deankdx

4 November 2018

the below story annoyed Me today.. i could have spent the day working on My broken car.. 
at least this gearbox being worth practically zero means i can pull it apart to see what it's like and if i feel confident fixing a 5 speed. 

sent this message earlier... "HI, hoping you wouldn't mind giving back half the $100 i paid for the junk i bought today. For one the gear box is a 4speed and second its probably stuffed was half mixed with water and rusty inside. I haven't checked the engine but I only bought it for the gearbox being a 5speed and said to be all good"
(they were moving out today and wanted it gone asap also) (MESSAGE Been Seen... No Reply naturally...not expecting one to be honest.)

these are the photos.. 

4 November 2018

because i'm stupid?  or just desperate for a cheap 5 speed.. 

i bought this, asked if it was a  4 or 5 speed, they said 5 speed, supposedly fine.....that's what they were told when they bought it.. comes with all the bolt on parts for engine also.

i figured worth the gamble, as the only part i don't have for a complete spare setup was a clutch(new around $130). so as a "drop in spare running engine"(maybe for the diesel car, i now have enough bits to make a stock 1600 fit into anything.. even an unfinished project coupe which is on the wish list.(often have no motor and box because pipe dreams are hard to complete if you are on a crack pipe?) 

the gear stick is stuck solid in whatever position it is.. i am betting(hoping) someone removed it with the box in gear then tried to refit it and didn't use a screwdriver to select neutral to refit the stick.. that's what i'm going to find out first after i have coffee number 4.. 

i had a hope i'd score some useful stuff in the deal incase the box is dead? and looking at the head casting it's another Big Valve Big port.. so that's good to have also.

comes with a air cleaner i aim to butcher for another project also(might be falcon weber with lpg mixer inside it even yet?  ) 

spare alternator, and stock carby always seem to be handy also. i hope the dizzy is there, haven't checked yet. 

really only interested in the gearbox at this stage.

i'll consider FIRING IT UP soon. 

13 head casting means another big port big valve head.. 

19 October 2018

had a bit of a muck around this arvo on the manifold. 

had some all thread the same pitch as the rodeo studs(gone due to head being sold from the wreck) cut to length ground the ends so you don't cut yourself or gak the threads.

basically just had a look to see what i'm up against. 

only thing i can see that needs addressing is a water port at the back that needs either welding(unlikely) tapping and a bung (likely) or drilling perfectly for a welsh plug.. oh.. or welding a plate onto the manifold that covers it(doubtful)

i'll have a look at the coolant pipes path next time and also a few of the vac hoses etc. but i think it will be an easy fit.. ports match the gemini intake gasket perfectly.. i found that surprising since the engine is a full 1000cc bigger. 

18 October 2018

decided to meet a mate of mine at Pick a Part today(kilsyth) just a half way point for both of us. 

while doing the usual random walk around,  

i sold the 2.5" exhaust yesterday, so had some money on Me.. and walked passed a rodeo that someone had pulled the head off..

what's that got to do with a gemini? 

well, i'd been eyeing off the efi manifold from one for a while but working on one in the car to remove it looked too painful. so ..

here's a correct type(round throttle body, instead of the dual one with oval throttle body) with all the crap still attached.. 

wandered up to the price list.. manifold $30.. thermostat housing $6($14 with temp sender) no mention of throttle body or injectors or tps etc.. thought bugger it, i'll go ask.

so wandered up without it and said, whats the price of a complete one, i'm not carrying it up here if it's not worth it.. looks up list..says $30 if you like. SOLD..

 few options available now.. EFi petrol.. efi injected lpg, gas research, impco or even the bbq gas ring type.. 

I'll bolt it on the spare head (to find all the bolts it's missing lost in the engine bay etc. )

not sure the accel cable will reach but that's another part of the next instalment.. i'll add some more photos later when i can get the other head out. 

9 October 2018

this is what i am suspecting.. 

find out when it's either on a tow truck or i get it apart before it breaks?

