chasinthemirage

Sort of on topic, what fuel pressure regulators do people recommend? The OE one on my VL is damaged and I have SFA chance of finding another one. Not sure what's what and I don't want to risk damaging the engine running a dodgy aftermarket one. The motor is an RB30ET, all stock apart from the exhaust as far as I know.

Pulled the intake manifold and fuel rail off last night. Made sure I marked all the vacuum lines before I removed them as I don't fancy trying to suss out where they all go when it goes back together. Everything came apart okay once I found the last two bolts that were tucked away underneath. The inlet manifold and coolant hardlines look pretty nasty so I will send them away and get them cleaned up. I'm running out of coin pretty quick but while I'm in there I will replace all the hoses too, may as well do it once and do it right. Unfortunately the fuel pressure regulator has a kink in the pipe, I really want to keep everything factory looking so I will try and hide an aftermarket one somewhere out of sight. Not really sure what I'm looking for as far as decent quality aftermarket regulators? I'll also replace the injector seals and hoses while I'm in there, hopefully someone will be able to match them. The diff I bought will hopefully arrive Friday, need to go back to BNT and see if I can exchange the shoes I bought for some new wheel bearings and brake pads. must admit I'm quite looking forward to fitting some new parts as opposed to pulling stuff apart and finding more I need to order!

There's been a distinct lack of progress on this thing recently, really struggling to find time/motivation. I got a spare radiator recored, it ended up being more expensive than I expected and I probably should have just gone alloy but I've dealt with the shop in the past and they've done a good job so I'm not too worried. While the radiator is out I've also removed the hoses and the water necks as I'd like to have these media blasted along with the scody looking intake manifold. Hopefully they'll clean up okay as I haven't been able to find new replacements online, I am yet to contact Nissan though. Having the hoses off also meant that I could access the all important engine number, I must admit that I froffed a wee bit when I saw that the engine number starts with 05

The VL community is a small world eh! I still have Kelvin's speedo cable that I need to send back to Brendon haha. Was it just 30e/auto when Mike was daily driving it? I've bought a VP diff that I'm going to rob the brakes off, will still be open diff but I can live with that for the meantime.

As an RFB VL foamer it pains me to tell you how much I like this. A+

Sorry to see you're having motor issues man. Don't sell it though, can guarantee you'd regret it! I almost bought a Brougham once and I'm still kicking myself for letting it go

I thought that this had been sold? I must have missed something...

Choice, will see if the seller will hold onto that diff for a couple of weeks if I buy it. May as well fit rear discs before it goes for cert.

Eh? Same diff different shell?

Hey @Shakotom, do you know if I will be able to use VP rear disc brakes on the VL diff? I made a start on the brakes today and the hardlines are stuffed/cbf with reassembling drums. I found this on the tard, http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/car-parts-accessories/holden/diffs-axles/auction-1397291003.htm Bendix website says the pads are the same for VN/VP, am I right in thinking I may be able to swap the backing plates, calipers etc on to my diff and then will just need to source a VN onwards hard brake cable?

Bugger all progress on this thing so far, I've bought all the brake parts plus some filters and various gaskets but with moving into a flat I've had no time to do any actual work. Fingers crossed I don't get called out this weekend and can get something done. I also got the interceptor/chaser/cop steelies that I bought today. I'm still on the hunt for some E34 alloys but these clear the turbo front brakes and don't need hubcentric rings so will roll these for awhile. Need a set of centre caps to complete them though. Couple of terrible photos but they fit, quite liking the silver on silver look currently.

I have zilch experience with Mitsubishi's but @fuel may be able to provide you with some advice?

@scooters I'm not actually too sure, the first time I searched for them there was a set although mine are missing the center caps. There's probably tonnes of them getting around on trailers owned by people with no idea what they are

I've always liked the look of them, took me awhile to buy one though due to the bogan/rb thing. I have the complete set of the wheels on the rear but due to the offset of them I'd have to roll and possibly pump the guards which I don't want to do. I'm hoping to find a set of the mesh E34 wheels that are on the front though, same size as the cop steelies so shouldn't have any issues with swapping between them after cert.

