Losh's VR Ute build thread

[losh1971]

I bet your happy your a/c is working.

Sure am been pretty warm lately

 

[VS 5.0]

Sure am been pretty warm lately

And more to come apparently.

 

[losh1971]

Had another look last night at my central locking that I started to fit. Turns out I cut the wrong leads off. I was meant to cut the second shortest and the longest ones off as it was a 4 door kit. I realised when I was checking to see where to mount the module that I have cut the front passenger side off and not the drivers side rear. I didn't think that the distance to the drivers rear is less than the passenger side front. It will be ok, just means I have to lengthen the two cables for the passenger side door actuator.

 

[losh1971]

Did a little bit more on the central locking today. Siliconed the module to the body behind the kick panel on the drivers side. Also located a hot wire there that I can tap into using a male plug. Think it may have been where someone else attempted to get the original central locking working, as the lugs weren't original. Also when I connected the test light to what I believe could have been a ground on the same harness, I heard a relay click on and off somewhere near the fuse panel. Didn't attempt to feed the cables through the door boot, just too hard and time consuming on a hot day. I need to make a better tool anyway as the old one made of wire needs to re-bent and I don't have any pliers with me until I go home in a few days time.

 

[losh1971]

Did some more on the central locking this arvo. With some cursing I managed to get the wires through the boot and inside the drivers door. I wasn't going to finish it tonight but I thought for another 30-40mins of work I could have it finished and the trim back on. So I unscrew the three torx screws holding the latch on and whata, ya know..??? The bracket for the actuator is missing. Damn that bracket could be anywhere. I must have taken it off months ago when I first played around with the window and central locking, soon after I bought the ute. Might have to go to the wreckers and get one now, what a PITA... But having said all that I actually have half the doors locking and unlocking, even though the slave is not connected, which did surprise me.

On another note just as I thought I was getting close to fixing all the problems on the ute; while I was fitting two new hose clamps on the heater core as they were weeping and wouldn't tighten up. I must have flexed the throttle cable because the outer part has snapped away where it attached to the bracket. Be over a week to get one in so I have cable tied it back straight and duct taped the break so it doesn't slip apart and send the engine into a million revs while I'm driving along. I have had a stuck throttle before, on another vehicle and it wasn't a nice feeling. It needed replacing at some point anyway because I had Q-Bonded it in position as the threads had stripped.

 

[losh1971]

Update, went to the wreckers today to find an actuator bracket. As it turns out the bracket is riveted to the door catch mech. That complicates things slightly as it's a tad tricky getting the door handle detached and reattached from the mechanism. Not sure if I will attempt to get the other actuator in this eve or not. I don't want to have issues reassembling it and not being able to lock the door tonight. I will see how I feel once we get groceries. I'd like to get the trim back on so I can use the drivers side aircond vents.

On another note I saw the wreckers had some side vents in pretty good condition. The flaps that close off the air are broken on a couple of mine. Didn't have enough coin to grab them today but I might swing out there in a couple of weeks and grab some. Yesterday I flicked all the wire strips and used joiners into the bushes not realising the window winder clip was on the floor mat. Searched the bushes best I could but it's gone. Found out they must be highly sought after, because of 10 commodores there was not one clip lying on the floor of any wreck I searched.

 

[losh1971]

Picked up a replacement drivers side door vent for $5 today at the wreckers. Mine was ok but the flap inside was removed because it had broken. Also managed to get the drivers actuator in and working. Now I just need to replace the trim and the vent and I am good to go. Although the trim that holds the vents in place has a broken piece where it screws to the door. Thinking I might repair it with ice cream container lid and JB weld. Just need to see if I ended up leaving the JB Weld in the ute box or whether I took it out like I think I may have. I run into an issue last night with the passenger actuator. For some reason it is jamming up. Goes up slow but won't go back down at all. Pretty sure the sliding piece has jammed against the latch mech shroud. Hoping that is it anyway. I thought it may have given me trouble as I didn't have access to a drill on the day to drill out the eyelet on the actuator to fit the VR lock mech on a really good angle.

 

[losh1971]

Managed to get the drivers side central locking working and the trim all back on. Also repaired the vent shroud. Hopefully now I should not have to remove the trim again for a long time, unless of course the actuator comes unhooked. Looks to be ok though. I ended up drilling the eyelet out on the passenger side but after a number of tests before fitting the trim back on the eyelet is still sitting very close to the edge of the hook on the latch mech. I'm pretty sure I need to elongate the hole so the actuator tilts back more and doesn't work its way up and off the hook. Doesn't do it with manual tests but once you operate the actuator with the remote the eyelet moves further out towards the edge of the hook. I have to wait until tomorrow now as I'm not heading out again to borrow a drill. I will sort it when I get home tomorrow or I will bring the cordless and some bits and do it on Sunday.

 

[losh1971]

Yesterday i finally finished the central locking on the ute. Took me a couple of hours to get it functioning really well. Ended up elongating the holes in the bracket. Still have the eyelet moving towards the end of the hook on the lock mech. But it seems to be hanging on enough for to not come right off. Thinking next time i head to the wreckers i will get a couple of plastic hooks that i think make the mech hooks longer as they slide over the existing metal hooks. To get the central locking moving up and down a bit better took a good squirt of rp7 as the actuator was struggling to move all the way up and down. Trim is all but bak on except i need a screw clip to screw in the remaining part of the vents. Hoping i have one at home. If not i will order a pack from SCA this week when I get some free credit with the club night this Wednesday evening.

 

[losh1971]

Gotta love the SCA member nights. 5 bucks credit for nothing. Picked up a packet of clips for $6.60 which on eBay would have been 2 bucks anyway I wanted them fairly quickly. Air director is back on the door vent of the pass side now. Currently have the ute at the rad place getting the rad flushed as my heater is barely luke warm. Really hope this fixes it. Last time my $150 aircon repair quote ended up being over $600 because of all the s*** that was worn out. Hope he checks things over, like the tap function before he goes too far because the coolant is fairly new and I don't want him to flush the system and still have a non-working heater. Last night I ordered a new indicator stalk as I think mine is almost cactus, no blinkers driving yesterday eve but they came good after a 1hr shut down. Today they are working as well. I have the steering column to replace next week hopefully but I will wait until my stalk arrives as once it comes off I doubt it will work again if reinstalled. Had to go SH with the steering column as there is nowhere to buy a new one and replacing the bearings may or may not end well, given the way they are fitted to the inner shaft and housing.