Popular Post ProZac Posted December 4, 2019 Popular Post Share Posted December 4, 2019 This ute has been a constant fixture in my life for many years now, and its pretty easily my favorite vehicle I've ever owned. It's never let me down, when something does break its so simple you can fix it on the side of the road, and it just gives you 'feel good' vibes when you drive it :-). I bought it from the original owners year ago, and it had never been more than 20k's from Sheffield (where it was sold new) in its life. It's in good nick for one of these, with no major rust issues to speak of. The cab corners are all good, and the wellside is also rust free and pretty much dent free inside too. The canopy has never been off it, and the tray has always had a ply-wood spoil board in place. The interior shows its age though, with dash cracks and worn out bench seat. I've done a bit of work to it over the years. Did a major overhaul of all the suspension and brakes a couple of years ago. Everything under there is brand new or rebuilt. 2" blocks in the back, 2" drop spindles in the front with 2nd gen vented brakes. 1/2 a coil off the front to get it sitting even. Everything poly-bushed, wheels are $50 cheapies from trademe I tidied up. They're probably due another tidy up by now, but I think i'll be changing them out for something else (wider) in the near future. For the first years of owning the truck it was just a weekend vehicle, used for taking the garden waste to the refuse station, helping people move things around, etc. I had euro-diesels as I was commuting big k's each week for work... However at the beginning of 2019 I scored a fantastic job in Christchurch, so I no longer have to spend 12.5 hours a week commuting to and from work. When you add that into your work hours each week, its just too much time being idled away. As of a few months ago the euro-diesels are sold and the truck is performing daily duties. So, its time for the second round of major modifications: 4g63 SOHC 8V. TD05 Big 16G turbo (EVO III). Galant MPI injection. 2nd Gen 5 Speed gearbox (possibly with a Starion gearset, if the ratio's are better). 3.54:1 gears, with and LSD center. Starion seats fitted general interior update. I'm hoping for a good 200 buff horses to the rear wheels. Truck weighs in at around 1250kg's, mostly at the front I assume, so it should make it pretty lively with an LSD and 195's. Should be able to get better economy too, with the 5 speed (currently its a 4 speed) and the taller gears, and better fuel system. Not for the first few months I'm sure, as I'll be deep in the loud pedal a lot I'd say, but after that I'm hoping things improve ;-). 20 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ProZac Posted December 4, 2019 Author Popular Post Share Posted December 4, 2019 As this is my daily, I'm structuring the modifications to have as little off-road time as possible. This usually means buying the parts I need, doing the modifications, swapping them in, then then on-selling the factory gear. A good example of this is the rear axle. As this is a 'Sport' model with the 2l motor, it has the larger 8" crownwheel diff (often called the mitsy 'big' diff). This is great, as they're really strong, far stronger than I require, but it is also pretty easy to get other gear sets for them. Starions (another long-running vice of mine) also came with the big diff (5 stud models, anyway), and although they're IRS, the gear sets are interchangable (the centers also fit, but most IRS big diff stuff is 25 spline, whereas the solid axle stuff is 28 spline, late widebody starions being the exception to this and also having 28 spline axles). I picked up an '85 l200 diff on trademe a while back, and took it all apart. I found a LOM83 LSD center from a 2nd gen l200 diff, and got some 3.54:1 gears from a late widebody Starion from the states. This all goes together pretty easily, I had 'The Diff Shop' here in ChCh do the final fit for me, as they have the shims and gear to get it all in spec far easier than doing it myself. No crush tubes in these things. It's got all new bearings and seals, so it should be a good unit. I had the axle casing stripped and zinc plated, as it has been sitting up on end in my garden for a year of so and was full of water, and rust. Just at the point of putting the brakes together. I've got all new gear (springs, cylinder, shoes, drums, etc) for it, so it should last a while. Because I've still got the other diff under the rear of my truck I've got a reference of how it goes together too. Bloody drum setups! The original 3.9:1 gears will find their way into a Starion diff I have, but that's a future project. 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ProZac Posted December 4, 2019 Author Popular Post Share Posted December 4, 2019 The motor for this thing is a case of using up parts I've had under the bench for many years. Before, and while I was at Uni I was a register biscuit at Repco, and took the opportunity to stock up on bits I knew I'd need one day. Even finding a lot of this stuff can be hard these days, let alone the high price so much of it seems to now command! The block is a really early Starion one, so is stamped G63B and is wideblock. It also has no oil feed for the rear bearing of the upper (RH) balance shaft. This is great, as I'm deleting these anyway for simplicity, so its an oil feed I don't need to block off. They early blocks were tapped M8x1.25 for the timing tensioner stud and clamp bolt. The stud, bolt and tensioner I have are for a later block, so I've drilled and tapped these positions out to m10x1.25. One of the bits I grabbed before leaving Repco was the last set of 4MKRY-8028(050) pistons they had in stock. Moly top ring, 0.5mm oversize and a later model ring design that is a little smaller, giving the pistons stronger ring-lands. They have a 12.3mm bowl, which should land me at around 8.5:1 static compression. Still pretty