Green VS Maloo

[afstruct]

9 to 10 litres per 100 pretty good. Was getting high 9s to mid 11s on trips last year. Higher usage was with a bit more spirited driving on back highways including into mountain ranges so was more than happy with performance.
If I had told transmission guy not to put a cooler radiator in I recon he would have said go somewhere else to get it fixed. It's why I went with him, he struck me as knowing his business, pride in his work, very fussy and particular and it's to produce a quality job with no issues (cover himself) and as the customer you get the same result.
He put a bigger pan on. Only thing he didn't do was the rear main seal, I didn't think you could do it without dismantling engine, lucky it wasn't leaking.
So I'm sitting out front of my place yesterday when he comes over to pick me up. Could hear it before he turns into my street, not obscenely loud just that deep v8 rumble, I'm bias but fxxk it sounds great .
Extremely happy, wheel alignments done handling well again, not exactly like I like it but I'll take that compared to where it was
Gearbox is great, shift is not intrusive when light throttle getting harder the more you put your foot down, so happy recon he got it just right for a daily.
I think the gearbox must have been getting slightly worse over time before it let go.
He did say that the engine tune he thought could be better to make the most of the gearbox now. It seems like when they turned it they concentrated on top end and for real world you want low to mid range. So a tune seams to be in its future .
One thing it highlighted I want better brakes

 

[afstruct]

Well I wasn't going to post pictures of my engine covers until they were completed but just had too .
Went for a pushy ride this arvo. Got back made myself a Jim beam honey infused coffee and decided to see how it was and if I could start painting the Holden emblem only to find that I got more to my paint effect than I bargained for

 

[afstruct]

Well that's been a reasonably productive couple of days and no lizard stuck on things this time.
I still have to finish paint stripping rocker covers but I wanted to do the other ones first so I could decide whether to leave stripes gray or to do them red.
Decided that was too much red and did them Botanica same as body .
I'm extremely happy, I recon they turned out fantastic, a couple of little imperfections but nothing really bad.

Just have to wait a couple of days , might even wait until next weekend to stick 185 badges back on.

 

[VS 5.0]

Nice.

Did you use the syringe method for the red bits ?

 

[afstruct]

Yeah I tried it but only had the plastic syringe, you really need the metal needle part as well especially for smaller/finer detail. The plastic part has, for paint, a huge hole.
I glued the end and pushed a pin in to create a smaller hole but I found it was still too easy to get some red on top surface. I was also worried I'd push too hard on syringe and spray red everywhere.
The can of red came with a tiny touch up brush in the lid and I decided to try that just spraying a bit of paint at a time onto a plastic lid.
The red around the lion is probably a bit lumpy maybe and was flat but I knew I had to clear coat it as the grey and Botanica require it.
So early afternoon became 4 o'clock before I knew it, very time consuming but pasted before I knew what happened.
You should have seen the look of alarm and suspicion from the girl in the chemists when I asked for some needles and then the look of absolute bemusement when I said it was the best way to paint recessed letters before she said I have syringes you can have

 

[afstruct]

So maloo is back together and running again. Back when I did the fuel pump the return line broke and I just connected it up ( about 2.5 inches broke off) . It's done it 2 more times since. Wreckers had a tank, wanted $125 for it and you take pot luck on if that line's perished as well.
So instead I did this.

And with it back in the ute

Took it for a short drive today, no leaks and no fuel smell so appears to be all good.
Engine covers, rocker covers all done and obviously back on. New spark plugs in and had injectors serviced.
Here's quite a few photos as I'm extremely pleased with how they have turned out, not perfect they're engine covers. Also painted hsv on the cold air intake although I don't think that's come up that good . The plastic of the intake is starting to deteriorate , had to do a repair around one of the mounting screws but it's not that good , need to find a better way of repairing plastic parts.

 

[VS 5.0]

They came up a treat.....really lifts the bay.

 

[afstruct]

Thanks, I am stoked with how they've turned out. I didn't think the old finish was really bad, it was missing some paint but yeah new paint and grey is lighter = so much fresh, ( I did try matching it, paint card looked a match but it was nowhere near it in reality) . Considering they should really be silver it doesn't matter and happy days.

 

[afstruct]

The easiest way to paint that hsv emblem, because it's raised was to put grease in the whole area and then wipe excess off and then wipe raised sections with thinners, mask off, paint and then run Stanley around and scrap off. Finally wash with degreaser and spray and wipe with armorall.

 

[afstruct]

Finally ( hopefully) , I think I've got the culprit for my handing issues which has progressively got worse since last Augusts wheel alignment.
Checked a couple of months ago and front tyres had scrubbed out on inside edges, ( so swapped back over to 16" rims and have not use much since then).
Jacked it up earlier in the week , no movement in the front but got end float on drivers rear.
I recon this can be traced back to when the rear shock broke and drivers side wheel started rubbing on the inboard side of the wheel tub. ( Bet that's when it got loaded up and damaged).
So installed new rear wheel bearings today . Passengers side came out easy but drivers side was a bitch ,( bearing half that mates with axle housing didn't move at all, (had to grind it in 2 spots and break to get it out ).
What I hadn't planned on was the hand brake shoes to be worn out .
Luckily ( and hopefully they're good ), Repco had one set (their own brand) , sale today so only 16 bucks ( can't complain about that price).
Next weekend normal service stuff and then book into get brake fluid changed and wheel alignment and see if they agree with me and my ac pump is leaking ( could be power steering but doesn't look like it's coming from it and doesn't appear to have lost any power steering fluid).