Rory's VZ Thunder SS Crewman

[rory]

Thought after quite a while i should probably post a build thread for my Crewman. I've had the car since around August.

Name: Rory
Model: 2006 Crewman Thunder SS
Colour: Odyssey
Engine Type: L76
Engine Mods: None
Gearbox: 6 Speed Manual
Diff: Stock LSD
Brakes: Standard
Suspension: Lowered springs front, Lowering-Blocks Rear
Interior: Black Leather, Sunroof, Roof-Mount HBD DVD Player
Stereo:
Pioneer AVH-P8450BT Head Unit
Alpine Type R Splits in front
JL 50 watt coaxial's in the rear
400 watt Kenwood Sub (Strapped down with seat belt on the rear seat)
Alpine PDX-V9 amp under the passenger seat powering the sub and splits
Future Mods:
Stage 1 power kit from Active Automotive (OTR, Tune, Exhaust) (when $ permits)
Phreddy dash (Blue)
Fix front bumper (cracked from last owner)
fix sunroof (whistles when closed and driving at 80km/h+) (any help?)
anything else I think of...

any thoughts appreciated

 

[HoldenMan7]

Oh yeh sounds good, any pics mate ???

 

[rory]

Updated with pics

 

[rory]

Some updates;
Firstly gave it a service a few weeks back, image is of old vs new air filter due to living up a 500m gravel driveway... (note to self, replace this more often)

Also the serpentine belt let go and did this to itself:

Started building a sub box for under the rear seat but have taken a break for now (see here: http://forums.justcommodores.com.au/car-audio/214287-crewman-under-seat-sub.html)

Also been doing a fair bit of country trips lately (Wyalkatchem, Bunbury and others) and just enjoying the V8 power... Also went to the cruze on Saturday night and got a chance to see some awesome cars and people. Picture courtesy of kikki (Christie Lyn Photography)

 

[rory]

Some more updates, zip tied under the front bumper to stop the crack from moving around. (no pic yet)

Have also been flushing the clutch and power steering fluid by draining the reservoirs and filling them with clean fluid (anyone that has bled a T56 will understand)

Also 2 weeks ago my rear indicator blew, replaced it with Narva and it blew again so I get a genuine Holden (Philips) globe today and put it in and hoping that it lasts.
also while my tray liner was out I removed my other side lens and removed the Moth that has been stuck for months... don't know how he got in either.

I also replaced the screws that attach the hard tonneau to the tray because they were rusted as (surprised that they came out to be honest) and also cleaned up the aluminium where some rust from the screws had tarnished it with some light sand paper.

This was before I finished polishing the aluminium up but shows the screws a little nicer than before

 

[rory]

Crewman has been broken for 6 weeks and have finally got it back, some details can be found here: http://forums.justcommodores.com.au...-2006/217168-crewman-drive-shaft-blowout.html

This afternoon I got the Crewman back as I needed it for work. It's still a bit noisy but with the lack of manual v8 Crewmans at wreckers it was going to be an expensive exercise to replace the tailshaft with no guarantees to fix the sound so it's drivable until I sell my Alloytec ute or I figure out what the go is with it so happy to have it back though.

 

[VS 5.0]

Good to see you've got it back.

What needs to be done to get it properly sorted ?

 

[rory]

Good to see you've got it back.

What needs to be done to get it properly sorted ?

The guys at the shop aren't entirely sure, they believe its the tailshaft as Jeeps with the same CV before the diff make the same sound but they cant be 100% sure and don't want to throw money at it if it won't fix the problem. (Genuine tailshaft is 2400 and genuine axles are 900 each)
Yesterday however I called Veem Engineering and they said that they have done a full 9 inch diff and new tailshaft and everything on a crewman before so they might be the place to go to to get it sorted. They also said that they would inspect it obligation free so thats good for me
Veem said that the Crewman diff is built more as a cruiser so skids don't do it well but I don't know about going all out on the Crewy, especially under only stock power at the moment. This could be changing soon though watch this space

 

[VS 5.0]

Isn't a 9 inch a lot of extra weight to lug around ?

 

[rory]

Isn't a 9 inch a lot of extra weight to lug around ?

To be honest I think its a little extreme, I was quite impressed with the ability to do it but would also write off any load carrying ability too I would believe.

The reason I thought Veem might be the go was because they might be able to be a bit more scientific with their testing and be able to at least say definitively that tailshaft is or isn't the problem. I've done about 200k's since I've got the car back and I'm hating the noise but loving the car