402 replies to this topic

[hawk]

Alright, so I'll do a proper update.

 

Recently I decided to change the interior to black. Its not finished yet.

I retrimmed the B and C pillars, used the front seats from the LH and sprayed my rear seat with Vinyl dye.

 

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Heath was nice enough to sell me the remains of his old sump, so I got to work.

 

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Cut the bottom and the front corners out of my sump

 

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A few snotty welds later

 

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[hawk]

All cleaned up, checked for leaks and rewelded where needed.

I believe I have welded up all the leaks now although I would like to run some extra seam sealer around it. Any recommendations?

 

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Went on the VTC Cruise to Maroondah dam which was a good day out.

Got to catch up with MR5000 and LXCHEV while there.

 

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[hawk]

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I've also been buying up a lot of parts to get the V8 conversion done.

Got everything to fit a mechanical fuel pump, most gaskets ill need, new starter and hoses.

 

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As said before I have organized a T5 conversion for the car which should arrive in 3 to 4 weeks.

 

Here is the diff that was meant to go in it. Skyline Borg Warner with Trutrac and 3.23 ratio gears.

This will end up in Dads LH now and ill have to start looking at having a 9 inch built for the car.

 

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All in all, I've just been driving and enjoying the car. After some very spirited driving through the hills today the brakes were pretty well cooked by the time I got to the bottom and the old 202 is rattling chronically. Cant wait to get the new driveline in and brake upgrade to see the difference.

[yel327]

Someone here might buy that timing cover off you for an original resto. I picked up a spare one for my HJ Premier at a swap a month or so ago but good original ones are hard to find.

[skap]

Sorry, not a fan of that front spoiler

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[hawk]

Funny you say that Skap as its still a work in progress.

I picked up a couple of rooted front guard cuts to continue with the front spoiler.

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After trimming to size you get the rough idea. should look a lot better once it's done.

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The diff place suprisingly fixed the mounts.

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I've done a bit more work on the motor. Went to add a mechanic fuel pump but realised the locating pin is too short. The options to change it are thi g's I'd rather not dig into right now so I'm going electric I guess.

Really happy with how clean everything looks, I'd say it's actually a pretty fresh motor. Correct me if I'm wrong but it also looks to have a 308 crank? was that normal for a 304?


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What is this gasket from the sump gasket kit for?

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I'll be needing a few things.

oil pressure sensor, temp sensor A few blanking plugs. engine mount bolts

Are these all the same between 308 and 304 thread wise? What done need to make it work with a standard UC dash?

Also what size and length are the engine mount to block bolts? assuming they're metric as its a VT block.

Why does the hose go from the water pump to inlet manifold? haven't seen that before.

I also need a blanking plug for the knock sensor. What thread is it?

[yel327]

From memory the cranks still had 308 on them, just like VK and VL 304 blocks still had 308 on them.

Looks like a sump drain bolt washer.

Yes 304 and 308 are the same threads, you should be able to use the UC dash senders.

I posted these bolt and thread sizes for someone on Fastlane a while back. Will try and find it. These blocks should still be imperial right up to the end of VS in 2000. Here:
https://www.fastlane...t-brackets.aspx

Any HT onwards 253/308/304/350 should have a blanking plug if it doesn’t have a knock sensor. I can see one of them in that picture showing the pistons from below.

Water pump to inlet? HT to HJ have a hose from the thermostat housing to the intake, sounds like a non-original setup.

Edited by yel327, 28 November 2023 - 05:51 PM.

[hawk]

Thanks Yel

Been slowly piecing the motor together.

Do the vacuum lines below look correct?
one from the manifold split off to the booster, carb and dizzy.



based on ready the other threads it looks like I run a line between the rocker covers with a PCV thing then into the base of the carb. then I tee ING the cannister somewhere?

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[yel327]

PCV normally goes to the carby rear lower and the brake booster to the intake. The distributor to the carby is wrong, shouldn't go via the manifold. If yours is to be a manual you want ported vacuum off the carby so it doesn't get vacuum advance at idle. It is only autos that want vacuum advance at idle to overcome the converter when transmission is in drive.

