DRB 540 build

[boxhead]

Did a little more on Saturday morning, Christmas parties and helping move house took its toll on work time though.
I reckon I did only about 2 hours actual work on 540 last Saturday, and that only amounted to pulling ute interior dash and heaterbox assy out.

Here is what is left of ute in cabin.


Here it is sitting on the floor.


Then I drilled some holes and mounted the selector lever and the handbrake lever (holes and cutout for selector already done, and holes for handbrake marked and 1/8 pilot holes drilled).


And here is the heater box, I think I need to modify this in some way before I fit, Chris is going to order the A/C kit from DRB.

[WKB]

Originally Posted by boxhead

And here is the heater box, I think I need to modify this in some way before I fit, Chris is going to order the A/C kit from DRB.

Boxhead,
The car is progessing well. Once everything is removed from the donor car it goes together quickly.

The ventilation unit modification is to remove the fan and housing, heater core and HIM unit with the sensor and dump the rest. The new interior air con kits come with a new evaporator and new ducting to attach to the dash. The fan housing is modified to fit to the new evaporator.

With the air con fitted the ECU needs to mounted either on top of the chassis behind the ABS(with holes cut for the ecu plugs) or in the front of footwell below the heater fan(this is the way I did it). Either way the loom needs to be unplugged from the motor if you are unlucky and the motor needs to be removed.

DRB have altered their chassis from chassis no30 to enable the complete ventillation unit to be fitted.

Also what number chassis is Chris's car. DRB made the floor flat and lowered the tunnel from about no16.
I modified my tunnel in places which made it easier to fit the console.

Warren

[boxhead]

Chris's car is 17 or 18 I think.

[paul68]

Boxhead,
Chris's car must be 17 as mine is 18, as i remember DRB telling me they had sent the one before mine to the Alice.Look for a plate welded on near the brake booster and this will have a number,mine is 540-042009-18.Is chris using the standard ute seat or aftermarket units?
When i cut the back of the dash i used a 1.0mm cutoff disc on a 4" grinder,cut the vinyl and all in one nice neat cut,then a quick file on the underside,worked a charm.

[boxhead]

Cheers Paul, Sounds like Chris's would be number 17 then.

I am 99% certain that Chris is wanting to fit aftermarket seats, as we are looking at selling his old ones (Leather XR8) I think he has a buyer at $800.00

The cutting of the dash pad is part I am not looking forward to, but know it needs to be done.

[boxhead]

Got a little more done last Saturday.
I can confirm that Chris's car is number 17.

Ok, first job was to get the front sway bar finished mounted, at this point in time I only have washers as spacers, but once I am happy all is good and no fouling anywhere, I will machine up some alloy ones.


Then it was onto the steering shaft, reading the directions and looking at the pictures I was not sure if the ute is a little different to sedan, but I found I needed to turn the mount around on sterring shaft support bearing (press off and back on - easy job), I then mounted it to bracket as supplied.



Then it was time to mount it all to the car.



Then I decided I would get a start on the dash assy.
First up I needed to remove screen frame.


Then it came time to start cutting dash supports out, I cut out each side one and bracket from lower centre (this was not described in build manual so not sure if ute is different)


Then it was time to slip the dash in place.
It was about now we needed the hoist for a gearbox swap, so we moved the 540 then I fitted the dash.


And that is where we are at now. With Christmas and New years break I think it will sit as it is for a couple of weeks then back into it.

Cheers Guys and Gals.

[boxhead]

Not much of an update, but holidays are now all done.
Finished stripping out the donor on Saturday and it has now been trailered away.
The 540 is in its work bay.

[G6ETURBO]

Thanks for great detail, build looks great. I was down gold coast last weekend and checked out work shop with Peter. I look forward to building one my self.

[boxhead]

No worries G6, are you looking at a 540 aswell?

[G6ETURBO]

Absolutely, luv the way they come together. Just got to get wife down there to check it out also. To approve final funding proposal. But won't be happening this year.

