The Kadini coupe!

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gemsince88
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Re: The Kadini coupe!

Post by gemsince88 »

Yeah Jonno I should have clarified that the TX cross member is going in the bin unless someone wants it. Remember the diesel cross member I have with the angle adaptors? That's what is going in with all these other bits. It's actually cleaned up and painted now.
The lower control arms are actually RTS ones as I gave the original TX ones to a mate in Melbourne. One is from the original GEM77A and the other was given to me as part swap for an engine. The springs are original TX as are the upper control arms. When it goes back together the front will be lower than standard and I'll probably get low springs for the rear too. There's a sway bar floating around somewhere that'll go in as well.

I took the compressor to work, pulled the armature, pulley and coil off. Pulled the control valve out to give it a blow out and was faced with this.

ImageIMG_20191021_135752 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

Obviously moisture had found its way in but it looked like a toddler had taken a dump on it so a new valve went in.

ImageIMG_20191021_141941 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

Gave the armature and pulley a light skim then painted.
Flushed as much crap out of the compressor as possible, sand blasted the case then reassembled and filled with new oil.

ImageIMG_20191021_152016 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

ImageIMG_20191021_152816 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr
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Jonno
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Re: The Kadini coupe!

Post by Jonno »

Yeah mad that makes sense.
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Re: The Kadini coupe!

Post by gemsince88 »

That's nice that my last post just disappeared. Just as well I keep a copy of it and here it is.


You know I was so motivated to get this car done things were all going to plan then s*#t happened! I'll explain later.

The first thing in the engine bay I decided to tackle was the shock tower. This has been bugging me since I bought the car. I thought about replacing the whole tower but decided to just fix the mounting spot. First I drilled out the centre, found a 4mm thick washer with right hole and shaped it to fit the hole I drilled. Welded in the washer top and bottom and reshaped as best I could the top side cup shape with a hole saw.

ImageIMG_20191026_140739 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

ImageIMG_20191027_180028 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

ImageIMG_20191027_180011 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

Next thing I tackled was the battery bracket. Cut what I could, peeled back and ground off the rest.

ImageIMG_20191027_180044 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

Meanwhile at work I made myself a pipe bead roller to make up radiator and intercooler pipes.

ImageIMG_20191029_174439 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

Painted the engine mounts and modified oil lines black.

ImageIMG_20191030_225055 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

ImageIMG_20191030_225122 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

ImageIMG_20191030_225131 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

ImageIMG_20191030_225150 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

Then I thought to myself I'm going to need a Gemini temp sender in the engine so the Gemini temp gauge will work. The temp sensor in the engine is on the back in a small manifold. There was the sensor and a bung screwed in to the manifold so in order to fit the much larger diameter Gemini sensor I decided to move the Astra sensor to where the bung was and fit the Gemini sensor where the Astra sensor was. Drilled and tapped the holes to the appropriate size and thread. Reinstalled manifold.

ImageIMG_20191030_122651 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

ImageIMG_20191030_140354 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

ImageIMG_20191030_140842 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

ImageIMG_20191030_225040 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

Another thought I had was I should fit a hose barb in the sump for the fuel vapour line valve bulls*#t thingy. Drilled and tapped a 1/8th bsp hole and screwed in a brass barb. This was late one night and after I did that I looked at the holes in the engine bay that needed welding like the hole Holden hacked in to mount the brake biasing valve and decided to weld them up right then, in my pyjamas. One of the bits welded was where I got a bit excited with the cutting disc.

ImageIMG_20191105_213452 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

ImageIMG_20191105_220134 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

ImageIMG_20191105_220146 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

ImageIMG_20191105_220155 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

In the mean time I ordered a 2017 Suzuki Swift HVAC that I think I can make fit behind the Gemini dash. Now the plan was to get the engine bay painted, maybe fit the brake master and booster, fit the crossmember and plonk the engine in then maybe do body work or build the rear axle. Then disaster struck and has f*#cked everything up for at least 6 months. Just found out the owner of our property wants us out by February so now the plan is to get the bay painted, engine in and front suspension back on repaired or not, just to get the bloody thing rolling so I can move it. This means rushing which gives me the s*)ts.

Anyway this weekend I got the engine bay grinding, bogging and sanding done with a coat of primer.

ImageIMG_20191109_151659 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

ImageIMG_20191109_151711 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

ImageIMG_20191109_175940 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

ImageIMG_20191109_175951 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

ImageIMG_20191109_180001 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

ImageIMG_20191110_150456 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

The Swift HVAC turned up so I immediately dismantled it to see what I could trim and relocate. I think I can make it fit with a mod to the tunnel and some custom duct work.

