agentkiwi

Funny you should say that actually. I seem to be forever chasing issues that aren't really issues but I can't help it. It's the only way I ever learn how something works or is fixed. Most of the time about half way through I seriously wish I hadn't started it but it's too late by then I have to finish it.
My philosophy is: if it's better than it was before then I'm happy.

I finished this conversion yesterday. Overall, it's not that hard to do. It does make a difference & wont wear out the bush anymore.
 
A couple of things;
The bronze bush is 18mm deep, the bearing is 12. We machined out the bush down 14mm so that the bearing sits 2mm below the top surface. The bush wears out near this surface so that gap will reduce stress on the bearing. I press fitted the bearing after heating the top very gently. 2-3 taps with a bit of 1&1/4" round bar & a hammer to get it in.
The photos above from sparky dave illustrate this well.
 
The steering box can be a bit fiddly to get in & out. A hoist & or a helping hand would be ideal!
Make sure you cap all of the lines & holes in the box or the fluid goes everywhere including on your exhaust which smokes when hot making you shit yourself thinking the car is on fire!!
 
Pitman arm is much easier to get off with the box out of the car. Puller & a little heat, it pings off.
 
That's about it folks. I'm glad I did this & thanks for all the assistance & advice!

I finished this conversion yesterday. Overall, it's not that hard to do. It does make a difference & wont wear out the bush anymore.
 
A couple of things;
The bronze bush is 18mm deep, the bearing is 12. We machined out the bush down 14mm so that the bearing sits 2mm below the top surface. The bush wears out near this surface so that gap will reduce stress on the bearing. I press fitted the bearing after heating the top very gently. 2-3 taps with a bit of 1&1/4" round bar & a hammer to get it in.
The photos above from sparky dave illustrate this well.
 
The steering box can be a bit fiddly to get in & out. A hoist & or a helping hand would be ideal!
Make sure you cap all of the lines & holes in the box or the fluid goes everywhere including on your exhaust which smokes when hot making you shit yourself thinking the car is on fire!!
 
Pitman arm is much easier to get off with the box out of the car. Puller & a little heat, it pings off.
 
That's about it folks. I'm glad I did this & thanks for all the assistance & advice!

Update.
 
I started tackling this today.
Radiator sprung a small leak so I took that out & got it braised.
I thought while I'm at it & the car's off the road I'll change the top.
I also failed a warrant for a worn pitman arm ball joint so perfect time to do it.
 
Everything went well except getting the pitman off the steering coupling. Ran out of time today so tomorrow once I get that apart the box will slide straight out.
Wish I had a hoist, would be so much easier than a crawler!!
 
Machinist at work looked at the top & bearing & said the bronze bush isn't worn but agreed it's a good idea to change to bearing, he said it will be a piece of cake so that's good!
Replacing Pitman, Idler, tie rods & upper ball joints. Could be a long day!!

Haha...good read ando.
I think I'll elevate the sump repair up the priority list....just because.
I finished the roller top conversion on the steering box today. New pitman, idler & tie rods. Didn't have time for the ball joints but they really are an issue that's not an issue.
So now I need something to do!
Cheers to all!
 
P.S have you ever been to NZ? High temp of 8 today, -2 overnight. That's the main reason I use 15w40.

I had the sump off mine a couple of weeks back to do an oil pump. Quite easy if you just take out the through bolts on the mounts and loosen the mount bolts on the block (they interfere with the sump rails by a bee's dick). Hoist the engine up till something goes crunch then back it off a bit then off she comes. Gotta ask though, if your oil pressure stays good all the times, ie accelerate, slow, left, right, then is it all worth the hassle? I reckon if it's not an issue then it's not an issue. Of course if you lay awake thinking about it, then ok, might be better off doing it. Total turn-around should be about 4 hours.

Update.
 
I started tackling this today.
Radiator sprung a small leak so I took that out & got it braised.
I thought while I'm at it & the car's off the road I'll change the top.
I also failed a warrant for a worn pitman arm ball joint so perfect time to do it.
 
Everything went well except getting the pitman off the steering coupling. Ran out of time today so tomorrow once I get that apart the box will slide straight out.
Wish I had a hoist, would be so much easier than a crawler!!
 
