VR Ute

[vlad01]

If you aren't considering slicks, I have been using and recommend Maxxis HP5 on my cars after years and many many brands and models of tyres tested. I found them to be the only readily available normal tyre that grips on these cars, and substantially more than anything I've tried except for Toyo R888R street legal track tyres which only come in limited low profile sizes and width combos which for the most part didn't clear the body or were ridiculously low profile for the size to make them fit.

But the Maxxis HP5 are excellent, wet and dry grip is awesome and predictably much more linear than anything I have tried except the R888R.

I also found that as the HP5 gets bald, not only does grip increase slightly when dry and a mild reduction wet, but the wear rare also dramatically slows down, that last 10% tread takes a long time compared to the middle of the road/typical wear rate the rest of the tyre has.

My only complaint and it could be a dynamic thing involving more than just the tyres, but I find them to be more prone to balance issues, but the shocks on my cars are terrible and way too hard, so even bumps cause the car to shudder even after the bump has past for a sec or so and I think that could be feeding back into a loop with any tyre balance imperfections since they can come and go depending on the ambient temp and how long I have been driving for as well.

[brindo]

Great stuff! Single pegger down the entire strip is the stuff of p-plater dreams.

She actually got into 4th gear too on that run. Not that it helped. The commentator in the control room called out that it was blue smoke from the exhaust which had me more that a little worried, but it was just tyre smoke.

There was an auto VS 5.0 ute there that she raced and beat. To be fair I think they could have broken out - but she was first across the line too. From memory they dialled in at 10.2, but they had a locked diff and some sort of drag radial. So running a 9.18 is reasonable comparison against a car of similar weight.

If you aren't considering slicks, I have been using and recommend Maxxis HP5 on my cars after years and many many brands and models of tyres tested.

Those Maxxis seem like they could have been a good option but I ordered a set of Raiden Hero Drags in 235/60 15. They will be a while off yet, but have a set of 15 x 7 pursuit rims to fit them too. Can still drive it to and from the track. So will see how they go without changing the diff centre out first. Thinking they should be ok.

But todays lesson will be about washing cars.

9054805E-D28D-40B3-A891-A19225436F26.jpeg

[brindo]

Not an update as such…
When I was rebuilding this ute, I had a goal of it being different by being plain. I wanted a noice, streetable car, that stood out because it doesn’t stand out if that makes sense. Didn’t want a wild paint colour, or fibreglass body kits or scoops, non-factory wheels, stereos or air cleaners out the bonnet. The only thing that really separates this ute from the 1000s of other V8 Commodores is the fuel tank and the ported manifold, both of which no one can see.

I said all along this ute would ever win anything but today we entered it into a show a few towns away. This is actually the utes second car show, but the first one my daughter has entered and been a part of. The first car show basically no one gave the ute a second glance as it doesn’t look anything special. For me that was objective achieved. It looks plain because it is.

But 8 o’clock last night, we washed and vacuumed this ute in the dark after work (and did a terrible job too) and left home at 6am this morning to drive 200kms to the show. There was a heap of really noice cars there, and a few blokes came up showed a bit of interest in it.
Wasn’t expecting anything, but came away with Runner Up Best Holden and Winner Top Commercial.
To say she is stoked is an understatement. We expected nothing, and to come away with a couple of trophies against some really good cars has made her day. Such that I have even made a rash promise to take her to Summernats now.

Car Show.PNG

[Gareth]

How good!!!

[brindo]

Rightoe.
So I did have the Raiden Hero Drags on order, but it seems they are unobtainium, and we can’t get a set until early next year. So settled on the Nankang AR1 in a 235/60 15 instead. But these are more of a track tyre than a drag tyre. Fitted them up, and even at 25 psi, we are still getting a bit of wheel spin. Hoping this will improve at the track and clearly there’s room to go lower in the pressure.
Next drag meet is on in a few weeks time so pending work and weather we are hoping to have another crack.
These are the VY 15 x 7 pursuit rims that I previously had the slicks on.

