633 replies to this topic

[SmacT]

Mmmm, sounds like he wants to hold onto them! Thanks.

[76lxhatch]

I've had a bit of an issue with the hose from the power steering reservoir to the pump, it keeps weeping which was annoying me. The original inlet to the pump was on the underside so it had a 180 degree hose clamped at both ends. Originally I planned to find/make some fittings and simply replace it but the belt tension was adjusted by moving the pump on the bracket (separate to the reservoir) which made it slightly difficult over such a short distance.

So I hatched a plan to build a new bracket that pivoted on the head so the reservoir mounting is fixed in relation to the pump. I also realised that the pump casting allows for the inlet to be on either side, so I machined it through to the top and removed the original tube from the bottom and blocked that hole off.


Made a new reservoir outlet with an o-ring groove and mounted it atop the new bracket so it slides straight into the pump inlet, similar to a VN V6.


The new bracket is stronger and everything is a bit neater too. Hopefully no more leaks!

Have to deal with the water pump pulley next - the toothed belt is limited from too much back/forward movement by the alternator pulley which is the only one that has raised edges, so the belt doesn't come off the pulleys. Ever since I put the belt drive on, the belt has run at the front of the alternator pulley, so when I installed a later model long water pump which pushed the pulley forward I wasn't concerned about it. As you can see in these photos now it has suddenly started running the belt at the rear edge so the belt is a few mm off the back of the pulley...! Just need to make something up to move the water pump pulley back a bit again.

Edited by 76lxhatch, 21 July 2017 - 11:23 PM.

[SmacT]

Nice work as usual - you seem to be able to find a way around any problem. 

[N/A-PWR]

another great engineering Task completed SS.

 

 

With the water pump:-

 

can you just press the fan support holder boss into the correct position,

 

it's just a slight press fit on the shaft, and cut the shaft back to suit.

Edited by GASPOWER, 26 August 2014 - 09:56 PM.

[76lxhatch]

Thanks guys, building it is at least half the fun I reckon

The flange on the water pump does just press onto the shaft but it probably wouldn't go any more than a mm or two further back before it hits the outer seal. Plan A is to find a chunk of metal around 15-20mm thick to make a new pulley hub, chop the centre out of the existing pulley so it slides back over the flange and screw the two together.

[76lxhatch]

Anything's possible but they are hugely expensive here, some of the kits are priced in excess of $800 now which is just ridiculous. I got the new pulley hub 90% done today at no (out)cost, will place it exactly where it needs to be.

[76lxhatch]

Stuff is still cheap but the shipping has gone up a lot in recent years :-(

This will sort it


Just need to paint it black :-)

Edited by 76lxhatch, 21 July 2017 - 11:24 PM.

[76lxhatch]

I used a shaft and flange out of an old water pump to spin up the pulley... and as it turns out said shaft wasn't straight. So I had to fix it but all sorted now



Steering rack is back in, have installed the new upper ball joints (I like these Moog parts, they have proper steel self locking nuts). Just have to install the new bushes and ball joints in the lower arms and reassemble, after starting it and double-checking for any leaks... only the battery is flat... :-/

Edited by 76lxhatch, 21 July 2017 - 11:24 PM.

[76lxhatch]

Ever since I put the Bilstein dampers in, they keep wanting to shuffle over to one side of the bottom mount and rub against the edge of the hole in the lower control arm. Not really a big deal but it bugged me, so I made some extra brackets (now black, paint currently drying)



Got a bit sidetracked with other stuff today so only managed to swap bushing and ball joint on one lower arm - this is roughly where the offset one will be clocked, to pull the front of the arm inboard a bit

Edited by 76lxhatch, 21 July 2017 - 11:24 PM.

[76lxhatch]

This one has been on the car for years, hasn't caused me any problems but did require a bit of alteration to work nicely. The alternator pulley is from a different kit (smaller diameter) to give a normal ratio so the alternator doesn't stop charging at low revs. Also the power steer pulley isn't standard, I cut it off a factory crank pulley and tweaked the bottom pulley to fit it - more detail in the power steering thread:
http://www.gmh-toran...ve/#entry693738

They are mostly just for looks, to get the belt to whine much with the square tooth profile requires over tightening it to the point of destroying alternator and water pump bearings which is where I think most people go wrong. Others just don't like them because they figure its too much wank factor which is a personal thing, I feel the same about too much chrome

I wouldn't buy another at the current prices but I'm happy with the current setup while it remains problem free.

[76lxhatch]

OK so its back on its wheels tonight, about time! Still got a few things to tidy up but almost done.

Initial measurements for wheel alignment are promising, although I'd like to try to get them a touch more even if possible (or at least favour the left rather than right).

