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Jun 24, 2012 17:51:28 GMT
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Small weekend update: Remember how a fortnight ago one of my rear outer CV joints decided to unbolt itself from the hub?? Isolated incident?? Nope Since repairing the exhaust manifold to turbo gasket i've had 3 separate insidents of nuts and bolts working their way loose. First off my shifter has been getting slowly more sloppy to get into gear, this was so gradual I hadn't really noticed till 3/4 days ago. I got under the car and found that one of the two bolt that connect the shifter plate to the gearbox was missing and the other was on the verge of falling off too!!! Half a litre of locktite thread compound later and all is well. Second issue was the wipers! After a nice Chinese meal with a friend in Didcot (25 min drive from my house) I proceeded to go home at 1am, 5 minutes into the journey the wipers simply stopped in their park position and wouldn't move. Fuse ok, motor ok (can hear it running). Driving in the curse word rain at night isn't fun without wipers!! Today a close inspection showed the nut that screws onto the motor spindle had come loose..... after 21 years of being UNTOUCHED it suddenly decides to come off. Anyways more locktite and its all fixed, but I decided to modify the O/S wiper linkage arm. Back when I first got the car one of my first mods was to move the wipers down one notch so they hide under the bonnet for that clean look: Ahhh memories! Anyways the downside to such modification is the O/S wiper stops about 5 inches from the end of the screen was can be annoying. To cure this issue I shortened the wiper linkage section that's responsible for the O/S wiper's travel, it took 30 minutes of tweaking but it's perfect now!! The third bolt loosening issue was once again the turbo manifold!! It started leaking very slightly yesterday so I thought I had best take a look. The front two was a little bit looser than before but nothing major... one of the rears was still super tight but the one rear one was missing!!!!! Considering how tight I did them and used a lot of locktite I was not impressed!!! On a brighter note I have been invited to the retro show next sunday at Santa pod!!! Feel free to come say hi
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Vauxhall Nova Estate Vauxhall Carlton V8
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Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,715
Club RR Member Number: 34
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Jun 24, 2012 17:58:35 GMT
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locktite wont work on things that get hot, like exhaust stuff, or unless both sides of the thread are spotlessly clean and degreased (like CV bolts that are likely to get grease in their threads when being fitted due to what they're being used for) you need to look at mechanical locking methods for them, like some pinch nuts for the exhaust manifold nuts, spring/star/teethed washers for the CV bolts, or even lockwiring them. i like this thread though, always a good read and a damn cool looking car as well
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Jun 24, 2012 18:01:55 GMT
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Cheers for the advise, I know vibration has played a big part in this. The engine under boost produces a lot of it
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Vauxhall Nova Estate Vauxhall Carlton V8
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Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,715
Club RR Member Number: 34
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Jun 24, 2012 18:06:20 GMT
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yeah, i expect if youre making that kind of power its going to shake a few bits loose! with the turbo id expect its a mix of vibration and heat loosening them. from my experience of caltons/sennys, you might be best looking at your prop setup if its shaking CVs loose, the rubber mounted centre bearings on em arent the best and you can get a good bit of vibration in the driveline if driving them hard.
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Jun 24, 2012 18:07:35 GMT
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Yeah I can imagine the torque placed on the prop is making is try and twist out of shape at the centre bearing. It's a new rubber though.
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Vauxhall Nova Estate Vauxhall Carlton V8
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Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,715
Club RR Member Number: 34
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Jun 24, 2012 18:12:01 GMT
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yeah thats exactly it, it makes it move in an oval as it deforms the rubber. my old bagged senator was a curse word for it.
youve gotta remember youre putting what, nearly twice the original power through it now as well!
