I did this years ago on an FC, but I had to check the wiring diagram to get my colours correct.

Firstly the standard for the trailer wiring is:

RH Blinker - Green
LH Blinker - Yellow
Brake Lights - Red
Tail Lights - Brown
Earth - White

Run the 5-core all the way to the dash & connect:-

Trailer Green to Violet at the Blinker Switch (Best place is where the wires exit the steering column tube)
Trailer Yellow to Pink at the Blinker Switch
Trailer Red to White at the Blinker Switch
Trailer Brown to Black at the Light Switch (or the wiring harness near the RH door hinges)
Trailer White to a good earth bolt.

What I've done to my FC is to convert the blinkers to the lower lens (just like FB/EK utes & vans), but I kept the white/opaque lens (because I prefer the look). But instead of running an orange globe, I use what is called a "Phantom" globe, which look silver when not lit. When it's not lit you can't see any orange thru the lower lens (so it looks stock) however when you put the blinkers on they light up a strong orange.

So I have the best of both worlds, a stock original FE/FC look, but modern (arguably safer) rear blinkers. Now I've started a debate !!

Dr Terry

Hi all
Can anyone advise on how much pressure the glass bowl fuel pump produces
For example if I disconnect the carby fuel pipe and hold my thumb over it for a seal and crank the engine should there be pressure to force the fuel past my thumb to spurt out?

Cheers

I believe the factory spec is 3 to 4 PSI.

Dr Terry

Interesting question and one I have considered myself. Dr Terry; why do you reckon they left them out of wagons? My EK didn't have them fitted either but an FB wagon I wrecked a long time ago had them fitted from memory, interesting. Al

Maybe they considered the wagons C-pillar too thin in some models to fit them. Good question though.

Dr Terry

Showing full indicates resistance over 70 ohms in the circuit. Check and clean all electrical connections.

You can test the gauge itself by removing feed from sender terminal. Gauge should read above full. Then earth the feed. Should read empty. The gauge rarely fails.

Pass above, try earthing the sender body direct to negative terminal. If gauge reads normally then it's an earthing issue. If not it is the sender itself.

Pull the sender and measure resistance st full and empty float positions. If I remember correctly should be less than 6 ohms empty and more than 70 ohms full. Something like that.
Cheers
Clay

Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk

AFAIK the correct resistance for all early Holden fuel gauge senders (FX to HG) is 0 ohms empty & 30 ohms full scale.

Dr Terry

Interesting. My EK wagon doesn't have any provision for panic straps, but my HR Prem wagon seems to. I think the hoodlining in the HR was replaced, so can't see the top mounts. What I can see though is the two holes for the press-stud/button, one of which has the stud/button still in it. The two straps are missing though.

Did GMH introduce panic straps for wagons sometime after EK, or were they a Prem fitment?

Cheers,
Harv

AFAIK panic straps (officially passenger assist straps) were fitted to all Special sedans from FE to HR & all Special & Premier wagons from EH to HR. Wagons prior to EH & all standards & business models missed out.

Dr Terry

Thanks for clarifying Dr T. Why do you prefer the early MC over the later (shall we say HD, HR and HK clutch)? The later thread seem to be more common at least I  my collection. Appearance wise they seem virtually identical.

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Probably being a bit too fussy, but the early cylinders have BRAKE & CLUTCH cast into them in a font that is correct for the era. Not only is the thread different is also larger in diameter. Quite noticeable if you sit them side by side.

From a concours judging point of view, early cylinders with the ABS reservoirs would be more 'era correct' than using HD/HR units.

Dr Terry

Another option go to the later master cylinders I suppose. Alloy rather than iron but otherwise the same.

All Holden master cylinders from FE to HR were alloy, the cast iron ones are all aftermarket.

The thread at the bottom of the reservoir changed when Holden introduced disc brake (July 1965) & they went to plastic ones.

There are aftermarket plastic units to fit the early thread (made by ABS) you do still see them at swap meets, but they are getting harder to find.

In my mind, the best set-up is original early cylinders, re-sleeved in stainless with ABS reservoirs.

While I like the tin cans from a concours point of view, they are not as practical is the ABS ones.

