P6B S Project Car

Changed the oil today - HPR30 Penrite. All ok. Went to change filter.It was the tightest filter I have EVER struck, took considerable effort to move. Ryco Z30 looks right on paper, but they are ~10mm too long. Bugger! Already filled with oil too. Put the old one back on. Got a K&N on the way now based on recommendations here. Fired it up, pressure came up fine, then the engine died . Must have been on the edge of reserve. Added more fuel. No start. More tries.....undid union at carb, cranked, got a squirt, reconnected and cleaned up spillage. All good now....it takes a LOT of cranking if the lines are dry. Almost time to lower it and move it into the sunshine...if we get any. Still waiting on Club plates from Vicroads, application has only been in 3 weeks now. FWIW, Club plates are cheap reg for low usage vehicles over 25 years old; only down side is keeping a log of usage, but it saves a bunch of $ - normal full reg is $750/yr here, but club plates for 45 days is $80, or $160 for 90 days. Not as good as the UK arrangement, but better than full cost.
 
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Looking into how to get the SD1 wheels on it ---front hub dust cap needs work to narrow the flange. Good job I recently bought a rattle gun - last fitter of the wheel nuts must have used one to fit them! Would not have moved them without the gun. Outer dia of the flange is around 72mm, the hole in the wheel hub is 58mm, but there is a bevel with an OD of ~62mm. Using lathe I cut the flange back to 62mm then bevelled its edge. Fits in the wheel hub very nicely, and as there is a 1mm deep area around the centre all should be good as long as the dust cap goes fully home on the hub - checking with a straight edge on the mounting face there is no contact with the rear of the dust cap. Might tackle the secong cap slightly differently.... When I bought the 7/16 UNF nuts from US 5 of the 20 had the thread badly eccentric with the shank so I asked the supplier to replace them...no problem. This was a while ago, so I chased up the tracking no - left West coast June 20, processed through NY July 22, arrived in Perth (WA) Aug 10...still waiting for it the cross the continent to Melbourne....Patience is a virtue they say.
 
Got her out of the garage yesterday to run it up. Slightly nose down, shed an amount of coolant that I am pretty sure is coming out of the pump - signs of drips on the harmonic. The overflow bottle fitting leaks both water and pressure, so the rad will get done as soon as the lockdown eases. Tacho seems to read ~900rpm all the time, but the idle was a bit erratic, and oil pressure disappeared once of twice so I shut it down for a bit, until I had to back it indoors again. Temp gauge never got to the green, so I suspect the thermo is dead or missing. Tried to stop the viscous fan at idle with a rolled up newspaper - no chance. It turns freely with engine stopped.
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Adjusted the idle stops up 1/2 turn and ran it again. Hardly a drop of coolant ejected this time....curious? Coolant is within 1" of the filler neck. Dwell/tach meter said it was up around 700rpm this time, but still a bit unstable. At least with the new rocker gear its pretty quiet .
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Another run up yesterday, little coolant loss - maybe the pump is not the issue? Based on the piston lift mixture test, leaned the mix 1/8 turn, sounds a little better. Pulled the plugs and tested compression today:-
1- 132psi; 2-132; 3 -132; 4-137; 5-118; 6-120; 7-130; 8-112
Spec for this CR is 135psi, so overall its in pretty good condition, with only 5 and 8 down much. Didnt enjoy getting the adaptor into the even cylinders , or out again. at least the kit came with one adaptor with plug threads both sides so I could fit a plug in the back and use it to start the adaptor into the head. The hose with a plug thread on the end had taken a set in its case which made it hard to start into the plug holes.
All the plugs were sooty with all the idling its been doing, but gaps were all on spec, electrodes nice and sharp, no erosion - doubt they have done many miles. Ngk bp5.
 
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Recently bought packs of new fuses - checked lengths, and get 31.8mm. Close enough for me. While I was checking the LEDs in the taillights I found the left was coming on as a stop light, not tail. I suspect something has gone wrong with the fitting of a centre brake light on the parcel shelf, and the tail and stop leads confused. Have taken the centre brake out of circuit, and now all is normal. Will sort out the centre light later. Nearly have the headlights and horns on relays - waiting on a supply of bullets to finish this properly.
 
