Project Car / Motorbike thread. Let's see 'em.

MasterOfReality

After forever
The workshop ended up pulling the motor as pretty much all the welch plugs were corroded, especially the one behind the engine mount which is impossible to access with the motor in the car. I guess a legacy of sitting for 10 years. But at least they are sacrificial.

If I knew they were pulling the motor I would have done some prior research into engine mods, but I do not want to rush that aspect. Get the fundamentals working first then go from there.

The good news is when the manifold and rocker covers came off, it was pretty clean inside. I was worried about sludge.
  • the 3.9 truetrack is in
  • all exhaust, manifold, rocker cover etc gaskets and various hoses have been done.
  • new water pump going on.
  • new plugs and leads.
  • new gear reduction starter motor going on.
  • fuel tank currently being cleaned
  • strut top mounts are ready to go in, as are the steering rack boots.
  • auto has been serviced, new kickdown cable ready to be installed.
  • new master cylinder to ordered.
  • ac regassed and found to be working. Lets see if it holds charge.
Car is back home. The new 3.9 diff ratio has woken it up a fair bit. Now need to order a speedo corrector module.

Sent the VP GTS wheels off to get restored last week, got the call today that the damage is a lot worse than expected. Of course it is!

Pulled out the dash cluster today as the tacho and fuel gauge is sticky. Will most likely send it off as I don't trust myself with a soldering iron.

As I was pulling it out, a nut disappeared down the back of the dash. Judging by its audible travel time it went deep. What a mf.

Ordered a cheap borescope and mag retrieval tool from Amazon. Will go and try to find a replacement nut in the meantime.
 

beeb

Dr. Beebenson, PhD HA, ST, Offset (hons)
Epic Magna adventure

Sadly no photos… The last one I got Mum was a TF Advance about 14 years ago. Super low kms on LPG with hail damage for $700. It was a champion for many years for my olds, living a hard life up a long dirt road and towing and generally racking up a shit tonne of kms. I did a few things to it over the years they had it - struts and driveshafts and a timing kit etc etc… The last time I went to do a 5 year timing service on it I decided it had too many things wrong with it and it was time. It had 270K on it, the heater core had gone, the suspension was shagged etc etc…. I bought Mum an FD i30 wagon to replace it.

But. Dad kept driving the Magna as a second car. I shit you not, I kept waiting for the phone call to say it had died, totally expecting the timing belt to go or something horribly fail on it. Another 5 years went by and it’s still going!!

And then Mum tells me the old girl towed a tandem trailer to Queensland and back from central Victoria and brought back half a tonne of NSU parts!! Wtf?

TLDR - old Magnas never die!
A mate had a TP Magna. It was a great car, purely because at the time there was so many of them at the wreckers you could find just about any part you needed that had just been reconditioned or replaced on one of the carcasses there… :p

To be fair (after a bevy of wrecker-sourced bits being installed), he abused the bejeezus outta that car and it served him well for several years.
 

Haakon

Keeps on digging
A mate had a TP Magna. It was a great car, purely because at the time there was so many of them at the wreckers you could find just about any part you needed that had just been reconditioned or replaced on one of the carcasses there… :p

To be fair (after a bevy of wrecker-sourced bits being installed), he abused the bejeezus outta that car and it served him well for several years.
It was one of the reasons I got them for the olds, cheap bits everywhere. The first TS model i got them did the standard Astron cracked head and rattly chains thing at 200K kms, and a reco head was found at pickapart for 80 bucks and another couple of hundred for chains and gaskets - easy and cheap. Even after that and 6 years of service I sold it to some backpackers for more than it cost me when I upgraded the olds to the TF.

Getting hard to find bits for them now. Starting to suspect they’ll be collectable in the foreseeable future…







I still prefer Renaults btw ;)
 
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Cardy George

Piercing rural members since 1981
In the latest instalment of FFS, I had more important things to do today, I had to re-manufacture the ring connector that bolts to the alternator.

The lights were flickering last night driving home, and then this morning the volt meter was bouncing all over the place before settling on 12.2V

That tube is supposed to be connected to that nut. The ring connector that used to poke out that tube is still under that nut.
20220924_105404-01.png


So a bit of drilling, grinding, countersinking and the ring is back on.
20220924_114637-01.png


It's not fixed properly, but it won't leave Mrs George stranded.
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Dales Cannon

lightbrain about 4pm
Staff member
We are planning on fitting ITBs on the track based XR4 at the end of the season. Mate picked up a manifold and some Chinesium ITBs for a good price. No actuator so as we have quite a few stock throttle bodies it was worth chopping one up to use as an actuator. How hard could it be.....



Not very.

Pulled the gubbins out and then popped off the outboard bearing cover and drifted the shaft out of the assembly. Then it was all Jeremy Clarkson with the cordless bandsaw for 20 mins then into the mill for a tidy up.