8 October 2018

well, i added a full tube of this stuff, it has made the 1,2,3 gears quieter but they still whine, much less though(4th wasn't whiny) 5th is still noisy.

found the CLUNK CLANG is still there (or there AGAIN) i think it could be in the diff or torque tube(like a second part of the tailshaft mounted to the diff) 

might remove the torque tube and have a look, easier than changing a whole diff(needs changing at some point still)

21 September 2018

The rear main ISN'T leaking.. it is the front of the gearbox i just removed that was leaking.. that kind of explains a few things(also the fact that i vaguely remember the box had no oil in it when i got the wreck) 

i didn't touch the car today, so the gearbox is still only barely fitted.. should get to it tomorrow, nicer weather i believe also (for laying on concrete) 

Woo! i can drive it again, Doh it whines(turns the radio up WOO!) 

decided putting the EGR pipe back on was easier than removing it.. 

whines in all gears except 4th.. going to live with it for now.. ideally it will come out at some stage with the engine when i fit the worked engine. 

i tipped 1 litre of oil and and pretty much drained it instantly .. i'll change this fresh oil soon. maybe before the next drive even, may add a nulon additive or even some gear oil mixed in possibly. 

i had google, looks like this gearbox is on borrowed time.. and the other that whined in 5th i'd not trust either.. 

i have a 4 speed i'll be fitting with the worked engine (or this engine if this box gets worse?)

not sure if i have the skills to tear down a gearbox.. i barely know the name of half the parts inside them(read the gregorys manual on gearbox. lost me a few times with names of things)

after reading 5 or 6 googled results, it's bearings knackered causing the gears to be out of mesh slightly.. some people have just changed the oil and hoped for the best until it gets worse.. which is what i'll do for now(adding a nulon goop because i bought one anyway) because i need the car to be able to drive. 

19 September 2018

well, decided today was as good a day as any to wrestle the gearbox out.. 

did something SMART i didn't do the other day. get a tape measure and measure how high the bell housing is.. so it would fit out from under the car.... then proceeded to raise the stands one more hole to allow clearance..

got under the car, undid the cross member, and lowered the box out no issues.. 

swapped a few things over, shifter housing because it looked less "leaky" , swapped reverse light switch. swapped clutch fork and thrust race, cleaned the input shaft where it goes into spigot bush. 

dragged it under the car, and layed next to it, sort of crocodile rolled it onto My chest and began trying to stab the fucker into the clutch.. BASTARD! forgot to put it in gear.. 

ended up propping it up with a bit of wood i had at hand so i wouldn't need to get under it again.. got inside the car, fitted the gearstick and put it n a gear(any) and thought.. hmm.. tie a rope around the gearbox and it can't fall town at the back end.. sorted.. see pic for that trick.

while trying to get the box lined up i used screwdrivers at hand to locate the bell housing to engine, these surprisingly just let the box slide off ... hmm, get some longer bolts with nuts on.. they were used to locate it and then wiggle it into the splines of the clutch easily.. done.. chuck some correct bolts in.. do cross member up and take a rest break.. because i was getting HANGRY(angry because hungry) .. and that's probably all it will get to today. 

12 September 2018

got all the bolts out except the 4 in the gearbox cross member, 
had to go buy a 14mm ring spanner and a ratchet ring for the bell housing bolts up the top.. no room for ratchet(motor was fitted with gearbox attached last time)

next job, box out.. and reversal of the removal process.

12 September 2018

EGR pipe was a pain in the ass as usual, i regret fitting it. i decided to remove the extractors (or try to) for more space, the egr pipe is also right in the way of the starter motor also.

12 September 2018

eventually began gearbox removal.. half way through i was asking myself why i didn't pay someone.. then i remembered i don't have any money.. so continued(plus i don't trust anyone to work on My cars)

i keep forgetting to WASH THE ENGINE/GEARBOX etc while the car drives.. had grease up to My arm pits again, put My hair in an oil patch also anyway.. 

at least i remembered to keep the carpet and underlay off cuts for laying on.. comfy. 

tail shaft removal, same as a falcon pretty much 

when i bought some gemini parts and diff recently the guy gave me "the other half" of the tailshaft he cut in half to remove(because he lost the 12mm spanner). i shortened it as an oil leak stopper, because even though i drained the oil, it was still dripping out a bit

(if you are noticing safety glasses, it's because i had stuff dug out of My eyes twice now.. safety squint not effective)

11 September 2018

well, been struggling for motivation to do the gearbox job(swap with a spare), had a Queensland holiday and came back to the daily struggle of life. 