Got the lights and horns on relays - LHS pretty easy, but rhs cramped a lot by the booster. In the end I made up a 2 wire extension, fitted it to the horn, then pushed to lead up towards the top so I could connect it to my relay wiring. I know the horns dont pull many Amps, but they are in the same area, so why not
LHS horn not working, so pulled that off. From the outside the contacts showed open circuit. Drilled the rivet heads off and punched them out. Insides as below. After a bit of abrasion of the points I got a low resistance circuit, so it ought to work. After cleaning up all the crap, I closed it back up with M3 cap screws (had plenty the right length) and nylocs. Success - nice deep note.
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Radio time! Car came with an OLD Pioneer cassette deck, and I have a late JVC deck that plays CDs and DVDs, so thats got to go in. Wiring in there was a bit of a dogs breakfast , so I had to locate +12V always, switched 12v, and earth first. Not too hard. Front speaker, easy....rear speaker took me a while to locate, but ok in the end. Aerial lead a bit short as the unit doesnt have a fly lead for that. Much nicer now. The unit can play videos from DVD, but I just put mp3 files on DVDs - have some at 1100 tracks, but more will fit.
 
More progress. Elsewhere I have noted that I found the leads for the HRW - on the driver's side, where there is no natural place to mount the switch. Nothing in owner's manual as to switch location. Pics of dash in WSM only show a HRW switch on the LHD version, on driver's side, its not shown on RHD diagram. Some speak of a relay involved here, but none is shown in the wiring diagrams, no sign of one in my car. I suspect there is a connection issue at the window, as I cant find volts there, or get a circuit to earth through the heater, although I can find earth on the left side copper strip. Will have to pull the rear seat etc and check the wiring.
Ran it up today for long enough to get fully hot, but temp gauge barely gets to end of white section. Comparing resistance of current sensor to a new one in hot water, the readings seem OK. Testing the connector for V , ign on, initially I get something in the 11V+ range, but after a few seconds it goes nuts and the volts are all over the place - stabilizer problem?
While it was hot today I put the Innovate wideband O2 gauge on it, as I supect its rich. Sure enough, down in the 11s - perfect is 14.7, lean is higher than that. Screwed the adjusters out bit by bit, with some 1500-2000rpm runs, and now up in the 13s. A bit leery of going any further until I can see what it shows out on the road under load. Had to adjust the idle down - dwell gauge shows 700rpm, but dash tacho seems locked on 900 at idle - could this be affected by the voltage stabilizer?
 
Both front seats have issues with the seat recline locking levers - pass side very stiff, driver side frozen. Starting on the pass side as access to remove it is much better. Once out, removed the side covers. A little examination showed the coarse thread where the lever moves was packed with very thick hard black grease, so I winkled out as much as I could, and applied some silicon. While that soaked I looked up the specs and checked the length of the shaft - pretty much on the 475mm spec. After some more cleaning and lubricating the thread area the lever moves pretty as it should, so I think the seat will be OK. All I have to do now is fixed the stuck runner bolt, thread in the body/interior section.
 
Regarding the position of the HRW switch, there is no need to overthink about it.
Here's a few random photos from my archive:

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Also period brochures of RHD cars show the HRW switch in this position.
 
Thanks, thats a big help. Odd that the WSM and the owners manual dont show a RHD dash with the switch.
 
Got the stuck seat runner bolt out - cut the head off (just enough clearance!). To stop the captive plate turning I had to jam a screwdriver into the thing (hole already there), and was able to slowly unscrew the bolt shaft with visegrips, but it took a while getting the whole 1.5" out at less than 1/2 turn each time, and needed some force. Now all I need to do is find a 1/4 UNF screw/bolt - not likely in my mostly metric collection, so off to the www!
 
Driver's seat. VERY stiff recline lever, and no torsion tending to erect the seat back. I find the WSM not very good here - remove the long locking screw - how do you know which side that is? Had to resort to parts book to work this and a few other things out. The short locking screw would not move at all, not very good condition. I found by rocking the big lever back and forth that the coarse adjuster moved and eventually I was able to get the squab separated from the backrest, and get everything out. I cleaned up the threads in the adjuster nut but the short locking screw is , well, screwed. Cut up a spare 1/4-UNF and made a new locking screw. Quite a bit of rust on the bare metal part of the lever, so wire brushed that off.
Assembly....P76.70.33, sheet 2, step 23 - with lever and compression tube assembled to correct length, fitted to the squab frame...'adjust the fine adjustment locking pad to the inside width of the squab frame'. ??? The locking pad (hex with 3 holes) is ~4mm away from the bush (diecast part held on frame with 3 screws), and the end of the compression tube is further away. Any suggestions as to where the locking pad should be please?
Manual mentions a circlip holding the tube bush - not on my seats. With everything cleaned and greased, how do you keep alignment marks in place etc ??? Anybody know the spec of the screws that hold the torsion bar plate on - 1 is missing?
thanks
 
Worked it out. What the WSM means is measure the distance between the plates at the bottom of the backrest where the curved slots are, to ensure the slotted plates will fit closely with the hex pieces on the locking bar. Mine was within 1mm of 500mm - a little difficult to align the hole for the long locking pin, but close. Bit difficult to do some steps single handed but got there in the end. Before inserting the locking bar make sure you clean up any damage on the screw slot end of the locking screw, as the hex not piece is going to be pulled over the plain end, and they are a nice fit. One of the screws on the torsion bar plate was missing, but I found a replacement in my odds'n'sods drawer. The torque required to align a screw hole is considerable when you are trying to hold a 5/16 hex bar - I used a 1/4 drive 5/16 socket with a 15" steel tube extending the socket handle, and didnt enjoy it. Now to put it back in the car.
 
