Reasonably busy, but not frantic day got the white Magna very close to being ready to send to the scrappy.
I had no idea that it had a pull clutch until I got it out… Hole sawed into the bellhousing let me get to the clutch bolts and get the box off the motor.
But even once I realised that it was a pull clutch, it still isn’t clear how to get it off…
I have since found the correct procedure, but it is not obvious.
Around lunchtime today, I bought a Magna wagon in Ballarat.
About 20 minutes after picking it up, I pointed it toward Adelaide…
It has many of the predictable problems that $1500 cars have, but it has impressed me so far.
As a car, it is better than the BF Falcon wagon, but I have zero doubt that the Falcon is the better tow car.
The early ‘00s trip computer tells me that it used 8.9l/100km, but the trip meter and servo bowser say that it is more like 8.4. The Falcon would have been around 10.0 for that trip.
The shocks aren’t quite up to the task - they’re not awful, but they don’t have enough rebound dampening and this makes the car a bit bouncy. Not sure if this is worn out shocks or just low quality bits.
The radio doesn’t work, which is not ideal before spending 8 hours in anything…
Interior smells like a heater core leak.
It has more top end power than the Falcon - it doesn’t count as a fast car, but it is remarkably entertaining when overtaking other cars in 110kph zones.
Seats aren’t wonderful, but after four hours in the Falcon’s XR6 seats and 8 hours in the Magna seats, I only got a bit achey in the last couple of hours - no real discomfort and I feel fine now that I have been out of the car for a bit.
Really looking forward to seeing how it goes with the manual conversion from the white car. And the Evo Bilsteins, and the Evo Brembos. ?
"Spac's misadventures in Magna collecting" is the proposed new title.
I thought that the “misadventure” part was implied from the moment I started talking about Magnas.
3.5 has a really fun kick hey?
Regarding the front being a bit bouncy, likely they're worn shocks - my wife (then girlfriend) used to have a Verada wagon, and I told her every time in her car for a year to replace them.
This led to driving from Ganmain to Melbourne with completely failed shocks. Not a fun trip...
They do have a surprising kick given what they are and how little fuel they use.
Mitsubishi GTO also know as 3000 GT
I was over taken in a R33 skyline once by a magna like we were standing still we later discovered it was running a motor swap with some nice shiny snails in there.
Tiny bit on the history of the older Magna wagon - Volvo gets a mention, so there's your tenuous link to Volvo...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlqFOEayP6QToday began at 4:30am Adelaide time. Left my friends’ house at 5:15am, and drove the Magna wagon back to Ballarat.
It was great. Fuel consumption was reset in Adelaide and was at 11.7l/100km when I began the return trip. Down to 9.3 by the time I collected the trailer and Falcon from DCW’s (thanks for looking after them!).
Went and collected some Mercedes wheels from a champion bloke before heading home.
It was a slow but uneventful trip until I stopped to refuel at Holbrook.
Two Vietnamese blokes approached me with broken English, asking where I was going. Long story short, they had a crashed Mazda 3 and they needed to get back to Canberra.
After a bit of thought and some clarification of expectations, I unloaded the Magna off the trailer and loaded up the Mazda.
So they are driving the Magna back to Canberra and I have to work out how to dispose of a rooted 3 and how to collect my Magna back off them…
I recognise all of the risks here. I have covered myself on the speed camera risks, so really my only concern is if that steal or root the Magna, but I figure that the risk is bearable.
I have been actively trying to live the change I want to see in the world… will see if it bites me.
I am kind of wondering if it is reasonable to swap the crashed Mazda for the loan of the Magna, and then scrap it.
So yeah, it was a weird end to a big day!
Ive been finding the more I put myself out in harm's way I feel better and seem to be ok with the risk. I reckon anything that doesn't work out is a lesson and it's ok too.
If you don't risk all you only have regret later on.
Eg, whilst feeling a bit crook I went out to Marks to then pick up the 240 to have his neighbour do more RWC work on it for me.
Interaction with him, a mate and old Angelo the mechanic was great.
Stopping for petrol the young woman at counter was really pretty and I told her. Her smile was genuine even though this old cahn said it to her but I didn't linger ortalk more.
I would never have done that before.
SpacToday began at 4:30am Adelaide time. Left my friends’ house at 5:15am, and drove the Magna wagon back to Ballarat.
It was great. Fuel consumption was reset in Adelaide and was at 11.7l/100km when I began the return trip. Down to 9.3 by the time I collected the trailer and Falcon from DCW’s (thanks for looking after them!).
Went and collected some Mercedes wheels from a champion bloke before heading home.
It was a slow but uneventful trip until I stopped to refuel at Holbrook.
Two Vietnamese blokes approached me with broken English, asking where I was going. Long story short, they had a crashed Mazda 3 and they needed to get back to Canberra.
