[Marv]

It is a funny colour - in the booth it almost looks candy in direct bright light but otherwise it seems like a restrained emerald green.

It is a GM colour called Poison Ivy on Australian Holdens, or Rainforest Green by Chevy.

[Jeffs64Cat]

Looking great Marv. Love the color!

[gtospieg]

Nice color...good to see progress

[hurryinhoosier62]

You’re getting close, Marv. I can’t wait to see the finished product.

[Marv]

I got the doors on and swinging nicely today, and threw the fenders on too. The fenders will need plenty of finessing to gap up nicely.

[Marv]

The colour pops pretty well in bright sunshine A half-day thrashing on the barge as it is Sunday here, but thankfully it was a beautiful day today... so I rolled it out to have a look at it in direct sunlight.



I got the ENDO-CVT mounted but I forgot to bring the wiring harness with me today to wire it all together. I did redo the tank drain to avoid moisture building up in the tank itself, which is an important factor in air suspension - mine is hooked up to a Schraeder valve hidden behind the rear wheel for easy draining.



I also started on the wiring of the Haltech 950.

[AZ64GP]

Wow, Marv! The car is looking very good! I'm jealous of the progress you have made. It's still really warm here in Phoenix, AZ, but it should be cooling off in the next month or two and I can get back in the garage.

[Marv]

Arizona has a very similar climate to where I live in Australia - I've seen temps as high as 125 deg-F - so that means this time of year is perfect weather to be putting a car together in.

[AZ64GP]

You are a braver man than I, Marv! I work in the garage for an hour or two during the summer if it's early enough in the morning and under 90 degrees (F) in my garage. Any warmer than that and I can't handle it. I'm looking forward to the fall/winter/spring in Arizona.

[Marv]

It is 83degF here today on the 12th day of Spring, and have a guess where i am going?

It really is killing me the car is a 4hr, 220mile round trip, though

[OZZIEVILLE 67 2 door]

Did you and the bonneville make summernats ?

Sent from my SM-T585 using Tapatalk

[Marv]

It's a long story, but no. I took the car back to my parent's place in October and it has sat since then.

I am hoping to get it to a bodywork guru to fix the rear guards (fenders), and will then have to find a place to spray it myself and finish it off (depending on $$$).

[Marv]

A couple of updates on my website about what's been happening, what hasn't been happening, and how close I am to getting this thing fired up

https://bargegarage.com/2019/01/18/h...ter-4-5-years/

[HWYSTR455]

I'm just shy of 5 years on my project, so understand the excitement!

.

[Marv]

2019 is definitely going to be my year! I am now going to get someone to fix the guards then i will prime, block and paint the car myself as i know i will actually get the job done!

[Heybuck]

Hmmmmm, Reading between the lines mate, I'm guessing you have been a victim of the dreaded panel shop promises. All promises & no production.

Good to see you posting again and I'm looking forward to your next progress report. But take care in the heat mate. I must have lost 4 kilos yesterday working on parting out my WH Caprice (very sad ). I'm exhausted.

Happy New Year.

Ian

[Marv]

My mate Kris came up yesterday and spent a very hot, humid day stuck under the dashboard sorting through the mess that is my brand new body wiring loom.

The wiring I did for the Haltech EFI is fine, but the body loom I had "professionally" installed in 2016 is junk with poor routing, messy terminations, incorrectly hooked up power - the ignition, starter and accessory circuits were all wired together, which is why I couldn't find power when I hit the starter (no clicks, nothing). The rest of the loom itself is a disaster that will need to be ripped out and replaced from scratch. Kris patched together an ignition circuit together so we could wind the engine over but we weren't able to get it started unfortunately (partly as the timing light wouldn't play ball on this car, which is wasted spark).

[Marv]

I spent Thursday fighting the car all day (6+ hours!) in 100 degree heat trying to get it to run, with invaluable "Support Desk" help from KrisR. The major issue was we couldn't get his test light to work on my car for love nor money, despite it working on both his cars!

The problem we were trying to fix was the car was firing at the wrong point, coughing and farting, and this was due to having the wrong Top Dead Centre offset (TDC offset). Basically, with the EFI on my car I have a toothed wheel bolted to the balancer, with 58 teeth and 2 missing teeth. A sensor pointed at that wheel reads the missing teeth and gives the Haltech ECU a point to read for TDC on cylinder #1.



However, the missing teeth don't line up perfectly with the TDC mark on the balancer so you need to measure the offset (in degrees) between TDC and the missing teeth (which is where the ECU gets a ping that the engine is TDC). The wrong number in that TDC Offset cell on the ESP software the engine means the engine won't be firing at the right point, which is what my car was doing.

Normally you'd put a timing light on the car and it'd be resolved in 10 minutes. Unfortunately - and for reasons we still don't know - the timing light just would not light up on my car, even when I pulled a boot off the ignition lead on #1 and clipped the light to that!



It got to a point where another mate who knows Haltech ECUs suggested I lock the timing at 10deg after TDC, and then reset the TDC offset to 0, increasing it in 30 degree increments. Way earlier in the day Kris had suggested a TDC Offset angle of 306 degrees, and as it turned out the magic number was 320!

Then, at 430pm on Thursday I finally heard this thing roar into life 4.5 years after the motor was rebuilt! It didn't last long as the Haltech ESP software warned me the battery was copping 18-volts and it was seriously loud idling at 2500rpm due to some huge vacuum leaks.

I shut it down and took the "brand new" Powermaster alternator down to a local auto sparky who confirmed the regulator is toast. He has ordered one and should be all fixed next week.

I also plugged some vacuum leaks, fixed some binding issues with my throttle linkage, plugged a few water leaks (looks like I still need to pull the radiator and get it rebuilt), but the wiring is really the biggest challenge as I'm going to have to put a whole new body loom in the car as the loom I paid a mate's shop to put in is an absolute disaster - incorrectly wired, messy, and poorly labelled.

I have to give a massive, massive shout-out to KrisR who has given me nothing but awesome help and support (and parts ) over the last 4.5 years, but particularly in the last week. I couldn't have done it without you, mate!

Anyways, t is Saturday down under and our national day (like our 4th of July), so Happy Australia Day, legends

[AZ64GP]

Congrats Marv! I'm looking forward to the day that my 389 in my '64 GP comes to life. Hopefully within the next year or so. Too bad it wasn't easier for you, but none of us do this because it's easy

[Marv]

My Speedhut gauges turned up today