Vlad's rides thread

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vlad01
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Re: Vlad's rides thread

Post by vlad01 »

So after a nice oxide treatment which I found not only makes it look nicer, but allows an oil film to stick and persist which aids the crimping quality a fair bit. Never intended that, but I noticed that right away and thought, damn! Science ftw!
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Results speak for them selves.

Did this one a little offset, but still meets specs pretty well. Note that the tabs now form the correct tulip ends and no external cuts (external to the tabs).

The width of the die needed to be 3.0 to 3.2mm wide. The OG die was about 4.5mm, way too wide. The largest one I left alone, iirc it worked ok as it seemed to have the correct aspect ratio for the larger terminals. I seldom use that and didn't have a large terminal to verify anything, so rather than just assuming, I left it be. But the medium and small I use all the time and both were too wide.


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Re: Vlad's rides thread

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So I redid my reverse light terminals.

I need to order some rare spares fuel pump plug kits for the body side, they use the same family of connector as the VSS, but only 2 terminals instead of 3. So if i buy two kits, I should have a spare terminal to practice on and rewire the VSS plug, and have this damn thing completed. OG manual one side by side to my modded auto one (left).
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Pulled the headlights out while I have the front off (the front fell off).

And I figured out how to get the reflectors out as a curiosity, I think I tried years ago and just broke them. So the key is to pop the ball joint out and then screw the two remaining adjusters until the thread completely comes out, then the reflectors just falls out.

I think I may had tried to pull on the wrong ones last time and broke them.

In theory, one could replace the reflector in a genuine unit with one out of a TYC unit. But in my case, this was just for learning and I won't bother, the TYC units are really good for the VP. However, part of this learning exercise was to figure out the best technique for sealing the front seal and glass with a mastic to keep them truly weather proof. I found even with good seals, they still let moisture in from the front seal over time.

I will attempt to do this to the new TYC units, so that the reflectors last much longer.
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And the latest thing I have pretty much sorted was shimming the bellhousing brace.

It rocks a little on bolts, in my case the 2 center ones. So I figured out to be parallel to the bellhousing, it needed to be rocked backwards, so this told me that the front two studs were the ones that needed shims.

I got these from ebay, from China I think. They really have all the cool hard to find stuff that I and other nerds seem to think of but seem to not exist in the western market. These are 0.1mm SS shims for under bolt heads etc... M8 ID, 14mm OD is what I chose.
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I found 2 shims each for the two front studs between the brace worked great. Parallel to the bellhousing and very even mating across all of the studs. This will prevent the nuts from coming loose and also should stop uneven strain on the studs and sump where the studs hold it. So in theory, it should reduce the risk of the sump flexing and the gasket leaking.

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Wade
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Re: Vlad's rides thread

Post by Wade »

That’s like some crimp hub right there. Be careful or you might get banned 😆🤣.
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Re: Vlad's rides thread

Post by vlad01 »

Crimp Pr0n.
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Re: Vlad's rides thread

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Bit more done.

resealed the new headlights with this Wurth stuff I used many years ago in one of my day jobs, called dab off. Basically a high end windscreen mastic.

So hopefully I have addressed the headlight moisture issue before it happens. They only use a foam rubber seal on them, so I dressed the groove and also the glass contact surface, both sides of the seal basically. I don't think the seal itself lets the water thorough, but the surface contact/texture likely lets it wick past over time.
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Also baked these, paint just was still soft and easily indented finger prints. The newer VHT formulation doesn't cure itself over time like the old stuff. So I baked it. The can mentioned just leave it for 7 days, doesn't work. But I found on their site it says to bake it at around 93c? (assuming this came from 200f?) for 20 min. But from the old procedures I used when I was a kid, the old formulation I recall, it went in stages for ages and to very high temps of 200-250c iirc for the final stage. So I just made my own up, 20min @ 100c, 30min @ 120c, 40min at 150c. Let it cool, no smell at that point or not much and the paint was rock hard as soon as it cooled enough to be handled. So that worked good, I just wanted to make sure it was thoroughly cured, the instructions 20min at 93c seemed like it wouldn't be enough.
I also learned that the wattyl super etch primer doesn't care whatsoever at these temps. It acted the same at room temp as it did at 150c. It really is amazing stuff.

I added a foam rubber seal as per factory for the starter pinion.
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Re: Vlad's rides thread

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My sand blaster doesn't come back from some course he's doing until the 30th. So I decided to dress these up a bit on the press. Much neater now.