The motor direction means it would need to be mounted on the driver's side and that would interfere with the power steering pump so an alternative was needed. A few guys who have done this in EU on Foci mount the actuator under the manifold and lo there is heaps of room there. I hope. Anyway a quick stuff around and then make up something a bit more prettier.




It definitely needs an outboard bearing to support the shaft so the link arm will go in the middle and when the pillow block bearing arrives I will mill the spacer to the right size and lop off the excess length. Hopefully I can make use of the second throttle plate screw to retain the bearing. I will trim the blade to make sure there is enough strength for everything to bite onto. Link and arm and bearing on their way.



Space is very tight and I think we can get away with a Pipercross low profile filter and some short (very short) ram stacks. So short that I will drill and recess the bolts through the bellmouth at 65mm centres and then cut away the excess length and spigot them in the throat of the airfilter backing plate. Anyway that is the plan. I bought some cheap aluminium ones from that woodcutter's online shop and when they arrive from China I will see how that goes. If the bellmouths are too thin I will look at a little less machining and using a pan head screw or similar.
 

Scotty T

Walks the walk
Found a laser scanning mob and got a quote, and have a CAD guy who does engine mount stuff. Organising a hoist with good lighting. Heating sorted, will be able to run an engine tank heater which usually plugs into your 240V AC wall socket but can handle the 350V DC battery pack output and heat the original core. Measuring the donor tail shaft tomorrow, hopeful the small section with the existing bearing is long enough.
 

Haakon

Keeps on digging
Screwed most of a Renault auto trans together. Assembled all the clutches and sun gears and the internal drum/band. Put in the band pistons, stripped and cleaned and fitted the valve block, put all the sensors back in.

Next is the other drum/band, diff and oil pump and front case... Sort of being done as a favour for a bloke down here who couldnt get anyone to work on it for him...
IMG_3733.jpg
68439630666__3C7E2B3F-55D6-42E2-A527-CFEF8E724FF8.jpg
IMG_3731.jpg
 

beeb

Dr. Beebenson, PhD HA, ST, Offset (hons)
Screwed most of a Renault auto trans together. Assembled all the clutches and sun gears and the internal drum/band. Put in the band pistons, stripped and cleaned and fitted the valve block, put all the sensors back in.

Next is the other drum/band, diff and oil pump and front case... Sort of being done as a favour for a bloke down here who couldnt get anyone to work on it for him...
View attachment 393154View attachment 393156View attachment 393155
Did you park the car in “the spot” while the box is out?
 

rockmoose

his flabber is totally gastered
Screwed most of a Renault auto trans together. Assembled all the clutches and sun gears and the internal drum/band. Put in the band pistons, stripped and cleaned and fitted the valve block, put all the sensors back in.

Next is the other drum/band, diff and oil pump and front case... Sort of being done as a favour for a bloke down here who couldnt get anyone to work on it for him...
View attachment 393154View attachment 393156View attachment 393155
How many bits were left over once re-assembly was complete?
 

crash3

Likes Dirt
So sort of a project car - the 12v battery in miss 3's power-wheels jeep packed it in, so I've wired in an adapter for my makita 18v power tools, along with the voltage controller. It turns on now, but haven't given it a test drive yet.
Inaugural run yesterday.
Turned the voltage controller down to 67% (should be original 12V), worked great for 5 mins, then a pop and blue smoke.
RIP power-wheels.
 

komdotkom

Likes Bikes and Dirt
We are planning on fitting ITBs on the track based XR4 at the end of the season. Mate picked up a manifold and some Chinesium ITBs for a good price. No actuator so as we have quite a few stock throttle bodies it was worth chopping one up to use as an actuator. How hard could it be.....



Not very.

Pulled the gubbins out and then popped off the outboard bearing cover and drifted the shaft out of the assembly. Then it was all Jeremy Clarkson with the cordless bandsaw for 20 mins then into the mill for a tidy up.



The motor direction means it would need to be mounted on the driver's side and that would interfere with the power steering pump so an alternative was needed. A few guys who have done this in EU on Foci mount the actuator under the manifold and lo there is heaps of room there. I hope. Anyway a quick stuff around and then make up something a bit more prettier.




It definitely needs an outboard bearing to support the shaft so the link arm will go in the middle and when the pillow block bearing arrives I will mill the spacer to the right size and lop off the excess length. Hopefully I can make use of the second throttle plate screw to retain the bearing. I will trim the blade to make sure there is enough strength for everything to bite onto. Link and arm and bearing on their way.



Space is very tight and I think we can get away with a Pipercross low profile filter and some short (very short) ram stacks. So short that I will drill and recess the bolts through the bellmouth at 65mm centres and then cut away the excess length and spigot them in the throat of the airfilter backing plate. Anyway that is the plan. I bought some cheap aluminium ones from that woodcutter's online shop and when they arrive from China I will see how that goes. If the bellmouths are too thin I will look at a little less machining and using a pan head screw or similar.
What ECU are you running? Long rod 2.4 FTW.
 
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