Project: Commodore powered buggy

[maddog]

Have done a bit more wiring through the week. Had to source some front inner axle seals so we could build the diff centres this weekend.

Had some problems with the paint for the panels, the green turned out a bit lighter than I'd hoped for, but it still looks good. We got some more black and tried to mix it into the green to see if we could get a darker colour, but the two paints aren't compatible. I'm just going to stick with the green that's on them now and see how that looks with the white star and stickers on it.

The hydraulics are officially finished and cable tied in position. Had to rotate the orbital valve again because I wasn't happy with where the lines were coming out in case one ever came off.

Still working on the fuel system, it's mostly plumbed up, but I'm having troubles working out how the pressure regulator fits into the system. It looks like I have to either modify the factory LS1 fuel rail to include a return line for the regulator to sit on, or get an after market rail with both in and out ports.

There's wiring everywhere, some of it is complete and some I'm waiting on receiving the wiring loom to complete it and tidy it all up.

Took the buggy out into the sunlight this afternoon to transport it and the gold pearl looks great. Might be a little hard to spot in these pics, but you can't miss it in person.

It sits marginally taller than an Astra and a lot smaller than the old Jeep

Looks good on the trailer

It's sitting at a workshop tonight as we'll be using their press tomorrow to do the diff builds. I've got a diff spreader at home, but not a press, so it's easier this way.

 

[ma77es]

looks sweet mate top work :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :bow:

 

[maddog]

Had a pretty frustrating day working on the diffs. Turns out I might have some of the wrong parts, but not 100% sure yet.

Once the pinion and centre are shimmed up and installed, there is still a lot of backlash in it. The pinion has been shimmed out to its maximum where there is no more thread on for the pinion nut to grab, and the pinion is touching the centre, but there is still too much backlash. We are unable to shift the centre any further to the right to correct the problems as there are already no shims on the right hand side of the centre.

Going to check some part numbers on Monday, and talk to the guy I got the diffs from, but at this stage I have no definitive answers. It's possible that it's the wrong offset centre for the r&p I have.

Filled the auto with ATF, and put fluid in the hydro steer system. Found out that the reservoir I was going to use for the hydro steer leaks, so I'll have a quick play to see if I can fix it, but it's most likeley that I'll have to get another one.

Brought the buggy back home tonight to do more work on it tomorrow.

Here's a pic. Didn't get many today as I was filthy and cranky most of the day.

 

[Infus10n]

That took ages to wait for every photo to load, but i waited and looked at them all. Just want to give you a round af applause for the beast you have made so far. I cant wait to continue reading on the progress up untill the day its started and enters its first rock crawl.

Keep up the top effort!

 

[R0d]

one awesome machine you got there, cant wait too see what it looks like when its finished

 

[maddog]

Thanks guys, it's hard work but when you see it coming together it's pretty satisfying.

 

[maddog]

Still working on it. We're going to miss the deadline we had of testing it this weekend, but there's still one more weekend to test it before Put up or Shut up.

Adjusted the fuel system a little bit last night, also fitted the throttle linkage cable, plugged the heater hose holes in the water pump and did some other hose plumbing that needed to be done.

I received new R&P's to fix the backlash problem (thanks Shane) and they will be going straight in.

Both heater hose holes have been drilled out and tapped. One has the water temp sender for the Autometer guage and the other has a blank plug in it.

There are so many hoses and wires that need to be run everywhere. This is before they were tidied up, they're all neat and cable tied in bunches now.

Top of the engine is starting to look neater with all the wires and hoses tucked away.

Had to get a new power steer reservoir. The catch can I was trying to use was no good and leaked. This one is off a VL Commodore.

 

[maddog]

Well another big weekend working on the buggy. Troy and I worked on it Friday night till midnight, then Saturday till midnight and last night till about 7.30.

Spent Friday preparing the vehicle for the engine to be started. Finished off the last little bits of wiring, finished off any small things that needed to be done on the fuel system, oil coolers and filters etc.

Spent Saturday morning working on bits and pices. Had a problem with the remote oil filter that needed a bit of time to fix, and patched up the odd leak we found once we filled everything up with fluids. Also put the diff centres in and set them all up. In the afternoon we had some help from a guy who reprogramed the ECU for us, and the motor fired up. We bled the hydraulic steer and it was all working well. We did notice that the flex plate was wobbling enough to cause us some concern though.

Sunday morning we pulled the engine out, fixed the problem with the flex plate, put the engine back in, put the tailshaft in and some other bits and pieces in then fired the motor up again. Bled the radiator and it all seems to be good now. We also jacked up the back end and put it in 1st to get the rear wheels spinning. There's a slight problem with the way the tailshaft is mounted, but we'll hopefully be able to sort that out this week.

This week is going to be a busy one because there's still plenty of work that needs to be done to get the buggy ready for the weekend. The plan is to dyno tune it on Saturday and wheel it on Sunday.

Here's some pics from the weekend.. Video of it running to come later today..

Diffs centres going in on Saturday night.

The interior as it looked Saturday night

New power steer reservoir. I had hoped 3rd one would be lucky, but this one leaks too. Should be able to fix it with some thread tape though. It's just leaking from the indicator tube fitting.

As it looked on Sunday morning before we started pulling the engine back out.

3 of us working on it at once to get the engine out and put the rear tailshaft in at the same time.

 

[maddog]

Some more pics

Motor coming out

Fixing the flex plate problem on the garage floor

and putting it back in later

Motor back in and running

 

[maddog]

And what you've all been waiting for.. Here's a video of us running it yesterday after putting the motor back in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lISm7zOjEg

I have some videos of the first start of the motor and some other bits and pieces from Saturday, but I'm having trouble getting them online at the moment, should have them online by tomorrow.