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my VK wagon daily

Started by _mick74lh_ , Mar 06 2011 10:14 PM

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#1 _mick74lh_

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Posted 06 March 2011 - 10:14 PM

Well g'day. I bought this VK wagon about a month ago, with the idea of doing it up how I wanted to use as a daily. It was pretty rough and the guy i bought it off was a massive bogan - he was even on bail! Thats a true story. Seeing as I was ashamed of how it looked when i had just driven it home I didn't actually take any photos untill I'd started spraying it. But luckily Brad took some photos so hopefully I can get them off him. Or could you post them on here mate? if you get a chance - cheers.

It was running a fairly worn 253 and trimatic and had a couple of centimetres of play in the steering. It sounded cool but really wasn't much chop to drive. And to top it off it reeked of that black ice air freshener. When i got it home the first thing I did was pull out all the interior and take off the bumpers and bits of trim that would have to come off for the respray.The respray was a pretty dodgey rush job involving a bit of bog here and there but after helping Brad do his Torana and with my final year of uni coming up I didn't have a whole lot of time. My folks had gone away for two weeks and I had kept this a secret from them (otherwise i wouldn't have been able to do this), so with the help of Brianna and Brad i spent about four days hardly sleeping flat out getting the whole car painted in white acrylic.

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After wet rubbing it and cutting it back it came up alright
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Going back a bit further i had already planned to get a 'white VK wagon' and run a 202 with an M76 five speed and straight LPG, so i had been secretly (from my folks) been gathering bits and pieces for quite a few months. When they went away last melbourne cup weekend I brought home a 202 and five speed out of a VK at the wreckers and stripped the 202 down, hiding the block under the workbench in the garage and all the other bits and pieces in my bedroom. The 202 was in reasonably good nick and on its original bore so I cleaned it out and gave the bores a hone. I got new rings and main and conrod bearings but reused the same pistons. I bought a cam off Ryan (MR5000) with an alloy timing gear and reassembled the motor with new gaskets when my folks weren't home. Ryan lent me a some tools for working on the head (including a die grinder) so i stripped it down and didn't go nuts porting it or anything but just cleaned out some of the lumps and bumps and sharp edges behind the valve opening, then took the head to Rob Bakers in Box Hill where they reground the valves and seats and got everything to seal up nicely.

The cam isn't massive just a crane cam with 254 degrees duration on the inlet and 264 on the exhaust and 382" valve lift on the inlet and 408" on the exhaust. I don't want to be revving it up just to move in the traffic.

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#2 _mick74lh_

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Posted 06 March 2011 - 10:24 PM

Yes the grille isnt straight and the wheels are ugly but i'll get to that. Here are some photos of the engine when I got it and then progressing through its reco.
Oh and I apologise in advance for converting a V8 back to a six cylinder. I'm sorry but I just didn't want a V8. The six will be perfect when it is done.

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I found a set of 15 inch simmons B45s at a wrecker. The blue powdercoat on the centres was peeling so I sanded that back and gave them a coat of gloss black engine enamel. I really should have disassembled the wheels but didn't have time and this car is not meant to be perfect, so masking them up sufficed. The simmons have an alloy outer rim and are fairly light.
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When the whole car is lowered properly and I actually fit all the trim and give it a good detail it should look alright

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#3 _Brad1979UC_

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Posted 06 March 2011 - 10:37 PM

Yep I've got the photos, yea it was definitely an experience picking up this machine!

The previous owner described it as a 'cruzer'

Once the paint was paint was done and foul smelling carpet removed and radical skull stickers disposed of, Mick added a nice set of simmonds and pulled the 253/trimatic combo out

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engine bay to be cleaned up

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old mill

new mill + manual bits

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#4 _mick74lh_

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Posted 06 March 2011 - 10:47 PM

The next step was fitting the 202 and five speed. I used a new clutch kit and that seemed to all go together no worries, so hopefully that works okay. For some reason when I fitted it all up the actual inner clutch cable was too long. I know this sounds dodgey but I stuck about six washers together with some JB weld and fitted them flushly around the clutch cable outer lower end to get the right movement of the clutch fork. Now the pedal sits about right and the clutch has a good feel. The car doesnt have a tailshaft in it yet so i haven't been able to truly test if it disengages but you can feel the diaphram spring compress as you push the pedal in. I will be using the VK efi type inlet manifold and throttle body for the straight LPG, which i have painted in some poofy paint which I reckon should look nice once its all assembled. The have since run new electrical cables in the engine bay which are alot neater than the crap that was in there before.
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I sealed up the injector holes in the manifold with small welsch plugs and some aviation sealant.

Whilst its not yet running all the hoses and accessories are fitted now, except for a petrol fuel pump, and my plan is to get it started on petrol using a different manifold and borrowed varijet within the next week, then the EFI manifold and the gas equipment will be going on. Rob (Rodomo) has given me alot of pointers with this and some material to study now on LPG system layouts, lockoffs and other regulations, etc. So I will be able to do the wiring myself, that way it will be done neatly and there won't be a part of my car that I won't understand how it works, and I'll get the copper lines fitted and certified at his mate's workshop.

