The new L series

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guyph_01
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Post by guyph_01 » Wed Mar 21, 2012 10:33 am

RSR 555 wrote:No need Bennie, I can tell from this pic that you have just the rubber section but that's cool, we just have to put more effort into changing Guyph's ones.. more time = more pay
I thought it was More time = More Free stuff???

Lol
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Post by FROG » Wed Mar 21, 2012 5:57 pm

relax Guyph free stuff is still pay - just more free stuff ;)

was thinking something was wrong with Bennies pic of the bushes
the original outer steel casing for the bush is an absolute pain to remove - Ive only seen it done once and that was with ALOT of free stuff changing hands and an amazing amount of time, blood, sweat, tears, grinding, filing, bashing, oxygen, acetalene and swearing - from memory about 5 hours for the two and maybe a welding rod was wasted aswell :roll:

bite the bullet and get the same replacement style Bennie bought and save yourselves the pain, nightmares, scars etc etc

hope I made myself clear :-D
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Post by steptoe » Wed Mar 21, 2012 11:51 pm

So, Andy, you must realise why I was smiling when I found my Vortex had new super pro bushes fitted prior to my ownership :D

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Post by RSR 555 » Thu Mar 22, 2012 3:48 pm

FROG wrote:relax Guyph free stuff is still pay - just more free stuff ;)

was thinking something was wrong with Bennies pic of the bushes
the original outer steel casing for the bush is an absolute pain to remove - Ive only seen it done once and that was with ALOT of free stuff changing hands and an amazing amount of time, blood, sweat, tears, grinding, filing, bashing, oxygen, acetalene and swearing - from memory about 5 hours for the two and maybe a welding rod was wasted aswell :roll:

bite the bullet and get the same replacement style Bennie bought and save yourselves the pain, nightmares, scars etc etc

hope I made myself clear :-D
Yeah.. it's never really free.. it's just no exchange of the bugs bunny

Unfortunately we have already done 1/2 the job, so this time I'll do the other 1/2 then we'll use the same as the ones Bennie uses.

As clear as mud :-D
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Post by El_Freddo » Sat Mar 24, 2012 8:56 am

Yeah Paul you're 100% correct! Ours are very rusted in to the point that it's difficult to distinguish between the swig arm and the bush casings!

Dad's got the rear end all sorted. Tomorrow we do the front discs, put the front of the engine back together and "change" the brake fluid. Then she's in again for a RWC on monday :D

And did anyone else pick up on the stress in Guyph's post about extra cost??

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guyph_01
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Post by guyph_01 » Sat Mar 24, 2012 12:51 pm

El_Freddo wrote:
And did anyone else pick up on the stress in Guyph's post about extra cost??

Cheers

Bennie
What stress??? What post?
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Post by steptoe » Sat Mar 24, 2012 10:04 pm

Jonno stops in his tracks - looks right and well waddaya know ? Not all the power window switches were tossed - still got the drivers door ain't he ?? :D

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Post by El_Freddo » Sun Mar 25, 2012 8:40 am

guyph_01 wrote:What stress??? What post?
guyph_01 wrote:
RSR 555 wrote:we just have to put more effort into changing Guyph's ones.. more
I thought it was More time = More Free stuff???

Lol
Ok, so maybe not quite the stress I first read it as... But I still thought it funny - the "???" makes it I reckon - a hectic question that you want the answer to...

Anyway, I gotta get going!

Cheers

Bennie
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Post by El_Freddo » Sun Mar 25, 2012 10:42 pm

Well we've changed the brake fluid, dad installed some studs that are larger than the original bolt's diametre and enlarged the cam tensioner's mounting holes to make it fit. It's all holding well together and all quiet.

We do however get a knock once it's warm, still VERY VERY dull and only when the gearbox is under load, light/heavy it doesn't really matter, it's just there - so we're going with this being the torque converter or flex plate... We're just stoked that the engine is quiet az!

