Bit overdue but here we go, long one haha
Not long after my last post I took another coil off the rear springs and secured all four with stainless ties and holes through the housings, mainly for the rear to keep them captive as they were a bit rattly.
I also managed to mount up my second rear sway bar, pretty simple process - cut and drilled two plates and used some different sized bolts.
In case someone wants to do the same I took some measurements - Bar ends are 20mm thick and 27mm tall, holes are approx 135mm centre to centre.
For my application I think 10mm between the bar ends worked pretty well where they are basically touching at a few points, I left about 20mm around the outside of each of the 4 holes.
I used the stock 19mm and a 17mm from a 70s 244, which I think works out to be about 22mm effectively. Combined with the 30mm front it rides beautifully and is nice and snappy. Keen to get some stiffer springs all round and poly bushings for everything which will be icing on the cake. Thinking about going "Track" 7.5kg front springs from @AshDVS and adapting a 5" speedcar perch for the lower trailing arms so I can run 5kg Eibach rears.
Managed to score a pair of wheels for the rear, very happy indeed - Cheviot Centrelines in 14x9.25" -0. Looking at running a 185/60 on them. Got some shank type bolts and washers which work nicely, and my mate Snail hooked me up with exactly the right number of sexy lookin ARP BBS 12-point wheel bolts to fill the holes so they look like imaginary 3-piece wheels haha
They fit pretty well but i'm a bit concerned with how soft the rear springs are and them potentially fouling on the guards so i'll keep polishing them and wait until I sort that out before I put them on.
Also on the wheel front, I got some spicy new tyres for the front - Nankang NS-2Rs in 205/50R15. They grip really well in the dry and equally as well as the Kumho KH27s in the wet, very happy with them they make it much more go-karty ?
I also managed to tackle the M46 swap (yay) which went smoothly in some areas and not in others ?
Dropping the AW71 was pretty straightforward
Notched the M46 bellhousing so it would clear the crank angle sensor, after trying to fit the box and getting confused why it wouldn't go all the way on
New TTV Racing 4.5kg flywheel and stock Sachs clutch, 43mm throwout bearing
Snapped the reverse lockout rod after a day so fixed it with a drilled and bent stainless tie riveted to the bottom half of the stock one
Otherwise pretty easy, was a bit trickier than the last time I did it because I don't have a very big/tall extension trolley jack but we got it there, big thanks to @JakobC and Snail for all their help and beers!
Drove it for about a week and noticed the driveline was a bit bangy, sooner or later it got very bangy because of this lol
Now I know that aligning driveshafts correctly is a thing but managed to chew up a centre support bushing and spring in the process. Luckily Wayne Coles hooked me up with a new bearing, bushing and spring which were a bit tricky to fit but seem to have done the treat so far (5 weeks in). Used a 34mm ID bearing for the 1.75" shaft.
After another week I started having a bit of pedal feel weirdness and then pedal failure altogether, went from having to bleed it every day to every trip and then gave up completely, turns out it was an internal leak on the LPR Brakes master.
I kinda knew it was hot garbage already, so I had done some reading on the web (thanks Turbobricks) and bought a Wilwood GS Compact master cylinder (0.625" or 5/8 bore, PN 260-15096). I quickly got a hose made up at Perth Brake Parts to adapt the stock M12x1.0 male to a 3/8-24 banjo and bolt to fit the master, and a OBP 5/16 clevis to attach to the stock pedal. I trimmed about a centimetre off the end of the rod to get it to fit nicely.
Pedal is now light but not too light and has good feel - works extremely well and reliably so far. Definitely recommend it since it cost about $200 all up, compared to $250 for a LPR Brakes "OEM" one which seems to be the only locally available option at the moment.
A few days after that I started getting some clutch slip, I think because it had gotten a bit glazed. I was a bit careful with it for a while and it seems to have gotten over that, but for a bit of insurance i've ordered a Spec SO202 stage 2 clutch kit from Late Model Performance. It is rated to 239lb/ft of torque which should be plenty even for a 2.5L big valve big cam ITB angry NA motor.
I also wired up a new overdrive switch so I could run a normal gumball style black acrylic knob, this is just under the right hand side of the dash
I don't have any good pics but this week I fitted a newish timing belt and tensioner, cut the cover in half so it's just a bottom cover now, and fitted the STS Machining top timing belt marker and engine torque rod I ordered. The torque rod is great, basically no engine twist anymore which with new rubber engine mounts actually has a lot less vibration than just poly mounts and results in a slightly noticable increase in torque overall.
Here are some various beauty shots from the last little while
