Another Pace427 heading to Vic

[Beejay]

Originally Posted by kal

Hi Guye, The car you saw at the Melbourne show was mine. You wont need to paint it as the gel coat, as you saw in the show, was only buffed, with a shammy. As yet it has only been polished once when the body came out of the moulds and was trimed. It has been a long hall since that show as Craig has been extemely buisy getting cars out to clients, as well you know, but when you get to work on it you will see how different these cars are to the rest. Craig has done a mighty job in the develoement of the alluminium structure and the welding is fantastic. My car is getting towards being finished now and hopefully it will be done by the time the Cobra Nationals come around this year. But don't count on it as there is still mountains of work to do. It will be going in to get the wiring harness installed in the next couple of weeks.
Enjoy the build.

Where are the pics Kal!

[guye]

Hi kal; thanks for your comments and advice. I don't plan on painting initially, as I know the finish is great. I have a contact who does vinyl wraps locally so will talk to him about stripes later. My initial concern was just about the trimming, and whether I could reasonably do that myself.

And yeah, where's you build thread?

Don, you're right - the foot switch might have to go on the side!

[guye]

More progress this week.

[guye]

That aluminium looks so nice - almost makes me not want to carpet the interior!

In other news, I went a saw a few engine supplier options last week.

Got some good advice overall. I think I can get myself an L77 with <30km from a wreck with the diff, TR6060, ECU, loom, MAF, in fact everything I want to remove from the car myself sans the panels and interior, etc, for what I think is a good price. Then I drop the remainder of the wreck back with the wrecker. I just need to borrow a car trailer to get it and return it. Any loaners out there

Then I need to look at the DOD delete kit at least, but probably put in a mild cam and upgrade the timing chain while I am at it. Plus new gaskets, possibly a new clutch. I don't care about extra power, but a mild cam will sound awesome I think. Is this something that I could vaguely do myself of you think? Maybe with some Cobra buddy help perhaps? Not about the money so much as trying to have a go myself. I own some new spanners, sockets, and a torque wrench!

(I had a look at the DOD delete kit, which looks easy enough isn't it? The cam is clearly a bigger leap.)

I'd obviously need to get the ECU programmed professionally, I know.

Thoughts? Advice?

[Russell9318]

Pace seem to have all their ducks in a row now and it won't be long before we see some of these cars hit the streets, I can't wait.

Cheers

Russell

[Modena]

guye be careful with changing a cam if you're planning on full rego then a cam swap is a risk with the IM240 test. Leave it stock, pass IM240, can always cam it later. To delete DOD you need to change lifters, and you will get excited and the cam will be too big and tuners do not tune to pass emissions - you will fail the IM240 and that is $700 each attempt pass or fail.

If you heed the above advice, then heed some more; leave the engine and trans mated for now and fit as a single unit. Later when you swap the cam and delete DOD, that is when you swap out the clutch, put in an LS7 clutch at this time. The pace engine bay is not as roomy as some others, to swap cam and lifters will be much more comfortable if you remove the engine from the car - not saying it cannot be done "in car" in a Pace, maybe it can maybe it can't I have no measurements either way, but I know that engine bay is "snug" compared to some others. Point is, if you're removing engine to swap cam, that is when you swap clutch.

For my own situation the clutch advice does not apply because my engine and trans are both new and already separate so I am going straight for an LS7 clutch. Cam however, will come later (I can easily do cam and head removal in-situ in a CR engine bay).

Anyway I digress, WTF is up with that silver ute that is on the hoist in the Pace workshop? It seems to be in like very single shot of everyone's chassis? Is it an RCR race-car underneath or some sort of GT40 in hiding or something?

[Tenrocca]

I agree with Ben on this one.

I have a dead stock L76 in mine. It passed the IM240 first go without a special tune and I haven't touched the engine since. I remember a LS1 powered car a few years back that spent a bomb on the engine from one nats to the next and actually went slower. Drive it with the stock engine first and see what you think. It'll be 200kg lighter than mine so I don't think you will want much more.

