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I decided to stop making GBS threads up H1KE's bogan thread and make my own. This is my 2001 Holden "VU" Utility, bought sight-unseen from Facebook Marketplace in August of 2023, while I was ~9,200 miles away in Milwaukee. It's an "S" trim with the 5.7L LS1 and 4-speed automatic. Think an '04 GTO with a bed and you've got the idea. What's the "S" stand for? Glad you asked, it's Sexy upholstery  I paid a travelling tech to go give it a look-over and a thumbs up, then paid the seller and had Mum go pick it up. She got sideswiped on the way home  .Maybe you saw me post about it in a bunch of places - I've been asking questions & making GBS threads up miscellaneous threads looking for advice buuuuut what's new is: I finally got to drive it. From mid February I was in Australia for three weeks; I had a list of things I wanted to do (and, of course, discovered new things while there). The good: Engine: stock, mechanically solid. Not hosed with. Pulls hard, shifts smooth, sounds great. Leaked oil like a sieve from the rocker covers and the engine bucked in the engine bay like a steer when Mum got it, but nothing that an injection of cash wouldn't solve.  Body: straight, no significant crashes (other than the aforementioned sideswipe), almost zero rust anywhere and nothing any deeper than the surface.  Paint: Had been repainted recently, presents beautifully for a car of this age.  The bad: Rubber- This ute isn't just 23 years old, it'd also spent the last 5 years laid up, so just about everything that was already rotting due to age got utterly destroyed by lack of use. Gaskets, belts, mounts, bushings, seals, shocks - all gone to hell - to say nothing of the tyres. I paid a shop Mum recommended to replace... lots, but it was in a sorry state. The favorite thing I was told by the mech was "we're gonna start by replacing the rocker cover gaskets and degreasing the engine - once all that oil's gone we'll be able to see what else is leaking oil". One thing that was definitively leaking was petrol, somewhere - because the car fuckin' reeked of gasoline whenever the tank was at half or lower. Above half the smell was so bad it was making my eyes water. Also the passenger window operated in reverse for some reason (as in: up for down, down for up). Odd. The ugly: ABS: Ever since the inspection I've known the ABS wasn't working; my current project car is a 2000 Jaguar XK8 - a car known for having lovely ABS sensors, lovely ABS sensor wiring and lovely ABS sensor connectors. Given how trivial this is to deal with on a Jaguar of all things, I didn't think a lot of this issue and assumed it'd be an easy fix. It turned out to be easy, sure- just not cheap. Air Conditioning: It's "just needed a regas" since Mum got it but of course a regas alone is never enough. It got regassed twice by Mum and for whatever reason those bozos never bothered to use any dye to see what was up; on refill #3 (by a guy I found) it turns out the compressor itself is leaking. Security System: This is the only real surprise after the pre-purchase inspection; the seller didn't mention the alarm system and the inspector didn't notice it (or didn't think to mention it).  I couldn't find anything online about this unit - the "Flashpoint 770" sticker is the only identification anywhere on the unit. I did manage to find the current distributor of these alarms - thankfully they were able to provide a PDF of the user manual. The manual explains what components are a part of the alarm (of course now I gotta find them inside the car, somewhere), how to adjust sensitivity, and how to enable/disable the unit with the key. Would be nice if I had the loving key! Rainwater leaking: I got into the vehicle on my second day in Australia and found standing water in the passenger footwell; like, maybe a half a gallon. Now, it had been absolutely pisspouring rain overnight - a very very heavy rainfall - but still, finding any water inside the car isn't great. Initially I found that the vapor barrier on the passenger door was loose and was guiding a bit of water in - I fixed that with some silicon but it didn't seem entirely fixed. Then I found a huge chunk in the windscreen, below the wiper blade. gently caress. I put some duct tape over the hole for now, but will have to get the glass replaced. The future: I'm back in Milwaukee now, so everything I want to do basically has to be done by someone at Mum's house, or by having Mum take the ute to a shop (which she's offered to do, what a good ol' chook). First thing's first: Mum does want to drive the ute, so I need to get the windscreen replaced, and I need to get the aircon working. Unfortunately the leak is from the compressor itself, and these things are loving unobtainium.  Hilariously it appears that parts availability is actually better for me here in the US than it is in Australia - so I'm going to source a new (or refurbed) compressor and mail it to a shop by Mum's house. In the short-to-medium term, I'm going to be looking out for a hardtop; I've always preferred the way the hardtops look and like the way they're lockable (as opposed to just, like, peeling back the canopy). I also feel like the ute rides too high at its stock height, so I'll investigate the options that are available while they're still available - because the long term plan is to bring the ute up here to Milwaukee. In January of 2026 this ute will be 25 years old, and very shortly afterwards, it's getting on a boat and it's joining me here.  For now I just got this little one
