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In September 2022, I picked up this. A 2006 Holden VZ Commodore Executive Wagon. It runs the timing chain hungry, head warper, GM Alloytec 3.6L V6 with a blinding 175kw of power being transferred to the 4L60E box of neutrals and a very boring 3.08:1 diff. Its 0-100 feels slightly above ‘paint drying’, acceleration is more of a suggestion and as a whole, the car is about as exciting as 'a hint of a hint of flavor’ sparkling water, with about as much fun factor. OK, maybe not that bad, but compared to its rivals, it's not all that and a bag of chips. It was made and positioned as the inoffensive family commuter and fleet vehicle and of course, long-term Holden fans would eat that poo poo up right away. The Commodore range sold like hotcakes and Holden made an absolute bazillion of them before they sadly shuttered Australian building operations completely in a 2019-2020 transitional wind-down period, with at least 600-800 jobs reportedly being lost.   The Holden Commodore, like the Ford Falcon, is an iconic model of car that even today, you can’t seem to fart without hitting one. I found this one with a smidge over 223,000 kms on it [approx.138,500 miles], 19” G2 wheels with good tires, a missing jack, some broken interior, faded paint, a peeling clear coat, and a bunch of rather questionable stains and smells, mostly bought on by small children and their sticky, grubby mitts. I bought it for $2400, talked down from an advertised $3500, which was and still is a pretty drat good deal, considering the mileage and condition it was in versus today's insane market prices for anything that isn’t on fire or comes with free diseases. I drove it half an hour home, washed it down, and got to work. This is my second time around with a VZ wagon, the first of which was an absolute workhorse. Let’s quickly rewind the clock…  Back around 2010 I had an ‘05 of the next submodel up in the nice gunmetal blue colour, so I had an idea of what to expect in regards to problems that could happen this time around, had happened, and would happen. I got the ‘05 from a Holden dealer that was also an ex-fleet vehicle. 187,000 kms on the dash, a good service history, and super clean inside and out. In the time we had it, it saw everything. Four different states, rain, hail, sleet, frost, mud, dirt, floods, and storms, and so, so many good memories. It blew the entire cooling system at one point, including exploding the radiator open one side, which made a hell of a noise and gave me a heart attack, had a water pump where the impeller was almost black with rust when pulled while trying to trace another slight overheating issue and had actually been completely dead for around 8 months by the time I found it wasn’t working, blew out the passenger cat and O2 sensor while driving through peak hour one day, making it sound like a bomb going off, giving me yet another heart attack, quickly followed by sounding like an angry supercharged diesel top fuel dragster was choking down extremely pissed off Japanese hornets through its intake, not to mention smelling like it and finally, at close to 400,000kms [~250,000 miles], the timing chain stretched and failed.  I was having a bad week all week and this moment topped off the thick poo poo mousse cake with double thick poo poo custard. I was driving home and thinking about how I was getting sick of spending money on fixing a bunch of small and silly issues when the engine cracked the shits on me and I felt it losing power. Suddenly it was throwing a ‘Drivetrain Error’ on the dash [basically a check engine alert] and starting to diesel at random. It was feeling like it was going to rattle the body or my teeth loose, whichever came first. It was almost ready to Blues Brothers itself and I suddenly understood what was coming. I got it home, shut it down, and made an appointment with the local vehicle auction house, alongside peace with myself and the car. The next morning I drove the 30-odd minutes down there. With every passing minute, I felt the car getting more and more tired. By the time I was getting ready to turn into the auction entry driveway, it was shuddering more and more and sounded like someone had thrown a box of cutlery and soda cans into a washing machine on a fast spin cycle. The chain was absolutely thrashing at this point and I wish I could have dissected the engine to see the carnage, but I could instantly tell the cam gears were definitely starting to strip teeth, the guides would likely be looking more and more like the grand canyon with every passing minute and the cam lobes were starting to shape themselves to be more like the cam and less like lobes, all while it felt like the crank was going to scream enough and Uncle Rodney was going to put a leg out of bed through a new window in the block. I was fully expecting to perform my own rocket launch with nothing more than a few angry pistons and a hell of a lot of oil that was probably reaching the ‘surface of the sun’ levels of heat by now. It was becoming a Taco Bell aftermath / Dali crossover special down in there and I was hoping upon hope that I was going to make it down the long car park driveway to the auction warehouse doors. The dash was lighting up like a well-used VW, the dash LCD was beeping and screaming about ‘POWERTRAIN ERROR!’ and ‘LOW OIL!’ constantly now and doing its best to go into limp mode while the whole driveline was death rattling like a cheap fairground ride as I watched the rear end pull a Spy Hunter and start to pour thicker and thicker smoke out the rear end, slowly becoming concerningly darker and darker in colour. Like a captain of a ship in a terrible storm, I was holding on to dear life as my transport shook itself to death around me. I asked it nicely to just give me two more minutes and it would soon all be over, it could finally rest with its life work finished and soon it could be taken away to help others of its kind live on. Soon, I soothingly said, it could rest easy and go to the giant white goods manufacturing factory in the sky. It calmed down enough for me to roll it up to the warehouse door and when I turned the key to the off position, it wheezed with what sounded like a cross between a sigh of relief and Truckasaurus clearing its throat with coughing, with a giant puff of smoke out the exhaust that stank like high octane racing fuel and left enough of a sting in the air to make my eyes water.  The evaluator came out, took some notes and when she asked me to turn it over, I knew what was going to happen. It heaved a few short turns, fired into what could be considered ‘life’ or, more aptly, ‘zombie mode’ and made a noise we all know as ‘titanium skeletons loving in a wheat silo filled with empty soda cans’, with the entire graveyard joining in and starting an orgy a few seconds later. The evaluator screwed her nose up like she’d just stepped into a previously unseen puddle with socks on, followed by the sudden realization that was not a puddle of water and it was indeed a puddle of piss, before taking more hasty notes on her clipboard. I was offered $400 cash on the spot, with the option to send it to the wreckers auction instead and take what I can get out of that, minus fees, etc. I took the $400, signed the papers, and got the gently caress out of dodge before they could change their mind. It hurt at the time, but labor for a replacement engine was at least $1900 not including buying a good used engine at around another $1600 and I needed a properly working vehicle for my new job. I didn’t have the time, the space, the tools, the transport, or the Tech 2 ODB to perform the job myself, so was resigned to browsing for another vehicle.  Along came a brand new MY18 Skoda and sat down beside us and said…”No, dobrý den”. If you ever get the chance to try out a Fabia, go for it. You truly won’t believe that a 90kw 3-cyl can produce so much fun factor and it was basically an instant buy. They also had a Rapid, which is basically the bigger version with more features, a roomier interior, and also has an even more insane acceleration factor, but was slightly too high over the budget, so we settled for the Fabia. I found while looking around at similar cars that for the price of a cloth and plain plastic interior base model Golf hatch, we could get the Fabia Sport model which came with leather highlight trim and full touchscreen/wheel functions. They’re basically VW parts bin mutts so I truly cannot understand the price difference. To get the equivalent Golf with the same features as the Fabia was about another $10k on top.  Years pass by, things change and my now ex-fiance needed a car to get to her new job and we both wanted something safe for our young daughter to be in. We looked around at second-hand cars for her, but because the market was completely hosed, everything we found was either out of our budget for something safety-wise [ANCAP 5-star cars were regularly in five digits] or needed more work than we were prepared to deal with [‘Please buy my rusted out shitbox that has been prettied up in photos. It will leave you stranded randomly and I am asking for a four-digit price’ type deals]. In the end, I came across the VZ wagon, and having had the ‘05 before, I knew what to expect. The price was alright, it was marked as a must-sell and we could both use it for towing and moving bigger items, all while I could feel comfortable knowing those two would be safe in the Fabia. With it being a much safer, more reliable, and still basically brand new vehicle, I was more comfortable for them to drive around in the Fabia and me to drive something I’ve had previously. The wagon had seen a pretty good life overall and had very good bones. From the booklets and receipts I found, it was sold new as a fleet vehicle, retired after a time to a second-hand car yard and the guy I bought it from bought it to roll his family around. The kids were getting older now and they needed something a bit more comfortable, so with a bit of faux-bogan speak, I endeared myself to him and his wife and I got my hands on it at a much better price. It had the usual suspects of worn driver's seat bolster, failing headlining, and some plastic trim broken where they always do. On top of that, evidence of the kids included some crayon/texta marks on the plastics, some scratches in the tint, and a lot of backseat wear and tear. Still not a deal breaker overall and a lot of expected wear items. I began a list of bits and pieces, costed them as best I could, and then  The wiring wasn’t so bad until I found the head unit didn’t have a proper fascia installed on it, so it would eject itself on a hard take-off like it was some sort of spring-loaded anti-theft device that Speed Racer would be proud of. It also had some questionable splices, so I patched in the cables for the gauges, patched the stereo cable correctly, installed the extension for the oil line, and then found I was missing the second extension I needed. So I now have an oil pressure gauge, but my oil temp just flops about at 60C for the time being. I set it up so I’d just have to add the correct extension and then pop the sensor in it, hook the wires, and call it good. No biggie. In the meantime, I corrected the head unit position behind the original center console to stop it from flying out, cleaned up its wiring right back to the engine, and changed over the shifter. I pulled the rest of the console while it was apart and vacuumed out a good handful or two of generic trash and poo poo that had worked its way under the plastics around the shifter and handbrake. $3.20 in change was found under the center console armrest!         I kicked it over, checked the pressure extension for leaks, and cycled the dials and shifter a few times. Pressure sits at a [supposed] 70+ PSI and the shifter shifts as a shifter does. Once everything was buttoned up and ran for shakedown, I started scouring the marketplace and eBay for parts. I picked up some new headlights to replace the completely yellowed and faded ones on the car, picked up some interior parts that were broken, and even got some spares I didn’t need thrown in the deal. I’d already tried to renew the headlights it had, but I needed much more than I had given it, so when a good set from a VZ Calais [the high trim submodel] came up cheap, I gave up trying to fix the old ones and just nabbed them instead.  I started following guides on how to get the headlights out and this is where it ended up. On and off rain notwithstanding, I tore into the front end determined to get the job done. Having to remove the entire front bar and wheel liners, just to get the lower bolts out, was a pain, but in the end, it was all worth it, as I managed to clean out the pieces you normally can’t, such as behind the front bar.    The end result was very well worth it, changing over the headlights from a stock set to the Calais model set makes it look much nicer, giving it a more aggressive front look. The difference was pretty amazing when driving along at dusk, giving me much better [and safer] vision compared to the crappy old ones that basically threw light like a pair of handheld dollar store torches with low batteries. I have plans for those down the track if I can clean them up correctly. Next up was addressing the absolutely horrendous noise coming from the brakes. It certainly felt like the car should pull up much harder than it was and it was making that horrible screaming noise that sounds like it was saying “CHANGE US! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, MAN, CHANGE US!” and since they wouldn’t shut up, I yelled back “OK, FINE!”. So, I ordered some parts and started diving into some reading for my first-ever brake change. And hoo boy, was this one a good one to start with...  Shiny and chrome.  Up, up and slightly further away!  