pcmhacking.net

Hi all,been missing for a while....long story short the mrs has been crook so the last 6 months have been tough.
Anyway....I had an LS1 sitting in the shed for a couple of years with ideas on fitting it to my HJ coupe.
I finally resisited the urge and decided to keep it as a 5lt delco'd.

I picked up a badly o/heated and dead VT s1 V6 locally back in may for $400 with the plan of building a track car and fitting the LS1.
The previous owner couldn't get it going anymore after his mrs badly cooked the engine. Since a cage will be fitted,i started to strip the interior a few days later and sell off stuff i didnt need.
Sold off the cruise control kit for $200.00 and a couple of interior bits and tow bar.I think it owes me about $160.00 now
Interior stripped and i began scraping off the sound deadner off the floor,approx 20+kgs alone in the deadner. After it was all stripped,it was time to invest in a mig(which i've been putting off for ages)and began stitch welding the seams. Along the way and over the last few months,ive been collecting parts (which have been fitted) in the spare time that i manage to find between hospital visits and looking after the mrs.
I'll add more pics over the next few days

NICE project!

Good luck with it & hope the Mrs is on the up & up!

Looking good I think you got your monies worth for a complete VT!

hell yeah, should nearly be able to get that money back in selling the parts you don't need!

Thanks everyone,what started as a chest pain the scans showed the dreaded C word in the lung and 3 spots on the brain...radiation and chemo seem to be doing its job at the moment,so its a day at a time.

The last pic of the race seats i scored for $140 for the pair...which i was happy about.
Next up i wanted to change the rear cradle assembly for the later ones with adjustable toe links.
I picked up a complete rear cradle,less diff out of a VZ calais for $120.00 which was pretty good with the intentions of upgrading the control arm bushes etc
to nolathane and ajustable cambers.
Once i got it home and stripped it,it was obvious that ALL the bushes were fairly rooted including the big sub-body front bushes....yikes extra money!
Win some lose some.
An date expired SABELT 4 point harness was picked up for $50 (just using it to set up the eye bolt mounts) a new 5 point harness will be bought when its ready to go. I occasionally go down to my local U Pull-it for any little knick knacks and to see what new cars have turned up.....i find it therapeutic
I spotted a VZ with front damage and a clean rear.I gave it a look over and found 2 original rear cradle bushes in the boot which i thought strange.
Took a look under the rear and spotted 2 as new nolathane cradle bushes except i didn't have the required tools to pull the cradle out and it was late
in the day to come back.
I came back a week later,luckily it was still intact and i came prepared.....$50 for the nolathaned rear cradle and i grabbed the original bushes for the sake of it.
It was time to tear down my VT cradle and couldn't believe my luck...my VT was fitted with 4 x nolathane adjustable control arm bushes
The rear rebuilt and refitted back on the car.
Next up was the front k frame that was required for the LS1.A bit of asking around at work and a friend of a friend had one sitting at home ...$100 sealed the deal. More to come.......

progressing nicely

The LS1 i have was fitted with a VE sump so i could mod it to fit the HJ But that had to make way for an original sump.
I ordered one of these to control oil surge and make sure the engine survived. When the baffle arrived,i didnt realise that there were more than i type of sump for the VT onwards I have the one on the right which has the 2 cast in baffles.The choice was to send the baffle back to the US or cut my ones out
so i could sit the new Baffle kit in.....i cut them out.
Next up was tracking down a 6 speed Tremec,this came with a brand new clutch assembly Another workmate came to the rescue with a flywheel and clutch kit after selling his VX SS off and had the kit left over.
More tomorrow

Coming along VERY nicely & very tidy work!!!!

Thanx VX and 202,most of this has progressed over the last 6 months,an hour here and there.Mainly when i get home from work and some on the weekends.
I'd say the car is 50-70% on its way and i took the week off work to catch up on stuff around home and here

The VT being auto,the next hurdle was the clutch pedal/box/assembly.The difficulty in finding the pedal box was that most come up for sale with the g/box for conversions
and a PITA to find.When they do come up,they usually sell for silly prices.
Since i work for a certain company that has 2 letters and starts with "G" I checked to see if the clutch pedal assembly was still available new.
Luckily it was but every part individually...but it still worked out cheaper than buying second hand.
Another dilema...clutch master cylinder,these are pricey.
2nd hand,most are rooted or part of a conversion etc,as usual after buying the new pedal/box a mate was keeping an eye out for me and found a complete kit inc m/cyl/resi etc at a good price...
i have a spare assembly now.
Another headache....tremec x member = conversions,i ordered a new one - once again cheaper new than 2nd hand,spare parts showed 4 available when ordered.....4 days later waiting...NLA
Had to give in at a wrecker and buy one.
But wait! There's more! Tailshafts = conversions and either VT 4bolt flange or VX onwards 3bolt donut type(more availability,kind of)
I ended buying the donut type,but that also means a change to the diff as well.....a couple of days later a mate said he had a tailshaft at home

I suppose people will be thinking "why didn't he just buy a VT LS1 in the first place" I would have if i didnt have an LS1 sitting in the shed.
Thats all part of the fun in chasing parts and doing it yourself....like holden202T's project etc.

More later...

i know how you feel i usually change my plans 20 times before i finally do something and usually sell old parts before i realise i need them