633 replies to this topic

[76lxhatch]

Must have fallen off?

[Heath]

Ohhhhhhh yeaahhhhhh. I love this car, and yes TKO FTW.

 

Although you are making me think I went a bit conservative with the arch cutting in mine! 

Edited by Heath, 14 May 2015 - 10:35 AM.

[76lxhatch]

Thanks Heath, I think we share similar ideas on what a street car should be, looking forward to seeing how yours comes out too! I've had a couple of hacks at the guards over the years so I was determined not to under-do the job, can't really take any more out now.


The clutch needed doing anyway:



The ceramic side is completely gone, its just starting into the metal plate. The pressure plate has a big groove worn into it from the ceramic too, that is a lip you can see. Its been in there just over two years (not many kms though), the stupid thing is the organic side and the flywheel are like new still, you can still see the grinding marks on the flywheel. Apparently this is normal, and some guys only get 6 months out of a clutch!! Wish I'd been told that when I bought it, back to heavy duty organic for me.


Unfortunately the Muncie bearing retainer that mounts the thrust bearing doesn't fit the TKO. I decided it was easiest to just cut the screw section off and bore it out for a light press fit on the TKO retainer. Also added the two screw holes for the pin that stops it rotating.






Checked runout on bell housing, Tremec says 5 thou max so I'm just inside that

Edited by 76lxhatch, 21 July 2017 - 11:32 PM.

[SmacT]

This build never fails to impress. Love the towbar ball idea. :-)

[76lxhatch]

Built a new cross member to suit, with decent exhaust clearance



And a stick to go with the shift knob




Ran into a bit of an issue... the TKO does not fit without cutting. Could maybe leave it hanging down around 50mm too low at the back and modify or custom make headers that don't foul on the front cross member outriggers etc, but would still end up with driveline angle issues. I've cut the tunnel just inside the line of the console so there won't be too many issues refitting that. It needs very little extra height in the centre (with the exception of the shifter), but needs a flatter top with more height at the outsides to match the trans.

Edited by 76lxhatch, 21 July 2017 - 11:33 PM.

[76lxhatch]

Its a complete new cross member, but the old one went as a package with the Muncie to help fund all this... it was modified to suit the Muncie and custom shift linkages so wouldn't suit for you anyway. If you're handy with a welder its only around $35 worth of steel, only problem is I'm way too slow with this stuff


The pieces of the puzzle are starting to come together (ignore the exhaust its just tied up out of the way for the moment)



At least 20mm clearance all round the 1330 series yoke, it happens to fall right in the area where the floor reinforcement is




And some CAD (cardboard aided design) for the tunnel patch

Edited by 76lxhatch, 21 July 2017 - 11:33 PM.

[LXCHEV]

Just read this thread from start to finish, I'm now a big fan of this car! Love the mods and thought that has gone into the build. Awesome mate!

[76lxhatch]

Thanks guys, can't claim credit for the CAD term, I saw it on the web somewhere

[Oysterhead]

You go alright ,wish you lived next door to me.could do with your skills around me garage.

[76lxhatch]

Dunno about skills, its all just trial and error, cut a big enough hole and you have no choice but to figure out how to fix it.

Tunnel patch roughed out, fit isn't too bad


Fits inside the console but only just, fingers crossed the carpet will sneak in there too


The front console mount will be left out and the console will mount directly to the new piece. After that it just needs a final tidy up and I can weld it in (with appropriate fire protection in place!)

Edited by 76lxhatch, 21 July 2017 - 11:34 PM.

[SmacT]

The tunnel mod looks good and I love that gearbox crossmember. Nice work as usual.

 

I took LX Chev's advice and started reading this thread from the beginning - some great stuff in there! In particular the rear sway bar (Commo-style) you mounted up. I can do something similar as I have a BW diff with the mounts still there and still have the Commo swaybar. Where did you get the linkages from for mounting to the arm mounts, though? If you have another pic of how you mounted them, that would be great. No stress if not, it looks straightforward.

 

Love this build - keep the updates coming! 

[76lxhatch]

I can't remember where I got the links from, they are just the standard style you'll find on various Holdens. Could have been the original Commodore ones, or maybe a spare set of Torana front ones?