Oh. Oh, dear. That doesn’t look real good.    The trash that came out of one of the discs. The rest were just as bad. Every pad was as low as that or lower too.   Checking out the front wheel bearings for play and a quick clean-up.   On went new slotted discs which are just slightly larger than the stock and give much better stopping power straight up. In hindsight, I should have painted the hub faces to keep them nice instead of them getting covered in rust. Live and learn.  Where we’re going, we don’t need roads! Notice the caliper on the ground. This comes in later.  Somehow this little spider was still alive and well. Must have been a hell of a trip. I have no idea how it held up against the heat and vibration, but it had even built an egg sac. I relocated it to the grass.   Front passenger disc. It didn’t take long for the finger to happen. I spent almost an hour on and off doing everything from bolt-throughs to mule kicks to slamming it with a hammer to swearing at it and calling it names. The calipers refused to let go and the rotor would absolutely not move off the wheel bearing. I couldn’t understand why, until it finally came off, only for the piston to suddenly spray fluid like a Baby Cart In Hades movie. Suddenly, the reason for the rotor and caliper being stuck made sense. Fluid had leaked out on the inside of the rotor and with the heat and cooling, it had pretty much fused it on with gorilla grip strength.  Turns out the top piston boot had a small enough rip in it to cause a weep and when the pressure gave way, it turned into a spray. I gave it a slight push to see how bad it was, only for the boot to completely split in two. Bad, apparently. Thankfully I had old clothes, a mask, and gloves on. This also explained why the pedal travel was basically ‘stand in your seat’ to brake.  I called around and no one local had one, but could get one in stock in the morning. I made the call, packed everything up, and by the time I was finished, it was getting dark. The next day, my replacement boot arrived, it went in, brakes got refilled with fresh fluid, and triple bled, after which she was ready to hit the ground. Sort of. I also did a quick sacrificial oil change and performed some easy preventative surgery. Now the Alloytec has some major pain points. Apart from the aforementioned timing chains causing issues if not looked after, they are also known for their uncanny ability to turn oil into chocolate pudding. Over time, more savvy / enthusiast owners and some YouTube mechanic shops have figured out some of the causes for this and published videos and articles on their theories. The consensus is to perform oil changes earlier than Holden stated, taking it from every 10,000-12,000kms down to every 5000-8000kms, moving to good quality full synthetic 5W-30 / 5W-40, including even using a diesel spec occasionally for the extra detergents and a small modification that Holden themselves seemed to do on the later VE/VF Alloytecs but didn’t really tell anyone about.  Forbidden pudding. This was an example I found of an Alloytec filter that had sludged up. Imagine the entire engine covered in this and you’re pretty much there.  The driver's side PCV plug has a bit of a design flaw. I forget the exact science behind it right now, but basically, the driver's side rocker can’t breathe properly due to the anemic factory PCV plug holes. It’s comparable to trying to take a deep breath through a straw size tube constantly. This causes the rocker to eventually choke with carbon and soot, leading to sludge build-up under the rocker, which in turn results in some major caramel sauce as the rocker cover chokes itself. The fix for this is to pop the PCV and carefully drill out the holes already in it, opening them up slightly more by about 2mm each or indeed, pull one from a later model VE/VF Alloytec with the corrected PCV plug. Once drilled out, I dropped it in a glass jar filled with degreaser and let it sit for a while. After twenty minutes, a fresh jar for yet another twenty, after which it was left to dry out and plugged back in with the engine instantly sounding better. It was a very small but very noticeable change in the sound of the idle and it was noticeably breathing easier already. With that all taken care of, I dropped my sub and amp from storage into the existing wiring, changed the front speakers out to my hardly used Pioneer 6” speakers from storage, tuned everything in, and called it a day.  Nectar of the gods. My hands were busted and my body broken, so I took a break for a few weeks and just enjoyed the car as it was. After a few weeks of enjoying having teeth-rattling bass again, I reset the ECU [disconnect negative for 10 minutes], got a bottle of Liqui-Moly fuel system cleaner, a full tank of 98, and gave it the old Italian tune-up to help blow out the cobwebs, of which there was more than a few apparently. After a bunch of nasty smoke trails, it began clearing out and opening up. The engine wanted to run and just keep running with some serious throttle response increase. It was very excited, quiet, smooth, and felt responsive and healthy like it had spent all this time being a boring run around and now was acting like an excited Border Collie waiting to get unleashed to go chase down some sheep. All good signs so far. I then gave it a smoke out with Penrite P26 [a bit like a Seafoam process], another bottle of Liqui-Moly fuel system cleaner, and another ‘spirited drive’ down some back roads where the red and blues are seen as often as Bigfoot and traffic is sparse, allowing me to Soon after, during the 80-90kmh range it started to have a nasty shake in the wheel. Since the rotors and pads were new and known to be good, I thought I’d start with an alignment and check over. My go-to shop did a balance on all four wheels, a rounding check on all wheels, then an on-car alignment, which fixed a lot of the wobble, to begin with. They asked me to come back if it started up again and they’d do a back-to-front for me to see what changed, so then we could pinpoint where the problem was likely coming from. After two weeks or so, the shake was back, so I knew something was up. My usual place was fully booked out due to the upcoming holiday period, where they were doing specials on pre-travel safety checks, so I took it to my next choice. I asked for a complete steering and suspension check and their opinion on what might be happening. I watched them pull the car around after thirty minutes and saw the front wheels roll forward when braking. Sure enough, they recommended link pins, which is a common fix on these around the 80-120 thousand range, but that was all the recommendations they had. The donuts and tailshaft centre were all good and they couldn’t find anything else in the suspension or bushings. Being that this is AI, I took the old advice of checking it yourself, pulled it home, put it in the air, and closed it up. I ordered the link pins and started looking again myself with a fresh set of eyes the next morning.  I have no affiliation or anything with Nolathane, but they have never done me wrong in the past and are a go-to solution for any Commodore owner, so I ordered the link pins through them and started looking at everything else via their very helpful diagrams. I ended up ordering the rack mount bushing and sway bar mounts as well. Even if they were good enough, I wanted to tighten up the front end for better turn-in and control. Sure enough, the link pins were as floppy as [insert dick joke here], the sway bar mount bushes were almost completely flattened out on the loops and the rack mount bushing was pretty trashed and cracking. With everything apart, I decided to tackle the strut rod bushes as well, since they looked to be cracking and likely old enough to be changed out. Then I did the ‘grab and shake a wheel’ test and found the driver's side bearing had a very small amount of play and some very quiet grinding on rotation. Add that to the order.      Out with the old, in with the new. The strut rod bushes fought me but lost against being drowned in RP7 and my breaker bar. I thought I had photos of the sway bar D bushes, but apparently not. Imagine about a finger's width new versus about a coaster's width old and you’re pretty close. They were also brutally cracked all around and well past gone, with signs of about three finger widths movement on either side of where they had sat on the sway bar. When it came to the bearings, the driver's side bearing was confirmed to be dragging slightly when I got it out, confirming my thoughts that at least one ball had dropped, with an ever-so-slight grind almost too faint to hear. Both sides went on fresh as well as the radius rods. All said and done, a shakedown went well…until I hit 110 and the shake was back. Dammit. A few days later, I also lost my amp and sub suddenly. I checked the amp and found 2V on the output. I felt pretty defeated yet again and closed it all up and left it. I started looking at a replacement amp and was considering the shaking issue when I suddenly had a brain wave. I had completely forgotten the inline fuse in the engine bay. Surely not? No, surely not…but what if… So I went out, lifted the bonnet, and looked underneath. The fuse cover looked a little mashed up, so I tried to open it up. Ten minutes of struggle and a pair of pliers later and I found the issue.  I have no idea how this thing was still working. The fuse holder had been sitting against the ABS unit, getting incredibly hot ever since before I bought it. I am still astounded that it worked as long as it did because it had melted the fuse and fuse cover together, to the point that they had long since become one in an unholy union while fusing the cover shut. I rummaged through my old parts, pulled out an old inline fuse with the screw-on plastic cover, chopped the line, rerouted it, and zipped it to a safe position and she was thumping out the big bass once again. The next morning I rolled it out into the morning sun and decided to take another cursory look underneath for what could be causing the terminal shakes, yet again. Everything looked fine, everything was solid as far as I could move it without a pry bar and none of it made any sense to me. Surely there had to be some sort of smoking gun hiding in there and I was determined to find it. After laying on my back for a while, it finally appeared to me. I took the front wheels off and turned it lock to lock a few times, eventually hearing a nice big ‘clunk’. Gotcha. Checking the passenger side and after a slow scan across everywhere that had anything to do with suspension or wheels with an LED torch, I spotted something concerning. It looks like the passenger side lower control arm has a slightly torn boot and was squashing down under full left lock. It’s not a major tear or blowout but looks to be enough that its boot was crushing up under full lock and flattening out, which would more than likely be binding up enough for it to get gritty and dirty and to eventually cause the shaking as it lost all its greasy goodness. Apart from that, the bushes that connect to the K-frame look like they may be old and cracked too. No big surprise given age and mileage. Other than that, the only things left to change would be the strut tops and given the driver's side boot is torn, likely bump stops, which I’m sure are all going to be completely flogged out and likely never changed, but require a set of compressors to change properly. If they’re coming out, they may as well be getting changed and it means I can add new complete struts to replace the likely tired original Monroe units that have been on the car since new in 2006.     Now after a nice wash down and a good scrub. Much nicer. Most recently, driving around after cleaning the engine out via two bottles of Penrite injector cleaner has increased the performance back to where it should be, which is great because it no longer means I put my foot into it and am beaten off the lights by b-double semis and there have been no significant issues since the amp incident. So that’s where we’re at. Within a year and working only in a carport, battling the weather, ongoing illness, and lovely finances, I’ve managed to blow through a bunch of stuff and have it running and driving so much better already, all while keeping within a very tight budget. The car is very much what I call a ‘photo finish’ vehicle in that it looks finished and good in photos, but up close it’s got a myriad of battle scars that need addressing. I’ve got around another $800 to throw into the mechanical side of things, such as chasing a small random misfire that occurs at idle and replacing the water pump, some pulleys, and the belt, I have coolant and hoses waiting to go in, put the rest of the suspension under it and then…then we get to the really fun stuff which includes some quality of life items, such as a trans pan with an actual plug and a completely wild shifter idea.   And some stuff to really make this a unique beast…    Which feeds into the upcoming goodies. This will likely be a slow and sporadic bunch of updates, but hopefully it’ll be enjoyable to read and soon we can get to the dessert, just gotta have the meat and veggies first. The hope is to have it ready for the coming summer so I can visit a few get togethers and maybe travel to a few shows once the visuals are finished. Not to give too much away in case it doesn’t all come together, but after laying in bed one night, thinking about different ideas, I could do to make it ‘different’ it hit me. Like a brilliant flash of insanity, I started to formulate an idea. Heres something I came up with after five minutes in Paint Shop Pro the morning after…   Welp, that is a tonne of  hopefully some of which was enjoyable to read.Next time, [hopefully] the last of the mechanical side of things...  