Drag Radials.PNG

But somewhat luckily, the daughter arrives home, pulls into the driveway then smoke starts pouring out from under the bonnet. Turns out it failed the high pressure power steer hose and was spraying oil directly onto the headers. Was only leaking on full lock but thankfully no fire. The hose was a brand new Mackay one too. I kept the original hose which is back on now. I always thought Mackay made the OEM stuff but putting them side by side the Mackay appears to be inferior.

Power Steer Hose.PNG

[seabreeze]

Great job on the silverware! You're raising the next generation of enthusiast it seems.

Re: new parts failing, you could probably make a sweeping statement such as everything is shit now, and not be too far off the mark.

[Deuce]

Rightoe.
So I did have the Raiden Hero Drags on order, but it seems they are unobtainium, and we can’t get a set until early next year. So settled on the Nankang AR1 in a 235/60 15 instead. But these are more of a track tyre than a drag tyre. Fitted them up, and even at 25 psi, we are still getting a bit of wheel spin. Hoping this will improve at the track and clearly there’s room to go lower in the pressure.
Next drag meet is on in a few weeks time so pending work and weather we are hoping to have another crack.
These are the VY 15 x 7 pursuit rims that I previously had the slicks on.

Drag Radials.PNG

But somewhat luckily, the daughter arrives home, pulls into the driveway then smoke starts pouring out from under the bonnet. Turns out it failed the high pressure power steer hose and was spraying oil directly onto the headers. Was only leaking on full lock but thankfully no fire. The hose was a brand new Mackay one too. I kept the original hose which is back on now. I always thought Mackay made the OEM stuff but putting them side by side the Mackay appears to be inferior.

Power Steer Hose.PNG

It'll be interesting to hear what track tyres go like at the drags.
If drag radials, I would start at 20psi (warm) and then adjust up/down from there if required/able.

Good luck with power steering and your next race.

[vlad01]

Great job on the silverware! You're raising the next generation of enthusiast it seems.

Re: new parts failing, you could probably make a sweeping statement such as everything is shit now, and not be too far off the mark.

As soon as he said McKay, I'm thinking keep their shit away with a 10 foot pole.


Nothing they make in the last 10-15 year apart from maybe their industrial range is any good. Their hoses I don't think they make all of them, the good ones appear the same as the gate and dayco brand units, most by the meter stuff seems good too, but a lot of their stuff is shite now and have been for a long time.

2010 is the exact date where after their rubbers for mounts and related went from lasting 10-15 years easily, to lasting weeks to maybe 6 months top.

On my to be daily VP I have the center exhaust mount used from 2007 date and it's in good nick still. However I have but yet to try the universal ones from invidia performance which are said to be good quality and fit most cars with multi hole locations.



I cheaped out on my current daily the year before and replaced all the rear bushes with MacKay, and one of them I had to machine on a lathe as it had no taper. That was all in vane and they fell apart worse than the 32 year old bushes in just 5 months.


I too have had the PS hose burst and spray onto the headers, but it was the original hose which became brittle.

I bought 3 more of the OEM hoses because they were hard to get then, glad I did because this brand was good (not Mackay) I will have to check what brand it was, I had a stash in the boot on my S pack. I have done probably 200K or more on that hose in the daily since.

[afterburner]

That's the thing, it 100% can sound like it's coming from the middle of the engine, but a hose to the ear can tell otherwise. Mine makes the noise near the exhaust ports on the header tubes just coming off the heads, I also hear some in the intake runners. But when you probe into the open rocker covers, no noise indicative of valvetrain, also no noise in the block areas. Even on knock ears it's quieter than externally to the ears.

I have roller hydraulic lifters, but it sounds like mechanical ones, but unlike lifter noise that is more erratic and worst at idle, this is constant and increases with rpm, lifter noise when hydraulic normally disappears as rpm increases with increased oil pressure.


