As a teaser I'll leave you with these 2014 photos (in no particular order)

_________________
GT Four Adovansu

"I want to enjoy the powerful and nimble agility behavior."

Origami ST185!

Work getting in the way and slowing progress?....pfft, never heard of such a thing

You don't want to end up joining the legions of unfinished projects. Lately I've been trying to convince people to refurb in stages keeping their car on the road if possible. I guess the advice is a bit late for me and you!

_________________
Don
GT4DC Chairman
1994 Toyota Celica GT-Four ST205WRC JDM 269bhp @ 0.9bar
1994 Toyota Celica GT-Four Special GT 590bhp @ 1.8bar
1989 Van Diemen RF88/89 Formula Ford 1600
2008 Nissan Patrol GU 3.0L ZD30DDTi 154bhp

I've figured out that I need a job with regular hours that pays very well and to leave all the office politics and stress at the office. It's not that I didn't mind working extra hours here and there, but the mental fatigue of some of the projects I was managing was rendering me a immovable tv lump in the weekends.

hopefully a new role supporting Hyperion will pay me some decent coin without the added stress.

Origami is the flanges for making multi piece moulds of the guards. Curved coreflute board is for airbox edges.

and I won't join the unfinished projects team. It's why I'm still here after 7 years haha
yes hindsight is a *bleep* and as you say, the decision should have been to concentrate on engine before anything else. Its what I will do with Pearl and parts buying have concentrated on getting the motor running.

I dont think I'll take on another car project as extensive as this (and this is nothing compared to yours and others). Though I have the RC, I have to keep holding back for spending money because of a good deal (eg hks exhaust 2nd hand for $300 on local auction site).

Anyway, started rambling, better work on this exhaust system. I may not have the time for a while if I get a contract I've applied for.

_________________
GT Four Adovansu

"I want to enjoy the powerful and nimble agility behavior."

fun times ahead

_________________
GT Four Adovansu

"I want to enjoy the powerful and nimble agility behavior."

9 Dec 2014:(posted on Alltrac.net, just trying to maintain some sort of synchronisation)

After nearly 6 months of waiting, my car has finally been painted.. *cries in happiness.
Was about to pull the plug on the panel beater, but he pulled through in the end.

Will sort out updates when I have some available time. It's going to be all go pretty soon!

-----
It's been a long wait which I have not enjoyed. I should have gone with a panel beater who was able to fit within my schedule and paid more instead of doing it as a cash/perk job. As it goes, got a lot of fab stuff done on my friends car, so it was a good opportunity to practice my welding and push him along as well

Now to plan how I will spend my Christmas break..

14 Dec 2014: BMT is kiwi up at the top of the island - we chat like locals over a beer or two..


Life is just one big lesson at the end of the day haha.

I honestly thought that this person would be able to manage the job and meet my expectations but it just hasn't worked out that way. I was very clear up front and laid down my expectations accordingly, and it is really unfortunate that this has come to pass. I still get quizzical looks from friends when I say I haven't seen my car for 6 months - they are shocked!
And as you say, money is money - if they didn't want to spend the time to earn the money, then they shouldn't have taken on the job in the first place. I have declined a number of cash jobs, because a) I'm not in the automotive business and b) because I don't want to spend my time doing someone's elses car when I have my own hobbies to spend time on.

Panel beater's communication has dropped off again. Went from a high and the possibility of getting everything sorted, back to a low and feeling let down FFS

As to learning - I do go through my posts and photos and realise how far I have come. It is what I expected to achieve and more to be honest (I really didn't expect to be welding when I started, but I can pick up my tig and start welding confidently and comfortably now).

And I am a real stubborn *bleep* with this project. I won't buy another performance car unless this one is finished apart from the RC, which was only to save it and test mine and friends teasing that I had enough spare parts to build another car (I don't btw haha). I have learnt that I can't take too many projects on at any one time. I get bogged down and try to spread myself too thin, hence why I only have 1 main project car. The RC, Nick's R30 and me helping my close friends doesn't really count as taking on huge work, apart from Nick's R30 fabrication.

At the end of the day, I am as curious as anyone else as to how this car will turn out. Working on the RC made me realise how far I've removed it from a standard car. Engine bay is purposeful and devoid of additional extras. I'm making my ideas and thoughts happen the way I want them to happen and it works out most of the time. This car really is a progression of what I have imagined and put into practice, and amazingly it is on a car that I did not idolise or yearn for, growing up. Think of it as my canvas which I am applying my vision upon and testing out my ideas and skills.

