fbekholden.com

Hi Neil,

My workshop is in Cockburn Central.

Well, last night I bit the bullet. My headstuds arrived around lunch time, and a quick call to Jay Harrison had a torque wrench sorted.

I pulled the rocker cover off to expose the head bolts. This head has been heavily ported, and the inlet port posts have been removed in favour of cap head bolts.

Because the cap head bolts were covered by the inlet manifold, I did not disturb these three bolts.

All of the other head bolts were then plucked one by one (in toque sequence) and replaced with the ARP headstuds, after draining the coolant.

I noticed that the old head bolts had a thick grey/black goo on them. I think this is some sort of thread sealant, however, it was from top to bottom of some bolts. I did not put as much sealant of the studs going in as the Permatex thread sealant that I was using did not seem to be as viscous as the black stuff on the old bolts, and it was impossible to get much to stay on the studs when they were inserted.

Once finished, I refilled the coolant and started it up. The radiator began to bubble, and the coolant quickly turned a soupy brown colour. It was at that stage that I thought oh bugger, its leaking oil into the cooling system. However, I thought bugger it, I'm going to drive it.

I pulled out onto the road, and loaded up the hi stall. Checked the gauges, all was well, good oil pressure, good water temperature, lots of boost. I let off the brake. The car then painted black lines for around 70m of road!

Bloody hell, the power this thing is making is incredible! I can't believe the difference that these studs (and last week's tune) has made to this car. It's an absolute rocket.

I'm concerned by the soupy coolant. I'm going to flush it and see whether it returns. The car is not overheating, so I don't think that the combustion chambers are leaking into the cooling system. I'm not sure where the oil could be getting into the cooling system, and am hoping that some leaked in during the head stud installation, and it will go away with a coolant flush.

All in all, my faith in the old 202 has been restored. It's amazing how much fun it is to drive at the moment.

fingers crossed for you, i love yor car

reds are rad

Hi Andrew sounds like you may be ok but the bubbling is not really a good sign it may just be a bit of shit has gotten in but I would do the flush as you said and then keep a real close eye.
Are still going to come to the Nostalgia's on Sunday we will be at the Gateway by 10.

Regards
Neil H

Hi Neil,

I am racing on Sunday so I will head down early to complete the scrutineering and check out the swapmeet.

I have recruited a very skillfull pitcrew of one - the legendary Nomad!

At least if I blow it up, one of our club members can give me a ride home

(AUST)Mod wrote:Hi Neil,

I am racing on Sunday so I will head down early to complete the scrutineering and check out the swapmeet.

I have recruited a very skillfull pitcrew of one - the legendary Nomad!

At least if I blow it up, one of our club members can give me a ride home

i think the word you are looking for is hack... haha but either way we'll have some fun

Cheers
Nathan

(AUST)Mod wrote:Hi Neil,

I am racing on Sunday so I will head down early to complete the scrutineering and check out the swapmeet.

I have recruited a very skillfull pitcrew of one - the legendary Nomad!

At least if I blow it up, one of our club members can give me a ride home

My car trailer is on standby mate

Update time:

Got old mate from Yarloop up to check it out. He discovered one of the centre head studs had pulled the thread in the block. We removed the head and helicoiled the block. The engine was otherwise in good order.

I am yet to refit the manifolds and test. Once they are back on, I'll take it to the strip to see what it can do.

Regardless of the result, I've decided to ditch the turbo 202.

I have puchased a rb25det which I'll slot in once I source an appropriate transmission . Sorry to the purists but it is time to make some real horsepower.

Hi Andrew,

Good choice on the rb25det, it will give you much better reliability than the red in this application.

I have been around racing holdens for most of my adult life and while they an be so much fun they can also be a disaster.

I have been helping a mate a lot in the last few years with a 179 EH in group nb track racing, we have done almost every mod to the engine you can imagine and we have now come to point where there is nothing left to do ! The brown water in our case almost always ends up being a cracked block, and it happens to all the reds especially at high rpm.There is no way to stop the harmonics in these long cranks so eventually they pull the main caps away from the bore and the block is done!

I'm not saying you cant hot a red up and have fun but like every engine they have there limits, it will be good to see the rb25det running the old girl down the track at blistering pace for sure.

Regards Greg

i now have to retract my last statement

Up date ??????

Update is it made a whole lot of smoke the last time I drove it. I suspect one of the turbo oil seals has let go.

I want to get the turbo rebuilt, sell the red driveline and get the RB in.

Anyone want to buy a hot 202 turbo with built powerglide?

Mad Pete was asking about it the other day , give him a call on 0432273057