It's been a while since last update but that doesn't mean nothing has happened during this time.
The weird engine noise is still around, i stopped by the shop who cut the seats on the cylinder heads and the guy was kind enough to have a listen with a stethoscope. He doesn't think there is anything wrong on the bottom end. He mentioned there is one injector a bit noisier than others.
I don't think it is the injector was i can hear the noise during low RPM decel whey they are all off.
I can tell there is no noise between 4k to 6.2k RPM
At least it is a new financial and my fear of having to have transmission and engine rebuild expense on the same year is gone. I am ready for it now.
There is a guy in the are and he has several heavily modified commodores and the other day I met him at the supermarket, he mentioned he has on LSA with a weird noise for more that a year now but she keeps doing well on the 1/4 mille.
The registration came up the other day and during the inspection , the mechanic pointed out the engine mounts were stuffed and have to be replaced. The car was a bit shake and i had some hope that would be the noise issue. He also pointed the bank1 rocker cover was leaking oil. Bloody ebay cheap gaskets ! The Rego was expiring that day and I wouldn't have time to do the mounts on the weekend so I booked the car for next Monday and took care of the rocker cover and tires during the weekend.
What a weekend, while replacing the gasket, I managed to strip the threads on the block, and guess which ? Yes the closest to the firewall. Definitely the heads have to come off to fix this one. Off course I left for the last minute and it was Sunday night so there was nothing i could, so I torqued the other 3 bolts and nearly prayed for the best. It didn't leak any oil on the way to back to the mechanic and it was dry after coming back. After a few hundreds km it is still as dry as my first.... never mind ! Now with new engine mounts I can see it needed it. It is amazing how slow increasing vibration just creeps in in your life and you don't notice until it is fixed.
Usually, I use the right angle ratchet manually to loosen the bolt and after a few turns I then slowly press the trigger to finish the job. However this time I went to turn it manually i press the trigger by mistake and i got the threads as a bonus with the bolt.
Ok the car should be good now but wait a minute, the engine oil pressure sensor is stuck at 129PSI. I know it was working before because I have a spare phone running as poor's man dashboard and I am always check all the sensors. I thought the mechanic could have crushed the wires while lifting the engine to replaced the mounts, but is had a look and it looked fine. Disconnecting the sensor it would read 0 PSI. I ended up ordering a cheap one from ebay ( I never learn) and it is working fine now. The pressure reading at cold and running temps are reading he same as the previous sensor. I hope it was just a coincidence it was working when I drop at the mechanic and wasn't when I got it back.
Tip to replace the sensor without removing the air intake, just use a 27 oxygen sensor socket. I used some tape as stopped as the socket can go down pass the sensor.
Hopefully son I will find some time to have a got at the Drags, but for now I am busy watching the new toy generation power. We just upgraded from 1.6KW to 11KW system.
The front of the house looks like an Architect's nightmare, but who cares for the looks, i want power !
