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

NickVR – My opinion only, but there’s next to no point getting a 2300rpm stall. That is only a few hundred RPM higher than stock. A properly built higher RPM stall is fine for the street. Even a stock 5L will benefit greatly from a 3000-3500rpm stall. Get a lock up item and have the best of both worlds.

My 4k convertor flashes to 4200rpm on full load, but with lock-up its perfectly streetable.

A 4spd with overdrive and lockup T/C is gives the opportunity to run short gears and a decent stall while maintaining freeway driveability. I know I go on about it a lot but 4.11s and 4ooorpm convertor on a T700 spins at under 2500rpm on the freeway. Food for thought.

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

The most difficult part to get right on the exhausts of IRS cars (in my opinion) is the section between the rear muffler and the main mufflers. Getting sufficient drive shaft clearance at full droop whilst maintaining ground clearance and flow is a pain…

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

My thoughts on first car mods.

Brakes, Suspension, Tyres.

Don’t worry about power mods until the above is done. You’ll get much more out of those mods while you get more experience driving than trying to make a car with poor brakes and boat-like suspension go faster. Down the line when you want more power, you have the foundation to make it useable.

• 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]

My T700 with 4.11’s and a 4000rpm lockup convertor runs below 2500rpm on the freeway.

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

I gave it a very slight overlap onto the wear surface just to get the line right, but didn’t want a gut full of paint onto the pad surface. Doesn’t seem like a great idea :p

Took 2 mins to mask each rotor anyway.

[[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

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

I’m further increasing the bogan factor. Although, I was walking back to mine last week and I heard the unmistakable sound of a buick 6 with next to no exhaust being held in first. Around the corner comes a white exec with black bumpers, on bump stops and VR Acclaim hubcaps (which I also currently have on my VQ at the moment). I remembered that this is why people don’t like these cars lol.

Anyway, yesterday I decided to start the brake conversion on a Sunday at midday; What could go wrong?

Let me tell you. 1 trip to Autobarn for Brake Cleaner. Get back home, realise I only have one bottle of brake fluid left from the VQ system flush last weekend. Back to Super Cheap for another bottle. Get back home. Can’t find my tub of High Temp Bearing Grease. Back to Supercheap but their eftpos is down. Across to Autobarn, then back home. Then remember that the VT Master Cylinder reservoir doesn’t fit under the bonnet of VN-VS cars as it mounts on an upward angle. Drive to the other side of Melbourne to the only self-serve wreckers open on a Sunday afternoon and wander around the muddy yard to find a VS V6 master cyl to pilfer the reservoir off it. 2 hour return trip later and I have everything I need to start, it’s 3.45pm and I have a mother’s day dinner to be at by 5.30pm. Doesn’t sound good right?

2 hour smash fest and I had the calipers, rotors, bearings, hubs and hoses installed. Existing fluid all drained and the old 15/16″ master/booster combo ready to unbolt from inside the cabin. A quick ‘can of degreaser’ shower for myself, off to dinner, get back and finish off removing and installing the new master/booster, re-installing the hardlines and talking nicely to the other half to get her to help me bleed the system. On the road for a test by 9.30pm. 

Pedal feel is great, and the car actually pulls up. The old pedal feel was pretty firm and average and it was always a ‘pucker’ moment if you had to pull up quickly. The old rotors were original items and NLS (big lip on them). They made their way into the bin along with everything else.

Couple of points for anyone trying this:
– Source a VS V6 reservoir before you start the job.  You will still need to drill a new retaining bolt hole on the VT Master but it’s not a big deal.
– The master to strut tower bracket will need to be modified as the new combination is longer. Not difficult, but the two strut tower stud holes will need to be re-drilled in the bracket.
– You will need the ‘bubble flare’ to double flare adaptors or risk the standard hardlines not sealing with the VT master cylinder. I sourced mine from Race Brakes Sydney, along with the VT Master to VS Booster adaptor plate.
– Learning from the mistake I made about 7 years ago when fitting this kit to my VQ, I remembered to fit the callipers with the bleed nipple to the top! 
– Consider painting the components before install – they look terrible once corroded. This includes the outer circumference of the rotor. Also, remember to bake the parts before install as it tends to last longer.

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

Small update.

Having been driving this around a bit lately, think I’ve put 2000km on it since I bought it, with a few longer trips (up to Seymour and back etc.). It eats up highway kms, just cruises along. Really enjoyed the longer drives. However, I’ve had to do two hard-ish stops in it in traffic recently and both times I wasn’t sure I was going to pull up with the standard brakes.

Enter a UPC Twin piston upgrade kit (296mm rotors, VT calipers, pads, lines, hubs, bearings) for $660 (thank you ebay auction ending on a Sunday night). I’ll also use a VS Booster/VT Master I have sitting about, with the RBS adaptor plate and hardline adaptors.

I figure while I’m there I may as well do a couple of other things, so I’ll pick up some nolathane strut tops, replace the front shocks, new bushes in the control arms and fit a new sway bar. I won’t do the K-frame bushes yet as the VN V8 K-frame I have already has nolathanes installed and I have lived through the removal of the rubber ones before. Never again.

