Castle Hill Exhaust

Big update:

She now drives!

We took her for her first drive this morning, trans brake works, changes gears ok, etc, and it now has doors and front guards!!

Pics:

Progress has been a little slow the last few days while waiting on parts and having a workshop full of cars getting cams, heads etc!

We managed to get the rear wheel studs done though.

Tail shaft, doors, boot lid etc will be here tomorrow (fingers crossed).

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Well after a few more hours work today it is finally running.

She started straight up first kick and idled like a kitten!

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She is almost ready to start!

Dump pipes and oil lines are done. We know just have to fit the fuel lines, run the water lines for the turbos and she is a goer.

New spark plugs are in as well as a new set of leads.

The doors, boot, bonnet and front bar will be here on Monday.

Pics:

Here is todays progress:

Fuel pumps in and hooked up to the tank, battery cables done, wastegate lines done, wastegate dumps done, radiator over flow done, shifter done, trans brake done, trans temp done.

A very productive day, just have to do dump pipes and hook up fuel lines and it will be a runner!

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A couple of progress shots from yesterday:

Rear bumper bar is on, battery isolator is done, parachute mount is done, and wastegates are done.

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Update: Turbos are now on. We’ll install the wastegates tomorrow then remake the dump pipes to suit these turbos.

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The engine and gearbox is now in. Will finish off the wiring today. The tail shaft goes off on Monday to get 1in cut off it.

I thought it was time to tell everyone about the new project. Dave and myself decided that my ute had too much power for the street and it was never going to go down the track fast without an auto. Knowing that I would never put an auto in my street car, we decided to build a race car.

We ripped the engine out of my ute and a stocker LS1 with a cam was fitted back in (yes it is very slow now). Some carbon clutch plates were fitted to the Exo-skill twin plate clutch and it is now the tow car! It still makes 280 rwkw so it still goes ok!

The project is a ‘99 VT commodore. It started life as a V6. We purchased the car from one of our customers 4 weeks ago and began work straight away!

We have all the parts here now just have to put it all together.

First things first though we must thank all the people that have helped with the project so far:

1. Josh, Rece, Tim and Chris for all the help they have given in stripping it down and making all the little bits and pieces for it.
2. Craig from Craig’s Automatics for the gear box and converter
3. Peter from Textralia for the clutch for the tow car and the inlet manifold
4. Sydney Driveline Services for the tail shaft
5. Craft Diffs for the diff
6. Castle Hill Collision Repairs for all the body work
7. GCG turbos for the turbos
8. VPW for a hell of a lot of the parts!

Without the support of these people there would be no race car, so we thank you very much for everything you guys have done.

Here are some progress pics:

The car as we got it:

Stripped

Cage done

Chute fitted

Dash

Rear wheels and tyres

Vince fixing the front rails

All fixed

Rear quater fixed

In the booth ready for paint

Dave putting the paint on

Shell painted

Assembly started

Wiring done

As it sits this morning with the front and rear screens in

I’ll be putting more pics up as it goes together, engine will be in by the weekend we hope.

In addition to our braided clutch line, we now have a remote clutch bleed line. This runs up into the back corner of the engine bay making bleeding the clutch a simple job. No more lying on the ground to get into the bell housing, and more importantly no more clutch fluid running down the inside of your bell housing.

The kit is supplied with everything required to fit to your car. You will need to move the gearbox back on the bell housing to fit the line.

The lines are $135 each for the braided clutch line and remote bleeder, or $250 for the pair.