 

Canister may not work properly with a Holley, you'd be better off with a Quadrajet. Canister also needs ported vacuum which hopefully you have for the manual anyway, which is just a T-piece one for dizzy and the other to the canister purge port. If the Holley has internal fuel bowl venting, then it should work like a Quadrajet where you blank the canister CARB port. This assumes you are using the 3 port ADR27A canister. If you use a 4 port 1/75-6/76 canister it has an extra hose that T's into the PCV hose.

 

See attached, shows both setups quite well:

 

Connecting hoses from Canister - Engine - GMH-Torana

[hawk]

Thanks yel, found the vacuum advance port hidden under the carb. It appears I had my holley set up very wrong on the 202 from what I can gather.

Starting to piece together a list of what I'll need to get everything finished.

For the diff, I'll need to weld on the tab for the soft line to the body then get some new brake lines made up. Handbrake cables can wait for now.

The gearbox is almost ready, shouldn't need anything other than a tailshaft made if all goes to plan. I still need to work out the shifter, reverse lights and ensure the clutch is setup properly. Getting the cable clutch right will probably be the biggest challenge.

The motor is almost ready to go. Need to setup the PCV lines, wiring harness and belts properly. then it's just seeing if it all fits.

I purchased a proflow 6 to 8 psi electronic fuel pump that I plan to mount near the diff. wiring will also need to be done for this. the only reason for the proflow is because there were mo Carters in stock.

Anyway started the teardown today.

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Can anyone tell me if this is the commodore style master? I have no proportioning valve. can I modify this master for 4 wheel discs?

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[yel327]

You might want a 1” master.

[hawk]

Ok time for a big update.

It's been a busy few weeks on the car with a lot of ups and downs.

There are a few things that aren't ideal although will do for now.

First thing up was ripping out the old diff and getting the new one in. There are a few things still to finish off. The soft lines from diff to calliper were made wrong and don't fit which is holding up finishing off the hard lines.

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next up was pulling the front end and getting the motor sitting on it.

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Clutch on

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Now the problem starts. The bellhousing and extractors were fouling on one another

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While not ideal, I purchased some VR HSV extractors. so due to clearance issues I need to run the HSV extractor on the drivers side and a stainless one on the passengers side just to getir to all fit.

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Next up was getting it all in the car. What a nightmare the front end is to get in. I thi g it's just poor alignment due to the bent rails.

When putting it in, I found that the gearbox had the wrong rear extension housing. Called my gearbox guy and he said it's normal to sit back by around 50mm. Anyway he offered to come and help sort it out. So out came the grinder to do some chopping. when my gearbox guy called back saying he was on the way he told me he was bringing the correct housing with him.

So essentially I cut the tunnel for no reason. Anyway having the shifter back in the car will put it in a better position anyway so it will stay as is and I'll need to make a cover of some sort for the hole in the tunnel.

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[hawk]

The Mal wood crossmember had the wrong gearbox mount style so a hole was drilled to mount it with the ford mount.

Again not ideal and will need strengthening.

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Started piecing things together, radiator in.

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And a few of where it's currently at.

Most of the engine wiring is done. All coolant and fuel hoses are fitted. New speedo cable fitted.I could finally fit my swaybar.

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Things left to do:
Starter wiring
Get a tailshaft made
fill the gearbox and diff with oil
Brake lines for the diff
Fuel pump wiring and plumbing
refit the fuel tank.
refit the interior.
Sort something out for the trans tunnel.
connect the reverse switch.
get the master modified for the rear discs.
get an exhaust made.
get handbrake cables made.

I still need to sort out a brake kit for the front of the car and a bigger booster. Sadly funds are running pretty low now and it will slow down a bit now.

It it safe to start the motor with no oil in the gearbox and the clutch pushed in? or should I wait until the tailshaft is made?

[SmacT]

Getting there mate! My Mal Wood crossmember needed two goes too. Decent unit otherwise.

