Chev EK

[EK283]

Thanks guys, I appreciate the comments.

I do have OCD you realise, still not happy with a couple of things but thats life !

Just drive she said !!! Common saying in my house at the moment.

Greg

[Errol62]

18 years Greg, wow.


FB ute fixer upper, EK van on rotisserie

[EK283]

Well if it doesn't rain it hails !!!

Ive been driving around a bit and had the joy of the gearbox spit out fluid, lokar dipstick with 2 orings, sloppy as !!

I pulled it out and machined it down to suit the original type seal, hope this is fixed ! Sorry no photos.

Whilst i was at it i looked for a squeek the front end had developed, this time not so easy the upper wishbone has worn away the so called pressed in bushes and moved across enough to rub on the crossmember, GRRRRRRR !

So a quick fix you say, no the whole front end has to come out to get the top wishbones out, guess what it aint going to happen soon.

I had a thought and here goes,

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So a speedy sleeve might work as the bush just fell out, i have gotten this far but it appears the arm may be slightly out of shape and it wants to pull towards the shock tower, no use painting stuff when this happens, not happy Jan !

I stopped last night to re assess, i think i may have to re shape the arm somehow !!

Greg

[Blacky]

From memory you are using an LX front end ??? I have one here and was considering it for the 2 door.
One of the guys over here has a Jag front in his car - I plan on going right over it at the nationals to see how much work is in that swap - he reckons it rides beautifully.

I don't suppose they make an oversize bush for those? apparently, after I threw out a pair of otherwise perfectly good lower wishbones, an oversize lower ball joint is available

[EK283]

No oversized bushes that i can find, would have been simpler !

Anyway it worked out, i couldnt get the bush in as far as i liked but for now it will be ok. The Torana front is good and a nice ride but the issue is the alignment. There is no room to use spacers on the top arms unless you cut holes in the inner gaurds to get access.
To counteract that problem i have used offset bushes on the lower arms, to get the castor and camber right is fidly and the alignment gets knocked out after a couple of hundred kays.
I'm going to look into this with a bit more detail in the next few months, i may consider a custom front end, maybe.
Can't believe how dirty the under car gets in such a short time, oh and all the scratches are re painted as well.

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A quick alignment again and back on the road, Got lots of other stuff to do in the next 3 weeks, busy busy busy !!

Greg

[EK283]

So the nationals are over and i have done a massive 10076kms total, 8591 in the trusty Nivara tow vehicle and 1485 in the EK.

Now 1485 kilometers doesn't sound much, but to drive a car you have built without many kays on it and not knowing if it will all work together both at high speed and in general traffic, it was at last a great relief to have put it through its paces.

Although i had no major issue the trip did uncover a couple of gremlins that i will attend to in the next few months.

1/ Water leaks around the windscreen and in general, it rained on my car nearly every day for the whole trip. Familiar wet floors and boot.
2/ Brakes dragging occasionaly, I worked out that if i stopped the car then restarted it with my foot on the brake it would unlock. I'm putting this down to maybe a pushrod adjustment or the high quality chinese booster, the latter being more likely.
3/ Fuel gauge needs to be re calibrated, it was showing empty but when topped up only took 50 litres or so, i know its around 100 total, will drain and refill to get the exact amount.
4/ Nolathane bushes in the front resinate lots of road noise, i will revert back to rubber and modify my wheel alignment points at the same time. I am also going back to rubber in the rear, just to hush it up.
5/ Fuel pump lines noisy, i will have to mount all this on rubber, it's somewhat deafning if you tune into it !
5/ Diff ratio is too tall, i had a fellow FB Ekayer in the back seat and obviously doing 150 km/h in second wasn't comfortable and he couldn't see the view out the window (ha ha ha), sorry Clay.
6/ Smoke filter to be added for fresh air into the cabin, other inconsiderate road users like to send a smoke screen out without a care of who is sucking up the fumes !!!!
Apart from that i was really happy with the whole trip, i will do some calcs on fuel used and show it in a new blog shortly.

Regards Greg

[Blacky]

Call me paranoid but I think point #6 may just be aimed at my good self !!!

I was kicking myself after we parted ways, I must have thought a dozen times over the course of the weekend to get under your rocket with a piece of cardboard and a tape measure to make a template of your Caltracs and I kept forgetting…….

[Errol62]

Who said I wasn’t comfy? Only felt like we were doing 100. The car is brilliant. The doors shut with minimum effort. Beautifully finished. It’s practically faultless once you fix the brake issue and the fuel lines vibrating. Good luck on the leaks. They all do it.


FB ute fixer upper, EK van on rotisserie

[Harv]

Great to see this one on the road.

Dad used to reckon a well built car will close the doors with just one finger. Have watched him fettle the doors on a car for an hour, then just a gentle push and click-click its shut.

Cheers,
Harv

[EK283]

Call me paranoid but I think point #6 may just be aimed at my good self !!!

I was kicking myself after we parted ways, I must have thought a dozen times over the course of the weekend to get under your rocket with a piece of cardboard and a tape measure to make a template of your Caltracs and I kept forgetting…….

No issue, cause your such a nice guy i will draw a set of plans for you.

Regards Greg

[EK283]

Who said I wasn’t comfy? Only felt like we were doing 100. The car is brilliant. The doors shut with minimum effort. Beautifully finished. It’s practically faultless once you fix the brake issue and the fuel lines vibrating. Good luck on the leaks. They all do it.


FB ute fixer upper, EK van on rotisserie

Thanks Clay, i look foward to seeing you again in Temora.

Greg

[Errol62]

I hope to be up your way before then, but we are both looking forward to catching up again.


FB ute fixer upper, EK van on rotisserie

[WesternWagon]

Was good to catch up and see the car in the flesh, see you in Temora

PS thanks for the beers

[Blacky]

God bless ya

[Brett027]

I am really looking forward to experiencing this amazing car and learning from it in Temora too. A favourite build for me.