Oil Cooler Shroud

Made some progress on the oil cooler mounting today,
I designed the shroud in Sketchup, converted into DXF file and imported into my CAD program Cut2D.
From here, I can generate G-Code to run on my converted CNC Mini Mill.

Sketchup is free and a great tool for quickly modelling up ideas easily.
It has some limitations with drawing exchange, but 3rd party converters are available to support DXF and STL conversion to other modelling software.








I convert the lines in Sketch-up to Poly-lines and export as a DXF file, then open up in Vetric Cut2D Program.

Here you can see the tool path and a 3D representation of the finished part.
Due to the size of my mini mill, the part needs to be flipped during milling to cut the other half of the component.

Cut2D outputs the tool paths as G-Code.
G- Code is the language the machine controller uses to tell the servos on the mill how far to move the mill axis.
The code is very simple commands specified in X, Y or Z axis reference relative to a home or Zero position.
i.e, a command of; g0 x100y50z25 will move the tool position to 100mm along the x axis, 50mm along the y axis, and 25mm up on the z axis in 1 move, (vector), straight line to that point in space.



The part pictured is the upper shroud part.

First half complete, before flipping to run the program again.

When milling sheet or any thin materials that may flex during cutting, I put some MDF timber on the mill slide as a slave sheet, so I can cut through the part without damaging the slide, but still supporting the component.

Ready to cut the mirror half of the upper shroud part.












Finished Part before bending the tabs on the end for the side deflector components.
The holes in the tabs are for rivets.
The other holes are for mounting the cooler and cooler inlet, outlet clearance.

Front view after bending the tabs on the upper and lower parts with side deflectors riveted in.










View from rear with a Mocal 16 row Oil cooler sitting in place.











Mounted in place on the chassis.
Final positioning will be done once the body is in place to line up with the radiator inlet opening.
Height of the cooler can be adjusted with spacers between the lower chassis mount and chassis or Oil Cooler, to fine tune the height.

Next part to make is the tabs on the chassis outrigger to secure the top of the shroud.

Oil Cooler

Here's some pics of my oil cooler efforts,
While the engines an LS3, its fitted with an LS1 front sump.
The oil cooler aux ports are located above the filter.
Improved Racing make an oil cooler adapter to fit the front sump when using Holden accessories.

Improved Racing make this oil cooler adapter block for the LS1 Front Sump, Part Number
IR-EGM-1007.

Comes with 2 additionl 1/8"npt accessory ports for oil temp or pressure switches.






The -8AN Black Braided Hoses flow up over the steering rack and into a Mocal Oil Cooler Thermostat.

The thermostat cycles the oil back to the filter block when the oil temp is below engine temp requirements and opens to allow flow to Oil cooler when temp reaches 82 deg Celsius, (180F)





The oil cooler thermostat is fitted on the LH Suspension chassis frame.
Mocal Part Number A0T2 -8AN.

Exiting the thermostat is 1/2" aluminium tubing shaped to fit the chassis.






The oil cooler feed tube converts to a Black Braided Flex Hose and Black anodized Aeroflow -8AN fittings to a Mocal 16 Row oil cooler.

The alloy tube is bent to clearance around the side of the radiator.







The Oil Cooler Return line exits to the drivers side  of the chassis and converts back to alloy hard line and parallel with the brake tube sharing chassis mounts back across to the passenger side mounted thermostat.







Oil Cooler mounting in progress.

Still need to make insulators for the brake and oil cooler hard lines where they are chassis mounted.








This is the underside of the oil cooler with my Home made CNC mounting bracket.

The louvres are so debris doesn't get trapped between the oil cooler rear and the chassis.

Next step is to make up the upper Oil Cooler Mount and shroud.

Brake Lines

Pretty much finished running the brake and fuel lines,
I started off running 3/16 stainless steel, but changed my mind to steel coated lines, the colour is much nicer and looks better against the chassis. The steel lines are far easier to bend, fit and flare.
I bought a K-Tool flaring tool, and had a few goes at routing the lines till I settled on the final position.
I was also a bit worried about the proposed CR rear brake hose location, probably would have been fine, but the flex hose needs to be deformed a bit and tied away from its natural set position to avoid touching the rim, so I changed the location of the hose end for better clearance.

This is the Front LH Brake Hard Line coming across from the RH Front Brake Line 3 way.

The line exits at the side frame for the suspension arms where it connects to the flexible hose.

In this pic you can see another one of my tube mounts, the lower 1/2" hole is for my Oil Cooler return line.





The Front LH Brake Flexible hose fitted to the chassis side wall.











The Flex Hose has a bow in it to allow enough length to cope with lock to lock steering.











Front LH Caliper banjo connection.
Brake hoses made by BrakeQuip in Pakenham, see Lindsey the owner for good support and quality components.


Rear Brake line travels along the drivers side chassis rail along side my enclosed battery cable.





