Yeah, that's known KMs, she's done a bit. 250 is cheap cheap cheap for a block. Then if this one isn't too s**t I might just slowly rebuild it with low comp for turboing.

I did a full auto fluid flush, not just dropping the pan, and filter about 7000kms ago, the fluid out of it was black as sin. Sure gave it a nice boost when I changed that, the diff oil and the engine oil at the same time!

Since I've already got all the go-fast bits for mine it's no big deal swapping them over to another engine. I'd probably get a T5 too, I sort of sick of the auto box. If I have the other block out of the car and put a T5 on the back of it, can I slot it into the falc with more ease than say putting the engine in and then the gearbox onto the back? I have an XF manual box here but I think it's a 4 speed and I've heard they don't fit to an E series...dunno about the truth to that. So either T5 or a hi-stall when I change the engine most likely.

At 60 exactly it won't drop to 1st unless I lock it in first, which is why I hauled it in second gear the other day. With my mods it really just jump around in first now! Of course not as much as your SS (I assume that's the commodore you're talking about?) On a random off topic subject, I saw a ton of black SS's around town yesterday, they sure do look mean!

I might play around with that, try it at 55 and see whether it's more advantageous to let it go to first rather than it maybe going to first.

As always, it's money money money. I nearly bought an XB the other day for 500 clams but it was just too far gone to justify it, plus I'm getting my motorbike learners on Monday, gun license safety course next Sunday, plus this engine, plus maybe a T5. Time to start buying a ton of instant scratchies to increase my bank balance?

Oh yeah, as for the droopy engine, I can tell it's tired compared to my mates EL wagon, his has done about 237 000 granny kms (bought it from the old lady up the street when she passed away) and the engine feels a bit better but the gearbox just feels nice and lovely, shifts are a lot better. Mine don't clunk or anything but it just feels kinda...off.

Anyway, todays project is sinking some piss, checking my spark plus and editing my exhaust as the damn thing rattles at startup, it's bloody embarrassing!

Alrighty, just checked my head, it's still leaking. God damn it Mimsy! Gonna dump that sealant stuff in it this Sunday.

Anyway, I looked at my build plate to get my VIN to see exactly when my car was built - I noticed it had opt 20 on it. Cool! That explains why my speedo goes up in 2s, can be adjusted, and why the car has an LSD and such.

Tomorrow I'm gonna give that CarGo metallic seal-up a go. We don't use glycol coolant, only anti-corrosion, so that helps slightly with disposal (throw it into the creek to get rid of it). Only kidding.

One thing I don't really get is that it says to fill the system, run it until the thermostat opens up, then top it up as required. It THEN says for systems with header tanks, to dilute the stuff in 2 litres of water, then chuck it in. But will 2 litres fit in when the system is full? Do I have to leave about 2 litres of space in the system for it? I don't really want to run my car with no water in the head, it's fragile enough as it is.

Cool, thanks for that. I was a little puzzled about the procedure exactly, I need to stop drinking through the day. I need a new thermostat housing pretty soon, mine is slowly corroding away, or at least was until we got it.

As for my hopefully new donk and box, I remembered today we have a smashed XF that has a manual box in it. Dunno if it's a 4 or 5 speed though, and the gear lever in it is all sloppy, it feels like it's not even connected to the box anymore. Clutch still presses and feels normal though. Probably not worth playing around as I've read basically only the TF will fit, everything else needs to be replaced, so I should just buy an EL conversion.

If anyone wants that gearbox, or any bits off our old EA (I still want some parts on it though) let me know. We also have a few old late 60s Fords and Valiants out here if you need any parts, I'll give them away cheap as anything.

Alright, part 1 of the repairs is done. Radiator and coolant system flushed out, put back together and filled up. The radiator had a bit of brown sludge in but not too bad. I was tossing up whether to just put the sealant in now but I'm glad I didn't as the header tank water is a bit murky so I'll run it a bit to circulate everything and drain it again, that should get the large majority of it out. Damn that bottom radiator hose is hard to get to though!

I took my car for a hoon in the forestry to circulate the water and then dumped out the water. Filled her up again and put the sealant stuff in. Drove it about 40kms into town and back and when I got back, I checked the engine about 2 hours later (which is usually when it leaks after getting hot) and it wasn't leaking! Huzzah! Cheers to uniacidz for the tips

It sure is, I put the car into dash diagnostic mode so I could see the coolant temp and didn't open a 102 degree sealed, pressurised system. Hopefully this holds out till I get that fresh donk to put in, or at least when I get motivated to change the head gasket.

Well the head gasket is holding, which is cool. Yesterday I went into town (and got my motorbike learners, yay) and grabbed an EL TPS. 10 f**k dollars for it...jesus. I put that on and the car is idling right and seems to have a bit more go, I guess my improvised EA one was never quite right.

I just run straight salt water in my car, that should be good with the fragile alloy head and iron block, right?

Nah, I put some anti-corrosive in, for some reason we use that at the farm, not glycol, I'm not sure why. I flushed out the Seal-up before it, of course, but I forgot to put the pepper in! I'll git er dun now.

I did that whenever I put fresh water or whatnot into my car while fixing it so it diluted whatever was left in there. It was really cool to have to go for a hoon, usually I feel bad after I floor it because I just think of all that fuel I waste, but this time I didn't worry about it. Living on a gravel road and having sandy forestry tracks across the road really is good sometimes.

But yeah, ya don't want a dirty big blocking clump of pepper somewhere in there.

Tried another zero to 100 but only on dirt...got an 8.9 and 8.84 which aren't too bad considering there was a bit of wheelspin at the start. I could only stall it up to 1500 without wheelspin on the dirt, and it needs to get to 30km/hr to get over 2 grand. Still disappointing that I've spend a fair bit on my car and it's f**k slower than bog stock due to my engine probably being flogged. No money for another engine. I should have done a 0-100 on the tarmac but I was already out of town and wasn't going back. b**ch b**ch b**ch.

Yeah, hard to tell as each time I'd probably get more or less wheelspin. It seems to go a bit better with a new TPS, head gasket sealed (which had a tiny weep coming out of it this arvo, better put the pepper in) and air filter cleaned. Time for a new engine and gearbox though I think.

A minor update - my front brakes started making a scraping noise, and it turns out the pads are worn out, and only the inside ones, which to me indicated that the calipers aren't sliding properly, which I think is probably caused by the bushes that the 2 bolts going into being sloppy, letting them turn the caliper slightly and sort of 'locking' it to the bolts. Bugger.

Pretty embarrassing to drive past my siblings' high school and have this terrible scraping noise coming from my car.

I found 3 spare pads at mine, I dunno if they are ones from our old EA or ones from mine when we got it. Also, they may all be outside ones...if so they are pretty much useless. Time to order a set of pads and caliper kit.

Also, I found a spare set of cruise control switches, the little buttons on mine are stuffed I believe, which means the whole getup doesn't work. Dad and I spent ages looking at all different wreckers to find good buttons for the cruise control and about 2 months later I stuffed up the on/off switches mounting legs just by pressing it and the right side one''s buttons busted off when I tried to take them off when it stopped working. Crappy 15 year old plastic. Anyway. I might solder these buttons on and see if they make it work, because it's a shame to have cruise control and not be able to use it.

I thought it was a little rock stuck in it which has happened, but usually falls out if I reverse. Nope, actually just the pad backing rubbing on the caliper. Does it pay to loctite the brake bolts while putting that back in?