Sam's VN Lexxxcen LS1 T56

[savage1987]

There's actually a fair bit of space around the heads in this - more than you'd think! Remember the 5.0 designed to shoehorn into these bays had the exhaust port face at almost a 45degree angle, so the headers pop out on a downwards angle, which actually made those engines a lot wider in this bay than the LS1, whose chamfered heads (with almost vertical exhaust port face) are a very friendly feature for engine swaps

Glad the thread helped you out

The diff and wiring should be done in this in the very early new year, so hopefully I can get it back on the road and get on with the unfortunate job of selling my 5 litre

[savage1987]

Small progress

[savage1987]

we (well I didn't help much so mostly Brad) have almost finished up the driver's headlight. The loom for that incorporates the thermo fan wiring as well, so it's a bit of a fatter one. I have started re-routing a few wires through the guard from the driver's footwell; not many have to go through there at all which is nice. While I was there I put the bonnet cable through the same sheetmetal so that will be hidden under the guard as well, although the way I am running it will mean it needs extended a little.


Haven't attacked the fuses/relays or the main power wiring yet, but we're getting there.


Also yet to mount the battery box and figure out exactly where everything is going to end up in the boot area.

[SENNY]

Looks great Sam. Loving it

[savage1987]

still working on this area, too busy:


Still need to cut dust cap to cover up the HID light and allow its associated cables to come out, ala passenger side


Starting to take shape:


Jets!!!!!!!!!! :S with terrifying wire spaghetti!!!

[mischa]

Awsome job with the wiring! Where are you going to move the fuses and relays to?

[savage1987]

The driver's kick panel, as per KAL SPL's thread over on SC forum

Should be neat enough

[mischa]

Hmmm thats good, I will have to do my wiring now that the airbox is gone theres nothing in my bay but wiring!

[savage1987]

I decided today I was going to get something done on this car, so I did. I picked something easy and simple - the battery box (lol) - and it took me most of the day to do because I'm pretty fussy with random things and didn't exactly have everything I needed.

I started by deciding where I wanted it and immediately hit a hiccup..
• View topic - Moroso's MO74051 battery box
One of the mount points was right on top of a chassis rail (the one the fuel tank strap is bolted to).








Scavenging for some spare metal to make into a bracket led me to a spare VN ECU in a box in the corner. I took the memcal cover off and used that to make a bracket to fix both the chassis rail problem and the height difference between the mounting points.










I decided four tech screws would be plenty to hold it to the floor pan, thinking about the forces that'd be applied under accel/braking and considering the solid mount on the opposing side I was happy with that. I triple checked the position and mounted the bracket to the floor.














A quick test positioning..








Drilled the hole in the bracket for the mounting stud








I realised one of the supplied mounting rods would require shortening because of the setup of my little bracket so I got onto that with a hacksaw.








I figured it'd be easiest to drill the holes in the box (positive, ground and vent tube) before it was mounted to the car so a bit of guesswork followed and I drilled three 7/8" holes to suit the same grommets I've been using to cable through panels in the wiring relocation (the Moroso-supplied grommets weren't big enough to comfortably get 0AWG through). I drilled a fourth hole in the boot floor for the vent tube outlet at the same time.








The little bit of rust-coloured stuff was annoying me to look at, so I popped the grommets out and sprayed the local area with grey primer just for my own peace of mind.








Final fitment of the box was actually quite an annoyingly fiddly process, and God help me the next time I need to get the battery out of the car - those mount studs actually do not mount solidly enough not to turn, so the nylock nuts that fasten the battery down actually just turn the studs when you try to undo them. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. I'll probably get the nuts under the car welded in place, and the studs welded into those.










I wasn't happy with how the battery was free to slide forward and back even with the hold-down bracket firmly in place, so I found a very conveniently sized piece of wood to chock it back with.








Unfortunately not enough thought went into cutting the carpet and a patch of floor is visible but it's not the end of the world.








I'm pretty happy with the way it looks in the boot so far - I sat the lid on loosely to get a better idea of the final finish.








Battery box aside, here's a few pics of the front end just for an idea of where it's currently at.

[savage1987]

Put in another hour or two on this tonight, didn't get that much done but here's a couple of pics anyway:


I wasn't happy running the wire through the big obvious hole in the rear firewall so I gave it its own grommet







This is how I plan on securing the power cable along the sill. If the room is there I'll wrap it in convoluted tube between mounting points to reduce rubbing on the cable insulation over time/kms.