i decided i'd drain the oil of the gearbox i bought ages ago, can't remember what i paid, think it was $250 with a 2 litre engine suit reco and some other junk thrown in. 

i was told this box worked perfect, so i'll be surprised after seeing the OIL? come out of it. more like petrol in consistency and black as sump oil.(diesel sump oil) 

i bought it off Corey.. no, you don't know him.. i'm just wondering if all Coreys are dodgy?

i also drained the oil from the gearbox in the car, does contain CHUNKS of metal. small chunks though.. not sure on how rooted it is, i may dismantle it  one day 

also when i got the other head reconditioned, i gave him all the rocker gear in the rocker cover(so he could check wear on shafts etc) he decided to wash the rocker cover in the fancy stuff they clean the heads in.. so it came back with no paint(was a tidy black original..) 

i did like the red one in the car, even as crusty as it is, the red looked correct in there. so i decided to paint this one in gloss red also. came up nice(even with runs) i etch primed it first, then painted it gloss red acrylic. should do fine. 

here's the "SETTLED" oil/water mix from overnight.. 

oil floats on water, i suspected this would be the result. looks clean in the way of debris though. (floaties weren't there till i moved it for a better photo)

send it.. will still flush it though with not so old engine oil

video of the box and oil from the "good spare" 

15 August 2018

stumbled across a pic of the wagon in March on it's first outing at Calder Park raceway on the semi slicks.

5 August 2018 

gearbox noise.

5 August 2018

update time..

i broke the gearbox.. about a week after going to Calder raceway... just took off normally then clang.suspect it's input shaft bearing.. killed a few single rails and T5s the same way in the past.. i got spares, will fit one one day soon ish .(within a month i guess)

i dropped off the 1600 head to be checked/reco. and the guy said he'd only do whats needed or wanted.. (checked for hardness free) if it had have been stuffed i'd have settled for the small port head being cleaned up.

but, it checked out quite well, the hardness test was EXCELLENT! the valve guides as new, inlet valves good (machined seats and valves instead of lapping) but exhaust valves a bit "hammered" so they were replaced.

needed welsh plugs(under the cam) replaced and the water fitting on the front, nothing i didn't already know about.. (one of the reasons you don't just slap in an old motor and cross your fingers)

he had a "HOT CAM" on the shelf new, no specs, couldn't remember who it's from even.. and i am getting that for a steal.. (turned out to be a Crow Cam not listed on their website, lower lift hot cam similar to a 2509)

that naturally needed better valve springs.. so $$$$ more money(did i hear keep it stock mentioned somewhere? oh, yeah.. page 1)

he did give it a clean up type port job on the short turn radius while it was apart.. because... why wouldn't you(no charge even)

i asked him to check for Coil Bind with the big cam, he did fit Nissan TB42 valve stem seals because they are shorter than gemini ones just in case the valve lift was massive?
not knowing the specs of the cam, i can only go by Crow's Hot cam range of 3000rpm to 7000rpm..(that's for the 1600, so the 2 litre may be more like 2500 to 6500) 
the various people i have asked about having it measured to dial it in have ALL said , chuck it in dot to dot and see how it feels.. (check for piston to Valve clearance.. this head/cam is going on the bottom end i bought recently with flycut pistons)

5 July 2018

finally got around to pulling the 1600 head off(that i bought for $100). looks pretty good from first inspection

silastic in the water jacket..

carby gasket was back to front(bigger throttle plate restriced by smaller gasket hole..) why does My big port head goes no better than it did with the small port.... 
OH! what's with the gasket blocking secondary throat with the small hole part of the gasket

1st July 2018

this is the scenic drive down the 1/4 mile 

sunday drive.. chopped the VL on take off..not sure if he was"building boost" P plater shouldn't have boost though.

in case you didn't see the link in previous post on the 8 second gemini

1 July 2018

RACE DAY AGAIN

well, i didn't get conclusive results.. but the car feels better 
Calder was plagued with delays today, i got 2 runs in and called it time to leave.. got there at 9am. left at 2.30pm with only 2 runs.
first run was a flat 18 with heaps of wheel spin.. second run was better, when i picked up the time sheet it said 17.5 which is what it ran prior with poor tuning(was lean then though)
 

video from this morning.. the fogged up inside of the screen also was frozen..