FYI, when I get up that way when the car is finished, I'll hand you the keys and you can give it some stick. No issues

PS - been looking at potential next projects. Viewed a DDR Motorsport Miami kit car on Saturday - body shell fab quality is lacking, chassis looks decent, but overall the design is not well thought out. If I bought one, I would be there for years making improvements and fixing *bleep* up. Fraser needs to sell a LMP style car or roadster like the K1-Attack *hint hint I want my quality as well as the fun of building a kit car

_________________
GT Four Adovansu

"I want to enjoy the powerful and nimble agility behavior."

So I haven't done a proper update for a long time, mainly as the painting of the shell has taken a lot longer than expected as I have lamented previously and I've been mainly working on my friend's car.

But finally I am glad to say (with much relief and happiness) that the shell has been painted along with various other parts. Major parts outstanding are the bonnet, bumper and guards and some minor trim incl the headlights.

As usual, the time is in the preperation of the shell and various parts and I'm pretty happy with the result from the initial visual inspection. However, the rear guards were not rolled as requested, so I have not got the car back yet while I wait for the panel beater to roll the guards. If the new paint cracks during rolling, the panel beater and I have agreed that the car is to be sanded back a couple of layers and then painted again. He could feather some repairs in, but it is not the preferred option.

Paint used is PPG Delfleet with Toyota 040 white. Delfleet chosen as the panel beater does a lot of commercial work and he recommended the product due to high durability and excellent finish. Paint cost a little more than a standard 2 pack paint.

I went with the old 040 super white as I didn't want the slight yellow tint that the new toyota whites have. I feel that the age of a car also dictates the paint finish e.g. my car wears solid colours well and some known metallic combinations, but newer paint combinations like harlequin or the mazda 3 stage velocity red do not work as well.

2 layers of paint, 2 layers of clear coat. Pics show the car in the dark, covered with thin layer of dust, but the car has been panelled and painted











So in late October, the panel beater finally gave the bonnet and bumper back to me so that I could take moulds. I started a new job in October which has been consuming my time (as any job does) so I decided that I would send out the moulding to a local fibreglass company called Carboglass. I have been dealing with them since 1998, buying various supplies off them and have seen their products on various race and show cars over the years so knew they had no issue with the moulding and reproductions.

So after some initial discussions around requirements, I took the RC bonnet and bumper around to Carboglass. Zac was a little confused at why I wanted to retain the factory lines of the bonnet main vent and side vents, but I noted that it was these small details that distinguish the RC look from a bonnet like the ST20 which has a more integrated vent. I am guessing he was actually trying to make the job easier by erasing lines, but we all know what makes an RC a RC

He also questioned why I was making replicas of standard parts. Easy explanation - no stock left at Toyota. Replica's are the way forward as far as I am concerned. I did note that the bumper required the mounting flanges to be built in.

Come mid December, the moulds and first production pieces were available (apprently took 3x the hours to complete as an apprentice was tasked with the job as a learning experience - no extra charge from quote though). The results are excellent reproductions but still require some finish work before paint as I had expected. Cost a pretty penny to do this exercise, but I am glad I did as I now own moulds for these sought after items.

As you can see from this pic, the bonnet frame was also moulded to ensure strength of the bonnet. Location holes are used for the bonnet hook and hinges. Mould flanges are wide for vacuum moulding carbon bonnets. Materials used allow for 100+ copies to be made - money. well. spent!


First look at the bumper. Main holes are cut, though bonnet and bumper still require various mounting and utility holes cut out.


The trim piece was not incorporated into the mould. Having seen this with other bonnets, namely the carbon ones, it looks a little 'off'. Looks pretty good though




After viewing the moulds and collecting the first reproductions, I got to visit a very special project that Zac is working on - a DDR Motorsport kit car:
http://forum.autoclique.co.nz/showthrea ... 2-Supercar
https://www.facebook.com/FZ12Supercar

Zac told me about this a couple of years ago (up at the scrapyard no less haha) and after asking some questions around it, I was taken around to the workshop to have a look at the car and progress.

I have been looking at kitcars and the DDR Motorsport as a potential new project, mainly as they have a 3SGTE powered derivation using a SW20 donor car so was very curious at the chassis and body work.

After spending about 3/4 of an hour checking out the chassis/body work first hand and chatting about plans and delay's Fraser has encountered, I left more than a little disappointed with the DDR kit and will most probably look at other kits unless they sort out a slew of issues (at least from my perspective).

