Dean's (deankdx) 1981 Holden Gemini wagon on a budget (Melbourne Australia) 2litre G200z upgraded

[deankdx]

7 January 2018

i took this car out yesterday in the peak heat of the day 40deg, no issues at all.. infact started and idled straight off (has no choke) and due to being warm was fine..

2 litre engine is awesome! i'd consider fitting one to the diesel daily if the diesel had issues(likely to be a 2.6 if so though)

fixed the cluster issue by swapping the cluster.. so at least i can use the guages at night.i will fix the one up i took out, probably just a bad earth somewhere in it.

[deankdx]

10 January 2018

got the thumbs up from a bikie today.. not sure if that's because it's the first car he could hear over his exhaust on the freeway or not though..

i've clocked up another 200kms already in it(not going to be 8litres per 100km ones either), and drove the diesel one yesterday .. DAMN THE DIESEL IS SLOW lol and what's even more surprising it going from the diesel gemini into the van and thinking damn this van is slow lol..either that or this wagon is quite quick.. keen to find out soon.

[deankdx]

17 January 2018

got 9litres per 100km out of this last 300km.. good mix of driving.. handles well other than being a bit light in the back on bumpy corners.

took it out to Gembrook today and had a blast on the winding roads, found the big hills could still do with some more torque.. well, not needed(i was catching up to most things on hills) but would be more fun.

springs appear lower.. this wasn't My ideal height but might look less low on 14" interceptors i have. doesn't scrape on anything anyway.

[deankdx]

24 January 2018

did about 200km today, topped up the tank at 300km again and averaged just under 9litres again.. not bad considering the way i drive it.. 

found a section of flat road to test a Gtech Pro for 17.2 seconds... it probably has a pair of skidmarks on it somewhere.. 

must have shook some crap loose in the fuel system because it was popping and misfiring as if it had water in the fuel.. it seemed to have a range where it worked good enough to limp to the servo where i added fuel and had a look at the points etc.. nothing appeared out of place so continued along(100km from home) at 90kmh in 4th where it seemed happy enough, stopped at another servo to take another look as i wasn't sure if it was going to make it home let alone over the westgate bridge or tunnel(no emergency lanes anymore)

decided to "unblock the carby" with some revs and a rag over the carby... FIXED..  or so i thought, was a massive improvement at least. i drove another 30km ish and decided it would probably make it over the bridge without drama.. but decided i wouldnt risk going through the tunnel or M1(like a carpark.. although it seemed to idle fine, perfect for traffic jams) so went over the bridge and took the beach road past StKilda etc .. nice day for it  

made it home.. .shit in the carby... not sure if that is the cause.. or the fix

 

[deankdx]

27 Jan 2018

well, this thing is still getting bits and pieces done to it.. 

i had been reluctant to change what's working... and ditch the points for electronic ignition.. but seeing it was running a bit crap the other day i thought i'd kill 2 birds with one stone.. 

i haven't pulled the carby apart yet.. it idles reliably so i knew i'd get the dissy conversion done and tested easily. 

the instructions say to check polarity of the coil.. YEP, mine was wrong(+ was going to dissy points) this will blow up the electronic kit according to the instructions..

it didn't say how to keep the wires from being tangled, maybe drilling a hole in the dizzy case in a different spot would have been better? but i chose to go out the hole the points wire came out of. so used the cam wiper in a different location as a wire clamp/guide

says also to check the alternator charge voltage, as over 14.5V also fries it..

also check the coil resistance, has to be 1.5ohms min, it is designed to work with non electronic coils, and says electronic ones won't work..

this kit was $75 incl postage, and it was due for points anyway ($15 value?) so hopefully it is a $60 upgrade...

while i was at it, i did the next easiest intake mod, made a nut with square tube and bolt welded as an air cleaner bolt extension so i could flip the lid.. this works fine, but i will one day move the mounting bracket away from the carby intake as it surely would affect flow.

set the timing from 10deg advance to 13, it seemed to run better there at idle, and i remember reading someones post saying similar a while back. 

i learned something about timing lights the other day.. (watching a how to on the electronic conversion on youtube) THERE'S AN ARROW FOR SPARK DIRECTION I MUST HAVE FLUKED SO MANY TIMES on timing lights.. i have definitely had issues with them not working before.. ..

few pics, i had sweat pouring off Me today 80% humidity sucks while leaning over an engine bay. 

next step is to remove the carby for cleaning(and checking the jet sizes) will see if an XF carby bolts straight on and if it's better in any way(current carby seems very well matched)

 

[deankdx]

30 January 2018

on todays episode of spend more money on a "finished" project car... 

finally got around to buying wheel nuts and some washers for the bathurst globes and semi slicks..  gave them a quick steel wool shine up.. bolt em on.. done. 
also bought a new open face drag racing helmet for $60 .. got traction(these wheels should help with semi slicks for traction)

i have a few things to sort for Feb 9th (Calder off street drags) if i can get it together.. obviously fix carby, may try a falcon weber on.. 
overflow bottle for radiator is needed, change diff oil, re do air cleaner mounting so it's not blocking the second barrel. and check timing/running fine with the electronic ignition

 

[deankdx]

9 February 2018

decided it wasn't good weather this week to work on the gemini this week, humid, hot.. no interest..

