Craig,

I've never seen the steel rings before.   In factory springs at the closed-coil end, the spring wire changes in profile from round to rectangular, which tapers.  The part number is stamped into the rectangular-profile section.  I can't see the closed-coil ends clearly in the photo, but you may have original-equipment front springs.

In aftermarket springs (thinks Lovells or Selbys) the spring wire at the closed-coil end is round in profile.

OK.  It could be that your springs are wound from larger-diameter wire and they don't seat properly into the crossmember tower.  Maybe not.  It could be that the steel rings are a home-made "country pack" which gives an extra 1/2 ride height.  Beats me.

I have a loose pair of FE-FC ute/van/wagon front springs.  Please hold.

---------------------------------------/---------------------------------

7410727.  7-1/4 active turns of 0.540" diameter spring wire.
FE-FC sedan front springs are 7408860 and both mine have a coil broken off the bottom end.  Shop manual says 0.530" diameter spring wire.

Master parts catalog says -

FB, EK, EJ, EH wagon/ute/van and all HD king-pin front springs are 7419138. 0.560" diameter wire.
FB, EJ, EH sedan front springs are 7412465.  0.560" diameter wire.
EK sedan front springs are 7419137.  0.560" diameter wire.  Don't know why EK sedan front springs are "sui generis".

Rob

Good that you got the springs out.  I'd be mortally afraid of shattering an angle grinder disc given how little space there is between the spring eyes and the body.

Take a good look at the spring leaves in the six-leaf pack.  The original leaves taper down to a couple of millimetres thick at the ends; and the ends of the leaves are curved.  Aftermarket spring leaves generally don't taper in thickness toward the ends, and the ends are usually chamfered.  And I wouldn't be surprised if aftermarket spring leaves are 50 mm wide instead of 2" (= 50.8 mm).  You'd hardly tell the difference in width.

The rear spring centre bolt is 5/16" UNF originally, but M8 is an almost exact equivalent in diameter.

Rob

Yes.  It happens often.

There's a kind of sway bar rubber that has a big lip on each side, making it more difficult for the rubber to slide out sideways.

Or, you could (shudder) modify your brackets by welding flanges onto the sides for better retention of the rubber.

Rob

Front bolts for the rear springs?

They're very difficult to remove.  If no joy with WD-40, then use heat.  Go in hard with a MAP gas torch on the bracket where bolt head goes through.  You'll need two people and two sledgehammers: one holding a hammer onto the inner bracket to act as a dolly and the second on the bolt.  Unscrew the nut flush with the end of the bolt so you don't moosh the thread.  With perseverance the bolt will let go.  If it doesn't let go, use more heat on the inner bracket.  Even up to cherry red.

(If you're not a good shot with the hammer, you may ding the sill.  That's the price you've got to pay.)

Rob

Factory-made FE-FC windlace is an unequal figure 8 in cross-section, as if the material was looped over a cord and then stitched together in the "waist" of the 8.  When I re-did my FC's interior, I rolled the flat section of the windlace over onto itself and hand-stitched it.

When came time to install it, I got a thin piece of hardwood of the right thickness, forced it into the slot at the top where the A-pillar meets the dash, then tapped it all the way down to expand the gap.  Then I could run the windlace in, with lots of talcum powder to help it on its way.

Not a job I'm looking forward to repeating on "Found Object", I must say.

Rob

Vern,

Grease-and-oil-change in Perth.  Didn't need to add oil in between.  Put maybe 500 ml water in the radiator in Perth, and again at Wudinna on the way home.

Rob

Just got back today.

Odometer reading at start: 97250
Odometer reading at finish: 02080

Distance travelled: 4830 x 7/6 (diff ratio correction) = 5635 miles.  No mechanical problems.  I put fuel in the car and drove.

Rob

Blacky,

Yep.  When I drove over in '23 for the solar eclipse, I stayed at a dodgy motel in Wudinna, but had a great meal at the pub, only to discover next morning that they had decent motel-style accommodation, and off the highway too . . .

On the strength of your recommendation I'll give Mundrabilla a go on the return journey.  Madura was OK, but a bit tired in appearance.

Rob

I've just booked my accommodation -

Friday 11/4 Cobar Central Motor Inn
Saturday 12/4 Broken Hill Comfort Inn Crystal
Sunday 13/4 Wudinna Hotel/Motel
Monday 14/4 Eucla Hotel/Motel
Tuesday 15/4 Fraser Range Station
Wednesday 16/4 Merredin Motel

On Friday 11/4 I'm thinking of leaving around sunup, taking the Bells Line of Road to Lithgow, stopping at "the Hub" at Bathurst for the morning break, fuel at Wellington, lunch at Narromine and a comfort stop at Nyngan.  Dodge goats and 'roos into Cobar.

Saturday 12/4 I may stop at the Emmdale Roadhouse for a cuppa, the McCullochs Range rest area for a comfort stop, Little Topar for fuel and lunch, and cruise into Broken Hill in the mid-afternoon.

Sunday 13/4, depending on what time I get away from Broken Hill, the famous Yunta Creek crossing for a short break, Peterborough for fuel and Kimba for something to eat.

Monday 14/4 - morning tea, fuel and a few deep breaths at Ceduna, lunch and fuel at the Nullarbor Roadhouse.  Arrival time at Eucla depends on strength of headwinds.

