Wylde's '84 Holden Statesman DeVille series II

[dr.wylde]

Oh wow I've never had a page 2 on any of my threads before must be going up in the world!!!!!

After I got the warrant I did a couple of tow missions even though I have yet to pay the rego. Now before I go on I wil say that things thing has always read a bit hot on the temp gauge and I always thought it was just wonky Holden thing (many of my previous Holdens were like this). 

so a Fortnight after the warrant I I went to Oamaru to pick up a fridge with trailer in tow, was an awesome drive there1 well going anywhere is awesome when your in a big old car.

Temp was good Sitting just on the edge of the "normal Operating band" on the gauge. I then picked up my fridge and headed back through town.

In Town i noticed the temp gauge rising when sitting idle in traffic  it would stop rising when on the move.

 

but it would not go down.

On the outskirts of town I noticed that the rear was making a grinding sound and the engine was labouring to maintain speed.

shit gets hotter again!!

heaters on full noise!!! this helped 

got home 15km later and she blew the water pump hose. fucking coolant goes fucking everywhere! unloaded and parked the old bitch in the garage. By this stage I knew that it was time to sort out the cooling system. and investigate the rear brakes again as I had not long fixed the dragging issue it had after failing my warrant last June.

I had a spare radiator out of an hq so I hoaried that in along with some spare radiator pipes I had laying around

But That had a hole in it and didn't hold water!!. FUCK! so much for a temp fix

on another note I got sick of  the chrome shit under the bonnet so I dug out some spare rocker covers and repainted them along with the chrome air filter in wrinkle black.

cos all the cool kids wrinkle shit these days

moving on I sent my radiator Up to timaru to be cleaned out turns out it was 30% blocked according to the radiator shop. still yet to fit this

right and finally the brakes finally got round to looking at this today (Always busy with other things hence why I dont do as much car work as I'd like to)

one of the caliper bolts had decided to go AWOL so I pulled its mate out 

looks like I will have to take a trip to the engineering shop for another bolt

also Scored some other goodies

I have an 85A Alternator off a  VP V6  that with a pulley change a few wiring mods will go on to the car  as its exactly the same as the Factory alt.

And some Twin AU thermo fans that will go in at a later date if shit continues to run hotter than I like.

On another not I came across an Photo of my old Mini from 10 years ago 

had a very hot cam, exhaust and a Sidedraught Weber. It went that fuckin' hard it was

 

[dr.wylde]

Long overdue update!

I've been using this car as a weekend pleasure cruiser, done a few tow jobs here and there. Just enjoying the car In a more Legal manner.

So we headed away for a weekend in June and took the Stato on its first maiden voyage-not too far just an hour and a half drive from Waimate to Twizel to see the inlaws. I absolutely loved loading up the car with the wife and kids and going on a drive up the high country but... it wasnt with out a few hiccups. We were 1 km out of Omarama when the whole car started to shake up and down and side to side. ( quite a weird shake really cant explain it!)

limped into omarama went to put the spare on and that was a no go as it was bald and deflated I was  caught with my pants down.

the old whitewall had started to separate 

$120 later and a mediocre replacement fitted we were back on the road

anyways made it to the inlaws house enjoyed my weekend even though it was freezing cold. all was good until we had to leave two days later. The car started to miss just outside of Twizel that then grew into a backfiring out the carb. rang the inlaws got towed back to their house and we borrowed the Mother in laws cressida. 

I said my goodbyes and left a big slut in Twizel

I called John from South Island couriers to bring the car back to me 2 weeks later along with $250. I tell you what it was an expensive weekend. Since then its just sat in my Garage I've been at the point where I dont want to sink anymore money into it ( as its hemmoraged so much money already more than I've let on here at OS) I have even considered moving it on. I'd tested the waters on Facecrack and got some interest but then it dawned on me I just cant bear to part with it. The thought of some young fuckwit making it into a boozer makes me angry.

since June Mrs Wylde removed the Right hand rocker cover and found the rocker arm on Ex #7 torn in half and a destroyed lifter the cam lobe survived the ordeal though. My intial thought was that It jammed a valve when we were up in Twizel. so Today I took the head off

unfortunately I stopped taking photos at this point but I got the Head off and removed the valve spring. The valve was not stuck!  I'm confused as to why or how this happened.

Can I get away with replacing the lifter? or will I need a new cam too?

Or just LS/Chev/Big block it?

TL:DR -  A new tyre and a fucked engine!

[dr.wylde]

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. 

 

[dr.wylde]

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

 

[dr.wylde]

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.

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.

[dr.wylde]

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.

[dr.wylde]

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?

 

[dr.wylde]

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 

[dr.wylde]

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.