Cheers

[Modena]

I like the idea of a cam, personally I will go for a torque cam and its really for the rumble not for power.

[400TT]

Guye, what about looking for a wreck that has the older L98 when they first changed to using 6060 transmission. The L98's are cheaper usually and no DOD to worry about. These days I would not get anything that does not have a 6060 on it, so you are on the right track with the late model 6.0LT engines.

Originally Posted by Modena

WTF is up with that silver ute that is on the hoist in the Pace workshop? It seems to be in like very single shot of everyone's chassis? Is it an RCR race-car underneath or some sort of GT40 in hiding or something?

Yeah, I know, the ute is detracting from all the nice PACE 427 & GT action. The ute is a Drift car getting some work done it. Nothing more interesting than that.

[gjkrv8]

Guy, I stuck with my engine as stock for rego and then got a tune/dyno later on - they can do a lot without "opening" the engine - I got 50 killerwasps at the rear with just a tune. cheers Gregg

[stiffy]

Guye,

I have a mild L76 DODS replacement cam I used for rego (no IM240 Test)

I thinks it a 224/224 @ 50. It is better than stock, it is classed as a towing cam,

better torque down low. It was nice but I love the dancing at idle type so it

went into storage

STIFFY

[guye]

Thanks for comments everyone.

I don't really feel the need to have to change the cam, so happy to stick with stock. I understand it is good to replace the lifters, change the valley plate and a few other things around the DOD. Is the timing chain inherently poor, and worth changing too while the top's off? If not, then as some of you suggested I'm happy to leave well enough alone for emissions testing, and beyond too for that matter, including all the DOD stuff.

Craig, I'm told the TR6060 didn't really start until the VE series 2, and then we are talking L77. In any case, I also understand in Vic the engine can't be older than 6 years for compliance, and I am concerned I might not be up to that stage for another year or so, hence why I wanted something no more than about 3 years old. That puts me smack into L77 land, doesn't it?

[sambo]

I don't think the age of the engine matters, so long as it passes the IM240. Any unmodified Gen 3/4 could pass if setup up properly. Eg, cats, MAF, etc.

[Modena]

guye as sambo says I don't believe the age matters - any engine is ok so long as it passes the test. The 6060 was used in series 1 VE, although perhaps not right from the start, not sure on the dates. I know they were in 2009 HSV's, and they filtered down to Commodore's some time after that.

[400TT]

No age limit on engine, you just need to pass ADR 37/01 emissions which is what the IM240 test is testing for. So technically a Australian 1999 engine should pass that if it and emissions parts are in a suitable condition. In the USA you are talking 80's vintage engines that will passed ADR 37/01 from the factory.

Originally Posted by guye

Craig, I'm told the TR6060 didn't really start until the VE series 2,

Yes, there is a good supply of L98/6060 cars. I don't have the information on me, but you can work it out from the build date of the car to determine when Holden introduced the 6060. As Modena mentioned, the HSV's had them a little earlier.

[guye]

Ok. That all makes sense. Thanks.

So it seems L98 is preferable. The only difference to an L77 is the DOD, that I'd need to disable (which costs money) and support for ethanol fuels, which I don't care about. Is that right?

[sambo]

There were also some L76 engines without DOD, I think in the VZ series II.

[kal]

Hi Guye, Sorry for the delay in replying to you, I don't have a build thread as I have not been able to upload the photos. I started it and only uploaded 3, then I could not continue as it would not allow anymore to upload. I tried a couple of times but did no good. I have now closed down all the messages and will try again at a later date. I have about 70 photos of the car in various stages so I will also need to go through them as well.

[sambo]

kal, I suggest opening a free account on photobucket.com or imageshack.com (or similar) rather than uploading to the forum gallery. No restrictions and much easier to use, particularly on your tablet or mobile. Then just copy the direct link into the forum.

[guye]

Imageshack seems to be free (to upload to anyway) only for first month. Photobucket is the go methinks.