Hold(en) my beer - Monaro, Ute and Commodore content

[SturdyHSV]

fred bloggs said:

Good news. Its the getting started bit that is the hard part sometimes. I'm hoping it goes well for you.

Cheers, definitely is the case for me sometimes, just haven't been up for it recently.

Back on it today though, have lowered the engine down and fitted the driver's side cover. Time will tell if I come to regret that

Not super impressed with the Holley covers, very little thread engagement for the bolts that hold the coilpacks down and they're a stupid imperial pitch and had all vibrated loose, so have stuck some blue loctite on them.

Couldn't quite smash the coilpack connector in there either, so have left that on the outside on the driver's side, and just hastily sprayed it black to maybe hide it from view a bit...



As always with these things, American aftermarket's idea of 'bolt on' always seems a bit sketchy.

Engine is back up again so it's time to get under it and take the sump off.

[SturdyHSV]

Can see why you need the subframe dropped to get it out, just draining off the last bit of oil out of those lines.

[SturdyHSV]

The underbelly, that windage tray will be coming off, pickup tube needs to come off first and to get that off the timing cover needs to come off for access.



Pan looks clean, unsurprisingly, and no chunks anywhere! Comically the sump baffle trap doors made draining the rest of this oil out a bit of a faff



No obvious glitter to my eyes



Timing cover off, glad all these LS gaskets are reusable

[SturdyHSV]

So continuing the progress...



Pickup tube off, o-ring looks good, will put a new one in regardless but was curious.



Windage tray off, can see the shims I used to clearance it from the rods, and the money shot:



Improved Racing always have great instructions, this time was no exception.



Cleaned up the windage tray, spent aaaaages clearancing it as the rods have a bit of side to side play so was making sure there was 0.020" at both extremes etc.







Can see I ended up filing the edges off where they've tried to cut in as close to the rods as possible, but it was too snug for comfort. I'd rather lose a touch of effectiveness than have it 'interfere'...



All clearanced and new windage tray on too. Sadly off out now so progress had to stop there, shame clearancing took so long as really just got to swap the oil pump over and it's time to put things back together again.

May crack on later depending on how 'out' goes.

[Lincsls1]

Off topic, can I ask how you've got on with your aftermarket steering wheel over the last few years? What's your verdict?
I'm tempted by a 330mm, I think you've also got a 330. The standard wheel is 380mm! How is the cluster visibility? And how have you got on at MOT's with it?
Cheers...

[SturdyHSV]

Lincsls1 said:

Off topic, can I ask how you've got on with your aftermarket steering wheel over the last few years? What's your verdict?
I'm tempted by a 330mm, I think you've also got a 330. The standard wheel is 380mm! How is the cluster visibility? And how have you got on at MOT's with it?
Cheers...

Yep 330mm, fine for cluster visibility although then again my seats are a lot lower than standard, so would also depend on your steering column angle. I think it might obscure the main beam light a bit, off the top off my head

It made the steering feel a bit different, less hand movement for slight corners, and also if you have to twirl on a lot of opposite lock very quickly it can be a bit of a flap as it takes a bit more effort at low speed.

Not been mentioned at MOT, have the resistor (4.7 Ohm) behind to keep the light working correctly.

Personally, I really like the wheel being the size it is, although I think a 350mm would be pretty much just as good, what's nice is it's also a nice thin and round rim so it just feels nice to use.

I had to get an adapter from Gforce1320 in the states, not sure if others are around by now.

[Lincsls1]

^^^Thank you. I kinda figure that (if) I go for it, might as well make it a very obvious change in size. Hence like you, I'd go for a 330 or even 320mm wheel.
Yes, there are more options now which is nice.
I'd probably opt for this...
https://slammedenuffshop.com/en-gb/products/srk-co...
And maybe...
https://www.demon-tweeks.com/uk/sparco-r383-champi...

[AceOfHearts]

Really enjoying reading this!

My Ute has been a daily driver so never had a chance to get into any deep projects with it. Its going up for auction this week unfortunately as my commute has tripled and I can't really justify running 2 cars still

[SturdyHSV]

Lincsls1 said:

^^^Thank you. I kinda figure that (if) I go for it, might as well make it a very obvious change in size. Hence like you, I'd go for a 330 or even 320mm wheel.
Yes, there are more options now which is nice.
I'd probably opt for this...
https://slammedenuffshop.com/en-gb/products/srk-co...
And maybe...
https://www.demon-tweeks.com/uk/sparco-r383-champi...