I used my last two 22mm grommets on the vent tube - I can't do much more around this box until I get more. Turned out neat enough I guess.

[sweefu]

Good work mate. I should do something better like this for my track car. What size cable did you run?

[savage1987]

Good work mate. I should do something better like this for my track car. What size cable did you run?

0AWG - the big stuff
Now I just need a 0 -- 4 - 4 -- 0 distribution block / power bar / whatever you want to call it so I can tee wires off for some amplifying duties later





Diff is finally in at a shop - the housing is acid bathed, I'm picking it up empty tomorrow to take it in for powdercoating and I'll get my new nolathane bushes pressed into it while it's out and about. Progress!! Just in time to go away with work again next week so this will all stall again

[savage1987]

Going to have to get some better photos, and needs a bit of tidying up (and a belly full of oil) but it's a step closer to fitment!!
http://i534.photobucket.com/albums/e...0VN/photo4.jpg
http://i534.photobucket.com/albums/e...0VN/photo1.jpg


A smashed off stub in the minispool that came out
http://i534.photobucket.com/albums/e...0VN/photo2.jpg


A bit of a twist in the non-snapped axle's spline (which you can actually barely see in this photo)
http://i534.photobucket.com/albums/e...0VN/photo3.jpg





So I have a little painting and attention to detail to go on with before she goes back in, and I'm going to ask Harrop what grade of oil they recommend then buy the best I can find (within reason), after all you only have to fill it once if all goes to plan

I have next week off work so I'm really hoping I can get it running again.

[mischa]

Looking good, wiring is a insperation. Battery box is in the same spot I want mine to Got any photos of how the new positive cable is run to the fuse's?

Really interested to see how you go with this diff, ill have to make the decision sooner or later to upgrade the holden LSD.

[SENNY]

Mounted my battery box up today still need to do some fiddling because I'm fussy. Also put a vent tube in but pretty much done

[savage1987]

mischa, no photos because it isn't run yet



Today's progress:

Tape-and-spray job on the diff cover. Primer then gloss black. Came up OK I think!
Filled the diff with some Castrol GTX 90 mineral oil for its 300km gentle run-in.
Fitted new handbrake shoes, adjusted with a bit of guesswork.
Watched some plans I drew up for a mate's sub box coming to fruition making a mess all over my shed and now there's dicks drawn on the windscreen and back window of my 5.0L in the sawdust..... this is why we can't have nice things









Mate took a couple of photos of me struggling to fit my new handbrake shoes. These things are more of a bastard to change than I had ever imagined. If there is a trick to it, I do not know it.
http://i534.photobucket.com/albums/e...N/SAM_1929.jpg
http://i534.photobucket.com/albums/e...N/SAM_1930.jpg

[savage1987]

I put in some work on the battery box today, been hurting my brain as to how to wire that end up for a while now so I decided it was time to tick it off the list.

I'm going to cut the screws off short but I don't have the right tool for the job at the moment so that's been put on hold.














Unfortunately the battery terminal popped right off the end of the cable as soon as I was done taking photos, so I'm going to need to find a way to make sure that doesn't happen! Any tricks/tips welcome, I really thought it'd have been in there tight enough but the sharp bend in the cable just put too much strain on it and it wiggled itself out when I moved it.


Here's a pic of where my isolator switch is going to end up that just isn't cool enough to go on display in the thread so it gets a link: http://i534.photobucket.com/albums/e...N/SAM_1952.jpg



And here's a couple of pics of everything from last night all said and done.















Also spent an hour or so this morning hating on old cars while adjusting my handbrake cable to correct spec. While this was happening I made the horrible realisation that the tailshaft bolts I painstakingly installed last night have to come out again because I still have to swap clutches

Feels like I'm getting somewhere finally! Long way to go on the wiring yet, though.

[savage1987]

Little bits of progess, got a negative battery terminal that should let me finish that area off. Also earthed a cable for the battery so the boot is pretty well taken care of.

Got a stud through the passenger side of the trans tunnel hump that gives a nice short run to the starter motor under the car, and a grommet next to that for some 4GA to the alternator.

Test fitted the sill panel and it doesn't fit. Need to clearance it around each tech screw I used to hold the 0GA in place.

Couple of other bits and pieces but that's the main stuff.

[drift-it]

VN HOLDEN 2011 VIDEOS AT TOWNSVILLE DRAGWAY - YouTube
if you haven't already seen it?

