Low km 1991 VN Exec

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

 

3.45 diff gears arrived on Friday.  Will source a Trutrak also then shoot it off to the diff builder.

Almost done with the lower runners of the manifold. Awaiting some round tube stock to weld in a valley breather, finish the runner inlet smoothing then hold off finishing it until I decide on a Starr Throttle neck or not.

I also made a flange to suit the 4088. Had the plat already (for free) so saved about $80 plus post for buying one. Took a while though :p

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

In my usual approach of jumping between jobs before they’re finished, I started on the front suspension yesterday.

Only did the passenger side but from what I learnt the driver’s side should be much quicker.

I welded in a piece of plate to tie the two sides of the control arm together. Probably not necessary but what the hey. I also put in a piece of steam pipe to brace the inner bushing area, mainly so that I could press the bush out without deforming the arm.

Cleaned up a bit, quick splash of paint and new bushes in (crush spacer missing on inner bush). Ball joints are only about 6,000km old so didn’t touch them.

Pulled out the strut and removed the stock shock absorber, which was (unsurprisingly) toast. I’ve ordered the K-Mac strut tops through Kroozer, but also need to pickup replacement bump stops and dust boots. The one’s already on there are in good shape but it makes sense to just replace them while they’re off. Also need to order a new front sway bar.

I noted that the old oil within the strut was less than half what was recommended in the GM Service Manual.

Can anyone advise whether the oil needs to be added to the Replacement Monroe GT strut? (Shock horror – regular street car uses regular shocks, not $1k Bilsteins :P)

They look to be a sealed unit as opposed to the factory type which use a seal in the locking nut as shown in the photo. Replacement doesn’t have a provision for the seal so it leads me to believe I don’t need to. Just checking.

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

Talking to myself here. Other side done. I think it looks better than the first one. Also cleaned up the passenger side inner guard. Strut boots and bump stops arrived, Whiteline blade adjustable sway bar arrived today but then the courier took it back because I wasn’t home. Should arrive Monday (again). K-Mac strut tops should be here Tuesday. Chipping away.

[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]

Second time always seems to go easier!  Nice work, ticking along.

[doz10Participant Qld93 VR SS View build HERE Member since: February 9, 2016 Posts: 125]

Just about to do the same thing to my vg work ute did all the bushes in the rear a few months back and rebuilt and painted a spare pair of front arms ready to go, I didn’t modify them though, unlike the rears fully adjustable top and plated lower arms, can’t wait to get the front done though coz it’s starting to feel a little bit scary

[doz10Participant Qld93 VR SS View build HERE Member since: February 9, 2016 Posts: 125]

Does anyone know if there is any advantage to plating the front arms?

[ImmortalityParticipant 97 HSV Senator 185i 02 VX L67 Calais View build HERE Member since: August 31, 2015 Posts: 535]

doz10 wrote:

Does anyone know if there is any advantage to plating the front arms?

That’s a bloody good question!

I guess it would depend on how hard the car is driven and what other mods are done.  There are probably other things you can do to improve handling before you would need to box out the front lower control arms.

[VSClubby355Participant View build HERE Member since: April 26, 2016 Posts: 29]

Your original are “wet” struts thus the oil and the seal with the nut.  The replacements are gas struts so no oil is required

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

VSClubby355 wrote:

Your original are “wet” struts thus the oil and the seal with the nut. The replacements are gas struts so no oil is required

Thanks mate – figured that out when I was less tired and looked at it again!

The primary reason I plated the front arms is for removing and replacing the bushes – In the past I’ve had issues where the arm effectively crushes when pressed to get the bush out. So instead of making a removable spacer for the press work, i just welded said spacer in!

Finished the other side in terms of painting the wheel arches, installed the shocks and cleaned them up also. Just waiting on the delivery of the strut tops and swaybar before slapping it all back in.

[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]

Cant imagine why making it stiffer would be anything but better.  I guess its a little heavier but has to be better being stronger and less prone to flexing/distorting under load.

[doz10Participant Qld93 VR SS View build HERE Member since: February 9, 2016 Posts: 125]

I agree it couldn’t be a bad thing to do, I was just wondering if anyone knew if there were any advantages in doing it, the best reason would have to be the fact it makes servicing the things so much easier as tuff said, otherwise you need to make spacers to stop them crushing when you press the bushes in and out

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

Oooook,

Thanks to Kroozer for supplying the strut tops (and the free stuff).

