Torana SS

[VK_3800]

When I had the throttle body off I noticed that there was a little more oil coming through the PCV than I'd like which is no big surprise since the standard baffles in the alloy covers are almost non-existent. I'm sure I can improve on that so today's exercise was to remove the rocker covers and work on some better baffles. Then I popped the bonnet and remembered that its no longer possible to get the driver side rocker cover off without removing either the clutch line or the fuel rail...! You can see the hard line hanging down from the clutch master cylinder in a big loop around the brake booster hose in the photo of the air box above.

So plan A becomes plan B and the new plan A is to re-route the clutch line. Made up a banjo fitting and bolt to fit the master cylinder which gives me a low profile 90 degree into the hard line, and should just allow getting the rocker cover off with a bit of wiggling (I hope so, haven't actually tried it yet)!


Its great having the master cylinder pointing uphill creating a massive air lock, makes bleeding so much fun...

[Holden202T]

good thinking, hope it gives you all the room you need!

its been a long time since i had to deal with one of them, i do not miss it, mind you mine was a 202 so no issues with it and the tappet cover!

[immortality]

I can't believe I missed this thread.

Like your work

[VK_3800]

Thanks guys

The master cylinder is typical of the problems I create for myself, would be OK if it weren't for the tall rocker covers and the fuel injection... you should see the rigmarole in getting the power steering pump bracket bolted up...

[VK_3800]

Had been having some issues with tuning at low pulse widths so started looking for problems and discovered that the small pulse damper was hammering (I assume it was bottoming out). So forked out for a decent one:





This one threads in so I have to remove the fuel rail and modify it, again... which eventually lead me to find another problem as when I reassembled everything it was running really rich for no apparent reason! After I let it sit for a few minutes and tried to start again it wouldn't turn over at all and it dawned on me - cylinder full of fuel due to a leaking injector! Removed the spark plug and turned it over, sure enough it pumped out fuel. After setting up a test rig on the bench it turns out that one injector is blocked beyond repair and both leaks badly and won't deliver full flow. Bugger it, at least if I get some new injectors they will be the right colour:





Have been attempting to tune with the bad injector for a little while it would seem so have to re-do some of that work but at least it reacts to changes how it should now! Unfortunately the fuel rails are looking very second hand already but will touch them up at some stage.


Oh and the alloy radiator was just outside its 12 month warranty, so of course the fins started pulling away from the tank on both sides causing a messy leak that fed coolant into the fans which in turn spread it around the engine bay. Turf that and install a new copper/brass unit, but needs modification to fit the twin 14" fans:





To round off the trifecta of leaks diff oil was coming through the spline of the pinion yoke and splattering around the underside of the car. Fixed that too.

[Dazza92VP]

That sucks man surely they can give you warranty on the radiator if it was only a couple of months out with a decent failure?

[HQ355]

What brand radiator was it ? To be honest your much better off with a quality copper and brass one. Oem only swapped to alloy (with plastic tanks) for $$$ reasons and most new motors are alloy so easier to cool as well. My Q only has 3 core copper and never gets hot and it's missing fan shroud as well

[vlad01]

I was unsatisfied with all the options on the market so I got PWR to build me one to my specs.

[VK_3800]

I didn't even bother going back to the manufacturer, their service was awful when I bought it (slow communication, sent me the wrong radiator, they come with the wrong cap, overflow fitting needs changing, pot luck as to whether they have fan mounts, minor damage that shouldn't pass quality control etc). Someone else I know bought one and it took three tries to get the one they asked for. It was only a cheapie at just over $400 and I didn't really buy it because it was alloy just simpler not having to modify the mountings as much, a neater top tank visually being flat and I liked not having the trans cooler in the bottom tank. Worth a try but turned out a failure so back to the tried and true.

[VK_3800]

As above a couple of months ago I was going to look at putting some proper baffles into the rocker covers but got sidetracked when I discovered the driver side rocker cover couldn't be removed... finally got back to this task today.

Turns out the rocker cover will just sneak out from under the clutch master with a bit of wiggling, good start.

Passenger side cover has the filler cap, which is a breather. The original baffle supplied with the covers:


New and improved version:


Driver side has the PCV at one end. Original baffle:


Now has one that runs most of the length of the cover, hopefully this will minimise any liquid oil being sucked up:


The new baffles are aluminium but I don't have the gear to weld them and I'm pretty sure it would be a nightmare to clean up all the oil contamination. So I just pop riveted them which worked fine, the covers are quite thick and the holes are stepped with the rivet head on the inside so they sit flush inside the top rib:

A dab of black paint will hide them away when I get around to it...