_________________
GT Four Adovansu

"I want to enjoy the powerful and nimble agility behavior."

Christmas/New Years arrived and family descended on Wellington during the break. Very little work done of course.

A couple of days before Christmas however, I had a look on the progress of my guards. Again, not a lot of work done on them over the past 6 months much to my disappointment/frustrtion. They still had some adhesive on them which I had asked to be removed with some wax and grease remover (15 minute job at most). I guess in some ways, I should be thankful that they weren't through out in the rubbish (have heard that story a couple of times over the years due to things sitting around for too long)

Here they are with a primer filler to clean up some cracks that had developed in the foam/bog during the finishing process.





Sometimes I forget that I made them kind of wide




As mentioned previously, I have been working on a Nissan R30 Skyline. This is the exhaust I built and it is as long as my Forester!


Back to Celica stuff. Comparing apples with apples, original equipment next to the fibreglass copies.


Cool thing about this bonnet is that they build the bonnet hook into the frame. No need for bonnet pins


I bothered to weight the parts.
Original bonnet weight = 17.6kg, fibreglass copy = 8.3kg. Weight savings = yes


Threaded inserts are bonded in for hinge mounting


Vent opening has a gap for mesh to be tucked into


Side vents are moulded in and functional

_________________
GT Four Adovansu

"I want to enjoy the powerful and nimble agility behavior."

So last week with family activites slowing down, I was able to get some work done on the Celica. Somehow I manage to the bonnet into my little Forester. There is also room for a couple of bumpers as well.


Currently working over at the garage where Pearl is being stored. Bumper ready to have the various holes cut. Carboglass cut the main holes including the number plate mounting holes.

Original bumper weight = 3.3kg, fibreglass copy = 4.3kg. Weight savings = no. Solution - don't eat McDonalds before track day?


Close up of indicator and vent.
Indicator: area needs cutout for screw mount that clips in on the left and 2 horizontal cut outs on the right.
Vent: On factory RC bumper, there are two slots down low and a screw mount clipped into the square'ish block, which allow a piece of mesh in a metal bracket to be installed in place. As I will be using mesh from behind (current plan) I will most likely cut off the block as you cannot get replacement mesh parts from Toyota Japan any more (check with Toyota NZ).


Holes for licence plate and mounting bumper to support bar are there. Just need to swap over the licence plate mount clips.


Remember when I said I had asked for mounting flanges to be built in as part of the mould? Well here they are.
This flange has a 2 piece bracket which allows the bumper to clip to the front guard.


The flange at the top of the bumper is also built in.


Pearl's bumper, and no, I can't scavenge the mesh. It was quite twisted and broken up.


Guards and bumper on Pearl.


Got widebody? Hell yeah!




These wheels are 16x7 - there is a lot of gap to fill

_________________
GT Four Adovansu

"I want to enjoy the powerful and nimble agility behavior."

With the bonnet and bumper copies in hand, a decision has been made to use the copies on my car and put the originals on Pearl. Couple of reasons for this: 1) weight savings for me, 2) better re-sale value for Pearl.

The original bonnet and bumper needed a quick tidy up and sand after the fibreglass moulding process and it really isn't that much more work to prime and sand the copies, but before the copies can be sent to the panel beater, I have to cut out the various mounting and utility holes.


Using a drill and some small hand files, I started with the washer jet holes. Garage vacuum cleaner used while sanding to clear fibreglass debris to ensure I don't mess up my friend's garage too much.


Luckily I can make out most shapes after the moulding process. Next stop, holes for the bonnet spoiler. More photos on the main camera (majority of these photos are from the phone camera) but I used a holesaw to cut the larger 25mm holes - 4 at the rear of the bonnet and 5 at the front of the bonnet. Will post up more later.


Some clean up on the factory bumper. They use a modelling clay to close gaps and there was still remenants of it in tight places. I am using the factory bumper as a guide for the hole cutting.


My little temp workspace. I originally had both bumpers on the work horses, but they feel on to the garage floor, copy first then the original landing on top of it... ARGH!. Being very tired, I was *bleep* off at myself for not positioning bumpers into more secure position. Picked up bumpers and to my relief only minor scratches to the gel goat, no chunks missing *sigh of relief. Used a couple of rags under bumper to be more stable while working on it.


Used some pencil to lightly indicate my cut areas. Cut close then file finish.




Started on the bumper support.