Machinist at work looked at the top & bearing & said the bronze bush isn't worn but agreed it's a good idea to change to bearing, he said it will be a piece of cake so that's good!
Replacing Pitman, Idler, tie rods & upper ball joints. Could be a long day!!

Just what I said only 11ty million times better making far more sense

Sorry bro...I seemed to skim it without taking enough notice.Ryan has it covered though.
 
Standard Hydraulic lifters work on hydraulic camshafts and use pre-load via hyd pressure in said lifter and mating to camshaft surface instead of clearance like a solid lifter.They are pretty much maintenance free for there life time.They provide years of quiet trouble free service in most standard to mild set-ups.another little known fact is that they actually spin with the fall/curvature ground into the camshaft.If you pop your rocker cover off,start the engine and a pushrod/s IS NOT turning it is or has wiped a cam lobe or lifter.
 
Anti pump up units are for high revving hyd camshafts that need more lifter control where pressure and high rpm pushes all the oil out of em and they loose control and don't follow the cam lobe anymore.A anti pump up control the oil loss to stop this issue.
 
Hyd roller lifters are used in most modern engines to provide quiet valve trains and maintenance free usually for there duration.These use a small HYD cavity to to keep a quiet yet efficient valve train.
 
Solid lifters use a clearance set between the rocker and valve top,set in th's.A tighter setting makes torque and a wider setting makes HP.
 
Hope this helps bro...

How I understand the lifters is that there are 3 types of hydraulic lifters:
standard hydraulic lifters which as Sly said is in a standard engine and are the ones in the add
anti-pump hydralic lifters which are used in a higher revving engine 
hydraulic roller lifters which can only be used with a hydraulic roller cam shaft.

Direct swap over but your car already has them bro...

Put it this way, it isn't that hard to take out, just screws, nuts & disconnections.Getting it back in exactly right first time can be a lot trickier!!

Anthony meet Jaxon.........Jaxon meet Anthony!
 

Now that is a great looking engine bay!

Put it this way, it isn't that hard to take out, just screws, nuts & disconnections.Getting it back in exactly right first time can be a lot trickier!!

Put it this way, it isn't that hard to take out, just screws, nuts & disconnections.Getting it back in exactly right first time can be a lot trickier!!

LOL , shit happens Agent, I just deal with it, but yeah it limits me a bit.
I agree mate, I poured burning hot cooking fat over me right knee (on leg not in a cast) on the weekend, so no more injuries for me would be kinda nice......
 
I've piss farted around with them enough now, and its my daily, so bite the bullet and pay for em to get done.
 
Jack.

When the old ones are off you can rekit & clean them up easy then. Keep em as spares or recoup most of the outlay for the new ones.
There's always a bright side!

Fair enough mate. You know what you can handle eh.
Being brakes too it's not something you wanna fuck it up & end up In a full body cast when she won't pull up!
 
To be honest when I did mine there was a couple of times when I wished I hadn't. Can cross that 1 off now.

If your in melb goto Hi Tek brakes(http://hightekbrakes.com.au/), they price well & know there stuff.  They did my XD front brakes (standard replacement) ,my xr6T with dba T3 all round & EBC reds and my territory.  
other than that I just bought all nolathane bits from ebay for the XD and got my mechanic to install, could probably find cheaper as mentioned.
I have whiteline swaybars F+R on the XR6T, great product(alot of ppl use them) and well priced.  I tried pedders for the same and the price way more expensive (i think at least 600 F+R if i remember right).

Only slightly more complicated because of the handbrake lever being driven by the adjuster screw.
A piston winding or resetting tool is really useful!

First piece of the puzzle

Now that is a great looking engine bay!

I have just fitted a new saginaw style pump and aeroflow bracket to my clevo. Dont quote me exactly but the pump was $200, bracket $180 and pulley $56. All fitted well.
 

 

 

My XC still runs original lower ball joints and tie roads with 190,000 km on them now and they are nice and tight, the upper ball joints have been replaced. The original stuff is great and i'm going to source a good set of second hand original tie rods for my GXL much better than that Chinese shit they are selling. It surprises me the amount of people who waste money by replacing ball joints and tie rods just because the rubber boot is stuffed when the actual part is still good.