 

i painted up the Renault Megan(think that's what i got them from) 14" stockies, ready for another look of the car with hopefully a better driving feel than the 13s..

took the left door trim off to fit the mirror i finally got around to painting..(painted over chips, because... matches the car)  while in there, found out why the stereo stopped working.. the isolator on the speaker had broken and wire touched metal.. stereo in "protect" mode... silastic it into a good position. 

measured the other mirror location and drilled some holes and risked tetanus and slashed wrist to do up the nuts(should have hole sawed access holes.. next time)

carby is still "on the list" of things to do. then i can test drive it with the semi slicks

 

[deankdx]

9 February 2018

continued on "doing stuff" till it got dark, original plan was just to mod the air cleaner to enable more flow from the lid bolt bracket. .. did that. much better, less strong but should be fine.

then decided to remove carby to check if the intake had been ported as the throats are offset in comparison to the weber from the standard nikki.. and the middle section gets in the way of the secondary also.. ..

i found it wasn't ported, so i attacked it with the grinder and bur tool, also did same with the bakalite spacer, i have stock spares if this causes a negative result, but from what i've read it's advised.. 
i stuffed rags into the intake, and vacuumed it out with heater hose fitted to the vac and even ran down into the ports just in case.. didn't want to remove the EGR stuff, 

also sized up an XE weber, its bolt pattern is exactly same as the cortina 32/36, but the throttle lever is on opposite side, thicker base so will need longer bolts and air cleaner will need a mod again(i have an XF one, and a chrome type that could work though..)
at this stage i am just going to get the 32/36 back working again.. it worked fine with all the issues with port restrictions and air cleaner bracket in the way etc. should be better when cleaned.

[deankdx]

10 January 2018

 

well, still runs.. bit cold hence the bit of a flat spot

doesn't kick instantly into life, may be timing related... or carby still. 

carby was full of fine dust type stuff(possibly dust even)

i pulled the jets out, they had been soldered and re drilled, so it may be tuned to the engine before i messed it up by making the manifold flow better?

some home made jet spacer fell out of it, i put it back in the only place it could fit and it seems to run the same as it did prior.. i now need to go looking on the interwebs again and see what the port was where it fell out of

[deankdx]

15 February 2018

decided i'd try get the rear speakers done before i start driving it again(and therefore stop fixing anything)

i had a piece of MDF with some felt already on it i though i'd remove the black felt and skin it in some vinyl one day.. couldn't remove the felt as it was glued on with liquid nails or similar.. so i risked jigsawing it anyway and it was fine.. its probably going to help it from rattling or squeeking as i am facing it onto the panel.

traced out some random speaker covers i found laying around.. i'll probably have to trim the ears off the lexus speakers for them to fit properly. 

had to get inventive to get the speaker wires up through the hinge hole, used a coat hanger wire and whipper snipper cord tape.. opened up the window rubber and released the head liner so i could re direct the wires down the C pillar..hopefully i can make it look like i didn't touch it. (can't see why not)

almost got it done before dinner, decided to pack up so i could think of how to incorporate the door handle i am considering fitting on the inside to make it more factory looking.. 

hopefully, it works.. lots of potential for pinched wires etc.

 

[deankdx]

21 February 2018

on todays episode of wiring woes...

been trying to work out what the hell happened to My heater fan for the last week or so...
there must be a plug or relay under the dash pulled out.. asked on facebook page, looked in gregorys manual, no one seemed to know where the supposed fan relay lived. i had a spare demister relay from the wreck, after testing the wires etc i worked out plugging in a relay would fix it. (with help from someone who successfully bridged the wires to make his work) 

so, seeing the cluster has to come out so you can access the fan switch plugs, and steering wheel off to get the cluster out.. opportunity to fix other things

 

also went to the wreckers and bought an overflow bottle so the drag strip was happy(from a an early Ford Laser/Mazda 323)

hoping tomorrow i can get it finished and test drive(still need to get under the car for oil leak at gearbox and change diff oil) 

[deankdx]

