(Before I start - the wagon has gone to
Holden Heaven,
I have been given a premier sedan body, so all the
following will be swapped to this sedan.)
The Eh wagon I bought off a mate's brother - started
4 years ago but he lost interest. He's done a great job
on the design of the hinge system for the steel tilt front.
You can lift it with one finger in the centre of the wheel
opening and it is beautifully balanced. Unfortunately,
he used old panels for the front so I will have to do
a little repair to them as it has rust pinholes in the
bonnet nose and guard corners - not an issue - the rust
repair panels are available and most people split the
guards here anyway to clear the bottom door hinge when
tilting. |
 
 
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Front end, early shot with 17" x 8" Jag wheels
(Lenso's) with 235/45 rubber, new VT V8 slotted and
drilled discs, jag 4 spot callipers. The Torana front
is just sitting in in this shot, after this I was convinced
by my mate Julius to cut into the front 2 inches more
to lower it. I'll update these shots after the weekend
when I do more work and put up shots of the motor and
where the front sits now. At 2/3rd suspension height
there is 150mm (6") under the sill, so with a two
people on board, the suspension should be at half height
which should be 100mm clearance as per rego requirements.
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| The motor is a Lexus/Soarer/Crown 4 litre
quad cam V8 from a 1990 japanese crown. Stock it puts out
195 Kw (about 200 rwhp). It weighs 100kg less than a standard
cast iron Chev/Holden V8 and 10kg less than the current
alloy dinosaur Gen 3. What it loses in capacity it makes
up for in technology. The beauty of these motors is that
you can pick up a front cut (front of car cutoff just behind
the gearbox with an oxy) for about $1800 from jap importers.
It has 4 cams (Gen 3 Holden's have one), 6 bolt mains (tough
chev's have 4, standard motors have 2) and a 70mm throttle
body (you hotup a warm 5 litre Holden V8 by fitting a 65mm
one!). |
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My intention is to twin turbo or supercharge
it. I was initially going to run twin superchargers (as
pictured) using the ones off the Toyota 1GGZE (about equivalent
to the Eaton M90 on the supercharged V6 commondore) but
I am concerned that two of these take 30kw to drive so
that is wasted fuel. If you buy these, watch out as their
are two different sizes, one of a 1.6 litre and the other
of a 2 litre (1GGZE). |
 (Ford
V8 pic)
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| With twin turbo's, you actually increase the
efficiency so the power and fuel economy will be better.
This is a photo off the net of one fitted with twin turbo's
going into a Cobra. |
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| I will also need an intercooler - this is
a pic of the finished setup I am after - it's
Jamie's V8 Celica (twin turbo) - check it out in detail!
A beautifully crafted setup in an early celica. |
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Jag rear under a
gas-axed Fj as
they should look!
(check the lovely
gas-axed top chop) |
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My Jag rear
- in a carrier built
for a Torana - to be redone as
it looks dam ugly! |
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| This is a quick update - blower sits too high
on the top and too wide on side - going twin turbo I think.
Looks like a pair of Nissan 3 litre V6 turbo's (VG30det
single turbo x 2 - rated at 190kw each, $350 ea if you buy
a pair - SSS in Sydney). I'll have a look at seats while
I'm there as well as they have heaps of nice seats from
$200 pr. |
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| Engine sitting in place, firewall cutout started.
You don't need to cutout the firewall normally if you use
the hr front and notch the crossmember. However, as I need
to fit twin turbo's and an intercooler up front (and the
tilt front stops me mounting the intercooler in the normal
way) I need a lot more room. |
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Shots of the relationship between the motor,
crossmember and firewall . |
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You can see how far back it sits - I have
since moved it back another 50 mm, lots of room at the
front and good weight balance for better handling
(75 mm back from standard). |
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| Lots of different pics to see how the engine
fits are coming up below. |
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70 mm throttle
body is standard.
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Torana Front - widened 2 inches to fit
with the Jag wheels (and also to match the track of the
rear diff), should fit but guards may need to be pumped
by 1 inch or so. (update - yes they do!) |
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Firewall - cut more out since to increase
engine clearance to get the engine back further. |
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Welded in - half at a time is sooo much
easier! Starting the other side today - but need to work
out the steering at the same time while there is s nice
big hole to line things up - easier than trying to work
blind after welding in the firewall! |
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Jag rear in a rod - note support rods across
the back. The V12 is the same as the xj6, only difference
is the 12 is limited slip.
There are two widths, most are the common wider width
(1500 track - centre to centre of tyres). The S type jag
is narrower (I measured it- 1400mm - 100mm narrower if
I remember correctly). In an Eh that means cutting chassis
rails - and tubs. Not for me as rego said no! |
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When you mount it - try to locate it high
- not like axed fj - check pic above.
Also attached a pic of an aftermarket rear - left side
shows normal location of jag rear - in fj this mounts
the diff too low - car too high! checked some jags at
a driving day - the axle should be straight under normal
load.
Wheels - jag use HQ offset, studs, but centre is 72mm?
- larger than hq (62mm?). Order wheels to suit or get
them machined for larger hub as the hub is the centering
and load carrying area - not the studs. I'm turning adapter
rings for the front hubs to take up load. |
 
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| Stripped the jag rear - ready to fit under
car. |
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| Jag rear under car - starting to look at fitting
- looks like I may have to cut some floor/tank to fit it
high enough to get the car low. |
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Dash cut for crown electric tilt column,
you can see where I split the tunnel and plated it. I'll
weld underneath when it's sandblasted and on a spit, I'll
also stitch weld all body seams to stiffen the car. I'll
build a chassis kit when I have fitted the running gear
so it all ties together well.
17 inch wheels trialed on the car - rear will down at
rim level when loaded up (17x8 - 235x45 tyres). |
 
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