Apoc's AU3 XR6 & other assorted cars

dannysebxr6 · Post by **dannysebxr6** » January 9th, 2012, 9:14 am

rocker looks mint mate,
and the rust spots look similar to mine on the sills. must be a ford thing.
lol at the plates, so now it'll need more power for sure.
but awesome job on the rocker cover

i think i might do something like that on mine when i cbf.

apoc · Post by **apoc** » January 9th, 2012, 10:27 pm

Thanks man

It's a working progress. Im driving 140km a day for work, so getting it reliable N/A is the first target lol.

dannysebxr6 · Post by **dannysebxr6** » January 9th, 2012, 10:34 pm

Nice that's a fair old hike to work!
And I thought my 65km round trip from the city was long enough.
And reliable yes I know what you mean.

apoc · Post by **apoc** » January 10th, 2012, 8:42 am

Filled up this morning, am using around 13.2L/100km of gas. Should be even better now that Ive fixed the overheating issue and set the timing correctly. Certainly feels much stronger, even on gas!
Next things to do:
-Pull the BBM off & degrease inside, maybe deburr it a bit while im at it.
-Port the EB head I have here, unless I can get my hands on an EL XR head & will do that. Possibly will even use the EL GLi head I have here, it may be better than the EB one to start with.
-Replace ISC with a cleaned one & clean throttle body.
-New plugs/leads/dizzy cap/rotor button.
-Fit new power steering pump & new o-ring on HP line.
-Wheel alignment.
-High flow cat.

Am hoping I havent blown the headgasket, its been starting a bit doggy, misses for a second then its ok. Sounds like a headgasket to me

kwikxr · Post by **kwikxr** » January 11th, 2012, 9:28 pm

Good stuff with the rocker cover mate, the red looks mint

If you are going to be sanding it back smooth, maybe do a final coat of red, but a nice thick coat. Obviously, not so thick that the paint runs, but make sure the paint looks wet all over, helps with the shine, especially if you don't plan on clearcoating it afterwards. A few coats of clear over the top usually works nicely though, give's the colour and the metalflake a bit more 'pop'

Keep up the good work with the EB too mate, done well so far

apoc · Post by **apoc** » January 30th, 2012, 10:00 pm

SOoo,
Pretty sure Ive mashed the headgasket now. Checked the timing again tonight, as its been pinging on petrol, and it was out. Set it right, then drove out to mum and dads to get some bits off the EF wreck, went well.
Spluttered and coughed on the start of the drive home, then wouldnt rev and got uber hot. Thought Id skipped a tooth on the dizzy, but managed to get home & checked the timing - OK.
The header tank was SUPER pressurised though, with air not just coolant. Makes me think headgasket. Oil isnt milky.

This engine is a massive PITA. Feel like getting another motor just to jam in it...
Will likely be doing a headgasket on the weekend.

Ill check the plugs in the morning, see if theyre rusty or have signs of coolant. Might even have hydrolock if Im super lucky!

apoc · Post by **apoc** » January 31st, 2012, 6:23 pm

Put a new radiator cap on tonight, as the old one fell to bits when I pulled it off last night. MAy have been the cause of my issue? weird. Checked the plugs, all fine. Starte it up, went fine, petrol & gas. not low on coolant either, even after it spewed 500mL-1L out last night

Took it for a drive, all OK. cooler than normal. wtf? Radiator cap fail?

apoc · Post by **apoc** » February 5th, 2012, 7:32 pm

LOL this car is being random now, doesnt like the new engine apparently.

Put some EL leads, dizzy cap, rotor button on it. New plugs. Set the timing (again) and the base idle. Things are better, but just not feeling 100% about it yet.

Did a compression test, ~175-190psi in all 6 cylinders.
Have been keeping an eye on the water levels, all OK. Oil hasnt gone milky. So maybe not the headgasket.

- Surges on gas & petrol between 2-3k rpm, nfi what is causing that.
- I assume the mark on the balancer on EF is TDC, but I set it up ~10mm before the mark and it ran like crap. Felt retarded. Advanced it a bit and seems right, going by the timing light its ~15-16*.
- Still seems to be getting hot, I had to replace the radiator as the old EL one corroded a hole in the core. Not the same issue as last time, it heats up normally but it gets to between 60-80% on the guage on the way to work, doing 100km/h. THats too hot in my book, but I have no idea as to what is causing it! (Note: This issue only started happening after the drive from mum & dads the other day). Thermos are engaging OK.