ImageIMG_20191110_143448 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

ImageIMG_20191110_144610 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr
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gemsince88
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Re: The Kadini coupe!

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Since I will be having to move soon I decided to not rush and not go any further with the build itself but instead make this thing sort of mobile again. I had already given away the TX cross member and the buggered upper control arm ball joints had already been binned so I ordered a full set of ball joints, cleaned and then painted the upper control arms. The diesel cross member was installed and then reinstalled the control arms, original stub axles, wheels, steering rack, column and steering wheel.

ImageIMG_20191214_132641 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

ImageIMG_20191214_132649 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

ImageIMG_20191214_132708 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

Everything is only done up finger tight as it all has to come out again, just so it can be put on a trailer or towed a few blocks depending where we end up living. I have no idea when I'll get back to the build as I still don't have anywhere to live yet but as soon as I do watch out!
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Jonno
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Re: The Kadini coupe!

Post by Jonno »

Sucks to hear man.
Hopefully find somewhere soon. I had envisions of this being at nats next year :(
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Re: The Kadini coupe!

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After applying for numerous rental properties not one replied with a “you're not successful” message and two accepted our application. We chose the place that's two blocks from where we were before and got the keys Christmas eve. We then spent my Christmas break and a week moving and cleaning. You know my 70+ year old parents helped by cleaning the house for three days and it still wasn't good enough for the real estate. f*#k I hate real estate agents! The new house is twice the size but the shed “the important bit” is about 2/3 of what I had. We did look at buying a house but apparently we can't afford the repayments. We can afford rent but not mortgage payments ¾ of the rent we pay. Go figure!

Being two blocks from the old place Matt and I flat towed the coupe with the XR6 up a small hill then rolled it down the hill into the drive. I then used a Barina to tow it up the slope into the shed (smoke pissing off the clutch). One small problem with the new garage is the floor is on a decent slope so everything wants to roll out the door. Should make it a bit more of a challenge.

Anyway here's how she sits now.
Image82026885_3776790575664478_4360598807214292992_o by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

I just need to recover financially before I start on the build again. This whole exercise cost me thousands all because someone didn't like my car stuff (suspected). Did I mention I hate real estate agents?
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Jonno
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Re: The Kadini coupe!

Post by Jonno »

I saw on book face but didn't notice the drama!
f*#k that sucks but.

My neighbour was definitely not thrilled when we moved in.
"Hey we've got a few noisey cars a dog and I got too many mates with noisey cars"
Oh ok thanks Love surely it won't be that bad...

Chuckles.
I never get the "You can't afford this place" from banks either.... Wtf.

Keen to see this move but.
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Re: The Kadini coupe!

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Right, now that everything is put away from the move so the real estate won't have a spaz I spent a couple of hours this afternoon figuring out the Swift HVAC unit.
Where I have it sitting is a compromise between it fitting and still working. Basically I kept cutting unnecessary bits off until it sort of fitted.

ImageIMG_20200301_163335 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

ImageIMG_20200301_163532 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

It does sit a little further in to the cab than what I'd like and is close to the shifter hole BUT there will be a remote shifter on the box moving the shifter back about 90mm. The dashboard will probably need a trim and the glove box will probably be non existent. I could probably take some off the box as it's only heater ducts.

ImageIMG_20200301_163419 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

The defrost section will be blocked off and a new duct will come from one side feeding the screen ducts. A custom duct will come off the top to feed the centre and side vents then more custom duct work will go from the original hole in the firewall to a modified fresh/recirc manifold on top of the fan. This is all well and good but the windscreen wiper mechanism has to be factored in to all this over complicated crap as well.

ImageIMG_20200301_163504 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

The pipes for the heater core originally went over the top so they will be rerouted under and go through the firewall in a similar position to the later Gemini heater hoses.

I still haven't decided whether to use the electric actuators or convert it all to cable. If I can find something to drive the actuators I'll probably keep them and modify the original slide controls to suit.
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Jonno
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Re: The Kadini coupe!

Post by Jonno »

Sick progress man!
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Re: The Kadini coupe!

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Things are looking up. This real estate agent is reasonable and the owner of this property is really good. We had an inspection recently and not one thing was said about my car crap. We mentioned that the dishwasher and grille didn't work and 2 days later we had a brand new dishwasher then 2 days after that the grille was fixed. To say the least we were gob smacked.

