EA Falcon turbo project update

[RUQ1KA]

why stop at hubcaps?
put a large hsv sticker on the back and various badges all over the place:P

[Sundeep]

Been a while Jack! What's the eta?

Sundeep

[dansedgli]

any news yet Jack? When are we going to calder!!

[Kenaz]

Yeah come on Jack. In the time your car has been off the road Sunny has turbo'd his and resprayed it and done a million other things to it. I want to see this thing on the road.

[ilsautomotive]

Grr well done Sunny.

OK well after many hours of work, Dellboy has done the 4 speed conversion wiring and is mostly done with installing a new alarm featuring 2-way paging, turbo timer and remote start. When Steven is done with his engine crane, the Intech goes in, and from there it's just a matter of hooking everything up. There's a bunch of details, from the BT-R bracket to the EA air con compressor bracket that aren't worth boring people with. The EA GL conversion on the outside is pretty much complete too. I'm very confident I'll be at the Heathcote meet, and with any luck on LPG too.

A brief summary of the mods that will be done:
* EA GL exterior including bumpers, wheels, mouldings, door handles, C pillar, indicators and mirrors
* EF thermofans
* EL BT-R auto, shifter assembly and pedal box
* EA II BT-R computer with loom integration
* 50,000 km AU II engine, alternator, air con compressor, power steering pump etc etc
* EL brake booster with AU master cylinder
* Alarm with turbo timer
* additional sound insulation including thick under-carpet insulation and clear plastic under door trims replaced with the rubber from my EL
* wiring for subwoofer
* ED inlet manifold
* Full LED tail light/rear number plate light conversion, white headlight globes etc, plus EL map reading lights all round
* etc etc etc you get the picture.

[Kenaz]

It will be good to see it at Heathcote. I'll line ya up ;)

[ilsautomotive]

heh, wouldn't be worth your petrol Ash ;) It will be substantially slower than when it was 3.9 / T5.

[EFFalcon]

Jack takes his car off the road for years to make it slower
only a matter of time till it flies!

[Hotwire]

Maybe i've missed something, but why are you making it an EA GL Replica?? is this purely for a sleeper look so you dont get pulled over? If thats the case what will the ride height be? factory (read: 4X4)?? ;)

[ilsautomotive]

That's right lee, it's mainly for practicality. But if anyone asks, my springs have 'sagged' and turned into Kings. Safety first.

[mcflux]

How about a BA shifter conversion?

*teeheehee*

So far it sounds like you're going great with the huge project mate! Well done...

-Dave-

[ilsautomotive]

Dellboy was at work on the car for 5 and a half hours yesterday, and it was a day to be remembered. On the plus side, he found a way to do up the torque convertor bolts even though the metal plate between engine and transmission does get in the way.



After that saga the engine and transmission were bolted together and the passenger side bracket needed grinding as part of the 4 speed conversion.



Then came the big moment, many months in the making, and...







...oh crap, it doesn't fit!!

The sump isn't clearing at all and we believe that the EA Ghia's thick firewall insulation is one reason. Previous AU engine installs were typically on GLs etc.

Tonight we are going to try and grind the sump so we can sit it in the car and poor Stephen can have his crane back finally. Wish us luck. :togo:

[EA2BA]

yeah its so damn close to fitting but just wont slip in, damn frustrating after 5 hours stuffing around to finally get it in, then at midnight to pull the plug as grinding will wake the neighbours up :(

[needfordspeed]

Damn that's be a bummer, after all that hard work, at least it'll all be worth it at the end

[Sundeep]

How do mechanics get the torque converter bolts off when they change the transmission? I didn't think of that. Do they pull the sump off or something?

Anyways, good luck with it. Hopefully it'll be on the road in time for Beijing 2008 :P

Sundeep

[EA2BA]

Actually if you have a hoist there is a nice little access hole at the back of the sump

[LUXO_8]

damn jack thats gotta suck..

[SWOOP]

guys just cut the bar out!!!!! so much easier ,and weld up infront of old posie (i had over 2 inches clear) also bent or grinded down steal is weak!!!!!! it will rub once you get some big HP torque twist behind it with just bending.

with AU sump the torque bolts are accessed via a removable cover plate underneath side.

[ilsautomotive]

Cheers for the replies guys. Swoopa that is a damn good idea! Much easier and more effective. Now to find someone who can weld...

[SWOOP]

just leave about 4 inches on the ends of the old bar ,weld the new piece to those bits then two plates on bottom to tie em together , only an eseries freak will pick it and it is not effecting the K-frame stucturally in anyway IMO, the original bar looks like an after thought just welded in (most know what a ef one looks like just compare the two)

[spope]

Good to hear Jack, it's about time. ;)
I am not sure which bar you guys are referring to, presumably something on the crossmember?
I wouldn't be keen on grinding the sump, they aren't that thick to begin with - last thing you need is a hole to be punched through.
My housemate has a welder and can weld just about anything that can be welded. I'm sure we can work something out.

[Damo]

lol @ you're little torch in the first pic, I hope you've got yourself a flurecent light by now. :P That must have sucked, all that effort to just fall short bye a few cm's. I'm sure Jason will work something out for ya matey.

Good luck with it.

[Racecraft]

yep thats what I did Jack, same as swoopa, although i only moved it forward 1"... Beats grinding the alloy on the face of the sump...

heres a dodge picture if you want to visualise it.

[ilsautomotive]

Thanks for the responses guys.

Spope, thanks for the offer, I'll keep it in mind!

Racecraft, that looks like a good way of doing it. The other option I'm looking at is welding a new bar straight across all the way as I'll explain in a minute. First some pics.

Cutting the cross member is not only less work than grinding the sump, but means rigidity can ultimately be increased rather than decreased.



This is the section of bar that was cut. It's hollow and not going to do all that much. The plan is to weld a length of much stronger steel alongside the remains of the original, which will be the end of the dramas.



And here is the engine, fully installed on the new mounts.



Just as another point of interest, this is the vehicle that I believe my engine is from. It's a silver AU series III Forte which had done 56,000 kms and had no frontal damage whatsoever.

[Qwikcorty]

Originally Posted by Trouty

Cheers for the replies guys. Swoopa that is a damn good idea! Much easier and more effective. Now to find someone who can weld...

u got a welder? i could weld it up for you, my arc is a bit bulky to carry round.

[EFFalcon]

Good stuff Jack
about time the engine went in lol!

[Kenaz]

Good to see more progress being made. Good luck with the rest of it

[Sundeep]

Did you put the engine in without welding a new bar on? You probably made welding a new bar on a bit harder for yourself (or whoever is going to do it..) :S

What did you do about mounting the transmission?

Sundeep

[ilsautomotive]

Cheers for the responses guys.

Sunny, we believe the AU sump will be strong enough to handle jacking up the whole motor if need be. The rear of the transmission is sitting on a scissor jack until Jase's friend can make the mount.

The other issue is that my EA dizzy has some play in it so that means $250-odd for a full replacement, then the same amount again for a brass EF Natrad radiator plus whatever else needs doing. Bah, I'll just get yet another credit card.

Corty, cheers for the offer. Hmmm Spope would your housemate mind you borrowing the welder for a mod day at my place with Corty? I'd just need to track down a suitable piece of metal first. Shouldn't be a drama either way.

Thanks again guys, it's a good feeling to be finally making major progress.

good stuff jack, glad to see its coming along. i wouldnt jack the motor up from the sump. even though its alloy it will just crack instead of dint. if you used a peice of MDF or something under the jack it may be OK. why not just lift it with the engine crane?