3 pins to position and 4 rivets to hold into place. Left hand side was relatively straight forward, right hand side took longer as the fibreglass was laid down thicker, pushing the bracket out a couple of mm in one place.
2mm drill bit for pilot holes, before using 4mm drill bit very slowly. Need to manage drill speed as there is the risk of breaking fibreglass so close to the edge.


And mounted properly. Top and bottom holes to drill


Trick: us small flathead to pry pieces apart gently. Thin bracket on LHS bends very easily - ensure you don't bend on removal.


Top and bottom bracket holes drilled. Again due to risk of breaking the glass so close to the edge, need to take time. This used 2.5 / 4 / 6.5 / 8 / 10mm drill bits to slowly open up the hole.

_________________
GT Four Adovansu

"I want to enjoy the powerful and nimble agility behavior."

Looks like some fine work has gone into the replica parts and also your finishing and fettling. Very easy to rush this and end up damaging the parts so good to see you are being careful and taking the time. You make a good point about the replica bumper being heavier than the original. I'm sure my C-One replica front bumper plus the undertray/splitter will have added weight to the front of my track project. Hopefully balanced out by the McPherson strut conversion, relocation of the battery and removal of the heavy WTA pumps and rads.

Keep up the good work and the photo diary updates!

_________________
Don
GT4DC Chairman
1994 Toyota Celica GT-Four ST205WRC JDM 269bhp @ 0.9bar
1994 Toyota Celica GT-Four Special GT 590bhp @ 1.8bar
1989 Van Diemen RF88/89 Formula Ford 1600
2008 Nissan Patrol GU 3.0L ZD30DDTi 154bhp

Trying to get time to do the updates - just seem to be doing work on the cars all the time to push things through. While work is slow at the mo, I expect things to ramp up over the next couple of weeks. Will try and dedicate some time to catching up on the progress over the years.

_________________
GT Four Adovansu

"I want to enjoy the powerful and nimble agility behavior."

In a bid to catch up on all of the photos, I'm going to break down the work into months to break down the task of documenting the build into months. Sorry if some stuff gets repeated, but I can't be bothered going back to see what I have and haven't posted up. Last major update was up to the end of 2011 so..

January 2012

Cleaned up rocker cover and painted it.




Kept disassembling the body, removed various clips and gave the panels a wipe down


Started figuring out the brake lines and bias valve. I suspect at the time I also finished up the seam sealing in the engine bay.


String to start aligning the prop shaft as the engine wasn't in so no real point of reference.





Re-assembled the rear brake drum pads. Tip, use a small pair of pliers to help push in this washer as you twist the washer under the retention pin.


Clamp also helps hold things in place if you are doing it by yourself.


Rotate the hub so the access hole is over the pad retention pin, use the pliers to position the washer, push in then turn under the pin.


After one pad is in, keep on reassembling. Use pliers to get the top springs over the centre post. Ensure your adjuster is in at the bottom.


New swaybar links. Decided to go for factory standard with the whiteline adjustable swaybar before going to adjustable swaybar links. Would complicate the setup if I added too much too soon.


Decent allen key set and spanners make life easier when installing the swaybar links. I also have a 1/2" hex socket set which I use for more torque as needed.



Torque up various arms


Rear setup complete except for mounting the brake caliper.




Tip. Mount the caliper and use a screwdriver in the vent to stop the hub rotating when torquing the cv nut. Works with larger rotors, prob won't work for standard rotors. Hand brake generally won't put enough pressure on the inside of the rotor to stop the hub rotating.


Nick came around and helped chuck the wheels on and cut down my extended studs for the front hubs.


New bushes, links, ball joints and cleaned up the sway bar mounting brackets.


A-arms with new bushes and cleaned up. Swaybar painted red.. like a fire engine..


After cutting the studs, Nick cleaned up the threads with the die set.



Extended studs pressed into the hub.


New steering rack boots.


Rack joints were very clean, showing little wear. Left them as they were.


New tie rod ends


Starting to assemble the front suspension.


New steering rack bushes.


Righto, end of January with progress in replacing worn items, refurbing brackets and test fitting various parts

_________________
GT Four Adovansu

"I want to enjoy the powerful and nimble agility behavior."

So February 2012 was a busy month. 121 images strong so lets get into it.

Talking with my friend Leigh and his father Tom some years back, the plan was to change the fuel and brake hardlines for copper nickel pipe.
Also known cupronickel pipe or bundy tube, the pipe comes in rolls and can be bend into various shapes to replace factory hardlines as long as you use the right fittings.