As for the lower brackets, I think I'll make some nicer ones from scratch.
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One that wasn't done yet for comparison.
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While I swapped the eco filter adapter over, I also fitted another pipe bracket and made up another clip. I found the factory bolts for the auto cooler clips to bottom out on the engine mount bracket. I think it doesn't happen normally as the bracket hangs past the engine bracket normally, but as I have relocated everything, they both ended up over the engine bracket, thus bottoming out. While I was picking up my flywheel, clutch etc... I got bolts to suit. M6 x 10 with washers did the trick, the factory is M6 x 16 I'm pretty sure.

The pipes no longer move or in a way that can twist the clip bolts loose. So very happy it worked out. :thumbup:

I couldn't finish it until yesterday anyway as I had to hammer a pushrod through the previous filter I planned to just transfer over, so I had no filter on it for a few days. Just a cheap ryco for now.

Adapter got thread sealer on all the bolts and loctite flange sealer on the bolt heads, the one inside the adapter is a path of oil to go under the head, past the thread and out the timing over lower bolt nearby as the thread holes intersect each other. There is a tech bulletin from Holden about it and to use a revised adapter where the pad for the bolt head is machined, rather than just cast in order to form a seal. But even the case is pretty flat and smooth with minimal texture after the bolt head sort of laps it. But a little of the flange sealer sorts that, and tread sealer for 2nd line of defense.

I am yet to wire up a new pressure switch cable and plug to relocate and extend lower. The adapter rand pipes, filter and all played ball and fit great.
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Re: Vlad's rides thread

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Got my heads for the shitbox back from Duggan Balancing, as always, great job.

Full reco minus assembly, seals supplied. The shitbox had newish crow stock springs with damper and the locks are crow HD ones.

The head got tanked, pressure/crack tested, decked, new exhaust seats, all seats re-cut, valves ground and one intake replaced as the engine it came from had evidence of the rod letting go and the piston contacting the deck, bending the valve.

The guides were also relined with bronze ones. $940 all up, not cheap but good for the work needed to be done.

Good timing, as the car is running like shit and pumping gas into the cooling system at an unprecedented rate for this car.
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Got the flywheel back, I am genuinely surprised at the actual counter weight amount as they write it down. Nearly 160g ! :shock: Nothing like this is stated on the net. Dellows told me it's 35g, the flywheel came with 69g, more around 75g with the bolts. Seems wrong to me, but it was also written on the flexplate they measured it from, this was Dandy engines, so I trust it's all correct.
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The bell housing was also machined parallel, but when I checked relative to the crank, it increased error from 0.10mm to 0.15mm, and the offset increased to 0.26mm from 0.17mm, so the total indicated is now 0.50 to 0.53mm

They said it was out only by 10 thou, "only", which is tons really. The thing is they machined the front and not the back like I wanted, but they felt the front was more uneven even though I know the back it. Since the front is my reference given the mag base in on the engine and not the box end, I knew it would throw my measurements out.

I measured on a spare one that when the edge lifts by 10mm, the ID of the box register moves over 3.5mm. 3.5/10 is 0.35.

So with it being 0.010" out, that is 0.254mm. 0.254 x 0.35 is 0.0889mm

In this case it was the same direction and added instead of something else. 0.0889 + 0.17mm is 0.2589

And since the dial gauge reads it as 2x, the calculated value is 0.5178mm Pretty much band on with that I measure.

Luckily my machinist's slowless to small jobs saved my ass, called on 5:40 or so on Friday, he answered and I explained the situation and he's adjusted the requirements. I said I need it this Monday, so with luck I can sort that part out over Easter.


But the out of parallel is odd, it only changed by 0.05mm, but it is hard to measure with a distorted back, a straight edge shows come light gaps around the center hole where my gauge can run on. slightly more on the top where it also coincides with my low point (but no where near the value I measure, maybe 0.08mm? ), where the straight edge on the bolt areas are showing no gap. But I can't run my dial out to there, even if I could, none of the bolt holes are in the same PCD.

So I have mounted a T5 case to the back and trying to measure the actual box as it's installed as a way to measure the parallel in reference to the actual mounting hole pad area which directly sets what the gearbox sees. Issue is, I can't see the damn gauge for most of the rotation. So I need to find a small mirror or piece of one to put on the end of a stick and try to see the read outs. I tried my phone with video and light on, not enough space and mine is a cheap small iphone, much smaller than nearly all phones on the market. If that didn't fit, maybe a bore scope. But I will try a mirror if I can find one small enough first.