I also have another 80L fuel tank to put in, as I love the look of the big tanks in VNs. (This car will be so bogan). Another reason for changing the tank is that the breather lines on the tank are split and need changing. Does anyone know if the fuel pump carriers are the same between 63L and 80L tanks? Hopefully I can adapt the tank in correctly as it came from one of my parts cars (VQ, so IRS).

The plan following this in the next few months will be to look at the rear suspension/diff. I already have new shocks, springs and adjustable panhard rod, however I will make up some adjustable upper control arms (stuff paying $300 a set from whiteline), brace the lower arms and install new bushes, then get my spare diff housing built with a torquelock centre and 3.45 gears to suit the eventual V8/T5 conversion. That will probably do me until the end of the year, as the VQ needs some attention in the engine department.

Hopefully by the time I put in a 304, everything else around it will be upgraded so it’s not a lead-tipped arrow.

[[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]

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.

[[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.

[[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, 7 months ago by  [TUFFVQ].

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

OK – It’s been a while. In between working interstate/overseas basically every weekday for this year and trying to maintain a marriage/social life outside of this, the Stato has been neglected. SOme progress now though as I’ve found a few days after work that I could do stuff.

Diff Build

SO I couldn’t really do much more on the rear suspension until the diff was built. Cue a phone call to Luke and MDR Diffs on a Monday resulting in an appointment ot build it on a Saturday. Champion. I decided to keep my 3.89 spool diff intact and build another RIS diff with 4.11’s and the Torquelock centre. This meant I had to pull a spare diff out of one of the donor VQ’s sitting at my old man’s place (he caught the bug and we bought on complete VQ with average paint and one good condition VQ without an engine to piece together one good one for him).

So I spent one afternoon down at his place on ramps in the dirt (not fun) but ran out of daylight as I had to remove the two bar pack, entire subframe assembly and fuel tank to get to the diff bolts. I went back a week later, spoke to the old man and we decided to take a short cut – cordless angle grinder to the rear floor made for easy access. Job done.

Next, I had to strip this diff centre down to a bare casing.

Job done.

Next, I had to strip down the 4.11 open centre VN diff I had. Once I measured that it was VN width I wasn’t worried about pulling it down. It’s not worth enough to sell as is. Plus, I want a 3.45 diff in my VN when I (eventually) go 304 T5 as 4.11 gears are too short. No photos of this but think of the above with a different housing.

Saturday rolled around and I went and saw Luke at his shop in Dandenong. We had a chat about the parts I’d brought him and it mostly centred around the Torquelock centre. Something I think I’d mentioned earlier in here is that due to the size of the Torquelock centre itself, with shorter gear sets (3.89/4.11) the top of the pinion gear may need to be ground down. By the third assembly of the diff we got this right, as we were hesitant to grind off any more than we really needed to. I don’t think this will affect the life of the diff (particularly given the very low km I do in this case) but something to keep in mind.

You can see the top of the pinion gear with the adjustment in the below photo.

Luke was really accommodating and took me through the whole build, how he R&R’s the bearings, how he sets up pinion crush, mesh pattern etc. Assuming the whole thing doesn’t explode on its first drive I do recommend him. I’ll get my VN diff built there when I eventually get to it.

Next step, I put the rear end back together. I started to clean the components but really lost interest halfway through. I’ve fully detailed the rear end a few years back but  it just gets dirty. You can’t see it on the road. Who cares.

Fast forward to me putting it all back together. I still had my issue with the fuel pump outlet fouling the diff mount. I thought long and hard about a solution.

Then I just bent it.

The Pierburg pump seems to be working well on static tests. Makes some noise unlike the factory pump but minimal. Appeared to fill the surge tank pretty quickly.

All back together. Eyeball alignment resulted in this. Victory.

I still have to bleed the brakes tonight (although finally installed my VT master to stock hardline adaptors. Previously was running a double flare pipe to a bubble flare master cyl… maybe for some years…), adjust the speedo corrector and take it for a test drive. Fingers crossed it doesn’t end in a trailing arm falling out and me spearing into a pole.

Things I didn’t do as I was sick of not driving the car for 3.5 months:
– Any improvement in the fuel system lines and fittings as planned, except for the fuel pump. That’ll come later in winter when it’s too miserable to want to drive.
– The new exhaust. I have Flowmaster 2.5″ mufflers from the states to go on with new 2.5″ piping, but also have a better set of extractors to go on as well. I’ll wait till the engine comes out to do all that.

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

I’d suggest it’s not the regulator in my case as I have a Turbosmart Billet item. Could be wrong though

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

I’d suggest the injectors also – mine sometimes does this too when hot.

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

Nice one!

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

Yeah mate, one and the same.

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

New springs, shocks and panhard rod.

 

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

Yeah I think it’s safe to say that exhaust valve is probably past its use by date 

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

Similar thing happened to me at the Melbourne All Holden day probably 5 years ago.

Except I won by default as no one else entered the category. It was like receiving the Maccas Encouragement Award at weekend footy.

Pretty dejecting – Can sympathise!

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