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Dave's new nugget... VT II Calais L67

dr364

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Meanwhile, over the long weekend I took the opportunity to install the lowered springs, shocks and strut brace that I'd had in the old daily. I also ordered a thicker Superpro rear swaybar for $200 a week earlier and installed that too.

Popped my old Supers on once I was done! :D car looks completely different now!

Also replaced the fuel filter while I was under the back

Progress pics

Diff lowered to get the old swaybar out (with new fuel filter in foreground)
1UG58XA.jpg


New swaybar in ready to be bolted to the swaybar links, and diff mounted back in place
SMaLHpD.jpg


New rear springs and shocks installed
TJBbaQU.jpg


Strut brace installed
YQONLTP.jpg


All done :)
PuA9dK7.jpg
 
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dr364

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Soooo this happened on the weekend... TTT Performance 85mm pulley... It has a bit more get up and go now!

t6DEsOF.jpg
 
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dr364

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Extremely belated updates... Have been doing plenty of jobs on the car, feels like I spend most weekends on it.

So this is what I've been up to the last six months:

Got a VX Berlina garnish and tail lights from the wreckers. Had to do a bit of rewiring, which involved running some longer wires to tap in for the reverse lights. Pretty straight forward job. For less than $100 it really does make a huge difference to the look of the car.

4Dpqd2l.jpg

DSC_0594_zpsy4lk7qdw_edit_1494588731276_zpsljt6qdid.jpg
 
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dr364

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I then spent a few weekends slaving away on those wheels that I bought with the intention of using them for racing. I probably spent a whole day just filling and sanding. I then laid down a few light coats of primer.

One of the rims before starting:

1ltNyCt.jpg


After sanding/grinding the gashes and filling:

97XigGo.jpg


ItCbDu1.jpg


Priming:

ofgXJSU.jpg


UAeW1Xi.jpg


Top/clear coats and the final result:

dYEMXlf.jpg


IOVR6Ry.jpg


BafOAin.jpg


Happy with the result, while not perfect it was mainly intended as a learning exercise. Still need a good light sand with 1500+ grit sandpaper to get rid of the orange peel but for the application as cheap rims for drags or circuit racing, they'll do the job perfectly.
 
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dr364

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Continuing the theme of building this up as a weekend racer along with it being a fun daily, I picked up a Whiteline 30mm front swaybar second hand for $110 early this year. Hope to fit it fairly soon.

CF37lkW.jpg
 
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dr364

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Well last month I had a few weeks off work, which I'd planned to tackle some larger, more involved tasks on the car. Didn't get half of what I wanted done. But what I did do was complete most of the interior work, which involved:
- Replacing the carpet (which was torn and water damaged from a door seal leak, now fixed)
- Laying sound deadening to the floorpan
- Wiring front dash cam and rear reversing camera
- Wiring gauges (oil temp, oil pressure, volts) for later connection
- Wiring boost gauge
- Relocating ciggie lighter socket and wiring USB charger panel into centre console
- Wiring amps; RCAs, power and remote trigger
- Laying new speaker wiring
- Fuse box for all new accessories

Deconstruction:
KcYLt1G.jpg

55hU351.jpg


Hard wiring the front dash cam; soldering new wires from the 12v ciggie lighter socket:
UFP2oG8.jpg

NI22clM.jpg


Wiring loom I made up for the new gauges and accessories:
fZ0JQ8x.jpg


I also replaced the standard orange needles on the cluster with the later model silver ones:
RSnYvSW.jpg


Progress continued, laying sound deadening:
MD0Pt1f.jpg


New carpet in:
xNiKs4o.jpg

vQzHpyG.jpg


SS pedals in, picked up at the wreckers for a paltry $10:
E6POXfb.jpg


Test fitting with Statesman facia (to be put in later), also wired up the analog clock:
NT3uwD2.jpg

vcoR3Fk.jpg


Boost gauge installed:
o1kWBsM.jpg


Temporary end result:
SsxXNla.jpg


Note the VZ shifter and handbrake. I had to replace the whole handbrake lever with a VY item to get the handbrake cover to fit. Still got some more modifying to do with the shifter to make it a bit more stable and secure.
 