I decided to re-route the brake hardlines which go to the bias valve to clean up the aesthetics of the firewall as it looked a bit cluttered. hindsight says I shouldn't have bothered as you generally can't see lines behind the engine and manifold. Oh well...
Cool thing about copper nickel is that even if it is bent, you can generally bend it back into a straight and start again, as long as it isn't bent heavily on a 90 degree angle. Straightening a 90 is not easy to achieve.

Requirements are the correct size pipe, tube cutter and flaring tool.


Cut pipe by rotating cutter around the pipe, scoring the pipe on a couple of rotations, then tighten, then rotate a couple of times again. Repeat until pipe is cut.


Using a flaring tool, flare the end of the pipe (normally a double flare for a better fit and that is the factory spec). Fitting is placed on the pipe before flaring.


And then you have a nicely flared pipe with the fitting.


A hand held bender is normally used, and this one uses a wheel with different sized grooves for the different sized pipes. There are other pipe benders, but this ampro model seemed reasonably compact. You can also bend by hand.


Straightening out the pipe as best as possible, I put fitting on, flared the pipe and gave it a slight bend.


And slowly but surely bend a little, bend a little more, figure out the angle, bend some more. Diagram helps to figure out what goes where.
Note, I used the factory pipe brackets.



And slowly getting there.


Open head spanner is best for tightening up and unscrewing the fittings. It is quite a mission to straighted a pipe that comes in a coil. Length is determined by using a tape measure and tracing out the path of the pipe. If the pipe length is short, you can use a joiner or start again. I commonly started again and reused the old pipe for smaller length pieces.



And lines to the bias valve complete.



And they fit with the factory brackets.


If you want to fit a brake booster bracket, you have to change or bend this pipe to the side. Challenge is to make sure there is no interference with the cam cover as the distance between the booster and cover is around 20-30mm? (can't remember exactly) There is a very narror space is what I can remember.


And something new to allow a brake booster bracket to fit.


When I was removing things out of the engine bay, I was very rough and bent the fuel and rear brake lines to get them out of the way when I was cleaning up the seam sealer. I didn't realise that once the steel lines are bent, they don't bend back easily. I also didn't realise there was another bracket on the underside of the car. Way to make more work for myself. Will get back to it in a moment.


Just some general photos. Engine with caldina intake and CT26R2 (CT20B)


Replaced rocker cover gasket ensuring to use goo in the corners as per BGB


Comparison between st205 and 215 throttle bodys. This is why you can't just swap the TB position sensor over. Different mounting and locater dowel.


ST215 TPS on left, ST205 on the right.


ST215 TPS is 3 pin, ST205 TPS is 4 pin.


ST215 TB on left, ST205 TB on right. Rear of TBs shown


ST215 TB on left, ST205 TB on right. Front of TBs shown


While I was disassembling the engine ancillaries, I bent the pipe from the water pipes to oil cooler. Thanks Hose from Hell.
I got a hardline pipe from a ST202 as a replacement but found that this pipe facing upwards interfered with the sensors on the water junction.


Many pipes make light work. Got a replacement pipe and it came with a Gen3 3sgte block.



Unfortunately my replacement pipe was rather pitted as they must have removed the pipe with a screwdriver and damaged the flange. They had a lot of goo between flange and water pump outlet to ensure no leaks.


Changed the gasket on the oil cooler (warmer..)


New HTH's installed. I polished the pipe a little as well.


Broke one of the bolts on the oil cooler mounting flange. Too much torque with a 3/8, so tightened by hand. Later I bought a 1/4 drive torque wrench for these low torque jobs.


Made a rolling frame for my engine and gearbox. Designed the frame so the engine sits just above the legs of the engine crane to allow the crane legs to be moved around easier as I'm pushing around the engine.


New spark plugs. Did I mention I found an old spark plug below the brake booster? Must have been an old one which got left in the engine bay as they prob couldn't reach it.


New thermostat


Had to reuse the gasket. No significant wear or tear, so just cleaned it up and reinstalled.


Engine brackets, 2x st202, 1x st205. Smaller brackets make things tidier in the engine bay. Will use them to install engine into car, then remove them once engine is in the car.


The mighty crank pulley holder. Holder is bolted on to the pulley and then the crank pulley tightened through the hole while holding pulley in place. Built the tool to also do Subaru EJ crank pulleys as I had to change the cambelt on the Forester.



