Thread: My Series 3 Project

That's getting a bit flash for the old girl.


Cheers, Mick.

Another bit collected today - a reconditioned head for the engine that I bought off Hodgo - a big thanks to him for running it down to a mates place that was going to Expo last weekend where it made a handover to Alien and I picked it up from his place this arvo. Love the AULRO courier service.

The head looks great and apart from a bit of dirt and dust, and a couple of small scratches on the machined face from where it sat on a bolt or something, but it will be fine.

I will be stripping it down to clean it and to get it water blasted so it looks like new as well as functions that way. With the amount of alloy on the engine and the gearbox, the water blaster will get to know me well.

Gav, that's the wrong head, it's off the three cylinder engine, or is it the Vee Six?


Cheers, Mick.

Originally Posted by Homestar

A bit of the wiring showed up today - an engine controller that will allow me to run a push button start on the engine, and to use immobilisation using an RFID or NFC tag which can live in an old key fob, so it will work like a new car - just jump in with the key in your pocket, press the brake pedal and push the run button.

It's a variant of the base model genset controller we use on small gensets at work (up to 50KVA) - it's called an Intelidrive Nano - https://www.comap.cz/products/detail/intelidrive-nano/

Quite a powerful little controller - I will mount it so the screen can be viewed, but the front buttons can't, and the front buttons can be disabled so no one can operate the machine from the panel. I can also configure cold running RPM/choke control through it, and a variety of other things. It is also a full engine protection system with adjustable set points for engine temp, oil pressure, over speed, etc, etc, etc.

This puppy is a snap to install and program compared to the bigger, more powerful controllers I use, but should do enough to keep an old Land Rover happy.

hi have a strong 2 quarter motor i am stripping for a person who only wants the pistons so a head is available regards jim

Originally Posted by russellrovers

hi have a strong 2 quarter motor i am stripping for a person who only wants the pistons so a head is available regards jim

Thanks Jim, but I'm rebuilding a 2.6 6 cylinder F head engine - my previous post shows the recondition head I just bought.

The last parts I need to get the machine work started on the engine turned up in Mums luggage the other day from old blighty. The main bearings are .020" under. The crank is in good condition and only has a fe small marks, so 20 thou should be heaps to get it looking like new again. At the end of the day, it's not a high horsepower engine so if there's a few marks left over, it won't be the end of the world.

When you build one of these you have to take what you can get.

So, off to the engine machinist this week with all the bits, and I'll see what sort of dollars he's going to slug me for all of this.

Still need a new cam made to Cookeys specifications, all gaskets and seals, new distributor, leads, plugs, etc, but all the hard to find parts are got, so I'm pretty happy about that.

This will be the last time this engine gets rebuilt, but should last a while I should think. Once this one goes to God, I've got a feeling a small modern turbo diesel will find its way in there, but by then the car will be ready for another restoration.

Tomorrow we hope to have all the steering finished and installed, and the last of the brake lines made up.

Onwards and upwards!

Not as much done today as hoped - my back was playing up, so had to have a few breaks at times. Almost all the parts cleaned and painted to refit the steering box and finish all the steering off. As per whitehillbilly64's thread I also got the steering box apart, cleaned, a couple of small bits replaced, put back together and painted, so if I get home at a reasonable time tomorrow, I'll see if I can fit the jigsaw puzzle of brackets and bolts together to get it all fitted.

It will only be a dummy fit as the firewall still needs painting which is the next job on the list.

So, managed to work out how the steering went back together and have everything fitted for the time being (it's all got to come apart again yet). This all got me thinking again on the electric power steering conversion I've been pondering.

Out with the tape measure and all the bits to see if it will work as planned - annnd...... Yep, it will fit perfectly, not be in the way of anything, and be completely - I mean completely - invisible from the outside without pulling the dash apart - it will fit in the like it's made for it.

Now, there's a big difference in working out if it will fit and actually fitting it, so my thoughts turned to this. Basically, I need to graft the complete PAS motor and housing onto the top of a shortened standard steering column. First issue is joining the steering shafts. From the steering wheel to the bottom of the PAS motor, it will all be standard Prius gear (apart from the actual steering wheel - I'll get to that bit later). The bottom of the PAS motor has a 17mm x 36 spline shaft. After looking on line, I've found you can an off the shelf steering shaft uni joint from the good old US of A that has this thread - it's specific to most electric PAS motor drives, so pretty easy to get. The factory steering shaft that goes into the box is just big enough to allow this spline to be cut into it - as it sits, it's about 0.5mm bigger than it needs to be. After measuring up where the factory shaft needs to be cut, I've just dropped everything off at a machine shop in the Northern Burbs that specialise in spline cutting, and the owner said he could put that spline one the end easy as - come pick it up next week.

Also heard back from the uni joint supplier - they can ship me one to my door for around $120 which is steep, but not too bad in the grand scheme of things, so that's ordered but will probably take a few weeks as they put them together as ordered and they are busy at the moment.

So, with all that done, I really need to wait until it all comes back to start on the structure to support all this. I've got a few ideas and although it will be a bit complicated, it seems doable with the tools I have at home. Basically, the top section of the steering needs supporting, and also where the output of the motor drive is, a plate and bracket assembly needs to be made so the torque from the PAS motor is transferred to the firewall, not the steering the that goes to the box - that wouldn't last 5 minutes I don't think. I think I can make a plate up that will bolt under where the pedals mount which is an area designed to take quite a bit of stress anyway from jumping on the brake pedal.

As you can imagine, getting a boss kit for a Prius isn't exactly easy, but I can buy a blank and have it machined and splined - the machinist doing the shaft said he could do that without issue too, but I'm not spending money on that until I jniw the rest will work.

The good think is that if it doesn't work, there will have been no modifications made to anything else on the car. I can just bung a factory box and column back in and I'm done.

Oh, I have a spare box as well, so I can keep one as standard should it ever be needed.

If it doesn't turn out the way I want and I think there is going to be any issues with it, I won't proceed as my Son will be driving this and steering isn't something you want to get wrong.