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In Brisbane I have used 2 places. One at Narangba, they used to be good but far from it now. The other is Pacific Plating at Kingsford Smith Drive at Pinkenba, their work is perfect but you have to wait a while to get it done. I'm picking up my 2 top grill bars on monday. They took 4 months.

Thanks for the comments fellas,

The hinges have an outer rubber seal that goes under the stainless surround, behind that is a very thick and dense underlay type wadding packed into the hinge pocket. Then there is another rubber seal and a retaining bracket.
Inside the hinge pocket at the bottom is a drain hole incase any water does get in.

Hopefully another update will be coming soon.

Cheers

Finally got the bonnet hinge surrounds made.
I made these out of stainless as well and then just polished.











Now to do a few finishing off bits on the subframe and I can finish off the bonnet and front guards.


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Part 2 of the bonnet hinges.

Now the hinges are done I have to make it look like they should be there.

I did a fair bit of modification around the hinge area making a box section around the hinge that incorporates a seal around the hinge and a trim around the top where the hinge comes out.
















Still in the process of making the hinge seal and top trim.


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Been busy in the shed now for a while and some good progress made.

Starting with my bonnet hinges, I wanted something different that wasn’t so big and bulky.

Did a bit of experimenting with a couple of different styles.
A fair bit of trial and error, but got there in the end.

The first one was a modified boot hinge, but just looked to big and couldn’t get a good clearance where needed.






Next was a temp plate of a sissor type version, but that was crap.






A lot of measurements and drawings was done along the way.

What I ended up with is a consealed type hinge with the pivot point and gas ram under the dash.

These hinges I made out of 2 pieces of flat stainless welded together then ground up, sanded and polished.




Firstly I made up a template of the hinge to make sure i was going to have enough clearance where I needed it.




Hinge pivot and gas ram is all fitted up under the dash






Then I clamped the 2 sections together and start welding.










A lot of checking and changing as I go.




Welded together with stainless wire in the mig. Looks crap but got there in the end and nice and strong.










Very happy with how they polished up.






I had to move the bolt location in the bonnet to line up with the hinges.








That part all done. It took a while to get the gas ram position sorted but the bonnet opens and closes nicely.






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Recently I had the opportunity to purchase the wheels I originally wanted but couldn’t get at the time.
Weld wheels, fronts 15x5, rear 15x10.










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Last bit of rust to do has been done, RH front guard needed a new top, rear lower and headlight area.




Inner and outer both needed rebuilding






Corner all done




Lower section wasn’t to bad



Headlight area needed a little bit more work














Then to tidy up the inside bolt edge by adding a return lip





Now I know these aren’t everyone’s cup of tea but I like them



I changed the front and back of the insert panel so it lined up with the angles of the lower guard section’s










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Next was to finish of the welding on the front subframe.
Started with the strengthening plates on the underside of the subframe.






Once that was done I made a gusset for the back corners of the subframe












Also I ended up changing the lower radiator mounts to drop the radiator Dow a bit giving me more clearance to the bonnet lock panel.










Next I just have to remake the top radiator bracket.






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Ok will try for a bit of a catch up
After getting all the power windows working I found that the quarter windows were opening to fast, so with a bit of research I found adjustable voltage regulators from Jaycar. Fitter those and I dropped the voltage down from 12 to 3 volts, works perfectly now.







And just to finish the insides of I made some stainless door lock knobs and surrounds.








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Nothing like a bit of a challenge Blacky.
I put electric quarter windows in my 57 chev as well, but they were a lot easier as they originally have the crank style quarter windows. With that one I got a pair of motors out of an old cadillac and they were so close they just about bolted straight on.

Thanks guys, I really appreciate the comments.

Exactly Gman, I think that's the most interesting part of building a car. Once you cover all the work up with shiny paint people just look at the big picture and hardly notice all the detail work that goes into building something a bit different.

Joll, doing stuff like this, patience is the name of the game. Even better now I'm retired.

Errol62, I originally looked into the one piece windows but it was going to be a LOT of modifying as the top door hinge was in the road.
When you got a lathe and a fair assortment of tools, making the small things puts that personal touch on it I think. (And I enjoy doing it of course).

While I’ve been working on the doors I’ve been fitted other necessities as well like the power windows, central locking and for something completely different, power quarter windows as well.





Power windows and the door lock actuators were pretty straight forward, the power quarter window took a bit of messing around.

I got a new pair of power seat motors from a Holden Vectra to use for the windows.




I had an old door that I cut the inside out of so I could see how I had to make the bracket and how it was all going to work.



When I made one bracket, I also made a mirrored image of it for the other side door.



Motors mounted to the brackets.



On the bottom of the original window frame I built up with weld and ground down so it would fit into the drive section of the motors.
Also reinforced with weld the shaft where it joins the frame.









All fitted together and now just had to make small brackets to secure the shaft to the outer frame.



To operate the windows I bought crank style switches so I could use the original window winder handles.
I used these switches for the windows as well as the quarter windows.



For the handles I used original ones for the main windows and the shorter version of the originals for the quarter windows.




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Rust and dint repairs on the doors.

The left door is done and wasn’t to bad as far as rust and dints go, the bottom inner fold had to be replaced as it was to far gone.

The door still needed a light skim to get it right.








The drivers door was a different story.
The original door had to be replaced and the only one I could find was a sedan door. It was rusty but straight.

The top of the door was cut off and replaced with the Ute top. The front lower corner was rusty, the outer lower section had to be replaced and the inner rear also had to be replaced.






New lower outer section made and ready to fit












Now for the inner section.
I had another old door that had a really good inner section so I’m fitting that whole section.









Basically this is where this door is at now,  with everything cleaned up and ready to fit.


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I ended up doing a fair bit of messing around gaping the doors to get a nice consistent gap.











Still a bit of fine tuning to do.


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Well it’s to hot today to go out to the shed so time to try and update my build.

I did the tube for the wiring into the doors for central locking, windows ect.

First I got some large stainless bolts and turned down the heads and drilled the centres.



I also machined down the nuts so they weren’t so bulky.





And the tubing is from Bunnings, good old shower tubing.

Next was fitting them into the doors and pillar.
As when the door and pillar is so close I made up recessed sections and welded them in.



















It all works a treat.


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Hey all,

Im chasing a pair of FE wagon rear side window stainless trims, the ones that go parallel with the window from the start of the rear quarter to the top of the taillight.

Any condition

Cheers

Mal

Wow I have been dragging the chain on the updates.
Well Iam now retired and looking forward to getting back into the ute.
Not a lot has happened really.

Motor is finished, and I didn't put it together, the machine shop did.

Will get some progress pictures sorted out over the weekend and get everyone up to date.

Mal

Yeh i did it myself
Got to watch those lifters, a trap for young players  ;D

Finally have the engine rebuild started also.
So far I’ve de-burred the engine block and heads.
Also done the heads, ported & polished.
Intake manifold ports matched to heads, intake and timing case cover smoothed ready for ceramic
coating.














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Time for an update
Inside the tray is all repaired
RH rear quarter & sill is repaired




















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