Perth, WA Stage 1 V8 purchase

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JayBoRover
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Oct 17, 2017 1:45 pm

Perth, WA Stage 1 V8 purchase

Post by JayBoRover »

Hi everyone. Last week I flew to Geraldton and drove my new Stage 1 V8 back to Perth. It's in fantastic condition with just 94,000kms on the clock. No rust in the chassis or the bulkhead, a tiny bit in the front top corner of one door. A few jobs need doing but the 500km drive home was a pleasure, other than it ran a bit hot and the clutch took a few pumps to get working when needed.
So the job list is:
- fit new windscreen wipers
- fit new lock tumblers to all the doors (came from the country where the key has not been seen or needed for about 20 years!)
- do something about the brake pedal not returning (master cylinder rebuild/replace?)
- bleed and adjust all brakes including the handbrake (a bit seized up from being in storage for a fair while, the brakes work well but are constantly binding slightly)
- remove, clean, flush clutch hydraulic system and refit with new fluid and bleed
- sort out the hot running (coolant looks good but there's sign of the thermostat cover having been recently removed and resealed, so a good place to start investigating)
- recover the dashboard material (found new vinyl folded up under the drivers seat just for the job)
- get the diff-lock working (light doesn't come on but could be operator error as I'm not sure which is the diff-lock switch)
- learn about the extra levers and knobs that protrude through the seat box (one pull knob and one small lever that operates up and down)
- figure out why the oil light glows brightly but the oil pressure gauge shows good oil pressure.
- clean, clean and clean everything.

I'd post photo's but I really can't be arsed trying to sort out the whole pay for photo-bucket thing. As far as I am concerned they are holding me to ransom after having stolen all the photo's I previously stored there on the understanding they would be available for people to view via the URL links. Thieves!

Cheers
JayBo
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firemanshort
Posts: 378
Joined: Fri Feb 10, 2006 2:42 pm
Location: Loudoun County, VA - near Wash DC

Re: Perth, WA Stage 1 V8 purchase

Post by firemanshort »

Plunger knob in the middle of the seat is the Center Diff Lock (CDL). Pull out to engage and the dash light should come on. It is vacuum operated. Lots of opportunities for dry rotted air lines and air leaks to cause issues here but all simple to fix.

The smaller up and down lever is the transfer case hi and low range. No lights come on when this is pulled but it makes a satisfying clunk when the gears are engaged one way or the other.

... and you simply must post a photo of the truck. You can't just tease us this way. :wink: :lol:
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Firemanshort
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Virginia, USA
disco2hse
Posts: 1637
Joined: Sun Apr 27, 2008 3:51 am
Location: Auckland NZ

Re: Perth, WA Stage 1 V8 purchase

Post by disco2hse »

Also, for the heating, get the engine flushed and radiator rodded or recored as needed. Thermostat won't make a lot of difference to engine running temp.

If the oil pressure light is coming on, get that looked at without delay. That can be serious if you lose oil pressure. Check that the gauge is pressure and not oil temp.

And yeah. Pics. Use Dropbox or Google for photos. no-pay FTW.
Alan

1983 ex-army FFR 109 Stage 1
2005 Disco 2 HSE TD5
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Geoff
Posts: 599
Joined: Sat Oct 29, 2011 2:21 am
Location: Leicester UK

Re: Perth, WA Stage 1 V8 purchase

Post by Geoff »

Welcome and try Flickr for uploading photos.

One of my diff locks needed a new vacuum actuator - they can rust - well here they can, maybe not there (shield was missing on mine, so replaced that too) (And I wish I lived in a country where a long journey with faulty wipers, clutch, and brakes could still be described as a pleasure, never mind one where I didn't need to lock my vehicle)
2 1981 Stage One 109 V8 SWs
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JayBoRover
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Oct 17, 2017 1:45 pm

Re: Perth, WA Stage 1 V8 purchase

Post by JayBoRover »

Thanks for the welcome everyone. I will get some photos sorted out but not tonight and I'm tied up with a wedding of a work friend tomorrow ... but soon.

@firemanshort - I figured the pull knob was probably the CDL but I'm an imbecile for not thinking about the low range for the other lever :oops: . I found the vacuum line from the manifold today while playing with removing the clutch master cylinder so I'll follow that further one day soon.

@disco2hse - coolant flush too easy one day soon - especially with a WA summer looming and +40DegC days likely! Definitely oil pressure gauge and good pressure so probably I knocked a wire off somewhere when washing the engine the other day. Definitely a job I'll sort before driving it anywhere though.