this would not have been fun without the choke

i thought the screen said 17.1 but it was actually same as the time slip according to someone who filmed the run

semi slicks.. would have made a massive difference

the person filming was there to see the 8 second gemini.. aka not mine lol this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jy2wgOg1vdg&ab_channel=Fullboost

21 June 2018

yesterday i went to bunnings and got a computer colour match of the "buckskin" kick panel and had 500ml mixed up in exterior self priming paint.

you can see it's pretty close when dry on the kick panel.. i wasn't going to remove the MDF because i'm lazy.. but the effort in not spilling brown paint in my red car seemed worth the effort.
i'll consider "routering" the edges with a flap disc on the grinder.. need to test a spot first. i may just take the sharp edge off.

pics speak for themselves, i decided to "reco" the old panels also, just because the paint was going to be wasted otherwise.

also made a bezel to surround the latch access hole

17 June 2018

what's going on here?

first time cranking with spark in 20yrs

i sanded the points, found another spark plug lead(used the 20yr old plugs and leads) primed the carby bowl, cranked it over to confirm spark(coil lead to head) 

and hit the "key" 

not sure i'd trust it as is, but i bought it for the head(they suffer the same as Xflow heads, with water jacket corrosion, warping, soft alloy etc.
but i planned on fitting it to the reco (4yrs ago) short 2 litre engine i bought a month back.. if i didn't dyno tune the current combo i'd be tempted to slap it on the engine in the car already..

13 June 2018

cranking it over video.. first engine in a while i didn't need to bolt a gearbox to for starter motor(has a steel adaptor plate)

13 june 2018

when i bought this engine, bloke said "she'll be right" has no oil in it(regarding laying the engine over in the back of the wagon.. no probs, i brought THIS with Me.. spark plug jammed in a hose for dipstick hole(had to do similar when i sold the old 1600)

yeah sure buddy, checked the oil when i finally found my spare dipstick(could have just poked some wire down but wanted to know how much anyway)

set it up for compression test

 next step is FIRE IT UP.. 
confirmed it has oil pressure by the switch with the multi meter connected on the compression test.

11 June 2018

it isn't seized either

tempted to assemble the thing and fire it up on the ground

11 June 2018

Uh Oh Spagetti oh (rope nightmares)

i saw the ad for a gemini engine $100.. figured i recently sold a chrome rocker cover for $80... then needed a rocker cover for My reco bottom end build up... and a dizzy..

why not whole engine...

and then saw.. the pic of the manifold, its a twin outlet, supposed to be as good as extractors(when used with long pipes off it) and it also gives it a reasonable chance of being a BIG PORT HEAD. not sure what it will be like seeing it's been sheded for 20(twenty) years.. but will find out soon. i didn't even check if it still turned over. 
2 of us lifted it into the back of the wagon, it's sitting on a piece of ute floor from a falcon wreck, which also has cardboard under it.. 
i also rested the intake on the tyre when we layed the engine back and tied it to the engine(as it would be typical to slide out the first move) 
used all My tie downs and wanted more in the front area... will add some(used the seat belt top hoops as a just in case scenario seeing there was leftover rope)

now i need to build a something to get the engine out of the car.. probably just slide it off onto a stack of  2 wheels first.

also put a jack under the floor and took some weight off the springs, don't need superlows turning into ultra lows.

10 June 2018

here's an Expectation Vs Reality comparison again.

did something useful while watching TV last night, roughed out My wiring diagram for the gauges (why does the UA AU in gauges and guards differ, i always fuck the spelling up) 

got it all wired and mounted in the console and ran out of daylight.. 5 wires to hook up, i only need to find instrument lights, or i could just run the off the IGN+ if it didn't annoy Me(probably would annoy me)

i tested the tacho prior to fitting because the wires were already on the shift light.(aka shit light) and the tacho seems slow, it was labeled as a 4cyl ONLY one, but is definitely reading at what i guess half speed.. so i will address that later.  BGDAV has a cheap one with various switches i can plug in and run next to it to compare, might swap him if its a V8 one? i mainly want the volt gauge and oil pressure to work.. might be expecting too much seeing they are cheapies also

expectation..

reality