You'll need a quick release adapter too for that hub I think, but good to see there are more options now

AceOfHearts said:

Really enjoying reading this!

My Ute has been a daily driver so never had a chance to get into any deep projects with it. Its going up for auction this week unfortunately as my commute has tripled and I can't really justify running 2 cars still

Cheers

Ahh I saw that, blue one isn't it? I hope it sells for a decent amount, a bunch of VXR8s have appeared around the £12 - 14k mark which is very low historically for an R8. Utes have always seemed to hold their value though

It's definitely helpful having a 'spare' so you can properly long term destroy a car, sorry, get in to a deep project with a car, it was something I was always looking forward to doing with the Monaro when I lived in a flat and thus had no garage for it etc. Any jobs would have to be buttoned back up the same day sort of thing, it was genuinely a real treat the first time I got to just take a load of stuff off the car and then leave it there in bits

[AceOfHearts]

SturdyHSV said:

Cheers

Ahh I saw that, blue one isn't it? I hope it sells for a decent amount, a bunch of VXR8s have appeared around the £12 - 14k mark which is very low historically for an R8. Utes have always seemed to hold their value though

It's definitely helpful having a 'spare' so you can properly long term destroy a car, sorry, get in to a deep project with a car, it was something I was always looking forward to doing with the Monaro when I lived in a flat and thus had no garage for it etc. Any jobs would have to be buttoned back up the same day sort of thing, it was genuinely a real treat the first time I got to just take a load of stuff off the car and then leave it there in bits

Yes the blue one on Collecting Cars. Fingers crossed it does ok, I thought an auction format would be easiest as so few come up for sale i don't really know its value.

I have started working full time now in historic racing so get my 'big project fix' from all the cars at work, and its also a bit nicer when its not my money I have to worry about

[SturdyHSV]

AceOfHearts said:

Yes the blue one on Collecting Cars. Fingers crossed it does ok, I thought an auction format would be easiest as so few come up for sale i don't really know its value.

I have started working full time now in historic racing so get my 'big project fix' from all the cars at work, and its also a bit nicer when its not my money I have to worry about

That sounds like a very cool job, any specific era of historic or a variety?

Auctions can be tough as it's about exposure within the time limit I guess

Made a bit more progress tonight, swapped the oil pump over



The new one has been ported and you can see the difference at various points, although slightly tough to photograph, example of the inlet, new being the shiny smooth one.
It's noticeably thicker too, explains where the extra volume comes from.



Loosely attached the timing cover as it needs the damper on to align the seal properly.



Also loosely slung the sump on and then took the oil filter off and utterly butchered it to get the filter out.

There's no untoward chunks in the filter material, a bit of glitter which I imagine is normal with a completely new build but will do some reading.



Given I partially sawed the top of the filter off and there's purple bits in the oil (so from the outside of the filter...) I assume I didn't exactly do a surgically clean job of getting it open...



As I say will do some research with regards to what to expect with a brand new build in terms of oil appearance, although realistically I'm still going to run the engine and see how it goes unless there's some sort of catastrophe.

[TheAngryDog]

You will get glitter in oil after a rebuild, everything has to bed in. It's big chunks you want to worry about.

[SturdyHSV]

Not many worthwhile pictures from some pretty simple tasks this morning, torqued the sump down, put the subframe back on, reconnected the steering column, bolted down the engine mounts and the anti-roll bar mounts, so looking much more like an engine bay again with the support out of the way



Had the damper out in the sun warming up (every little helps with an interference fit right? From reading it was waaay too tight before with the amount of effort it took to get it on and off, so I honed the inside a touch just to take a miniscule amount off.



Coated the inside in anti-seize and used the ATI tool to install it, went on comparatively easily, still took a lot of effort by the end but I think a much more appropriate amount compared to before.



With that in place and the sump in place, I then torque the front two sump pan bolts that go into the timing cover and then torqued the timing cover down.

Not running the AC pulley on the damper this time, so picked up 3 decent quality bolts and washers as advised by ATI to replace those that held the AC pulley to the back. I mixed and matched the bolts / washers to get them all the same weight, just seemed worth it for the sake of it being a balanced assembly



Stopped for some lunch and now to watch the F1, will be back on it after.

