473 replies to this topic

[orangeLJ]

I spent a loooooong time sanding and polishing my old manifolds-

This is the onoly picture in my photobucket of them, but they looked awesome!

Edited by orangeLJ, 18 January 2012 - 07:24 AM.

[MRLXSS]

The new setup looks ace!

[orangeLJ]

Thats the old Carbs Matt! haha.

To be honest, the SUs were just too much dicking around, I could never get them to run perfectly and I see the webers (jets and bleeds) as having a lot more fine tunability than the SUs (needles)

Rebuilding the gearbox was a learning curve for me, Id never done it before and Ray hadnt pulled a box down for years (and had only done aussie boxes)

So with a mis-mash of manuals (P50, W50, W55) and parts diagrams, I stripped the box and replaced all the bearings, This homemade tool was my saviour in the whole ordeal.

I started with a $25, 3 leg puller from Supercheap, ground the feet down (gives clearance between the gears and bearings to fit the feet) made up a series of different length flat bar extender legs and went to town. I used a large hoseclamp to pull the 3 legs under the bearings in situations where they would slip (small gaps where you could not get the whole foot under the bearing)









Back together-







Shiny new clutch kit-


going back in the car-



Final rotor-hub fitout-


I had to weld and machine the rear of the hub to make it a snug fit through the centre of the BMW rotor (for locating the rotor completely centric on the hub face)

But once that was all done, I fitted it all up-




Had a few minor issues,

-Had to grind some material from the front lower edge of the caliper as it touched on the wheels (some with a smaller hub wouldnt be an issue)
-had to redrill the brake fluid inlet and plug the original, to use the original inlet, even with a sharp 90 degree fitting, meant that under a specific set of conditions (near full lock and under a compression from a bump) that the line would come into full contact with the bump stop rest (upper metal section that the bumpstop hits against) and snap off.

apart from that, everything was fine. I bought some flashy braided lines, so its all pretty shiny under there now! (need photos of that)

Will put up more later today

[Stinga]

looking good chris, what flywheel and clutch is that your running? if you have some spare cash and want to ditch that shifter, those trs shifters(the kiwi mob, they have a facebook page) are great, i put one in the toyota box in my ute, nice short shift, without having a short stick and a nice weighted shift knob aswell, and add a touch of bling.

[orangeLJ]

You can see the caliper clearance here-


These are my new (old) warneford long runner inlet manifolds-




while I was farting about finishing the suspension and brakes, Ray (my dad) was playing with the new header plates and building up the flats closest to the inlet manifold to give a more solid/flush area for the nuts and washers to sit against, unfortunately the middle (#2) inlet manifold has been machiend at some stage and is no longer the same thickness as the other 2, making it VERY difficult to get it right.

We have a solution now, but it will definitely be tested before I get anything ceramic coated, I dont want these to leak at the manifold gasket like the last lot.

Driver side of the engine bay is almost back together, catch can back in, fuel pressure regulator back on (had to drill and tap the mounting holes again as the original screws were too small which mean when I tapped the threads to begin with, it only marked the chrome, since then one had worked its way loose and would not stay tight, so stepped up a bolt size.



As of sunday afternoon the car was back on all fours for the first time in months, the suspension and bushes are all tight, everything is greased up and ready to go.

Its was UNREAL to see it back on all four wheels, its taken ages, but the light is getting closer.







I still havent had time to get to my uncles (where the pipe bender is stored ATM) to make a good start on the extractors (have been trying to for months)

But I have just begun to file and smooth the inlet manifolds in preperation for ceramic coating.

the only decision I have to make there is,

Do I go black (like the old inlet manifold in this picture)


or do I go chrome finish??

HELP ME! lol.

Just a few more shots of putting the engine in (on the front end) Im still waiting for my spacer plate to fit my good rocker cover, Rob from Bocam is back later this week, so its all ordered and paid for, it should just be a matter of posting it to me.

















Karlie bought me this for Christmas



To go with last years girft



Its already all full now, I need another bottom trolley with more drawers! lol


Boxdog thanks you for your attention lol

[orangeLJ]

looking good chris, what flywheel and clutch is that your running? if you have some spare cash and want to ditch that shifter, those trs shifters(the kiwi mob, they have a facebook page) are great, i put one in the toyota box in my ute, nice short shift, without having a short stick and a nice weighted shift knob aswell, and add a touch of bling.

thanks mate!
Yella terra Explosion proof billet steel flywheel and an EXEDY mix and match clutch and pressure plate (picked by a friends clutch shop to suit what I wanted)

Im keen to grab one of those kiwi shifters, I just dont have the excess money at the moment. With ceramic coating the manifolds, extractors, plus some new sideplates to match the tappit cover, plus the bits for the exhaust and a couple other secret bits and bobs, ontop of dyno time (only $150) I still have about $1500 to spend to "finish" this round of stuff, then its off to the panel beaters to get the damage fixed (not sure whos covering that cost, thinking of claiming it on insurance if its too much, after all, it was an accident and it wasnt me)

But yeah, its on my list! haha, same with some custom made billet ram tubes

[Stinga]

cool, just wasnt sure if you knew about them. they are definately worth the money i reckon. i vote black for the inlet manifold, even with the webers the engine bay still looks pretty balanced, i think if you went with chrome finish it will just make the webers stand out more which isnt a bad thing but it might just make the other side look a little bare.
either way, car looks awesome

[orangeLJ]

Started to smooth my inlet manifolds, things are basically on hold at the moment due to a few (non related) issues :(

[orangeLJ]

Got stuck back into this on the weekend.

