VKCOMMO's VPCOMMO

[moodybluebob]

I'm so unbelievably jelly that you got an international boot lip for $40!

I've been hunting for a good 4 months and have had no luck in QLD. It sucks!

Any pics yet? I wanna see what it looks like

[VKCOMMO]

It is the deal of the century..

Once I get all the kit parts on it ill ULoad some pics, maybe get a photoshoot on it..

[VKCOMMO]

Some wonderful news.. Turns out recently (I suspect last night at work) someone has hit me whilst parking and damaged the rear bumper, and polish can't fix it.. Going to take a look at the CCTV tonight and see what I can find, and then hopefully I can get the rego of the other car and get my bar re-sprayed..

[TVR-190]

Hmm respray bar. I think theyd just write it off.

[VKCOMMO]

I ####ing hope not...

[VKCOMMO]

Time for a Dan Mega Update..

Little while ago now (thought I updated it) I changed the odometer cog as it was broken..

Pulled apart:



Gutting it (I decided to fix the sticky fuel gauge while I was there)



Fixing the dry joint (yes, that is a set of vice grips)



The little bastard (bad pic)



Finished (Didnt take any pics but I scratched the orange off the needles, so not it looks half decent with the blue LED conversion)





And now for this weekends shenanigans

It started off Friday afternoon, I went down to Mischa's house to change my inlet manifold gasket, Inlet off and instantly saw the crack in the gasket, cleaned the faces and replaced the gasket with a healthy dose of gasket goop also..



Mischa was amazed at the amount of room under there without the inlet.. I forgot to take a pic, but there was a leaf under one of the pushrods on the passengers side!!



So yeah, it was getting late and we we're meant to stay at Dan's that night and we didnt want to be there at 2 in the morning, inlet manifold went back on, Mischa tossed out my bellmouth (without telling me.. haha), started it up and started to bleed the coolant, all bled so we packed up the cars for the cruise and went off... Pulled out of the driveway and took off up the street, gave it a bootfull and a nice red light appeared on the dash saying low oil pressure.. I immediately shut it down and ditched it to the side of the road... Mischa finally noticed there was no one behind him and came back to seeing me frantically checking everything in the bay, oil level etc.. Full of oil, what could we have done, we didnt go anywhere near the oil when we were changing the gasket.. Stumped to what it was we just rolled it back to the house, transfered my stuff into the 355 and locked it up and headed for Dan's..

That night we assumed that it would just be the pressure switch shitting itself (as it had some coolant in the terminals) and decided to buy a new switch after the cruise and see whats what..

So yeah, cruised down to the meet with Dan, then jumped in Aaron's car all day, finished off by swinging by Pep's Auto Spares at St Marys for a new switch and then jumping in Mischa's car to head back down to his..

Turned up, installed the switch and fired it up, instantly I could hear the lifters ticking and shut it down, a slight bit of swearing and punching the steering wheel later I was getting back in the 355 and heading off to West Leagues for dinner with the rest of the guys.. On the way I had a thought, I couldnt remember taking those rags (see above) out of the valley, nor could Mischa (we were really rushed so it was a long shot, but that might have been it), But how could that affect anything, it wasnt holding any oil back from the sump (as the sump was full)..

Either way, Everyone had a laugh about it, had dinner, played designated driver and went back to stay at Mischa's for an "early start" (read 1PM start) on the car..

Arrived and we immediately searched for the rags..... Couldnt find them anywhere, which means it was off with the inlet manifold again...

Pulled it off and immediately saw the blue rag, DAMMIT!! Note to everyone, never rush anything!, But yeah, then I saw some orange mush





Pulled the rag out and started cleaning, up to the shops and got 5L of diesel, oil, filter and other stuffs, came back and Adam, Emma, SP and Chris were awaiting us...

Off came the balance shaft cover and pulled this out of it, it was wrapped a good 5 times around it..



Check this out, its polished the balance shaft



And the block



So now we decided the sump pickup would have to be blocked so off came the sump.. Mischa and I both decided if the sump ever needs to come out again, the engine is coming out of the car to do it..











So yeah, All the sump bolts were undone but the sump wasnt coming off, we had a hammer on it, a lever bar pivoting on the sway bar with a car jack and everything and it wasnt budging! No bolts anywhere whatsoever, we called in reinforcements called a rope tied to Mischa's V6 and my sump







ITS NOT BUDGING!!!!!!!

We ended up getting it off by having the lever bar pivoting thingy mixed in with Mischa jumping on the sump.. SUCCESS!! sump popped off and tipped some nice fabric & oil smoothie with it..

Once that was off it was the job of cleaning the ####er, the gasket goop (avaiation form-a-gasket0 had reacted with the cork for some reason (ive used it with cork before and it hasnt done this) and turned to a concoction of cement and sikaflex..

We had a ####er of a time getting it off the block, 30 mins of scraping and wire brushing and it was mostly off the block, now I turned to the pickup, pulled it off and took it inside for cleaning..

This is the source of the oil pressure problems..





By now it was about 1030PM so we were rushing (something you shouldnt do ever!), cleaned it spotless, sump back on and then engine back in its proper place.. Filled it with the needed fluids, put on the elbow and throttle body (wouldnt go on whilst the engine was up) and cranked it.. Started it up and got oil pressure!!!!!