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Update: The estate has been serving me very well, I fitted a stud and aerolock kit to replace the bolts holding the turbo on. Since fitting there has been no issue at all!! Its been a month now. There are plenty of plans in the pipeline, the first is the replacement forged engine. After some research the Z20LET block is open deck which offers up a weak point, there isn't an easy or elegant solution to strengthening this. However the Z20LET block is based on it's predecessor the C20LET block, which is a closed deck design and much stronger. After some mix and matching I found that the C20LET will mate to the Z20LET cylinder head with a mix of other parts from both engines. The other major upgrade is in and around the rear subframe/drive assembly. The rear assembly lets down the rest of the car for handling potential, so most of it needs modding. First off the rear diff is being replaced with the 6.0 Monaro VXR unit, it offers a slightly wider final drive ratio (which the car needs) and a cone-type plate LSD which is pretty violent. The monaro diff is almost fully bolt-on to the Carlton, the only downside is the half shafts are 35mm too long. I've been trying to months to find a manufacturer that will produce some shorter shafts that will take the punishment but unless I've got £400+ then it's a no go. The only other option is to increase the track width, here is the new subframe with monaro diff bolted up: The monaro outer CV bolted up, notice the gap in the suspension arm: Once I source some suitable steel to weld into the gap I will reduce the rear camber a bit too This subframe comes with poly main donut bushes and spacers, these make a big difference once you get over 200bhp: The other major upgrade at the rear is the replacement of the seperate shock/spring combo with coilovers, the new arms are off a saloon model to facilitate the use of coilovers and because the track is wider I won't have to cut much into the inner suspension tubs to attach the coilovers to the body - being an estate I don't want to loose room in the boot!! The next saturday will see the rear assembly welded up, cleaned and painted. Then sunday I will fit it all the car.
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Vauxhall Nova Estate Vauxhall Carlton V8
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sphinx
Part of things
Posts: 219
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Cracking build! Got to love a carlton!
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I love any RWD Vauxhall me, they do some crackers.... mainly because all the carltons and omegas are just Holdens... and we all know that the aussies build good RWD motors Update: If anyone wants to see this car it will be in the retro parking @ the gathering on sunday.
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Vauxhall Nova Estate Vauxhall Carlton V8
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Aug 27, 2012 21:42:44 GMT
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Update: More toys, 3.2 Omega vented 42mm calipers and drilled vented discs. I've ordered some yellowstuff pads for them too. Subframe and one arm all painted up: I assembled the rear coilovers with some 280lb springs, even though the car is a 50/50 weight distribution the lever point on the rear arms means a lower poundage is needed than the front: They are set up in the picture for maximum lowering, the idea is to install the assembly and simulate a huge suspension drop so I can get the top mount at the correct height inside the inner tub. The fancy thing about these J-based coilovers is they are dual-perch which means you set up the shocker level with the spring (upper) perch so it's fully optimised, then to set ride height you simply unbolt the bottom bracket perch and wind it up or down the threaded body. These coilovers also have adjustable dampening I had a dig through my boxes of coilovers (I have a few boxes of old coilovers, mostly broken) and found I had two rear J-spec starlet coilovers with shorter bottom brackets, with them fitted I gained about 1 1/2inches shorter overall length and another 1 1/2 space on the threaded body (so I can add a tender secondary spring without sacrificing height). The shorter the body the lower I can run the top mount inside the inner tub: Subframe, O/S arm, diff and O/S half shaft: I also got started on some replacement flush mount boot luggage brackets, a friend suggested them and they are pretty funky. 4mm thick steel plate surrounds the brackets so the floor can withstand a large load..... like for example the 4.0 Mantzel engine I am picking up this saturday
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Vauxhall Nova Estate Vauxhall Carlton V8
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Sept 18, 2012 19:02:58 GMT
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20/08/2012 Update: I took the old girl to Southend seafront to attend a cruise, the idea was to bring some memories of when I used to come to the seafront nearly every saturday night back in the good old days when fuel was half the price it is now. The night was just as I remember, on the way home I decided to drive around with some nice J drift cars (a skyline and two 200SX's), we reach speeds of up to 70MPH!!! I am happy to report the 20 year old family estate car was able to fend off 3 purpose built high end tuned sports cars Cheesy After the spirited drive the engine developed a noise, sounded like a supercharger had been bolted to the engine. As usual no sod knew what it was (unless you ask a simple common question no one will know), so I checked for crank walk and then replaced the cambelt, idlers, tensioner, water pump and even the oil pump to no avail. The noise was definitely from the crank area and knowing that the noise a supercharger makes comes from the meshing of it's gears I could only think of the balancing shafts. It took a whole day to remove the block girdle/brace and press the shafts out of it. However the noise has gone and so has a lot of vibration I was getting an idle (shafts must have been out of sync). As far as the rear end upgrade goes, the diff and shafts have been painted. The O/S arm has been fully widened, braced and painted too. 03/09/2012 Large update: Thursday and Friday I had off work to install the new rear