@Geoff - Love your comment :lol: . When you can drive for several hours without having to touch the clutch or brakes and no rain around it makes these little things just a minor nuisance rather than detract from the drive. :)

Cheers
John B
map1275
Posts: 1076
Joined: Mon Jul 21, 2008 2:48 am
Location: Brisbane, Australia

Re: Perth, WA Stage 1 V8 purchase

Post by map1275 »

Check which sender unit the low oil light wire is attached to. Oil pressure gauge, oil temperature gauge and oil warning light senders are all standard on the filter head.
JayBoRover
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Oct 17, 2017 1:45 pm

Re: Perth, WA Stage 1 V8 purchase

Post by JayBoRover »

Well I managed a few sneaky hours on the Stage 1 before cleaning up for the friends wedding yesterday.
- Oil pressure light now sorted - replaced the crimp connection and all good now. (Oil pressure gauge shows around 200kPa at idle and 250-300 with a few revs on it).
- Diff lock now working - found a split in a vacuum line. Low range engaged and works fine through the gears.
- Clutch now 90% better and has only once required a second pump of the pedal after two drives around the neighbourhood for a total of about 40km - removed master cylinder, cleaned and flushed and then bled system with new fluid. I did have the nose pointed down slightly so will re-bleed with the nose up.
- Blower fan now works on both speeds - hadn't noticed it was only working on low speed but good now.
- Freed up the heater control somewhat but not enough yet. Will try to exercise it every time I'm in it for a week or two and see if it gets better.
So, happy with that for now. Next issue to tackle is the brakes, but need to get the door tops finished on my S2a so I can park the Stage 1 under cover on the concrete to put all four corners in the air on jack-stands.
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Geoff
Posts: 599
Joined: Sat Oct 29, 2011 2:21 am
Location: Leicester UK

Re: Perth, WA Stage 1 V8 purchase

Post by Geoff »

Which heater control - the direction lever or the temperature one?
2 1981 Stage One 109 V8 SWs
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JayBoRover
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Joined: Tue Oct 17, 2017 1:45 pm

Re: Perth, WA Stage 1 V8 purchase

Post by JayBoRover »

The temperature one. The heater valve was pretty well stuck in position. I freed it up and exercised it a fair bit but it won't move more than halfway via the cable when being "pushed".
The direction one works fine.
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Geoff
Posts: 599
Joined: Sat Oct 29, 2011 2:21 am
Location: Leicester UK

Re: Perth, WA Stage 1 V8 purchase

Post by Geoff »

I have a heater valve stuck too, which suggests previous owners never had much cause to operate it - since it's stuck in the open position and I can turn off the heat by turning off the blower, neither do I, so I've left it alone - I was afraid if I fiddled with it after all this time I might just end up causing it to leak or something, and have to go to the trouble of either replacing or removing it altogether, which I don't want to be bothered to do for something I'm unlikely to need much - if I want to blow unheated air I just open the vents (generally too damn wet here for dust in the air) Anyway, that's why I was interested - hearing you freed up the valve and still can't operate it properly from the cab hasn't encouraged me to try further, much as I like to have stuff working. The direction lever's jammed on one of my vehicles too - I removed the lever mechanism from the dash and checked that's working, so it must be the cable or flaps themselves jammed but I can't get them freed up without removing half the dash - so again, leaving alone, as they're stuck in the middle position, which isn't too bad. Not a great system I think.
2 1981 Stage One 109 V8 SWs
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JayBoRover
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Oct 17, 2017 1:45 pm

Re: Perth, WA Stage 1 V8 purchase

Post by JayBoRover »

Mine was stuck open too, but over here having the heater on helps the radiator to disperse heat - and often the heater is no hotter than the ambient air anyway so it's just about air movement. I got some pliers onto it with the cable disconnected and got a little movement to grow into full range from open to closed. Multiple transitions and it freed up more and some high temp grease helped a bit too. The design isn't great as the actuator arc isn't great enough for the cable to have any real power - especially when pushing. I'm going to remove the cable and clean it thoroughly and also remove the valve and see what it's like inside and if I can clean it too. Last resort will be to replace it, but I'm a "fixit" kinda guy so will try home remedy first.
JayBoRover
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Oct 17, 2017 1:45 pm

Re: Perth, WA Stage 1 V8 purchase

Post by JayBoRover »

A very productive day on the Stage 1 today. :D
- I fitted three new door lock barrels to the front doors and the rear door. (Got the car without any door keys).
- That went so well that I had a crack at the brakes too. Bled a little brake fluid from all four corners and then removed all four wheels and checked the brake shoes. Was pleasantly surprised to find them all in very good condition with plenty of meat on them and no oil weeping into the drums from axle seals. So I adjusted them up, as well as backed off the handbrake adjustment a little and a test drive revealed a massive improvement in noise and acceleration as well as fairly even stopping with much reduced pulling to the left. The left rear drum is still quite tight even with the adjuster wound right back. The brake pedal still requires "lifting" after braking to release the brake light switch, so still have another job for another day.
- I fitted a pair of new wiper blades for the windscreen and tested the wipers and washer. Discovered the washer system has a leak, but did at least wash the windscreen before all the water drained from the bottle. Another little job for another day.

I'm loving this vehicle! Can't wait to have some time to give it a solid cleanup and take it for a decent drive with some offload sections.
Photo's soon. :roll:
disco2hse
Posts: 1637
Joined: Sun Apr 27, 2008 3:51 am
Location: Auckland NZ

Re: Perth, WA Stage 1 V8 purchase

Post by disco2hse »

Nice day. It's the little things.
Alan

1983 ex-army FFR 109 Stage 1
2005 Disco 2 HSE TD5
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