OzGemini.com

So what happened with the Aluminium blob? First I cut about 30mm off the end with the drop saw then squared it all up in the 4 jaw lathe.

IMG_20200420_133540 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

I then bored a hole in one side, turned one end suitable for a 51mm hose, bored through the hose end, drilled some holes, and f*#cked about with the die grinder. This was the result, a new top hat for the throttle body.

IMG_20200421_131352 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

IMG_20200421_131408 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

IMG_20200425_161258 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

It needs more work but that will be later.

I needed a small section of 51mm pipe so cut another section of Saab pipe, well I was about to and Kadyn wanted to do it.

IMG_20200425_173101 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

I bought some aluminium tube bends to make up part of the intake plumbing then cut them up, drilled holes and beaded one end ready to weld together. I also took the sump off and cut another section out of it. Made up a patch to suit. The whole lot was sent out to get welded up.

IMG_20200426_135454 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

IMG_20200428_112153 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

Beaded one end of the pipe Kadyn cut.

IMG_20200503_140058 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

I also bought an intercooler.

IMG_20200426_141529 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

Then cut it up!

IMG_20200428_112223 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

Shortened the mounts level with the end tanks.

IMG_20200428_112211 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

Made up some fill pieces for the new engine mounts and welded it all together. Whats that saying? Oh yeah, “If you can't weld good, weld lots”. There's lots of weld in these!

IMG_20200503_095530 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

The sump and pipe came back from the welder. I actually cleaned the sump in the sand balster this time.

IMG_20200503_130347 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

IMG_20200503_130411 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

Welded the new mounts on to the cross member and cleaned up a bit with the grinder.

IMG_20200503_110047 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

IMG_20200503_110102 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

IMG_20200503_110124 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

IMG_20200503_110132 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

IMG_20200503_110147 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

Painted the cross member, refitted sump and then refitted cross member. Let the engine down on to its mounts and checked clearances. Fitted the Piazza rack and checked that too. Nothing is touching this time but technically some of it is still a bit close. If I need to I'll make up spacers under the rubber mounts.

IMG_20200503_135126 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

IMG_20200503_135139 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

IMG_20200503_135202 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

IMG_20200503_135241 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

IMG_20200503_135920 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

Test fitted the intake and boost plumbing. The silicone joiner on the air flow meter just touches the bonnet. That can be massaged to fit so no biggy.

IMG_20200503_140611 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

IMG_20200503_142745 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

IMG_20200503_142950 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

IMG_20200503_143024 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

I don't know whats next, I'll figure that out later.

Such a good result man.

It's pretty rewarding putting the bonnet back on for clearance checks isn't it lol

So what's next? Sometimes it seems bigger than Ben Hur but then I do one little job and then another. Soon there's things done.

I wanted to use these engine mount safety tabs.

IMG_20200505_075452 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

So they got a trim and a test fitting.

IMG_20200510_141757 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

IMG_20200510_141813 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

Welded in a small bracket then put some nutserts in for the air box.

IMG_20200510_141819 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

I started to cut bits of the front panel to install the intercooler and got the s*)ts with how it was all fitting. I ordered another intercooler and welded the bits back in.

IMG_20200510_141834 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

Second intercooler turned up so then I cut this one up as well. Not as much this time.

IMG_20200517_140033 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

IMG_20200517_140055 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

Cut the front panel to suit. I wasn't keen on this as there is over $800 in front panel but it had to be done, maybe.

IMG_20200517_140115 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

It's tight but slides in from the front.

IMG_20200517_135942 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

This thing turned up from the land of COVID 19 f*&kers. It's a Honda something throttle cable/TPS doohickey. “Hey spell check actually accepts doohickey as a word”

IMG_20200517_140130 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

Made an aluminium plate/bracket for it and mounted it next to the throttle body.

IMG_20200520_154253 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

IMG_20200520_154316 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

Bought this thing from a Hyundai Accent.

IMG_20200517_140221 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

Made a bracket.

IMG_20200520_153752 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

Nutserts and bolts in engine bay.

IMG_20200521_151958 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

I grabbed one of my dashboards and cut bits off it. It came from the TC I bought to re-shell GEM77A. It isn't an immaculate dash so I didn't mind as much cutting it up but it already has the air vents on the ends. It was just a matter of trimming and test fitting until it bolted in around the Swift HVAC.

