Atlas Grey VQ Statesman 304

[VRSenator065Participant Adelaide SAVR Senator LSx454 1960 Kombi (project) 1921 Nash Hot Rod (future project) View build HERE Member since: February 17, 2015 Posts: 5 777]

That sir is a bloody top effort.  Nice work.

[[TUFFVQ]Participant Melbourne1991 VQ 304 View build HERE Member since: March 2, 2015 Posts: 171]

Took the car for a run last night. After having the spool in the car for about 7-8 years, driving without one was quite a change. No longer the tight feeling going through round abouts or tight turns (who would’ve thought?).

Centre seems to work just fine, as soon as power is put through it the behaviour is just as before, quite linear. There doesn’t seem to be much of any axle tramp and traction is improved with the better contact patch.

No additional noise with the new diff mount which I didn’t expect.

Definitely need to get some new tyres as (apart from being worn out) the old Adrenalines are certainly past their prime in terms of rubber hardness.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 6 months ago by  [TUFFVQ].

[[TUFFVQ]Participant Melbourne1991 VQ 304 View build HERE Member since: March 2, 2015 Posts: 171]

VRSenator065 wrote:

That sir is a bloody top effort. Nice work.

Cheers Gary.

Still a long way to go with this car, not sure I’ll ever get it into a suitable state but that won’t stop me from trying.

[cava454Moderator 93 VR BT1 View build HERE Member since: February 20, 2015 Posts: 2 390]

I may need to employ ur services to chop me out.

[VRSenator065Participant Adelaide SAVR Senator LSx454 1960 Kombi (project) 1921 Nash Hot Rod (future project) View build HERE Member since: February 17, 2015 Posts: 5 777]

Gotta get a nice side on pic up when you get the chance too.

[[TUFFVQ]Participant Melbourne1991 VQ 304 View build HERE Member since: March 2, 2015 Posts: 171]

Gary – took some photos on the SLR yesterday, need to remember to bring the SD Card into work to upload them. Hopefully I’ll remember tomorrow!

Saturday morning I went and had a pair of new 225 rears fitted to the 15’s. Looks chunky. Testing of the new tread ended rather dramatically, with me thinking I’d finally run out of luck on my ’12 month’ engine I built 6 years ago. Essentially it was as though someone threw a bucket full of coolant at my windscreen as I was shifting to 2nd at about 6300rpm. Luckily I was about 1km from home so quickly rolled back into the garage.

That’ll do it.

A new 5/16″ Cap, clamp and a gut full of coolant and she lives to fight another day.

[VRSenator065Participant Adelaide SAVR Senator LSx454 1960 Kombi (project) 1921 Nash Hot Rod (future project) View build HERE Member since: February 17, 2015 Posts: 5 777]

That would have got the heart racing a little.  Lucky it ended up being pretty minor in the scheme of things.

[cava454Moderator 93 VR BT1 View build HERE Member since: February 20, 2015 Posts: 2 390]

That’s happened twice to me in the freeway. The radiator hose blew off. 2 clamps failed.

 

Windscreen went green in a in a matter of seconds straight out the cowl.

 

Jocks were changed.

[[TUFFVQ]Participant Melbourne1991 VQ 304 View build HERE Member since: March 2, 2015 Posts: 171]

I just said to myself “awwwww” and pulled over. Didn’t even get worked up by it. Weird.

[[TUFFVQ]Participant Melbourne1991 VQ 304 View build HERE Member since: March 2, 2015 Posts: 171]

Drove this all weekend for about 300km total. Dash said 10.3L/100km on the freeway, 12.6L/100 overall, but that was probably closer to 15.

Lots more grip, even in the rain. Once you really provoke it, it slides very nicely. Gives lots of confidence. There is a small harmonic at around 75-80kmh under certain conditions, which I can probably attribute to the diff mount. Not fussed though as it is only minor and I’ll take the zero axle tramp I’ve experienced so far over a bit more occasional noise

[VRSenator065Participant Adelaide SAVR Senator LSx454 1960 Kombi (project) 1921 Nash Hot Rod (future project) View build HERE Member since: February 17, 2015 Posts: 5 777]

You have gotta be happy with that, nice work.

[VRSenator065Participant Adelaide SAVR Senator LSx454 1960 Kombi (project) 1921 Nash Hot Rod (future project) View build HERE Member since: February 17, 2015 Posts: 5 777]

Hey mate, I am seriously thinking of doing this, its gotta be the way to go.  Hope you dont mind as Admin I copied the modification you did to the K frame from above (pretty much pages 3/4)  into the other dedicated K frame mod thread to keep it in one spot

• This reply was modified 8 years, 3 months ago by  VRSenator065.