Anyway I decided I should probably test fit the engine and box to sort out any fitment issues before any sort of engine bay painting. I'm going to need to make pipes and brackets as well so may as well do most of it now. Even though I measured everything carefully I was still keen to see how well it all fitted. Hmm. Easier said than done. The winged sump causes issues with the cross member and the crap on the back of the head causes problems with the firewall but only when trying to install engine and box together. I ended up trimming anything I could off the small coolant manifold on the back of the head as well as trimming the diesel engine damper bracket off the cross member. Even then it was jiggling with crowbars getting one mount lined up then the other. I am going to have to come up with something different the last time it goes in so as to not scratch the s*#t out of the paint.

ImageIMG_20200322_151436 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

I put the bonnet on to check clearances. The top of the engine clears but the top of the intake is about 10-15mm too tall hitting a bonnet brace. I could cut a section from the brace out or shorten the intake. I'll figure that bit out later.

ImageIMG_20200322_151335 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

The gearbox end worked out well. The plate that bolts to the box just needs the centre nut moved 20mm one way for the mount to line up with the floor. It also looks like the speedo will still fit straight on.

ImageIMG_20200322_151540 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

ImageIMG_20200322_162407 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

The auto tail shaft went straight in and lines up perfectly.

ImageIMG_20200322_154312 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

ImageIMG_20200322_154302 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr


The last thing I did was remove the lower control arms to take to work for ball joints and bushes to be changed. Since this Corona virus has most people scared to go out business has dropped right off leaving me time to do foreign orders or clean the work shop. Clean the work shop, yeah right! The bushes were supplied by Daz/ Just Geminis.

ImageIMG_20200322_162415 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

Then there is this thing that I've been chasing since I bought the car, TX floor brace. Ethan sent me this one the other week.

ImageIMG_20200322_113854 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr
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Jonno
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Re: The Kadini coupe!

Post by Jonno »

This almost as painful as the SR. Check clearances here, check there etc etc.

What I will say is whatever mind set your in when you go for the final bonnet on and slam shut. watch there's no fittings close. I was exhaused and half asleep when I did mine. Now there's a small dent there... Street car.

Looking up but!

Reckon that brace does anything? The first roady guy had a big sad about the holes being there and nothing to them. I told him there's a brace but they're all long gone.
I put bolts in there to shut him up. I don't know if they're beneficial or not...
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Re: The Kadini coupe!

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Painful is the word. I'm getting frustrated with things not quite fitting and having to dick about making stuff fit. I did ask for it though.
I do believe the floor brace makes a difference, probably only with weight in the cabin. The later floor pans are folded in such a way that resists bending along the trans tunnel but the flat floors aren't and so need the brace. I would think if you put enough weight on the floor of an early TX, the tunnel would want to flatten out and push the sills apart but I'm not an engineer.

I took the control arms to work, pulled the ball joints and bushes out then sand blasted them. I repaired a few dings and bends then pressed the new ball joints and bushes in. I ended up making up some bits to press the new bushes in. Also welded another nut onto the transmission mounting plate.

ImageIMG_20200329_113350 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

Painted

ImageIMG_20200405_135025 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

Some photos showing clearances around the engine with it sitting on its mounts.

ImageIMG_20200329_122125 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

ImageIMG_20200329_122140 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

ImageIMG_20200329_123159 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

ImageIMG_20200329_122245 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

ImageIMG_20200329_142925 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

I am going to have to lop some more off the sump, mainly the wing near the cross member.

I also noticed this.

ImageIMG_20200329_142646 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

ImageIMG_20200329_142626 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

It appears that the passenger side mount on the engine is about 10mm closer to the gearbox than the drivers side. That's fine because I'm not happy with the engine mounts and will probably completely redo them somehow.

Bolted the gearbox cross member up with the modded mount then cut the tunnel to fit the remote shifter. I ended up using an earlier shifter due to it not over hanging the firewall end as much.

ImageIMG_20200329_122338 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

ImageIMG_20200329_132331 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

The next thing I tackled was the dump pipe/cat. As it was it hit the cross member and the outlet pointed at the sump. So I cut it up! I cut a small wedge out near the turbo end and cut the outlet completely off. I found a bit of exhaust with an O2 sensor hole from a convertible Astra I had then made some bits to join it all together.

ImageIMG_20200329_151544 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

ImageIMG_20200329_151648 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

ImageIMG_20200401_093952 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

Welded it all together.

