carnut1100
You're right....I remember photos of it from behind and it was definitely the 79 tail lights.
I heard that he did buy that car at auction but maybe he passed it on and used another.
alphax
Very close now... Basically all wiring is finished now, oil cooler and heat shields are in.
All A/C components are in and it's ready for gas. Measured up the car for custom A/C lines and heat shield sleeves and had them crimped together by Kar Air in Ferntree Gully. Can recommend. Great guys to deal with.
Front is back together now, interior is 80% back together... Coolant system is filled with plain water and is holding tight. Engine cranks. A few little bits and pieces and will be ready for start and first shakedown drive.
upload image free
1uzvolvo
Your almost there.
How goes your ability to change rear spark plugs? Looks to be ok on the passenger side but could be very tight with the steering column. I used Platinum plugs just to avoid the need to remove them but if a CoP goes on #8 the brake booster has to come off
1uzvolvo
Sorry, only half the message posted.
That's a serious tower brace. Looks good. If you haven't already considered this, might I suggest the DVS cross member brace rods, or something similar to help keep the cross member located. With the extra weight of the motor and gear box they work well.
Also, was wondering if the garage and all the fine tools/machines is yours. No wonder you can produce what you do.
alphax
I can get to all the plugs no problems.. actually I just changed them all while in the car to test it out. It's no more difficult than a Holden 3800 V6 in a Commodore I would say, which is tight, but doable. The LS is so low and narrow that the booster is no problem.
I've actually got some of those brace rods from Ash coming this week. The shed is a friend of mines. We're both machinists originally in our previous lives so that helps. If I was at the mercy of some joker in a workshop I would not even consider such a project.
Vee_Que
Your local to me pretty much!
Philia_Bear
With the new ps reservoir the brake fluid reservoir now looks so ugly
Need to get a new one and fill with blue fluid and blue cooland so they can all match
Is the brace sealed/painted metal or bare metal?
alphax
Brake reservoir is in good nic actually. Just the booster is crusty, but it will stay that way. The brace is bare metal.
alphax
Startup and shakedown #1 is complete! Relatively few issues so far considering, fuel system, brakes, springs, shocks, engine, clutch, transmission, tailshaft and diff are all non-standard.
On the first run I had the rear Gaz shocks set to full soft and it was a little bouncy. 6 clicks on the adjusters fixed that and it's nice and firm now without being crashy.
Engine and trans run great, diff is quiet. LSD is a little on the tight side as it scrubs the rear tyres around slow, tight corners.
Dash integration with the GM E38 computer worked out well. The LS rpm signal is actually a 4 cylinder signal, so it worked well with the stock VDO tach needing only a pull-up resistor on the feed wire. The speedo is now calibrated correctly and was done using a Dakota Digitial module taking pulses off the 108 tooth reluctor/wheel speed sensor in the Ford Explorer diff and converting it into the Volvo 48-tooth pulse-width. Intercepting the signal prior to the dash this way means that the odometer and trip meter are also accurate.
In the end I used 2 x 86+ clusters and mixed and matched parts to come up with the cleanest solution. I used the speedometer assy from a cluster that James sold me which had only 44,000km's on it. I re wound this up to 90k to match my original cable-drive odometer and put a new set of gears in there sourced from Dave Barton. I was happy to see it working as I was pretty deep into that assembly!
Main issues I have now with the car is:
- Cooling fans running on permanently - ECU programming issue
- Power Steering. Turns easier left than right - maybe rack issue (same issue with old setup)
- Shifter height and location - ideally needs to come back and up about 1.5"
- Need to test brake proportioning - feels okay, but all new brakes hardly been used yet
Not too bad considering.
Here is a video of the first shakedown:
[video=1920,1080][/video]
1uzvolvo
Great work. Pretty good to get a shake down with so few issues. Looking forward to one day seeing, and hearing it in real life.
robv
great job! Very professional,well thought out and well executed.
Ill have to find another thread to keep me occupied now.Love to be in the passenger seat when you meet your first HSV at the lights.
sucksqueezebangblow
Congrats, mad video ending!
kyril
Great work! Love the ending!
alphax
Thanks guys, sorting out a few of those small issues now and should then be ready for some more testing this weekend while on the permit.
Tree
Take me for a spin!!!
Andy
Nice clean build Michael, very impressive!
With the fans coming on, it may be to do with the ECM not seeing the ABS module(Ford world, but might be similar for GM) or maybe even to do with the refrigerant gas being over charged. If the AC pressure transducer is directly wired into the ECM ensure that the voltage is around 1 volt with the AC system sitting at the fully soaked resting pressure.
You should have kept the EVDC compressor as the ECM is calibrated for that system to prevent idle dips and flares during engagements.
Vee_Que
My mate with a turbo ls2 vz, with a too big intercooler, it turns on automatically for another reason too. I'll ask him
alphax
Thanks VQ and Andy.... this E38 ECM runs a custom OS which ignores BCM, compressor and basically all other modules that would normally interface with the ECM. The only inputs are vehicle speed and gear position. All sensors are reading at the correct voltage, within range, except a post-cat o2 which is faulty. I doubt this would cause a fans on condition though. Tune needs a clean up with the custom volume MAF pipe anyway, so I will have this sorted then... or I will just purchase the software license myself.
I would have kept the variable displacement compressor, but it's not that compatible with the old-school TX valve style A/C evaporator I am using.
Angus242164
As you are probably aware, the fans running is an ECM response to a missing or out of range signal pertaining to engine cooling, the most obvious one is coolant temp sensor, but could also be AC pressure or temp sensors, vehicle speed, maybe even a missing signal from a climate control module.
I also doubt an O2 sensor would cause that response from the ECM, but since you know it needs replacing anyway, maybe do that first and see if you still have the problem afterwards.
alphax
Yes I will do that... I just need to take the car to a tuner with EFI LIVE to dig deeper into the setup, or I will buy a license myself. There is a lot of work that goes into setting up a VE E38 ECM as stand alone, in terms of switching off all of the interfacing and associated functions the E38 would normally expect to see. Probably a stuff-up in there I suspect.
The ECM has been setup to ignore AC inputs. The coolant temp sensor, MAF, MAP and other sensors are within range from what I can see with my code reader. For sure the ECM is determining to switch the fans on based on an incorrect calibration of faulty input somewhere. They come on in stages, fan1 4 or 5 seconds from start-up, following by fan2 relay a second or two later. If I had the s/w licence it would be sorted by now, hehe...