I left the ecu in diag mode when I drove to the parentals the other night, and was fair raping it. Could this have fried my ecu? So thermos arent coming on as early as normal?

apoc · Post by **apoc** » February 5th, 2012, 7:36 pm

Just had a thought, maybe the cat is blocked? Ill swap it for the gutted one I have on the EL and see how it goes maybe. The gearbag does seem to be getting excessively hot.

SnyperEB · Post by **SnyperEB** » February 5th, 2012, 8:19 pm

Love the plates mate!!!

apoc · Post by **apoc** » February 5th, 2012, 8:58 pm

EBGLT wrote:Love the plates mate!!!

Thanks man

me too!

apoc · Post by **apoc** » February 28th, 2012, 12:34 pm

Bit of work on this recently, turns out the new thermostat I got from Autobarn was crap as. Died after the car got hot a few times.
Bought a new one, looks better quality. Put it in, much cooler now. Doing the super hot junk again, just need to drill another hole.

Filled up the sills and L/H dogleg with bog, sanded & painted. Came up pretty good, not bad for a first effort at filling and painting!
The sill was hard to get flat, but the bog is only a stop-gap fix. When it rusts again Ill weld another sill in.

Some progress pics, R/H side is finished, just havent got a pic of it.

apoc · Post by **apoc** » March 11th, 2012, 7:52 pm

Sills have pretty much been finished, came up pretty darn good! Gave the old beast a wash today, took aaaages cos of the 11ty bugs on the front

Cleaned inside, cleaned up the leather on the seats with a toothbrush (damn long job, but worth it!) and treated the old leather with some Meguiars leather cream. Looking, feeling & smelling much better now!
Repainted the rocker cover, I wasnt really happy with the finish before. Came up 1000% better this time around

Also got defected. Only a minor though, rear right tyre is bald.

Will post up a few pics tomorrow at work, I have a BF3 match on now

apoc · Post by **apoc** » March 11th, 2012, 9:24 pm

Got smashed in the BF3 match, so heres some pics.

kwikxr · Post by **kwikxr** » March 12th, 2012, 2:31 pm

Nice! That came out looking heaps more glossy, good stuff

apoc · Post by **apoc** » March 31st, 2012, 8:00 pm

Bit of an update, got a whole pile of things going on at the moment, between work, band, church, and fixing cars its been pretty flat out.

-The EB is going well, consistently getting good L/100km. No more overheating issues etc.
-Range rover is all wired up (well 95%) and working. Installed a tacho and UHF, made a bullbar out of some scraps we had around.
-Pulled the trims off the XW tonight, ready for paint in the next few weeks.
-Paint stripping the Mach 1, thats going for paint soon too.
-Fixing the boot rust in dads GT, found some dodgy repairs in there which have to be fixed.
-Concreted my shed. Will be good to have my own pad so I can bring all my stuff home.

Pics:

Range Rover:

Shed:

XW:

1970 Mach 1:

Dads GT:

Soo its been busy. Looking forward to these cars being painted!
PS rust repairs take ages. lol. Especially when theres a whole bunch of cars :S

Cheers

apoc · Post by **apoc** » March 31st, 2012, 8:07 pm

kwikxr wrote:Nice! That came out looking heaps more glossy, good stuff

Thanks mate! It was worth the effort

apoc · Post by **apoc** » April 30th, 2012, 3:35 pm

Had a bit of a failure in the eb yesterday, started it up and smelt a pile of coolant. That acrid smell, well turns out my heater core hates me, and decided to spew coolant all through my passenger footwell -.-

So dash is coming out.
Also another header tank going in, as mine has a corroded cap seat.
Will get some pics when I do the dash.

apoc · Post by **apoc** » May 7th, 2012, 4:19 pm

Got the dash out of the EB on Saturday! Bit of a job, but not too bad.
Decided to put an EF dash in, just because I have one here lol. Should look a bit better.

How it looks now (in my newly concreted and painted shed

) :

The A/C rad is stuffed too. No wonder it was leaking gas.

Cheers

apoc · Post by **apoc** » May 14th, 2012, 1:46 pm

Been pretty busy with this old beast. Put the EB loom into the EF dash, cut and shut a few plugs, and
figured out the cluster looms and soldered it in. Should have it in in the next few days!

Im dying to drive my own car again, been driving mums BA Ghia, dont like it at all. Auto feels crap, fly by wire throttle has no feel, crappy lpg mileage. Anyone know how to tune ELPIGAZ mixer ring systems?

