517 replies to this topic

[Bart]

Hey Yella love your project, my engine is a Nissan alloy 4.1liter V8 or VH41, they come in VH45 which are similar but have starter motor on the opposite side etc etc my starter motor is on the passenger side lucky as there is little room for exhaust manifold as it is on the driver side with the steering shaft there.

[Bart]

Thanks fella, just something to keep me out of the wife's hair.

Yeah, that's a whole heap of motor for an LJ, and I thought the LH-LX engine bay was small. I hope I can get to see it at some stage, as I'm sure you've had to do some interesting mods to fit it all in. I'm always amazed looking at Litre8's car and some of the length he's gone to to fit stuff.

Thanks mate i hope i can show you the car soon also as i so want to drive it.
Hey Toranamat i had a look at where the adjustable suspension arms may foul and it all seems good 95% sure. I used a ruler to roughly see where the suspension arm will be and it seems to clear everything, hey i think i went through this before some months ago lol come to think of it oh well, im still waiting for a reply from SPC performance. Will keep ya posted

[Bart]

Hey Toranamat, how many degrees is the standard ball joint mounting on the upper control arm?

[Toranamat69]

Bart,

I have gone out aand bought myself a complete LJ front end to play around with for when I finally finish the one for my LX.

I had a look tonight and it does look like the straight rods should miss everything if you are lucky.

I will try to measure the angle of the balljoint mounting plate tomorrow.
I have a neat little gauge which should get a pretty accurate meaurement for you.

M@

[Bart]

CHAMPION
Yeah i think the control arm will miss everything, but could hit the spring housing when the arm goes all the way down when the car is jacked up. I think.
Since i wont be using shims the arm will go out more, this will affect the camber gain as the adjustable arm will be shorter hmm this may be tricky.

Edited by Bart, 07 January 2008 - 01:14 AM.

[Toranamat69]

Bart,

The top balljoint mounting plate angles in at 5 degrees.

The difference in camber gain will be very small if your top arms are only 5 or 10mm shorter, I wouldn't worry too much about it. I did a det of measurements with my top control arms 20mm longer than std and it only made a small change to the camber gain.

M@

Edited by Toranamat69, 07 January 2008 - 11:11 PM.

[Bart]

thanks mat for your help, the arms will be approx 20mm shorter as te shims are approx that much, im still waiting for the reply from SPC Performance, they must be scratching there heads about what the hell a Torana is.

[Bart]

Just an update on the control arms, the Summit ones use MOOG K5208 ball joints and the Torana uses K5108, I just emailed Datto to see what the differences are im hoping the shank/shaft are the same. Or maybe I have to reem the bolt hole in the spindle? Toranamatt??

[Bart]

Ok I have opted for the K772 Chrysler top ball joint with the K5108 shank (IE torana shank) Thiss allows me to use the SPC upper control arm as it uses the K772 ball joint and the K5108 shank (IE torana shank) allows me to use the Torana/HQ stubs. Will show pics when the good are ordered and arrive.
While I was working this stuff out I decided to buy my alloy flywheel made by Fidanza, its a twin turbo 300ZX unit as it will bolt onto the VH41 V8 crank, now I have to buy a damn clutch as the VL turbo clutch aint going to fit.

[Bart]

Hey guys I got the SPC adjustable control arms, I had to turn down the cross shaft 1mm to 16mm to fit the bushes on, it all bolts on together great. Im very happy with the result.

[Bart]

I forgot to mention the ball joints im using are Chrysler K772 which screw in, these ball joints have removable tappered pin, so the ball joint housing is K772 and the tappered pin is K5108 as these fit in the stub axle, I can buy different lengths if i want to change the geometry but at this stage i odered standard length as this is still all experimental lol
Thanks Toranamatt69 for your help on this

[Heath]

I am very impressed. I didn't know that something like this was actually economically feasible.

PS Australian Export paint is shithouse

[Bart]

Thanks guys
LOL thanks Heath the mat black is to touch up the cross member and engine bay, as i cant afford to get the whole car blasted and painted yet, that will come later and there wont be dodgy paint involved.
NRV051, they cost about $385 Aus, they come from the US, im not sure if they fit on the HR, you have to measure the inner diameter of your bushes, and the length of your arms from centre of cross shaft to centre of ball joint and go from there.
The bushes i got were the smallest ones with 16mm inner diameter so your cross shaft must be 16mm outer diameter, i had to turn down my cross shaft to 16mm
You can get bolt in GM ball joints K5208 body with K5108 tapered stud to fit in your stub axle these ball joints come from HOWE Racing in the US, i wanted to try the chrysler type.

Edited by Bart, 17 February 2008 - 10:36 AM.

[Bart]

Hey guys, Im still going lol. I have stalled a bit as im waiting to get my sump back, got my adjustable screw in ball joints from the US a company called Howe; they sell all sorts of Speed and NASCAR parts.
Also got my fly wheel turned down a few millimeters to fit my VH41 ring gear as I removed the VG30 ring gear (a little too big) I am using a VG30 alloy fly wheel as the bolt pattern suits my VH41 V8.
Also used a 350ZX pressure plate as it has more clamping pressure with less pedal effort compared to the 300ZX pressure plate. The 350zx PP required the fly wheel to be re-drilled (different bolt pattern)
Basically after I got my fly wheel back I stuck it in the freezer for an hour and heated up my VH41 ring gear (as it is an interference fit) and the gear dropped right on no worries. The ring gear has retaining screws also.
Also got my new heavy duty clutch, it is single plate with sintered iron ceramic. (If I remember correctly)



The ball joints are re-buildable, and the tappered pins can be bought in various lengths so you can change the geometry. Real nice quality I must say, basically the top of the ball joint screws off, grease it up and drop the tappered pin/ball stud in and tighten the the top up and tighten the retaining grub screws.

Edited by Bart, 26 February 2008 - 06:49 PM.

[Bart]

Awesome looking control arms Bart, is that going to be a pain to get it set up properly?

No it should be easier than normal, had to get rid of the shims to make room for the manifolds. So no shims to muck around with

[Bart]

Bit of progress, just got back from holidays with the wife, just quietly its great to be back working on the Tori.
Got all the fittings welded on the sump, made the fitting to screw down the dip stick tube, basically turned down a bit of aluminium rod and put a female thread in it, male thread on the stalk which is welded on the sump, flared the dip stick tube and the fitting tightens on that, worked out ok.

[Bart]

Mate, I cant beleive your patience with this sort of project / rebuild. I thought I was patient but your unbelievable. Good on you . Cant wait to see it in the flesh.

Cheers

DD

Thanks Dirty Deeds, dont forget my wifes patients hehehe, we wont go there But yeah everything has been a challenge on this project. Not exacly a straight forward engine swap.
Today I will weld up my exhaust manifold as i left it couple of weeks ago as i went on holidays, got an extra week before i go to work so i can go hard core on the car all week.

[Bart]

I forgot to mention the two -10 fittings which are side by side near the front of the engine will have two -10 lines going to the oil filter, so basically it will have a remote oil filter as the exhaust manifold was too damn tight to pass through with the filter in its original location
Just made up a 6mm alluminium flange plate by copying the profile of the original filter housing, welded two -10 fittings and bobs your uncle, the filter housing i hust tapped ascrewed the fittings in.

[Bart]

My remote oil filter, the fittings on the left will have braided lines from the motor, the fittings on the right will feed the turbos through more briade