Thanks man, pretty pleased with how it looks. It's on King Springs, the dude I bought it off thinks their standard height springs. It's got huge tyres on it that were left over from my Chevy so maybe it looks lower than it actually is? Will be interesting to see how it looks on the cop steelies I've got coming for it.

@Shakotom the last VL I had had VN discs on the rear, it braked pretty well but the open diff was a bit hopeless as far as traction went. Really not sure what to do for the rear end, part of me wants to do LSD and discs now so I only have to get cert once but I don't own a car that goes so I really need to get it legal. Tempted to raid a VN this weekend...

Haha Kyteler has told me the same thing! Calaisturbo has been so much help so far, the guy I bought the car from has put me in contact with a few people too which have been really helpful. It does actually, hasn't got a BOV at the moment. Just a bung in the manifold. I was really lucky though and managed to score an OE BOV for cheap so I've got that to fit at some point.

Yeah you'd think so! I guess the drums were probably cheaper and easier to justify to the bean counters on a non performance orientated model?

Calais had disc rear ends but the diffs don't come up for sale very often. I'd like a disc rear end, even though I've just forked out for new shoes and wheel cylinders I'm still in two minds about converting this to VN discs/ swapping the entire diff

Been making a list of things that need to be done, hopefully this will take care of a few reliability and potential cert/WOF issues Oil and filter Fuel filter Air filter Recore radiator Thermostat & gasket Radiator cap Release bearing BOV Inlet manifold clean & gaskets Check injector & coolant hoses Drive shaft loops Diff & gearbox oils Reverse lights Fit speedo cable Check cam belt Drive shaft U/J's Front brake pads Rear brake shoes and cylinders L/H floor damage Surface rust on rear brake line Rust in spare wheel well and seal channel Alarm Secure intake pipe brackets Check ignition timing Rust kill and paint radiator support Replace steering rack boots

Please don't ban me for RB, figured I'd start a build thread for my latest daily driver/project vehicle. She's a 1988 VL Royale. Like the VL GTS' the Royale's were a New Zealand only model, essentially a run out of the remaining Calais parts. Unfortuantely they didn't get the pop up headlamps but they got the Calais tail lights and steering wheels plus luxury extras such as cruise control, power windows and electric mirrors. Royale's were either RB20E or RB30E with ML4 automatic transimssions and GM3 or GN9 open diffs with drum brakes. I picked this up off Trademe after missing out on it a few months ago due to lack of funds. It was listed on Monday morning, I called the seller in the afternoon and then took Tuesday off work and drove down to Timaru for a look on Tuesday morning. An hour and a half and one terrifyingly fast test drive later I'd put a deposit on it. I'd been on the hunt for a tidy VL for the past few months and while a tidy example of a model with limited build numbers, with a manual transmission and the extra bonus of two tone paint ticked all my boxes, the real kicker for me was this: an A8 RB30ET factory turbocharged engine. The engine was put in a couple of owners before me and the car has been converted to manual with a 30E gearbox and driveshaft. It's still running the original diff and drum brakes but has had factory turbo front discs, calipers and master cylinder/booster fitted. I'm still working through the car and making a list of what needs to be done and then I'll book it in for a cert inspection. Bit of a daunting process as I've never done it before but mega excited to get this thing street legal!

@Nominal sweet thank you. I'll try them with new pads and see how close they are, I think they'll move away from the wheels as the pads wear so I might be ok.

Is there a minimum requirement for clearance between the inside of a wheel rim and the brake calipers? Tried the stock wheels on the VL tonight and there's only a mm or two between them. Slightly concerned the Royale wheels may be a different design internally to the Calais wheels which clear 290mm brakes

How do PWR radiators compare? Both Commodore radiators that I have are a bit unhealthy, tossing up whether I get the twin core OE radiator recored or purchase an alloy radiator? Not sure whether the n/a and factory turbo radiators are any different although the radiator that's fitted is apparently an early single core and the twin cores were introduced later on.

Awesome thanks @Beaver! Night have to look into getting another set of wheels before cert then