Started off by dragging the rust 4 door from my backyard onto the trailer. It still has a running 186 in the bay, so I stripped the inlet and extractors off, re--fitted the front stubs and wheels, put some air in the tyres and winched it onto the trailer.

As my dad doesnt have his workshop anymore, and no 3 phase at his house or mine to run the pipe bender, we have been using a friends workshop to do a few things here and there. In good company though-



5 "production car" style V8 racecars, a sprintcar or two and a wingless, plus every tool, bolt, fastener and metal machining gear you can need, complemented by our pipe bender! haha. The old boy has been friends with them for 20+ years and built all the cages in the racecars as well as the exhaust and extractors for those and the sprintcars.

They are basically like family! so when they asked if we wanted somewhere to do this sort of stuff we were over the moon!

anyway, not many photos of the early bits, but this is with the primaries almost complete-



The main idea was to take the ide of the HM9c pipes, improve the angle out of the head, go one step larger on the primary size than the HM9s (what we have already) and improve their fitment in LC/LJ (no floor bashing or clearancing)

We spent about 4-5 hours yesterday (including lunch break, repairing the chain on the bender and general farting about)



Got as far as the 2>1 collectors for the primary pipes.

That last shot is after I pulled them off, took them home and trialed them on my car. Its VERY surprising how different things are from car to car. They fit, but are further away from some things and closer to others, nothing has to change though (which is a relief!)

Surprisingly, these will give MORE starter clearance than the old, very restrictive pipes!

at this stage Im contemplating making them multi-piece (slip joins for the secondaries) to make removal and refit easier.

I'll put it together with them uncoated, have the tune etc done, get a few heat cycles through them, and then send them off to be ceramic chrome coated

[Stinga]

looking good so far on the pipes! can you get some pics of them out of the car if you get a chance?

[orangeLJ]

Well I WAS hoping to have it done before christmas......

lol.

No particular date in mind, there has been so much else on the go at the same time like work (management in corporate environments takes up a heap of time I have discovered) and other projects.

I'd like to have it running and tuned before the end of the month.

Paintwork repairs in april and ready to cruise.

In terms of whats left-
Adjust clutch fork pivot (unbolt box and slide back, bit of stuffing around)
finish extractors
Have manifolds ceramic coated
Purchase braided line and fittings for fuel side (proper banjo fittings and braided hose ends rather than econoclamps)
havent even looked at the accelerator linkage setup yet (carbies havent been on the car!)
some minor wiring issues/changes (fix alarm, move some wires)
purchase new sideplates
seal and fit new spacer plate for tappet cover (already have it)
Still need to bleed the brakes and make sure the new lines etc dont leak

run in cam and road test new suspension and brakes

Dyno tune

Remove extractors and ceramic coat (after dyno tune)

While the extractors are off being coated, I'm going to finish the new dash I started YEARS ago. I've decided to go a very different route, including different gauges to the Autometer black/white with orange needles I already have (EOI if anyone is keen, full set)

and then there is the paneling in the boot that Id like to start/finish as well as new matching carpet for the boot (currently black, want tan like interior)

and the paint work......


frOck thats a big list!

[orangeLJ]

looking good so far on the pipes! can you get some pics of them out of the car if you get a chance?

Dont see why not

After having a chat with the old boy, I reckon we will end up making them 3 seperate pieces, so the inside 4 pipes and their collectors are joined, the outside 2 (1&6) joined by their collector, then a slip jointed bottom section that will allow them to go in/out easier without having to frOck around.

This set is the trial run for the next set for the racecar/s so we'll be making another 2 or 3 sets straight off the bat too.

[orangeLJ]

sooooo....

rumour is that this could start and drive as of tomorrow......




Spent today finalising the inlet/extractor alignment and fitment(building up the extractor flanges so the 12 pt nuts seat properly)

rehashed the linkage setup (pushy brake line still working)

Fitted up dizzy, coil,plug leads, set the rockers, put oil in the thing (MILESTONE!)

fitted up the catch can lines, vacuum lines etc.

Also wrote out my shopping list for braided lines and fittings, looking at summit and jeggs at the moment, $350 odd still :(

plus my new helmet at around the same price.

Holding off on getting things cermic coated till after dyno time (next week hopefully)


HAPPY IS AN UNDERSTATEMENT!

exhaust and secondaries tomorrow, bleed up the brakes and thats about it.

[orangeLJ]

IT LIVES!

Ran the cam in at 6.30 last night and decided to call it quits.

Still havent touched the brakes, it sounds so snappy and rev-happy which is excellent considering the carbies are tuned to suit the last setup.

it did start to get a little too hot while running for a while, so hopefully thats not an ongoing issue. Going to look for an alloy radiator over the next week, any reccomendations?

Driving by end of next weekend (all going to plan this week)

brakes need to be bled up and thats really about all thats stopping it from driving!

[warrenm]

Because the carbs were tuned for the other setup, it may be running a little lean for this setup, which maybe adding to the extra temperature. Sort that out before you race out & purchase another radiator.

[orangeLJ]

Hi mate,

Not actually a public business.

Family friends own "v8 max" a v8 supercar drive day company (cars, gear and pantek for sale if anyone is interested in a turn key operation)

They also run 2 sprintcars out of the same joint.

We had our own exhaust shop years back, so that was always "the wor,shop" so I suppose thats why I call it the workshop too haha.

Full lathe, mill, presses, dril press, tig, mig, hoists etc etc in there.

My old man built the cages in some of the v8s, and does a heap of mechanical work on their speedway stuff.

Its a handy place to have use of! Very thankful!

[orangeLJ]

naaah, my old man used to have the nickname "mr modified" to family and friends haha, Ran (successfully) V8 dirt modifieds at the speedway for years and years.

But not Mr HDT lol