low, but good for a daily. Better than the stock 7.6:1 the motor originally had! I had MPL in ChCh machine the block for me (also many years ago!), and we went for 0.05mm piston to wall. Its larger than the factory spec for SOHC gear, but on point with the later DOHC turbo specs, and I should be seeing similar amounts of heat. I'll be running fuel injection and coil per plug on this motor, with a Link ECU, so I need to get good engine position information to the ECU. I don't have any distributors for these motor knocking around any more, and I don't like the look of them hanging out the side of the head, only being used for engine position information. Plus, IMO crank position information should be directly measured at the crank, not from a cam driven element via a timing belt that whips around. Although I've deleted the balance shafts, the crank sprocket for the belt is still there as it's also a spacer for the timing belt sprocket. You can remove this and replace it with just a spacer, but it looked like a good spot to take some crank speed information from. I had a couple of gear tooth sensors (Cherry GS1005/7) rattling around in a drawer, and as this isn't a missing tooth measurement, they should work well for this application. They don't work well in missing tooth scenarios because the tooth that ends the gap causes a much larger change in magnetic flux density (which is what the sensor is really measuring), and it stuffs the automatic calibration the sensors have built into their ASIC's. I was chasing this problem for a solid week on a a race motor I was tuning, it sucked to find! I did a temp setup with some blutack and it gave a good signal on the scope, so I went ahead with it We've got some great 3d scanning gear at work, so I took a quick capture of a relevant section of the front timing case / oil pump. A bit of noodling and modelling I came up with a simple sheet metal bracket, made out of 3mm steel. The Cherry sensor had too large of a diameter to get it in the right place, but I found a honeywell sensor with a 3/8-24 thread which has a decent temp and vibration rating and seems to work well. Scope measurements when spinning the sprocket by hand (the crank key is removed) show a nice square pattern, will see how it goes when the engine is actually running! Kiggly racing do a very similar setup, but it's around $400, and I don't really want to part with that ;-). The short block is pretty much assembled, just waiting on the timing cover / oil pump gasket to arrive from amayama. Finding all the right fasteners I had done a very average job of bagging up also took quite a while! I've done a full dry assembly now though, and I should have everything. 15 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ProZac Posted December 4, 2019 Author Popular Post Share Posted December 4, 2019 The cylinder head for this thing is a later 8V one from a Euro Spec Starion. It's a good one because it doesn't have any jet valves which usually lead to cracking issues. I've done some simple port work to this one, just de-shrouded things and decreased the short side radius on the intake port, and smoothed things out. When I did this I didn't have any access to flow-bench gear, so its just common sense stuff with no measurement to back it up. I took it to Kelfords, and they tidied it up further for me, and ground the cam to 272/272 @ 0.1mm (230/230 @ 1mm), 10.5mm net valve lift. Should get me enough air flow for the power I want to make, where I want to make it :-). Another historic Repco purchase was a set of new valves. The original ones could probably have been cleaned up, but these were on clearance, so only a few bucks a valve at the time. They've all lapped in really nicely. I vapor blasted the head at work (its a new piece of gear we've just got, and I had to commission it ), so it's really clean. Currently with a local engine machinist getting a quick skim. Then I can assemble it and get the long block finished. 20 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ProZac Posted December 10, 2019 Author Popular Post Share Posted December 10, 2019 Years and years ago I made up a little bracket to go on the end of a home-made clamp, for valve collet removal / installation. It was a case of 'I'll buy a proper one, one day...'. However, this thing still persists, and still does the job :-). A bit more mucking around trying to remember how this goes back together and which way around things go, and its all sorted. Just need to torque up the cam bolt and it's ready to pop on the motor. Have set all the valve lash really roughly, hopefully it'll sit in the right position to get the cam belt on, otherwise I'll loosen all the rockers off again, get it timed right and then re-set. They'll need to be re-set hot anyway. As mentioned the cam was ground at Kelfords, pretty standard specs, should pep it up a bit Waiting on some parts from Amayama, an oil pump gasket and the head dowels being the bits really needed to pop the rest of the motor together. Its great being able to get good prices on factory parts, but the shipping time is pretty extreme. Oh well, no rush eh? The engine has been sitting under the bench for years as it is. 15 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ProZac Posted December 16, 2019 Author Popular Post Share Posted December 16, 2019 The wife and Child were away this weekend just been, so it was a good opportunity to get the rear axle swapped in my truck. I had The Diff Shop in ChCh do the assembly of the diff for me, as they've got stocks of shims to get things in spec, and I didn't really want to muck around grinding things. It's a mitsy LSD center from a 2nd gen L200, modified to give another friction surface inside, with a heavier belleville spring installed to give some more pre-load. Should lock up a little harder and just be a bit tighter all around. The gears are 3.54's from a late Starion over in the states, hoping to get the 100kmph cruising RPM down a little. The housing was dipped and zinc plated. I probably should have painted it black before putting it in, but a little bit of bling never hurt :-). Swapping it over was straight forward, only hiccup was getting the brakes sorted. I hate drum brakes, but they're more than adequate for the usage this things sees. Pretty much everything in there was new around 10,000 k's ago, so its all still in good nick. Had to loosen off the handbrake cable adjuster all the way to get it together. I've adjusted it back up, but it needs a few more turns I think, tried locking up the rears from 50kmph in the dry lastnight and it was a no go. They locked up in the rain this morning though, so it's close. I can also confirm that the LSD works as expected :-). 