Another cheap car: Third gen Firebird

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Small progress on the engine.

The only bearings that were actually worn were the cam bearings.
You can get a universal cam bearing driver set for a couple of hundred, but I've got one that only does small block/LS engines for much...

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Just a regular 3 stone hone. I don't do enough engines to justify multiple dingleball hones.

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I've got 100% confidence in it being fine, but if it were a customer's car I'd go over size.

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Pretty flat out at work but I'm trying to do a bit on the engine between jobs. Probably won't get much time so I might just stay back a few hours sometime this week or next.

But today I gave the cylinders a quick hone:

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Totally understand not believing it, cause I wouldn't if I didn't see it.
Old Italian bloke, Daewoo Matiz....

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Nice.

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This was a new one for me today:

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If it's stupid but it works something something...

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I don't mind spending that much if I can't get the generic stuff I have to work.



That will probably be good enough for me. I don't know that I'll ever want it to be fast, but if it comes to it there's always the turbo LS stuff...

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Cheers Tim, I'll take a look.

Thanks CEF33Y. The look like they'll fit mint on the Crown too, and are in way better condition than the Star's I bought for it.

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That's pretty impressive!

I'm not really committed enough to try and learn how to make them go fast, but I'm not worried about using it as it is....

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Yeah I know. But it's all here I think, so I'm gonna run it. I think I'd rather swap the Crown before this thing though....

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So with the motor... This thing has the 305 "crossflow", absolute nugget of an engine. Has dual TBI, and all the bullshit emission control that was the fashion at the time.
The obvious answer is an LS swap, but again, I'm trying to not...

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Didn't get a lot of time in my last week of holidays to do much with it. I bolted on the rear bar and tail lights to free up a bit of space as my shed is quite full now. The front seats are taking a lot of floor space up also, so I'd like to get them...

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Here it is sitting where the HG was. Not quite 1 week having an empty space in the shed :D It was actually pretty damn hard backing it in here on my own while trying to roll it over the belly lift. The torque arm is still attached to the diff underneath...

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Story time. Feel free to skip the wall of text if you just want pics or whatever.

Couple of weeks ago I was sitting around the house on holidays browsing FB while the Mrs worked and I watched the kids. Spotted an add for what seemed like...

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I'm surprised you haven't got the "you're the only one who works on it, why's it broken" spiel....

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Do it yourself, I've done it stacks of times. Carby cleaner or whatever in the back, tap it on the bench while you tap the wires on a battery. Works 99% of the time.

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If you get stuck try Universal CV Joints in Minto, they can likely help you out.

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Yeah Rod shop make a sump. I've seen reports of it rubbing on the steering linkage, or working fine depending who you believe. I'm using Tuff Mounts for the engine so I won't count on it working for me.

I have a VE sump here from when I...