145 replies to this topic

[Doubledip]

Moved house recently so the car had to move, I pretty much threw the wiring in and got it running and drove it with an unregistered vehicle permit to the new house.
Was great to get it running and drive it even though it was only 450m, had some issues getting it started as I didn't know how the Torana ignition switch worked.

The trouble shooting instructions that came with my loom from Ultimate Conversion Wiring had the answer and after bridging the wires from crank to ignition it fired up, thanks Justin for making a good looking neat loom and all the help you have provided on the phone too. Great to hear it running in the car, bit loud without tail pipes but very enjoyable. Everything worked and I took it down the street into it's new garage. Brakes worked at the other end too. The engine bay is a bit of a mess and I don't like my coil mounts but will change that when there is time. Had the ECM, fuses and relays just sitting on the floor in the car as there wasn't time to mount it all.

Although I didn't have a dash I could see the speedo cable wasn't turning which was a bit of a concern as I immediately thought the worst and it might have been a problem in the box but I took the cable out today and found after putting the 90degree and pass through sensor back in it works now. I ran the car today in the garage with the wheels off the ground to test the speedo and also waited till the fans came on switched off, happy all that should have worked did.

Lots to do yet but nice encouraging progress.

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Good to see you got it going. Great feeling when it can start and move under its own steam. Little jealous as mine is still packed away at a mates shed waiting for me to move it to my new place. Been about 3 months since have worked on it

[neglectedtorana]

Hi Dave, just noticed your comment about the yoke in the gearbox. I will check it but think it goes in far enough.

[neglectedtorana]

Hi Tom 

Just read start to finish and looking good 

Had to smile with the crossmember as i just went through the same thing but with a T10 box

 

Looking at the yoke going into the extension housing it seems it could need to go in a bit more but not sure if the photo was taken with the car suspended 

Normal rule of thumb is with the cars suspension under compression you push the yoke fully in until it stops then withdraw it round 3/4 to an inch for full spline engagement length

 

Just seems you have a fair bit of the yoke still out of the box - hate to have looked at a potential weak spot in the driveline and not let you know

 

Cheers and love your work

 

Hi Dave,

Think it is ok, next pic is from when I measured up for the tail shaft. You can see a grease mark around the yoke, that is the 20-30mm I pulled it back out of the gearbox once it went all the way in and I think it looks about the same as it does now. I remember when fitting it that it only just passed the uni joint on the diff to fit in so don't think it could be much longer. From memory it has about 80mm in the gearbox.

 

As it is now full of oil I might put tape on it and see if I can pull it out 50mm without it dropping out which I think will mean it is still in enough. At least it is only a small thing to add to the list to do. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

Justin, hope you get some time to work on your car both for your needs and also many of us here look forward to the next modification

 

Took the pass through speed sensor and 90 degree gearbox fitting and refitted them, looks like I had something wrong the first time as it worked when I reassembled it. the guy who built my diff recommended running it with the wheels suspended for 10min at 2500 rpm. I ran it for a few minutes so I could see the speedo work but wasn't prepared for 10min in the garage trying to gas myself. It was running long enough that the fans came on and cooled it down a bit and then shut off, happy that is another piece of the puzzle ticked off.

 

Cheers, Tom

 

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[Bigfella237]

It would be interesting to put a Torana up on jack stands, remove the rear springs and jack the rear suspension through its full range of movement just to measure how much the slip yoke actually does travel?

[myss427]

Have done that on mine, was worried that my new tailshaft would bang into the back of the box as it is only 15mm from the yolke. Its movement was less than 10mm, roughly 7 at a guess, way less than I would have thought. And I did remove the springs and went through full travel movements. It looks tight but was surprised how little it moves, I do have tough mounts etc which would stop the drivetrains forward and rearward movemnt somewhat.

[neglectedtorana]

Haven't yet got round to checking the depth of the yoke into the gearbox but did put some tail pipes on.

 

Bought some tail pipes made by Redback Exhausts and they were close to fitting and only needed minor trimming here and there.With the car in the garage on jack stands I found it a pain to get the tail pipes in and out of the car while making them fit and cut the ends of and added a flange so the pipes can now be removed without taking the rear springs and shock off.

 

I also put some heater hoses on and connected them up to the vintage air unit inside and swapped the rocker covers from side to side as I think it will make fitting the coils easier on the drivers side. They have plastic block mounts holding them together and I will add another block mount on the firewall cover just behind where the oil filler cap is now.

 

 

 

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[neglectedtorana]

Previously the new coil brackets had been cable tied to the factory coil brackets which wasn't great so I welded some washers to the coil brackets so they could line up with holes mounting threads in the rocker cover and put them on properly. I would prefer the factory coil brackets but they aren't going to fit with the brake lines and booster.  The new ones don't look great but I don't want to look for somewhere else to put them and they don't look terrible

 

Will have to make the high tension leads to suit now

 

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[neglectedtorana]

Made some coil leads to fit with the mounting position of the coils, bought new ends from Aeroflow and with the crimping tool they were easy to fit.

