Hilux 4x4 Forum

I thought you guys would find this interesting, it was a WOW moment to me.

Busy stripping the Pontiac and I noticed this sensor type of thing on the block with a looooong wire running from it and the wire is not plugged in anywhere.

Asked about it on one of the Pontiac forums and this was the reply:

This is a block heater. It was an option on these cars. It plugs into a US house electrical outlet to warm the coolant during cold weather.

Yoh! Never heard of it before .... maybe no anti-freeze or not good enough anti-freeze in those times, so yes, interesting.

They were built in Canada, so maybe it is for the days when you get outside at your car and everything is white.

Pics especially for Neil:
This car only has 56,000 km on the clock. Has been standing in a store for the past 6 years and before that under a cover under a carport for ten years. Interior beautiful. Unfortunately somebody painted it red from the original silver colour, which is not too bad, but they did an extremely terrible job. I will take her back to 100% original.











And now she looks like this:

WOW, die interior lyk soos 'n nuwe!!! Ek gaan hierdie een dophou.

Thanks Pieter, she is a beaut.

Looks very nice Pieter, is it still on the road, the problem with left hand drives is you cannot register them anymore unless it still has a valid licence or something like that. It would be a pity because she is an awesome find.

Netjies Pieter, netjies. Soos die ander sê - gaan hierdie thread dophou. Gee 'n bietjie spesifikasie van hierdie warm kar van jou.

Lekker windgat!!! Sal darem wat wil gee vir n spin in daardie outjie

I will be following this thread with WIDE EYES

"Pics especially for Neil:"
Pieter, do you know how long the restoration of my new company car is going to take?

Ja sure, the pics for you not the car.

Hallo Pieter.

Daai inprop opsie redelik algemene ding in Noord Amerika. Ons vriende in Kanada het dit ook gehad in vorige plek waar hulle gebly het.

Flippin nice kar....

Daai verwarmer sit reg agter die exhaust manifold. Dus is al die draad isolasie al hard en die drade het al begin afbreek. Dink as jy hom nou gaan inprop gaan hy werk soos 'n bom.

Update:
She was sanded down to bare metal. Body still very good, no rust and almost no body putty. Nice solid body.
Was then painted a thick white primer to see any marks which needed attention.

After that another primer and then the final coat.

Mooi!

Hoe is die meganiese spesifikasie?

Looking good so far!

Did you get the colour coding from original spec or did you match against previously unpainted areas?

Very useful web site gives you all the original colour codes with different makes of paints
http://paintref.com/cgi-bin/colorcodedi ... oy&rows=50

Thabo, die enjin is een wat net vir twee jaar gemaak is deur GM. Dit was nie baie gewild nie. Na baie wik en weeg het ek besluit om die oorspronklike enjin te behou en oor te doen aangesien dit 'n "matching numbers" kar in goeie toestand is.

157 kW en 468 N·m

Wyse besluit om hom standaard te hou. Dis n goeie pensioen belegging wat jy het. Hoe langer jy hom hou hoe groter word die dividente. Oldies bly maar mooi. Skoonpa se Fairmont GT het nou gegaan vir R270000-00.

Took her for a spin around the block today. Except for noisy tappets she runs well.
Sounds awesome, especially when the turbo starts to sing.
This was the first time in probably 15 years the car drove.
I now also sorted out the brake lights and indicator lights.

I did buy a Screeming Chicken and all the other stickers, but will only add them once I am absolutely sure all touch up and panel alignment have been done.

BEFORE - 2 Aug 2016


AFTER - 13 July 2017

Pieter daai lyk baie awesome.

Ja Pieter, ek raak skoon jaloers. Dis nou n netjiese kar daai. Wag nog vir die enjin spec, vertel bietjie meer.

Stunningly awesome!!

P.S. Were those side vents originally black or colour coded?

Beautiful vehicle .. One of my dram cars growing up . Super happy you changed that red .. That red was ...Eish

Wow, stunning werk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

New colour works like a charm, well done Pieter!


-F_D

Volgens en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontiac_301_Turbo lewer die enjin 'n matige 157kw - en dit uit 'n 4.9L V8 met 'n turbi!

Ek is seker jy kan gemaklik 300kw uit daai masjien haal!

Dit lyk regtig uitstekend!!!!!

Die enjin is juis berig vir sy min krag. Dit is nie een van die beste ontwerpe wat ek al gesien het.
Hy is egter gekniehalter deur streng emmisiebeheer regulasies van daardie jare. Ek wou alles baie standaard hou en wou veral my "matching numbers" hou en daarom het ek die enjin behou. Ek het wel baie subtiel meeste van die emissiebeheer goed uitgehaal wat hom beslis meer krag gaan gee.
Die een wat seker die meeste verskil gaan maak is die EGR wat vuurwarm uitlaatgasse weer deur die vergasser sirkuleer. Ek het daardie pyp afgeblok en ook die EGR valve geblok.

Dan het die enjin toe 'n tappet wat raas en so hoor ek nou eers dat op Amerikaanse karre moet jy jou hydraulic lifters en camshaft vervang as jy enjin oordoen, iets at ek nog nooit op 'n Toyota of Volkswagen gedoen het nie.
Ek het nou die nodige bestel en het besluit om dan maar sommer bietjie rond te speel. Hy gaan dus 'n effe warmer camshaft kry en hy kry ook roller rockers en natuurlik nuwe lifters.
Dan is die plenum ook erg swak ontwerk, ek het al daar ingeklim met die dremmel, maar wanneer ek nou weer uitmekaar haal vir die cam gaan die dremmel nog bietjie werk om die outjie te help om beter asem te haal. Ek glo myne gaan meer krag maak as die standaard. O ja en die ou van Turbozone het gese as ek klaar as kan ons kyk of ons die boost ook bietjie kan opjaag.