RWC tomorrow, hopefully rego a day or two later :D

Cheers

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Post by NachaLuva » Sun Mar 25, 2012 10:50 pm

Good work Bennie :mrgreen:

Best of luck tomorrow for the RWC ;)
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Post by El_Freddo » Tue Mar 27, 2012 8:27 pm

nachaluva wrote:Best of luck tomorrow for the RWC ;)
Thanks mate, all went well. They did a wheel alignment as ordered. Apparently they had to bleed the brakes - Dad and I did it Sunday arvo and I question this as the brakes were fine, no fading and the pedal doesn't feel any different!

We've got a few questions about the RWC mechanic's motives for a few aspects of the certificate. One the 1st inspection they noted that the brake fluid needed replacing, the rear swing arm inner bushes were stuffed, the engine was dirty (after our degrease and wash already!), the front discs were .5mm out of spec and the rear brakes needed adjusting.

Brake fluid, well ok that can be changed but we think it hardly necessary. The rear bushes, as you can see in the above pics were fine. It's made me wonder if they were hoping that we would palm that work off for them to complete for us at our cost.

There was one tiny patch on the engine that I missed the first time around, there was the usual country dirt and 2 long dead locusts there! Other than that there wasn't much more to clean!

The rear brakes, well, they're auto adjust! When we got the completed report back it said the HAND BRAKE needed adjusting! If you know your L series then you'd also know that the hand brake operates on the FRONT wheels! So the dude hadn't even taken the time to work out which end was what with the hand brake. Needless to say that we didn't touch the front hand brake yet it still passed :confused:

The front discs, they were probably fine for the job but I got dad to get a new set anyway, $50 each, I think that's cheap insurance in the long run.

Now it's rego time on Thursday - the earliest we could get it in after the RWC was completed on Monday. Our options were Bendigo or Kyneton - Bendigo was the one we got into earliest. And apparently the booking fee covers your permit to drive it from home to the VIN inspection and registration.

Other than that we're pretty stoked. It still needs a head unit and I'd like to get a front wrap over bar like what Ruby's got as well as a set of driving lights - but that's something for my sister to look into if she wants them.

Now I get all my time back to put into Ruby Scoo :D Stoked!

Cheers

Bennie
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Post by dobo » Wed Mar 28, 2012 9:32 pm

Well done Bennie. some mechanics must make a killing telling people they need more than they should for a roady, especially if they're selling the car as they will do whatever to have it happen the quickest!
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Post by El_Freddo » Wed Mar 28, 2012 9:50 pm

dobo wrote:Well done Bennie. some mechanics must make a killing telling people they need more than they should for a roady, especially if they're selling the car as they will do whatever to have it happen the quickest!
Yeah painful! The first big drive in it tomorrow from Cobaw to Benders for rego. The plates will start with "Y", as I saw a fella walking out with a set of new plates today that started with the Y.

Looking forward to seeing this puppy on the road. There's some debate about the name of it. I think we've talked my sister into Dirk for some reason... She usually goes for "B" names but couldn't settle on a good one, apparently, and it's sad to say, our suggestions were too "gay" :(

We had Bruno, Bevis (as in Bevis and Butt Head, you work out who butt head would be :rolleyes:), Brodie, Brick Betty, Bernie, Bernice, Bernadette and Bosley.

Borat, Barny, Baz (her 1st subi), Ben, Boris, and I can't remember the rest are already taken :???: From phones to computers and her car in Canada she's named them all - including her horses.

Anyway, we'll see what she comes up with...

I'm also keen to see what economy the 3 spd auto comes up with the MPFI in front of it.

Cheers

Bennie
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Post by El_Freddo » Thu Mar 29, 2012 12:17 pm

Well he/she/it's all rego'd now! STOKED!! Still yet to pass it over to Sis - it'll come with a lecture on how to actually look after it!

Plates start with a Y, not that it's an issue - Ruby S's is a U and that was about 6 years ago now I think...