For now I've got a crapload of homework so will sort that out and be back into this in a few days.

Thanks Brad. That sticker on the back is bloody hilarious!

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#5 _judgelj_

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Posted 06 March 2011 - 11:16 PM

love the paint job, what process did you follow in laying down the paint?

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#6 _Woodsy_

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Posted 07 March 2011 - 06:52 AM

That turned out bloody well! Its a presentable VK, but i have a soft spot for them...

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#7 _dirtbag_

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Posted 07 March 2011 - 08:05 AM

VERY tidy mate, very tidy :buttrock:

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#8 MRLXSS

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Posted 07 March 2011 - 08:07 AM

Good stuff!

This is HEAPS better and cooler than another wagon that a fellow member just purchased!

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#9 _mick74lh_

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Posted 07 March 2011 - 08:24 AM

love the paint job, what process did you follow in laying down the paint?

There were a few dings so I hammered and dollied out what I could then went over all the paint with a course sandpaper on a speedfile to find the low spots. I bogged anything that I couldn't beat flat and sanded the whole lot back straight with 80 grit on a speedfile. There were a couple of stonechips that had rusted so I bare metalled those bits but the rest I just scuffed back with 320 grit sandpaper on a soft block and by hand. Then I etch primed any bits that I'd bare metalled or bogged and applied a high build primer to the lot. Again I went over that with 150 grit paper on the speedfile in the least perfect bits before recoating them with some more high-fill primer. I then went over the lot with a shorter hard rubber block with some 400 grit sandpaper attached to get it fairly smooth, before applying the acrylic white. Its not super straight but I don't feel too bad about that because I'll be parking this car at work and in the city when I go to uni so I'd be more worried if it was perfect and about people bumping or scratching it.

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#10 _BAILLIE_

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Posted 09 March 2011 - 12:21 AM

Nice one

The VKs were the best looking commy IMO. I loved my old VK wagon

I think they will go the way of Toranas and be worth good money soon enough.

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#11 _Quagmire_

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Posted 09 March 2011 - 01:19 AM

the v8 5.0's already are your looking at 5k to get a goodish one over here!
well done m8t sprayed my xg van and it don't look half as good as that might just have to do it all again

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#12 mr5000

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Posted 09 March 2011 - 07:10 AM

coming along good mickey give us a yell it you need a hand with anything hope the cam is a good one

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#13 _Torrie_Man_

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Posted 09 March 2011 - 09:14 PM

tidy!

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#14 _mick74lh_

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Posted 19 March 2011 - 12:46 PM

I was hoping to get it started last thursday. Mechanically the engine is ready to start temporarily on petrol with some parts lent from Rodomo but have had a couple of electrical problems which I need to sort out. I have diagnosed what they are but won't have time to fix them until mid next week. Its frustrating how quickly a week goes when you're trying to get lots of other shit done but thats life eh.

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#15 rodomo

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Posted 22 March 2011 - 08:45 PM

Running yet? :huh:

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#16 _Bomber Watson_

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Posted 22 March 2011 - 09:00 PM

Why did you apologize for making the best decision anyone has ever made in there life???

Taking that dirty rotten boat anchor of a Holden V8 out and putting a lovely, refined, poetic 202 in there made this thread worth reading.

Cheers.

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#17 _mick74lh_

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Posted 22 March 2011 - 10:07 PM

Yep. I finally got it running on petrol this afternoon.

The 'electrical problem' was that i wasn't getting 12volts to the starter signal wire or the coil, but was getting it at the ignition switch, so there must have been a break somewhere between those points. After dicking around I found that purple starter wire from the ignition switch runs via the auto trans shifter obviously to stop people from trying to start the car in gear. When converting the car to manual and wiring up the reverse light switch to the new gearbox I disregarded the two purple wires as 'some auto bullshit' that I probably wont need so I cut them and taped them up. So this was the problem. When i reconnected these back together the problem was solved.

Anyway the motor started well and I got good consistent oil pressure promptly after firing. It sounded tough running straight out of the extractor. But it kept stalling every time I let the revs drop below about 2 grand and I didn't want to rev the motor too hard for too long so only did several 10 and 20 second bursts of running. I'm fairly sure my problem is with the varajet thats temporarily on there as there seems to be no squirt of like a vaporised mist into the primary venturi when you pump the throttle, but just a dribble down the centre. I don't know much about carburetters to be honest and I'm not going to bother rebuilding this one or chasing the problem as this just seems to be a fuel system problem. The engine itself seemed tight and there were no leaks.

So I plan to now pull out the petrol fuel system and start wiring it for gas and fitting as many components of the gas system as I'm able to myself, which will probably still take me a few weeks. Hope thats okay Rob.

The engine will still need a proper initial run in but it will start and run with a decent fuel system now. I'm hoping the LPG guy, Brett, won't need to idle the car for any long periods, as it really needs to do probably twenty minutes of running above a normal idle speed. Pretty much the standard procedure for running in a rebuilt engine.