After fighting with the courier for the delivery of the Whiteline swaybar, it finally arrived on Tuesday Night – Except I don’t own a HD/HR Holden so obviously it wouldn’t fit! So now have to try and get another one (thanks to the supplier for sending completely the wrong item).

I’m sick of it being on stands so I decided to put everything back together with the stock swaybar. My dog thought the stock rubber link pin bushes looked tasty and stole two, so I just picked up a HD Link Pin replacement kit.

The K-Mac strut tops are a really nice thing, even if the instructions suck. One thing I didn’t account for originally was that they are about 15mm taller than the tops that came out of the car. I think this is a combination of sag in the stock items and the additional plates on the new ones. I took 3/4 of a coil off the springs to compensate, so it now sits at the same height as before. Will drop marginally following the engine conversion so it should be sweet.

Put it all back together. The radius rod and K-Frame bush are still standard. The V8 K-frame I have already has Nolathane bushes in it so no point changing it now. I might grab some adjustable radius rods also.

I also fitted a powder coated strut brace. Please excuse the poor excuse for an engine there.

I set the initial alignment fairly aggressively.

(The irony being I took a photo from the same spot with my VQ on the rear suspension noting how much camber it had and how I wanted to get rid of it, then spent weeks fabricating new pickups to eliminate it!)

Overall the car drives a LOT better now, even with some more changes to be made and a proper alignment required. The new shocks (obviously) has greatly improved ride quality and the car really wants to turn in and rotate now. Haven’t had the chance to give it a really good test but all I can say is that the automatic now really takes the fun out of it :p

[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]

Nice work, those strut tops look like a nice piece of kit.

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

Replacement swaybar showed up today.

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

Fitted the sway bar Friday night, ran it up through the hills towards Yea Saturday morning.

I should say that I changed the link bush arrangement after this photo as I stuffed it up.

Obvious first impression – my tyres a a bit average. They at least let you know before they’re about to let go, but they’ll need to be replaced soon. Stock steering wheel sucks, both in size and position. Factory seats are comfy but don’t do much in the way of support.

Also it is woefully under powered and the auto ruins the fun. (Who would’ve thought?)

Improve one area to find the weakness in others.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 8 months ago by  [TUFFVQ].

[doz10Participant Qld93 VR SS View build HERE Member since: February 9, 2016 Posts: 125]

Hahaha I know exactly what you mean mate I just finished off doing pretty much the same job on my vg, yeah it handles and stops a whole lot better than it ever did and it’s better to drive but the v6 auto is a bit of a letdown lol

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

Been a while. Have been on the go slow as I keep saving for the bike. Licence booked for this weekend and hopefully pick up the bike a few weeks after so probably July I can start spending money on this again (maybe).

In the meantime, I thought I’d finish off the manifold. In the end I was not able to find any way to hone each of the runners completely. Any method I looked at trying failed miserably. So I’ve had to settle with match porting to the head (which took a lot of metal out!) and blending the inlet of the runners on the floor. Since I couldn’t get the runners done, I also couldn’t stomach the $850 for the last alloy Starr neck and throttle body.

Enter the Ghetto Super-Starr.

I cut out a bunch of the factory neck.

Then gave it a port, focusing on the short turn. Opened it up from 68mm to 72mm at the narrowest point. Will be running a 70mm TB.

I then welded in my valley breather.

I then proceeded to add in new plates and weld the bejeezus out of it.

Then ground it back.

Then welded the floor back in. Which was tough due to old oil impregnated cast alloy.

Valley breather with an old aero-fail fitting (they’re seriously shit).

With the covers on, none the wiser.

I will get it ceramic coated black after machining the gasket faces to ensure they’re flat as I put a lot of heat into it.

[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]

Thats a lot of effort to go too, be interesting back to back to see what difference it makes?

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

Yeah I’ve no idea what difference it will make. It won’t make it any worse, though. So that’s the main thing.

I’m trying for 180rwkw N/A with the manual. That should mean I can exceed 300rwkw on 10psi boosted on a stock bottom end. Not sure why but that’s the target for now.

Also decided I’ll go roller cam on this.

[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]

For sure, just more out of interest wondering how bad it is stock.

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