Nadia's FE Ute

[Glenn 'Stinky' Stankevicius]

The door trims are dead! the trims are ripped to shreds thanks to an oversight. The old bitumen board, old padding and vinyl are all pretty thin compared to the new masonite, padding and vinyl. So as I was tap, tap, tapping the top SS trim into place, the trim was cut, cut, cutting it to shreds! >:(
To make matters worse, out of 7 metres of vinyl I was 10cm short to make up two new trims, the vinyl is discontinued and at this point no-one I have contacted in Australia has any in stock.
Several options present themselves.
1. Make a pocket in the door to cover the expected shortfall.
2. Install a speaker pod to cover the shortfall.
3. Reverse the colours.
4. Continue the hunt for 1 metre of Dark Brown vinyl.

On a happy note -
Old ripped, bent and dented bumperette


Old straightened, welded and less dented bumperette


After knocking out most of the big dent, I hooked a piece of wire through the bolt holes and twisted the bumper until it was fairly straight then MIGed it, more hammering and welding, then grinding and sanding. It is now in a state where we can hit it with a smear of bog and paint it silver. This will suffice until a suitable bumperette turns up or Nadia decides she likes it silver.

[Glenn 'Stinky' Stankevicius]

Further to the vinyl drama, I looked up the original invoice and found the guy at UDA looked up the wrong brown. They thankfully have plenty of stock of the original colour that we bought.

and thanks to Gaz 8) for the offer of help to source the vinyl I thought they didn't have.

[Glenn 'Stinky' Stankevicius]

It turns out we didn't buy an FE Ute, but a rust/bog sculpture  ;D

Much like fccool59 I took a week off to get things moving on the cars in readiness for the Nats.

No before shot, but I put the "double-wall" piece of steel I cut out next to it.


A bit of straightening and welding, it's pretty close now.


Oh dear  ::)


Oh dear 2!


Turns to OMFG! :o


At least this part was easy  :-/


A few more shots here -
http://tinyurl.com/ol88b

[Glenn 'Stinky' Stankevicius]

It's been a productive few days, I'll need a holiday before I go back to work  ;D

The bog, a good tip - less is more, you only have to sand it off later  :-/




Decided to paint is matt black........... not! etch primer.


We are going to paint it grey instead!  ;D


The family that works together, well I did most of the work while Nadia screamed at the kids as they messed around. Jonas (who took the photo) is actually showing promise by asking to help, unfortunately at 6 yrs old I can only offer him the crap jobs.

[customFC]

Hey Glenn
Some interesting progress.
Pretty standard rust for a ute.
The person who made the earlier repairs (?) didn't do you any favours.
Good to see the family involved, though it's gunna be hard to fit 'em all into the cab.....might have to chuck 'em in the tray.....JK!  :-X
Keep the posts coming.
Regards
Alex

[collecta]

Good progress Glenn, and family...
Looks  very familiar.

cheers
Scott

[Glenn 'Stinky' Stankevicius]

More painting next weekend after stuffing it all up, probably Sunday now because of the Club's Show and Shine on Saturday.

Funny you mention chucking the kids in the back Alex, after taking the back board out and seeing the floor pan I started chucking ideas around for a dickie seat and roll bar arrangement, maybe later  ::)

[Glenn 'Stinky' Stankevicius]

That's not Poo Brown!
THIS! is Poo Brown!  ;D

[Glenn 'Stinky' Stankevicius]

Mock up of the grille arrangement. I am sure it will look a lot better on the car with a dark background.

[SRVLIVES]

Very cool Stinks! :)

[sgo]

Good progress, and good to see some custom stuff.
How would that mesh look with the vert. fe grill bars?

[Glenn 'Stinky' Stankevicius]

Not the best shot, but here's the console.
An old Mazda unit that's been recovered. I have yet to fit the handbrake section, the ute has been converted to a floor handbrake. No glue yet either, so those wrinkles will come out (I hope :-/)



The grille is now in the car, but the thin "teeth" look lonely, I might add a few more when we get back from the Nats. Especially since removing and refitting an FE/FC grille is soooo much fun  :P

Tonneau Cover, this is the first one I have ever done, not too tricky but you can see I need to learn more


Getting there! draft excluders and other bits of trim tonight, Roof lining, rocker cover and radiator tomorrow night, then it's off to the windscreen mob on Saturday morning for screens. The rest of the interior during the rest of the weekend and maybe the inner trays panels......  front lowered springs......  tidy up the wiring.......  ummm.... and probably a few hundred other things!


In the abscence of good bumperettes, I gathered up a set of dress items that wouldn't make the grade for chroming and got them powder coated silver. Plus the fact that chrome would put a $1000+ and 2 month dent in our dollar/time budget.

[zulu]

Nice work Stinky, have got time to run me up a suit ?
Cheers Gary

[Martin]

Great stuff, Glenn - but I hate to tell you this - you've got 6 days left. :D >:( :P

[TAYZ]

Hope your taking that Black FE over to Vic Stinky

[Glenn 'Stinky' Stankevicius]

Gary - no worries, but only if you want it made from Vinyl  ;D

Martin - No need to remind me, between Tony and RET's constant reminders  :o

TAYZ - I hope so too, still need to fit door rubbers and scuff plates, fix a brake fluid leak, install shifter console, install boot and door locks, fix the rear tyre rub and chase a short in the headlights  ::)

[RET]

Martin - No need to remind me, between Tony and RET's constant reminders  :o

This time next week we'll be sitting around scoffing fish, drinking beers and checking out the cars... ;D

[FC-225]

Richard,
Hope things pick up a bit weather wise,,,or we will be in raincoats as well !!!

AL

[colt]

Think yourself lucky you weren't at Jindabyne THIS Easter!

[Glenn 'Stinky' Stankevicius]

Crikey with all the projects going on the ute almost dropped off the page  ;D
Anyway, almost done, put the lowered springs in the front today and it's a different car.
Mainly interior to do now.