Dr Terry

,when I saw the engine number on the paper ,I remarked ,its had an engine change somewhere in its life ,because there is no letter " L " in front of the numbers , well he lit up ,big time , I know this B B F F car ,it all original ..well lets go have a look ...cleaned off the engine number pad , sure enough there is the letter " L " ..smack in front of the same numbers on the paper ..a typo ...could you just imagine RTA years ago ,or was it still DMR ? my recollections they were generally not very friendly ,I could imagine a officer asking for "engine number" ,so you give him the numbers only ,he didn't ask for any letters ..every car has a story ..Vern ..

As a roadworthy inspector I am obliged to check the engine (& chassis) numbers of each car as part of the inspection. On average we find a typo mistake on 1 in 10 cars inspected. As mentioned the mistake was usually made when the car was sold new & the mistake lives each time the rego is renewed. The actual reading was carried out at the rego offices at one time, meaning every new car had to be driven to the rego dept. for inspection prior to sale. In modern times it is now carried by somebody at the selling dealership. I don't think the percentage of typos or read errors has changed all that much.

You mention the RTA, it has changed its name so many times I'm almost lost. In NSW, up to around the mid-70s we had the DMR (dept. of main roads) & the DMT (dept. of motor transport) for rego & licensing etc. They merged to become the RTA (roads & traffic authority). In recent years this mob took on boats to become the RMS (roads & maritime services). They are now changing yet again, to the TfNSW (Transport for NSW). Seems to me consistent name changes are good business for the printing industry & the extra public servants required to put them into action.

Dr Terry

Yeah, I believe that the 1st time Nasco offered the rear speaker kit was for the FB series.

The part number for the kit was superseded a few times, but the earliest number I can find is 7406807. This number lines up with many items which were new for the FB in Jan 1960.

I think that engineering was thinking ahead of sales in those days. The are many items that appeared on FE/FC bodies that weren't utilised until the FB, just like the real speaker cut-out.

Have close look at the FC firewall, you can see where the 2 master cylinders & the handbrake for LHD export cars would mount. These weren't used until Mid-1960 FB.

Dr Terry

I understand EJ/EH owners have used these on their  Nasco steering locks, just need to check thread size.  

Yes checking the thread size closely would be essential. You would have thought that these late Falcon bits should be metric.

8mm x 1.25 looks very similar to 5/16" UNC

Dr Terry

AN6 will be fine, unless you're running a big hp V8 or turbocharger.

It is unlikely you will find AN5 in that type of hose.

Dr Terry

The "metric flats on imperial threads" fittings make me grind my teeth, like using pliers to undo nuts.

Thread sizes:
3/16" pipe uses 3/8-24UNF thread.
1/4" pipe uses 7/16-20UNF thread.
5/16" pipe uses 1/2-20UNF thread.
3/8" pipe uses 5/8-18UNF thread.

Cheers,
Harv

I'm with you Harv, metric A/F with imperial threads can be annoying, but there is a simple reason it exists.

The guys that manufacture the pipe nuts, can only purchase metric bar, i.e. nowadays in the case of 3/8" UNF pipe nuts, they are made from 10mm hex bar.

The cost of machining the bar to become 3/8" hex would be prohibitive compared to the cost of the actual nut. So 10mm A/F with a 3/8" thread it is !!

Dr Terry

There are really 3 differently shaped sumps to suit the Holden V8 HT-HG, HQ-WB (Incl. LH-LX) & the finally the Commodore style.

The Commodore has the 'hump" at the front, so won't suit that crossmember.

I think the HQ-WB style will be the better fit.

The sumps from 253, 308, 304 (carby or EFI) & the 350 stroker will interchange. It is the chassis of the car that determines which sump suits, not the engine size

Dr Terry

To answer the OP's question, yes the FE/FC Ute doors are unique to the Utes.

The top rear corner is rounded, whereas the sedan, wagon & van doors are squared off. (FB/EK van doors also do this).

The part no. for the Ute door seal is also different to that of the sedan.

Dr Terry

The banjo diffs were course spline through to early HZ (6 cylinder). The fine spline banjos were LJ XU1, LH/LX/HQ-HZ V8s and late HZ 6 cylinder.

Cheers,
Harv

To my knowledge fine spline Banjos began in large Holdens around early HX around late 1976 (LX also at around the same time). Late LJ XU1s and 5.0 LH/LX also had them. 4.2 V8 LH/LX had course spline.

HQ-HZ V8 & all One-Tonners had large Salisbury diffs with 28-spline axles.