You might be right, could be lifters, but in my experience it's been false alarms every time.

I recall the intake rattle/tractor ticking Gareth's old speedway engine made, and it was the roof of the plenum cover. Sounded like some serious diesel engine like/ lifter rattle, but when you put your hand on the lid, the noise nearly stopped and you could feel the intake port waves hitting the lid with your hand. So freaky and something I never thought about before.


Try the hose method and have a listen inside the rocker cover, that will be very telling. If it's lifters/valve train, it should be significantly louder in there then anywhere else you probe, if its less than externally, likely intake/exhaust related which as mentioned, larger cams make these far louder and clickier than stock.


As for the spring on the cable, I have no idea, but on some FB there were one or two people that insisted it was attached to the brake line on the inner guard and claimed that VN to VS came like that from factory, even though I have seen zero evidence for this, so I speculate the spring might be a thing they did on the really old model well before VL for example since that damper kit covers all models that used the damper.

I never saw any pics or mention of this spring in my Gregory's workshop manual for VR commodore. Most of the pics in there are of brand new cars at the time, so they should have nothing missing. I will double check my manual is case I have missed it, but I am sure I have covered everything a million times in that manual.

On some cars I had to do nothing to secure the cable, sits well away naturally, on my daily I cable tied it to the mentioned brake lines. No issue with the headers, it's actually broke one of my ignition leads at the plug once and that is what the cable often wants to rest on, the ends of the lead sockets.

[afterburner]

That's the thing, it 100% can sound like it's coming from the middle of the engine, but a hose to the ear can tell otherwise. Mine makes the noise near the exhaust ports on the header tubes just coming off the heads, I also hear some in the intake runners. But when you probe into the open rocker covers, no noise indicative of valvetrain, also no noise in the block areas. Even on knock ears it's quieter than externally to the ears.

I have roller hydraulic lifters, but it sounds like mechanical ones, but unlike lifter noise that is more erratic and worst at idle, this is constant and increases with rpm, lifter noise when hydraulic normally disappears as rpm increases with increased oil pressure.


You might be right, could be lifters, but in my experience it's been false alarms every time.

I recall the intake rattle/tractor ticking Gareth's old speedway engine made, and it was the roof of the plenum cover. Sounded like some serious diesel engine like/ lifter rattle, but when you put your hand on the lid, the noise nearly stopped and you could feel the intake port waves hitting the lid with your hand. So freaky and something I never thought about before.


Try the hose method and have a listen inside the rocker cover, that will be very telling. If it's lifters/valve train, it should be significantly louder in there then anywhere else you probe, if its less than externally, likely intake/exhaust related which as mentioned, larger cams make these far louder and clickier than stock.


As for the spring on the cable, I have no idea, but on some FB there were one or two people that insisted it was attached to the brake line on the inner guard and claimed that VN to VS came like that from factory, even though I have seen zero evidence for this, so I speculate the spring might be a thing they did on the really old model well before VL for example since that damper kit covers all models that used the damper.

I never saw any pics or mention of this spring in my Gregory's workshop manual for VR commodore. Most of the pics in there are of brand new cars at the time, so they should have nothing missing. I will double check my manual is case I have missed it, but I am sure I have covered everything a million times in that manual.

On some cars I had to do nothing to secure the cable, sits well away naturally, on my daily I cable tied it to the mentioned brake lines. No issue with the headers, it's actually broke one of my ignition leads at the plug once and that is what the cable often wants to rest on, the ends of the lead sockets.

I used a set of Lunati lifters on my VS Olympic which is VT 5L engine. Mine is 355 stroker supercharged. I used chrome moly pushrods, Yella Terra platinum roller rockers & Lunati lifters which were Pontiac ones with a bridge so you can remove the lifter retainer plate which is prone to breaking & causing lifter noise. I’ll check the lifter part number ( I ordered them from Summit )