Kiwibirdman Posted May 7, 2020 Author Share Posted May 7, 2020 My mate who has been doing a lot of work with me on the car came round with his Mig welder to start on the exhaust. While the car was still on teh ground I decided that this was as good a time as any to connect up the battery and spin over the engine. No fuel pump so it was never going to start. After a couple of false starts, not having the main fuse in make the electrics go badly, the engine spun over OK. DId it a second time and heard a funny noise. Next thing smoke started to come out of the general area of the alternator. I whipped the battery cable off and the smoke stopped escaping. Pulled all the power leads off the alternator and every thing looks OK. Suspect the alternator has a short, Trying to build up the motivation to start pulling it apart. I'm hoping that I don't have to pull the radiator to get the bolts out. Normally this is a 10 minute job on a Holden motor, not so much in this car. On the plus side we have a plan for the exhaust and have started chopping bends and welding pipes. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Kiwibirdman Posted May 7, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted May 7, 2020 Got off my lazy arse and went down to pull the alternator out. Here it is and smells of burnt. Start of front pipes from this afternoon And a couple of photos of wiring and battery. 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwibirdman Posted May 10, 2020 Author Share Posted May 10, 2020 Alternator got dropped off Friday to the Auto sparkie to get the smoke put back in. Spent a few hours working on the exhaust. I have to get the front pipes stretched to fit over the head pipes, no space to put flanges on the join and I want to be able to get the headers out so no welded joints. I will also put flanges on the tail pipes just after the mufflers. Plan to get the exhaust finished this week, should heave the fuel pump/sender unit back next week then get it started. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwibirdman Posted May 11, 2020 Author Share Posted May 11, 2020 Got most of the stuff for the exhaust from Autobend today. Not feeling like going down into the cold tonight. Will get into it tomorrow. Maybe the Wu Flu is coming for me............ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Kiwibirdman Posted May 20, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted May 20, 2020 One side of the exhaust is all together, will get some black paint before final fitting Front Pipe Tail pipe in mid build Finished tail pipe L Lots of time spent putting all the bits together. The second side should be much faster as there is more space around the tank and because we have an idea where the pipe will go. I haven't decided if I'm going to run a cross over pipe, probably see how loud it is, also if it sounds funny. All the other Holden V8's I have had were dual exhaust with a balance pipe. The other thing I finished was the Steering wheel and adapting the ring off the LC Torana steering wheel to the EJ Wheel. Both wheels have the same spline and depth so that was a good start. I had to grind off part of the center of the wheel to get the plastic ring to fit. Then made up a spacer to hold the ring off the bottom of the wheel. I didn't take photos because grinding with a power file looked like a hungry rat had been busy. The self cancelling worked perfectly, but no circuit through to the horn. After dicking around, pulling stuff apart I found the wires under the dashboard hadn't been connected. A couple of connectors and all tests out OK. Still have to buy a horn to make noise. The guy with the Hillman Imp van is booked to do the Windscreen and rear window next week. I'm going to chase Robinson's Instruments for my fuel sender and the auto sparkie for teh alternator tomorrow. Also going to order the drive box for the speedo, the Dakota Digital one has a lot of good reviews. Just weighting for the Visa card to roll to get the bill in to next month. Here's a photo of the steering wheel 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwibirdman Posted May 22, 2020 Author Share Posted May 22, 2020 Picked the alternator up from the Auto Sparkie this afternoon. All the smoke has been reinstalled, new diode pack and bearings and shiny outside. Tomorrow morning install. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwibirdman Posted May 24, 2020 Author Share Posted May 24, 2020 Got a couple of hours in the garage this afternoon. Alternator back on, battery tray and battery in, some more wiring finished off. Still got some wiring under the dash to finish off, small stuff like connecting the lights from the auxiliary gauges up to the dash lights, plugging the fan for the heater in to the fuse box, connecting the brake light switch........ 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Kiwibirdman Posted May 30, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted May 30, 2020 Had some real progress this week. Front and rear windscreens in and exhaust built. It is really looking like a car. I had Jeremy from Bespoke Auto Glass come and do the windows, Back one went in piece of cake, front is a real prick because of the trim. The trim goes into the rubber then the whole lot goes into the car. Very glad I got the expert for this job. The Drivers side tail pipe can be seen poking out behind the rear wheel. And the other side I also played around with the height of the from of the car. Ground clearance at the lowest point, under the sway bar mounts and the transmission is only 75mm. I left a jack under the cross member and set it for 125mm clearance. Tyre is still under the guard. I have ordered proper LH Torana V8 lowered King Springs. They should get me the extra height. If not enough I can put higher profile tires on, there is plenty of clearance with the car raised up. My son was helping me the other night He has grown a bit since the last photo 16 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwibirdman Posted June 1, 2020 Author Share Posted June 1, 2020 Got some more time in the garage today. Cleaned up and painted the gear indicator for the column. Also did a bit more wiring, nearly all done. Last one was to play round with the wiper transmission. I need to find a source of bronze bushes to replace a couple of damaged ones Rare spares show reconditioned wiper transmissions, $500 exchange in Australia and they look like they have new bushes in them. I might give Rare spares a call and see if they have them available. Hopefully the fuel sender/pump will turn up this week and then car will run. So close but still so far. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwibirdman Posted June 4, 2020 Author Share Posted June 4, 2020 Friday last week I ordered some Torana V8 lowered King springs. Tuesday this turned up I got motivated tonight to put them in. This is what I started with. The problem wasn't clearance around the tire, I could get full lock bothways with nothing touching, there was only 75mm under the swaybar mounts and the sump for the auto. After less than 2 hours we are here Now have 115mm under the sway bar and the car sits almost flat, 190 mm from the sill to the ground at the front and 230mm at the back. I have some full height 185 tires that I might try on the car, had enough tonight to be bother to dig them out and put them on. The semi sealed beam headlights I ordered Saturday turned up this morning. Another job for the weekend. I also chased Robinsons and they are hoping the fuel sender will be done tomorrow. Last thing I need before the big fire up. 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwibirdman Posted June 15, 2020 Author Share Posted June 15, 2020 Spent most of Sunday working on the car, fuel tank in, fuel inlet sorted out, breather sorted, wiring to the pump and fuel gauge done and made nice. Tonight was meant to be the big start up, did lots of little finish of things like put in the O2 sensors, put on the shiny new Supercheap locking fuel cap.......... My mate turned up with his jump pack to help the battery. We connected up the alternator and all the smoke stayed inside.Added the jump pack and turned the key. Fuel pump primed OK. Gave it a few prime and then tried to start. Lots of turning over, no firing. Found my old school timing light and checked there was spark. Spark was OK, and it decided to fire on one cylinder. By this time the starter was smelling a bit over worked. Gave it a break for 15 mins and tried again, still firing on one. I pulled a couple of plugs and they were dry. Figure it was injectors and pulled the fuel rail. Lots of blocked injectors. Not surprising since the engine has sat for 6 or so years Tomorrows job, clean the injectors. Anyone have a good idea on cleaning injectors? 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwibirdman Posted June 16, 2020 Author Share Posted June 16, 2020 Got the injectors to play ball, the last one decided that it was going to need a beating to get it going. All have had plenty of carb cleaner spay through and the spray patterns look ok. Putting the injectors back in the fuel rail and took a chunk out of one of the O rings. I have to go to Pakuranga tomorrow so will stop off at Seal house and get a fresh set of O rings. Burger night tomorrow so maybe not getting it back together. I might finish work early and get it together. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Kiwibirdman Posted June 17, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted June 17, 2020 It runs, going to Ellerslie to have a burger and celebrate with people who understand!!!!! 16 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Kiwibirdman Posted June 19, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted June 19, 2020 The EJ Holden moves under its own power, probably for the first time since 1994 and possibly 1990. Managed to get round to my mates place about half a k away and back. Found a water leak from it looks like the lower radiator hose. The brakes have a reasonable amount of travel and need a good shove but work OK. I'm going to have another go at adjusting up the rear brakes tomorrow. The steering isn't too heavy, not power steering but not bad. Lots of little but time consuming things to do. The electric fan is on all the time, I suspect the temperature sender has died, it's buried under the throttle body so that has to come out to check the sender. I installed my new H4 semi sealed beam headlights. They are flatter than the old fully sealed beams but worth it for the brightness. Lots still to do but massive step forward. I think this car is going to be lots of fun. 17 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwibirdman Posted June 21, 2020 Author Share Posted June 21, 2020 Here is a photo of the H4 Headlights, I'm happy with how they look I spent ages yesterday getting the front indicators working, the lower panel is a bolt on and all the flash paint acts as a really good insulator. An earth wire to the drivers side lights made the passengers ones go as well. One bulb in the back and I have tail lights and indicators. At the moment the indicators work back to front, indicating left gives right, should be right at home with all people on the north shore who don't have a clue. Next thing I learn't today is VT commodore alternators don't work unless there is a warning light connected. Another wiring job is done and we have 14 volts while running. The tiny battery has started the engine at least 7 or 8 times, driven up the road and had the lights on for about half an hour and still been good. I also pulled the throttle body to get to the temp sender which is buried under the intake. It isn't reading right according to my cheap Dick Smith multi meter but it doesn't look like it is the problem. After swapping a couple of messages with @vk327 it looks like the tune on the computer is the problem. It wasn't a wasted exercise because I found my water leak, th e little hose from the water pump to the intake was loose and well ready to be replaced. The throttle body got a good clean while I had it off 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwibirdman Posted June 21, 2020 Author Share Posted June 21, 2020 Here are a couple of photos from last weekend when I put the tank in Filler tube. It the original extended to meet the tank And the breather. The wiring at the top of the photo is the power and fuel sender to the tank. Reusing the original fuel line hole through the body. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Kiwibirdman Posted June 30, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted June 30, 2020 A fair bit has been done since the last update. I spoke to Trevor at Holden Diagnostics. We agreed that the tune was causing the issues, and he could sort it out. The guy who did the original tune has been known to have trouble with VT engines. I had a bunch of people coming round from work on Saturday night and wanted the car running. Trevor sent me a spare memcal and said send your old one back when all is good. Thursday night I fitted the new for the water pump. The old one looked pretty tired. I put the throttle body and everything else back together and fired it up. Then swapped out the Memcal and all good. I spend a lot of Saturday working on the car. a couple of hours went into getting the wiper motor fitted. I had made up an adapter plate ages ago which was fine. The challenge was getting clearance for the motor body on one side and the actuator arm in the plenum chamber on the other side. Using a couple of washers under one side of the adapter plate did the trick. Sorry no photos. I also put in my Dakota Digital interface box to make the speedo work. This is mounted behind where the kick panel will be. Hopefully it wont be annoyingly loud. To night, June 30, had been my goal date to have the car finished. I finished off the wiring for the wiper motor back to the switch, installed the instrument panel, and went for a drive. I consider this a win. It has got some real get up and go, the brakes actually work pretty good and the steering is OK. The exhaust is too loud, so a balance pipe will get made, the engine idles at about 1200 in drive, I'll have to work that out, and there are still lots of finishing off things to do. Not to mention registration and certification. Here is the view from the drivers seat 11 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwibirdman Posted July 4, 2020 Author Share Posted July 4, 2020 Got some more bits knocked off my list. Clearance created by the oil filter, a few minutes work with a power file did the trick. Wired up the interior light, complete with a flash LED bulb. Its way brighter than the original type bulb. Still killed a couple of hours by the time I soldered the wires together, fixed my multi meter so I could trouble shoot why it didn't work and finally fix both door switches. The other job that got done was making some clearance between the brake pads and the hub. I am using Torana stubs with HQ discs and HZ calipers. The discs were turned down 12 mm to fit and it all bolts together. It was a Peter Brock fix back in the day of XU1 Torana's using HQ calipers. I went round to a mates place to use his linisher. Half an hour catching up and bitching about the cold and useless Politicians, 5 mins on the linisher, then another half hour to sort out the mk1 Escort wiper mother that he was playing with.That all put a dent in the morning. It all went together and plenty of space. The pads had a lip on the bottom edge that went below the friction material, that is gone now so there wont be any probles as the pads wear. I also figured out during the week that the IAC valve had died. Tried to buy one on Friday with no luck. I'll get one ordered Monday. I have pulled the intake track apart so many times I can just about do it in my sleep. Hopefully this will be the last one for a while. Last one was buying some flanges and tube to make the balance pipe. I had to go to Pakuranga for work so easy to get to Auto Bend to pick up the bits. The flange will go in the middle so that the exhaust can be split and removed. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwibirdman Posted July 19, 2020 Author Share Posted July 19, 2020 A bunch of stuff done Cross over pipe made for the exhaust, exhaust painted and fitted. I used pot belly black. The cross over pipe has taken the bark out of the exhaust and dropped the noise but not too much. Sounds like it should. New IAC valved fitted. Engine now idles Number light plate fitted. Here is the little LED I got and bracket made. Much brighter than the original. Replaced the leaking flare nut on the rear brakes, no more leaking there. Now have to fix the paint on the diff where the brake fluid ate it. One more leak on the front brakes to find and fix. I bought a new flaring tool that is much better than the old one which was pretty much stuffed. Note to self through out old tools that don't work properly any more. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Kiwibirdman Posted July 25, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted July 25, 2020 Dodging the rain showers today I went for a drive with my youngest son ans set the speedo. I bought a Dakota Digital electronic to mechanical converter box. It has a blue tooth interface and a simple app to stick on the phone. Drive along, compare the indicated speed with the GPS function on google maps, change the number of pulses per mile, rinse and repeat. Took about 10 mins and is bang on 30 miles or 50 klicks. I had bolted the SS cragars off the front of my Firebird onto the back of the Holden. With the black paint black wheels aren't going to cut it. 20 year old tires don't give much traction. Off to get it certed 4 August. 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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