Left camber: -0.5 degrees
Left caster: +6.4 degrees

Right camber: -0.6 degrees
Right caster: +6.6 degrees

Not bad for a Torana

[N/A-PWR]

Great Job SS,

 

Mine use to bend the bottom shocky mounting plate where your great clamps are,

 

and bust out, as they are an open slot, you have now given us some hope in fixing this problem.,

 

or install stronger non-slotted mounting plates.

 

 

The gas mono-tube shocky's I used, took 80kgs to move down at 1mm per second,

 

so when giving the Torana a hiding, the shocky would be dangling below the control arm, ha ha.

 

Ever since I put the Bilstein dampers in, they keep wanting to shuffle over to one side of the bottom mount and rub against the edge of the hole in the lower control arm. Not really a big deal but it bugged me, so I made some extra brackets (now black, paint currently drying)


 

[76lxhatch]

Interesting, I never thought of it actually reinforcing that area as I've never had any issues with that but yeah I suppose it would help. The Bilstein mounts are not an open slot like most and are a bit thicker so I guess they would be an improvement to begin with. I use a bottle jack to compress the shock the first inch or so to install the bolts, no hope of doing it by hand in an awkward position under the car!

Final alignment for first test drive

Left camber: -0.6 degrees
Left caster: +6.45 degrees

Right camber: -0.6 degrees
Right caster: +6.58 degrees

Toe in: 1mm

Basically the negative camber has been cut in half and the caster has increased by just over 1 degree. I have a little adjustment left on the camber to play with if needed. Wheels still have full clearance lock to lock.

[N/A-PWR]

That's an improvement having holes and no slots, thank's.

and sound's very good how you are measuring the angle differences

[76lxhatch]

I put together some tools to do my own wheel alignment a few years ago, most places around here only do fixed price alignments so they're not willing to spend any time adjusting shims etc, plus they just want to reset everything to the factory specs on their computer rather than set it up properly.

I've got a three legged plate thing which sits flat against the wheel and has a laser pointer mounted on it, and has a flat spot for the digital angle finder. This is enough to measure camber with the angle finder, and toe using a tape measure and the laser pointer. Caster can be calculated using two camber measurements at the same wheel angle turned left and right; I have a fixed 20 degree angle which sits on the floor and line it up using the laser pointer again. Also made some basic wheel turning plates using two flat circles of alloy plate with a pivot and grease between them.

Its a bit slow and its not super duper accurate (not bad though), but it allows me to spend whatever time I need to tweak and adjust things to my satisfaction. Also nice not to have to work around a hot engine/exhaust.

As you can see from the caster calcs the difference between left and right is basically the margin of error

Edited by 76lxhatch, 21 July 2017 - 11:25 PM.

[N/A-PWR]

Fantastic work there SS. 

 

 

and you have also nutted all this out, so it works.

[76lxhatch]

Well I got everything back together and gave it a quick run, all seems to be good with the steering and suspension. However I noticed the master cylinder was weeping fluid out the back... so I pulled that down for a rebuild.

Not as simple as I had hoped; its a standard master cylinder body but has a stepped stainless sleeve so the primary bore is 1.125" while the secondary is still 1". The larger piston had seals with some unknown part numbers, and the main seal had been butchered to fit the groove. Thanks to Dattoman who gave me some measurements and part numbers for PBR seals to suit, and machined the piston groove out a bit to suit the new main seal, which I'm sure will last longer than the old one.

Before


After (notice the wider seal at right)


Also finally got around to making up a pressure bleeder, I should have done this years ago, makes bleeding so much easier!

Edited by 76lxhatch, 21 July 2017 - 11:26 PM.

[76lxhatch]

Went for a day trip down to the Kaikoura Hop yesterday (good day), ~520km round trip and I couldn't really fault anything. It still feels slightly twitchy where the wide tyres climb in and out of the ruts and potholes on our roads but its pretty minor and overall very stable and still corners quite well. To top it off the fuel economy is somewhere in the mid-high 11Ls per 100km which I reckon is pretty good for a carb'ed V8 with four speed and 3.45:1 diff, plenty of hills included.

[76lxhatch]

Also changed the radiator overflow tank so it will work properly with the recovery cap. The old one must have been mounted too low as it never worked right, and has seen better days


The new one is slightly smaller so it fits between the radiator and the battery but still holds around 800mL which is just enough. Now the recovery cap works as intended and the radiator stays full :-)

Edited by 76lxhatch, 21 July 2017 - 11:26 PM.

[rodomo]

These make handy gearbox/diff filleruperers too.

[Heath]

Hadn't looked in this thread in a while. Love your work!!!