15 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ProZac Posted December 24, 2019 Author Popular Post Share Posted December 24, 2019 I like the prices and ease of use Amayama provides, but bloody hell the shipping takes forever! My oil pump gasket finally arrived today though (ordered a month and a half ago), which let me assemble the rest of the short block finally The part number on this gasket has been superceded a couple of times over the life span of the 4G63 SOHC, but this is apparently the replacement for all earlier versions, and is the gasket for a 6 bolt DOHC motor. Everything seems to line up, so I'm sure its fine. Once that was torqued up I could install the oil pick and get the bottom end buttoned up. Sump has had a few hits in the front of it, but still serviceable. I gave it a quick blast and paint a couple of months back. I find CRC Black Zinc works really well for stuff like this, but you need to give it at least a month to properly harden up before handling. Had a bit of time up my sleeve, so did a bit of a dry-fit of the rest of the pieces to see what I need to finish off. Routing for the crank sensor wiring will work out okay. I'll make a couple of brackets and cabletie it in a couple of places to keep it out of harms way. It can exit up by the head, as there is an opening there as clearance for the distributor. Speaking of distributors, I've got one on the way to me to cut up and hopefully turn into a cam trigger. I've looked at mounting something behind the cam wheel, but there are no easy mounting points there. I could weld a boss to the head, but if I can make it work tidily with a chopped up dizzy, it's an easier solution. Finally offering up the turbo to the head was a pretty good moment, I like the way it looks, because I like 80's excess :-). Its an EVOIII big 16G, but with a larger compressor cover. Looks like a much 'bigger' turbo than it is ;-). Next up I think I'll tackle the mods to the inlet manifold. Need to make up a flange for the throttlebody and weld it on the front. Trim off all the crap at the rear and weld that closed. I'll also cut off the original thermostat area, and make a piece to weld on to give fitting locations for the heater and bypass hoses. I want to move the thermostat housing to the front of the head though to keep the flow through the head the same as originally intended. Will give the manifold a quick scan too, as I want to pick up on some bolt hole locations to make a sheetmetal mount for a set of LS2 coils. They're just cheap aliexpress knockoff ones, but I've heard good reviews... Will see how they go :-). Happy holidays all! 18 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProZac Posted January 1, 2020 Author Share Posted January 1, 2020 Have been working on this a bit in the holidays, getting the inlet manifold work done. I've thought a couple of times that I should have just bitten the bullet and made an inlet manifold from scratch, with the amount of work it is to get this one sorted properly for a RWD application... But I'm this far in, so I'll finish it off. Most obvious jobs are to swap the throttlebody onto the other end of the plenum, and reroute the coolant setup. I've seen a few RWD setups with this manifold where the thermostat housing is left where it is and a hose is run to the front of the engine, but as this is a RWD head the waterjacket inlets in the head are setup for the coolant to flow out of the front of the head. Leaving it like it is, with it at the back, risks a hot-spot in the front of the head. The factory Starion setup has the radiator bypass from beneath the thermostat (which is at the front of the head) pass through the inlet manifold to keep it warm. This helps with the fuel film problem TBI setups suffer from as you've got so much area for the fuel to pool onto. As I'm all about the port injection now, I don't need that, but there still needs to be a radiator bypass, so I'll run that from beneath the thermostat housing (which I'll need to make) down the middle of the inlet manifold to the factory return pipe that runs along the back and side of the block into the waterpump. This factory pipe also has an inlet on it for the coolant return from the heater core. Lots of hacksawing, angle grinding, flap wheeling and powerfiling later it's looking pretty tidy back there. I'll need to weld a block on there which has a port to supply the heater core, but that'd the only fitting I should need there. I might put the ECT sensor there too, as it'll be out of the way. Hacked off the throttlebody flange and tidied it all up to make a plate to weld in place to seal it off. While I had all the power tools out and was making a mess anyway, I hack off all the little backets and bits and pieces I wont be using. Heaps more power filing later and it's all cleaned up. Found a good spot underneath where there is about 10mm of wall thickness to drill and tap to 1/8NPT for the IAT sensor. Sensor is a delphi unit with a DTM 2-pin connector. Has a brass body where it seals to the plenum, but a plastic housing after that with an exposed tip. Should be nice and fast reacting for the temp swings turbo's produce, and not suffer too badly from heat-soak (I hope!). Should be pretty out of the way down there. That space is going to be quite tightly packed though, with the radiator bypass tube, and the outlet from the fuel rail back to the pressure regulator running through there also. Plus, the wiring harness. It'll have quite a bit going on in this space. 