assembly.... loadsa time.. right?? Well no. After a little more painting I removed the old rear assembly, was a good job too as both inner cv rubbers had split. Old Vs new: With no assembly fitted I did an inspection, found a little surface rust, wire bushed and waxoiled it. I then installed the beam and... well started playing: lower damn you! Getting there! Oh YESH! Ok the CV's might complain: It won't run that low, but I needed to simulate the lowest it CAN run so I can get the coilover top mount in the correct place. At this point it's like 6pm and I want to go home to bed... wait a sec... I have no car. So I carry on, I have cookies and drink! The turrets become a nightmare, the amount of strain they will be under means they need to be meaty. I got my 4mm thick plate steel to make the strut tops, but without a 50mm hole cutter I had to use a drill and some 5mm drill bits to drill loads of little holes in a circle and then hammer the centre out and then use a porting burr to smooth it all. Start to finish to produce ONE top plate took a full hour!! The rest of the plate is 1.8mm thick and took a fair amount of persuasion to bend into shape, the inner tubs were then cut and the plates welded into place, it took a lot of dicking around and putting out the constant fires but by 7AM THE NEXT MORNING I had a working car. After 3 hours sleep I then drive to see Chris and Neil to pick up my new 4.0 Mantzel engine and Getreg 265 box, adding around 150kgs of weight to my new design was indeed the ultimate test... and didn't she do well! After a few days now the LSD is perfect, however I didn't factor in something that is causing a headache at the moment. The coilovers bolt to the factory shocker point.. which is past the hub and pivot point. This causes an amplification of the spring rate by x1.25. So for example a 200lb/inch spring becomes a 250lb spring, a 280lb spring (like the ones fitted at the moment) become a 350lb spring (which is a very VERY hard spring for the rear). It's horrid driving the thing, you drive over a twig and the back end is bumping and crashing about I've ordered some 175lb springs (218.75lb) which will be here before the weekend, I just have to survive until then!!
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Last Edit: Sept 18, 2012 19:33:18 GMT by Johnny A
Vauxhall Nova Estate Vauxhall Carlton V8
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xjlee
Part of things
Posts: 294
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Sept 18, 2012 19:15:57 GMT
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This is one of my favorite builds on here i love the work, whats happened to the lotus rep or did i miss something? Top work btw
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Sept 18, 2012 19:23:42 GMT
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Update: On the 8th I fitted my 175lb springs, which made NO difference. After chatting to a knowledgeable person on tinternet we both concluded that the shockers are to blame. The rear coilovers are based on an aftermarket japanese dual-perch design which seems pretty industry standard. The threaded body seems the same over many makes and the springs and bottom perches are changed to suit the intended car. This worked in my favor, I had been donated about 6/7 old dual perch coilovers off various cars that my friend used to break. I had a good look through and found a pair of front coilovers off a Toyota starlet that were branded 'G-force'! With them stripped down to their threaded bodies I then removed the ones off the carlton (branded as 'K-sport') and stripped them down. Comparing the two the G-force units had 1 inch more travel and more importantly were almost 50% softer dampening than the K-sports!! I cleaned, greased and reassembled the carltons rear coilovers with the G-force dampeners in place and after driving only a few feet I was smiling!!! On the sunday I changed the gearbox and engine oil with the help of my red bull fueled friend: A quick shot of the 4.0 engine:
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Last Edit: Sept 18, 2012 19:26:37 GMT by Johnny A
Vauxhall Nova Estate Vauxhall Carlton V8
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Sept 18, 2012 19:24:55 GMT
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This is one of my favorite builds on here I love the work, whats happened to the lotus rep or did I miss something? Top work btw Thank you! The Lotus has been on storage in the unit, sometimes you can catch a glimpse of it in some of the pictures. The plan is to restore it to working condition over the winter using the 4.0 engine I've just picked up!
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Vauxhall Nova Estate Vauxhall Carlton V8
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pork
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,661
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Sept 18, 2012 19:33:11 GMT
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I jeffing love this thing! I want it
Sent from my iPad using ProBoards app
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Sept 18, 2012 19:56:11 GMT
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Great work dude
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Sept 18, 2012 23:03:27 GMT
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I took the old girl to Southend seafront to attend a cruise, the idea was to bring some memories of when I used to come to the seafront nearly every saturday night they were good times, was trying to coax stu (S1 rs turbo) to do the same last saturday (me in gte) yeah fuel is much dearer nowadays, but atleast you don't need the macdonalds trays under the back wheels anymore ;D ;D
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Last Edit: Sept 18, 2012 23:04:12 GMT by darrenh
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Sept 19, 2012 8:20:44 GMT
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excellent lowness!
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Sept 19, 2012 14:25:46 GMT
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Love this old beastie!
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Sept 19, 2012 21:00:36 GMT
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Haha, awesome mate. Loving the paint
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