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Jul 22, 2023 06:30
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Entertaining read, H1KE - praise to the eternal bogan. I've got a number of saved searches (Gumtree, Facebook Marketplace, carsales.com.au) for a VU SS ute so when I pick one up I know who come to for LWB Commodore advice.
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Jul 23, 2023 02:12
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Dang thats a sweet rear end effortpost. My brother has a V8 Adentura which never saw a fuel station it didnt want to visit. I would imagine that V6 would be just a weeeeee bit better in that regard
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Jul 23, 2023 02:31
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sarcastx posted:Entertaining read, H1KE - praise to the eternal bogan. I grow a mullet, I cut it, I grow it again! Witness me on Bathurst! OK, maybe not bogan enough for a mullet, but I own a flanno and drive a Commodore, so I'm close enough. The LS models are much nicer and slightly more reliable than the Rattletec but are basically the same everywhere else in regards to the chassis, bar a few small differences with K-frames and diffs. I did look for a 6L wagon originally, but the prices are astronomical for lovely, P-plater thrashed garbage. The type that has photos of it in a carwash or at least one photo where it has steelies on the rear, while every other photo is running mags all around. Funny enough, I've seen more VS SS utes than VY/VU models lately. You probably already know, but from my experience, expect the 8-12K range for anything even remotely good, and of course, check rear wheel tubs inner and outer for dried rubber, especially if it's P-plater owned. You can always tell if they've blown tires, because the rubber will eat the paint and leave very subtle indentations in the rear tubs when cleaned off, which can be seen by looking straight down the tubs or running your hand over it.  I've basically studied these things inside and out, having a lot of time on my hands and not wanting to make the same mistakes as before, and have gained a scary amount of knowledge on them. I'm always keen to help out so feel free to shout! CAT INTERCEPTOR posted:Dang thats a sweet rear end effortpost. When we found the '05 Acclaim, the dealer also had a CX8 for around the same price and kms, even in the same colour! I did some research and concluded the 4WD system scared me enough to avoid it, because when they break, holy poo poo do they break, and the mileage was estimated somewhere around 16-18L/100 for stop-start, whereas the Alloytec easily gets 12L/100, even in city stop-start. On the freeway, I managed to get it as low as 9L/100 which was amazing. The Adventra series were such an awesome concept, but they are truly thirsty beasts and I hardly ever see them on the road now. They are great for raiding for rear diffs though, if you can find a 3.46 LSD version! 
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Jul 23, 2023 05:39
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H1KE posted:<bogan advice> cheers, yeah, my challenge is that I gotta work out a way to get these checked out remotely as I won't be able to inspect them in person. If you got any suggestions on that I'm all ears! I'm from Australia originally but I live in the US now, plan is to buy a VU, leave it with family to get its inevitable problems addressed, and then ship it up once it hits 25 years old
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Jul 23, 2023 14:56
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sarcastx posted:cheers, yeah, my challenge is that I gotta work out a way to get these checked out remotely as I won't be able to inspect them in person. If you got any suggestions on that I'm all ears! Depending on where and budget [and of course, trusting an essentially unknown internet person] I'd always be happy to check out anything within range and sort out photos and a condition report. Read along in the thread as I bring it here and work on it! I'm half joking, but I'd be happy to check out pretty much anywhere in NSW that takes your fancy.There are a bunch of US-AUS companies, but I don't know of any that go reverse, unfortunately. I have seen a BA ute hit stateside before as fully street registered, a bunch of Summernats guys such as Lynchy have taken their cars over for Hoonigan specials and Powertour, and I've seen a handful of VE/VF's be registered as actual Holdens, not Pontiacs, but I believe they were self-packaged in a 40-footer and shipped private, which is sure to be an absolute package for insurance and customs alone. I'm sure it's all dependent on state-by-state rules, but there's a chance it's doable. At least for an 03-05, you haven't got that long to wait for the 25 rulings [which are loving dumb], and at worst, I have The Commodore Shop right nearby, so you've got a line on model-specific parts for it when you need 'em!
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Jul 23, 2023 15:51
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I don't suppose you're near Wollongong are you? https://m.facebook.com/marketplace/item/280728667737389/?ref=category_feed
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Jul 24, 2023 13:47
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Up in the Newcastle area, 3 hours or so drive down there, but it's a nice easy one straight down the freeway and a really nice drive once you hit the gong area. Also, have U-haul car trailers two minutes from me, so can easily load up anything and drop it off wherever. That looks super nice and is about the right price for what you get, especially the 6-speed and high enough to keep the bogans away. KM's are good and less than most of these. The rims look clean and nothing else seems out of place from the photos at least. - The buckled rim is cheaper to repair than replace because Supersports are dumb money. Expect maybe $150-$250 for a repair, quoting high as it's a 20". To replace, you're looking at $450+ for a single rim. Repair wouldn't be a major job I would think. - An oil leak from the gasket is easy to fix. Drop the pan and replace the gasket, and refresh the oil. Less than $200 all up for gasket and new oil, filter. About two hours of work, most of which is waiting for the oil to finish dropping. - Wearing on the seat = Which loving Commodore doesn't have that? - Chip on the rear passenger corner is at worst a light skim of bog and paint. Black is easy to blend. Can easily find the corners both second-hand and repro for about $25-50 each on the marketplace usually. Hopefully, not anything you didn't already know/coming across as a know it all! Also a VY SS with tough bits in it for 1/3 of the price, but it's only a shell: https://www.facebook.com/marketplac..._type=top_picks
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Jul 24, 2023 14:48
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Nice, is this the same thing as the Vauxhall/Opel Omega? Looks very familiar. My parents have the Opel wagon with a 2.2l ecotec and 4-speed auto, but haven't been driving it in ages so it's in unknown drivability state 
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Jul 24, 2023 15:04
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sarcastx posted:cheers, yeah, my challenge is that I gotta work out a way to get these checked out remotely as I won't be able to inspect them in person. If you got any suggestions on that I'm all ears! There's a couple of companies that pretend to make legal Utes, if you supply the Australian variant. They basically chop up both a G8 and Holden, swap the G8 firewall and systems (seat belts, interior, airbags, ABS, engine management, cluster, etc), and you title it as a kit car. Or since it still retains the G8 VIN in most spots, depending on the state, it gets registered as a G8 (that's fun if you get pulled over). Even converted to LHD. Also it's something like $50k... There were some real shady people who would basically swap the VIN tags to turn them into a "Pontiac" and not do much else, I'm assuming that got shut down real quick though - I can't find any current info on that.