Ps its so good living in my bachelor house

soldering dash looms on the kitchen floor is epic as.

Pics:

So many dang spot welds in the floor plate! ffs, took me ages. Took my frustration out on the trans tunnel with a hammer

Cheers,
Neil

apoc · Post by **apoc** » May 23rd, 2012, 9:36 am

Got the dash finished over the weekend, been driving it this week. The new heater core leaked like a sieve this morning, FFS!!

I think the cooling system is being pressurised somehow. Also on the way to work it just cut spark randomly, right in the middle of a roundabout... Gay.

Thinking about buying a newer car just to get me to work. This thing can ggf for a while

Might build an EA GT out of it.

apoc · Post by **apoc** » May 25th, 2012, 12:36 pm

Sooo after my emo sesh the other day, this thing is running again. Had to drive dads old LandCruiser to work, 150km on 5 cylinders is crap as.

While I was at work dad bypassed the heater core, so at least I can drive the damn car now. Didn't miss a beat this morning, or last night.
Checked the cooling system for pressure after revving the s**t out of it for ages, and its fine.
Must have got a dud heater core, got another brand newie coming this arvo.
Main gayness is the carpet has been all coolanted, smells like aids! Have to wash it again which is a bitch.

For the fuel economy this does, it really isn't worth getting a new car.

LOL

Ill chuck up some pics of the dash out again.

josh_ef · Post by **josh_ef** » May 30th, 2012, 10:53 pm

maybe get a new carpet in it?

there not much over 100 bucks

whats plans for the el flooring?

looking good mate!

apoc · Post by **apoc** » May 30th, 2012, 11:38 pm

Thanks mate!

I ended up cleaning the carpet out pretty good, used a section of the good underfelt from the EB carpet and dried it out good. Came up 100%.

The EF floor has been welded into the floorpan of the EB, makes it so I can have a proper handbrake! have to modify the seat rails a fair amount though.
Looks heeeaps better so far, door trims are to go in yet, then a super clean lol.
Still no pics, its dark when I leave for work, by the time I get home its dark again.
Will be getting a cam soon.

apoc · Post by **apoc** » June 11th, 2012, 7:50 pm

Bit of an update, this has been going good.

Found some more 18" GTPs from a guy for cheap cheap, they were bought for a BA XR and they obviously didnt fit.

Mounted the gas switch properly in the dash, with the right sticker. Paid ronza a visit who very kindly sold me an ELXR cluster, power window switches, a gearboot & a few other bits.
EL XR trims are installed in the rear (ex-psixr), yet to get window regs for the fronts, so they arent in yet.
Pulled out the EB cruise because I hate it, and Ford installed it with scotch clips, fail. So it was causing problems. When I have a spare minute Ill install an EL cruise module.
Reinstalled my sub because Im sick of my music sounding rubbish.
Still havent setup the handbrake, but will get there eventually lol.

ALso its been pretty wet around here the last week, got epic flooded around Sale. I dunno if Commando got washed out or not

Took a bit of a pic on my way to see ronza.
Also see the vids for floods action.

This is the Avon river in Stratford. Normally a small creek if anyone's seen it:

The footbridge next to the causway in Sale:

MOBILE: http://s731.photobucket.com/albums/ww31 ... d15a22.mp4

MOBILE: http://s731.photobucket.com/albums/ww31 ... 5844e6.mp4

Also my gearbox is completely stuffed, will be purchasing a rebuilt one in the near future.

MOBILE: http://s731.photobucket.com/albums/ww31 ... 0b592b.mp4

apoc · Post by **apoc** » July 1st, 2012, 12:34 am

Got a T5 & setup from ronza today, installed it when I got home. Much smoother! My oil leak is also much worse than I thought, engine will have to come out. The clutch feels stuffed anyway so Ill do it all at once!

Old vs New:

Ive sprung a leak!

Also hit a bit of a milestone:

apoc · Post by **apoc** » July 1st, 2012, 12:37 am

Also, maybe I should buy shares in Castrol, because Transmax Z is bloody expensive!

apoc · Post by **apoc** » July 27th, 2012, 6:03 pm

Pulled the engine out of this lately and tried to fix the sump leaking, to no avail. Still leaks, not quite as much anymore though. Either I suck at sealing the sump, or something else lol. Its better though. Might bust out the sikaflex for now, bit dodgy but meh.
Tested out some alloy cleaner on the BBM, came up pretty good!

