Torana SS

[VK_3800]

Have been working on the wiring but it doesn't make for very exciting photos. Here are some bits and pieces from the last few weeks.

Made a bracket to mount the interior fuse box in approximately the standard spot under the dash.



3D printed a connector housing (just uses a captive nut with machine screw and 1/4" ring terminals) for the main coil feed which I feel needs a bit higher current rating than the standard connectors.


Bent up a hard line for the windscreen washer so it can be tucked away a bit neater.


Intermittent wipers using a basic timer. I set it to a fixed 1 second 'on' period (self-parking) and wired up a 6-position 2-pole rotary switch instead of the 'off' period to give off/3/4/5/7/9 second options (the second pole is used to switch the unit off and on in all timer positions). The rotary switch will fit neatly in the dash beside the standard wiper switch where the choke was originally, will have to make a knob for it to match.

And brackets to mount it in the dash.


I discovered the release rod bushing had fallen out of the park brake mechanism and it had worn the hole out.

Was going to just swap it for the previously-reconditioned one off the taxi and re-do this one later, but discovered this one has the twin pawl and extra bracing where the other one doesn't. So that got rebuilt and ready to go back in.


Splashed out on a decent battery - at least I hope it is! People seem to rate them pretty highly.


Today I finally got to the point that I could connect it up and start testing my new wiring looms.
* Stop/tail/park/headlights, reverse lights, indicators, hazards, interior lights - check.
* Windscreen wipers and washers (excluding the intermittent setup, but that's an add-on), horns - check.
* Alternator excite and voltage sense, stereo feed, cigarette lighter, heater blower - check.

Got the instruments in and the ECU connected, set up the laptop to test a few more things.
* Neutral switch, anti-theft, ignition inputs - check.
* Fuel pump, cooling fans, check engine light outputs - check.
* Speedo and tacho outputs (the ECU can send PWM test signals at whatever frequency which is quite handy) - check.
* Calibrated the accelerator position sensor (pedal) and the throttle position sensor, e throttle seems to work - check.
* Detected and assigned CAN based lambda controllers - check.
* All 8 injectors are triggering (and in the correct position) - check.
* All 8 coils will fire a plug (and in the correct position) - check.

Even turned it over to check the crank and cam triggers - I think it should work fine. 36-2 reluctor crank trigger top, hall effect cam level bottom.


A few more little things to tidy up then I have to remove most of the wiring loom... again. But hopefully for the last time, will get it all wrapped then back in for good.

[antus]

Nice work!

[In-Tech]

Neato

[Holden202T]

damn theres some nice fab work going on there!

oh so close to a fire up!

[VK_3800]

Well... as of a couple hours ago, it runs! Not particularly well just yet but everything engine control-related is functioning as it should. Not so much the leaky rocker cover gaskets, looks like my experiment was a failure.

[Gareth]

[heff0018]

Great to hear it’s running and I like the hard washer line idea.

[VK_3800]

Quick catch up on a few previous items. All new wiring is now wrapped and installed - not super tidy but happy enough with it, and everything can be removed without cutting if need be.



Engine bay has a bit more exposed wiring than before in the name of serviceability, but generally pretty good.


Temporary battery hold down until I make a better one, after discovering the plastic piece doesn't work at all.


Somehow I've made access to the distributor lock bolt even worse than before. Luckily the cam sensor no longer requires fine-tuning as it only needs to tell the ECU which stroke and the initial position was just fine as shown in the scope output above. Enter special tool #3-8 (the bolt is a 12 point reduced head).


Managed to drill a neat hole in the correct location in the coffee pot for the hazard switch knob.


The mess on the floor after a few minutes running.


Not sure if you can see this properly but its definitely coming from the rocker covers.


Not sure if its just age but the used Speco gaskets are too hard, and the built-in steel shim is crooked and just generally a pain in the neck. So they're going in the bin. At $75-$95 _each_ I won't be buying new ones purely on principal, but not giving up on the crush spacer idea just yet, I have a (cunning?) plan.

[VK_3800]

Found some 4.5mm nitrile rubber strip, and carefully made a cardboard template that makes maximum use of the rocker covers I'm using. It took some time and careful cutting, but wasn't actually too bad. I've cut them out of cork in a pinch before and I think the rubber was easier.


I saw this idea on the web somewhere, worked well. The centres of the holes were transfer punched into the template using the cover, then transferred to the rubber. Made a little piece that fits snugly in the hole punch to locate it, which gives me the desired size holes accurately on centre.


Machined some new crush spacers, these are slightly bigger at 9mm OD and a loose but not sloppy fit on the 1/4" fasteners. The actual thickness of the rubber is more like 4.25mm, I settled on 3.0mm for the spacers to allow a reasonable amount of gasket compression now they are just plain rubber with no steel insert.


Definitely got some compression out of them so fairly hopeful that this version should work a lot better. The cap screws do up tight with the spacers so shouldn't back out by themselves.

A few other learnings with the wiring:

* Had a brain-fade with the intermittent wiper setup, it needs to disconnect the park wire when applying power rather than just tee into it (otherwise it pops the fuse when it connects power to ground via the motor park mechanism, duh). Luckily the timer relay has both NO and NC terminals so that was simple enough.
* Also discovered the intermittent wiper timer won't change delay period if you just switch it while powered up. There's a separate reset button option but I think that would be a bit clunky, so just disconnected a couple of the delay options at the rotary switch. So now it's off-on-off-on-off-on and only three delay options, oh well.
* The park/brake fail LED in the dash kept dying on me. I bought a couple of packs of yellow and red LEDs with the resistors pre-wired ready for 12V and the yellow check engine light worked fine. But that is powered high-side by the ECU which is probably regulated where the brake one is ground-switched, and apparently yellow typically runs at higher voltage than red too? Doubled up on the resistor and it seems to work now.

Instruments are in for the final time (hopefully), steering intermediate shaft is reinstalled, brakes are bled, and the car is now back on its wheels. Not there yet but getting closer...

[vlad01]

If you still haven't secured the rocker covers yet, if you don't mind. Could you measure the max height of those rockers (assuming it will be the adjusters at full lift) from the bosses on the head?

I am trying to get an idea of the min rocker cover height I need for those same TY platinum rockers for the Buick, but I didn't want to spend the 1200 odd just to get a measurement now and have them sitting around for years before use. Stuff tends to go bad if it's metal in my storage unless I keep stuff submerged in sealed buckets of fresh engine oil. I'm better off getting it when I'm ready to use.