Hold(en) my beer - Monaro, Ute and Commodore content
Discussion
seefarr said:
Is that galling you're seeing there? Galling as in adhesion wear
which is common with alu-alu rather than annoying, all though it's probably that too.
Maybe try lubing up next time?
Ahh that could well be it, I have learnt something new today which is common with alu-alu rather than annoying, all though it's probably that too.
Maybe try lubing up next time?
Polly Grigora said:
I know what you mean about Aluminium, it's horrible but light
It is both of those things!So today was going to be a fairly easy going day, plan was mostly just to adjust the brake pedal so it properly turns off the pedal switch (I'd not done the rod long enough and to my eternal shame had temporarily just stuck a big blob of blu-tack on the plate to fully depress the switch when the pedal came back up...
To make my footwell foraging easier I opted to take the seat out, and after quickly adjusting the brake rod, couldn't help but get the hoover out to give the interior a spruce. This ended up with giving the whole interior a clean, both seats out, and hot-glueing the bit of door 'suede' back in place that had sagged.
I blame the gearstick boot for sparking this off as it looked so good and clean...
So both seats cleaned as well and gave the manual sliders some attention as they'd become very stiff. This mostly involved tapping the handle on further to give better leverage and liberally spraying WD40 down the runners.
They slide freely now so that's good.
Never one to stop tinkering aesthetically under the bonnet, I have taken off the strut brace mounts to paint them black and have primered the strut brace itself, that will also be going black I suspect.
Painted strut bar in place.
Also, debadged the back of the wagon, have been wanting to take them off for a whileas it's a clean design the rear so felt the badges just cluttered it up unnecessarily.
Took the girlfriend out to do her first burnout last night as well, the tyres need sending off so seemed the thing to do
Also, debadged the back of the wagon, have been wanting to take them off for a whileas it's a clean design the rear so felt the badges just cluttered it up unnecessarily.
Took the girlfriend out to do her first burnout last night as well, the tyres need sending off so seemed the thing to do
Lincsls1 said:
Polly Grigora said:
Looks stunning, all of the job, not only the bar
Nah, I disagree. The bar looks ok, the rest looks proper pants! 
Now when can you do my engine?
Both very kind 
What would you want doing? You're a bit far away for me to pop over to lend a spanner, but if you want to give me some power goals or something I can give you plenty of advice for free!
Polly Grigora said:
Can we all look forward to good in car videos on track or road in the future?
Please
Yep I'll certainly try to work out a way to record some in car footage that doesn't involve my phone being flung about and pointing at the headlining etc. It's a bit noisy for tracks at the moment I suspect, but will be nice to get it out to some nicer roads and hopefully collect some reasonable footage Please
Am going to have a punt at sorting out the PS wiring this weekend, intending to separate the 2 signal wires to the pump and wire them up as they're supposed to be, the black wire to switched ignition (which they're currently both wired to) and then the blue / white wire to the alternator 12v.
Wagon MOT has been delayed a week, and new tyres now going on tomorrow.
In the meantime, I've done a parking burnout every day of the week so far when arriving home. Some benefits of the wagon being so quiet!
Got some real projection last night, the s
te tarmac hasn't enjoyed it though
Monaro came in to work today, feel like I'm used to the power already in that it doesn't feel 'fast' as such, which is a bit ridiculous, although only managed one actual full throttle poke in 2nd due to the road conditions. Sun's out now and Friday traffic should hopefully mean a nice drive home
In the meantime, I've done a parking burnout every day of the week so far when arriving home. Some benefits of the wagon being so quiet!
Got some real projection last night, the s
te tarmac hasn't enjoyed it though Monaro came in to work today, feel like I'm used to the power already in that it doesn't feel 'fast' as such, which is a bit ridiculous, although only managed one actual full throttle poke in 2nd due to the road conditions. Sun's out now and Friday traffic should hopefully mean a nice drive home
SturdyHSV said:
Polly Grigora said:
Can we all look forward to good in car videos on track or road in the future?
