Me and the old man have just started a Project. So i thought i would make a build thread so we can show everyone how we are going about it and can hopefully help some of you who wish to do a similar conversion in the future!
So here it is. Our 84 TG Gemini.
Its a 2 litre 4 cylinder with a 5 speed sitting behind it right now. But at some stage of its life its had a turbo bolted to the side of it because we have found oil feed and oil return lines all blocked up coming out of the sump. So that pretty cool.
Now the plan for this thing is to get it on the burnout pad. So obviously the 2 litre isn't going to be anywhere near good enough to produce decent wheel spin and smoke etc. So the motor we are deciding to go with is the 253 V8. Yes, I know. Why didn't we go 304 blah blah blah. Well simply because this is a build on a budget, We have bought a motor and its meant to be some special race motor out of an old pines enduro racecar. But who knows? Its was 100 bucks. So we're happy with that! (Im going to pick it up after i finish this post so photos will be up tonight!)
So yesterday arvo i finally managed to convince dad into going ahead with the build. I got hold of a few people and sussed out that cheap "race" motor that i mentioned before and as soon as dad said he wanted it, it was game on.
Straight away we took the bonnet off. Radiator out. Starter wires. Alternator wires. Fuel lines. extractors. and everything else in between. I would get into detail on how to do things and where they are but if you don't know how to do anything that i just mentioned. Then sorry. This conversion is not suited to you. I will get into detail on the more important parts of this build.
Heres a photo of the extractors off. radiator out Etc.
So next things next. We jacked it up so we could get to the rest of the exhaust, Gearbox cross member and the tailshaft!
So once all that was out the motor and gearbox was ready to slide out. Unfortunately we don't own an engine crane. But luckily i have a mate with an endless chain so ill pick that up soon and the motor should be on the concrete tonight!
So with nearly everything at the front of the car done for now we headed for the back. Now for any burnout car you need to have both wheels spinning. That's a given... and what better way to get a diff locked then with a welder. If you have never taken the diff out of a Gemini, Listen in!
So obviously take your wheels off... I really hope no one is surprised by that step!
I found that the easiest way to get the drums off is to bash them with a hammer and loosen them up abit.
PRO-TIP: MAKE SURE YOU RELEASE YOUR HANDBRAKE OR YOUR GOING TO BE BASHING YOUR DRUM IN FOR 5 MINUTES AND LOOKING LIKE A DOUCHEBAG LIKE I DID.
Once there off you need to take the axle bolts off. there's holes in the hub already for you to slot your extension through. Pretty sure it was a 13mm. Don't hold me to that. Once you have the 4 nuts off the axle is ready to come out. Simple as that!
There's a trick to getting the axles out though. easiest way is to get your drum and put it back over your studs backwards. Then put your wheel nuts back on a few threads and use the drum like a slide hammer! Works a treat!
(I didn't take photos of this. My bad)
Axle out^
Once both axle's are out you can get under the car. You will have to unbolt your panhard rod. I found unbolting it from the passenger side of the car and using a cable tie around the fuel lines to hold it up and out of the way worked best. With that out of the way get started on your cover bolts. Undo them and you should be able to lever the cover of the diff with a flat blade. Make sure you've got something to catch the oil!
It should look something like that^
With the cover off there will be 4 bolts. 2 on each side. Simply undo them. pop the caps off and your centre is ready to come out. This bit isn't much fun. You will need to lever the centre out and hit stuff with hammers and yell at it a few times to get it out. but it will eventually come out.
We discovered that our centre is 3.90 Ratio. Not sure if this is standard or not. But its still the ratio we wanted in it anyway so we're happy!
To get a good weld on these you need to have the centre clean and have all the oil off it. Whats the best way?
With fire.
So with that ready to be welded tonight that was ticked off the list.
We obviously want it a little lower so i dropped the shocky's and took the springs out so we can give them abit of a trim up. Happy days!
Well thats most of the boring s*#t over and done with that your probably not interested in. But the next step is a pretty important component of the conversion!
Everyone always asks about the brakes. Will the V8 fit past the booster? No.
Its fairly simple but complicated at the same time. You pretty much need to delete the booster and just run the master cylinder with a custom made actuator. So we've taken ours off and we're hand balling it off to a mate of mine. I will provide as many details as possible when it comes to brakes because its normally what scares people of the V8 conversion in these things!
To take the booster off all you need to do is undo the bolts on top of the pedal box from inside the car and then seperate the master from the booster... Simple.
So that's only day 1 of the build and i think we made pretty good progress considering the amount of gemini parts on the ground!. I will continue to post on this thread as we go and keep everyone updated and give as many tips and tricks as possible!
Thanks dad!