 

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Fitted some carpet recently, I didn't do a great job but the quality is great. From Johnnys Auto Carpets on eBay

 

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A Rare Spares venetian, I had wanted one for a long time and finally bought it

 

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And cut out the lower dash and fitted the stereo through, not wired but it fits in and deosn't interfere with the Vintage Air unit. The stereo doen't have a cd player so is much shorter depth.

 

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The car has been a bit too tall in the front since I fitted the King springs. I did check they were seated correctly and after speaking with Kings decided it was due to the lighter weight of the LS1. They could reset them for $100 plus freight or I could buy some six cylinder springs. The guy at Kings said it would drop the front about 20mm and I bought them, fitted them and it did drop the front 20mm. Looks a bit more normal now.

 

Wiring is the next priority, once it is done I can run the engine and test the instruments.

 

[Redslur]

Going to be a very clean car when all done. Well done so far,

[koalasprint]

Your passenger looks keen for a ride.

[neglectedtorana]

Thanks Gerry, I am very happy with it so far. Lookin g forward to driving it soon (6 months all going well)

Your right Steve, he is ready, always in the car or garage when I am working on it

Think I have some more pics/updates to post I haven't caught up on

[neglectedtorana]

After coming across another topic about the CRS chassis kit and wheel clearance I cut some of the kit I have and now have better clearance at the front wheels, was the last job before taking the car for a wheel alignment.

 

Only 4km to my local alignment guy and RMS were reluctant but kind enough to give me another unregistered permit so I got to take it out briefly. While it was out the exhaust guy made me some under diff tail pipes and the car sounds great! Car got washed too while out of the garage, first time since it was painted in 2014.

 

 

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[neglectedtorana]

Although I have thought 100 times before I was finished with the wiring behind the dash, today I think I am ACTUALLY close to  finished with it.

Dash is in and works correctly, I have a Dakota digital tach adapter and with the input set to 4 cylinders and the output 8 it reads correctly. Fitted the vintage air controls and ducts and tested just with fresh air and works well.

 

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[neglectedtorana]

That extra piece of ducting I am going to try and run through the console for the back seat passengers, don't want the dog getting too hot

[Doubledip]

very good... always nice to be making progress forward... cant be long now till all done

[Heath]

Nice progress.

[308mate]

Looks great mate, congratulations.

[neglectedtorana]

Thanks Gents,

 

Am very happy with the progress and just in the last few weeks a realizing I am very close to being able to take it for engineering.

 

I did have a minor setback, my wood grain glove box lid was quite warped and I tried to straighten it in the oven. It is now flatter but not a rectangle. I think I could make a new one if I could get a laminate or sticker made to match the wood grain

Will be looking for a replacement.

[koalasprint]

A possible replacement? https://www.ebay.com...ItemCondition=4

 

Cheers, Steve.

[neglectedtorana]

Thanks Steve,

Am waiting for the time to tick away

[neglectedtorana]

Bought a dust cover for the bell housing and with a bit of cutting it fit,

 

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I had been trying to keep the glove box as a glove box but didn't like the options of where to mount the ECM so eventually gave in. Attached a bracket to the ECM cover and mounted it in the glove box

 

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Next job is to make the console fit, my tunnel is taller because of the T56 so I have trimmed it and originally widened the console to try mount the ECM under it but am working on making it standard width again. It is an auto console so I will be making some sort of insert for the manual, don't want to buy a manual insert and have to mash it for the T56 shifter so will make one first to test

 

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[neglectedtorana]

Had some success with the console fitment, any original console wasn't going to fit with the bigger tunnel to suit the T56 gearbox and I had 3 old consoles with different broken areas and managed to patch one up with a cut out piece from another.

 

I did my repairs with fiberglass on the inside and and made a hole at the front to run a duct to air con the back seat, hope I can get it through the metal frame mount as I install it. Also had to mount the VZ gear stick differently as it was too far of a reach so it is on a bit of angle bracket tilting it back closer to my hand and feels comfortable.

 

The insert around the gear stick is from an auto as it was all I had and fits pretty good with the modifications.

 

Piece from one of the other consoles glassed in

 

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Gear stick mounting bracket

 

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Plate to cover auto shift hole and attach boot

 

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How it looks now, square hole is where I am putting the rear demister switch. Now it's time to paint it.

 

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[Doubledip]

sometimes it is all about customising and making do with what you have and getting it to your liking.. not someone elses.....(IKnow all about it )....   you have done well..

[neglectedtorana]

thanks Justin, i like it.

gave the console a coat of paint and put it in, even put a duct hose through it to run air con to the back seat, don't think it will be freezing back there but it will help

 

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the vinyl paint in a spray can was easy to use and gives a great result.

another thing off the list

[Heath]

Neat work mate.