Please
Yep I'll certainly try to work out a way to record some in car footage that doesn't involve my phone being flung about and pointing at the headlining etc. It's a bit noisy for tracks at the moment I suspect, but will be nice to get it out to some nicer roads and hopefully collect some reasonable footage Please
SturdyHSV said:
Then underneath, surprised to find no sump guard underneath... Also looks to have been some oily mess at some point, so have cleaned it up and will see if it comes back...
There's no clean way of getting an oil filter off is there...
The car came with a spare (cheap Chinese) air filter so swapped that in whilst the oil was draining.
Was going to get the paint machine out on one of mine the other day, but as I was moving it, it had left a puddle behind. I thought it was the transmission sump leaking as it was all oily, but then realised it was the oil filter. There's no clean way of getting an oil filter off is there...
The car came with a spare (cheap Chinese) air filter so swapped that in whilst the oil was draining.
Change of plan had to do an oil change as I didn't know how much was missing.
Anyway I could undo the oil filter, covered in oil by hand. grrrrr How hard can it be to do them up a bit tighter mr dealership? Maybe the Wagon's oil filter was the same and wasn't done up enough?
With mine, it had covered the bell housing and the transmission sump and other bits under the car.
About the third or fourth time this has happened to me. I have mentioned it in another thread somewhere about the oil filter being difficult to tighten up by hand as the sump is in the way. They shrunk the stock oil filters on them a few years ago PF48 to a PF48e. The slightly dearer UPF48R is a similar size to the PF48 and taller then the PF48e and easier to get your hand around.
Air Filter, I have a stock one here and it says Made in Japan! £21 on Rockauto or 33-2919 for a K&N if you want to go that way.
The VEII had guards/covers underneath to improve economy?? It had some under the sides to. Don't know if the VE series I has the holes in the subframe for the bolts or not. Gets in the way when doing an oil change though.
Good to see the Wagon getting some love!
That looks suspiciously similar to what may be happening on the wagon. After tightening down the new oil filter, I had a single drip slip out exactly where yours is in that photo.
I figured as I'd slightly over filled the filter it was likely just squished out from the outside of the rubber seal, wiped it a couple of times and it returned, so intended to keep an eye on it, seeing your picture I'll definitely be checking under it again.
There's definitely mountings for an undertray of sorts, I was surprised there was no sump protection just because the Monaro came with the metal sump guard etc.
The wagon continued getting the love with some new tyres, look at the MEAT on the rear
Went up to a 275/35 instead of the 275/30 that was on there. As well as looking infinitely better, this has also sorted out the speedo, which now reads bang on, so that's a result.
The front does need to be lowered a smidge though still...
I figured as I'd slightly over filled the filter it was likely just squished out from the outside of the rubber seal, wiped it a couple of times and it returned, so intended to keep an eye on it, seeing your picture I'll definitely be checking under it again.
There's definitely mountings for an undertray of sorts, I was surprised there was no sump protection just because the Monaro came with the metal sump guard etc.
The wagon continued getting the love with some new tyres, look at the MEAT on the rear
Went up to a 275/35 instead of the 275/30 that was on there. As well as looking infinitely better, this has also sorted out the speedo, which now reads bang on, so that's a result.
The front does need to be lowered a smidge though still...
Krikkit said:
On the subject of filters and tightness, might be worth investing in the right size of oil filter socket, then you can use a torque wrench to establish a working level. It also makes undoing them infinitely nicer.
Wagon looks belting as ever, any plans for it?
Not a bad shout given all of my oil filters are basically the same Wagon looks belting as ever, any plans for it?
Wagon has an MOT on the 27th, I have the exhaust to fit to it, I'd really like to lower it a smidge but am quite torn on whether to go the quality mono-tube coil over route, or whether to just pop some slightly lower springs on, but then I'd likely want to replace the dampers too as these ones are probably original.
The wagon is going to stay comparatively refined and comfortable, I'd like to supercharge it eventually as it'll suit its character, and I'm actually quite interested in doing a load of sound deadening to really quiet it down inside and make it a proper cruiser and as something a bit different to the others.
Next 'project' assuming the Monaro continues working well is to start the Ute manual swap.
Polly Grigora said:
SturdyHSV said:
Polly Grigora said:
Can we all look forward to good in car videos on track or road in the future?
