What did you do to your G-Body today 2024

[melloelky]

Any plans to vee out the seam/split to get better penetration and a deeper, stronger weld?



Nick

im not the one that's repairing it so I'm leaving that up to them.they asked that I only degrease it well.if it was steel then I'd say 100% yes..
i got lucky(in some sense of the word I guess 🥴)that it was a clean break of sorts and I'm not missing any parts of it.

 

[DSPbuilt]

Sealing as much of the vents/ducting as possible did make a difference on my previous rides. Where they 'snap' together, I sealed/wrapped as well if possible. Every little bit helped.

That is kinda of what I am trying to do, by no means a perfect build. Just one of those " while I'm there, how can I make this better".

 

[MalibuDavyou5]

More fiddling with the door adjustment. When I got to work the other day I noticed that the door wouldn't close without really slamming it shut. I went out the next day and fiddling again with the door adjustment. The upper door hinge slipped down about 1/3 of an inch down. not sure why but the bolts were tight. while I got it back in place and strangely the body line on the front part of the door matches the fender which has been off for quite some time, but. .

Now I am trying to figure out how I am going to adjust the back side of the door up cause the body line is off on this part of the door.

I also had to remove one of the washers on the Striker and lower it to the bottom corner of the body side as the latch wasn't catching in the middle of the striker. The door closes well but its off. Now I am having an issue with the Dome light coming on and off when I go over bumps. I have to make sure the door is fully closed as I found the Dome light on when I worked last night. I am going to go out again later on today and see if I can lift the back part of the door. It's really cold this morning and will warm up at noon. Later I have my first Concert to go to. Foreigner Farewell Tour.

Last Friday I had to get another tire, the old one revealed the steal band beneath the rubber. I will have to an alignment done as the steering wheel is tilted toward the left.

 

[CopperNick]

As just a thought here, have you checked the bushings in your door hinges? That kind and amount of drop can be a sign that either or both of those thin bronze bushings has finally died. Rebuild kits can be had from multiple sources including Dorman and they come with multiple choices as to which bushing will solve the problem. The biggest hinge wear issue is that usually the hole in which the bushing is placed gets wallowed out as well, meaning that, by default, you either have to go with the biggest bushing in terms of shoulder width, or scare up another top hinge in better? or more readily rebuildable condition, or find a new repro (OPGI?)

While it is possible to weld up the hole and then redrill it back to factory diameter, that is a lot of work.

Do Be Aware!!! That spring in the upper hinge, when installed, has a LOT!!! of tension/pressure on it and getting it to come out of its pocket can be dangerous to face and fingers as it can suddenly POP FREE and fly away if not handled carefully.




Nick

 

[MalibuDavyou5]

As just a thought here, have you checked the bushings in your door hinges? That kind and amount of drop can be a sign that either or both of those thin bronze bushings has finally died. Rebuild kits can be had from multiple sources including Dorman and they come with multiple choices as to which bushing will solve the problem. The biggest hinge wear issue is that usually the hole in which the bushing is placed gets wallowed out as well, meaning that, by default, you either have to go with the biggest bushing in terms of shoulder width, or scare up another top hinge in better? or more readily rebuildable condition, or find a new repro (OPGI?)

While it is possible to weld up the hole and then redrill it back to factory diameter, that is a lot of work.

Do Be Aware!!! That spring in the upper hinge, when installed, has a LOT!!! of tension/pressure on it and getting it to come out of its pocket can be dangerous to face and fingers as it can suddenly POP FREE and fly away if not handled carefully.




Nick

Both hinges on the door have been replaced. I will double check to make sure I didn't damage the bushings while in the process of installation and adjustment. Right now I am re-watching some Youtube video's on Door Alignment. Every one tells me I have to loosen the bolts on the body side then move the door up or down depending where I need the adjustment, I am thinking only 2 bolts from the top/bottom hinges should be loosened with 1 only slightly loosened in a certain pattern that would help get that back end moved up.

 

[mclellan83]

Gonna have to retighten the valve covers again, anyone running anything like a stage 8 so they aren't constantly coming loose?

 

[UC645]

Spent the day making and installing solder lugs on the trans temp and pressure sensors.

Good news is, the temp gauge works now. Bad news, the pressure sensor barely moves. I don’t think there’s enough pressure in the cooler lines for it to read. I might move it to the side of the case to read line pressure but that won’t happen for a long time, if it does.

 

[383_StealthRam]

Been having lots of trouble with Holley EFI [HEFI] V6 software (HP/Dominator) and the graphics display when trying to use LIVE MODE tuning with my older laptop (LENOVO) which worked perfectly fine with the V4 version of the HEFI software.