ImageIMG_20200405_122057 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

ImageIMG_20200405_122109 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

There's still a few pinholes to seal but mostly done.

Then I started thinking about the intake plumbing. The plan is to use this. It's going to need to be cut to bits as well of course. It also looks like I'm going to be making my own low profile top hat for the throttle body.

ImageIMG_20200405_132710 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

Lastly I removed the windscreen. Normally I like to save the seal but this one was rooted. Some of it was just like plasticine and fell to bits.

ImageIMG_20200405_142240 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

ImageIMG_20200405_142245 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr
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Jonno
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Re: The Kadini coupe!

Post by Jonno »

Good progress man. I am keen to see this thing move udner it's own steam.

What are you gunna do for the diff?

If you haven't already ditch the TX diff. You've gone to this length you should retro fit a R200 rear into it :D

That's only like 10 years of work haha
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Re: The Kadini coupe!

Post by gemsince88 »

Jonno wrote:I am keen to see this thing move udner it's own steam.
You and me both!
Jonno wrote:What are you gunna do for the diff?
Diesel rear axle, turbo Piazza disc brakes and ZZR LSD (pretty aggressive one by the looks)
Jonno wrote:If you haven't already ditch the TX diff. You've gone to this length you should retro fit a R200 rear into it :D

That's only like 10 years of work haha
Don't laugh, I have thought about it!
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Re: The Kadini coupe!

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Welcome back to the never ending story.

I cut the diesel air box up into little tiny pieces, actually no not really. I cut the inlet, outlet and a corner off it. Where the inlet was I drilled a 75mm hole and directly behind it on the rear a 52mm hole. I also cut up an old chair strut and an old receiver drier then using the pipe bead roller I made earlier, rolled beads into both ends of the chair strut pipe.

ImageIMG_20200406_100525 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

The air box was sandblasted then I welded the bit of tube from the drier around the strut tube using 3 small flat bits of steel. This was then shoved into the air box and welded in.
Next I made up a flat patch with a 62mm hole for the top part where the angled outlet pipe was and welded that on. Then welded the end of the original outlet pipe over the hole.
Welded a patch in the lower rear corner that was chopped off and painted the whole thing.

ImageIMG_20200412_140154 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

ImageIMG_20200412_140238 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

ImageIMG_20200412_140142 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

ImageIMG_20200412_140209 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

ImageIMG_20200412_144157 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

ImageIMG_20200412_144207 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

So now I have a functional air filter with a boost pipe through the guts and the outlet pointing in the direction I need.
Now I have to say that this wasn't completely my idea. The original idea of using the diesel air filter came from a post on bookFace by Big Al and the boost pipe through the guts came from Nick Swan and his turbo diesel Gemini. It was my idea to have the intake around the boost pipe.

Finished the dump pipe. I just went over the joins again and painted it. I still have to refit the heat shields.

ImageIMG_20200412_140313 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

Now this pipe I've had for years. It's off a Saab 9-3 and is almost a perfect fit.

ImageIMG_20200412_144124 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

I had a bit of a bend put in it and gave it a clean. Pretty close!

ImageIMG_20200418_154513 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

The look of the coil cover was giving me the s*)ts so I painted it black with a new Opel decal.

ImageIMG_20200412_144233 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

There's a few of us keen to hear this thing run which started me thinking. I wondered how hard it would be to set up a carb and distributor. So for s*)ts and giggles I did this.

ImageIMG_20200412_144527 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

I'm planning on using aluminium pipe for most of the intake plumbing and so ditched the bits I did before except for the silicone joiner on the turbo. This means I will need some hose connections for the PCV and line from boost controller welded into this pipe. So these were made at work.

ImageIMG_20200418_154533 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

Then I turned my attention to engine mounts that I wasn't happy with. I still had some 5mm plate left over from the power steering pump bracket and made up these with some high tensile nuts welded on.

ImageIMG_20200418_180230 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

I marked where they're going then ripped the cross member out and drilled some holes to clear the nuts.

ImageIMG_20200418_180241 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

ImageIMG_20200418_183726 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

ImageIMG_20200418_183737 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

I tack welded them in place ready to make up some filler pieces.

ImageIMG_20200418_190136 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

ImageIMG_20200418_190141 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr

Lastly this turned up today, a big blob of aluminium. Can you guess what it's for? There's a clue in the picture.

ImageIMG_20200418_191640 by Justin Sherwood, on Flickr
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