Please
Yep I'll certainly try to work out a way to record some in car footage that doesn't involve my phone being flung about and pointing at the headlining etc. It's a bit noisy for tracks at the moment I suspect, but will be nice to get it out to some nicer roads and hopefully collect some reasonable footage Please
Sounds fairly good on some proper speakers
SturdyHSV said:
By no means worth 'looking forward to' as such here, but was curious how the sound came across on my phone with windows open, so just dumped it in one of the cup holders (hence the excellent angle)...
Sounds fairly good on some proper speakers
That frightened me in a good way, sounded similar to fifteen formula 3000 cars screaming at the start of a raceSounds fairly good on some proper speakers
So a sort of productive weekend, the Wagon passed its MOT, and I took the Monaro out a couple of times for a drive. Including work this morning, I think we're at 1,000 miles on the engine now, which is a milestone!
As I get to use it more and have more mileage on it, I'm a little more comfortable with the notion that if something is 'wrong', it's relatively minor and even if it does require a freshen up to resolve an issue, say new rings and a set of pistons or something because of a wear issue, I'm feeling more like I'm getting my money's worth and the motivation would be there to get on with it, get it fixed and get it back on the road.
The tune is definitely driveable, I haven't really done any logging at the moment in order to get the rough edges tidied up, but at least with the tune and the wiring and stuff largely sorted, engine work if necessary should 'just' be a case of the mechanical side of things and once it was back together, it'd be back on the road.
I managed to record some footage and the audio hasn't come out too bad, there's an occasional rattle from the phone mount, especially at idle or low speed, and I thought it sounded pretty rough on my phone, but with some headphones on, it's actually pretty reasonable, actually got it on the background whilst working, oddly therapeutic
One of the videos is an hour long and naturally includes a good 30 minutes of cruising along a dual carriageway or two, so I'll have to do some editing to get to the more interesting bits. It does sound nucking futs though, every now and then when there's a well sighted corner or two and smooth enough bit of tarmac, the heel-toe downshifts and then 2nd gear pull in to 3rd on the way out sounds phenomenal
As I get to use it more and have more mileage on it, I'm a little more comfortable with the notion that if something is 'wrong', it's relatively minor and even if it does require a freshen up to resolve an issue, say new rings and a set of pistons or something because of a wear issue, I'm feeling more like I'm getting my money's worth and the motivation would be there to get on with it, get it fixed and get it back on the road.
The tune is definitely driveable, I haven't really done any logging at the moment in order to get the rough edges tidied up, but at least with the tune and the wiring and stuff largely sorted, engine work if necessary should 'just' be a case of the mechanical side of things and once it was back together, it'd be back on the road.
I managed to record some footage and the audio hasn't come out too bad, there's an occasional rattle from the phone mount, especially at idle or low speed, and I thought it sounded pretty rough on my phone, but with some headphones on, it's actually pretty reasonable, actually got it on the background whilst working, oddly therapeutic
One of the videos is an hour long and naturally includes a good 30 minutes of cruising along a dual carriageway or two, so I'll have to do some editing to get to the more interesting bits. It does sound nucking futs though, every now and then when there's a well sighted corner or two and smooth enough bit of tarmac, the heel-toe downshifts and then 2nd gear pull in to 3rd on the way out sounds phenomenal
I will get around to trimming the footage down in to something watchable, need to set aside some time for it.
In the mean time, here's a little clip to enjoy
Showing some colleagues the car at lunch the other day and one noticed a wet spot on the sump guard, turns out the T between the rocker cover breather and valley cover breather can weep a bit. The hose wasn't a hugely snug fit, which I tried to resolve with a jubilee clip, and later some RTV, I have now done the right thing and ordered some smaller diameter hose...
In the mean time, here's a little clip to enjoy
Showing some colleagues the car at lunch the other day and one noticed a wet spot on the sump guard, turns out the T between the rocker cover breather and valley cover breather can weep a bit. The hose wasn't a hugely snug fit, which I tried to resolve with a jubilee clip, and later some RTV, I have now done the right thing and ordered some smaller diameter hose...
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