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Jul 24, 2023 15:20
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mobby_6kl posted:Nice, is this the same thing as the Vauxhall/Opel Omega? Looks very familiar. My parents have the Opel wagon with a 2.2l ecotec and 4-speed auto, but haven't been driving it in ages so it's in unknown drivability state Same brand umbrella! The Astra for instance is basically the same, but under the Vauxhall brand in Europe. A few Holdens were sold under the Opel brand as well for a while. This is also similar to the 90's Caprices, where Chev / GM / Pontiac used very similar/same bodies across various Commodore models, as we got under GM Holden. You can see the styling cues from the '95 Caprice reflected in the VS/P/N/Q Commodores and to a lesser extent in the VT-VZ models. Fun facts - The VS Commodore was sold to Toyota for their Lexcen model and the '78 Holden HZ Kingswood was used by Mazda to create the Roadpacer, with a 13B rotary for the Japanese market! Super cool cars and the very rare examples that have been available in Australia go for dumb money. One was sold with just 998kms on the clock and was almost literally brand new inside and out. "3.8 million yen in 1975 (or the equivalent of over $70,000 today)."  https://www.carscoops.com/2023/07/only-800-mazda-roadpacer-aps-based-on-gms-holden-kingwood-were-ever-made-two-just-sold/
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Jul 24, 2023 15:45
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randomidiot posted:There's a couple of companies that pretend to make legal Utes, if you supply the Australian variant. They basically chop up both a G8 and Holden, swap the G8 firewall and systems (seat belts, interior, airbags, ABS, engine management, cluster, etc), and you title it as a kit car. Or since it still retains the G8 VIN in most spots, depending on the state, it gets registered as a G8 (that's fun if you get pulled over). Even converted to LHD. Also it's something like $50k... yeah nah I'm not real interested in any of that noise - like, there's a guy in Colorado called Left Hand Utes - https://lefthandutes.com/ - but for me having the car LHD converted is undesirable. I miss swapping cogs with my left hand haha. So yeah I'd just wait until she's 25 years old and bring'er up. It's still a few years until these cars are old enough but I'm the biggest loving idiot you know so I'm looking at it now
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Jul 24, 2023 16:22
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gently caress hey H1KE what do you reckon, am I just gonna run into this with every ute? should I assume that it's just a part of ute life to get run into a wall or some poo poo? I apologize for hijacking your thread maybe I should go start a generic bogan thread?
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Jul 25, 2023 11:52
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sarcastx posted:gently caress Ouch. You'll still find a lot of good examples out there, likely more than damaged ones, but because they have basically zero rear-end weight and a fat LS upfront, unfortunately, the young blokes love to get their hands on them, and do heli's down the industrial estate after dark and the like, usually resulting in meeting a gutter. The 2011 check is a pretty good sign, especially being NSW. With this one, someone has tapped a wall/rear-ended something, or met a gutter and possibly damaged the passenger K-frame leg or radiator brackets apparently, judging by the 'heavy' note, since panel only would be considered as 'light' from memory, but the fact that it's been repaired and not a full write-off means it mustn't have been too bad. Judging by the 'mechanical' code, it was likely the headlight and radiator frame that was damaged, which is replaceable with new units off the shelf and are easy to drill the spot welds and weld the new unit right back on. The two pieces available are the front bumper mount, which sits in front of the radiator frame and plugs into the engine frame rails via legs and bolts, and the radiator frame itself, which includes the headlight surrounds. Both are pretty thin gauges, designed to be the first crumple zone in the event of a front-end hit, and are cheap to replace from eBay / Commodore suppliers.  Example from an FB Commodore group of the front end on a VY sedan, but nearly all the front ends are the same setup. The bumper mount has been removed from the frame rails in this photo, where the large openings are on either side of the bottom of the radiator. Bonus high-ranking bogan is shown to one side admiring the Commodore, sporting a cheap mainstream 'joke' shirt and a large scruffy beard. We can only hope to achieve such a level of boganism as this fine example.  Example from the same group of a QLD-based repairable write-off. The bumper mount pushed in on the passenger side and the headlight surround caved in, but no actual frame damage underneath. This would probably be classed as 'heavy structural' as well, but still easily repairable. I'm not sure if you'll run into issues with exporting something on the WOVR list, I don't think so [class it as a parts vehicle?], but anything with 'Heavy' status may be a gamble anyway without getting a good set of eyes on it first. If receipts are included that show it wasn't a backyard job and was actually repaired by a body shop, and there is no panel/frame ripple showing anywhere, you'll be fine though, since the laws on 'repairable' write-offs are stupidly strict now and can include jail time and massive fines for dodgy work nowadays. Anything that shows up on the WOVR where the seller cannot produce and send you receipts for work done, I would walk away from, as a repairable requires a full inspection from an authorized workshop. A little paranoid maybe, but a body shop doing the work themselves is always a better bet than Johnny Icehead doing a frame pull with ratchet straps and 2x4s while downing VBs in the shed. To compress and clarify - Do a WOVR check on anything that catches your eye, and if it does show 'heavy', ask for body shop/inspection papers to ensure the work has been done correctly and it has been inspected by the state body [RMS, TQLD, VIC Roads etc]. No worries about threadjacking, it's a slow thread anyway and this is enjoyable because I still need to gain more funds to do more work, plus I want to see a VU hit stateside. Hopefully adding some entertainment/education reading in the meantime!
H1KE fucked around with this message at 13:32 on Jul 25, 2023 |
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Jul 25, 2023 13:30
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Ute shopping update: In talks with a guy about his VU, had a mechanic check it out. Overall looks good - bit of clearcoat damage on the roof, also the mechanic theorized this guy worked in a shopping center for elderly blind folks or a drive-through golf course given the little dings on the sides of the car without obvious matching hail damage on the bonnet/roof. The questions I gotta ask a bogan whisperer: -The ute has a non-standard air intake installed (cold air intake? idk some people get fussy when you use the incorrect term). The car is currently unregistered, but has a pink slip and apparently lost rego recently enough that the pink alone is all you need. The mechanic did say that if it got to 3 months out of rego that it'd need to get a blue slip - and to get the blue slip, the standard air box would have to go back on. I don't know if the seller has that any longer, though. -The keyfob remote buttons don't work - seller says he's tried replacing the battery to no avail. He did say that he could likely get a new key cut/copied for $160 at a Mr. Minit or whatever. -The aircon "needs regassing". I just went through this with Mrs. Sarcastx Leaf - it needed regassing because one of the hoses got damaged and let all the refrigerant and lubricant out, which cost $700 to fix. Mechanic said he didn't see anything obvious on the visual inspection but that they wouldn't know if there was a leak until they tried to fill it, which I didn't want to pay for without buying the car. -As you can see on the first pic, the fuel flap cover is missing. I can find unpainted ones all day on eBay etc but am I gonna have a nightmare of a time trying to track down one that matches from somewhere or are they all lying by the road in ditches somewhere? This is the vehicle - what are your thoughts on the above? https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-view-details.html?adId=1313072915 Other minor stuff: the wheel center caps and the engine cover are missing, I'd definitely want the caps replaced and would probably want the cover replaced just so I can have another Holden badge to counter the bogans who put Chevy badges on their cars. Shouldn't be an issue to source that stuff I'd expect...
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Jul 27, 2023 13:38
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sarcastx posted:Ute shopping update: OTR / Over The Radiator. Good choice as its an actual cold air, not an in engine bay, hot air intake, directly fed into the throttle body. As long as it passes an inspection before the pink runs out, it'll be fine. Nothing visually that would fail it. The blue MAY need a stock airbox to pass, but I'm not entirely sure. May be a shop to shop dependant thing. Technically it's a modification to the engine, but depends on how strict the inspector wants to be. Not hard to find second hand from someone who did an OTR or from a wreckers fairly cheap. sarcastx posted:-The keyfob remote buttons don't work - seller says he's tried replacing the battery to no avail. He did say that he could likely get a new key cut/copied for $160 at a Mr. Minit or whatever. Pain in the dick these things. Every single model from VT onwards has annoying issues with the fob dying and locking the car out. Changing the battery won't work, but good he tried at least. Can still get in via the key, but its a process. About $160-180 from Mr. Minit or similar. I had one done on the Acclaim after the ignition barrel died and it was about $180 for the fob programming and about $160 for the barrel. sarcastx posted:-The aircon "needs regassing". I just went through this with Mrs. Sarcastx Leaf - it needed regassing because one of the hoses got damaged and let all the refrigerant and lubricant out, which cost $700 to fix. Mechanic said he didn't see anything obvious on the visual inspection but that they wouldn't know if there was a leak until they tried to fill it, which I didn't want to pay for without buying the car. Sounds about right that they can't do a leak-down test without filling. Refill is $???. Never had to deal with one before and never known anyone to. Consensus after a quick search is $80-200 max give or take unless there is still a leak, in which case, depends on where and what. sarcastx posted:-As you can see on the first pic, the fuel flap cover is missing. I can find unpainted ones all day on eBay etc but am I gonna have a nightmare of a time trying to track down one that matches from somewhere or are they all lying by the road in ditches somewhere? Happens all the time. 1/100 still have theirs, the rest don't or have a different coloured one. The cap arm is weak due to being a curved piece, so they broke after a few years due to weakening where the arm meets the flap. The eBay ones seem to have a better arm system than the factory ones, otherwise it's a trip to the wreckers / Commodore Shop. Being the 'ugly' colour, it may be a long search for the same. sarcastx posted:This is the vehicle - what are your thoughts on the above? Overall it's not terrible. Bunchanotes: - Clear coat is common on 90% of the VT onwards range and you see it everywhere. The Acclaim kept its shiny clear coat the entire time I had it, whereas the Executive has faded roof, bonnet and the guards are peeling, so it seems to be random. - OTR shouldn't be a major issue or if it is, a replacement stock box isn't a major job to put back on, maybe 30 minutes or less. - Air con should be fine if the receipts are with it for the repair, though I'd find out why it needs regassing after the hoses were done? Did they just do the hoses and not regas it? If it's been sitting doing nothing, I can see why they'd figure not spending the money on it. - Fuel flap as above. Get a locking gas cap until a replacement is available is what I did. - Center caps for the wheels shouldn't be too difficult being stock wheels. Wreckers likely. - Engine covers get ripped off these all the time, or the legs break off and they won't stay in place anymore. They aren't the prettiest, but I don't mind them. Wreckers or second hand, probably $50-100 OK-good condition. - The paint doesn't look terrible, especially in the door jambs. Any good body shop can de-dent the sides pretty cheaply I'd think. Paintless removal could do them likely for even cheaper. - Interior looks to be about pretty good, without any of the common drivers wear. The deep floor mats are a good sign. Steering wheel is worn, which is another common item, especially pre-VZ, before they changed the materials. Throw a cover over it or a replacement blank wheel will run about $160ish? Disconnect battery, unbolt wheel, unbolt airbag, reverse install. Likely just from sitting caused by sun damage. Price wide, strut bar, bullbar all the new parts, and 117,000kms seems about right. If you can nab it for $16K-16.5K you'd be getting a pretty good deal I'd say. While doing a price comparison there was this sexy beast, with airbrushed engine cover and canopy. The price is a bit high, though it does have a bunch of goodies on it. https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/tumut/cars-vans-utes/2002-vu-ls1-5-7l-v8-holden-commodore-ute/1294874024 Or, possibly an even better choice, since this one is from a dealer and is drat sexy... https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/croydon/cars-vans-utes/2002-holden-ute-vu-ii-ss-hyper-yellow-6-speed-manual-utility/1312958519 E: The more I think on it, the more I think: gently caress that one, go for the one in Croydon! H1KE fucked around with this message at 18:07 on Jul 27, 2023 |
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Jul 27, 2023 18:03
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H1KE posted:E: The more I think on it, the more I think: gently caress that one, go for the one in Croydon! lol yeah saw that one, don't think I ain't thought about it! Thanks for the thoughtful replies
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Jul 27, 2023 18:12
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You are all making me miss my old vx s1 berlna with the mighty 3.8. I now have a ve with a 6.0 and a 6 speed but there's something about the old opel based dunnydores that speaks to me
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Jul 27, 2023 18:49
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I AM BECOME BOGAN DESTROYER OF TYRES
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Jul 27, 2023 19:19
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sarcastx posted:I AM BECOME BOGAN Commodore's everything. He's just Falcon.
