins to had been installed binding on the caliper, so the caliper was stuck and the pads had evidence they had got to extremely high temps, maybe even caught fire for a bit. Great RW

Got a good deal on ebay for a set of rear Forza FP3 pads for $150 delivered too! Still waiting for the VT pads from them, almost a year late!

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[vlad01]

Parts washed and new shoes installed, these are the proven Brake Bonders brand that have worked fantastic for me, no frequent adjustment and eating out the hat and shoes in a matter of months like the shit Bendix ones.

I bought two sets of these Brake Bonders ones as a crap shot, and it was a good gamble.

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Next was to drill out the new rotors with holes to make hand brake adjustment going forward wayyyy easier.

My retired mechanic let me pop over to his factory unit where he has all his shit now, and use his son's milling machine. I hadn't used one before but it was pretty easy. I had already made the pilot holes ages ago for exactly the right locations, so I could get straight to drilling out the holes. Finished up by running a chamfer on them.

The bigger hole is the access hole, the two smaller are for counter balancing. Main is 16mm, the smaller ones are 7/16" That is the closest to perfect sizes to be exactly same volume of metal removed on both sides.

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You can see how easy it is to reach the adjuster with something like a screwdriver.

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[vlad01]

Got to the left side and things weren't as straight forward as the other side.

Firstly, caliper was jammed like the other side, but for another reason. Pin was well and truly rusted in. Soaked it, not much helped and it was so fitted that it looked like the moon even after a good wire brush to see if it was worth continuing, some would but if I am going to all this effort, I want a good bracket, after all I have full reco kits, with pistons and all.

I started a wanted thread, as I quickly found these calipers are impossible to find it seems or for ones not much better commanding prices that of brand new quality ones. So I am opting to get a whole new caliper by DBA for a listing I found for 150 bucks delivered.

Then I also found the axle showed evidence of a leak, what appeared to more around the housing than the shaft itself. So I went though my thought process and gave the probability the seal was damaged on the outside during manufacture, or assembly.

So, I got a new seal and bearing kit for a great price of 42 bucks from Bursons, they had them on clearance. Should buy a few more if I had enough money to spare.

To get the old one off, I used the press this time, I worked out a way. Safety first!

I should have done this the first time instead of listening to the workshop manual with drilling and belting things with hammers. Worked a treat, was a bit of a head scratcher to find and work out the right support pieces to get around the hub since it does not fit through the press's platform.

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Got the axle stripped, no damage and all clean!
And much easier to do it this way.

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Diagnosis, spot on!

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