I want to use some of the newer features and functions of V6 so I upgraded my ECU, and 3.5 LCD screens with V6 but then could no longer use the live gauges display, or live table/tuning views as something with the V6 just doesn't like my older laptop. Problem is I bought and returned 2 newer LENOVO laptops (T14s, and X1 Carbon); both high end laptops, as well as a DELL Inspiron borrowed from a friend to equal 4 different laptops that gave the same problem with the graphics.

If anyone wants to read the gory details, feel free over in the Holley Support Forums.

So, I decided to try something different and opt to install a permanent (aka tiny) PC and 10" LCD, with wireless keyboard/mouse in the car. I'm happy to report problems solved, and no more issues with graphics.

Here are a few quick videos and a couple of pics of getting it mocked up in car, and getting it working.

I plan to redo my dash pod layout, gauges, etc. over the winter (hopefully) and will be deciding where I'll mount the 10" (1366x768) more permanently. The Thinkstation P320 tiny PC is pretty powerful, i5, 16GB/ 512TB, QUADRO P600 GPU, WIN 11Pro + WI-FI/Bluetooth got off eBay for $160, LCD was $68 and mounting bracket was about $20. I had the wireless kb/mouse in stock, lol.

I'm gonna make a nice bracket to hold the PC up under the radio/hvac pod like where the ashtray used to be, and may actually drop a small UPS (Uninterruptable Power Supply) in the trunk, along with the AC inverter I'm using to power it all up. The LCD comes with a 110v adapter brick, or it can plug directly into cigarette lighter socket as it's 12v. I like the UPS idea so both the PC and LCD are getting clean, conditioned power rather than directly off the inverter.

I thought of maybe getting a touch screen, but for what I'm going to use it for the kb/mouse is prolly better option, plus given it's full blown Windows 11 PC, I can browse web, or use other apps, etc. with my mobile hotspot, or other wifi.

I'm pretty impressed with the whole "tiny" PC platform as an alternative to an actual laptop to be honest. Driving around with laptop on the passenger seat was always a PITA to manage. Having a full functioning GPU, over integrated graphics which most of the laptops in the $400-$1000 price ranges have, this little thing packs almost desktop like capabilities at a great bargain imho.

Video of the actual issue with V6 on old laptop that worked fine with V4

Video of quick mock up test before mounting LCD to dash, engine off but HEFI online

Video of gauges display in online mode with engine running

 

[CopperNick]

Both hinges on the door have been replaced. I will double check to make sure I didn't damage the bushings while in the process of installation and adjustment. Right now I am re-watching some Youtube video's on Door Alignment. Every one tells me I have to loosen the bolts on the body side then move the door up or down depending where I need the adjustment, I am thinking only 2 bolts from the top/bottom hinges should be loosened with 1 only slightly loosened in a certain pattern that would help get that back end moved up.

 

[CopperNick]

From personal experience with G-Body doors, your first problem is going to be the weight of the door itself. Absent the presence of that door cradle that I use (see previous posts on my adventures in door sill land) you will still want to have a floor jack with a heavily padded lift plate to place under the lower edge of the door to support it once you start to carefully loosen those bolts.

The sequence to lift the lower back of the door to re-align it with the quarter panel involves loosening All Three of the top hinge to A Pillar mounting bolts, Plus the two lower hinge bolts that sit one above the other. All these Five bolts get backed off only as much as you absolutely need to be able to use the jack to lift the door once it has picked up the weight of it. The third lower hinge bolt gets backed off less than all the others; barely enough that the door will move if you add a pump to the jack handle. That last sixth bolt is going to be your pivot or axis around which the door will rotate as you use the jack to gently apply vertical lift. For this the door has to be almost closed as the more it is open, the harder you will find it to get the door to rotate how you want it to.

Alternatively, you can reverse the bolt pattern by using the upper single bolt as the pivot and working with all the rest as I described. it will all depend on how much "float" or movement you have left in those threaded plates that reside in the pockets in the A- Pillar and into which the hinge bolts are threaded. Either way will work to get the lift you need, all other factors being equal.

Where this all gets problematic is that, by lifting the back of the door to regain the overall alignment, you can find that the front edge of the door now crashes into the matching edge on the fender. In an ideal world that fender would be off the car and set to one side so that you can easily get to those bolts; the factory sequence actually does run from back to front, meaning that the door gets hung and aligned first, then the fender is hung and aligned to the door.

Not trying to complicate this job any more than it is. You are the one who has to spin the wrenches here, so the final decisions are yours. By virtue of size and weight and sheer orneriness, doors are right up there in the MPITA list for frustration and misery.