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Jul 28, 2023 04:34
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I messaged that dealer in Croydon to see if he'l take $18.5k. Wish me luck!
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Jul 29, 2023 03:41
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 I did a thing and now I own this ute:  Look at the state of this engine bay.  Fuckin' stoked. Won't see it for another six months because I'm on the other side of the world. I'm a loving idiot.
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Aug 9, 2023 23:27
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Hell yes, more boganmobile postingggggg I need to pickup some pit vipers
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Aug 10, 2023 15:40
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Do a shitcunt you burnout
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Aug 10, 2023 16:43
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sarcastx posted:gently caress YEAH Hell of yes. Glad you got a good one. How long now until you get to do some circle work? It's been a while. I've been dealing with a bunch of medical poo poo, and the Australian summer has so far been extremely unforgiving, which sadly affects my condition even more. But I did get some work done at least.  First off, I felt the engine starting to stumble on startup and would misfire during idle in traffic. It would also occasionally dump a tonne of condensation into the exhaust and smoke up for a few seconds, all while hearing the cats choking until they cleared like me every morning. The cheapest and easiest first stop was the manifold gaskets. Sure enough, the lower [shown] fell to pieces when I took it off. You can see the garbage stuck to it that has floated down under the upper manifold and cooked to the gasket. Thankfully I didn't lose any bits down the intake. Those guide mounts were both broken off and there was a TONNE of plastic dust in there. The uppers were both completely flat and their rubber lips were pretty much nonexistent. How it was still running without sucking a tonne of vacuum, I cannot understand. It's also got a tonne of carbon in there. Check the difference between the lips and the intake mouths. It'll be getting a diesel flush next service. More on that later. My guess is the bad gaskets let condensation overnight creep in and cause it to blow out on start-up. Immediately after changing these out, the car gained probably 50% more power, so it was for sure having issues with vac leaks. It still stumbles on idle, which I'm fairly certain is a dying coil and a leaky plug gasket on the driver's rocker. That's a bit of a job but that will be coming very soon, alongside some possible painting of the rocker covers/manifold.  Next up was it slowly overheating on hot days in traffic. Alloytecs hate the heat, so I ordered a new water pump and hoses. Except they sent me a Toyota Camry upper hose and a Holden Apollo lower hose. Brand new in the bag. After struggling for 20 minutes wondering what the gently caress was going on, I called my ex-partner and she came through on her way after work, grabbed the correct parts, and dropped by. Alas, Gates won't take the hoses back, despite their gently caress up, so I'll use them somewhere for something.  So with the pump on and new hoses on, it was filling time. I loving hate this system so much. Without an air compressor, being a vac fill, it was a prick of a job and an absolute mess. I may take it in and get it vac-filled at my local radiator specialist, as it is still causing some overheating issues, but at least now it's not freaking out and hitting red. It does still run hot though and occasionally runs so hot, that it bulges the indicator relay, making my blinkers stay on if the engine bay gets too hot, until I turn the car off and turn it back on to reset them.  While this cheap fill bucket worked all right, the engine kept heating up way too fast and blowing air locks back into the bucket, sending boiling hot coolant everywhere. It's a truly poo poo, multiple-step job without an air fill kit, which is nearly $300 on top of a compressor that can handle it, which is about another $300. I'll just pay Natrad to do it for me. Note the massive mess everywhere from the overboil.  How it sits normally now. It should usually sit just under or just above 1/4, but for the most part it's OK. Getting all the air out yourself is nigh on impossible, so it'll be alright for now and I keep an eye on it at idle. I have noticed it seems like the exhaust heatshields are doing gently caress all, so they may come off and be replaced with exhaust wrapping instead, as it seems like they are just holding heat, as putting my hand out the window at the lights, I can feel the heat coming from under the front guard and its at least 40C+, which means the headers are probably running close to red hot at that point. If it still occurs after dropping into Natrad, I'll remove the shields and wrap the headers instead. A few hospital stays later, working on a bunch of other projects, and the holiday period and we arrived at parts that came today.  I'm waiting for rack ends, rack arms, the rack bushing, and the compressors to arrive. Once they come, the front end is getting ripped apart and I get to play bomb defuser with the springs. Getting it up to 80-100km/h has been causing some wiggle in the wheel, which usually means the strut tops are blown out or the rack ends are flattened. I decided gently caress it and ordered the lot, as well as a new steering rack bush since I need to remove the rack ends to put it on. Hopefully, that will be done within the next day or two, weather-dependent. As I mentioned above, I'll be doing a diesel flush. Recently, a lot of Alloytec owners have found a cost-efficient way to clean these engines out. Diesel oil. The plan is to dump the current oil since it looks pretty cooked after the additives I've been using to clean the internals out, replace it with 5W-40 diesel oil and a fresh filter, then run that for around 500km, then dump the lot again and replace with the correct 5W-30 petrol oil and another new filter. The detergents in the diesel oil should strip a lot of the carbon and trash off the internals, break them down enough to [hopefully] not clog the pickup, and then be dumped out during the petrol changeover. I'll also be putting a few liters of fresh oil through the engine to make sure the trash and the diesel are both gone. Fun times ahead. There's also been a huge uptake in adding catch cans, which people are saying helps keep the engine clean, so that will be coming too. Also, the to-do list has grown, so here's the plan for this year: - Fix driver-side window [rattles] - Fix driver-side door arm [clicks when opening] - Replace broken boot handle - Change front struts and rear shocks - Change rack arms - Change rack bushing - Change rear sway bar links - Replace tensioner [poo poo loving job to do, thanks Holden!] - Replace power steering pump and reservoir [?] - Replace all coils, plugs, full service - Replace rocker cover gasket set [oil appearing on front driver side coil, probably seal leaking] - Flush transmission, replace pan with B&M pan, add Corvette servo - Pull interior for full cleanout and shampoo - Replace the head unit, upgrade speakers, and add reversing camera because reversing this thing is like reversing the loving Evergreen - Add catch can setup - Add temp sensor and t-piece for oil temp - Add gauges for volts and trans temp - Finalize colours and order paint It doesn't look like a lot, but there are going to be hours upon hours and a lot of money into just that list and I'm certain more will appear as I uncover more issues. The current estimated cost to go is around $3000 with tools and about $1000 into it so far, on top of the $2400 odd sale price so I'm not doing terribly overall. Long-term goals: - Source SS interior / investigate replacing front seats to Bride style? - Source full WK Caprice front end - Order Tony's Turboz LS1 style manifold [$$$$] - Source front-end write-off ute/wagon for matching trailer project! - Rebuild the engine and then whack in a gently caress OFF BIG TURBO / PROCHARGER!  - Alternative to a turbo, talk to an engineer about an idea that brewed late one night...   [it has been done in VIC and made mental numbers, so I need to find out if it is legal to do so in NSW. If not, what is? VR4 and turbo diesel conversion? Could I fit a Boxer? So many ideas...]
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Jan 8, 2024 04:59
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hell yeah, love the thread and your enthusiasm!