[Not_An_Abba_Fan]

To do the hand brake shoes, fit the spring to the shoes first, then fit them up into position, then hook the cable and expander mechanism in.

I would solder the cable into the battery clamp. Might make a mess of the pretty anodising though.

[savage1987]

VN HOLDEN 2011 VIDEOS AT TOWNSVILLE DRAGWAY - YouTube
if you haven't already seen it?

Had not seen it !!! Thanks! Was that your video skills or some other secret admirer

To do the hand brake shoes, fit the spring to the shoes first, then fit them up into position, then hook the cable and expander mechanism in.

I would solder the cable into the battery clamp. Might make a mess of the pretty anodising though.

Thanks Bjorn, I don't have anything heavy-duty enough to solder 0AWG .. I'm going to have to just think outside the box for now I think. Thanks for the tip!

[Not_An_Abba_Fan]

Go to Bunnings and buy one of those small butane torch things, about $25 or so. Put a heap of flux core solder in the terminal and heat it up until it melts, then just put the lead in and wait for it to set. Thats how I do Anderson plugs.

[wrx884]

probably would b a waste after u already bought it but have u considered a different battery terminal? those that use grub screws i found dont give u the best connections specially after ur working with thicker cable.

somthing like this XScorpion Digital Red Positive Battery Terminal DBT24RG | eBay

or

ive got these which work great in the VP Positive Battery Terminal

least u can use a ring terminal on the larger cable and then bolt it down 4 a better fit.

[drift-it]

nah tommcat filmed it. he's the one that films everything at the drags.

[savage1987]

Well a fair bit of progress was made last night.

Got to a wrecker during the day and picked up a VX bonnet cable and a few spare main fuses.

It was actually surprisingly easy to route the bonnet cable around the outside of the guard and inside the top radiator support panel (or whatever it's called) so it's all neatly hidden. Cable was the perfect length for it; the only problem I had was the little cable crush-clamp's screw stripped its thread, so I threw a bolt/washer/nylock in to take care of that.

http://i534.photobucket.com/albums/e...N/SAM_1963.jpg
http://i534.photobucket.com/albums/e...N/SAM_1965.jpg


Brad was working steadily away on the driver's footwell area - I pretty much left most of that to him because he's much better at soldering than I am .. and he's done a pretty damn good job of tidying everything up into manageable bundles.







With the starter / alternator wiring I started by choosing the best possible path (as much clearance to the exhaust header as I could manage), placed a grommet and a power stud through the floor from the cabin, adjusted the cabling to length through the grommet, attached terminals and wired everything up before test fitting the alternator and finalising the setup. Once I was happy with how it was running I did as nice a job as I could manage with convoluted tubing and eletrical tape in an awkward-to-get-at spot. I'll probably need to revisit this harness later on with some heat-proof insulation but I'll see how it goes. I think there's about 50mm from the header at any given point.






















It's also worth mentioning that on the advice of the bloke who built my engine harness for the conversion I routed the battery sense (white) wire from the alternator plug straight to the positive post on the alternator. Is there a reason they don't do that from factory? Or is that the difference between a 1- and 2-wire alternator? I have no idea but it seems to be charging fine anyway.



Oh, funny story. I did one of those amazing things I seem to have such a habit of doing, no matter how careful I think I'm being. Choosing the spot for the power stud, I drilled a 2.5mm hole first to make sure I was in the right spot. Sliding under the car I decided to move it about an inch to a better location. I drilled another 2.5mm hole and decided I was happy with that, sliding back under the car to confirm of course. I got the holesaw ready, thought about what I was doing to make sure I wasn't cutting the wrong hole, then proceeded to cut the wrong hole. Damn. Anyway it turned out fine, just not the ideal spot I'd have liked to use.

A few more hours connecting things and stuffing around with less-than-ideal battery terminals saw everything ready for testing. We checked over everything we could think of, hooked up the battery and flicked the isolator on - lights came on and nothing shorted out .. turned the key to 'on', the immobiliser disarmed nicely and we had a healthy 4bar fuel pressure. The battery barely had enough left in it to turn the motor over but it got there.

At the end of the night's work we had achieved startup - on the first attempt. It wouldn't idle very happily but I'm putting that down to what is probably 6 month old fuel. There's still a lot to get done before it's ready to drive anywhere but it's a damn good start! Now I can get on with tucking all the wiring away and getting the body back together. Here's a little video for anyone interested ..

LS1 VN - startup after wiring work - YouTube