Sam's VN

[[TOPGEAR]]

looking good =)

i used the CAE headers also, very disappointed. mine sit pretty close to the rails but i didnt have to modify anything up there although the ends on my (the flange) hit on the floorpan/chassis. had to heat the pipes up with the oxy and bend them. also mine was fine around steering arm/knuckle.

has anyone actually rang up CAE and gone nuts cause their stuff doesnt fit ?

does ur sump hit on the k-frame ? ive made up 10mm thick space plates to fit ontop of engine mounts to raise up the engine a bit more.

also my bolt holes for gearbox mount were no where near where they should of been and is showing signs of bending after a couple of drives. might have to strengthen it i think.

in the end its all worth the wait. driven mine a couple times and it just frys tyres like no tomorrow =)

[savage1987]

looking good =)

i used the CAE headers also, very disappointed. mine sit pretty close to the rails but i didnt have to modify anything up there although the ends on my (the flange) hit on the floorpan/chassis. had to heat the pipes up with the oxy and bend them. also mine was fine around steering arm/knuckle.

has anyone actually rang up CAE and gone nuts cause their stuff doesnt fit ?

does ur sump hit on the k-frame ? ive made up 10mm thick space plates to fit ontop of engine mounts to raise up the engine a bit more.

also my bolt holes for gearbox mount were no where near where they should of been and is showing signs of bending after a couple of drives. might have to strengthen it i think.

in the end its all worth the wait. driven mine a couple times and it just frys tyres like no tomorrow =)

My understanding is CAE recently updated their design, probably to this one, which evidently does not work so it defeats me why they thought it was a good idea.

I sent an email off to CAE this evening with links to a couple of posts in my thread on SC (also found in this thread) outlining the header modifications I found necessary, I'm not expecting to hear anything back from them about it but time will tell. I'm unimpressed with the kit over all, to be honest. It fails at being a bolt in conversion kit on all fronts.

I think my K-frame to sump clearance is perfect, 10mm or so, but I will have to have another look to be sure.

The threads in my CAE transmission mount base plate also failed - one completely stripped out with next to no torque applied to the bolt. Thankfully this was fixable, I had room to add a spring washer and a nut to the top of each of the crossmember-transmount bolts.


Sam

[hRTHSV]

SAm my extractors must be the version before yours because my right hand one doesn't have the little bolt up flange on the header pipe yours appears to have. I had to make a very minor mod to mine and they fitted quiet well.

I added a 7mm plate to my engine mounts to raise it above the cross member and away from the bits you cut out of your cross member braces. I reckon you might get knocked back on that by the engineer, be interesting. I think without the 7mm lift of the engine the axtractor would have cleared the bottom edge of the chassis rail.

[savage1987]

Fuel pump arrived in the mail today

Waiting on wiring harness and Ripshifter

Still need to find a FPR, steering lines from VT-Z, rad hoses to suit (possibly VT-Z LS1?) and no doubt a heap of other bits and pieces

Hoping for first startup this weekend.



(Also waiting on motivation to swap 2 fuel pumps .. Walbro->VN, VN->VR)

[savage1987]

Ripshifter arrived today:













Installed:


















Random interior shot to show bulk mess and parts storage











And a shot of my AWFUL HORRIBLE EMBARRASSING roof, which I will hide with a roof lining and pretend like it isn't like this at all









Fuel pump install to ensue when I have the motivation.


Sam

[[TOPGEAR]]

did u use the starter relocation kit ?

my gearbox in mine sat too far back and i had to cut a little section out of the floor for clearance ?

[savage1987]

did u use the starter relocation kit ?

my gearbox in mine sat too far back and i had to cut a little section out of the floor for clearance ?

Yeah I did mate and it all fits in OK.. just needed a custom handle on the ripshifter to come straight up, and not use that linkage setup present in VT-VZ T56s

[[TOPGEAR]]

hmm im guessing thats why mine was hitting on the floor then ?

[savage1987]

Tailshaft has been shortened and is ready for install. Thanks to Final Drive Engineering in O'Connor, top job at an awesome price - fully rebuilt, shortened and balanced for $440 with a one day turnaround.













Fuel tank out..