The chassis clamps are my own design milled from 6061 Aluminium with a 4" radius to suit the chassis.
Tumbled in ceramic to polish and debur before being clear anodized for a Titanium look, then fitted to Rivnuts inserted into the chassis,

The black insulators are fitted to all brake and fuel lines lathed up from plastic rod.

Both tubes sneak between the body floor and chassis rail.






























Brake tube travels along the upper rear control arm mount to a 3 way on the rear of the chassis.

The Caliper flex line exits one of the 3 way ports eliminating the provided chassis mount.








The set on the flex hose clears the suspension arms and spring / shock assembly.












Flex hose fitted to the Rear AP Racing Caliper.












3 way fitted on the rear upper control arm mount.
Drilled and tapped a stud into the mount, then fitted 3 way and flanged nut.

The line then continues across the chassis to the LH rear caliper.






Another 3 way fitted on the LH rear control arm mount, 1 port plugged, the other port used for the Caliper Flex Line.

Engine & Trans meet Chassis

Its in, or should i say on.
Feel like a milestone has been made when i married up the Chassis with Engine  / Trans,

 

Front Left Hand Engine Mount Mounted to the Chassis.

Rear mount is standard VE TR6060 gearbox bracket fitted with an off the shelf Mackay Rubber rear gearbox mount part number A1115
Common in many early Holdens.








Rear Mount sits snugly between the chassis cross tubes, there is about 3 or 4 mm clearance to the tubes, may need to be relieved a little more pending how much the engine moves around.








The rear mount sits on the Classic Revival mount supplied with the Chassis.
All the bolt holes aligned perfectly.









View from the LH rear.

TR6060 Tremec 6 speed Gearbox

I spent a lot of time trying different cleaning fluids and chemicals to try and restore the aluminium sheen without resorting to polishing, the box was spick and span, but still didnt look any better so i painted it, and in keeping with my black and silver theme, it ended up black like the diff.
Other than a partial strip to check the condition, the only mods are the remote clutch bleeder and the shifter.

All black, not sure if the original commodore tail shaft flange stays or goes.

This box came with the engine i bought from a 21000k VE HSV,
the insides look like new so back on with the housings and painted up.

After reading that the TR6060 didnt have a speedo drive, i was flicking through a VE assembly manual and discovered that they do have a pulse generator fitted at the rear of the box extension housing on the right hand side.
This has simplified my thoughts of taking the speedo readings from the ABS sensor in the rear wheel.

Reverse Lock Out Solenoid.










The VE Commodore has the shifter mechanism mounted off the rear of the extension housing with a lever shaft and ball mounted back to the center mount.

Removing the cover reveals the ball mount for a mid mount shifter mechanism.





This is a Core - Hurst Shifter mechanism,
All Hurst components fitted into custom TR6060 mid mount housing.

These shifters are less than half the price of locally available options and appear to be very well constructed, the Movement feels very snug but smooth.

Standard Hurst shift lever will bolt straight on.


This pic shows my custom remote bleeder.
The fitting to the slave cylinder is unique, its a custom made 8x1.25mm male thread with convex end on the slave side, and -3AN 3/16 male on the output side, mated to a 3/16 brake flex line.

To make the fitting, i bought a -3AN male to male steel adaptor and machined off the thread on 1 side and then tapped to 8x1.25mm to suit the slave cylinder.

Fitted to the other end of the clutch bleeder line is a 3/16 to 10mm female concave fitting with a Russell speed bleeder nipple screwed in to it.

I still have to make a bracket to mount the end to the gearbox securely so its not floating around.

The Brakequip guy in Pakenham made up the custom length flex brake line with standard fittings..
$55 all up.

Plug Leads

After putting the general engine assembly back together, it was time to plumb some ignition leads to the new coil locations.
I bought an MSD universal engine ignition lead kit which has the plug ends already crimped, but long lengths of lead to be custom cut to length by the installer,
After i routed the leads and marked them up for length, i was surprised to find the kit didn't contain the type of coil connector used by the LS individual coils, i had assumed these would be something common, but not to be.

Plenty of different connectors and caps, including some spares....except the the LS coil type connectors i needed.

The top 2 connectors come in the kit, i found some connectors on the web after feeling like i was being mugged by the local ignition specialists.

The black 90 deg boot came in an LS connector kit from Taylors in the U.S.

After routing the leads, mark up the length of lead to the center of the right angle boot.
I used some zip ties to hold them in place while i adjusted angles and lengths.

I used the crimp length guide and crimp tool included in the MSD ignition kit.
Insert the lead into the tool lining up the mark you made to the left side of the holder, then cut through the silicon lead cover while rotating the lead.
The holder prevents the knife from cutting too deep.

After cutting the silicon sheath and pulling off, fold the lead conductor back under the lead and push into the crimp connector, then insert into the crimp tool, and squeeze together in a vice.

I used the grey 90 deg boots supplied in the MSD kit for a lower profile look over the larger Taylors boots.

The MSD kit also comes with cylinder lead number tags.

Finished.