Neils Frankenstein Ute

[Blacky]

................... or get a signwriter to knock you one up

[FJWALLY]

If the plates have been transferred into your name which should of been done if you forked over the coin then there is a spot you can get replacements on the WA transport page - cost 80$ - the trick would be slimline but as they are actually cheaper than full size I can't see an issue.
Thanks for the reminder though as I found my spares yesterday and hung them up in the cave -

That's not a bad idea Wal I think I will give them a call just to clarify the statement on their web.

I paid #600 for them from the guy on Gumtree so don't see the sense in doubling it

Neil

[FireKraka]

Thanks Wal I will check it out.

Is that even legal Blacky
Neil

[Blacky]

Thanks Wal I will check it out.

Is that even legal Blacky
Neil

of course not but who cares ???

[FireKraka]

Well I've been knocking up a few K's in Frank since I got him registered, have just gone over a 1000K's, but I suppose like a lot of our builds I have been dealing with a couple of bugs and trying to sort them so I thought I would share.

First - Frank decided to go into "Limp Mode" twice while I was driving, Limp mode was a mode that commodores had to allow you to "limp" home if there was an issue. I didn't understand what this was but with a little research it pointed to "Fluid Levels" I hadn't checked the gearbox oil level after I had a workshop; which will remain nameless; fit the high stall torque converter (they did some other stuff you I still can't believe) so when I checked I found it took 2 1/2 Ltrs to bring it up to full, I didn't think this was a lot but Frank hasn't gone into Limp Mode again.

Second - When the gearbox was changing gears it felt like there was a fairly bad vibration when changing between gears and when I did get up to 80 or 90 it would start to lose revs and always wanted to kick back into second so #1 I adjusted the kickdown cable as per the book #2 I went looking at the gearbox oil lines up to the radiator and back and found that the return line to the box had a kink in it

IMG_0977.jpg (1.15 MiB) Viewed 879 times

The pipe is only 5mm I.D. and the kink looks like it has almost completely closed the return off; I know nothing about the oil flow in these boxes but I cut the piece of pipe out and fitted a rubber hose section (for now) and Robyn and I took Frank to a show with the club that afternoon and the gearchanges were heaps smoother and the box did not try to kick back all the time and obviously my fuel consumption has improved.

No lastly and this was the one that was $*#@ with my head - I had noticed that when I was driving if I put the windows down even the tiniest bit that the headlining would start to suck down, if I put the windows up it would go back up what the $*#@
For the life of me I couldn't find out why it was doing this and then the other morning as I was dozing in bed the light went on
I remembered when I was fitting the shoulder seat belt doubler plates that when I tried to slip the first one down the B pillar from the top triangle cut out (Utes have 2 in the B Pillar)

IMG_0376.JPG (510.59 KiB) Viewed 879 times

I couldn't get the plate to slide down, I pushed up from the bottom and found that there was a large piece of foam in-between the cutouts on both sides so being a dick and not thinking of why it was there I didn't put it back turns out that Holden put it there for exactly the reason and problem I was now suffering so I took the seat belt bolt out and put some rapid expanding foam in through the seat belt bolt hole and low and behold it solved the problem drove it that afternoon and the headlining stayed where it was supposed to
So hopefully now the little dramas are becoming less and I will finally be able to get a proper dyno tune into it.
Regards
Neil

[ardiesse]

Neil,

You've just cleared up a mystery for me: why the FC I'm fixing up has cotton waste or hessian/coconut underlay wadded into the C-pillars. I pulled it out on one side. I'll now put it back.

Thanks,

Rob

[59wagon]

Good fault finding Neil and handy info about the foam inserts.

Reminds me of a story ........ Early nineties, and my wife and I were driving back to WA after being in Victor Harbor, SA in my Toyota FJ40 shorty. We had just driven through Pt Wakefield when a blinding rainstorm hit and the windscreen was fogging up. The demister system couldn’t keep up, so I asked my dearest if she could crack her passenger window an inch to help - the rain was driving into my driver side window so didn’t want to open this side. She abided, followed a few seconds later with a complaining adjective. I looked over and she was getting pelted by water from my side of the car. I discovered that the rain was going down my driver’s side window (outer window seal goosed), getting sucked back up from inside the door (through the goosed inner window seal), across the ceiling over my head, and hitting her on it’s way out the other side of the car.
I almost drove off the road with laughter, which even a glancing back hander couldn’t stop.
I reminded her of this today and she actually laughed about it this time.
Obviously Toyota weren’t as clever as Holden back then

Cheers, John


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Brett027]

Great info about foam Neil. This is why this forum is so valuable. Cheers.