But since the front is done, the dowels and that side will be done and dusted. And the back face and its parallel specs can be sorted later without affecting the other aspects, assuming the true value is still out. If it is, it's likely the block as I trust a mob like Dandy engines to be able to ensure precision.

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Re: Vlad's rides thread

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Got all of the PS hoses routed.
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Obviously had the bracket blasted and painted. Did the wheel brace thing too. Just need to make new lower brackets for the cooler, but I still had everything mounted up for now so I could measure up for the new brackets and get the hoses all sorted.

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Re: Vlad's rides thread

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Sorted the oil switch plug and wiring. Had a few new kits in my stash, plus the right wiring and splicing crimps.
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Finally got my offset dowels done by my usual machinist. 0.25mm offset for 0.5mm total indicated should be close enough to what I measured.
He cut some grooves for the index, but I found one of them was not exact when I used the micrometer to find the zero of both halves. I verified it using the peaks too that my measurement of the index was correct. So I scored some lines at 9 and 3.
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I got an M14 tap and some long bolts to make a slide hammer extraction tool for the old dowels. The threads cut good.
My machinist gave me a block of scrap steel he quickly drilled a 15mm hole though.

But I should have also got some short bolts too, I found it was easier to use use a spacer over the dowel to place the load on the block, and the screwing action of the bolt removed it far easier that the slide hammer did.
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Re: Vlad's rides thread

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Dowels came out easy with that tool.
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Then I made this "tool" which is just a ally C? U? channel that allows my phone to lay in it without the side buttons interfering with the level/degrees app.

I previously measured my perpendicular and vertical axis of error on the back of the bellhousing previously measured and marked out. I got 9 deg anticlockwise.

I used this same tool to then line up the 9 deg and score across the middle of each dowel hole. The dowels 9 and 3 score lines that indicated where the offset was perpendicular to the axis will line up with the scores on the block dowel holes.
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Then I installed the dowels. One hole had a tread which I used like this to drive in. A problem happened with this that I will get to in a bit.
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The blind hole I tapped in with a mallet very easily, although still a press fit, just not as tight as the original dowels.
This one I started with the mallet and then finished it off with a bolt and this big nut from a VR front knuckle to strut bolt, yes I still remember where most of my boxes of random bolts and nuts came from :lol:

I greased it well with engine assembly lube to make it easier, this would become a good choice later.

Well, the nut started to rotate a little, but I thought nothing of it until I noticed the score lines rotating around with each crank of the bolt.
The dowel rotated a little in place.


Installed the bellhousing and checked the measurements. The up and down at the 9 deg index was basically zeroed out instead of 0.50~ mm, yay! but almost exactly perpendicular to that a new error appeared of 0.15mm. So 90 deg to the 9 deg reference index.

So I figured since the dowel rotated maybe another 4-5 deg clockwise during the install, the offset (downwards) kicked to the left a little, this then produced the high spot on the right.

I was not entirely happy with this, it was just a fraction out of spec now, but it should have been much less than this if I hadn't stuffed up the install.


So I designed this, knowing how the install was kinda buttery ? from the engine lube, if that a good description? I knew I had a chance of correcting it with the right tool to rotate it.
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So I sent my machinist that hand drawing and also specs for 3 spacers for my clutch cable since there was no adjustment left as I was around 18-20mm too long still.


Ta da!
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Only cost me 120 bucks for all of this. Like last time, the Dellows HD clutch cable runs out of adjustment with about 20mm too much inner cable left to get the pedal right. I know the measurements of the cable pivot to the back of the bellhousing and confirmed the same issue as last time. But since these cables are built like a handbrake cable, and use all the same cable type and parts, including the big bulky and strong clevises, their crimp point is much farther down from the pivot that the pressed tin and pinned OE design, the cable can only move about 15mm more before it bottoms out on the rubber boot. The pic shows it a bit further down what the clevis looks like.

So I can only space the outer cable at the pedal end 15mm or less. I did 5 and 7mm spacers there, for a nice and safe 12mm. At the adjuster end where it is independent of the boot on the outer cable, I can space that as much as I want as it moves both inner and outer at the same time, so zero change to the inner to outer travel. But the receptacle on the bellhousing is only 18mm deep before it pops out. So I stuck with 10mm, giving me a total of 22mm correction.
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