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Mar 11, 2024 16:42
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| # ¿ May 10, 2024 06:22 |
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About the sideswiping: Literally on the way home from picking the ute up, Mum said some bint in an X5 was changing lanes without looking, merged into her, and then bolted. Mum wasn't hurt and there was very little in the way of actual damage:  Basically you can see the panel above and around the petrol filler is kinda pushed in and scraped a bit. Thankfully a panel beater was able to massage it back to shape for a song. What was done before I got to Australia: Front & rear shocks & bushes Castor rod bushings Basic fluids (brakes, coolant, oil change) & air filter Transmission fluid Diff fluid Tyres Engine belts, pulleys, harmonic balancer Tailshaft coupling & mounts Rocker cover gaskets Engine mounts Rear brakes Sway bar end links Control arm bushes Replaced 12v battery What I did once I got to Australia: Replaced ABS control module* Replaced PCV hose & valve assembly Installed backup camera & dashcam combo Fixed "backwards" passenger window control Replaced fuel pump O-ring to cure the stink Sourced & fit miscellaneous missing interior pieces Replaceed misbehaving turn-signal stalk Fixed (or just... reduced) the rainwater leak Plus a bunch of little things like wiper blades *turned out that replacing the sensors wouldn't do poo poo and the Tech2 said that the ABS solenoid had failed. Research on this fault usually revealed that the control module was the actual culprit; but you wouldn't know until you replaced the module to see if the fault cleared. I decided to roll the dice (to the tune of about $550) and thankfully, this did solve the issue.
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Mar 11, 2024 16:56
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Well I ordered a replacement compressor - per the reasonable mechanic I found in Sydney these are unobtainium in Australia (other than $1,000 refurbed units). He did point me to a couple places in the US though - similarly, not available new - only refurbed. So I pulled the trigger on one that seemed reputable. I don't know what I expected but I expected better than this. Come the gently caress on.
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Mar 14, 2024 11:16
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Kia Soul Enthusias posted:What car in the U.S. did it share a compressor with? Just curious. Its Australian-made sibling, the early 2000's Pontiac GTO (aka Holden Monaro). Possibly some other stuff with that 5.7 LS1 also?
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Mar 15, 2024 02:00
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Would be nice, maybe these things wouldn't be such unobtainium. OTOH given the number of cars involved (sub-100,000 GTOs/Monaros, plus however many V8 Commodores with the LS1) it's probably a drop in the bucket compared to GM's normal output.
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Mar 15, 2024 11:20
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Boaz MacPhereson posted:How the hell is an AC compressor engine/model specific? if I had to guess I'd say internally they're mostly the same as other compressors from about the same era - but the part number differences are probably to do with the specific application (combinations of mounting/bracket interface/angle, pulley/clutch interface - that sort of thing).
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Mar 15, 2024 14:17
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also I went to Mount Panorama, did a few (law abiding) laps. When I was a kid I used to live so close to the track that our home was nearer to the starting line than Forrest's Elbow.      
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Mar 15, 2024 14:32
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Yeah but only the V8s have that compressor which is apparently a unit prone to failure so it's down to whatever's left in spare part stock (long gone evidently) and then the units in V8 Commodores that either still work or haven't been sent into a loving tree lol remember the first year or two there was the Monaro CV6... wonder how many of those are still around?
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Mar 16, 2024 11:43
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| # ¿ May 10, 2024 06:22 |
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 SpeedFreek posted:I really want to check it out when it gets here if you want to show it off a little. Remind me in two years. y'all gonn be so fuckin' sick of this thing I promise you. While I was in Sydney I went to a wrecker specializing in Commodores and man, I was kinda shocked when I got there. I sorta expected I'd be tripping over SS interiors, trim pieces, panels/fascias, bumpers and all that sort of poo poo - but there was basically nothing other than Executive bits. Dude basically said that SS/HSV parts were all long gone and that I'd be lucky to find much of anything online without paying an arm and a leg. I grew up in Dubbo and man I swear I saw these things everywhere but maybe I'm misremembering... In any case I'd been hoping to pick up a set of Calais International rims and a hard lid, sorta figured I'd just stroll in and head out but obviously I was dreaming... Opinions on the Calais rims? I've always loved monoblocks on Benzes; this ain't exactly an AMG though... 
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Mar 18, 2024 15:39
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