cult45's 45 recovery and remobilisation (1 Viewer)

[Living in the Past]

If Australia is like the US with the white line your on a four lane highway with no traffic. Something I rarely see here in AZ.

 

[cult45]

If Australia is like the US with the white line your on a four lane highway with no traffic. Something I rarely see here in AZ.

John that's a two lane. First lane to the left is just space for [probably] breakdowns etc. Interesting to note that this is our national highway the A1! No traffic at 6am on a Saturday morning!

 

[sneaky]

Is that photo after Port Macquarie, where it gets really flat with lots of gumtrees? Eerily peaceful driving in that part at that time, and your right there's no traffic, B doubles seem to disappear around 5:30.

 

[cult45]

Is that photo after Port Macquarie, where it gets really flat with lots of gumtrees? Eerily peaceful driving in that part at that time, and your right there's no traffic, B doubles seem to disappear around 5:30.

Just after Kempsey. So around there yeah. Nice stretch of road.

 

[cult45]

Quick Question:

Have I ruined my clutch master?

More often than not I have to prime my clutch prior to shifting. No external leaks however. Many moons ago like a complete w@nker I topped it up with some DOT 4 and never flushed it for a DOT 3 refill. Admittedly, I've had this issue since I swapped the J30 for a H41 one-piece two years ago. It's still the J30 master and slave. Now I'm running a H41 split-case. I had wondered if the J30 stuff was too weak to push a Holden [GM] V8 clutch disc and pressure plate with a Mark's Kit [spud shaft variety] and H41, but I'm probably overthinking it.

Thoughts?

~ Daniel

 

[Indestructible 47]

You probably have more respect than to change clutches in your 40. I does sound like the clutch master but could also be the slave master. Do you know if the j30 master uses the same bolt pattern as the h41 master? Probably no reason why it wouldn't i guess. If so, I'd replace the j30 master with a genuine h41 master and that should pix ya problem. Hth mate, hope ya get it sorted.

 

[cult45]

You probably have more respect than to change clutches in your 40. I does sound like the clutch master but could also be the slave master. Do you know if the j30 master uses the same bolt pattern as the h41 master? Probably no reason why it wouldn't i guess. If so, I'd replace the j30 master with a genuine h41 master and that should pix ya problem. Hth mate, hope ya get it sorted.

Thanks mate but you need to match the master and slave. Ended up being a poorly adjusted pushrod.

 

[cult45]

Time for an update. During principal photography on The Pitch, the engine ingested a heap of dust. Enter new engine! I was gunning for big brother 308, and had even purchased what eventually turned out to be a decent motor for half a k, when the time came to do the swap I ran out of tick tocks. Plus, as it was an unknown and time wasn't on my side, I had pre-purchased another 253 that I knew was a runner with good comps. This was in April.

At the time the missus and I were living in an apartment with no real street parking, so it was decided to do the swap near Brisbane @The catskinner's three bay, powered, tool-equipped shed. Ian had often expressed an interest in my upgrade to discs and I had expressed an interest in a split case H41. An H55 required new shafts, handbrake dramas and additional costs. Plus I already had 3.70's.

For about a week I wrenched. As is often the case, I under estimated the length of time to get things done. There was a whole host of items but eventually, and with time and money running drastically short I [we] settled on:

Old motor out
Engine bay pressure washed and sound deadened
New engine in with split case H41 attached
Gearbox crossmember in
8/80 on front axle housing installed with new; rotors, rebuilt callipers, brake lines where needed
FJ80 brake booster and master
City Racer prop valve
New rear wheel cylinders and shoes

A few days shy of the deadline Ian took a couple days off work and helped out. All was looking well for a departure only a few days past the deadline and we went to fire her up. No fire. The motor came with an MSD and Holley so we tried that but still no fire. Well not properly anyway. We started trouble shooting. Asking for advice, calling people, calling the bloke who sold me the donk. But no matter what we did we couldn't get it to run. New plugs, leads, dizzy cap, fuel filters, vacuum lines, timing timing timing, bloody everything. It had no power once it was loaded up.

I booked a flight back to Sydney and flew home.

 

[cult45]

One of things that didn't make the cut was the 308. Due in part to our draconian car modification laws, I would have had to make several upgrades to make it legal. Lap-sash belts instead of my OEM lap belts. This of course requires a new rear panel. Painted to match the old one as we still need to film my 45 to complete the film. A collapsible steering column - or at least one that's not a lung skewer like my OEM one. Front discs - although this was already happening. And given my hack job of my original engine mounts it would have been wise to remake those. Oh and lastly, the block was a turbo pattern and the conversion kit I have is an Aussie pattern [Holden V8's ran both Aussie designed transmissions and GM ones and when buying a 308 you have to check if it's the correct bolt pattern].