IMG_20200517_151516 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

Next I'll make mountings for the HVAC and once it bolts in I'll make up the duct work to the vents. I still don't know if it'll work but you don't know till you try. I'll probably keep the electric actuators on it as I can see how drive them simply. This brings me to the next question, do I keep the AC a manual system or go full nerdy climate control?

I paid a visit to Pick N Payless and picked up this stuff.
A condenser from a Suzuki Ignis.

IMG_20200523_124120 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

A plug/pigtail from a Honda for the TPS. The other things are light sensors for the XR6, the bloody things s*#t themselves in the summer heat.

IMG_20200523_124113 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

I'll see how well the Ignis condenser, intercooler and radiator all fit together then make a mounting bracket for them.

Lastly I want to say something.
Everybody that builds something, and it seems to be common in the modified car scene, gets the odd smart arse making comment criticising their work saying things like you should have done it this way, it wont work properly or that looks s*#t! My build is no exception! A lot of the critics either have tons of money to do things differently, don't have all the facts and say s*#t without being informed or are plain and simply arseholes!
I just wish to inform these idiots that I am building this thing with next to no money, the tools I have at hand, and the parts available to me. It is not meant to be a super performance build but more of proving to myself that it can be done and be done the way I want it done.

Till next time.

Mad

I enjoy your posts. Unfortunately you have to suffer citicism from the odd idiot when playing in the public realm.

I can only offer that most of the critics rarely finish anything themselves. If they really did the hard yards themselves, they would have a better understanding and respect for fellow enthusiasts.

Thanks man.

I haven't had much of a chance to do much recently due to having to rebuild a Suzuki engine for Matt and then Kristy getting sick but here's a small update.

I was looking for something to plumb from the bottom of the radiator to the oil cooler at the rear of the engine. It needed to be metal of some sort as it will go right next to the turbo/dump pipe but copper and brass are stupidly expensive in the size needed so I decided to go with stainless. The straight pieces came from an exhaust shop and the bends came from China. I looked locally for stainless bends but again were too expensive for what you get. The Chinese stainless bends finally turned up and being that they're from China they weren't a standard size nor were they the size advertised BUT turned out perfect for what I wanted.

I just had to turn a bees dick off the end of the straight pieces for them to fit the bends. I attempted to silver solder one joint but had the wrong flux.

IMG_20200713_093413 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

Bought the right flux and silver soldered the rest together then started to clean up the joints.

IMG_20200724_103722 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

Did a test fit. I still have to make brackets to bolt it to the sump and a boss to fit a temp sensor.

IMG_20200726_150052 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

IMG_20200726_150129 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

More than I've done bro. Something is something

I think I'm getting too old for this s*#t, or maybe it's not the age but the mileage! On with the show!

The next thing was to put a boss in the radiator return pipe for a temp sensor. I bought myself an Astra temp sensor and a stainless nut to suit. Machined the nut to suit a section of stainless tube I found at work then machined one end of the tube to 20mm diameter.

IMG_20200807_095705 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

IMG_20200807_095726 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

The next thing I decided to tackle is the power steering lines. I had to find a fitting to suit the output of the pump.

IMG_20200817_162841 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

IMG_20200817_162853 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

While rummaging around trying to find something to screw into the pump I came across this pipe. I have no idea what it's from but the pipe fitted. However it was the wrong thread so I took it to work, turned it down and re threaded it to 16x1.5.

IMG_20200902_142026 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

IMG_20200902_145135 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

The high pressure input to the rack goes here, The fitting that's in it is from a Borg Warner auto out of an XF Falcon. The tube itself is probably too thin for the pressure but the nut is perfect. I have some 8mm pressure tube coming.

IMG_20200906_155352 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

Now I was going to weld on some hose fittings straight to the bits I had so I visited Enzed who convinced me to weld on flare fittings which is what I did at the pump end.

IMG_20200908_144537 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

IMG_20200920_141329 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

I could have just bought an adaptor but all these bits didn't cost anything.
Bought the rest of the stuff to do the hose.
A small something I didn't know was it looks like -6AN/JIC is the same size as no.6 refrigeration hose and the crimp specs look the same. So I should be able to use the hose crimpers at work to crimp the ends.
(EDIT: ^^^^ is bulls*#t! The no.8 crimper comes close but the ridges are in the wrong spot. Ill just take the hose around the corner from work and get it crimped there.)