4 injectors, 4 coils, ECT, IAT, MAP, EFP , Crank + Cam triggers and Ethrottle all within that area. Will be a fun harness to build :-). The injectors (also ones I've had for years) are EVO VII 560cc's. They've had single spray pintle caps put on them to work better with an 8V setup, and so I can orient them like in the picture with the plugs heading underneath, instead of directly on top. The reason for this is because of where I'm going to mount the coils. Pretty simple 3mm aluminium sheet metal backet picking up of existing mounting holes. Will get it profile cut and bend it up at work. Has mounting for the MAP sensor underneath also. Coils are knockoff GM581's, which I've not used before, but should hopefully be up to the task. I could only buy a pack of 8 of them, so I've got 4 spares, hah. It's bloody humid today, so we're off to the beach for some FnC for dinner and a bit of a swim. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ProZac Posted January 2, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted January 2, 2020 A couple more hours on the intake manifold side of this today, decided to tackle the cam trigger. I got hold of an old distributor from a carby one of these motors. It was missing pretty much everything, just a bare housing, shaft and advance weights still there. I attacked the shaft and housing with a hacksaw to get it down to just the bits I might need. I'm making this up as I go along, so I hope it works out ;-). What I'm trying to accomplish here is to mount a threaded hall sensor in such a way that it picks up a trigger signal once for every camshaft revolution. Ideally I'l love to mount something behind the cam wheel at the front, but there are no mounting points there, and although I could drill through into the head to make some, I'd enter a water gallery for sure and I don't like my chances of sealing that up afterwards. I thought about maybe picking up off the back of the cam via a custom mount that takes the place of the half moon seal, but there isn't a lot of room to work back there either. I also didn't like this idea in the end as the trigger disc would have to have a pretty small diameter, and as the trigger wheel you're reading gets smaller (so triggers are closer to the centerline of whatever is rotating) a small error in the point the trigger is detected can actually be a pretty large number of engine degrees. The dizzy rotates in line with the cam, so if I can make something tidy here, its about the best compromise I can think of. Looking at the cut apart dizzy, I liked the look of those four pads radially spaced around the housing, I figured I could clean it all up, drill and tap those for M4, and make a cap that attaches on and holds a threaded hall effect sensor. The shaft itself can then be tidied up, drilled and tapped for M6 to give a good mounting point for some sort of trigger wheel (with just one tooth :-). Some time on the lathe and drillpress later, as well as a quick 3dprint to prototype a cap (will either print the final one out of some material that can handle the jandle, or machine out out of aluminium), and I think it's going to work. Not as tidy a solution as I'd really like, and you need to be aware that if you ever remove and refit it, you'll need to reset the base timing most likely, but I think it'll work :-). The trigger disc can just be made out of a bent piece of steel, will make something tidy for it. There is a bit (I'd like more!) space to squeeze a coolant neck out next to it aswell. 21 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ProZac Posted January 5, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted January 5, 2020 CAD and CAM'd up the throttlebody flange, got into machining it, but the mill is half way through having its coolant changed, so doesn't have any in it... Thought I'd give it a go anyway, but the chunk of 6061 I nabbed to carve it out of seems gummier than I'm used to... The endmill is also a cheap chinese one, which might not be helping the situation, but it's chip-weld city, so had to leave off and will continue once I get some coolant in it next week when the rest of the workshop staff are back and can show me where it is, lol. Cut out a plate for the other end of the plenum though and tapped it into place. Got it sitting pretty flush after much back and forth on the belt sander. Gave both bit a quick vapor blast and cleaned them up with some IPA... Then buzzed it in. I haven't welded any aluminium in a couple of years, but it went well. The cast welds pretty nice. A little bit of crap bubbles out of it, but nothing that wont seal up. Was a welder I haven't used before also, and ESAB one. Seems like a bloody nice unit. On my old one you were fixed to 50Hz for the AC, but this one was adjustable. I cranked it up to 100Hz and it was nice and stable. Really want to get the throttlebody flange on there so I don't lose momentum, Things are progressing along pretty well at the moment :-). I reprinted the cam trigger housing in ABS, and printed a trigger wheel as well that locates on the 17mm stub of shaft sticking past the seal, as well as taking a small inserted piece of key-steel as a ferrous target. I'll wire it up and hook it to a drill, spin it up as fast as I can and see what it does. I'm hopeful I'll be able to just use the printed parts. Dunno if it'll hold up. Should be good for prototyping at any rate, and then easy to replicate in metal or something else stronger if I need to. Printed the cap with a little divot where it needs to be drilled and tapped for the sensor, but there will be a little bit of setup involved in getting it right, so I'll so that tomorrow when I'm a little fresher :-). Hopefully I can get the throttle body flange machined and welded on too! Then the last remaining bits will be getting the coil mount cut and folding it up, the water passages / plumbing, and a mount for the FPR. That will require a little bit of noodling to make it easy to mount and weld, but should be able to model something up so I can machine it and have it all sit in place nicely, hopefully. 