Anyway i'm very happy that it ran and didn't blow up, touch wood. Hopefully will update the thread with some photos soon.

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#18 _mick74lh_

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Posted 22 March 2011 - 10:16 PM

Why did you apologize for making the best decision anyone has ever made in there life???

Taking that dirty rotten boat anchor of a Holden V8 out and putting a lovely, refined, poetic 202 in there made this thread worth reading.

Cheers.

Mate I do like Holden V8s. They're one of my favourite types of motor, but I also like the sixes and have always wanted a car with a nice Holden six in. They're so easy to work on and they sound mint and the steering is relatively light now in this car, though I badly need to lower the front.

So yeah I'm not genuinely sorry but still thought some people would get offended by what I did. If the car was mint and had its original V8 in it then i probably wouldn't have changed it, but really it was ratshit and drove like crap so what I'm doing in my opinion will be a massive improvement.

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#19 _Bomber Watson_

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Posted 23 March 2011 - 06:03 PM

My comment was tongue in cheek, everyone knows i dislike Holden V8's even though i have one lol.

Seriously though this is coming along nicely.

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#20 micklx

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Posted 29 March 2011 - 10:58 PM

Looking nice. After Toranas, VKs are probably my favourite.

If you need any parts, power steering etc I'm wrecking a VK 6 cyl

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#21 _mick74lh_

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Posted 31 March 2011 - 09:39 PM

Looking nice. After Toranas, VKs are probably my favourite.

If you need any parts, power steering etc I'm wrecking a VK 6 cyl

Hey Mick thanks mate. I'm hoping I've got everything I need for now but there will be stuff I'm chasing down the track when I get a chance to do a couple of planned things on it. I actually didn't know you were a wrecker. Is that a fairly new venture?

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#22 _mick74lh_

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Posted 31 March 2011 - 10:16 PM

Lately the project has slowed right down because of uni homework and I havent been able to get as much done as I hoped. But there has been a little bit of progress.

After blaming the varejet carby for the engine not idling, I thought I'd try advancing the ignition timing a bit, which made all the difference, so I was able to run the new 202 straight out of the extractors for about 20 minutes just varying the revs about 500 revs either side of 2500. And I even put the car in gear and moved it back and forth about a meter. It ran well except for an oil leak which looked to be coming from the oil sender screw hole or the sump edge near that spot. I nipped both of them up tighter and found I only had the sump bolts barely done up. I must have been paranoid intinially about buggering the sump gasket. So now the petrol gear has started coming off and put on the EFI manifold and extractors for the LPG going on. I had the exhaust done a couple of weeks ago at Ferndale in Ferntree Gully. The guys there are funny as and they do a really good job.

The other thing was the M76 tailshaft which Nemo355 kindly gave me. I was hoping the centre CV would be the same diameter as my V8 tailshaft to suit the big disc brake salisbury but it wasn't. As I'd planned to just join half of each tailshaft at this point to make a hybrid. So the best solution I figured was to use most of the M76 tailshaft and get the V8 rear yoke/uni bit cut n shut onto it. I took it to a guy who runs a business called Knox DriveShafts out of his home workshop and he cut and shut it, linished and balanced it all in the same day for a hundred bucks, which I thought seemed pretty reasonable, so I was stoked with that.

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I still need to file the burrs off the end of the tailpipe and just give it a lick of paint
And the interior is still a mess while I sort out the manual console and electrical wiring. I made a rough switch panel for the electric windows using jaycar momentary back and forth switches, and am fitting remote central locking. I want to get all the general wiring and gas wiring done before taking it to the gas place so that the interior won't have to all come apart again. And have been cleaning and repairing all the trim so that it doesn't smell or make bad noises when you open and close things. Got the driver's door all togther and while its not perfect, its alot better than when I got the car.

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#23 76lxhatch

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Posted 01 April 2011 - 07:14 AM

I like your switch panel, are you running relays for the window motors or are the switches a bit bigger than they look?

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#24 _mick74lh_

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Posted 01 April 2011 - 05:02 PM

I like your switch panel, are you running relays for the window motors or are the switches a bit bigger than they look?

You know I hadn't actually thought about that so thanks for mentioning it. I'm a bit of a dumbarse.

The car had factory electric windows that only sort of worked and the factory switch panel in the front fell apart each time you tried to use it. I've looked and havent yet found any relays in the factory system. Would it be possible that the switching contacts in the factory switch panel are beefier? (my electrical terminology is probably pretty innacurate) And therefore relays are not required when using the factory switch panel? If that is the case then I'd better fit some relays. I havent yet wired the electric windows to the new switch panel. I just fabricated it first so that all four switches would be in one spot and I'd know which is which.

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#25 _nzstato_

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Posted 01 April 2011 - 06:18 PM

I'd be interested in how you do this too. The factory HQ power windows (much older I know) have a very primitive set of switches and I'm sure dont manage the load very well. I'm going to completely redo the whole system and am considering running them all off relays as well. Wagon is looking good, this is going to make a sweet daily.