HI PSI

It's been a while... Work has recommenced. Still waiting on the engine assembly, getting close to the front of the cue. So, I thought that I'd start on other things. Roughing out component positions. Some Alpine MRV-1507's and 407's. One of the best Alpine screens ever made - Alpine IVA-D900 with PHA- H701 processor. Front stage is the Alpine DP-653, 3 way components. Rear stage is the previously installed R 61/2 2 way coaxials. A pair of Alpine RS-W10D2's where sourced for the low end.

The VN has been sitting for a while also. I'm starting to punch on with it also. STILL waiting on the engine to be assembled. We have everything bar the pushrods, so now I wait to get to the front of the engine guys cue. I'll comment on that thread and start with some updates soon. I have been enjoying working on the XR and I'm happy seeing it progress. I've been doing a few hours each day on it. All the console and dash trims back in the car. I wanted to be sure that the flywheel bolt issue was sorted before reassembling everything. The remaining tasks are primarily just finalising tedious cosmetic issues. I finished laying the mould carbon DJR splitter today and I'll wait a week before removing it and making the new part. I finally deleted the old ECU bracted and remounted the fuel reg. The header has been deleted and I've sorted a new radiator overflow tank, but it can't be fitted until the bar/mould is removed. A new carbon radiator support trim is also in the works, as the whole area looks horrible since installing the new radiator. The new trim will be extended to cover the the radiator and its mounts. Sorry for the sh*tty pics. I'll post more as I progress...

Hi all, long time no see. I thought that I'd drop in and say hi. I haven't done much with the car over the past few years. Essentially, I installed the FG cover, 52 mm radiator, new thermo's and deleted the header tank. I had the air conditioning re-gassed as my laptop guy wouldn't get in the car unless it was working. Sooky bloody tuners. Lol. We did a bit of street tuning and tidied up the idle and low throttle areas. Besides the clutch, it's pretty nice to drive. The car starts, idles and runs much nicer with the GTR coils. I've given the car a few good hits and it appears to have some issue when I wring it's neck. It misfires and spits for a bit then normalises. If I reset the ECU it disappears. I'll have to run some logs to see what's happening. I'm getting the car out of storage when I get home on Wednesday. I need to install remaining parts of the console, as wanted to ensure that we had sorted the flywheel bolts issues. I'll see if I can get a video of its acceleration. Hopefully the old GoPro still work.

Pretty much... This will give you an idea of what I'm dealing with... This was his response. "With all due respect ----- all the deep pits you see are the deep casting pits. We do not keep digging into them ,,, usually that does more damage than good". Thank you Robbie

Sleeping.. I finally receive the rocker cover back from chroming. My excitement around receiving the cover was short lived. I am absolutely disgusted with the product that I have received, especially for the price paid. I am that downhearted that I don't even want to take pictures of it. I was so looking forward to going for a drive.... What is it with businesses these days? Forgot to add that some new shoes arrived. Dunno what they're like. But I guess that I'll find out...

By the lack of comments, you all must be bored of paint pics. So I'll move it forward a bit. Assembly... Now this took a bit more planning than I initially thought. I should have blasted the bolts and commenced the re-plating process much earlier. This held me up somewhat at the local business I used to plate everything was a little overwhelmed with the workload that placed on them. Albeit a slow process, they did a wonderful job. 😄 Thanks heaps MCX Rockhampton.. I installed Bilstein shocks with Pedders springs. New wheel bearings, hand brake pads and VN Group A calipers and rotors were fitted. As well as new hand brake cable. fuel and brake (Hard) lines for the whole car.

I'm not brand biased. I like lots of cars. It's al about how they make you feel. 😄 We all know that K31th isn't right in the head. Hasn't been for some time.... Love ya work K31th. 😄

It had more in it, but my tuner is lazy. 98 Ron - GTX 4202R

A few more black bits...

The build was also a means to an end. My ex poisoned my girl's brain and I've had zero access for the over 18 months. The build kept me busy, focused and broke all at once.. 😄 This build (to date) has been exceptional in every regard. The flow of trades and just steer good luck with all aspects has been uncanny. It's like this was meant to be. Let me explain... A very short time after purchasing the short engine and heads. I came across a new ZF S6-40 manual transmission. The same gearbox shared between the C4 Corvette and the VN Group A. Bloody beaut bit of kit, but there was a small issue that I had overlooked. The shifter on this unit just so happens to be built for a Corvette, as the shifter is offset 37 mm to the left. Not good.... Those Grp A Mofo's are like rocking horse sh*t. Search failed... Not one for giving up,I trawled the net and managed to establish that a European turbocharged sedan (Lotus Carlton) shared the same box and shifter. Anyway, I found a pick on the net of a shifter and investigated its source. It turned out to be some exhaust shop in Wales. Turns out the guy was the President of the local Carlton car club. I managed to source a new old stock shifter, and an additional low Km used unit for $1,300. I couldn't believe my luck. But I wasn't holding my breath on them actually arriving. Sure enough.. Bam! shifters arrive. but it didn't stop there... Now I had two of the three parts that I needed to make this box fit. Next part required - bellhousing. Lo and behold, a new old stock VN group A bellhousing pops up in one of my searchers. I'm like WTF !!!! sh*t like this never happens to me.