The auto is carnage - cruises well but at 100km/h it's pulling just over 3500rpm and at 110km/h you're looking at a notch under 4G rpm! Crazy! Pretty good for the sunday driver though, it's very pleasant to just "squeeze" on some throttle gently and let it do it's thing :mrgreen:

That little light knocking is still there but when we pulled up in benders after an hour's drive it had gone. 10 minutes later it was there again and still remains :confused:

I was talking to Kez on the way up here this morning while cruising the freeway - I can see why people are hanging on to their older cars (L's were the topic, but it's still generic across the board I reckon) if they've been well maintained. This one's comfortable, clean, pretty well maintained, easy to drive and looks like it'll be pretty economical, even with the auto.
I figure that people in this uncertain economic time will hang on to their tried and trusted older cars if it's not giving them any problems - there's no extra service fee, you don't have to pay monthly installments + the interest that goes with it, insurance is generally a pot load less and tyres/parts are generally cheaper. To me it makes economic sense to me if you're still happy with it. I also reckon the joe blow mechanic actually enjoys working on these older vehicles too.

I'll get some pics of him/her/it before I pass over the key and I'll let you know what it's name is from the new user's mouth...

Pretty happy it's going and now out of the way :D

Cheers

Bennie
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Dirka - as in "ar, dirka dirka dirka"

Post by El_Freddo » Thu Mar 29, 2012 3:30 pm

Photos as promised:

Dirka and Sis - the new driver/"lookerafterer" of Dirka

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We gave him a "leak test" AKA took him through the car wash. He definitely holds up better than Ruby Scoo does on the driver and passenger's window seals!

Hopefully the maintenance and care lecture sunk in too.

I need to get Ruby S on the road, I've discovered that I'm having some serious withdrawals after the drive this morning, plus I can't wait for that EJ growl again!

This thread will probably go quiet now that all the work as been done to get Dirka on the road, unless others have questions or there's something to update. Hopefully Dirka will still be around to replace Ruby Scoo if that day ever comes around (hopefully not ever, or in the near future!).

Cheers

Bennie
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Post by steptoe » Thu Mar 29, 2012 9:23 pm

You've sexed him then ? And your sister knows you have her up in here ? Where we can, what is it, right click, set as desktop background and Viola - bennies sis is on our desktop :D

When the first hubcap gets crushed lemme know, I got just one with my wagon

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Post by El_Freddo » Thu Mar 29, 2012 9:50 pm

steptoe wrote:You've sexed him then ?
Yeah it looks that way... It's Dirka...
steptoe wrote:And your sister knows you have her up in here ? Where we can, what is it, right click, set as desktop background and Viola - bennies sis is on our desktop :D
Does that put you in the "dirty old man" category???
steptoe wrote:When the first hubcap gets crushed lemme know, I got just one with my wagon
You want the other three :p

Cheers

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steptoe
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Post by steptoe » Thu Mar 29, 2012 11:58 pm

I was wondering if you wanted the loner for the spare - you know tidy up the engine bay a bit. Actually, got me stuffed why none of us have started a cut down of the hold down screw so to turn the buggers upside down and store all our breakdown tools and bits in the bigger bowl !

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Post by Smokey » Fri Mar 30, 2012 10:46 am

Probably coz 75% of us cant fit the spare in there anyway. 10% have catch cans, intercoolers or second batteries in that location. And 10% are too lazy to care and probably didnt read your post. That leaves you in the 5% minority category. Does it even fit upside down? Im pretty sure I tried this back when I had a stocko...

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Post by purp » Fri Mar 30, 2012 12:50 pm

Smokey wrote:Probably coz 75% of us cant fit the spare in there anyway. 10% have catch cans, intercoolers or second batteries in that location. And 10% are too lazy to care and probably didnt read your post. That leaves you in the 5% minority category. Does it even fit upside down? Im pretty sure I tried this back when I had a stocko...
As part of the five percent that still have a spare under the bonnet, I can say that turning it over occurred to me once, but I was too lazy to go to the trouble of cutting the screw thingy. Can't recall if I ever actually checked to see if it fit upside down...

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