703 replies to this topic

[purrlx]

Well done Anton, awesome build so far

[308 Sunbird]

Getting there now-very nice

[notna]

Cheers guys. Scoped out a new trimmer today to fit my seat covers, which I have already. He seemed fairly affordable, so this will happen sooner than I had thought. A few things I need to buy still... seat belts, new bumpers, dash pad, front door trims, rear tail lights and reco my brake booster. There is a few grands worth there, so those will take a bit of time to acquire. Pretty sure I have everything else, including dual 3 inch exhaust which I am about to fit up. Hope it's not too loud!

 

[GMHAz]

G'day Anton
If the trimmer can't do your dash pad I'll be using a bloke who has been recommended to me
to recover my dash pad - Dashboard Recovering Services. 9672 7183.
I gave him a buz not long ago & he gave me a verbal quote of around the $300 mark , not bad
for a re-skin.
The exhaust will never be to loud but if it is a least I'll be able to hear it from my house !!

Az

[LJGTR6]

Great pics. That engine looks so good.

[notna]

Heh... been a while since I checked in on my own thread too Daz. I had to read the last couple of pages to remember where I was up to with this.

 

I'm aiming to start it for the first time over this coming Easter holiday. Yes, the video camera will be on hand for the (hopefully) happy moment. Since dropping the motor in, there has been a precession of small components getting the resto treatment, including the carb obviously, the wiper motor, heater fan, all LOTS of other small fiddly things. Nothing goes back into this car without being reconditioned, restored, or resprayed.

 

It's getting very close to 5 years now since this all began, and I never imagined it would take this long. I seem to have found the right balance between wanting to get it done, and enjoying the restoration journey. For me, every one of these small projects that forms the big project, is an enjoyable experience. I get bored when I finish a car, because it's doing all the work that I love most.

 

Here are some snaps of what has kept me busy over the past few months...

 

Wiper motor refurb:

 

 1-Collage-2015-03-19-18_23_48.jpg   119.72K   4 downloads

 

Engine fan shroud. Believe me, I had to cut and modify this to bring it back to standard, as someone had hideously modified it to suit an after market radiator.

 

 1-IMG_20150330_182942.jpg   94.91K   2 downloads

 

Some detail touches. I still find it amazing to think that my SL/R came from my childhood local Holden dealer.

 

 1-IMG_20150322_164131.jpg   70.22K   2 downloads

 

And the engine bay, hopefully will be roaring proudly this Easter weekend!

 

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Will keep you posted

 

 

[hanra]

Radical!

[notna]

Hey Brad... when starting this motor for the first time... you have to run the cam in yea? I should have researched this already. What's the deal with that? And oil? Just standard oil for first start up?

[hanra]

Hey Anton, I think their will be much more experienced people here that can comment on running the cam in. You can buy a running in oil, Ive used it. Is it right or wrong? I dont know.

Getting the oil pressure up on a newly built Holden V8 can be tricky. I filled my oil filter the best I could before fitting it, then filled the rest of it via the oil pressure sender hole. Mine wouldnt make oil pressure at idle, the revs had to come up.

There was a new member that just joined who is an ex engine builder from the Grp A/C days and V8SC days, I would imagine his advice would be some of the best!!!!


What sort of ignition do you have? Points? If so, you can statically time it so that its pretty much spot on so you dont have to frig around with the timing to get it started. I did this to mine before I fitted the carb etc, so I had some more room to play with the dizzy.

Edited by hanra, 01 April 2015 - 10:15 AM.

[notna]

I've got an electronic dizzy. Set it by eye and should be pretty close. Done that many times.

 

My engine builder packed the oil pump with vasoline. He said it helps with oil pressure on first start-up. He also said running in oil is BS . I'll research a bit. Haven't tried filling the oil filter before, but nice idea. Did you run an oil pressure gauge?

[hanra]

I didnt run an oil pressure gauge, I had my multimeter connected to the oil pressure sender and ensured that I could see a resistance change.

[notna]

Geeky! I like it though

[lxsstorana]

I've got an electronic dizzy. Set it by eye and should be pretty close. Done that many times.

 

My engine builder packed the oil pump with vasoline. He said it helps with oil pressure on first start-up. He also said running in oil is BS . I'll research a bit. Haven't tried filling the oil filter before, but nice idea. Did you run an oil pressure gauge?

 

Hi Anton, your cars looking great. 

 

I went through the same thing about 2-3 years ago with my 308 engine.  Initially, we didn't get oil pressure so the motor was turned off.  My mate/mechanic then removed the oil pressure switch and put some oil down the hole, removed the oil filter and half filled it with oil, and removed the oil pump and packed it with vasoline.  Re-started the engine and had pressure in a few seconds.  I asked him why we didn't do those extra things in the first place, and from his experience, most engines don't need it, but I would recommend it.

 

Then ran the motor for around 25 minutes and let it cool down.  Drained the engine oil (which was just normal mineral oil) and changed the oil filter, as recommended by my mechanic.  Alot of people have told me that I didn't need to change the oil so quickly but I was just following his instructions.  Most mechanics have there quirks and preferences with this sort of stuff.

 

Good luck, I'm sure you'll be fine.  

[notna]

Cheers for the extra info Mick.

 

Vaso - check!

Filled oil filter - check!

Oil down the pressure switch hole - will do!

 

I heard 15 minutes at about 2000 rpm for cam running in. Is that right?

[torana_nick]

I had oil pressure problems too. we did all the above and worked eventually..
I also added cam break in oil I think it's high in zinc.
Usually they supply you with break in instructions but here is a link to the crane one. That's what we did on the dyno.

http://www.cranecams...reakin/548e.pdf

[notna]

I think we coated the cam in a paste, and my engine builder told me to run Penrite HPR with zinc, which I am.

 

Cheers for the PDF. Printed that off to read later.

[torana_nick]

Yep that's what I used hpr 30. I also added crane break in adetive.
Looking Foward to the video. Keep up the good work!

[308mate]

Car is looking amazing dude. Life in the motor - exciting times!

[lxsstorana]

Cheers for the extra info Mick.

 

 

I heard 15 minutes at about 2000 rpm for cam running in. Is that right?

 

Most people have told me 20 minutes is a good run time but check with your mechanic.

[StephenSLR]

I've heard 20 minutes varying the engine speed between 2 and 3 grand, and followed that, which seems to have worked fine.

 

My engine builder told me to avoid long highway drives for the first 1,000 km's, so the engine doesn't stay on the same revs for too long.

 

 

He also said running in oil is BS

 

Dunno about running in but I hear it's no good to do lots of short drives (less than 20 minutes), apparently the oil doesn't get hot enough to burn off pollutants created during combustion; those that only drive to the local shops should take it out for a long drive every now and then to maintain the oil.

 

s

Edited by StephenSLR, 04 April 2015 - 08:53 AM.

[notna]

Papaya comes to life!

 

What a huge relief, and significant milestone! The car never ran when I bought it, nor did it have power to anything, and now it has both! Was a marathon over Easter to get everything connected up ready to start, but she fired up without any dramas. Only thing to go sour was the starter motor, which seems to have shat itself after only a few cranks.

 

 IMG_20150406_154634.jpg   178.19K   6 downloads

 

Got to fine tune the carby and timing, figure out the oil pressure situation, and bed that cam in. Then it's interior and... done? 5 Years worth of very hard work so far. I can't believe we have life now! Such a great feeling.