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Jan 12, 2024 03:51
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What a lovely week. It begins...  Support your brake lines!  Side Passenger - removed   Absolutely the OG struts   This explains a LOT of what has been going on. Not shown is the rack arm being floppy as hell and the ends squashed to poo poo.  "Awwww get hosed..."  "GET ABSOLUTELY hosed, gently caress YOU, gently caress OFF, FUUUUUCK" Gigabyte GA-X570 Aorus Elite finally takes a poo poo, BSOD's with RAM code. Makes it to desktop four more times for about 10 seconds before doing the same thing, RAM codes every time. Made it into BIOS one last time, black screened after that. Change my X370 board over from my music studio PC, put in the same Dominator 64GB kit. Runs fine for 10 hours then BSOD with RAM codes. X570 appears to have voltage issues and has now cooked at least one stick of the Dominator kit. Put my studio RAM in to keep going. Gigabyte RMA process is convoluted and confusing, seemingly intentionally. gently caress you Gigabyte, never again. Corsair meanwhile ask for a photo of the serials on the sticks and to run a memtest. If it fails, let them know for replacement. Anger levels: Frustrated. The tool shop took five days and a refund request to tell me the compressors were on back order. Refunded, drove 45 mins each way to the only other shop that had 'not poo poo that will bend' compressors in stock. Get back at 2PM, raise car. One bolt on passenger side is struggling to come off. loving tyre shop has mashed it slightly. Fucks sake. It comes out after some loving around but will likely need replacing. The passenger side strut fought me coming out, but after 10 minutes of sweating, I got the top bolt undone and out it came. The spring slipped once while still on the strut and I got a finger pinch, but overall it was fine. The compressors held up really well. Counted somewhere around 250 cranks per compressor each way because I'm using hand tools [I'm on a shoestring still]. Notice bump stop is absolutely cooked and strut mount bearing is in pieces the moment I took it off. Explains the shaking. Build new strut, put back in the car. Remove passenger rack arm. Spend 30 minutes freeing the rack end. Finally drops out. Pull out new rack arm. Supplied non-KYB rack arm. Why did I not look first. Fine, pinion mount bush while we're in here. Find I can get the collar off but cannot get the bush mounted in the collar back over the end of the rack. Workshop manual literally just says lube it up and slip it on. That makes no sense, since there is nowhere near enough width to do so, so it is impossible to get back over the rack?! Sun going down, still boiling hot, decide I've had enough and spend 30 minutes packing up. Promptly kick the jack. Spend a few seconds, eye closed, silently fuming. Anger levels: Becoming highly enraged. This morning, started early, attempted to remove drivers strut. Top mount bolt spun hard, spinning whole strut with it. Sudden clairvoyance occurs, but I shake it off and ignore it. 30 minutes later, strut has a few threads left and can move to the rotor bolts. Rotor bolts undo easily. This is the final time a bolt will undo easily. Spend a few minutes struggling to get the final threads to undo on the strut top. Drop strut out, whack compressors on, tighten til gripping. Attempt to remove strut bush mount bolt. Bolt spins entire piston. Mmmm. Spend the next two hours attempting to remove the bolt in various ways. Decide to just compress the springs and snap the bolt, as a fresh one is supplied. Another hour goes by. Driver-side strut bolt is now absolutely cooked, broke four drill bits but I still can't get it off. Realize its been just over four hours and nothing else I can do without an impact wrench. Then realize I can't even drive the car, because the arm that came off is a mess and probably extremely unsafe, so I'm not keen on putting it back on just now. Anger levels:  After contacting the parts guys, they're going to try and get my proper arms out to me ASAP. At least with the new arms on, I can slip them on with a bodgy alignment, shove the lovely strut back in and take it down the road to get changed over, get the rack bush put in, and have an alignment done all at the same time, because I'm done with this loving week. I may attempt to put the rear shocks in while it's out of commission and do the interior clean, just so I can get something done and keep moving forward. What a lovely week. 
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Jan 14, 2024 13:17
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Hell yeah, glad to see new posts here! Sorry to hear about your medical poo poo. Before I left Australia back in 2011 I had a VE SV6 - but back then I wasn't even remotely interested in doing any of my own work. Since then I got a project car (a 2000 Jaguar XK8) so learning to wrench was pretty much obligatory (unless I wanted to start selling organs). If you'd told me even 10 minutes ago that a coolant fill would be harder on a Holden than a loving Jaguar I'd have said you were smoking crack but that looks loving miserable. Also I broke my ankle partway through replacing the front shocks on the Jag (long story) and I still look to have had an easier time than you did. H1KE posted:How long now until you get to do some circle work? I'm back in Straya for ~3 weeks mid February. It turned out that the ute had been laid up for a bit over 5 years, so when Mum picked it up & drove it home (this was back in August), it was doing all of the "failed rubber" things. Leaks, squeaks, you name it. She took it to a mechanic she trusted and the list... hooooooo boy. I'd planned to do a bunch of this when I got to Australia but then Mum mentioned she wanted to use it while she was doing home renos - she's a good old chook and I don't want her to go sideways into a tree so aaaaaaarhghggh.... I had the following work done: - Brake fluid flush and bleed - Tyres replaced - New battery - Front of engine stuff (replacement of belts, pulleys and the harmonic balancer) - Tailshaft coupling rubber mounts & centre bearing replaced - Rocker cover gaskets replaced - Engine mounts replaced - Rear brake discs & pads replaced - Rear shocks replaced - Diff oil changed - Aircon regassed - Transmission serviced - Strut bar bushes - Swaybar links - Control arms replaced - a boring-rear end service (oil/filter/air filter) - And a balance & alignment for all that noise. It was a lot, but I was able to justify it to myself by reminding myself of the favorable exchange rate at the time (which got to I think $1USD = $1.60AUD or nearabouts). Also Mum doesn't have anywhere flat or level (even the street she's on is steep) and no tools, and I want to drive the thing when I get there rather than have to spend the first week getting it driveable. What I have left is a few things which are also on your list: - Fix driver-side window [rattles] Got a bit of this. Mum said that after a very significant rain a few months back she drove the ute and it had a "sloshing" noise. Her theory was that it was inside the door itself since there was zero dampness on the carpet or anywhere else in the interior. So I'm guessing the vapor barrier is maybe misaligned or more likely the drain plugs are clogged. She said it doesn't slosh any more so it's still draining - just not quickly. The reason I think the vapor barrier is possibly a bit hosed is because either the window regulator or the window switch on the passenger side is wired in reverse- up goes down, down goes up. I figured these things were just in hardwired connectors how do you gently caress this up?!? - Replace all coils, plugs, full service This was about the only thing on the list that I figured could wait - Mum made zero mention of the car stuttering/stalling or giving any kind of grief other than leaking from the rocker covers like the Exxon Valdez - Pull interior for full cleanout and shampoo It's got 22 years of farts and 200,000 K's in those cushions so it's due - Replace the head unit, upgrade speakers, and add reversing camera because reversing this thing is like reversing the loving Evergreen I'm installing a backup camera but using one of those units which integrates into the rear-view mirror (and has an integrated dashcam to boot). As far as audio goes I'm planning on getting a multi-channel Bluetooth compatible amplifier to drive speakers & a sub and just leave the stock headunit in place. I'll use it for listening to the radio and my phone for music or anything else. - Add catch can setup I hear the LS1 has a dogshit crankcase ventilation system (one of the sources of oil leaks on this engine). Apparently you can't get the hose any longer and because it's rigid in one part whaddya know the prick snaps on basically every car eventually. Not on your list: the ABS system is cooked. Per the mechanic there's a solenoid fault - but from what I've read online this is almost always a failed solder joint inside the control module. Considering the control modules are available relatively readily for this car (and considering the 2-channel solenoid/pump block this model has is unobtainium) I'm gonna roll the dice and see if replacing the control module fixes the problem. And if it doesn't... well, I guess I'll stick some tape over the ABS light. Other little issues with the ute: apparently the diff has a whine from the pinion bearing. The shop that did all the work said it was just annoying at this point but not worth fixing. I wasn't in the mood to open another financial vein - it can stay as-is for the time being but I figure I'll get it sorted before I ship the thing up here. Also it has an aftermarket alarm which wasn't in the ad... can't decide if this is a pro or a con. Finally the car does have an automatic transmission (which for me wasn't a dealbreaker when I bought the thing). I think the reason it was in such good nick was that having the auto meant someone wasn't going to hoon it into a ditch. I may change this later - I may not - but the 6MT transmissions these vehicles had are loving everywhere up here so if I decide to change it later I can do it for a reasonable price (especially since here at my place I have a flat, level spot to work AND tools out the rear end). I expect I'm gonna get on the plane back to the US in early March and be counting down the days until I can ship the thing up here. I have ordered a car cover, the mirror/dashcam combo and a bunch of used parts and supplies to address little things inside & out. I mentioned on a call to Mum that I hadn't seen any pics of the thing other than what was on the seller's listing so I asked Mum if she'd be so kind as to go out front and take some photos of the thing so I could admire my purchase. Here's what she sent:   What a good old chook she is. sarcastx fucked around with this message at 15:56 on Jan 15, 2024 |
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Jan 15, 2024 15:51
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sarcastx posted:If you'd told me even 10 minutes ago that a coolant fill would be harder on a Holden than a loving Jaguar I'd have said you were smoking crack but that looks loving miserable. Also I broke my ankle partway through replacing the front shocks on the Jag (long story) and I still look to have had an easier time than you did. sarcastx posted:- Brake fluid flush and bleed sarcastx posted:What I have left is a few things which are also on your list: sarcastx posted:- Replace all coils, plugs, full service sarcastx posted:- Pull interior for full cleanout and shampoo Don't bother trying to pull the carpet out as it goes up under the dash and watch out for wiring when pulling the seats. Meguirs trim restore works wonders for your black bits too, even engine bay plastics.sarcastx posted:- Audio sarcastx posted:- Add catch can setup sarcastx posted:Not on your list: the ABS system is cooked. sarcastx posted:Diff whine sarcastx posted:Also it has an aftermarket alarm which wasn't in the ad... can't decide if this is a pro or a con. sarcastx posted:Auto box sarcastx posted:What a good old chook she is. Pretty sure if I asked mine, she'd do the same.A small update:    I caved and ended up getting a cheap [$200] impact. Even with the impact, the strut bolt fought all the way, to the point that this whole thing took about two hours. Everything in, I put the lovely rack arm back on and sat it down for final ugga. After much screwing around and eventually changing the top bolt out, it sits correctly. Took it for a mild 30 second drive and the difference was instant. Can certainly feel the lovely rack arms and the rear shocks are tired as hell, because the rear end flops around like a fish out of water now. Guessing now the new fronts are in, everything is getting transferred to the rear. Speaking of the rears, that's getting sent to the shop too. The old lower bushes look to be basically vulcanized at this point. I could not move either of them an inch off the bar and don't have a fork yet. I also feel like I went ten rounds with Tyson after the past week and need to give my poor hands a break. I'm dreading making the call for a quote, but hopefully the rear shocks and the rack mount will be under an hour. More of my driver's seat is starting to uncover itself in the bolster, where they ALL wear out. I'll need to change that out soon and have found out XR8 seat rails are almost identical. Those seats are super comfy and I'm sure more than a few people will look twice seeing XR8 on the seats until I get seat covers. Time to update the list: - Fix driver-side window [rattles] - Fix driver-side door arm [clicks when opening] - Replace broken boot handle - Replace tail lights, tail light looms - Change - Change rack arms [wrong ones sent back, new ones on their way] - Change rack bushing [SOMEONE ELSE] - Change rear sway bar links - Replace tensioner [poo poo loving job to do, thanks Holden!] - Replace power steering pump and reservoir [?] - Replace all coils, plugs, full service - Replace rocker cover gasket set [oil appearing on front driver side coil, probably seal leaking] - Flush transmission, replace pan with B&M pan, add Corvette servo - Pull interior for full cleanout and shampoo [Half-finished] - Pull headliner, replace - Replace the head unit, upgrade speakers, and add reversing camera because reversing this thing is like reversing the loving Evergreen - Add dashcam front and rear - Add catch can setup - Add temp sensor and t-piece for oil temp - Add gauges for volts and trans temp - Finalize colours and order paint [lots more details on this soon] - XR8 Falcon front seats? - Seat covers Long-term goals: - Source SS interior / investigate replacing front seats to Bride style? - Source full WL Caprice front end [Note to self - WK is VY and WL is VZ equivalent] - Order Tony's Turboz LS1 style manifold [$$$$] - Source front-end write-off ute/wagon for matching trailer project! - Rebuild the engine and then whack in a gently caress OFF BIG TURBO / PROCHARGER! Extremely long term goals... It won't be the first but I have a lot of ideas on the interior for this idea. 
