dr.wylde

so I put the cam back in Have Advanced it by 4 degrees to bring the powerband a little lower in the rev range to compensate for the 2.6 diff . so the plan is to build the car to match the cam .

so , for the last 10 years. I've had a cam , in an engine. that's being choked out by restricted exhaust manifolds , a 2.6:1 diff . and probably generally shit tuning. and I did 5000ks in it haha. the funniest thing though, and mods you may tell me off for this. one of the arguments I had with my ex-wife was kinda funny now I think about it. She drove the car for a short period while I sorted her car out ( bad idea) anyways after a week, she's spouting off at me during one of our weekly arguments ( this was in the final year of marriage when we just weren't getting along) " I know that old car better than anyone" do you really? hahahahahaha small ironies. anyways back to the car . I have two options either get a tamer camshaft or........... build the rest of the engine car to suit the cam. thoughts please in the the discussion thread. pic for fred

Update Time. been slowly working away on this, pulling the engine apart to get to the timing chain. Timing chain/ marks check out . was set up as per dot/dot , straight up. well the 9 link gap between marks. hmmmm , ok not what I thought then. so then I went a step further, rockers, pushrods and lifter came off and out. disassembled more of the car. thought to myself, you know what time to solve this mystery once and for all with the cam , pull it , check for markings and check on the Internet. and this is what I found. Crower 56502. first, that's actually pretty cool. second, ohhhhh that makes a lot of sense. it's a fairly aggressive cam for my application. I'll dig up specs. one moment please

that was the plan , wind it over on the rock and see if the valves are even. I ran 12 degrees originally with no vac advance , but when I had the vac advance rebuilt I dialed back the distributor to 8 degrees . total advance is 34 and when it has run well , this is where I've had it .

I was off work for a few days following some minor surgery. thought I'd work on the car. Inside the bumper was all rusty and scaly , wire wheeled that off with the grinder and blew some black paint at the insides and all the brackets. sadly that's all I have , but bumper is now back on the front of the car. However......... so those of you who have followed from the beginning will remember that the engine that resides between the chassis rails in the car was a rebuilt unit that was built and then possibly/potentially stored before I got it. because my OG donk shat a piston ( still have that by the way) Anyways I got the AFR gauge to determine my idle mixture as I wasn't having any luck with the vacuum gauge method. now I've done my due diligence, the entire ignition system is pretty much new and it works Carb is also reco'd and functional. even with the idle mixture running at 14.2-14.7 the vacuum signal is only reading a steady 13. definitely too low . I suspect it's incorrect valve timing which would make sense as the internals are new ish and have barely done 5000k since I dropped the engine in. All it's bad idling ( I just thought it had a lumpy cam) it's stumbling and that stranding incident. it all kind of makes sense now. compression test came back at 115-120psi all round, also too low. anyways, next job is to pull the engine all apart and check the valve timing on a cam I have no clue what its specs are . I did find a video on YouTube from Uncle Tony's garage about using the Keith Black method to determine whether it's timed correctly. anyways for now I'll leave it there as I'm going to take a break from it until next month while I gather some parts and Tools.

it is , I just had it at the back of the car so I could take a snap

also gave it a new alternator. not really much to post about but meh! new 120amp instead of the factory 55amp. hopefully enough to future proof any other mods that require electrical stimulation. however even with there new alternator I'm still having electrical issues, lights dim and flicker . seems like the overall system isn't getting enough power , so now I'm looking at battery terminals and leads as well as all my connections. but that will be for a future update

so had a quick moment over the Anzac weekend. didn't really achieve anything except tidying up around the garage where I keep the car , sorted and arranged tools and various other bits. one part that I bought 6 months ago that was a bit of an impulse buy , I didn't need it but I wanted it was a chin spoiler for the WB series. s am debating whether to fit some fog lights in it. what do you lot think?

quick update factory tacho is now installed and in , had to use the lens off the original clock . but it's in and all wired up and everything works baby steps.

hey chaps. quick update. so the Caprice models had a tacho from factory. long story short I've been looking for one for years and finally I found one ( that was for sale at a reasonable price) I've seen some go for hundreds of dollars. anyways, I bought it and it isn't in the greatest shape, truthfully I thought it may need some internal repairs. however wired it up and get presto it works. Snapchat-1665840364.mp4 now to install it properly and to ditch the factory clock. oh and as you can see I now have an AFR gauge. also well worth the investment as now I have the idle mixture dialled in . plan to get the carb well dialled in for its full potential. that's it for the next few weeks as busy with life and need to save some money for the next step.

One thing I always thought that let the car down was the wheels. I love the Steelie and Hubcap combo but they need some loving. On top of that I'm a little over the Stock look and now the car will need a bit of a makeover anyway so I thought I'd treat the old girl to some new Shoes. Show her that I still care

Long time between Drinks. So........ Where am I at with the Statesman? There's two answers to this A. I still have the car and not much has changed, if anything she's been down the road of deterioration. B. A lot has happened in my personal life since the stranding in Twizel. So I'll summarize the best I can . 2017-2019 After the Twizel incident, I repaired the bits that failed and left it in the shed on the farm , too Annoyed with it for what it did , was also managing a farm at the time so work took priority. 2019- September 2022. Due to the outbreak of M Bovis in the south island ( my farm was next door to ground zero) I got out of the farming game , cashed in what I could and purchased my first house. The following year 2020 - lockdowns and numerous jobs and job losses kept money tight and the car was still in the garage. Couple that with a wife who started buying every heap of shit project car under the sun , eldest daughter moving out , things got really tight. One of the project rustboxes ( Leyland P76) moved into the Statesman's place on the property leaving the Holden in the elements until September. September 2022 - March 2023 Divorce! Won't go into details but marriage ended.So I ended up paying a Truck to collect the Holden and it went to My parents in North Canterbury, to which sadly it spent another couple of years on the driveway in the harsh sun and the cold . March 2023. I moved in to the parents, I assessed the car , the years in the elements have had the rust goblins chewing on the edges . I started buying parts here and there and stashing them over the course of the last year and a half. June 2024 . Now with new job and home I brought the old barge home. Work has continued. And that ladies and gentlemen is where I'll leave it until the next update. Lots of new parts and developments. Really want this old girl back on the road.

Hate to say it but I'm going to have to bail on this.

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