Walbro in-tank installed (not much to see really so here's a random photo)












Couple of pics of how the car sits now:























Also picked up a SARD fuel pressure regulator and gauge for $90, and my wiring harness turned up in the mail - $270.

Getting closer. I think I have all the hardware I need to test fire this thing, was hoping to do it this weekend but got caught up in a few other things and lost interest.



Sam

[utc305]

hi mate just wondering what harness you used for your conversion ?

[savage1987]

hi mate just wondering what harness you used for your conversion ?

ProVK on SC forum took care of this for me for a very reasonable price. I sent him my original V6 harness and the LS1 harness, and he does all the necessary work and mails the conversion harness back.

[VNBT1]

Hey mate, looks very tuff, I am currently going through the exact same project except i have much less photos then you lol you can have look on etstreet.com if you want. Only difference is i sprayed my bay, have aircon, power streering and a 9inch diff... The motor is started, just working out the fuel pressure now!!

[isit_ls1t]

Hey mate, looks very tuff, I am currently going through the exact same project except i have much less photos then you lol you can have look on etstreet.com if you want. Only difference is i sprayed my bay, have aircon, power streering and a 9inch diff... The motor is started, just working out the fuel pressure now!!

I've got the same project running aswell.. I'm going to run the standard 5ltr fuel rail so as to use the orginal vn fuel system with fuel return. saves dickin about with adding in extra fuel regs and the like

[savage1987]

You guys need to add me to MSN I could use any help you can give with getting this thing driving!! savage1987@gmail.com







SO here’s the weekend’s progress report:

Saturday 7am start, H1GHROLLR kindly came up for the day to help out, which was a good thing since I never get anything done on my own ..

Fitted a set of Pacemakers to H1GHROLLR’s VN Lexcen first thing in the morning and I broke a plug doing it so we changed those too.

Mark relocated my troublesome coil pack while I ****ed around with removing his old headers, did a bloody ace job too













Ended up needing a longer pair of leads for the two stacked coils (yes both, funny story) .. problem solved TEMPORARILY with some V6 leads lovingly attached to the LS1 ones











Wired up the VN as much as we could figure out how… had zero room above the T56 to reach up and run the loom across there so that’s a problem for another day…

Knocked up a fuel system, when Mark said ‘oi I have found the perfect place for this reg’ I didn’t believe him, but he showed me and I was like omg! Yes

























Had a couple of fuel leaks the first time it primed.. so much for NPT fittings on the reg. Careful application of Teflon tape quickly fixed that issue. Mark saved me a lot of time by guessing EXACTLY 58psi on the reg’s adjustment first go (!!!!)

Dropped the oil and threw some Penrite 10W-50 in it, figured this batch isn’t really an important decision as it’ll be throw away oil quickly enough anyway.

Had no starter from the ignition barrel for some reason I’ve yet to work out so we rigged up a manual starter wire

After a few teething issues we got it cranking over nicely and it was firing on 1 cyl sometimes.. this became 2cyl, but no more. Carby cleaner in the intake worked wonders and got all 8 bellowing out the headers, but only for a moment each time and we’d be back to 2 again and rapidly die.

Diagnosis: ****ed injectors from sitting 12months in an uncapped fuel rail out in the weather.. so I pulled them out this morning and will drop them off for cleaning tomorrow at United Fuel Injection. I pulled the baskets out of all the injectors, they seemed clear of any debris but turning the injectors upside down with baskets removed yielded some weird smelling (sort of like kero?) green-coloured fuel which had flecks of solid matter in it.. yep, solid stuff BELOW the injector baskets. Surely this is my problem

More to follow once injectors are cleaned and ready to go back in.


Interior is stuck for the moment, as I need a power windows main loom - apart from that main loom I’m sure I have all the bits I need to get it together.

Also require a VY style charcoal canister as the purge control is different to the VN style canister. And a metal cross over pipe thing from an LS1 VT-Z, so I can hopefully use VT-Z LS1 radiator hoses.

It also deserves mentioning that Owen (Big O from antilag.com forum) has helped me out a LOT with parts over the last week or 2, has been a massive assistance.


Couple of random pics:














Cannot WAIT to drive this machine. Should be a bit of fun

[isit_ls1t]

have you connected the correct wire to the starter motor for the trigger.. it comes from the smaller plug of the 3 next to the fuse box.. my wire was a purple one