[Heron SSVParticipant Central Coast NSW2009 Pajero Exceed 84 VK SL LS3 View build HERE Member since: May 5, 2015 Posts: 585]

Pretty much. I’ll reserve my judgement of the shop until it’s done and I see what the end result is like. I know things sometimes take longer than expected, but the communication side isn’t too flash so far

[Heron SSVParticipant Central Coast NSW2009 Pajero Exceed 84 VK SL LS3 View build HERE Member since: May 5, 2015 Posts: 585]

Spoke to the shop today. Their mechanic is off with bronchitis this week. They’re trying to get another guy in but I’m not holding my breath. Going to make a start on the bonnet, have to strip it back to bare metal. Planning on using stripper on the top, but I’m not sure how to tackle underneath. Any suggestions?

[Heron SSVParticipant Central Coast NSW2009 Pajero Exceed 84 VK SL LS3 View build HERE Member since: May 5, 2015 Posts: 585]

Still hasnt been tuned. Spent the weekend painting the front and rear bars. Got three cans of MX Grey from Supercheap, ended up using just over two cans and did four coats, have enough left over to do the door moulds later on. Also gave it two coats of clear. Came up pretty good for a rattle can job.

[Heron SSVParticipant Central Coast NSW2009 Pajero Exceed 84 VK SL LS3 View build HERE Member since: May 5, 2015 Posts: 585]

Thanks Ian. As the saying goes, you learn from your mistakes, it’s part of life.

Picked up the VK this morning and dropped it to the tuner. Pipes look good, heaps of clearance under the car now. Plenty of room around the steering rack which will help with engineering. It’s actually pretty quiet when it is idling, roars a little on start up but settles down to a nice sound.

Starting to have a think about putting it back together, going to see if i can put some rivnuts in along the top of the guards so i can use some fancy allen key bolts to hold them on so it looks mint

[Heron SSVParticipant Central Coast NSW2009 Pajero Exceed 84 VK SL LS3 View build HERE Member since: May 5, 2015 Posts: 585]

Cheers Gary, theres so much involved there’s bound to be some mistakes.

picking it up tomorrow morning from the exhaust shop and dropping it back to the tuners. Hopefully get it sorted so I can pick it up Saturday

[Heron SSVParticipant Central Coast NSW2009 Pajero Exceed 84 VK SL LS3 View build HERE Member since: May 5, 2015 Posts: 585]

Not I my list but I asked the tuner to go over the whole car to check it out, that was meant to include a fluid check on everything.

[Heron SSVParticipant Central Coast NSW2009 Pajero Exceed 84 VK SL LS3 View build HERE Member since: May 5, 2015 Posts: 585]

Exhaust has been sorted, 250 bucks added to the cost. Picking it up next Wednesday.

[Heron SSVParticipant Central Coast NSW2009 Pajero Exceed 84 VK SL LS3 View build HERE Member since: May 5, 2015 Posts: 585]

Haha tell me about it IJ

So turns out I made a few rookie errors. I had the trans mount upside down so the engine and box were tilted too far back and the driveline angle was wrong. This was causing the collectors to hang way too low. The mechanic sorted it out and it looks heaps better. The headers have more clearance on the rails and I have heaps of space around the steering rack. The downside is I have to get the front of the new exhaust modified as it now hits the floor cause of the slight angle it had so it would fit with the old positioning. More cash haha. Also found out that the diff had no oil in it, so that might have been the noise they were hearing. Got that sorted, fingers crossed there is no damage, they had it running on the dyno but only at low speed and not for too long due to the noise. On a positive note the new thermo works beautifully, when it kicks on the temp comes down nice and quickly.

Picked it up today and took it to the exhaust shop cause we are getting a heap of rain over the weekend and I’m running short of time. Plan is to pick it up next Wednesday morning and take it to the tuner to get tuned and pick it up next Saturday.

Also have to move the trans cooler lines cause now the headers are up higher they’re a little too close. Luckily the lines I made are quite long so they only have to reroute them and shorten them a little.

my fault with the trans mount, but I’m sure the diff shop said it came already filled with oil. Would of been nice if they put a no oil sticker on it just to let me know. Oh well, the joys of cars.

the mechanic did say that the car itself was well built considering it was done at home by a bloke with minimal mechanical skills, so I’ll claim that as a win.

The journey continues….

[Heron SSVParticipant Central Coast NSW2009 Pajero Exceed 84 VK SL LS3 View build HERE Member since: May 5, 2015 Posts: 585]

Fan has been installed and the car is currently on the dyno. They’ve found a strange noise coming from the rear that they’re looking into at the moment. Fingers crossed its not something major.

