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 (to be booked)

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

Vern,

I'm not so sure about the leaky fuel riser pipe hypothesis.  I was about to try the hose-in-jerry-can trick and saw that the fuel pump bowl was full to the top.  That wouldn't happen if the fuel riser was leaking.  I started the car and ran it for about ten minutes.  There was no hint of air bubbles at the pump inlet, and the engine ran sweetly.

Since the apparent air leak happens when the engine's hot, I'll have to try the hose and jerry can when the engine's hot and the fuel system's misbehaving.

Rob

I'm not out of the woods yet.

This morning was a glorious opportunity to head up to Mount White and take the old two-lane road back, so I did. The car was very happy, except waiting to turn right off the Pacific Highway near home, when the idle "sagged" again. With the engine idling at home, there were lots of bubbles coming out of the fuel pump inlet, and when the fuel level in the pump bowl rose to the gauze, the idle came good.

The tank was less than 1/4 full. I'm beginning to think there's a crack or pinhole in the fuel riser pipe inside the tank. To double-check, I'll take the stationary engine tank from the test stand and plumb it into the car's fuel pump. If no bubbles, I'll fill up the car, and park it on a slope, driver's side downhill. The fuel riser pipe should be immersed in fuel for its whole length. If I don't get any bubbles in the pump bowl, that'll be a confirmed diagnosis.

My 1957 master parts catalogue lists the fuel riser pipe as a spare part, so they were a serviceable item. But at this point, I'll need to find someone who can repair fuel tanks.

Rob

. . . it worked, because I hadn't put the fuel cap back on when I started the engine.  Today, after driving the car, I noticed the same symptoms . . .

and checked the fuel cap.  It had no vent.  I put it in the naughty corner, got out my old, dinged original equipment cap.  Problem gone.

It's a lot of little, subtle things whose effects add together: sticky exhaust valve, wrong distributor rotor, wrong fuel cap.

Rob

Today I went for a test drive up to a friend's on the Central Coast.  The official reason was to deliver a replacement valve, that is, a thermionic valve, for the reverb unit in his vintage Hammond organ.

The car went well, but it coughed and fluffed a couple of times.  And on the way back, the idle "sagged" to the point where it nearly died at traffic lights.  It's almost like fuel starvation . . .

Got back home and had a look at the fuel pump with the engine idling.  The fuel in the bowl was down to the level of the inlet, way below the gauze filter, and when the fuel flowed into the pump, air bubbles came too.  So I've either got a leaky hose or pipe union, or the fuel pipe's blocked.  I pulled the inlet hose off and gave it the "suck test": it held vacuum, and when flexed too.  I put the hose back on the pipe and led the fuel pump end into a jar, did my best Dizzy Gillespie impersonation at the fuel filler, and found that I could fill the jar with fuel, which then siphoned back into the tank.

Thus far I've found nothing wrong.  I put everything back together and started the engine.  The fuel in the glass bowl rose to the level of the gauze filter, and no air bubbles came out of the inlet.  Don't know what I did, but it worked . . .

Rob

How rusted out is "rusted out"?

If there are no visible rust holes in the part above the car's waistline, and if the tab for the adjusting stud is still attached, then I'd say you can re-use it.  The bailey channel is rigid, so it doesn't matter if the bottom couple of inches of the division channel are rusted away.

If it's too far gone, the remaining option is to find a replacement division channel.  Somebody will have one in their parts stash . . .

Rob

[The Idiots' Guide to Bosch Distributor Rotors]

I freed up no.5 exhaust valve and gave it a "rough-as-guts" abrasive-free valve grind with a drill:  Initially I set the air pressure to about 10 psi, but with the weight of the drill on the valve, it didn't stay shut.  So I upped the air pressure to about 20 psi, which allowed the valve to stay shut with the extra weight of the drill.  Then I squeezed the trigger and spun the valve gently.  After a few seconds of that work, the valve then stayed firmly shut with the drill weighing the valve down.  I could hear the blow-by into the crankcase, but couldn't hear anything out the exhaust.  Good sign.  More WD-40 on the valve stem, opened and shut the valve a few times, and a minute or so with the drill.  I un-chucked the drill, disconnected the hose, and spun the valve with my fingers.  It felt smooth to spin on the seat, so I figure the drill did some good.

Meanwhile, the Greystanes Special Tool Company came good with a Lisle valve spring compressor.  I gave it a practice-run on Brett's donor cylinder head.  The tool needed adjustments to get right, including one gotcha:  if you attempt to hold on too far down the valve spring, the compressor's claws bind between the spring coils on assembly of the valve cap and collets.  But it's much easier to re-install the spring using the tool: you have two hands to get the collets in place.



I put the rockers back on and checked the valve clearances in the most basic way possible: Can I spin the pushrods when each cylinder's at the firing instant?

And I turned my attention to the ignition system.  The marks on the electrodes of the distributor cap suggested that the cap and rotor are misaligned.  This seems odd.  And then I remembered something about Bosch FJs having different caps and rotors from the later models.  As a result-

The Idiots' Guide to Bosch Distributor Rotors



FJ distributor rotors are maybe 3 mm shorter than the later models' rotors.
Red motor Bosch distributor rotors have a similar body to the FE-EJ distributor rotors, but the electrode is much longer.  Which leads to this insight:  With care, you can shorten a red motor distributor rotor to suit a grey distributor.  In emergencies, that is.

I had been running the car for what - six years, nine years, with an FJ distributor rotor.  I went through my stash of old ignition parts and found a serviceable FE-EJ distributor rotor.

And then I took the car for a test drive.  It's much improved.  The idle's way smoother and the motor just feels more tractable.  How much of the improvement's ignition-related?  Most, maybe.  But unsticking no.5 exhaust valve will have done no harm at all.

SA All-Holden Day, here I come (fingers crossed).

Rob

Letting WD-40 run down the valve guide overnight has yielded results - no.5 exhaust valve now spins freely when closed.  I'll take mother out for lunch, then chuck the valve in a drill and give it a good whirl.

Rob

Today I tried the method out in earnest. I used a Ryco compression tester adapter and a Ryco-style fitting on the air hose. But, as always, it was a little more complicated than anticipated -

- I couldn't slide the rocker along the shaft far enough to completely clear the valve spring cap
- I couldn't squeeze the ring spanner between the rocker and the valve spring.

I ended up pulling the rocker gear off. I decided to attempt no. 2 first, turned the motor to TDC on no. 2, put the car in top gear, bolted in the dummy rocker shaft, pressurized no.2 cylinder, worked the ring spanner into place, and took the exhaust valve spring off. You beauty.



The valve opened under its own weight, and when I spun it by the stem, closed, the valve spun freely. No. 2 exhaust valve's not sticking. I reassembled the spring.

Same deal with no.3 exhaust valve. It's not sticking. No. 4 was the same, but I can tell I was getting tired: putting the collets back took ages.

Number 5 exhaust valve didn't spin freely when closed, and took a bit of a push to get it off the seat. So I've put PVC tube over the guide and sprayed WD-40 into the tube. I'll let it sit overnight, then chuck the valve stem into a drill and attempt to free the valve up.

Don't know what to do with numbers 1 and 6. They've always been the high-reading cylinders when I compression-test the motor. I'm inclined to let them be.

Rob