IMG_20200913_164531 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

I had some stainless strips made up then drilled holes in one end. Bolted them to the sump and cable tied the return pipe in place. Marked everything ready to weld together.

IMG_20200913_111955 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

At the same time I modified and extended the power steering return line. I bent up some 1/2” copper tube and flared/beaded whatever it's called one end with a double flare kit.

IMG_20200912_162412 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

IMG_20200912_162314 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

IMG_20200912_162327 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

Cut the original pipe down and silver soldered the copper extension on. Painted silver and refitted.

IMG_20200919_144845 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

IMG_20200920_141231 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

Silver soldered the boss and support tabs on the radiator return pipe.

IMG_20200919_144833 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

Fitted the radiator pipe, dump pipe, cross member and radiator. Most of it fits well, just a few things that need changing.
I didn't need the lower bend on the radiator pipe. I think I'll just cut the bend off.

IMG_20200919_145214 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

IMG_20200919_145320 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

IMG_20200920_141114 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

IMG_20200920_141319 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

IMG_20200920_141342 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

IMG_20200920_141135 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

The dump pipe points too far down. I'll figure something out later as I need to squeeze a cat in there somewhere too.

IMG_20200920_141419 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

I'm not sure what's next, but I'll probably finish the power steering lines then do another test fit of all the plumbing. I would like to get all the engine bay fab work out of the way and pull the engine before any body work.

I dunno what to say man. This is brilliant lol

It's slow going at the moment but here's an update.

One thing I meant to say previously is that I checked the angle of the engine. It was only a rough measurement but it's around 3 degrees maybe a touch more.

I wanted to get all the intake plumbing test fitted which involved cutting a bunch of silicone hoses. I didn't feel like getting clamps for each size to make a clean cut or making cuts that look like Freddy Kruger had a bad day so I made a hose cutter.

IMG_20200926_163412 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

Not perfect cuts but pretty good.

IMG_20200926_163330 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

Here's the latest incarnation of the intake plumbing.

IMG_20201004_120918 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

I started figuring out the hoses for the radiator.
For the top radiator hose I used a cut down AH Astra lower hose, a small section of stainless tube, and a cut down lower Gemini hose.

IMG_20201004_222529 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

IMG_20201004_222554 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

IMG_20201004_222603 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

The lower will be a straight hose between the radiator and stainless extension. The hose to join the extension to the oil cooler will be another lower Gemini hose. It's a pain to put it in with the engine in so I'll test fit it when the engine comes back out.

IMG_20201004_222500 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

I did think to run the water return from the turbo to one of the 2 heater hose returns on the cooler and even made up a brass fitting and copper pipe but it ended up being a big fail as there is simply not enough room. The original return went to a special hose so I'll weld a fitting in the stainless extension.

I got hold of some 8mm 1.5mm wall cold drawn seamless pressure tube for the power steering. Bent it to suit and silver soldered a flare fitting on. Put the fitting on and flared the other end.

IMG_20201004_221102 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

I measured and cut the high pressure hose to suit. I had to bend he 90 degree fitting a bit tighter then had it crimped at a place around the corner from work.

IMG_20201004_221117 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

Then I went to test fit the high pressure steel extension. I don't know what planet I was on when I thought the fitting I had fitted the rack but it wasn't even close. So I found a Suzuki Cino sump bolt that fitted and made it into a tube nut on the lathe at work.

IMG_20201011_142930 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

IMG_20201012_220950 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

IMG_20201012_222517 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

Test fitted the everything which looks good.

IMG_20201022_210127 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

IMG_20201022_210204 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

IMG_20201022_210232 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

The last thing I wanted to do before pulling the engine and box back out was to make up a cover for the shifter. Started with a rough cut out of 1.6mm steel.

IMG_20201025_125429 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

Then I bent the sides up with a vice and a big hammer. It's a bit rough but you can only piss with the dick you have. Besides, only I'll know about it …. and the hundreds of people that read this.

IMG_20201025_131417 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

Tried it in the car and marked out where it goes. I'll weld it in and make it look pretty with the box out.

IMG_20201025_131832 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

Then I'm thinking about using this Suzuki gator/boot.

IMG_20201025_132155 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

Well that's it for now. Probably pull the engine out next, don't know.

IMG_20200927_132228 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

IMG_20201025_120527 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

Isn't it funny some things take ages to do but no one will ever notice (like the trans tunnel thing you've made).