[Heron SSVParticipant Central Coast NSW2009 Pajero Exceed 84 VK SL LS3 View build HERE Member since: May 5, 2015 Posts: 585]

Still no fan. I supose I’ll just wait. Weather is gonna be awesome this long weekend so I’ll float around in the pool and drink beer.

[Heron SSVParticipant Central Coast NSW2009 Pajero Exceed 84 VK SL LS3 View build HERE Member since: May 5, 2015 Posts: 585]

Mine is behind the passenger kick pad in the footwell

[Heron SSVParticipant Central Coast NSW2009 Pajero Exceed 84 VK SL LS3 View build HERE Member since: May 5, 2015 Posts: 585]

No dyno yet, its been getting a little hot while they’ve been running it and reckon the thermo fan isnt flowing enough. They’ve ordered a 16 inch Davies Craig fan and shroud to install. Have to wait until next week. The joys of cars.

[Heron SSVParticipant Central Coast NSW2009 Pajero Exceed 84 VK SL LS3 View build HERE Member since: May 5, 2015 Posts: 585]

That’s a sweet plan mate, definitely living the dream

[Heron SSVParticipant Central Coast NSW2009 Pajero Exceed 84 VK SL LS3 View build HERE Member since: May 5, 2015 Posts: 585]

That looks huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge haha

Giz a rundown of how you’re gonna sort it out…. couple of hoists, tool shop, spray booth, stripper pole, all the things a car nut needs

[Heron SSVParticipant Central Coast NSW2009 Pajero Exceed 84 VK SL LS3 View build HERE Member since: May 5, 2015 Posts: 585]

Hows the erection goin Gary 8====D

 

Being childish is hilarious

[Heron SSVParticipant Central Coast NSW2009 Pajero Exceed 84 VK SL LS3 View build HERE Member since: May 5, 2015 Posts: 585]

I wont be there but I’ll try to get them to video a dyno run if they can.

[Heron SSVParticipant Central Coast NSW2009 Pajero Exceed 84 VK SL LS3 View build HERE Member since: May 5, 2015 Posts: 585]

Thanks Gary. Found one bad spark plug lead, had a slight misfire. He swapped leads and it was still there, new spark plug and it was still there, flow tested the injector and that was fine, put a new lead on and it was sorted. The thermo activation point was set too high in the ECU, thats been changed. He’s also going to run it on the dyno for an hour or so to run in the diff gears and sort out the light load tuning. Dyno probably wont be until tomorrow.

[Heron SSVParticipant Central Coast NSW2009 Pajero Exceed 84 VK SL LS3 View build HERE Member since: May 5, 2015 Posts: 585]

Picked up the car on Saturday, sounds mint at idle, nice deep note without being too loud. Dropped it off at the mechanics to get sorted. Had a quick chat with him, he said a speed sensor is needed so the ECU knows to sort out the idle control so it doesnt stall when slowing down/stopping, he said it isnt too bad with FBW setups and will see how it goes. the overheating issue could be the thermo wired to the second thermo control output that comes on at 110, the first one comes on at 90, hopefully thats an easy one to fix.

He’ll go over it this morning and if it’s good to go it’ll be on the dyno. Fingers crossed. Feeling  a little nervous waiting actually haha

[Heron SSVParticipant Central Coast NSW2009 Pajero Exceed 84 VK SL LS3 View build HERE Member since: May 5, 2015 Posts: 585]

Exhaust is almost done, fingers crossed it’s ready for me to pickup Saturday morning and drop it off at the tuners. I’ve written myself a short list of what I want the tuner to do, have a read through and let me know if you have any suggestions:

• safety check of everything
• check all fluids
• diff is new and needs to be run in
• set up the rear upper adjustable arms to get the pinion angle right
• adjust the panhard bar cause the drivers side is closer to the guard than the other side
• wheel alignment and balance
• get dash tacho to work
• do I need a vehicle speed sensor. Got one but it isn’t installed
• check why it overheated. Check thermo setting in ECU. Might also have an air lock in it
• can I remove the rear o2 sensor wiring
• tune the fucking thing

its probably stuff they’d do anyway but I want to be clear from the start what I think needs doing based on the build so far, too many horror stories around of fuck ups by tuners.

[Heron SSVParticipant Central Coast NSW2009 Pajero Exceed 84 VK SL LS3 View build HERE Member since: May 5, 2015 Posts: 585]

All set to drop the car off this Saturday to get the exhaust built. Borrowed a car trailer for the great aussie price of one carton.

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