Sam's VN

[savage1987]

[savage1987]

Today I finally got around to doing one of my least favourite jobs to do on a Commodore... thankfully everything went fairly painlessly...








Swapping struts back between the two cars so the good set (King/Koni, new bushes / ball joints) wound up back in the LS1. Of course, the brakes had to be swapped over as well. Nothing is ever as straightforward as I want it to be








While I think of it, does anyone know if these seals should be 'stuck down' with anything, or are they supposed to rotate on their seats? To me it seems like that should create heat, and wear them down/out over time and grease will go everywhere.... or am I jumping at shadows?








anyway here's a bunch of generally random happy-snaps...

[savage1987]

[savage1987]

[savage1987]

OK, time for another mini-update.

Repair work finished up on the rear today. The photographs do not represent any particular milestones, they are just randomly taken whenever the mrs got a break from her work, so don't be alarmed by unfinished bits and pieces.











By early this afternoon the work on the rear window area was finalised and primed up. Getting close now!










I'm not really sure why I'm getting so excited about this (really once all is said and done the car will look exactly the same) but it's something I'll know is fixed and that will make me really quite happy




The front window was removed as well, to assess the level of work required. They expected quite a bit although only one spot was really visible by just pulling back the external trim/seal. You can see that spot getting some careful attention in this photo.







That spot turned out to be severe enough to leave a hole....





...which didn't last long before it was all plated and welded up





Fortunately, very little rust was actually present and that one bit was the only section requiring any form of metal repair. I had expected a far worse scenario in this section, for example:






You can see in the foreground of this photo a previous repair. Not sure how long ago that was done but it must have been a while because I've owned this car for 6 years now and I certainly never had it done.






You can see in this photo another spot on the top right where a previous repair has been conducted.






A few finishing touches before primer was applied.







This is where we leave it for today - I think some more work was done this afternoon but it will be finished completely and ready for pickup tomorrow evening, just in time for me to give it a quick diff oil change (required, Trutrac warranty) and wheel alignment before the weekend's 2800km round trip to the Gold Coast to pick up my beautiful new car (new to me, not new new).

[savage1987]

Bit more progress... finally got around to doing the job I've been putting off for 18months or so.







What does it mean if my plugs are really bright shiny white a bit lean but probably still OK?

[savage1987]

Have had some problems over the past few days.

http://forums.justcommodores.com.au/...ew-clutch.html


Long story short, thanks to CAE's shit product lineup I have to effectively do the entire clutch instal a second time without even being able to start the car in between.

[JezzaB]

You need to sort out that tune. Those plugs are insanely white and its lean as hell!

[savage1987]

You need to sort out that tune. Those plugs are insanely white and its lean as hell!

yeah maybe, not on the top of the to-do list.

Mitch@waperf had this on his dyno and the AFRs were within safe spec.. has been a little slow lately though so maybe pulling timing.

Don't care to be honest...
It'll get a tune whenever I get around to heads/cam. For now maybe I'll check the FPR is still set where I left it. Don't even want to look at the car at the moment to be honest though..

[JezzaB]

Get over it, shit happens You will spent more time procrastinating and posting about redoing it then actually doing the job.

Put on a box of beer, bbq and invite some mates over and get stuck into it

[savage1987]

OK last night saw some good progress.

I clearanced the adapter plate so now there are no more issues with it interfering with the flywheel.








The clutch was all fitted up OK very quickly after that, and I took some measurements to check the slave cyl would be in its 'happy place', and all was good.






Here's my little helper who wouldn't sit still long enough for a photo where he was actually looking at the camera








Couple of mates helped me get the gearbox up, everything went smoothly but it wouldn't slide the last ~7mm to sit flush against the bellhousing. Three times we had it down and up again before realising you can't do it with a fully bled up clutch system.. dumped all the clutch fluid (again) and it bolted up OK although we did use the bolts to run it in the last stubborn 3mm or so, which I was comfortable with because I knew it was located correctly in the spigot bearing by that stage and it didn't take much to bring it home.


Tailshaft was next, then 'box oil, then Ripshifter, then exhaust.

To check it was all OK, we raised the back up onto another set of stands and gave it a test run. Clutch function was all normal, no turning wheels in gear with clutch in, etc etc, all good. Such a relief




Test drive!!

Mandatory test of a new clutch... lays nice fat lines.

Unfortunately I did manage to flatspot both front tyres in a bit of a surprise braking situation (damn these over-capable HSV stoppers!), super annoying 'wub wub wub' sound now especially noticeable at slow speeds. I'll flip those tyres to the rear for the drags this afternoon so hopefully a few staging burnouts should round them out a bit.



If I do manage to race, wish me luck as I try to break into the 12s! 13.2 was the previous best, with shit tyres, a stuffed clutch and 3.08 gearing ... decent tyres, a new HD clutch and 3.9s will hopefully be enough to counteract me being rubbish at launching the thing

[savage1987]

OK I have just finished some last minute prep before scrutineering opens in a couple of hours.

Rear wheels swapped with fronts, hopefully burnouts fix that flat spot issue by just wiping the whole top off the tyres

Replaced the rubber exhaust hangers at the rear - 1 snapped weld and 1 broken hanger resulted from all the exhaust up-and-down-ness over the last week.. Nothing I can do about the weld right now but the fresh hangers will hold it well enough for now.

Changed the circuit for the thermo fans. I put the old 50A circuit breaker in again instead of the blade fuse setup that just flat out didn't work. Fans operate correctly now and it was surprisingly easy although it was in the tangle of wiring behind the driver's kick panel


I do have an almost completely torn gearbox rubber mount, but I don't have time to fix it now so I'm going to just hope for the best.



Hopefully it all goes to plan

[savage1987]

Well I didn't get my 12.

$2500 on diff and $1500 on clutch as well as better tyres, and I got a slower car now but I think only because either I can't drive it, or the Townsville track (which is closing down) is pure rubbish.


First run 16.7 @ 96mph, had to get off throttle because I ended up in the other guy's lane. Just went all over the place.

2nd run 13.670@106.13 with a better 60' of 2.173. RT 0.919 so that was a bit off the money.

3rd run 13.246@106.63. This run I finally got my 60' under 2sec (which I've been trying to do for a while now) with a 1.974 and a 0.569 RT.




The first run obviously had no grip at all, even into 3rd it just went everywhere. The second and third runs were later in the night (couple of hundred cars there) so they must have stickied up the track a fair bit and I had no more trouble with wheelspin even off the line, so I probably could have gone into the launch a lot harder. I didn't feel like waiting an hour to do another run though so we called it a night.

I did get video but it turned out poo, so I'm waiting and hoping the Townsville dragway fairy has video'd all my runs again and that they turn up on youtube soon.

[SICK SS]

come down the road to palmyra mate and bring all your townsville budys with ya

[savage1987]

Yeah I think that's the plan in future. Should be a bit stickier of a track there too, from what I've heard.