Also bought an EL fairmont for cheap cheap while I was fixing mine up. Looks pretty neat, cappa interior, No dead paint, 250 thousand Km, dead stock. Blown headgasket and rusty sills.

apoc · Post by **apoc** » July 29th, 2012, 1:57 pm

Just realised I havent posted any pics of the finished dash.

Still have to put the EL front trims in, lol.

Also have a leather console lid & EF climate control on the way thanks to Josh.

dannysebxr6 · Post by **dannysebxr6** » July 29th, 2012, 2:14 pm

Nice one the eb/ed's always look nice with ef/el dashes and door trims.
Looks really nice, nice job.
Cheers
Daniel

kwikxr · Post by **kwikxr** » July 29th, 2012, 2:22 pm

Looking good mate! Makes the boxcar interior look much neater

apoc · Post by **apoc** » July 29th, 2012, 3:34 pm

Thanks lads! A fair amount of work went into it, but soo worth it. Still undecided to whether I should put an EF/L steering wheel in though, I kind of like the EB MOMOs!

apoc · Post by **apoc** » August 4th, 2012, 8:10 pm

Bought this today:

Has a blown head & headgasket. Already have the head off, and have bought a new one with a VRS kit. Will pick it up this week and slam it on.
Also pulled the head off the EL Fairmont this arvo.

1993 model, has a bullbar, 10,000lb warn winch, 2" lift, good shocks & springs, UHF, EFI TB42 with dual fuel, and is pretty clean for its age. Done 400,000km, but still has hone marks on the bores?

Wheels will be the first to go once the head is fixed.

4wding come at me!

apoc · Post by **apoc** » September 3rd, 2012, 11:16 pm

Had more of a look at the oil leaks in the EB tonight.. Turns out Im not sure the sump was even leaking. Maybe only slightly.
The timing chain tensioner was pissing oil out, new o-ring and reset the tensioner & seems better already. Wouldnt take much to be better, its been going through 4 litres of oil every 2 weeks lol

Also put a new rear gearbox seal in, and a bump stop for the diff snout. Cleaned up the sump so I can see if there are still any leaks.
Disconnected the closed loop controller on the Impco gas system, it was randomly deciding to go into closed loop mode when I was driving around town, which was gay! Much better, and not much difference in fuel economy

Hit 230000km on the new EL cluster, had 217000 on it 2 months ago :S
Get paid this week, might buy a cam!

The patrol is all going, still have to re-adjust the tappets and its booked in for a roady Wednesday. Bought some 16x8" sunrasias to replace the crap wheels that are on it! Have some 33s to go on too.

apoc · Post by **apoc** » September 20th, 2012, 1:00 pm

Just ordered a 977B cam for this

Hopefully it will go a bit better afterwards.

Picking up another gas tank for the patrol tonight, in test. Almost 100% roadworthy.
Turns out the dizzy drive on the EL was stuffed, only found this out after we had replaced the headgasket lol. So have put another dizzy drive into it, much better. Prick of a job though! Dads got the sills off it at the moment & some newies are being welded in.

Tested out the winch on the Patrol!

apoc · Post by **apoc** » October 11th, 2012, 1:04 pm

Got the cam in a week or so ago, idles like stock. Was hoping for even a bit of a lump, but meh. Its a 114lsa cam, I was not expecting much!
Goes a bit better though, especially on gas!

Got 5k back for tax, so have spent a bit on it, inc the cam, manifold, fittings & stuff. Buying a wastegate & feed lines shortly, along with a GRA tuning kit.

Patrol goes in for its final roady tomorrow!

Got the 33s off the range rover & onto a set of sunrasias we found in hard rubbish (LOL) and am going to put them on.

superhuS! · Post by **superhuS!** » October 11th, 2012, 1:16 pm

How many cars do you own now? Seems like every 2nd post you've bought something with a blown headgasket.

apoc · Post by **apoc** » October 11th, 2012, 1:23 pm

Lol yeah we buy busted ones, fix and sell for profit to fund our own car projects. At the moment I've got 6-7, 4 of which are running. Dad has 10 or something, about 6 or 7 running.

It's good fun, but I do need to sell a few!

Post by **Sunboost** » October 11th, 2012, 2:21 pm

Lol man you've got a few cars there. Well done with the EB, gotten a fair bit done hey.

apoc · Post by **apoc** » October 12th, 2012, 9:15 am

Thanks Sunny! It frustrates the **** out of me sometimes, but I still love it. I should probably stop spending money on it and finish the GT though hey..

Probably not going to happen!