[SturdyHSV]

Was just a case of putting stuff back on really, I RTV'd the thermostat housing (on the mating surface and the outside edge) as that weeped a bit and the bolts don't like much torque, hopefully won't be leaking again.



Then it was just a case of filling it with fluids and spark plugs etc.



Cranked it with no plugs / fuel to get some oil pressure and then fired it up. Uneventful enough except for the brief smoke show out of the breathers

Oil pressure frankly doesn't seem much different to before, which is either worrying or annoying, and I haven't decided which yet.



Have called it for today, will run it up again another evening or a lunch time if I work from home and check for leaks once warmed up, then pop it back down on its wheels and out of the garage again.

[Polly Grigora]

Great going on the strip-down and rebuild

No change in oil pressure is a proper pain after all that work. What next?

[Oneball]

Have you asked the engine builder what the oil pressure should be?

[SturdyHSV]

Polly Grigora said:

Great going on the strip-down and rebuild

No change in oil pressure is a proper pain after all that work. What next?

Will get it warmed up and see what it does with some RPM. I also have a new oil pressure sender to pop on just in case, I'm going to remove the little mechanical gauge T-off and pop the new sender in the stock location just to be sure, the mechanical gauge was mostly just for initial startup anyway so I could see oil pressure from in the engine bay.

Oneball said:

Have you asked the engine builder what the oil pressure should be?

I've pinged him an e-mail just now as to what he'd expect, I have a pretty good idea of what I'd expect to see but absolutely worth hearing his thoughts, a good point. Only other thing is that the clearances I'm running are a smidge looser than OEM, which is normal for more power hungry builds, so quite possibly I should be running a heavier oil, have asked for his opinion on that too.

I'm using Royal Purple break-in oil, which is a 10W30, so pretty standard for an OEM (properly built ) engine, but feasibly a little light and possibly why I'm not seeing the pressure I'm expecting. Yes it's eminently possible that this was my problem the whole time, but I feel better knowing the higher volume pump is in there which is what is recommended given the lifters I have and oil cooler etc.

Another 'interesting' point is that the original pumps in the Monaros have a 52psi relief valve, so they actually rarely see much more than 3 bar on the gauge (apologies for the unit juggling...). Provided I'm seeing over 50 psi at reasonable rpm (3,000 - 5,000) I'll be fairly happy, would really like to be seeing 60psi+ at 6,000 or so though, especially as it's intended to be spun to 7,000.

Have just had the e-mail back whilst typing this, the guy (Tony Mamo) lives in California, and has literally replied to an e-mail quicker than most UK companies would, the man never sleeps!

So he's saying 25psi hot idle (which is fine) and 55+psi at anything over 4,500RPM (when hot, so 180-200 oil temp). Let's see how we do!

[SturdyHSV]

One thing my tuner pointed out (as he by fluke stumbled on to this build thread) was that the injector adapters I've got will be messing up the spray pattern as they sit below the injectors and not above.

They are there because I had LS2 injectors originally and now have LSA injectors. The later (LS3, LSA etc.) injectors are shorter, and so don't reach the fuel rail (which is mounted to the intake manifold expecting LS2 height injectors)



The silver bits in the old image above.

On first install I tried to mess about with o-rings to get the adapters on top instead but with no luck, so have managed to instead find some fro, Fuel Injector Connections that go on top. I ordered these at 18:20 on Sunday from the US, in the hope they'd be hear ahead of the dyno on the 24th, and they're due to arrive today

The tuner thought that the messed up spray pattern would have contributed to making the idle tuning as awkward as it was, so ultimately even if it's just a driveability improvement, this deep in to it it felt worth the effort / money.

Am WFH today so going to be warming it up at lunch time to see what the pressures look like at a more realistic oil temperature, I shall report back.

[IainWhy]

Is it bleeding pressure off through the releif valve or not making enough to even activate it?

I only ask as in bmw S engine world its common to shim the relief valve out to boost pressure over the range

[SturdyHSV]

IainWhy said:

Is it bleeding pressure off through the releif valve or not making enough to even activate it?

I only ask as in bmw S engine world its common to shim the relief valve out to boost pressure over the range

It was just a matter of oil volume, not enough to make the pressure. Long story short, initial build spec the 10295 pump I had would have been fine, due to Covid supply issues ended up getting some fancier lifters with 'axle oiling' (so basically 16 more oil drains to feed) and this meant I really needed the high volume pump, the 10296... I missed this at the time, so made a bit more work for myself in the end!