Tuesday 15/4 - morning break at Madura, fuel and more food at Caiguna, fuel and coffee at Balladonia.

Wednesday 16/4 - morning break and fuel at Norseman, an early lunch at Kalgoorlie (or Coolgardie), fuel and coffee at Southern Cross.

Thursday 17/4 will be an easy cruise from Merredin to Perth.

(Anybody might think I've done this drive before . . . )

Rob

Craig,

Go to hrc.au and then Holden - Accelerator.  Most of the issues of Accelerator in the late '60s had an ad for the stop-lamp indicator, and may give an idea of where they were mounted.

Rob

LED headlights draw less current than tungsten-filament headlights.  They'll make your poor old generator brushes last much longer.

Rob

Availability is a problem.  One thing to check, though, is whether the overhaul kit has a single or double row mainshaft bearing.

The last couple of times overhauled a grey gearbox, I re-used almost all the original parts.  One gearbox needed a cluster gear and first-reverse gear; the bearings and shafts were good to re-use.  In the other gearbox the mainshaft bearing started to growl, and I replaced the original single-row bearing with a good, used double-row bearing.

I've heard that the double-row mainshaft bearing is also used in a Mitsubishi L300, except that the Mitsi bearing has no circlip groove in the outer race (would need to be machined).

Places like CBC Bearings (or Coventry perhaps in WA) have a good cross-reference with original part numbers if either of the ball bearings are unserviceable.  But I wouldn't replace a double-row bearing with a single-row one.

The 3/4" expansion plugs for the countershaft and reverse idler shaft are standard items.  Rear extension housing and transverse selector shaft oil seals are also available separately.

Rob

My father was a hobbyist wood-turner.  When I did the post-mortem garage clean-up, I found maybe four bags of shellac flakes, all in different places.  I guess that Dad put the shellac in a safe place, then couldn't find it, went out and bought a new bag . . . more than once.

And I can't count of the number of times I've discovered lost items by looking for something else.

Rob

Trial-fit successful.

https://forum.fefcholden.club/index.php?topic=28613.0

Rob

"Is it possible to upgrade FE-FC front brakes to EJ-EH or HD" is a question which comes up fairly often.  The accepted method is to change over to EJ-HD steering knuckles, supports, steering arms, backing plates and brakes as an assembly.  But I got to wondering -

Is it possible to bolt EJ-HD front brakes directly onto FE-FC steering knuckles without changing to EJ-HD steering knuckles and supports?  There is no firm consensus.  So I decided to find out, by doing.

Here is an HD kingpin front brake assembly happily bolted up to an FC steering knuckle.



From this angle it looks no different from the original HD steering knuckle and support.  From the back side, though -



A couple of things of note -
The upper holes in the FC steering knuckle support are threaded, so I had to change to short 3/8" UNF bolts.
The steering knuckle forging has the number 3415/6, which identifies it as later FE and FC (7413415/6).

And here is a photo of an FE-EK steering arm (left and bottom) bolted up to an EJ-HD steering arm (right and top), showing that the bolt hole spacing is the same between both types of steering arm:



Conclusion:  Yes, you can bolt EJ-HD front brakes onto (late) FE and FC steering knuckles.  You need to change the top two backing plate to steering knuckle attaching bolts to short 3/8" UNF bolts to suit the threaded holes in the FE-FC steering knuckle.  You also need to use the EJ-HD steering arms.  And if you are using HD kingpin front brakes (probably rocking-horse-poo rare these days), you will need to use HD or HR wheels.

Rob

Dr Terry wrote, "The bolt pattern for the backing plates is different for EJ to HR. These will not bolt up to FE-EK stub axles."

I'd been meaning to trial-fit an HD king-pin backing plate onto an FC stub-axle.  It looked like the parts would interchange . . .

Rob

Clay,

In fact, no.  This one was assembled and came complete fan-to-flywheel, with spare gaskets and receipts and all.  I borrowed the staff club trailer and (cough) towed it with Mum's Renault wagon, as it has a towbar.  And working brakes with ABS.  And air-conditioning.  And power steering.

I laid the motor over on its left side for the trip home.  When I got it upright at home, there was a little trail of oil coming from the first inlet port.  The oil had got past the rings and run out from an open inlet valve.  That's not a bad thing.  I know that all the cylinders will be nicely primed with oil when start-up time comes.

Complex electrical and electronic systems for radio-astronomy we can manage, but not trailer wiring.  The left-hand indicator was short-circuited to ground, but intermittently came good.  I solved that problem by only indicating half the time . . .

Rob

If your wider brake shoes look like the narrower ones, then they're FB/EK.  You'll need to use FB/EK drums (or buy new EJ/EH drums) and fit FB/EK front backing plates.

Rob

I'm stunned . . . surprised, even . . .

Today I did some work on "Found Object".  Not much in the greater scheme of things, and not really photo-worthy:  I cleaned up and primed some weld seams, mainly on the underbody.

It makes a bit of a change from wearing the "Interstate Holden Parts Recovery Service" hat.  I picked up some FB-EK drums, shoes, a wiper motor and steering linkages, plus a 3.36 diff, from South Australia; and a freshly rebuilt motor from Bungendore (finally).

Rob

Accommodation booked at the Atlantic Tower for Saturday night.  It'll be a long drive from there to the venue . . .

Rob