21 February 2021

got the bottle mounted in it's forever home

 

[deankdx]

24 Feb 2018

 i sold excess parts from the engine conversion/donor car.. sold the complete 1600 engine(originally from this car), extractors and a set of king springs for $450, (delivered 150km away, because it was already in my van and ready to go.. kept my alternator and hope the rest i don't need) 
so, that cash will probably find it's way into this project. i may spend some of it on tuning if it's not right running perfect.. 

changed a litre of diff oil today, basically pumped it out of the fill hole with a hose stuffed in there. oil looked reasonably clean other than metal flake in the bottom..
not overly fussed, i'm thinking this engine has enough torque to happily run the diesel diff ratio.. so that is plan b if the diff dies.(they are supposed to be pretty strong compared to the power output, even with turbo's etc)

also investigated the gearbox leak.. wasn't much oil to be seen and i'd moved the car back and forth enough that the oil spot on the concrete wasn't accurate, so just washed it with brake clean, tightened the speedo cable, checked drain plug tight, rear seal looks perfect. clean and dried it.. silastic the sump plug just n case and will take another look after the next test drive.
that concluded under car work i think.. for now at least.
need to be oil leak free for the drag strip

Diff Oil

[deankdx]

27 February 2018

keeping with the fix one thing... then need to fix something else theme....

i drove it this to test for oil leaks, and traction with the semi slicks... only about 5 or 6km  because i snagged the guard lip on the wider tyre..(lowered now = fix something else time)

lucky was on a driveway at low speed, and happened to be where a mate was working, so just grabbed a chisel handle and bent the kinked lip back out and pulled the guard straight again. tyre is ok. 

i think the gearbox leak is fixed, it's either out of oil, or the speedo cable was slightly loose(pretty sure it lost max 100ml) 

also took off spiritedly when leaving and found the traction is 100% better.. wheel spin 20m instead of 40?  these tyres leave a better mark too lol..

so todays job is jack up front, look at clean gearbox and move onto fixing the guard issue.. .

slotted a fairly large headed bolt, i think in future i'd gone for a longer bolt for more leverage and or a smaller bolt head.. but gemini metal bends fairly easy.. 
the bolt was conveniently held in it's holder while i cut the slot(falcon tow point bracket fished out of the hoarder bin... don't throws out potentially good stuff)

worked my round the edge and figured i could tap it up a bit more, but that would be noisy and i'd have to take the wheel off.. yep 4 bolts, what a pain in the ass. 

so looked around for a edge that could be pulled without putting marks or sharp edges .. .(could have squashed it with vice grips if the paint was crap) 
ball peen hammer.. done, worked around the edge, and decided to flare the guard out a bit more for more clearance.. yep.. just forced it out by hand.. no kinky stuff.

also re purposed the crappy fibreglass door trims someone had made from the rusted panelvan wreck.. traced out the home made kick panel and jigsawed it out.. finished it a bit better than the one ply version and screwed it on instead of using those stupid xmas tree clips.

still yet to fit the drivers side one, car is up against the fence so cant get in there properly.

i'll need to go for a decent drive between now and Friday before committing to going to Calder park to run it as driven down there.. wondering if i can win $250 for best reaction time on the night? i practice at traffic lights often  ) 

 

[deankdx]

27 February 2018

continued with the little jobs

is one has been on there for many months.

repaint sills black and clean and refit stainless trims. 

haven't fully fitted them yet. trying to decide if to silastic them on again(some clips are a bit dodgy or missing) or stick a couple of screws in or both..

 

[deankdx]

27 February 2018

fitted the drivers kick panel, 

decided to silastic the sills like they were(were stuck on pretty well) and will probably run a stealthy self tapper at each end also.. be hard to find another trim i think.

also "life hacked the hacked carpet"  you could see the floor where some doofus was rough cutting out the holes for seat mounts etc..also the underfelt showed up in your face like.. fixed it with the usual fix... paint it black.. mint!

haven't got that many things left on the list.. might need to write a new list

 

PAINT IT BLACK, HIT THE TRACK

[deankdx]

28 February 2018

took the wagon for test drive number 2.. 

bit of highway action, tyres vibrate a bit, wonder if they should have been ballanced after driving (aka taking all the lumps of rolled rubber off first) ..tempted to remove the weights completely.

then went up and down MtDandenong for a thrash, semi slicks are very very grippy. only found slight understeer pushing way over what i should have been comfortable with.. went down a gravel road and turned back...  semi slicks do not like gravel.. was very slippy .

