Mods on my vt s1 v6 6 speed auto exe. wagon

[Lex]

Back in May replaced a tyre 235x35x 19". Thats 2 tyres replaced in a year.
Was wondering if l would have to replace the other?

Went to Melbourne 2 weeks ago. Yeah rear tyres are stuffed too.

Rang local tyre place. No stock, & had order them in.
Turned up, to have them fitted & they wouldn't fit them.
Load rating was wrong. Load rating for my car is 92.
The load rating for the 235x35x19" is 91.
I ended up with 245x35x19". And $20.00 cheaper.
The drive was a lot smoother.
I'am l happy? Yes.
Well worth the money.

 

[Lex]

Back to the 6l50.
The tcm from the USA arrived last week. It has been configured for a 6l80. Not much good to me.
I sent of a email today, asking if l can bench test it? Waiting to hear back from them.

Today external tranny cooler arrived, so installed it.
Tomorrow or Monday l'll start the cooler lines. When that is done, maybe time for the install into my car.
Hopefully very soon? But maybe not.

 

[Lex]

I've installed the tranny into the car. Been in, for the last week.

Since the install, I've been trying to work out the wiring, & lots of other small stuff.

I hope to have it going very soon?

Don't want to put the old 4l60 back in!

 

[Lex]

Hi
Couldn't get it going with the way l had it wired up. I ended up putting the 4l60 back in using dex 6 & a new filter & gasket.
If the 4l60 is original, it would have over 400,000 km on it.

Back to the 6l50, l have installed it and another motor back into the mock up car. I wired it differently this time, (wired into the fuse box under steering wheel).
When turning on the ignition the program l have on laptop recognizes the tranny.

Hope to have the tranny topped up with dex 6 & setup basically next week with a test drive up & down the drive way?
I think there will be other problems to overcome. One step at a time.

When this is done, l may connect up a paddle shifter (if possible, & l think it is, maybe?). This is why its in a mock up car. If something doesn't work, l can just leave it, till l find a solution. In the meantime l still have my car to drive around.

I installed a catch can a few weeks ago. Before the install l gave the plenum a good clean. It needed it. I also cleaned the throttle body & iac sensor. Though, I didn't block of the pcv valve. New gaskets from Holden too (the plenum lid gasket was leaking).

I'll put some pics up soon.

 

[afstruct]

Why project / mod cars are not your daily = the pressure is not there for the Monday to Friday grind so more relaxing ( still frustrating though ) when the mod / experiment doesn't ( as most times first up ) don't go to plan.
Paddle shift an 6 speed = nice = good times.

 

[Lex]

I got 6 litres of dex v1 from my tranny guy, not enough though. Probably because l dumped the first couple of litres. I'll get some more tomorrow. I'll top it up Sat. as it will be a lot cooler. Supposedly 36 degrees today & 34 tomorrow.

Here is a couple pics of the catch can.
Didn't like the catch can mount that was supplied (bit flimsy, would of broken easily). So l made my own.
I think it came out ok.

On the intake l used some metal tube to go down about 2/3 of the way to the bottom of catch can, with some stainless steel wool used as a filter.
I copied immortalitys thread about installing a catch can. https://forums.justcommodores.com.au/threads/install-a-catch-can-on-a-ecotec-v6.185988/#post-2073908

I also bought 3/8 fuel line hose. I hope this was ok to use?

Pics

 

[Lex]

Did no good with 6l50 tranny a few weeks ago. Heard a ting ting then a very loud bang bang, then it sounded like something broke.
Turned off, & left it. Next week l'll test the pump, if ok, then l'll pull it out & try work out what broke?

Have been hearing a air hiss. Couldn't find where it was coming from. Last week l took off the large hose from the maf to the throttle body, found it was damaged. Went out to the mockup car to get the hose of it. It was damaged too. I had a blue 77 mm hose, sightly to small, but made it fit, & doesn't leak.

 

[Lex]

I bought a slightly larger blue silicon hose (maf-tb 82mm-89mm). Slightly to big this time. Works well though. With the 77mm the kick down didn't feel right bit hesitant in kicking back.
Also put the hoses for the catch can under the air intake. Instead of over the air intake.

Also bought a new battery. The old one is 5 years old. Its 550 cca. Every 4-6 weeks l'd have to put it on the battery charger. It would be fine after that.
It's now in the mockup car, (more on this later).
The new battery is a exide 750 cca (XDIN66HMF).

The vt has a pcm, bcm, & air conditioner, the standard head unit. When the 6 speed auto goes in it'll have pcm, bcm, a tcm (builtin to the 6 speed) plus a tcu & 10'' head unit, electric water pump & electric power steering pump. Computers need a good source of power, thats why the 750cca. Hope its enough?

Back to the muc. The tranny is in (been in for awhile). Just trying to sort some issues with the motor. Also the tranny or t/c is making a noise, which l have no idea what it is. The local tranny guy was supposed to come out Saturday. Didn't show up.
Going up to NSW near the end of the month, so when l come back, l'll try & sort it then.

Heres a couple pics of the new parts.

 

[Lex]

Hi
Drove the car up to NSW late January. Car drove very well.

Back to the muc. Took the tranny out. Also took the tranny pan of. Knocked a couple of dents out while it was of.
Checked the filter, it was clean & tight. Also checked the torque converter. That seemed ok too.
The tranny mount was cactus. I had another one laying around.
I also bypassed the radiator. Plumbed the piping direct from trans to the external cooler.
Reassembled & fitted the trans with new fluid. I already had some.
Time to start it! I think success. No ting ting bang bang. After 1/2 to 1 second,it was quiet, then made the noise that it was making before l pulled it out. This noise only lasted for 1/2 a second, then all quite. (all good).
Looked around for leaking pipes. Yes l found one. The top pipe on the cooler had broken (bitch).
I've ordered another one. I suppose it will turn up next week?

Slowly getting there. One step forward, two back.

 

[Lex]

The front pipes are back in. No leaks, no noises when the motor is running.

I've programmed the software.
Seems to be working. I probably have more work to do in the software department.
There is a monitor in the software that tells you rpm, speed, tranny temp, battery voltage & what gear your in and some other things.
The car dash tacho works, but the speedo doesn't.

I put it in Drive & slowly put the accelerator down. Rpm & speed went up & the gears went up to 3rd. Stopped.
Then put the shifter into the left side of the shifter (manual mode?), pressed down on the accelerator & tried upshifting. It went to 2nd.
So that part seems to work.

This is all done while the car is on stands. The car is the mockup car (muc).