I did carefully straighten the ends of the bar in the press so the links pointed upwards, and they are simply attached through the front of the upper arm mounts (there is some extra space in front of the arm pivot).

Can't find any decent photos sorry, but in this one you can see the bottom half of the links


and here you can just barely see the very top poking through the upper arm mount at the right of the photo which gives some idea of where it is mounted


If that's not clear I can take another photo tomorrow, its still up on stands with pieces missing at present

Edited by 76lxhatch, 21 July 2017 - 11:34 PM.

[SmacT]

That's great, thanks mate.

Edited by SmacT, 21 May 2015 - 10:48 PM.

[76lxhatch]

Driveshaft needed shortening and a new yoke fitted, the TKO uses a Ford 31 spline (C6) yoke and about the only uni size available is the 1330 that Tremec recommends. My two piece driveshaft originally from a Commodore is 2.25" (a little over 52mm ID), and of course Murphy's law means that there is no 1330 weld yoke for that size tube. Supplier found a reasonably large second hand slip yoke and suggested using it with a sleeve up to the right size, sounds like a good idea to me.

Shortened the slip yoke (left a fair amount of length to make it easy to align) and cleaned it up, and spun up a sleeve to suit





They are both a nice tight fit into the driveshaft tube, which was cut to the appropriate length



and welded all three together in one go



Reassemble the lot with a new uni joint up front and install... thought I was going to have to disassemble the front safety loop for a minute but some brute force and ignorance got it through (can't say the same for the rear loop, CV won't fit through that with the bolts in it!)



Angles are all good, 2.2 degrees at the rear of the trans and 2.4 at the diff. Just have to fill the trans and bleed the clutch and I'm done under the car.

Edited by 76lxhatch, 21 July 2017 - 11:35 PM.

[76lxhatch]

Replaced the shifter boot, found a cheapie that was about the right size and cut the silly elastic band off the bottom to make it fit

Edited by 76lxhatch, 21 July 2017 - 11:35 PM.

[76lxhatch]

Cleaned the underseal off the area of the tunnel where the new piece attaches and prepped for welding. Drilled the flange for plug welds, and installed a couple of small rivet nuts for the front console mount


Welded and seam sealed. No major fires :-)

Edited by 76lxhatch, 21 July 2017 - 11:36 PM.

[76lxhatch]

Over the years the screws holding the sill covers have slogged out the holes, most of them had oversized screws in them that had pulled through too and you can only go so big with the heads before they start scraping on the doors. Drilled the holes out slightly for rivet nuts and fitted some new stainless set screws, problem solved.



A good coat of sound deadener / underseal on the tunnel



Refit (what's left of) the underfelt, I also put a piece inside the console once finished that fits snug around the shifter



Not sure whether it was bad luck or good (finding it) but the heater core was leaking. It actually turned out to be somewhere inside the core itself rather than one of the end tanks so I ordered a new one from Rare Spares. Interesting that its all aluminium, the one in their photos is brass. Looks fine though and it fit without too much hassle.



Also, the carpet and console fits! Just. Photos are getting bad due to it being dark



Shifter came out quite good I think, throw is relatively short so it finds all gears without getting close to the edges of the boot/console.

Edited by 76lxhatch, 21 July 2017 - 11:36 PM.

[76lxhatch]

Seats in, gearbox fluid and engine coolant topped up, clutch bled and back on its wheels this afternoon!

Have only driven it a short way but everything seems OK, clutch feels a bit light compared to the old one and the new gearbox seems a bit strange (not sure on the shifter length as yet) but so far so good. Supposed to drive the trans nicely for a 500 mile break-in period, no high rpm shifts or anything :-(

[SmacT]

Nice job. It's weird seeing a car being improved on like you do it with everything still in the car. Love the ingenuity, and I had better get a nutsert gun... :-).

[Bigfella237]

~ It's weird seeing a car being improved on like you do it with everything still in the car ~

 

Too true but at least you get to enjoy the fruits of your labour straight away, not six years later when it finally sees daylight again!

[76lxhatch]

Yeah I think I'm slowly learning, I can't leave well enough alone but pretty sure I set a personal record this time for self-restraint. I had a big list of "while I'm at it" things to do so it almost ended up in a million pieces again, but I looked at it one day and realised it would be off the road for too long! Already got one major rebuild project in progress.