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Jan 16, 2024 03:29
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I struggle to think of a vehicle that looks that much better with just a tint and a change of wheels than those wagons.H1KE posted:You probably already know but PSA: Don't buy the Ebay coils/unbranded plugs. MACE Engineering coils, actual NGK plugs/coils [$$], or actual Bosch plugs [$$$]. The ebay coils are some nameless Yumcha brand, and will either be hosed outright, or in extreme cases I've seen, melt the wires. MACE have a set for about $190[?] I'm going for. Also lots of other good stuff available through them. Learned that lesson replacing the coil pack on the XK8! Pack on cylinder #8 failed, swapped it with an eBay unit. Next year, the pack on Season 7 failed... and then the pack on Cylinder 8 failed again. If memory serves I then replaced the lot with Densos H1KE posted:- Replace power steering pump and reservoir [?] Is this a preventative thing or is there an issue? I ask because - while I'm lucky to be able to get a shitload of parts in the US for my ute from the A-pillar forward, notable parts I will be absolutely and completely unable to source locally are those related to steering. H1KE posted:- XR8 Falcon front seats?  If you have XR8 seats you cannot cover them up. Troll them bisches.
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Jan 17, 2024 14:11
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sarcastx posted:I struggle to think of a vehicle that looks that much better with just a tint and a change of wheels than those wagons. Lower them one notch with that and you've got one of the sexiest 00's wagons made. The only ones that beat them in the same generation would be the VP/R/S wagons on huge Simmons and venetians in the back windows. Look at this gorgeous beast. gently caress I love the VP and VN bodies.  sarcastx posted:Learned that lesson replacing the coil pack on the XK8! Pack on cylinder #8 failed, swapped it with an eBay unit. Next year, the pack on Season 7 failed... and then the pack on Cylinder 8 failed again. Denso seems to be OK and my currents are GOSS, which I believe are originals. I'm not sure if its the seal letting oil in and choking the plug, or the coil itself yet. I might change the rocker gaskets first and see if it improves, since I'd like to do them before they get worse and start weeping anyway. Bosch were my go-to for coils, plugs, etc, but they jumped on the 'lol gently caress you' tax and never got off. As in they want $87 per loving coil for a count of six. Always NGK or ACDelco plugs where possible [~$70-$90 a set], Bosch only if on special [~$160+ a set]. See also their prices for injectors which are insane pricing. sarcastx posted:Is this a preventative thing or is there an issue? Honestly haven't heard about them dying very often. Find a culdesac, do a few slow 360s with the wheel just off full lock, and if you don't hear any groaning or whining from the pump, it's probably fine until end of days. They make that distinct whine when they are on their way and you'll feel it when they are struggling. Getting the pump out is fairly easy, getting the bolts lined back up to put em back in is hosed. You could probably take one from a known good brand back with you as a possible backup and be fine. I haven't ever blown a rack either, but that seems to be a random thing. Racks are BULLSHIT to replace, requiring patience, precision, and multiple people / rigging up jack stands and ropes and hoping you get it right. I thought my pump was whining initially, but it seems OK now after all the work done today. I think the strain from the worn front end was making the pump work harder, causing it to groan at me everytime I did a full lock either direction, but its been quiet all today since changing out the struts/rack bush. I have to back the pump wheel off to get to the tensioner bolt behind it, so I thought about changing it 'while I'm in there', but now I'm thinking I'll just clean it up, give it some additive and cross my fingers, because the cheapest prices I can find are around the $340 mark. Pretty sure they are interchangeable as well [according to listings], so anything Chev running the same Alloytec 3.6L should [?] have the same pump from wreckers if you get really desperate while over there. sarcastx posted:
I may just do that, to be honest. It's already going to be a bitsa looking mutt when I'm done, with the WL front end, VY tail lights and possibly a VK style scoop, so having XR8 seats would be the first thing people notice in a long line of weird tacked on poo poo.Today was I completely gave up and took the car down the street. Thankfully the shop was empty and the guys fit me in right away, charged 45 minutes and did the rack bush and the rear shocks for me. They also found the passenger side lower strut bolts had walked off a few threads in the 20 minute drive there. The ones that hold the strut to the wheel bearing. Pass the Loctite? They nipped those up with shop air and haven't moved after another 60 odd km, so I'm going to check again when I do the arms. Overall, $175 well spent and cheaper than my normal place [which is great because the Skoda just ate a tire last week and hoo boy, two new tires was uh...oof...]. It was also hilarious hearing the tools get bigger and louder in the workshop, eventuating in the sound of a slide hammer banging away for nearly 5 minutes straight. The tech walked in sweating like mad and said 'You weren't joking when you said it was a poo poo of a job'.Drivers wheel bearing has some play, which I think is the trash quality ones I bought plus the constant knocking around from the lovely front end causing it to wear out faster than normal. Not difficult, just annoying to have to replace it again and annoying to hear it when the stereo is off. At least now I only have very minor front-end play, because I'm waiting for the rack arms before the wheel alignment gets done, and overall it feels much tighter and stiffer, doesn't creak over every pebble and doesn't feel like the rear end wants to walk past me or I'm only half in control when driving. Also it no longer nose dives when braking, which is a huge deal when you're pulling up close to two tonnes of wagon to a complete stop. Next up, after my body recovers, while my wallet does, is to get these rack arms in [whenever they loving arrive], finally try and fix the driver's window from rattling everytime I breathe on it, and finish doing the interior clean! What goodies await us under the rear seat? What wonderful new smells will we discover? Will things get out of hand and I start adding more to the list? [yes] Tune in next time, when we continue...Days Of Our Mullets...*cue music* For those playing along at home: - Fix driver-side window [rattles, motor may have backed out / guides are hosed?] - Fix driver-side door arm [clicks when opening] - Replace broken boot handle - Replace tail lights, tail light looms with VY style, LED no-resistor bulbs - - Change rack arms [wrong ones sent back, WHERE THE gently caress ARE THEY HURRY UP JFC] - - Change rear sway bar links - Replace tensioner [poo poo loving job to do, thanks Holden!] - Replace power steering pump and reservoir [MAYBE PILE] - Replace all coils, plugs, full service - Replace rocker cover gasket set [oil appearing on front driver side coil, probably seal leaking] - Flush transmission, replace pan with B&M pan, add Corvette servo - Pull interior for full cleanout and shampoo [Half-finished] - Pull headliner, replace - Replace the head unit, upgrade speakers, and add reversing camera because reversing this thing is like reversing the loving Evergreen - Add dashcam front and rear - Add catch can setup - Add temp sensor and t-piece for oil temp - Add gauges for volts and trans temp - Add fire ext. mount to passenger footwell - Finalize colours and order paint [lots more details on this soon] - XR8 Falcon front seats? - Seat covers [?] - Source letterbox style grill [fit WL?] - VK scoop / reverse scoop for heat reduction Long-term goals: - Source SS interior / investigate replacing front seats to Bride style? - Source full WL Caprice front end [Note to self - WK is VY and WL is VZ equivalent] - Order Tony's Turboz LS1 style manifold [$$$$] - Source front-end write-off ute/wagon for matching trailer project! - Rebuild the engine and then whack in a gently caress OFF BIG TURBO / PROCHARGER!