17 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ProZac Posted January 17, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted January 17, 2020 Well, the momentum got a little lost unfortunately, life got in the way for a wee bit. Managed to get a couple more things done though. One good step forward, but also a couple of annoying steps back. First, the backward steps; my modified dizzy cam trigger idea would work, but it really crowds the area where I need to build the thermostat housing. Not impossible, but just really annoying. Dad was around the other day and we were talking shit and he noticed a little nubbin sticking out of the factory cam... So I think I'll make something up to use that as the trigger tooth. A mount that uses the cam tower bolts. This means that I'll have wiring inside the rocker cover, which gives me pause for thought... But motorsport wiring is something I've got a lot of experience with, and I'm confident I can make it reliable :-). A GS1005 sensor, booted and potted, with DR25 sheathed M22759/32 wiring and It should stand the test of time. I'll make up a custom half-moon seal for the back of the head for the wiring to exit out of. The other step back was also trigger related. I've got a Link ECU for this, and it clearly says in their doc that the crank trigger wheel needs to have a number of teeth that divides into 360 with no remainder... Damn integer math! The SOHC balance shaft sprockets have 32 teeth, so that's not going to work :-(. This is a pretty easy fix really, I just need to machine up a replacement for the sprocket that has a number of teeth that divides in 360... I modeled up a replacement with 12 teeth and printed a test to make sure it would clear everything, its all good. I've shamelessly ripped this off from the kiggly racing trigger kit, but its like $400 to get one of those landed and I'm just not keen to open the wallet to that extent on this thing. I've gone with 12 teeth, dictated by the tooling I've got on hand to make the cuts, hah. Although now that I think of it, we've just had a new EDM wirecutter turn up at work, if I waited a few months I could do any number of teeth I want on that... Ahhh future me's problem. 12 tooth is a little coarser that I'd like with a 272 cam, but all it will mean is a little bit of timing jitter at idle. I'll tell myself it'll just make it lope a bit more at idle and I'll look cool at the lights. Yeah, sure. Right on to the win! I got the coil mount I designed up profile cut and bent it up, and golly gosh, it actually fits! There is something uniquely satisfying in seeing something you've only designed in CAD as a physical object in the real world. I need to get the right fasteners for it, and I think i'll paint it wrinkle black, as that's what the rocker cover will be (with polished lettering of course, because 80's). I'd love to get rid of the ECI-Multi on top of the inlet manifold, because the text is around the wrong way and it drives the OCD nuts, but I cant think of a tidy way to do it... Any ideas out there? I bent it up on a combination of a press-brake and a big finger folder. It needs mild persuasion to get the bolts in place, but really only half a mm or so, which I think is pretty decent for a 3mm sheet metal part with those angles. What I really should do is spend some time calibrating my fusion360 sheetmetal profiles to the tools I have available. Maybe next week? Probably not. I can start on the pattern for the wiring harness now the coils are mounted, that will be another great job to get ticked off. I'll be building it out of offcuts and what not, but will keep it nice and tidy, Fun times :-). Hope this post made sense, I'm 4 ciders deep and waiting for pizza for dinner. Hmmmmmmm Pizza. 19 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ProZac Posted January 31, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted January 31, 2020 Bugger all progress on this in the last week unfortunately. Lots and lots of kids (include my own's...) birthdays organised and attended though, hah. I got the throttlebody flange machined. Went perfectly as soon as I added coolant. I'm almost wondering if this 6061 isn't heat treated, and that's why its gummier than I'm used to? Anyway I made lots of chips and released this object that was hiding inside the bar-stock. I got it tacked into place also so I could check the fitment of everything. Shot myself in the foot with the fuel rail though! I got some weld in AN-6 plugs for either end, thinking it would be nice and weldable like the rest of the Mitsy castings from this era (in my experience anyway). It is not. It spits, goes mad porous, and generally doesn't behave at all. Luckily I tested this on one of the mount ears that needed to be removed anyway for the throttlebody to clear, so no harm to the actual pieces I need. I've since ordered some M18x1.5 -> AN-6 adaptors, and tapped the ends of the rail accordingly, will seal it with some buna-n bonded washers. I'll have to machine the end surface of the fuel rail nice and flat for this, but no drama there. The weld in bung is just sitting there in that shot, its a nice fit, shame I can't use it. Sorting the fit of the FPR now. It's Tomei one that I took apart a years ago to clean out as it was full of junk, thus the bolts holding it together instead of rivets. The housing was all scratched up so I've blasted it. They're a nicely made piece of gear, the diaphragms are really tough, but