Gave the ute a clean and wax today as i felt bad for it having to come off the road for a while for the gearbox transplant. Depending how i feel tomorrow i might get it up on stands and make a start on it, if not it will be next weekend. Still need a few bits and pieces so its not gonna be a one weekend job.
So with it all clean and blingin' on its fresh rims i thought i take some pics before the sun went down.

Oh yeah, and wont pics like that first one look sooo much better when theres a big shiny front mount sittin in there!!!!

its possibly the only way you could make it look any tougher!!! haha

Nah, it'll look shit house.

Tell you what I'll do you a favour, because I'm so nice. I'll let you drop off that ugly piece of sin at my house with the keys, free of charge.

Gee I'm nice looking after you like that aren't I??

will look tougher than nails with a cooler poking out, can't wait to see it come into reality!

Ive prob said it before but this is easily the best Eseries ute ever... top shit jeff

Okay UPDATE, UPDATE, UPDATE.

No a good one, but none the less an informative update.

Firstly, the ute has been up on stands for over a month now. The day the T5 came out it was sold along with clutch and billet short shifter. Its been a long process so far and is still a while off being finished due to other things taking priority. I may be able to, well no doubt, set the record for the longest TKO install :yelrotflm

When removing exhaust to get the T5 out i found this. Not what i'd expect to see from a 5-6000km or 18 month old Cat. Not to worry though as Dom @ Prestige is replacing it for free



Alright now i'd like to say Dellows bellhousing SUCK!!
It has turned out to be a complete PITA. Should have just gone with the genuine Tremec/malwood set-up for a bit of extra coin.
Doesnt matter though, with the help of a good mate of mine, Dave (machinist) we're getting it to work.
First problem was the locating pin holes for the two dowells on the back of the block. Not the right size for the dowells. So we took them out to size.
Second problem. The four holes for mounting the box to the bellhousing were only drilled and tapped to 7/16" UNC :weirdo: . So they were drilled and heli-coiled (stronger) to M12.
Third problem. Part of casting fouling on flywheel. Basically a piece of the casting on the inside of the bellhousing fouled on the ring-gear on the flywheel :evil3: . So that has now been ground and smoothed out.
Fourth, and hopefully final problem. Clutch fork pivot pin height. With the pivot pin wound all the way in to its pedastal, as far as it could go. I had approx 3-4mm clearance between it and my clutch cover when bellhosuing bolted on. So the pedastal in which the pin is threaded into has been machined down 20mm to allow for the clearance + room for adjustment if needed.

I have just had that last mod done to the bellhousing during the week and havent had chance to get stuck into it again, got a few other things on the go so the ute has been set back abit.

The XF rear crossmember i obtained isnt going to fitm which is no drama, it was only trial and error anyway. It could have been modified to fit but i wasnt happy with the modifications it required.
So after seeing a pic of the AU T3 manual rear crossmember i ahve now got my idea for my rear crossmember sorted. Pics to come.

Other than that i have bolted up my new Y/T std weight flywheel with ARP flywheel bolts and mounted the clutch.

Heres a couple of pics. I should have also got pics of the dramas with bellhousing, but was too keen on just getting them rectified to think about pics.




Also i scored a GT-40 (Tubular) upper manifold to go onto the ute. Just gotta get the paint stripped off it, prepped then polished.
The current polished Explorer thats on the ute now will go onto the new engine thats going in the missus AU Ghia.

Cheers,
Jeff

take ya time lol, no rush. a month is no time.

Shame the bellhousing has been made not to a good standard, mite pay to send these pics to dellows and explain what there doin wrong.

The cat looks like a spacecraft or something lol? arnt they ment to be hollow and see through:S?

Like I said on PES jeff dellow are f***in hopeless.... been nothing but a major PITA with regards to my T400....The wait and all that other bullshit will be worth it in the end.... You'll love smashing thru the gears

Dellows bellhousing issue #5.
Starter motor clearance.
Excessive casting on inside of bellhsousing is fouling of the large locating "boss" on the starter motor as it slides in
Heres the best pic i can get of it. You can see it next to the sandwich plate and is the same down the bottom too. Basically it should have clearance behind, or at least be flush with, the sandwich plate.
So i gotta pull it off and die grind that all out.
Other than that, with a few adjustments of the pivot pin all was sweet and it was almost ready to stay bolted up.

oh no fun at all jeff.

i would be sending a email with those pics and fixes to them asap and also ask what it takes to work at dellows by the seems of it grade 1 engrish and maths skills is way too over qualified haha

think terry at bpt had similar issues with his box in his edxr8 and couple other customers cars.

think he found one the his defillipo extractor pipes had to be bent out the way slighly.

just think of the weight saving with all the die grinding

almost there though lol.

with all the mods u could almost make up your own bellhousing now and flog them off

Yeah if only i took pics of EVERY problem i had with it.
But yeah they will be getting an e-mail explaining all the problems i've had with it and that i will do whatever i can do prevent anyone else i know going through the same troubles by buying through them.
Im sure it will only get right-clicked and deleted anyway.

So Terry used the Dellows set-up aswell or the Tremec?

Yeah i tell ya what theres been a fair bit of alloy removed already lol.

Over a month down the track... Do you have any updates Jeff??? Is the 'box in yet or have you been having more problems?