Edited by SmacT, 09 January 2024 - 01:38 PM.

[Heath]

Nicely done.

I would be more comfortable having oil in the gearbox if you're thinking of starting the motor. I remember the same dilemma and I chose to hold off on starting for that reason.

[hawk]

So a lot has happened since the last post and a lot also hasn't happened.

I got the tailshaft made, fuel system fitted and running and in general most of the car is back together.

Wiring is all finished except the reverse switch.

I took it for its first drive around the block a while back now. Safe to say its a handful and let's loose pretty easily now.

I ended up having to buy a third set of extractors to get everything to fit.

There is still a few things to get done.
Exhaust
Handbrake cables
tailshaft seal on the gearbox leaks
something on the clutch is noisy, assuming it's the new thrust bearing.
need to make up a shifter cover, tempted to just get the rear extension housing swapped for the shorter one and weld the section back in the tunnel.
The carb appears to be leaking fuel.

None of my gauges work at all, if the temperature sensor for a 304 is the same as a 308 one and it reads correctly on the UC dash then it's running hot. The gauge just goes straight to the top once warm.

Long story short I ran out of money to get the conversion finished so the car has been sitting for a while.

Personal circumstances have changed a bit so it's unlikely to get finished any time soon sadly.

Almost tempted to throw a 202 back in to get out driving it again for now.

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[SmacT]

The temp gauge sender on your 304 needs changing for an LX gauge, so I assume it needs similar for a UC as well. If you look at the ohms range for each it should tell you. I have an LX sender you can have if it works.

[Peter UC]

You should be able to take it from the 6 shouldn’t you?

[gtrboyy]

I've always pulled senders from old engine put them in new motor when doing conversions just to avoid that hassle.

[hawk]

thanks guys, I wasn't sure if it would fit.
As the 202 was still running while I was getting the motor ready, I just bought new everything. I'll see if I can find the 202 one.

[hawk]

Well it's been a while since I've updated this. the UC has been stored for the last 6 months or so at my uncles place.

Got it to my new place a couple of weeks ago.

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It's going in for it's exhaust tomorrow so I wanted to try amd sort some smaller issues.

First up was pulling the tailshaft out and the seal in the gearbox is leaking. There was some crud in the seal. cleaned it out and hoping that it hold now. Also sourced and fitted the correct bolts for the gearbox.

Next up was the fuel leak from the carb. this is still a work in progress although almost done.

I went with another 600 vac secondary that had been rebuilt. Split the seal on the adjustment screw, so now I need to sort that out tonight.

Also fitted a regulator to be sure I wasn't over supplying fuel.

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[LXCHEV]

Good stuff mate - the exhaust is a great milestone to hit finally!

[hawk]

Finally got the exhaust done and put on a rebuilt carby.

Sadly it's running like dogshit. I've set the float levels, mixture screws seem to do nothing even when screwed all the way in.

Thinking it hasn't got enough fuel pressure with the regulator fitted, guess its time to remove it and see if it makes a difference.

It idles fine and free revs fine but as soon as you start driving it dies. no power above idle.

Gearbox has a lot of noise, it'll probably have to come out again. Thrust bearing is also very noisy. Pops out of reverse too which is annoying for a rebuilt box.

Was really hoping it would be good to go.

[Rockoz]

Doesnt sound good with the box.

The popping out of reverse may just be that the linkage needs adjusting to make sure it is engaging properly.

Sounds like it might need lengthening a bit.

Pull the linkage off the lever then engage the lever and see if the pin and hole line up properly.

 

Check for vacuum leaks with the carb. There may be a vacuum port that needs blocking off.

 

Cheers

 

Rob

[hawk]

Thanks, I think I have the carb sorted, I'll need to wait until Saturday to check.

I spoke to my gearbox guy and he will come have a look at it once the running issues are sorted.

He said I will meed the extended hook on my clutch pedal. I have a pedal with the extended hook, just need to extend the cut out under the dash which isn't going to be a fun job.