I hate how they mount, it's really annoying using the PCD of the clamping bolts. I haven't quite figured out what I'll make for it yet, but something will come to mind I'm sure. This end of the fuel rail will also have an AN-6 fitting, to a 5/16" barb. As my truck is a sport model, its got a feed and return fuel line already, which are 5/16" and 1/4" respectively, thus the 1/4" barb on the bottom of the FPR also. I just need to put in high pressure rubber hose instead of the carby stuff, and fit an EFI pump after the tank (decided not to go in-tank, too much faffing at this stage, will just live with noisy external pump for the moment) and that should be the fuel system sorted. The pressure sensor is a low cost brass bodied one, but is still a Honeywell part, and safe for fuel, just $70 instead of $170 ;-). It's coming together slowly, the turbo looks ridiculous (...ly awesome), but it really is just an EVOIII 16G, the compressor cover makes it look much bigger. I've got the front plastic engine covers painted now, and it looks nice and tidy with them on. Once my fuel line fittings turn up I can go a better dry-fit of everything, a little bit more scanning and then design the weld on thermostat housing, which I'm really procrastinating about. 16 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ProZac Posted February 2, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted February 2, 2020 HOLY FUCKING SHIT IT IS HOT TODAY. Needed a quiet easy project to do in the heat, collected up all the bits for the alternator jigsaw. A couple of months back the alternator on the side of the 4g52 in the truck at the moment spat the dummy, brushes were doneburgers. I couldn't find a replacement one second hand locally, as they're different to the ones fitted to 4g63's, which are pretty common. I grabbed a 4g63 one anyway, thinking I could at the least harvest some bits from it. Turns out the voltage regulator / brush holders are the same, so I swapped those over and my truck was charging again. This left me with a super crusty 4g63 SOHC alternator, with worn out brushes and dry bearings. I took it apart, ordered everything it needed and vaporblasted / zinc plated everything. The replacement reg / brush holder I ordered was damaged in shipping, so I harvested the new brushes from it and swapped them into the reg / brush holder that had originally been in the 4g52 alt. Then had to remember where all the plastic isolators went. Got it reassembled with some new bearings pressed into place too. My workspace is just a typical internal access double garage. I don't complain as its better than what many people work with, but It does mean I need to keep things mobile, and stored away when not in use. This is about the cheapest press that money can buy, but does the job for 99% of what I do. Putting it on wheels was one of the best things I've done, as its so easy to store out of the way the 360 days a year its not needed ;-). Nothing more super exciting about the job, everything seems to fit up. The zinc plated fan and pulleys are a little bling though, they might get some rattle can black action. In other news the 1/4 BSPT to AN-4 adaptor turned up, so I could fit that to the back of the oil filter housing the start eyeing up the turbo oil feed. I'll need a 45 on the oil filter housing end, and a right angle on the turbo end, plus some heat sleeving. The bits to make the ignition leads also turned up. I got the spark plug ends all done, but the manifold / coils are still at work, so couldnt do those. Next week maybe, but I'll be away up in the Coromandel for Ledfoot, so maybe not. Now I think it'll be time for come cider in the sun. 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ProZac Posted February 16, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted February 16, 2020 Work and real life have been pretty busy recently, so haven't found much time out in the garage. Students are back next week too, so work is likely to be a bit hectic for a bit. I did manage to get the ignition leads built this afternoon. It's really starting to take shape. SOOOO many nickle and dime jobs to do though. Still need to machine that trigger wheel. I've tapped the fuel rail for M18x1.5 fittings that I'll seal in with bonded washers... But the M18x1.5 -> AN6 adaptors are coming from China, and everything out of there is on the go-slow due to the virus. Not that I'm complaining (much), its got to be pretty horrific. Once those fittings are here though, and I can permanently fit the fuel lines, I can sort the front thermostat housing. Really really procrastinating about that... :-/. Also, I really need to build a garden shed and get all the gardening gear out of the garage. 14 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProZac Posted March 21, 2020 Author Share Posted March 21, 2020 Haven't had huge motivation level behind working on this the last month, so not a lot of progress really. Work is pretty hectic atm with the whole COVID-19 thing... I suspect I'll either get absolutely zero time to work on it in the next month, or the Uni will close down and I might have more time that I know what to do with... Anyway, I drive this thing with headphones in most of the time, listening to audiobooks. This means I don't hear all the sounds it makes. My headphones were flat the other day, and I drove home without them... Really really odd noise was coming from the gearbox area, related to vehicle speed. Didn't take a lot of sleuthing to find the problem: This was completely dry just a couple of months ago when I put the new diff in, so it's let go in a pretty decent way. Managed to get a replacement seal and the use of a hoist as I don't like rolling around on the ground if I can avoid it. About a 15 min job to swap it out, took longer to refill the gearbox than swap the seal. Seems fine now, no weird noise and no leaking... I sort of suspect the output shaft support bush might be flogged out, but this gearbox will be replaced once the new engine goes in anyway, so as long as it holds oil I'll be happy. Silly regular maintenance instead of mods. Lame. Front left wheel bearing felt a tiny bit loose too, so gave that a nip up, and tightened the hand-brake cable too. Once I fix the exhaust leak at the manifold - exhaust point it would probably actually pass a warrant! 