After a bit of thought and some clarification of expectations, I unloaded the Magna off the trailer and loaded up the Mazda.
https://cdn.ozvolvo.org/uploads/7IUJVCANC1W0/ce7570cf-199a-4ece-b5c4-58add901d4d9.jpeg
https://cdn.ozvolvo.org/uploads/6I04H74VN7P5/32dae344-9c55-4cd8-bf6b-f251a198177c.jpeg
So they are driving the Magna back to Canberra and I have to work out how to dispose of a rooted 3 and how to collect my Magna back off them…
I recognise all of the risks here. I have covered myself on the speed camera risks, so really my only concern is if that steal or root the Magna, but I figure that the risk is bearable.
https://cdn.ozvolvo.org/uploads/MGXEFQY68X5D/e167aa47-b4b1-40fa-b83a-19debfd466a6.jpeg
I have been actively trying to live the change I want to see in the world… will see if it bites me.
I am kind of wondering if it is reasonable to swap the crashed Mazda for the loan of the Magna, and then scrap it.
So yeah, it was a weird end to a big day!
That's a top bloke move of you to help them out.
Hopefully it all works out for you. Might make a few bucks parting out that Maz 3
Wagon got new oil and new cam cover gaskets yesterday.
A bit overdue: the rubber seals were pretty brittle…
Surprisingly difficult job, TBH. The top half of the intake manifold has to come off to do the rear cam cover, and my cheap ebay gaskets didn’t want to fit properly… but the real problem is feeding it back in under water pipes and cam belt covers.
Here’s the rear cover with the gasket being “glued” into place with sealant before I wrestled it into place.
Ah, crap…
New cam cover gasket is leaking badly.
*sigh*
Rather than fixing the Exxon Valdez cam cover, I fixed the heater fan.
It was only working on the highest setting.
The resistor had overheated and shat itself, so it was a quick and easy job to replace it with the resistor pack from the white parts car.
Fixed the cam cover gasket on the wagon today. The cheap gasket is too small, so it pulls out of the groove it is meant to live in. While it leaked, sitting in place for a few days stretched it enough that I could fit it properly today…
Also refitted the ECU back into the Maroogna, and slapped in a period Clarion CD head unit. Then I turned the ignition on the third time and it demanded the security code… ?
I will pull a newer stereo out of the cupboard and try again.
I am unimpressed by the way the centre part of the dash goes together - I am fiddling with the maroon car before I fit a decent head unit to the wagon, in the hope of avoiding the carnage that has befallen both the white and maroon cars in the past.
I would say “oops”, but I had plenty of time to think about it…
$500 manual 380 parts car. Revolting interior, blown head gasket. It has an aftermarket exhaust that I hope can be made to fit a Magna.
I will remove the motor and box, all of the manual parts, the brakes and the wheels, and take it to the scrappy.
Must have been near the Falcon’s legal towing limit, but it did it absolutely fine.
Oh, and speaking of the scrap yard, the white Magna went last Friday.
While I absolutely cannot get on the Magna bandwagon, I'd always thought that the 380 was a 'better thing' than the Magna it replaced - is this the case or not really?
AshDVSWhile I absolutely cannot get on the Magna bandwagon, I'd always thought that the 380 was a 'better thing' than the Magna it replaced - is this the case or not really?
Yes, as a standard car, the 380 is better.
That said, the Magna was under-rated, whereas the 380 was judged more fairly, so the gap is smaller than you probably perceive.
I suspect that the Magna was always under-rated as a hangover from the original models that were much slower and dowdier than the Falcadores they were supposed to be competing with in the marketplace.
2.6 carby Magna vs an injected 3.0 VL is a pretty simple choice in 1986… but the difference between a 3.5 Magna and a 4.0 litre AU is more about personal priorities.
If they had made a 380 wagon, then I would probably already own one.
Confirmed that the 380 has a blown head gasket. Combustion pressure in the cooling system.
It runs, clearly with one dead cylinder. When the revs are right down, the steam pulses are in time with the misfire…
I am currently pondering whether to fix it straight away or just pull the motor & box out and leave it in the shed for a while. Third option is to actually give the engine a rebuild - a rebuild kit is $800 including delivery, which seems pretty tempting.
Some wheel shuffling…
The 15” Solara alloys went onto the wagon so its 16s could go onto the 380 (15s don’t go over 380 brakes), so that the 17” 380 wheels could be test fitted over the Evo Brembos…
But the 380 wheels have nowhere near enough clearance to the inside of the spokes, so that’s a fail.
Solution!
These are 17x8 +35 with 235/45 tyres.
They have tons of brake clearance and don’t seem to scrub. They juuuusst stick out of the front guards though. Dropping back to 225/45s combined with the small amount of negative camber that will come when I lower the car, ought to be enough to bring them back in.
Hopefully.