Dr Terry

Only the two curved pieces are different size, centre same on all ute models.

Yes, I've found that too, but why is the part number different for the centre glass between FE/FC & FB/EK ? The difference must only be minor.

Dr Terry

In addition to what Ken has said, the rear glass on FB/EK utes is actually different to FE/FC utes.

Dr Terry

Item 51 usually stays on the car until the gearshift is disconnected for the first time, after which an Australia-wide mechanics' conspiracy dictated that it be thrown into the bin.

And don't get me started on HD/R/K/T/G brake self-adjusters . . .

Rob

Totally agree Rob. What is it with mechanics who think they know more than design engineers & throw parts away that were designed to perform a perfectly valid function ?

More often than not, it's the lack of understanding of their function in the first place.

Dr Terry

Dr Terry . Are you saying the HD set a sales record ?,I didn't know that ,I note you said monthly ,total volume sales of a model was EH first FC second of the 1948 to 1968 production ,in that category the HD was 7th out of the 10 models ..Vern

I love a good debate about which model series is 'better' or 'more popular'. I wrote an article for our club magazine a few years ago on this very topic. I'll reprint it here because it is so relevant.

It is interesting to break down the figures into sales per month, to see which was in fact the most popular Holden series. As you can see gross sales are irrelevant if the car was on sale for a longer or shorter period of time.

I did some figures recently on average sales per month for FE to HZ. To achieve these numbers, I simply divided the total sales for that model series by the number of months it was on sale. Some of the numbers are surprising but there are several anomalies.  (pm = per month)

FE - 7,388 pm
FC - 9,586 pm
FB - 10,921 pm
EK - 10,014 pm
EJ - 11,908 pm
EH - 14,275 pm
HD - 12,780 pm
HR - 11,737 pm
HK - 12,440 pm
HT - 13,100 pm
HG - 12,984 pm
HQ - 12,452 pm
HJ - 8,390 pm
HX - 7,377 pm
HZ - 5,315 pm

These figures are distorted slightly by the fact that in some model series, utes & vans ran into the next model by a few months, most notably FJ into FE (~9 months), EK into EJ (5 months), EH into HD (5 months), HR into HK (1 month) & HG into HQ (4 months). Also I counted whole months, rounded off to the closest number. If I had counted weeks it would’ve been more accurate.

What I find most interesting is that the supposedly unpopular HD easily outsold, not only HR but also EJ & HK. The myth that the HD was unpopular, was established in the 70s & 80s by motoring journalists with very keen hindsight. If you had read the various motoring reviews (magazines & newspapers) of the time, you would notice that it was no less popular than any later model series. Other than criticism by a select few, related to the pointy front guards, most reviewers liked its modern styling, roomy interior & the performance of both the Powerglide & the X2 engine. They whinged about the brakes, which they had been doing for decades (& rightly so). However this was tempered by the fact that they were no worse than the oppositions' brakes & they also knew that the front discs were imminent. The plain fact is, that the HD was not unpopular in its day & buyers were not eagerly awaiting its replacement, the HR series.

The best period of sales for GM-H was during the mid 60s, in fact the highest grossing sales month in the company’s history was May 1965 when the Aust. economy was going gangbusters, the HD was selling up a storm & the EH utes & vans were in run-out. The relatively low FE/FC sales numbers were due to slow economic times, but even at these figures, Holden commanded 45-50% of the total vehicle market. FB & EK sales had plateaued due to the 1960 'credit squeeze'. HR saw the first strong competition from Ford & Chrysler (XR Falcon & VC Valiant) & was also on the market for too long. HG onwards would have been eroded due to Holden’s own Torana models, which gradually ate into the larger cars‘ sales figures. By 1975 they also had Gemini & by 1978 they had added Commodore.


Another misconception was that HR stood for 'Hurriedly Redesigned' or 'Hurriedly Rectified' apparently because the HD was "SO bad". There is nothing further from the truth.

The entire HR design, including all tooling & panels were signed off for production in mid 1964, over 6 months BEFORE the HD went on sale !!

Dr Terry

What happened in 1965 ?

They were still no. 1 in sales even with the onslaught of Falcon, Valiant, Mini, VW & the Japanese.

May 1965 saw their highest monthly sales figures of all time.

As good as the Holden was in the 50s, they sold well due to the lack of opposition.

Dr Terry