Looking good man.

Happy new year everyone.

So I did take the engine back out and scratched the bay up again. I think when I put it back in it will be from underneath.

IMG_20201115_164307 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

Test fitted a cut down lower rad hose at the rear of the engine.

IMG_20201124_225051 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

I made up a stainless tube for the turbo coolant return and silver soldered it in. I don't like it so I am going to re do it, sometime!

IMG_20210103_200718 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

IMG_20210103_204100 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

Pulled the rear axle out. I kept the extension shaft and housing then gave away the rest.

IMG_20201115_193632 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

I paid a visit to Pick N Payless and picked up a TE front left stub axle. This is to replace the missing one from the TG to be modified for the Piazza calipers. Just my luck though it was bent. I managed to straighten it in the press then machined it to suit. I'll swap it out on the TG one day.

IMG_20201108_144304 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

The mounts for the inter cooler are done. The top mounts are aluminium strips bent in U and bottom is a piece of angle cut and drilled. I cut the centre piece out of the front panel opening for more clearance.

IMG_20201108_144234 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

IMG_20201108_142048 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

IMG_20201108_144219 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

The Suzuki Ignis condenser is a big fail. There just isn't enough room between the inter cooler and the radiator to fit the drier section of it so I'm going with a universal parallel flow condenser with separate drier. I grabbed a drier bracket from work then modified it to fit. I've given up on the nut serts as this metal is too thin for them to work properly. Just using nuts and bolts. If I get excited later I may weld the nuts on.

IMG_20210104_154507 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

IMG_20210104_161500 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

Now a year or two ago Kadyn lost the one and only key for this car. It wasn't a big deal as I'm going to change all the locks anyway but I haven't opened the boot in years. In traditional Gemini fashion the key to my TG opened it.

IMG_20201101_123300 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

When I had the engine in I thought I should check that the sway bar fits. Now I knew the left tow hook had been ripped off the chassis rail, which I welded back on but I didn't notice the condition of the rail. It was pulled down about 20mm right where the sway bar mounts so there was no way in hell the mount would go on the way it was. Solution was to heat it up with a MAPP gas blow torch then beat the s*#t out of it with various hitty things, mainly a 4lb hammer and cold chisel.

IMG_20210103_162949 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

IMG_20210103_164711 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

IMG_20210103_164743 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

IMG_20210103_165137 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

Next I finished stripping everything else off the body and cleaned the crap out of it, except for the HVAC elephant in the room. Nothing came off in one piece! This is the first real look at all the rust problems since I bought the car. The boot is Swiss cheese as normal.

IMG_20210106_174113 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

IMG_20210106_174140 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

IMG_20210106_174154 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

IMG_20210106_174225 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

IMG_20210106_174212 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

IMG_20210106_174237 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

IMG_20210106_174311 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

IMG_20210106_174408 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

IMG_20210106_174429 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

The rest of the floor is better than I thought with the odd pin hole. Only problems it has is it's just like a Catholic alter boy, been jacked up on! Nothing a FBH wouldn't fix.

IMG_20210106_174335 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

IMG_20210106_174324 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

I removed the TX number plate bracket. I'll replace it with something samller.

IMG_20210106_174247 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

These other bits are where it fell off the stands a while ago.

IMG_20210106_174436 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

IMG_20210106_174510 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

IMG_20210106_174521 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

IMG_20210106_174542 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

I also noticed a few more differences with an early TX.
There are no captive nuts in the parcel shelf for child restraints. The holes are there but no nuts.

IMG_20210106_174902 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

The A pillar has these vinyl covers where my TC doesn't and is just painted. May be a coupe thing, I don't know.

IMG_20210106_174035 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

IMG_20210106_174922 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

Finally I'll leave you with the devil inside!

IMG_20210103_163033 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

Soooo. My coupe definitely has a child restraint in it. Looks like a factory fitted bolt thing.
No idea whether or not it'd be safe to use. I doubt it. I won't be putting my kids in the back of it anyway.

So my TX is 9/75 and definitely doesn't have the head lining going all the way to the dash (well bottom of the a pillar) it's painted like your TC is.

Solid progress but bro. So cool.

Actually one question.
What are you going to do with the rear vents? Make them Kadette or keep them Gemini?

Rear vents are staying Gemini as I can't afford to dig this hole any bigger than I have already.