H1KE fucked around with this message at 12:15 on Jan 21, 2024 |
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Jan 17, 2024 16:35
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The end of the spend is just around the bend! More a talkie update this one. Finally got the correct loving rack ends and ball joints, only to realize they sent me the self-fill type, even though I asked for the pre-filled. I've had enough at this point, so it's going in the shop Thursday. Weighed up the cost to get the guys to put them in with an alignment, versus buying a grease gun and grease AND a zerk fitting, which I can only seem to find in a kit, which will be used likely once and then left for the next so many years, only for me to find the 95% of the grease I haven't used has gone to poo poo, it literally turned out cheaper to just get it done at the shop. Being such a newer model, there are very few grease points on the car and I would use maybe 1/10th of a tube so gently caress it. What I did do, was go down to Supercheap and grab some small stuff. For instance:   Yeah. I'd been wondering why it was so hard to get this one out of the passenger wheel, and this was why. I've replaced all four of the short nuts, one per wheel, with the same long nut style they all had already, so next time if I have to use that shop, they can't gently caress them again. I hope. I think it would only be one or two more times of on/off before this rounded and lodged itself in there. The nut wells are pretty deep on these wheels, so I'd have a gently caress of a time getting them back out if they did. I also grabbed a bag of rags for the coming bullshit that will be rocker cover gaskets as well as a cheap OBD2 scanner. It was half-price on sale, so I figured at $90 it was worth a shot. Funny enough, the idle misfire was doing its thing, but the scanner showed no codes. This now leads me to believe my initial theory of coils good, plug choking, and plug seal bad was correct. The ECU isn't seeing a misfire because the coil itself is fine, but the plug is choking as small amounts of oil get flung into the plug tube. The dipstick shows it used a little oil as well since the last service, which at a guestimate from what's left on the stick, is about the amount it would have thrown under the bad plug seal by now. It also made sense, because, after the last fresh full service, it went like a cut cat and didn't start playing up until about a month ago when it would occasionally dump white smoke on a really cold morning, stinking like poo poo the whole time until it cleared about 30 seconds later. Now it tends to just smell a little after starting it after sitting overnight. I've been wanting to give it a service since it's coming up to about 5000kms since the last, so now the next big job is to replace the rocker gaskets with a fresh kit, check/probably replace all the plugs while I'm in there, clean off the coil that was oily and see how it goes from there. It also gives me a chance to finger-check the chains and see if there's any sludge build-up. Here's hoping for clean bronze and tight chains, because I am nowhere near being able to do a set of chains right now. Since I don't have the setup to do it myself, getting someone else to do it is somewhere in the range of $1200 upwards, with a certified upgraded chain set being around $600. Oof. While I would like to plan a rebuild down the track, I don't need that right now. The next lot of jobs need to wait a little while because it's going to run me north of about $600 in parts and consumables, but that should be within the next month or so. I'm also going to check the ohms on the injectors since I just found a YT video from a mechanic that diagnosed bad idle on one of these and it turned out to be an injector with the plug side losing resistance. Since I have to get in there to get the rockers off, it's probably worth checking them out just in case. The scanner should see those, but I'd like to confirm its not telling me porkies.I'm so close to finally finishing the mechanical side of things and being able to move on to the fun stuff! I'm itching to get creative [read: loving stupid] on this thing and reveal my ultimate idiotic plan for paint. Let's break it down, baby, now with the done list showing just how far this fuckers come in a few short months: Done list: - - - - - - - - - - - Mechanical to do: - Change rack arms [THURSDAY] - Change rear sway bar links - Change front control arms - Replace tensioner [poo poo loving job to do, thanks Holden!] - Replace power steering pump and reservoir [MAYBE PILE] - Replace all coils, plugs, full service - Replace rocker cover gasket set [oil appearing on front driver side coil, probably seal leaking] - Flush transmission, replace filter and fluid - Drain diff and replace fluid - Replace injectors [?] - Change diff support bush with Nolathane replacement - Change spring pad bushes with Nolathane replacements [possibly another shop job] - Change rear cradle mount bushes with Nolathane replacements [definitely shop job, probably alongside the rest if I decide to do this, because it will entail dropping the entire rear cradle out so uh...yeah...] - Change out rear sway bar D bushes? [This may be a complete rear cradle out, tank out, gently caress you job, so we'll see?] - Change trailer plug so I can finally do dump runs [plugs completely hosed, need to replace plug and loom] - Change rear CV's? Maybe? Interior/exterior: - Pull interior for full cleanout and shampoo [Half-finished] - Fix driver-side window [rattles, the motor may have backed out / guides are hosed?] - Fix driver-side door arm [clicks when opening] - Replace broken boot handle [Commodore Shop] - Replace tail lights, tail light looms with VY style, LED no-resistor bulbs [visit Commodore Shop] - Pull headliner, replace material - Source new front and rear bars [maybe rear only?] [Commodore Shop] - Source new shifter boot/surround [Commodore Shop or custom make one] - Source replacement map pocket for passenger seat [Commodore Shop] - Source replacement door cards? Say gently caress it and fix them myself? Fun stuff: - Replace the head unit, upgrade speakers, and add reversing camera because reversing this thing is like reversing the loving Evergreen - Add dashcam front and rear - Add catch can setup - Replace trans pan with B&M pan, add Corvette servo - Add temp sensor and t-piece for oil temp [Aeroflow bits] - Add gauges for volts and trans temp - Add fire ext. mount to the passenger footwell - Sketch and prototype insane homemade shifter [buy a Lokar kit if it all falls apart] - Sketch and prototype boot interior idea, check measurements correct - Second battery setup with switch over / isolator kit - Paint rocker covers - Paint manifold - Investigate diff ratio change [3.08 now, go 3.48? Higher?] - XR8 Falcon front seats? - Source letterbox style grill [fit WL grill?] - 2" reverse scoop for heat reduction - Get wheels blasted and powder coated in new colour, polish chrome - Finalize colours and order paint - Interior carpet? Astro turf? So, what colours will I repaint it? Keep the silver and do a closed door? Change the colour? Nothing too crazy, right? These things have gently caress all resale value, and I won't get more than $4K on a good day, therefore I'm gonna have as much fun as I can with it. With that in mind, I'll give you a hint about whats coming...   [insert mad scientist laugh here]
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Jan 23, 2024 09:40
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Siiiiiiiiiiiiiick. What the hell happened to those nuts? looks like a work experience kid with a grudge was trying to destroy the shop dak-dak
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Jan 23, 2024 15:54
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I never touched them with the gun until last week and it hadn't seen a shop until the bush and shock incident. It was more than likely a pretty famous tyre and wheel shop at Tempe I went to, to replace a hosed up tyre last year. The tyres were ultra cheap but I'll be using their 'send to me' option next time. I was loving pissed off because that one was so manged, but I've never had one come back to me in this condition before. Fairly certain because mine was a cheap job, they just pushed it out the door without worrying too much. Pretty sure they hosed up my alignment too. I've been using a breaker bar and a socket by hand this whole time up until I bought the gun, so it wasn't me using the gun incorrectly. After having the wheels on and off so often, I know they went there in good loving shape, so yeah, next time I'm ordering the tyres to the place I trust to put them on. In lighter news, it's fuckin hot and I can't sleep, so I did some quick photo bashing for at least some of the ideas in my head. Behold! Bombs Away draft 1.0  Literally less than a minute or two of loving around. I've decided to do the green colour all the way instead of the red front, move the eyes behind the mouth, the roof and pillars will be black, with the roof being checkerboard and the lower sills where the doors are will be yellow/black hazard stripes to give it some pop and break up the green. The mouth was the best I could find, but I'll be doing all that by hand, flowing it more in line around the front wheel openings. I like the way the wheels pop on the green, as the original idea was silver or a burnt bronze, but the black looks pretty good there, so I may not get them resprayed and just scuff the chrome and polish it. Also going to add a visor for the front, because they look rad on these, possibly add an older style roof basket for fun and carrying, and look at crafting a race-style wing to replace the stock plastic one on the top of the boot [trunk] door, to help add to the war bird look.It's dumb as gently caress and I can't wait. If anything, I hope to make people smile when they see this shitbox rolling around town or at shows. The interior will also be following a suitably silly theme as well!
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Jan 23, 2024 17:53
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Well then... That should not look like that.  It's now replaced with one of these. So the radiator cap I had in there, fused the bottom rubber to the coolant neck and came apart. It's still been in the high 30-40C's here and I saw the gauge getting a little too high for my liking. I took the cap off and the spring, cap and rubbers all came apart in a total of five pieces. Cue lots of swearing and a long time spent degunking the lip inside the filler neck. I grabbed an updated version cap and all was well...until today...  Not pictured: the bloodbath that occurred. I was dropping my daughter off with her grandmother when the gauge started climbing way too high. I could smell burning coolant and the fans were running, which sent me into a little panic. Turns out the bottom hose had bulged the clamp, backed itself off the rad pipe slightly, and was now pissing out the bottom. I couldn't see at the time and immediately became worried it had cracked a corner, so took off for home. About halfway there, it climbed up toward the danger line, so I pulled over and let it sit for a moment. No bastard stopped, despite being close to 40C in the shade and being on a busy main road, of course. I had a bottle in the car just in case, thankfully and once I found the clamp had backed off, pushed the hose all the way on, clamped it up tight, and gave it a top off. Dropped into Supercheap Auto on the way home, grabbed another bottle, and spent the past two hours bleeding as much as I could from the system. It's still reading slightly high, which I don't like, but it's stable and no longer making GBS threads itself the moment I'm idle for more than two minutes. A coffee and four slow cigs later, I shut it down and closed it up. Still air in there for sure, as without the cap on, every time I gave it more than idle, it would instantly spew out the filler, despite this being in the service manual procedures. It's going to NatRad soon to get a vac bleed and top-up done, so I can finally stop worrying about it because trying to burp it manually has left me with burnt fingertips and the ability to taste nothing but coolant. Pretty sure I lost about half a liter out of the overflow as well, while trying to burp it, because it kept filling up the neck, flowing to the overflow and spilling down the driveway. Just amazing. Oh, and I hosed up yesterday too!   Ouch. What did that?  Remember how I said reversing this thing was like backing up a freight ship? Yeah. I saw the middle bar and thought it was the outer. Nope, it was the middle! That was like 2kmh. That rear bar is well hosed now, but there's a guy not far away selling a tonne of Calais parts, including a really nice Calais rear bar, so I'll be going to see him sometime soon. On top of all that poo poo, the shakes are back and its absolutely the front right wheel bearing wigging out What a terrible week.
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Feb 18, 2024 07:05
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