[[TUFFVQ]Participant Melbourne1991 VQ 304 View build HERE Member since: March 2, 2015 Posts: 171]

Go nuts.

Honestly it’s been a great modification to the car. First gear is properly usable now. In the past, any heavy throttle application in first just ended in slip. Sounds like fun but after a while it gets irritating.

Be aware it’s not the easiest thing to get right (i.e. it’s fiddly) and you need to make sure you get the opening for the trailing arm bush right otherwise your clearances will be up the creek. Time will tell if I’ve made problems for myself 

[[TUFFVQ]Participant Melbourne1991 VQ 304 View build HERE Member since: March 2, 2015 Posts: 171]

OK so a small update.

I have been overseas for a month with work and flat chat on other things in life so not much has happened with this of late. When I came back from my trip, despite the car being on a trickle charger, the Exide battery finally called it quits, (Of course this happened while I had the car at the shops!) so it now has an Optima Red Top. It starts like a champ now.

I also found that some of the ‘temporary’ fuel line work I had done about 7 years ago was now starting to show signs of failure (in the form of fuel leaking in my boot) so I ordered a bunch of 200 series speedflow to fix the problem. I stopped the leak so that I could take the car to Heathcote on Sunday last for a bit of fun with a few mates. It was a great day to be out but definitely no luck on the track. Both the left and right lane was like driving on ice for me. I had far less traction than I get on even a damp public road, meaning the best I could pull was a 13.4 for the day (nearly a second off my PB). I don’t have traction issues at Calder but this is the 2 from 2 for this issue at Heathcote. The next problem was that the 4.11’s now have me riding limiter (6200 on the stock bottom end) over the line, meaning I was down nearly 2mph. If I was at Calder I’d have probably just bumped the limiter to 6500 and made a glory pass, but it’s a long tow from Heathcote. All in all, fail.

On the way home my extraordinarily leaky rear main (which has been leaky for probably 5 years  ) finally called it a day. It was like a James Bond smoke screen. I’ll be surprised if I don’t get EPA’d.

So now I’m not sure where to go from here. I’m going to keep working on the fuel system, then move to the electrics to tidy up some stuff but as far as the drivetrain goes I’m not sure. It’s not as fast as I want and I have to consider my options from here.

[cava454Moderator 93 VR BT1 View build HERE Member since: February 20, 2015 Posts: 2 390]

LS

[VRSenator065Participant Adelaide SAVR Senator LSx454 1960 Kombi (project) 1921 Nash Hot Rod (future project) View build HERE Member since: February 17, 2015 Posts: 5 777]

Bummer after all that work on the K frame.  I am a little partial to an LS swap as well…..

[[TUFFVQ]Participant Melbourne1991 VQ 304 View build HERE Member since: March 2, 2015 Posts: 171]

That’s what playing with cars is – you win some, you lose some. I got the car home and still had a good day out – can’t complain.

LS has definitely crossed my mind, but I don’t want to commit to anything right now. Life dictates many competing financial demands!

[VRSenator065Participant Adelaide SAVR Senator LSx454 1960 Kombi (project) 1921 Nash Hot Rod (future project) View build HERE Member since: February 17, 2015 Posts: 5 777]

Yea, get that, that’s why I left my Senator alone in a container for best part of 10 years, just didn’t have the cash to do what I wanted with it.  Flip side is when you eventually do its so much better cause you can actually do what you want.  As you say, build, use, break, improve, repeat….

[[TUFFVQ]Participant Melbourne1991 VQ 304 View build HERE Member since: March 2, 2015 Posts: 171]

For my own future reference:

225/60R15 tyre (25.6″ tall), 3rd gear, 4.11 gears, 6200rpm, 106.5mph = 7.92% Convertor Slip

[[TUFFVQ]Participant Melbourne1991 VQ 304 View build HERE Member since: March 2, 2015 Posts: 171]

SO in an effort to try and fix the rear main leak I’ve done absolutely nothing related to it and started re-doing my fuel system.

Boot side is almost done, just some minor items. Then it’s on to under car items 

Also just bought an NVRAM and USB Comms Kit for the ECU so I can learn to tune this nugget before I pull the motor. At least, tune it enough so I can run a new cam in.

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