Sandwich plate for an oil cooler. Changed this to a better design (you will see later). These plates still require thermostats as they commonly don't have thermostatic control built in.



That will do for now and only gets me to the 4th of Feb..

_________________
GT Four Adovansu

"I want to enjoy the powerful and nimble agility behavior."

Fun thing about living close to a pick a part scrapyard, is the fun stuff that comes through the yard. I probably mentioned it before, but this is a 1998 5SFE short block I removed from a car (in the rain..) for ~$150. Idea was to look to do a stroker later. Job at the time was to attach the gearbox to the engine. I didn't want to re-use the flywheel cover from the old engine as it was damaged from transit and was looking a little worse from wear. Nick comparing the 3S cover to the 5S cover.


3S cover over the 5S cover. 5S cover is slightly larger, so Nick scribbed a cut line to fit the cover for this application.



On to the grinder to cut back


And test fit against the gearbox


Time to take the engine off the stand



Place engine onto rolling frame, ready to attempt the gearbox to engine union (marriage, mating, partnership - insert adjective of your choice)


Engine off the stand also allowed me to fix a bolt I broke off when changing the rear crank seal.


Remove bolts, cut away sealant, remove crank seal housing, clean up sealant, reinstall with new sealant and new bolt






3SGTE flywheel skimmed at a local engine rebuilders for $50 (about that price i think)


Comparison with 5S flywheel.









Mount flywheel and torque bolts using crank pulley tool to stop crank rotation - very handy tool this..


Align clutch to flywheel. I remember this issue (sigh). Borrowed a flywheel alignment tool off a friend but it didn't have the correct size to align the clutch properly. Thickened the alignment tool using electrical tape, then measured with ruler to align, but it was a bit dodgy. Ended up buying a clutch alignment tool which worked better than that the first tool. Wasted hours trying to do a relatively straightforward job (cue recurring theme with any car project)


Removed stickers on clutch plate then cleaned up residue




Once clutch aligned, torqued bolts - job done


next issue - release bearing and clutch fork. The gearbox shop previously lost my clutch fork. I got a replacement (on right), but the release bearing wouldn't fit on to the fork with the supplied retainer clip. So back up to the scrapyard and managed to get a fork from a standard 3S and it worked out


Differences between cast iron and pressed forks.


Release bearing in place



grease the outer shaft for the release bearing and the pivot point of the fork



And clutch fork installed. Test the bearing by pushing on fork and


bearing moves as it should


attach the grommet


and sweet as..

_________________
GT Four Adovansu

"I want to enjoy the powerful and nimble agility behavior."

The Union - suffice to say, anyone who has done this knows the challenge in achieving the engine to gearbox union. Helps that I have a crane and balancer for a start.


Many many many attempts were undertaken to try and get the gearbox on to the engine. Engine on the balancer, gearbox on the balancer, rotate this way, that way etc etc. Was up to 4am trying to get this done


You'd get to a point and the gearbox wouldn't go on any more. So close yet so far away.


Start again


Wake up, have a shower/food/coffee, dread the prospect of making this happen.


Check alignment again. Attempts last night moved clutch plate


Remove the clutch, time to re-align. Nick actually read the instructions for a tool..



Time to attempt the missle silo method. Laid out some carpet on the garage floor, measured the difference between the crank pulley and cam cover then got a couple of blocks of wood to allow the engine to sit relatively vertical. Jonno, Nick and I carefully tipped the engine on to the cam/crank pulley end, ensuring that little pressure was put on the edges of the crank pulley for fear of breaking those edges. Wow, it sits on that end of the engine quite nicely.

Reorientate the straps on the gearbox, lift and rotate and move over the engine to mount.. (fingers crossed). Jonno and Nick were actually quite surprised about this method. First time I had done the Union, so it was all an experiment for me.



We successfully got the box aligned and moving down, but we couldn't get the box on properly, there was always about 15mm left to go. Someone on a board had previous said that a mounting point stuck out, which was commonly ground off to allow the transfer case to slip on. Guess what, the transfer case was hitting the aforementioned mounting point.


Bye bye mounting point..


It is so little tolerance in there, mere milimetres between block/pan and transfer case. Anyone had luck rotating the gearbox while mating to the engine to rotate the transfer case into position? How do you get your gearbox on?


removing the mounting point just made the job that much simplier!


Success!



And just in case, I had a spare cam cover from a gen3 3sge. Will put some holes in it later for the cam pulleys

_________________
GT Four Adovansu

"I want to enjoy the powerful and nimble agility behavior."