 

[cult45]

So the 253 went in but didn't run and I was 600 mi. south back in the Harbour City flat broke, with no 45 and several months of saving before I could get back up to get her.

A few weeks later Catskinner's number comes up on my phone, and when I pick it up I hear;
Wind over the speaker
Tyres racing over gravel
A sweet running V8
And Catskinner shouting 'We had the bloody firing order wrong!! What a pair of dickheads!!'

It ran. I was elated! In all the rush and long days and nights I had made that simple error.

 

[cult45]

Fast forward several months. November I think it was. All I know was it was bloody hot by the time I got back to Catskinner's and I wasn't leaving without my rig. I think it took another week of catching up what had been done and completing the rest of the list. This included fitting a later style manual steering box via Toyota uni to my original column, cut and splined to suit. The primary reason was so retain the original wheel [for filming] but not have 3" of free play in the steering. An added advantage is that should the power steering Gods smile down on me I'm part way towards a 60 series conversion. Anyway, after a week of more wrenching we finally took that sumbitch for a test drive and boy did it run good. Granted, it's no powerhouse but a first drive always brings a smile. It ran like a top. A few more days to iron out a few personal issues while I was in town and I hit the road. The motor must have been pretty fresh because fully loaded at 70 mph it got 15 mpg whereas the old motor got 10. 20 psi at idle and 50 psi at 2700 rpm. Starts right up, runs like a top, sits on 180F.

So now it's home in Sydney, and I'm just cleaning up a new to me inlet manifold as the last one has a hairline crack in it!

 

[hdjtachtig]

What a story. Good to hear it is up and running. Must be nice to wrench together with Ian. Time to make some money now! How is the filming going?

 

[Honger]

So the 253 went in but didn't run and I was 600 mi. south back in the Harbour City flat broke, with no 45 and several months of saving before I could get back up to get her.

A few weeks later Catskinner's number comes up on my phone, and when I pick it up I hear;
Wind over the speaker
Tyres racing over gravel
A sweet running V8
And Catskinner shouting 'We had the bloody firing order wrong!! What a pair of dickheads!!'

It ran. I was elated! In all the rush and long days and nights I had made that simple error.

I love phone calls like this... instantaneously flipping a rough patch into a glorious day!

 

[cult45]

It's coming piecemeal Paul. As time and money becomes available we do some, but as it costs $5k a week to run even an indie film crew its goes out faster than it comes in! Film should be completed by year's end.

 

[73fj]

when your sumbitchin along and that sumbitch wont start, well thats not good.
But when that sumbitch fires up and drives, well then all the bad sumbitchin is forgotten.

 

[cult45]

when your sumbitchin along and that sumbitch wont start, well thats not good.
But when that sumbitch fires up and drives, well then all the bad sumbitchin is forgotten.

Sometimes ya gotta tho at sumbitch firing order in ayer!

 

[cult45]

We're doing some more filming at the end of January, so I had to sort a few things on the 45. Had a wavering idle and popping on deceleration. Clutch needed priming prior to almost every shift. Oil pressure capillary leaked at the pump. And a few other small things.

Sourced a new to me OEM intake manifold. Cleaned it with hydrochloric acid [not on the mating surfaces - used oven cleaner for those and the intake runners]. Came out with this epic rough cast look.

 

[cult45]

Saw these beauties on the way to the parts store one day.

 

[cult45]

Seeing as I had the intake off and 1 and 3 had 160 psi versus 175 psi like the other six I decided to pull the driver's side cylinder head and change the gasket. It was good to get eyes in there was well. There's a slight ridge on the cylinder wall and a decent amount of carbon [rebuilt 6k km ago huh?] but it was clean and tidy. The only snag was a snapped rocker assy. bolt during reassembly. Gave a Facebook shout out and the Holden community came to my rescue. I didn't even know the bloke! While I was there I checked the cam and lifters on that side of the engine and they're perfect. Not sure where the ticking is coming from. I was hoping to determine if the valves have been set up for ULP but it wasn't until I had the head off that I realised I'd need a spring compressor. Next time I reckon I'll pull both heads and lap the valves.

 

[cult45]

One of my one piece 16's had a serious crack in it, so The Catskinner traded me a good one. Just needed clips reattached! Nyloc's, spring washers and house paint as the per the original 'build'. If you look closely you can see the FJ80 booster. What a difference! Easily one of the best mods I've ever done.