[G6ETURBO]

I have added photos from CD manual into each page of word document manual that I got from Peter last weekend. I've also added powerpoint for each section if this helps anyone. Word document is 78meg now though so not sure how to upload or if site will allow this big a file.

I am interested in helping anyone in North Brisbane with their build.

[boxhead]

Did not get a great deal of actual work done on the car on Saturday, everything I grabbed or went to do seemed to be wrong (one of those days)
First job I decided was to get fuel tank assembled and fitted up, grabbed teh sender/picup/pump assy and found that a ute one is different to sedan (I actually think someone did mention this to me), so a new one is now on order.
In regards to the tank, for the guys who have one of these, did it come with the spacer for under pickup? Or did you need to machine one up?
This is the spacer I am reffering to. I am thinking it is supplied as no dimensions are supplied.


So I then decided to get the young apprentice to fit the starter motor, here it is in place.



Whilst he was doing that I finished the mounting for the radiator assy.



Whilst working here I also fitted the power steering reservoir and modified then fitted the low pressure supply hose to the pump.
I will also add that during this stage off assy no nutserts have been fitted yet, as they will be done when we are happy with locations and layouts.

I then moved onto getting the air filter and air box sorted out, and here is another question for owner/builders.
I have fitted all as per directions but I can not see how on earth you get the factory air filter into its home. Is there a shorter/stumpier version you use?


This pic shows size discrency.

The air filter as pictured is upside down and needs to be located inside round hole behind it.

Next I decided to get a start on the brake/fuel pipes, sadly I lent my pipe bender to a mate many years ago and he left town, So I went to tool store and ordered a new one (none in stock), I then dragged out Andrews (Hogster) brake pipe flaring tool kit, Chris wants to run stainless pipes so we bought a large roll of this.
The brake pipe supplier said, "Good luck flaring this stuff, you will need to bring the pipes to me for flaring"
Well the flareing tool is fantastic, flared the stainless pipe so easy and so perfect.
Here is one pipe fitted and the rest to follow if bender turns up this week.

That pipe will be bent up to follow firewall behind the engine.

[paul68]

This is the sedan pump with the ute fuel sender float attached.You need to remove the float arm(i used 2 large screw drivers to leaver it) and wiring from the ute pump and attach to the sedan pump, shorten the float arm so as not to foul on the tank baffles.BE VERY CAREFUL of copper sender.
Didnt need spacer ring as per photo.

[boxhead]

Cheers for that Paul.

[Gav]

When are you going to wash it Dave?
All the bits look like they are from a dirty old falcon ute

[boxhead]

LOL, they are all from a dirty old Falcon ute.

Car will be completly stripped apart after assembly (and probably rego) to turn it into a racing Waxer.

[paul68]

Dave
Just bolted the AVO's in and put the new wheels on, 20x8.5 with 245/35's on the front and 20x10 with 285/30's on the rear bit of a shocking photo but get a better one once the tree trunks are remove by the tree loppers(concreters in next week for the drive)

[boxhead]

Looks good Paul, i made brake pipes (cut to length and fitted joiner to one end) also routed all engine bay wireing, mounted ecu, and fitted r/h front inner guard lower corner piece. Pipes are all stainless steel. And I will be emailing shopping list to chris this weekend

[boxhead]

I am sure there must be such a thing around, but bugger me I can not seem to find one.

I am looking to buy some bulkhead pipe fittings, I need them for brake pipes 3/16th and for fuel feed and return (not sure on this size yet, but 8 to 10mm)
I want to know what dash size these are?
The type of thing I am looking at is part number 963303erl on page 66 (top L/H corner) of this catalogue http://www.earls.com.au/files/2011earlscatalog.pdf

Any help appreciated.

[citric acid]

Hi David Speedflow part 320-03 straight & 323-03 90 degree both in dash 3.