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ProZac Posted March 30, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted March 30, 2020 Warning: No actual work in this post! I found some pictures of an L200 I really like though, thought I'd put them in here to keep track of them as inspiration. I'd go for slightly smaller wheels, and probably a box style flare. I like the bar in the back though, but a smaller diameter tube and not orange. :-). 15 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ProZac Posted June 9, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted June 9, 2020 Back on the mojo-train a little with this project, it's been nice to make a little progress. First up I fixed a stuff-up with the fuel rail; I tapped the ends m18x1.5 for the AN6 threaded adaptors, and got some nitrile bonded washers to seal everything up... I was in the groove and winged the tapping, figuring that I couldn't get it too far off with a tap that big.... Mistakes were made. I tapped one end on the piss quite epically :-(. Got it in a mill at work and squared the end off perpendicular to the threaded hole, so it should seal... Luckily the rotation of the angle is such that its not noticeable when all plumbed up on the manifold. I modeled up the thermostat section I will need to weld to the intake manifold with ease of machining in mind, have ordered a straight through LS1 upper housing from China-land, hopefully it'll get here some time in the next couple of months Need to get it and measure it before I machine the lower half part and weld it (or have it welded, I'm a but rusty and I want it to look nice ) in place. That should be the end of the mods for the intake manifold. Sometimes I think I should have just built one from scratch, but I'm too deep into it to turn around now ;-). Actually I lie, I still need to mount the fuel pressure regulator, but that should just be a simple bracket. Part of the plan has always been to fit a pair of Starion bucket seats to it. I love these seats, always have, they're really comfy, lots of adjustments and look just weird enough to fit with the rest of the truck. Because my truck it a sport model, its got the threaded mounting holes in the center of the cab for bucket seats. The non-sport ute I had for parts didn't have these, which was an interesting find. This is great, as it would let me use a second set of l200 seat rails (now having a pair on each side) and adapt buckets seats to them... But because the adjustment handles on Starion seats are pretty integrated with the seats themselves, I can't go this way... As per usual I completely over complicated things because I wanted to muck around with cool gear to do the job... This let me pick up on the bolt holes and required angles of the existing mount points in the floor. I used some wood and other props to get a seat in about the right place and took some measurements to get the other half of the puzzle, the mounting points for the Starion seat sliders (with the original sheet metal bracketry to fit the Starion chassis removed). The mounts are designed to be welded together out of simple bent sections of 3mm sheet steel. Hopefully this, and the original fasteners will satisfy a cert-man as I wont be having the seatbelt stalks mounted to the seats (which they are in a Starion).... At worst I have all the measurements now, so will be able to come up with another solution if required. I printed a test set of brackets to check the fit. I always get jumpy when something fits first time... but here we are. I've mounted them quite low, as it gives a good feeling of sitting 'in' the truck, as opposed to 'on' it. I've also centered the drivers seat with the steering wheel a bit better. It's a compromise with the pedal centering, but feels good when you're in there. The actual seats I'll fit are a pair of grey fabric ones that are in excellent condition. I've got two sets of these black leather ones, neither of which are fantastic, but between the two, and some money I'm sure, I'll be able to get a really nice pair for my Starion project (which is a long term thing... far in the future ). I'll have to get some black carpet, and some new black seatbelts too. Then retrim the door cards and roof lining. Sheese. Should look pretty tidy in there then. Well, once I do something about the massive gaping crack in the dashboard as well... Future problems. I had a couple of sits and everything seemed great. They might be a touch too far outboard, but you can reach all the handles and still wind down the windows without bashing your knee. I want the space in the middle for a center console (more storage is betterer). I've gone from having about 3" of clearance to the roof (I'm 5"9') to around 6", so they're certainly a bit lower! The inevitable result of my fat ass wiggling the seat around, but the prints served their purpose. Will get the component parts profile cut, bend em and weld em up. Fun fun. 