Yammies

sometimes the clutch plate rusts onto the flywheel - especially after a bit of rain. this means that when you put your foot on the clutch, you are releasing the pressure from the pressure plate but the driveline remains engaged. other than regular driving or only driving only on dry days there isn't a lot you can do - unless there is an inspection plate missing on the bellhousing? is the vehicle stored in a dry area out of the rain?

what is it idling at? I'm assuming that as it's an auto it will have a revcounter. try adjusting your base idle slightly higher to see if it makes a difference.

if they are anything like the chevette guards i can understand why you wouldn't want to take them off to fix anything underneath.. they are a prick as they are glued and screwed, and ridiculous number of screws holding them in place. some are in real shitty places too.

there are a couple of different tools on the market for hinge pin removal/replacement - I got mine from the sulco tool man. most of the British stuff had roll pins as door hinge pins which are pretty easy to get from hardware suppliers. most hinges can be rebuilt with a bit of time and/or money, bushing the hinge out or reaming and going oversize on the pin, or if the pin has worn, sometimes a new pin is all it takes.

That is essentially all I have, though I do have another couple of different versions of the same harness, though they don't appear to have an ignition relay in the circuit. I figured I don't really need it, but just wanted to make sure. Most of the aussie conversions use an adapter harness, and pretty much all of them use an ignition relay. there should be bugger all current through the ignition switch but I guess it can't hurt to unload it a bit with a relay controlling all of the switched ignition functions. I haven't actually go the the wiring stage yet in my conversion, but wanted to make sure i have everything sorted before I begin.

left hand side of the page, about half way down. it just says 'to ign relay' Coil is the DFI unit, so should be powered through the EFI Relay. hence I have no idea what the Ign Relay does

Can anyone tell me exactly what the ignition relay in the holden wiring diagram does? is it needed at all?

if injector pumps are being damaged by diesel, then it is either bypassing the filters, or the filtration media is too coarse. If your vehicle filter is rated for the engine as an OEM part should be, then you should not have any problems. aftermarket filters such as Ryco or similar may resemble the original part in every way except for filtration level, and may in fact be allowing crap through, causing the problem.

Alot of people/workshops are blamming bug for the failure of new high pressure common rail injectors when its often actually just particulate contamination and the OEM filters are just not up to it but thats a topic all on its own. Would a flush of methanol through the system kill the bug? You're right there. Most commonly, diesel is filtered down to 25 Microns at point of use - i.e. at the pump. I understand that modern common rail systems are getting down to tolerances of less than 5 microns, and will require filtration down to 3 microns absolute. This will be the reason newer systems will fail in the near future, until filters at the pumps are upgraded along with industry practice. Biological growths in fuels normally grow in the layer between the water and the fuel, feeding off the hydrocarbons (fuel) and getting their oxygen from the water. Fuels such as diesel or kerosene may have entrained water in solution, meaning that the water is in effect, suspended in the fuel in tiny droplets, further aggravating the problem. It is very difficult to prevent diesel bug as you will not know it is getting into your tank until it is too late. My advice will be to try to go for the higher turnover petrol stations, as these are less likely to have biological growths in their fuel due to the high turnover of product. There are a few products available on the market, and each varies in how it is used and how effective they actually are. The best you can do is treat it and hope for the best. adding water traps will do nothing for the diesel bug as you are seperating the fuel/water mixture after the tank, which is where the bulk of the growth is actually present. all it will do is prevent water from entering your injector pump, and most filters contain some sort of water drain facility anyway.

how many terminals does the alternator have? Check you have a good connection to the light wiring, there may be a breakdown causing low voltage on one side allowing the light to stay on - normally it requires voltage on both sides of the light to turn it off, assuming that the field is running through the light.

I was talking to someone the other day about this and they mentioned a triumph universal fits escort columns... can anyone back this up? (i'm not sure which model triumph btw)

is it skittery on the road or just feels like a lack of grip?

Depends which box you use.... Toyota used a number of different boxes which vary in strength. I can only assume your old man wants to keep it 4x4?

dot 3 is the best fluid to use, but absorbs water like a motherfucker. DOT4 is the compromise and is also what most manufacturers use as it extends the brake fluid life as it doesn't absorb water as readily. In saying that, there is no reason you can't put DOT4 into a system that previously had DOT3. Any improvement will be due to a deteriorated fluid, and I would imagine that the majority of people wouldn't see/feel the differeence

the 3.8 you mentioned will be a Buick V6 which is very similar to the early commodore V6s. Still from the GM family though.

You'd definitely have to cert the holden motor. you can often get away with engines from the same family especially if they bolt up to factory mounts as most WOF inspectors won't recognise a different motor if it has the same make stamped on it as the car, especially in older vehicles.

POR15 is great, just make sure you put a topcoat over it as it will oxidise. CRC Black Zinc does the same - you can use CRC Zinc it as a primer and then just topcoat with any reasonable topcoat to get the results you are after. probably best to ask a spraypainter or at a paint store though.

ATF is 10w - by mixing and matching oil weights, you can change your damping rate. most people go slightly higher to compensate for worn parts

Can anyone tell me if the speedo hall effect sender on a T5 in a VN/VP commodore V6 is required or does it only run the speedo on the manual cars? I know it is used on the auto models for idle control, but not sure about the manual ones. I'm trying to work out if i can get rid of the electronic part completely, or tee it inline and run a manual cable for my speedo.

the stereo should turn off when the car is off. make sure the red wire goes to the accessory circuit - i.e. it switches off when the ignition is off, and on when the key is turned to ACC

if the previous stereo wiring only used four wires they should be: ignition/accessory(positive from the acc position on the ignition switch) earth, left channel, and right channel. The speakers normally had one wire earthed on older stereos and the other one went back to the head unit. occasionally you would get a single speaker, in which case two wires may go to that. you can use the existing power and earth wires for your new head unit, and run new ones for the extra circuits. This way you will be utilising the existing fuse in the fuse panel, assuming there is one there. check to see if there is a fuse in the back of the head unit before installing an extra fuse on the Memory/main power wire (yellow normally). if you are running amps then the blue wire from the new head unit can be used to switch these on, otherwise it is not needed. the rest of the wiring should be pretty self explanatory. Don't do what a mate of mine did when wiring up his head unit - he managed to hook the earth wire up to the indicator power, which was earthed when not in use. every time he flicked the indicator on, the stereo went on and off with the indicators

if it's anything like the manual T5, the top half of the speedo drive comes off and there is a manual drive underneath it.