ahh; I know this one, it sucks. But, I managed an engine swap without loosing any A/C gas or power steering fluid. Remove power steer pump from bracket and tie it out of the way (I used old speaker wire) you may have to release the lines from the chassis/crossmember clips to do this. Remove the power steer bracket as this is separate from the A/C bracket. I think if you Remove the main engine through bolt and lift the engine on a jack it will ease access to these bolts, although they are long and you need just the right height and angle to remove each one (or put them in, that PITA is still coming for you) and each one this height/angle is different. I think with the final bolt it was sitting loose in the bracket and removed from the block and it came out while still in the bracket. I don't envy you. But best of luck to you
So hows everyones week been, mines been long. Have a deadline of the 19th to have the backup engine in and running as I go on xmas leave and won't have access to my company vehicle, regasketing and tidying up the spare engine and will drop it in this weekend.
to be honest I haven't had a chance to strip the old one down yet, I will do that after the car is running again. I did however pull the manifold from the old engine (it's going on the spare motor) and the cam/lifters looked ok, will see once I start stripping it down.
Well after a week of wrenching in the garage until the early hours of the morning has finally paid off, got the engine in and fired up around 10PM. Primed the oil pump with vaseline, turned the engine over by hand to make sure nothing was siezed up, hit the key and it sprung to life within 5 seconds and got oil pressure instantly. Was a bit concerned the first 3-4 minutes of it running as the top end was very rattly but I suspect this was due to the engine sitting for so long the lifers had drained out and needed time to pump back up correctly. After 5-10 minutes of running it up and down between 1000-1500 rpm the engine is now quiet as a mouse and smooth as silk. Not bad for a donk thats been sitting untouched for over 5 years. (Low km ex VS Senator engine and remanufactured/aftermarket converter) Tomorrows job is to tidy up some wiring, set the correct base timing, bleed the cooling system and she will be right to hit the road again.
Wow, very good work mate. Cooling system pretty much bleeds it self out. Just keep an eye on the overflow and lots of short runs to heat it up and cool it down. Shouldn't take too long (assuming it's 99% full and run for a minute without the cap on to start)
Finished tidying everything up this morning, took it out for a 150km round trip to do a few things this afternoon, ran like a champ. Will probably dump the oil again and check the filter within the next week or two just to make sure there is no hidden surprises lurking but so far so good.
After searching for a few months finally found a mint set. WH Caprice's (excuse the ride height, the rear of the car was still on stands at the time). Undecided as to whether I will get them polished or leave them as is, the way they are is really easy to keep clean which my polished calais wheels certainly weren't.
are they series I or II? I think these are from a series 2 WH caprice. great to see you went with a classy looking wheel and not gmax heritages or vy sigs like most people get for a statesman. if I was to ever change from my eleanors, I'd be getting some WM caprice wheels modded to fit my wk.
Pretty sure they are S1 WH. I am not a fan of big wheels on old cars. The goal with the styling of this car is to keep it relatively period correct, I don't want to pull it into the 21st century.
Excuse the crap pic (my phone's lens is nackered). Love the subtle dish on them. Some will like them, some will hate them. (Man my car looks high in pics) Next visual mod, tint, not too dark just something subtle.
Looks fine to me ...what tire size are you running? you might be able to fill the guards a bit more by playing with tire profile and width...what happened to your old wheels?
225/55/16 i'm pretty sure, the guards are pretty much filled when looking at the car in person (wouldn't be able to fit your hand in there, it's just in pics it looks so much higher than what it is haha). Calais wheels are stacked up in the shed, will probably chuck them up on gumtree, still have near perfect tyres etc so may as well move them down the line.
