whistling vk

[vh-holden]

I've got a vk with a carby 202 motor in it. It has oil pressure issues at half track and is also leaking smoke out the front and back.

that's not the problem i'm posting about though!!

after i've sprayed a heap of aerostart down the carb and got it to fire up and idle, it runs for a few minutes and then develops a high pitched whistle. i've disconnected the aircon pump and the blower thing for the emissions gear, but it is still there.

i've also had a look and there is no turbo or supercharger hidden away anyway. i don't know why i checked because the 18.79s time slip should have cleared that one up!!

any suggestions on what to look at?

[VH commodore]

id say it be the inlet/exhaust manifold gasket. first check all the bolts are done up tight as they do tend to come loose. spray some WD40 or alike on the nuts and bolts first so the don't snap (can sometimes happen) with just a weber carby and fresh plug,leads,oil and such i got my 202vh down to 17.7sec only had 2 runs...now its being rebuilt wanna get into the 13's

[vh-holden]

ahhh, that makes a heap of sense!! kinda explains the exhaust smoke coming out of the engine bay as well. Two birds, one stone.

Thanks heaps!!

[VH commodore]

haa exhaust smoke should have indicated it lol, but yer they work themselves loose. just don't mega tighten them as they'd be all old and rusty and could snap the stud then your rooted. hope that's what it is

[vh-holden]

haa exhaust smoke should have indicated it lol, but yer they work themselves loose. just don't mega tighten them as they'd be all old and rusty and could snap the stud then your rooted. hope that's what it is

i couldn't tell what type of smoke it was. normally have my eyes shut or squinting when i'm leaning over it.

[VH commodore]

you fixed it yet??

[vh-holden]

nope. tomorrow morning job. got a compression tester thingy which i'm going to do first. no point pulling the carbie off to tighten some nuts if the whole engine is coming out. if compression is good, i'll rip the manifolds off and put my extractors and inlet with no emissions gear on.

[vh-holden]

done half a compression test. 155-145-150-140-140-[couldn't be stuffed cos it is too fiddly] from pistons 1-6 on the dry test. just trying to work out how to get some oil on the pistons now.

[vh-holden]

done the wet test on 2-5

dry reading, then wet

2 - 145 - 155
3 - 155 - 170
4 - 140 - 150
5 - 150 - 160
all in lb/in^2

i did the wet test by getting a length of thin tube, then sucking up a bit of oil and blowing it into the spark plug holes.

[VH commodore]

u dont have to pull the carby off to tighten the bolts, but if your putting extractors on then just do it then using a new gasket.

[vh-holden]

u dont have to pull the carby off to tighten the bolts, but if your putting extractors on then just do it then using a new gasket.

The heat shield blocks access to the middle bolts.

[vh-holden]

checked number 6 today. glad i did. 125psi dry, almost 150wet. any suggestions. can i get just one cylinder reringed?

[DANNY8]

No point doing just one piston......would be a total waste. You buy rings in a set, and the motor has to come out anyway, so why just do one? lol

[vh-holden]

someone suggested running a hotter plug in the 6th cylinder. cheaper than a rebuild and i will probably get more enjoyment out of it grenading anyway!! freebie motor for the win!


as for the whistling, i'm in the process of doing up the manifold bolts. it is hot outside (darwin) and it is fiddly so i'm losing patience. the nut halfway along was really loose, and it is a ring spanner job. the second to last one at the back took a good half a turn to get the torque wrench to click.

[BUT50]

you can still buy a descent 202 for under 500 bucks run it till it blows

[BUT50]

oh and if you cant find one under 500 bucks let me know i can always find em

[vh-holden]

have a spare one under a tarp in the front yard. and a spare block. a few people have also offered me various 6 cylinder engines!! a guy at work is trying to convince me to go with an RB30. He's put one in his torana. I like the 202 more though.

[DANNY8]

When I started building my 173, there was 3 other 202's around Adelaide for sale, which would of gone harder then mine, and cost 1/4 of wat mine cost. I don't regret building up mine tho, was a huge learning curve. And hearing it start after spending so much money on it was the best feeling ever!

But yeah, next 6 cylinder for me will definitely be an RB30. After buying an R31 and given that a thrashin, I wish I tried one earlier so I could of spent the money on an RB30 instead of the ol 173.

[vh-holden]

the whistling appears to have gone, but the smoke is still spewing out. it might be the join between the exhaust manifold and the pipes.

[NORTI]

That 173 can go to a good home............

[DANNY8]

That 173 can go to a good home............

Ummm....nah
It's funny coz I just mention to mates that I'm building up a 253 and most ask how much I want for my 173 haha.....but yeah, not for sale. It's only had about an hours running time in total since the rebuild.