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ProZac Posted June 28, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted June 28, 2020 Small update, but this actually took me most of the day to get done... Well, after I was done with daddy duty this morning. The majority of the day was reminding myself how the tool and work coordinate offsets are setup on the mill I'm using. Prototrack controller, would not recommend. I'm not a machinist by any stretch of the imagination, but managed to get the crank trigger wheel carved out without too much bother and nothing broken. I still wish the 32 tooth balance shaft pulley would have worked. If I didn't already have a Link Fury ECU for this thing I would have purchased a Life Racing one just so I could have used it, much cleaner solution. The new one weighs within a bee's dick of the original. I could have made it lighter, but I already had an 8mm drill setup, so that's the size speedholes it got. I set the clearance on the sensor. These hall effect ones aren't as sensitive to the gap as VR sensors, as the ASIC's inside them which convert the VR signal to a square wave have auto calibration logic built in. This is why they don't work well with missing tooth setups, as they calibrate to the big signal spike after the missing tooth, and then miss all the regular teeth. Secured the cable with some ties and it's pretty much job jobbed. I've got yet another idea for the cam sync, I think it could work pretty well, but I need to check the rocker cover clearance. I'll put an IP68 cable gland on the back of the head casting and pot / sheath the wiring to make sure it'll live inside the rocker cover. There are a few diesel vehicles out there that have wiring inside the rocker cover, so I reckon it'll be okay :-). It'd be great if I could pass the wiring out of the half-moon seal, but that space is now occupied by the spinny single toothy thing, which would not end well if the two interacted with the motor running. I'll change the wiring on the sensor to some nice ETFE insulated stuff, twist and sheath it in DR25, pass it out the cable gland (which will be sealed in with something... I think maybe threebond?). Then I can set the clearance, loctite the shit out of it and its jam-nut, pot the top and it should be good. Probably. At least till I'm driving it in the pouring rain one evening in a rush on the way home from work because I'm in trouble for staying late to work on cool shit... and then it's bound to shit out... But that's a bridge to look forward to in the future! 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ProZac Posted August 15, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted August 15, 2020 Cam trigger chronicles, update 976. Back to, well not the original original idea, but a previous idea. Decided not to go with the trigger disc on the very back of the cam, as it didn't leave any room for the sensor cable to exit the half-moon seal, and getting it out through a drilled hole bugged me. Anton had a good idea about sticking the sensor out of the front of the cam cover and picking up on a tooth on the back of the cam wheel, but the length the sensor needed to stick out made it impossible to assemble (well, easily anyway, I don't want to have to take the cam pulley off to remove the rocker cover). So back to my Dad's idea of picking up off the wee cast nubbin on the cam. I modeled up a mount, and released it from the piece of 6061 bar stock it was hiding in. Which mounts like this: Noice. Need to sort the wiring though. In a past life I built a lot of high-end motorsport wiring harnesses, so I've got some skills in the arena. However, I no longer have access to the unlimited budgets I used to... So I've got to do things a bit different when it's my own coin ;-). I used some small open barrel splices and a molex crimp tool to extend the existing wires. If you do this, stagger the splices as it avoids a big bulky point in the harness and help ensure nothing can short. My standard colour code is orange = sensor supply, green = sensor ground and white = sensor signal. I obviously need to keep all these wires away from any moving parts and, I had the idea of using a piece of 2.4mm stainless welding rod as a wiring guide Wrapped and laced everything, not doing it for the gram, so didn't put any filler wires in ;-). Then sheathed it all in some 1/4" DR25. It should stand up to the oil and heat just fine. The wire is only TXL stuff, not ETFE, but it'll be totally seal away from the oil once I pot the alloy boss where the wiring exits it. Shiiiiiiittttttyyyy photo, but shows the nubbin and how the sensor picks up on it Baby steps. Work had been mega busy the last few weeks, and I've taken on some new contract work which also eats up garage time... Worth it though :-). 15 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ProZac Posted October 26, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted October 26, 2020 Good labour weekend job: fitting Starion seats to the L200 :-). I was happy with the test mounts I printed to check fitment and how easy things would be to assemble, so I went ahead and profile cut all the bits. Bent them up and you have a kit to fit Starion seats to your L200, some assembly required :-). Gave them a blast to get rid of all the scale, and did a test fit. Everything seemed in the right place, so I marked where everything was sitting and tacked everything together. Fitting them isn't as easy as the bench, but its totally dooable. I cut and bent some gussets for the front mounts to put the weight of the driver on top of the crossmember, but they're not quite right. I'll do some more and get them in place though, pretty important. Then finish weld, powdercoat, and job jobbed. These seats are pretty tatty, but they're just for testing purposes, I'll use a nice set of grey fabric Starion seats I have. The driving position is a bit different, but certainly feels more like a sport truck and less like a farm truck :-). New black seatbelts are sitting in the garage, and new black carpet should be here early next week. Will be nice to have that and some good underlay in there. Will feel a bit warmer and certainly be a bit quieter. Starting to get a good picture of how I want the interior of this to come together now. There is good space in between the front seats for a center console with a couple of coffee cup holders. Finally, no more burning my legs on hot coffee! 16 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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