To me, it's an investment. The costs to build the car is very reasonable. I will more than likely double my money in the next 12 months. Besides that, it's a tough streeter. What's not to like? While were on subject of the driveline. I managed to get a hold of Daniel Reid from Reidspeed. He had previously manufactured a few serpentine kits to suit the 2400 Whipple on a Expensive Daewoo V8. Daniel stated that he wasn't making any more, but had the original proof of concept kit that he developed. Indications suggest that it will work with my blower. It should look something like this. Fingers crossed... The new alternator and power steering pump arrived the other day. Can't wait to see it all on the engine.

Thanks Puff. I can understand why so many divorces result from car builds. The time involved is immense. Let alone the financial commitment. Once I got the engine, I wanted to keep the Grp A theme running... I sourced a set of bare Grp a heads. Unbeknown to me, the heads had a LOT of material removed form the sealing surface. So much so that we had to get a 0.120" head gasket. The heads had received some major porting work and flowed around 640 hp. I had the heads fully reconditioned, with new Manley valves, Isky and Lunati springs along with genuine Grp A roller rockers.

Somewhere around this time, I started purchasing parts for the driveline. Now, remember when I said that this was going to be a restoration... This is where things started to change from the intended path. Originally, I had intended on just installing a stroker kit. My engine told me that I would waste my money going down that path, as the standard manifold wouldn't support it to its full potential. I'm not one to waste money. So the original engine and gearbox were put on a pallet and stored. The search for an alternative heart commenced. While searching the net I can across this. I contacted the seller and soon enough, the engine was on its way from W.A. It's a SS Group A, 4 bolt mains block. It had Yella Terra forged rods and Ross forged pistons. The block has fire rings and was set up for boost. The engine was originally built by Mark's Workshop in W.A and stored as the previous owner had changed direction. The engine is still awaiting a full strip down, clean and reassembly. I have everything for the engine except a camshaft (Hydraulic roller). Sourcing a billet for the engine has proved difficult and we have aske Ivan Tighe to make us a unit to our specifications. Oops. Forgot to show the inside of the doors...

Before I could start assembling the car, I had to finish the body. I spent a lot of time on the body, making sure that everything was as good as it could be. The results speaks for itself... After the white was applied, the firewall blackout was finalised..

Bonnet and doors received the same treatment. Fully stripped and painted.

Who the f*#k need nitrous.

As usual, I got a bit carried away with prepping the metal panels, I went a bit nuts and bare metaled everything, inside and out. I seem to have lost a few prep pics from when I was prepping the inner guards. But you get the idea with the pics of the outer skins. I'm sure that you're sick of seeing black stuff, so here is some Alaskan White... Guards, rear bumper, skirts, mudguard supports etc...

Running fixed Vernier gears?

Sorry for the lack of updates. Work has had me run off my feet.. After another week of prep. I managed to get some more parts painted black. I always tried to fill the booth as much as I could, So that I could maximise productivity and average down the cost. As I mentioned earlier, I prepped all of the parts and I essentially paid an hourly rate plus materials for the application. Here we have have some of the drip rail trims, sway bars, tank straps, door handles, sway bar mounts, fuel pump/regulator mounts and gear stick tunnel trim. I cannot begin to describe how much time and work goes in to this stuff. Especially with all metal components were taken back to bare metal. But, the reward is well worth the effort...

Np. I hope that this helps... Prices are from Brakes Direct, 2017... I machined the bosses for the brackets and my engine guy modified the brackets.. Sure thing... Alcon hat with 365 mm DBA rotor. Modified bracket.... Offset modified by 10 mm. Caliper radius increased by 5 mm.

I just love watching the paint go on, seeing it transform. I was always peering through the window whenever he painted my bits. I'm pretty sure that he thinks that I'm a weirdo.

I run two piece rotors on my car. I used an Alcon hat, which allowed me to run a larger 365 mm and it also positioned the rotor 10 mm inboard. This change significantly increased wheel selection.

Only one?? lol Well, I guess that some of you can see where this is headed.. Apologies, I'm in camp and I cannot find any good pics of the suspension components on my laptop. The diff pic will give you an idea of the finished product.

As you can see in the pic above, I still had some rust issues to sort. Fortunately, it was a country car and it only required a few minor repairs. The battery tray was unpicked and a good unit installed and repainted. Minor rust repairs were made to the lower rear screen, boot rubber lip and spare wheel well. We also stripped and primed the roof while we were there. In my spare time I started to prep the suspension components. As with all builds, ever bush joint and bearing has been replaced in the car. All were blasted, primed and prepped for paint. Around this time, I learnt that prepping parts was not much fun. By now my fingers no longer had prints and were starting to bleed. I was like, F&#k, what have I got myself in to....

Fingers crossed for you mate. Keep us posted.