That's a load of shit about the gearbox, take it to another place, I've had repairs done on numerous ke30/55 boxes and no issues with parts,

 

cheers!

Cheers mate. If I haven't heard back in a week I'll go and pick it up.

Front end is all done. Back up about 40mm for now. Should drop down another 10mm or so once it settles.

The cars geometry is back where it should be. No more brake shudder.

Just more stable all round. Cost me 850$ to lower it the way it was and it cost almost as much to bring it back up.

 

Also picked up a set of reset springs for the rear. Reversed eyes and an extra flipped leaf. I'm not sure how low from standard they will be. Any ideas?

 

 

The other struts will be up for sale if you know anyone interested.

Shortened strut leg, resleaved, Boge VW Golf mk1 short stroke inserts, bump stops and dust covers. I have receipts. Will lower a ke20 front end about 60mm

Edited November 22, 201411 yr by GJM85

What shocks did you end up using?

The monroe gas. The only thing in the country available at short notice. They seem fine. Peddlers recommended I get what I can because nobody is making them in Australia anymore.

 

I've been looking at those leaf springs I got. They're not reset. Just a flipped main leaf with an added full length leaf.

Now the challenge is to use the 2 packs to get a firm 40mm drop.

New brake master cylinder fitted today. The old one functioned fine but appeared to leak fluid into the fire wall.

It's an eBay item and the quality is better than I expected. Reservoir is a fair bit smaller though and makes for a pain in the arse when bleeding.

The only issue I had was the brass cap bolt. This bit was different so I had to buy a 27mm socket so I could swap it over. Brakes aren't much different. A little less play in the pedal is about all. The photo is of the old master with the new brass bit.

 

 

I've been losing a fair bit of coolant out of the overflow hose. Temps have been getting way up lately. I'm using a recovery type 10psi cap so I've hooked up a 600ml mount franklin overflow bottle to collect and return coolant. That's 3psi higher than the standard ke20 cap so I'm concerned about blowing the radiator if I go any higher.

I'm looking at replacing the radiator but I don't like the Chinese alloy units on eBay. I went to the local radiator guy and he quoted me 550 coins to re-core the standard item, so that's out of the question. Then there's the 280$ generic ADRAD units.

Maybe I'll look at a high flow thermostat and refitting the thermo fan. Any ideas?

Edited November 25, 201411 yr by GJM85

Wait and see how you go with the over flow, we've had pretty high temps lately so it's not surprising. As for the radiator, I bought one of those adrad ebay ones a couple of years ago, couldn't be happier, pretty good quality (imo), No drama's to date,

 

cheers!

If you've got the room and happy to make a few small mods you could always look at getting a v6 commodore one like mine. I bought a brand new one from Repco earlier in the year for $126. They had it in stock. You will also need a new top hose, I used a generic flexible hose which was $60.

Thanks for the tips guys. The issue appears to be the thermostat, I hope.

It barely opens in boiling water. I did today without a thermostat at all. 100km round trip. She took a while to warm up for obvious reasons and then got a bit hotter than usual. I hope that was due to the unregulated flow.

I picked up a high flow thermostat at ubercheap this arvo then got caught in this arvo's storm. Hail and all. There doesn't appear to be any dents. Possibly due to the 3mm of highfill under the duco.

I also scored Camerondownunder's sealed & stud-less timing cover.

 

Edited November 27, 201411 yr by GJM85

I'm using an eBay spec rad on the GZE, consistent temps. I use a digital thermo relay in the outlet pipe and it rarely gets over 75 degrees when cruising. And the 10" thermo keeps it under 90 in traffic and heat.

So the radiator has continued to pressurise to the point of overflowing during high speed without a thermostat.

It's either combustion pressure leaking into the cooling system or the radiator has had it.

 

It may be time to commit and find another radiator.

Repacked the rear springs yesterday using the second set I picked up. Added two extra leaves. So it's now a six pack. The back end came up about 20mm but she's nice and firm.

 

Turns out the drivers side axle is bent so I'll need to get another bearing and swapped that out.

 

I redid the fuel lines under the hood. Holley reg, Aeroflow gauge fitting and Speco pressure gauge.

 

I went to the Beaudesert swap this morning and picked up a ke20 drivers door mirror for 25$. Completely random box of mirrors and what do you know!

 

I drove to work this morning and I noticed the car was awesomely quiet and smooth to drive since changing the suspension. The joy was short lived as the suspected bent axle made short work of the new wheel bearing and it collapsed about 30km from home.

 

I limped it home at about 70km/h stopping lots to let traffic pass. What a noisy, stress loaded journey. I pulled it out and put one of my old axles in till I can readdress this issue.

Just got my electronic dizzy back from performance ignition services. Overhauled and recurved for the 154 cam.

Obviously some cams are worn more than others and this affects the outcome of the finish profile.

My 154 is as follows.

 

Intake. Exaust

Lobe Sep. 111.5

Centre Line. 110atdc 113btdc

Cam Lift. 0.261 0.262

V. Lift. 0.380 0.380

Duration. 276 276

[email protected]. 218 227