OH! and i found out why vinyl seats were invented.. 
as you sweat, your back sticks to them, and it's like having a racing seat.. awesome..

would like to test them in the rain, but not overly fussed yet.

pretty sure i'm set for Calder Park raceway 1/4 mile drags on Friday 

[deankdx]

2 March 2018

so where to begin(READ BETWEEN THE PICS)
.. with CARNAGE... i didn't chat to Scotty in the TURBOTAXI (of street machine) at that moment, but ended up with him behind Me in the queue for signing in, so chatted for about 15mins there, Scotty also owned a Diesel Gemini early on.. he was interested in the wagon although didn't get to check it out.. 
also caught up with him in the pits after his first run he said the trans slipped on take off, and he went up the road and got fluid and was adding fluid just before i left.. 12.9 he ran first up.. very approachable guy, worth a chat if you catch up with him.

made it to the front gate, engine didn't like idling for a long time in the queue to get in.. got warm and actually stalled in the car park.. and wouldn't restart at that moment(vapour lock? coil?  never did it again)

 

did start once cooled, and proceeded to scrutineering and passed that no issues , caught up with Mark (a mate happened to be racing same day) while i was parked there and he was in the queue to scrutineering also.. didn't stay together in the staging lanes, ended up driving the car up rather than pushing.. (why don't they have travelator in the ground and hook into the tow point... or down hill staging lanes to roll the car down)
anyway, decided seeing the car started and ran fine after sitting 25mins odd, it might get a run in(risk being towed off the track was worth it.. not sure if coil was hot or fuel issue or the plugs fouled from idling so long? will be trying to replicate it and check with multimeter on coil and fuel pump if possible... (had multimeter with me but packed "securely" for racing.. no unsecured crap allowed in the car)

this pic is also My display pic 

 

 

 

[deankdx]

2 March 2018

two runs almost identical times, that was with the air cleaner flipped on first run, and on normally for the other run.

 

 

so.. 
why did i stop after 2 runs.. 

it wasn't going to get any quicker in My opinion.. i did the rookie mistake and staged on the back wheels because i didn't know where the start line was on the first run... had to back up again and re stage.. it HOOKED HARD and bogged down even on take off, surprising how much grip the Warmed up semi slicks had.. reaction time was a bit Meh, i was totally flustered at the line, it was a bit overwhelming worrying about.. if it stalls or conks out again or doing something else wrong..(also got told off for not having My helmet on 3 cars before i got to the end of the staging lane(still 4 cars to race at this point).. where's the sign, put helmet on HERE... or website for newbies) 

so pretty much ran it as hard as i consider it goes, no tacho to know what it's doing, but where it feels right. 

the second run i concentrated on cutting a better light, even though they said via Facebook PM that the time still will be recorded even on a red light.. i launched it with the intention of not breaking something from hooking up too hard(did a lesser burnout even) 2nd run felt same as first and the time reflected this.. but as i pulled up to the window to get my time card, i could hear a "new noise" and figured i'd go to the pits to sus it out. 

i pulled up in the pits, drove passed Scotty Under turbo taxi and wandered over once i ruled out racing after the NEW NOISE was worse with revs, and also had a vibration.. not good? loose flywheel bolts, clutch bolts? (i did loctite them) broken valve spring? no idea.. sounded possibly from timing area but vibration was more from gearbox area... 
while there i did check it was getting full throttle,as i remember it seemed to go better before... hmm Manifold porting...what else did i change, ignition timing.. 
what it does now power wise is cruises at 80kmh with what seems like 1mm of accelerator pedal pressed.. i was looking forward to doing an economy run on the way home.. but once moving, didn't want to stop at any cost. (had about 10sets of lights to deal with though)
i drove it home 60kms because NO FUCKS GIVEN.. plus i hate waiting for tow trucks.. the vibration started just above 80kmh(about 2000rpm at a guess) so that was the max speed all the way home.. made it, even through the tunnel, didn't seem much affected with more throttle as long as the revs were low.. did seem to run on 4cyls all the way also.. 
sus it out soon.. rocker cover off first, because that's the easiest. then decide if gearbox comes off after that..
 

their (Calder Park) website and signage could be greatly improved.. it's like "do what everyone else is doing and you'll be fine" definitely not what i'd call up to date with procedures manuals.. infact, its exactly the same as i remember 20yrs ago

Anyway.. if you got through that Well done! you are now qualified to fill out the forms at Calder park raceway.. (had a lot of crap to read.. yeah, legal crap)

[deankdx]

3 March 2018

What broke?

naturally i'm not keen to rev it yet.. the Alternator moves when revved, i am going to go back out in a sec and see if bolts missing from under it, wondering if that is the noise in the front?  i will undo the fan belt possibly if it rules out the noise.. it's not going to fix the vibration that's for sure.