Not anymore, its all back together. I will do one from underneath and try to explain whats what, but the parts book explosion and diagrams in the WSM need to be looked at together. The error I saw was that the manual said a bush was retained by a circlip, but on mine it was held on by 3 screws - minor detail, didnt slow me down. The bit I mentioned above about measuring the width had me going for a bit, but the solution came to me as I was going to sleep. The sides of the backrest (curved slotted plates) need to be close to the faces of the hex ends of the 'compression tube', and the outer hex nuts as well. The outer hex nuts are on a rod, and of a fixed length, where the length of the compression rod changes as you move the lever with its very coarse thread (maybe 3-4 tpi), which forces the inner hexes outwards to clamp the slotted plates against the outer hexes. The weight of the backrest makes things difficult to manage single handed on assembly, and to keep them at the right attitude to make the adjustments at the end. Getting the right feel on the lever at the locked position took me 3 tries - it has 3 holes for the locking screw, so try lever, remove screw, turn hex 1/3rd, insert screw, try lever again. Now the lever is just level with the squab as it gets hard to push. Really didnt want to put it back in the car and find that the lock could be overridden by a push on the backrest, and have to take it out again!
 
Pics. From underneath, coarse adjuster thread near centre, at lever end.
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Lever end, locking rod external nut. This is your final adjustment of the tightness of the lock when the lever is down. This nut has 3 holes, the other side has 2. The locking pin is the short one, and is the one I had to make from a bolt as the thread on the old one was cactus. The slotted head bright screw is my replacement for the missing one - these are under a bit of load !
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Other side. The inner hex is part of the fine threaded adjuster . The wsm says to measure the width between the two slotted plates on the backrest, and adjust this adjuster so the total width of the whole assembly , from this hex to the one on the other end matches the backrest plate width, with the hex inside the lever boss protruding 2.5mm. This side has the long locking pin (~2") which screws into 1 of 2 holes in the adjuster to locate the hex plates together. Important to clean up the outer end as the outer hex plate will be pulled over it.
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hth
 
While I am waiting for bolts for the pax seat runner I decided to check the gearbox level, on the principle that if you dont know when it was last changed or checked, do it now so you know for the future. I only did a brief round the block run before buying it, with a low clutch separation/take up point, so I wasnt taking a lot of notice of the gearbox behaviour, just trying to get it in and out of gear. Anyway, peel back the carpet, remove the rubber bung, undo the plug. MMMMM , full but the colour of lemon butter, and nearly as thick - some sort of EP by the smell. Leaving it to drain for a while before some 20-50 mineral goes in. There are signs of oil leakage on the tunnel, but no current signs of leaks on the box, but signs its been worked on. Hoping for an improvement.
 
Finished off the gearbox - drained overnight. Plugged, filled from the top, sealed up, rubber plug (difficult for me!), carpets back in place. Got the bolt for the seat runner, didnt enjoy trying to line up the holes with the captive plug. Applied a tiny bit of antiseize just in case. Put the pax seat back in place, so the interior is all tidy again. Next to do is the clutch lever - move it one spline and hope for improvement there.
EDIT - Clutch lever is a bit more than I will tackle now - getting leverage on the bolt is tough....Diff took a few Oz of 90, so its OK now.
 
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Went back to the clutch lever alignment. Grabbed the nut with a small pair of visegrips so it couldnt go where it shouldnt. Undoing the bolt was a REAL PITA! Very tight the whole way, even after the nut fell off I had to work at it. Could only get 1 flat of turn because of the exhaust pipe, and had to turn the spanner over each time. All the way I am wondering how am I going to get the nut back in when the bolt is this tight? When it was off I found it had been tightened so much that the slit had been closed a bit and the holes did not properly line up anymore, causing the bolt to tighten. I ran a drill through the bolt hole - 8mm just took a few thou off and then the bolt slid through nicely. Holding the nut in place with the visegrips I was ablle to slide the bolt in and engage the nut, and then is was just the tedious winding in with limited spanner rotation. Moving the arm 1 spline moved the clevis hole forward the best part of 10mm, so I shortened the pushrod that much. Improvement yet to be assessed....and the pedal stop adjustment when I can get a suitable second body to help.
 
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