Klink belowend!

Alles gaan oor lugvloei deur die enjin!

Kontak vir Pieter de Villiers hier op die forum (pietdvs), hy verstaan die lugvloei gedeelte baie goed én hy kan die regte somme maak.

Een van daai enjin se grootste beperkings is sy simplet inlaatspruitstuk. Jy kan nie glo hoe plat en klein die poorte is. Omdat die Turbo op hom vasskroef en nie die carb nie kry jy nie van daai lekker groot spruitstukke soos wat jy vir die Chevies kry nie. Ek dink hulle het gereken omdat die lug forseer word kan hulle maar aanjaag met die inlaat.

Ignoreer die pyltjies, het daai fotos op 'n ander forum gebruik waar ons 'n probleem bespreek het. Die carb skroef aan die oopkant vas van die turbo, gee jou idee hoe dit werk. Hy suig dus lug/petrol mengsel deur carb in turbo in.

Mmmmm....ek is seker as die inlaatspruitstuk geport match, gevloei en poleer word sal jy baie beter krag kry.

Die turbo kan ook gegasvloei wors, maw. As die skerp hoeke em randte word gegevul en glad geskuur.

San moet die silinderkoppe ook gevloei word en laastens die uitlaatpyp.

'n Klomp somme om te maak.

wow, she is a beaut !!.

soma makes me want to go and get one

https://www.gumtree.co.za/a-classic-vin ... 1206620909

That looks like a perfect project, just make sure paperwork is in order and that it has been registered in RSA before as left hand drive.
I think the law says if it was registered in SA before the year 2000 you can re register it, if not, dont buy it.

So everything did not went as planned, seems like I had to learn some valuable lessons first.
The noisy tappet did not go away as I hoped.
Some of the guys on the Pontiac forum warned me and said that loose tappets will eat the cam shaft.
I did not think it was possible, but because the noise did not go away ordered a new cam, rockers and lifters anyway.

At first I wanted to just replace the cam and lifters. Then one ou toppie warned me and said that if the filings from the cam went into the oil it will eat my bearings.

So I drained a bit of oil and yes... there were plenty of metal in the oil and I decided to rather open the engine again.

One of the guys in Langebaan who knows american V8s very well and who also race on Killarney with a V8 told me the camshaft story is bogus according to him. His opinion is that there is only one thing that will eat the motor and that is incorrect oil. The area where the hydraulic lifters rub on the cam is a high friction area. On these engines you MUST use oil designed for Diesel engines as they are the only ones which still contains Zinc and provide enough protection.

Go Google it, it is very interresting. In the late nineties when goverments got obsessed with emission control, they ordered that some additives in oil being remove and Zinc was one of them. Then the americans all of the sudden experienced many engine failures on V8 engines. Now they all recommend either Diesel oil or additives to normal oil.

Another interresting thing about this V8 is that it does not have channels in its cam shaft. It depends on oil splattered from the crank to lubricate it. On most of the web sites they advice that when you fit a new cam you must follow the proper "run in" procedure; once you started the engine for the first time to keep it running at 2000 rpm for 20 minutes. That is because at idle there is not enough oil at the cam, apparently. They even supply a "run in lube" with the cam which will lubricate it the first couple of minutes. One guy said that in the olden days the guys put grease on the cam during a rebuild so that there is enough lubrication during the first couple of minutes.

Project was then halted for a month or two while a sulked, moaned, complained, cried, kicked myself and were busy with my work.

Eventually today I got time to pull the motor to see what the damage is.

The oil I drained was very thin and smelled like petrol. I presume during the time I was battling with the turbo, fuel got into the oil when it was running rich.
Also when I was battling with the turbo I always let it idle because of all the smoke I did not want rev it, and I guess if you read above this was one huge mistake.

Will strip the engine tomorrow.

Your garage is FAR too neat, Pieter!

Good luck with the rebuild :)


-F_D

Valueable lesson learned indeed.
The camshaft and lifters are damaged.

While battling with the turbo the car must have idled for a total of not more than 30 minutes, if so much. I took it around the block twice and because our blocks are small the around the block trip was mostly also on idle.

I am so glad I nether tried to drive it on the open road.
Luckily the crank is still beautiful, do not have to cut it.
Obviously the amarican stuff is not the same quality as the Jap Scrap we are used to.

This is the damage:

Wow! That's unbelievable for such a short running period. I would have liked to be able to say that it could have been worse, but that's bad enough.

On one forum a guy said the one lube was completely worn away with 60km of driving, I did not believe it......, now I do.

Eventually she is running, beautifully.

Only outstanding matter now is a small oil leak between engine and gearbox and a squeek on the right rear leaf spring.

Since engine has been redone thrice I guess the leak can only be the torque converter seal.

This is what she looks like now:

She is a beauty

Very neat Pieter!!!! A job well done!!

Well done Pieter.
She is a work of art. A true labour of love.

My dream would be to rebuild a 1967 ford mustang shelby GT500.
Eish that is my dream car of all times, but the price tags on those babies... eina.