[Harv]

Good sleuthing. I too pulled the cotton wadding out of Grace’s B-pillars... couldn’t understand why GMH had put it in.

Cheers,
Harv

[FJWALLY]

I would imagine there is none in mine either as it was fully blasted - I will check that out if I ever get it back to drive lol.

[Errol62]

Good work Neil
I’ve taken it out. No symptoms so far


FB ute fixer upper, EK van on rotisserie

[EK283]

That's funny, Its amazing when you build a car and think why did the makers do this and that doesn't need to be there !!!!

I wonder where the air pressure is coming from, probably being sucked in from the tub ????

Looks like you've sorted most of the issues now go and have fun with it !!!!

Greg

[FJWALLY]

Well I've been knocking up a few K's in Frank since I got him registered, have just gone over a 1000K's, but I suppose like a lot of our builds I have been dealing with a couple of bugs and trying to sort them so I thought I would share.

First - Frank decided to go into "Limp Mode" twice while I was driving, Limp mode was a mode that commodores had to allow you to "limp" home if there was an issue. I didn't understand what this was but with a little research it pointed to "Fluid Levels" I hadn't checked the gearbox oil level after I had a workshop; which will remain nameless; fit the high stall torque converter (they did some other stuff you I still can't believe) so when I checked I found it took 2 1/2 Ltrs to bring it up to full, I didn't think this was a lot but Frank hasn't gone into Limp Mode again.

Second - When the gearbox was changing gears it felt like there was a fairly bad vibration when changing between gears and when I did get up to 80 or 90 it would start to lose revs and always wanted to kick back into second so #1 I adjusted the kickdown cable as per the book #2 I went looking at the gearbox oil lines up to the radiator and back and found that the return line to the box had a kink in it

IMG_0977.jpg

The pipe is only 5mm I.D. and the kink looks like it has almost completely closed the return off; I know nothing about the oil flow in these boxes but I cut the piece of pipe out and fitted a rubber hose section (for now) and Robyn and I took Frank to a show with the club that afternoon and the gearchanges were heaps smoother and the box did not try to kick back all the time and obviously my fuel consumption has improved.

No lastly and this was the one that was $*#@ with my head - I had noticed that when I was driving if I put the windows down even the tiniest bit that the headlining would start to suck down, if I put the windows up it would go back up what the $*#@
For the life of me I couldn't find out why it was doing this and then the other morning as I was dozing in bed the light went on
I remembered when I was fitting the shoulder seat belt doubler plates that when I tried to slip the first one down the B pillar from the top triangle cut out (Utes have 2 in the B Pillar)

IMG_0376.JPG

I couldn't get the plate to slide down, I pushed up from the bottom and found that there was a large piece of foam in-between the cutouts on both sides so being a dick and not thinking of why it was there I didn't put it back turns out that Holden put it there for exactly the reason and problem I was now suffering so I took the seat belt bolt out and put some rapid expanding foam in through the seat belt bolt hole and low and behold it solved the problem drove it that afternoon and the headlining stayed where it was supposed to
So hopefully now the little dramas are becoming less and I will finally be able to get a proper dyno tune into it.
Regards
Neil

Have noticed something similar on mine Neil - what foam did you use and how much? Would hate for it to start pushing the lining out if too much used


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[FireKraka]

Hi Wal sorry for the delayed reply was down south for a couple of days with the boss.
This is the product that I used

IMG_0695.JPG (825.98 KiB) Viewed 710 times

And yes mate you have to be a bit careful but it is hard to gauge how much you are putting in, how much is enough or too little
I did put a little bit too much in the driver side and it has a small bulge I don't think it is very noticeable but may have to try to do something about it at sometime in the future.
Regards
Neil.

[FireKraka]

Seems that even when you think you are finished you aren't really
A few times when I had been driving I had felt a vibration when gearbox was changing from 1st to 2nd to 3rd and it would flatten out when above 80K's, it was worse when the box was changing back down so put Frank up on the stands and started looking at tailshaft uni's found the gearbox to tailshaft slightly out of alignment had to move the gearbox over towards the drivers side by about 10mm and lift it by 10mm, changing probably as smoothly as it is going too
Found an App called TREMAC TOOLBOX check it out helps with Drive Line Angles, Vehicle Speed Calculator, RPM Calculator and Tire (American) Size Calculator.
Hopefully going to the dyno again this Thursday to see if he can find the missing ponies.
Neil