Now it was time for cleaning, 1130PM cleaning.. car was moved to the street and I grabbed a pic of the gaskets on the ground..



It was about midnight, headed home (with a quick maccas break as I was starving), shower and bed, asleep at 2AM and up at 830AM for a HSC exam weighing 25% that I was planning on studying for on Sunday..

As of now, Im still picking bits of cork out of my hair..

So yeah, thats what happens when you leave a rag in the engine, a simple thing turned into a monster cockup..

I counted up the injuries to me, 4 spanners, 2 sockets and a ratchet to the face, 2 soakings in coolant, every knuckle grazed, about 30 drips of oil to the face, 2 squirts of degreaser and one dribble of fuel in my eyes.. FunFunFun

A massive thanks goes out to Mischa, Adam, Chris, Emma, Dan for the crane and SP (SP mainly for moral support and looking cute.. haha)


Oh, I forgot, also tonight at work I grabbed the 8 hours of footage of where my car was parked so Ill trawl through that, hopefully ill get a rego number..

[HoldenManDan]

and without whos engine crane you'd have been massively screwed? ........

[some_guy]

Its frustrating when something simple turns complicated.

Good to see you sorted it out though. Nice write up btw.

[VKCOMMO]

and without whos engine crane you'd have been massively screwed? ........

I could have towed it home and used my crane.. haha.. I included you in the post anyway

Its frustrating when something simple turns complicated.

Good to see you sorted it out though. Nice write up btw.

Yeah, It sucks.. Such a simple cockup turns into a massive job

thanks

[ari666]

Arrived and we immediately searched for the rags..... Couldnt find them anywhere, which means it was off with the inlet manifold again..

i have done the exact same thing before. luckily i realised my error before i started the engine. but yeah manifold off sucks arse.

[VKCOMMO]

i have done the exact same thing before. luckily i realised my error before i started the engine. but yeah manifold off sucks arse.

I wish we did. Next time I work on my car ill be double checking anything..

Here is us trying and failing to pull off the sump (please note every bolt was out, it was just the gasket and the goop holding it

[Jonno]

loooooool

sucks bro

glad its all fixed now

[mischa]

and without whos engine crane you'd have been massively screwed? ........

It cant be yours, its never at your house?

[Torquative]

yeh Dan, even Ive had it once at my place and Ive never lifted an engine???

[VrWagz1]

Im just genuinley impressed that you took that much time and effort on that write up, well done

[D3CID3R]

there some sexy hands.....

was glad to help

[Pub247]

Sorry but i had to do it :P

Remember this thread?

Symptoms of blown intake gasket?

Yes he did maybe you should read it again or not do it yourself if you cant follow those basic instructions

Truer words could not have been spoken.

In all seriousness glad it worked out ok in the end but you gave a very good laugh i'll be sure to show this to my friends :P

[VKCOMMO]

Pubber.. Nowhere in there it said to take the rags out of the engine after!! haha..

Thats all you can do with it really, laugh about it and not do it again.. :L

[VKCOMMO]

Went for a pink slip today...... Failed

He only pinged me for the real safety item though, camber wear on front right tyre (thanks to HoldenManDan.. haha) which equated to part of the tyre having under 1.5mm of tread on it, horn not operational and ignition key can be removed from barrel when vehicle on..

[HoldenManDan]

Went for a pink slip today...... Failed

He only pinged me for the real safety item though, camber wear on front right tyre (thanks to HoldenManDan.. haha) which equated to part of the tyre having under 1.5mm of tread on it, horn not operational and ignition key can be removed from barrel when vehicle on..

As if thats my fault? They were in the same condition you got them in as when i got them! More your fault for not fitting a roadworthy set of tyres... after all you do have more than one set!

[VKCOMMO]

I have millions of sets of tyres.. But thats beside the point

haha..

Coming to the weekly Mischa-Gearbox-Out tomorrow Dan?

[nathanVY]

Wow, what an absolute prick of a job!!!!

You deserve many beers for simply completing it successfully.

[HamaTime™]

Vprangmobile

[Pub247]

Wow, what an absolute prick of a job!!!!

You deserve many beers for simply completing it successfully.

Completing what successfully? if you asked me he failed

[VKCOMMO]

Wow, what an absolute prick of a job!!!!

You deserve many beers for simply completing it successfully.

Thanks mate

Completing what successfully? if you asked me he failed

It was completed after a while.. haha


A couple of updates also while im here.. Picked up some VR Statesman seats & cigarette lighter type glovebox lid, seats have been fitted and are hella comfy, Lid will be one day when im bored... Also got (for the golden price of $40 like most bargains on this car, so far ive gotten an international lip for $40, genuine Holden chrome (the metal type) interceptor center caps for $40) a set of 4 metal VR Statesman door handles.. Currently they're at the painters getting repainted (might as well do them while they're off) and im in the process of organising something else for them ... While they're out, the plan is to change the boot, doors and ignition locks so I only have the keys (I only ever got 1 key with the car)...

Forgot to mention also, when the old seats were out and I was cleaning the car, I found quite a few bits of glass on the ground between the seat rails and the trans tunnel, which goes along side the drivers lock that someone has taken a screwdriver to, which means someone has really wanted something out of this car before I got it.. :L