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dr364

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A couple of weeks ago I installed the amps amd sub. I used the mounting panel out of my old VT, but I still needed to find somewhere to mount my third amp. I cut up some MDF and bolted it onto a steel panel behind the carpet that was previously used for bolting the OEM amp.

NES6pJv.jpg

4xhKG3A.jpg

sbjNmyY.jpg


As it is a daily I wanted a set-up that was as non intrusive as possible to allow for the possibility of using the boot to carry stuff.

Sound deadening for the bootlid too:
Af80aYX.jpg
 
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dr364

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OK, so very belated updates (again) since I've now been bothered to save all my photos from Pissbucket...

About six weeks ago, coming home from work the car suddenly starts shaking terribly on acceleration and marked loss of power. Luckily I was only a couple of hundred metres from home, so was able to limp the car back into the garage.
Did a bit of research on these forums and others that led me to believe that it was probably spark related, probably the DFI module. I knew the DFI had been replaced a few years earlier under the previous owner, anyway I started with the spark plugs and leads and this is what I found....

xJtSQde.jpg


The plug on no. 6 cylinder was pretty black, suggesting it was running rich. That was the odd one out, the other 5 plugs were not too bad; they all looked pretty much like this:

SGxUzBZ.jpg


Tested the lead resistance with a multimeter and they all seemed fine too. Luckily I had a full set of brand new spark plugs on hand, as I'd wanted to get around to changing them. They'd not been done in the year I've owned it and I don't know if they'd ever been done by the previous owner (wouldn't put it past him because the car hadn't been maintained that well).

So I put them in and whaddaya know, problem solved!!

As for the cause, I'm not sure. But when the car threw a CEL one day afterwards, i finally was in a position to get my scan tol on it and the code thrown was Left O2 Sensor Detecting Lean. Since the no. 6 cylinder is on that side, I'm theorising that the sensor is faulty, then since the computer incorrectly thinks that bank is lean, it could be putting more fuel in in fact causing it to run rich...
In fact the car has thrown the CEL on long trips ever since I have owned it but always went away after the car was turned off or idling for a while, now I know why.

Purchased a pair of new O2 sensors to go in but willneed to take it to a mechanic as I cant't get underneath enough to get leverage on the sensors to get them out.
 
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dr364

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Also a couple of weeks back I got around to changing my battery for an Optima D34.
I managed to get one for a steal at Repco when they had a 35% off voucher ($245!!!) and the original battery drained in the week I'd spent doing all the re-wiring for the stereo, so it seemed prudent to replace it with a decent battery, and one that could now handle all the stereo gear.

I also decided that it would make sense to at the same time, do the Big 3 upgrade that I'd read on this forum and seen some Youtube videos of. After consulting one of the better known installers in the area, I decided to go with 2BNS cable rather than your traidition 0AWG, because 2BNS was full copper and not lined with less conductive fillers like tin and lead you'd typically get with some of the aftermarket brand name suppliers. Being equivalent in size to 4AWG meant it was easier to crimp with 4AWG terminals and more pliable. Oh, and it was a lot cheaper too, only $15.50 a metre.

You can see the difference in size here, this is a comparison between the 2BNS (right) and the standard size red Alt+ to Batt+ cable on the left:
DqS5P91.jpg


You can even see here that the insulation around the original Alt cable was cracked too:
QVrjRkw.jpg


It took a lot longer than it should have (most of a wekend) but got there in the end... Had to buy a big positive terminal to connect all the cables, plus some new plastic insulating hose to replace the old decrepit stuff.

Progress:
uGfdaMc.jpg

29km67K.jpg


Final result:
UZyc760.jpg


Car does feel a lot happier in terms of the electrical system health now, and I feel theres been a noticeable reduction in voltage drop from the current draw for the stereo now too.
 
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