Glenn,

In answer to your question #4, one of our members has done this (Vince's "BYEBYE" FE Sedan has one piece windows front and rear).  Being flat glass makes it easier than it might otherwise be  - on a HR, for example.  Still a lot of work just the same to move the runners and get the window balanced right.

You'll be on your own for rubbers if you do it, though  :-/

RET

After a bit of a lull I've started receiving this virus again in force.  If you use a PC, please make sure you're not infected.

There's a good write-up of the KLEZ-H virus and why it's been so effective here: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/05/25/1022243282104.html

This is also worth a read: http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/25461.html

cheers
RET

[edit: added second article]

Geez, not even 24 hours have passed since you posed your questions and already you've packed the shits and given up on getting a response.  You've asked a lot of questions, very few of which can be answered properly in a sentence or two.

Anyway, I'll try to briefly answer your questions as best I can.

Fuel?  LRP.  Not really much alternative.  This question has been discussed at length in this forum.  Have a read of this thread: http://www.fefcholden.org.au/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=general;action=display;num=1019199340  Standard fuel was a lower octane leaded petrol, and disappeared from petrol stations long before ULP was ever thought of.

Buying an FE/FC for an everyday family car:
Unless you've got good mechanical skills and time to spare, it sounds like a bad idea.  A 40+ year old car is really not cut out for use as a daily driver in the city.  I dunno where you live, but I will say this:  if you buy a cheap FE/FC, you can't expect near-new car reliability.  If you spend a significant amount of money (like $8000 plus) on one, you're probably better off buying something newer, because you'll be wary of ever leaving it anywhere, which defeats the purpose of a daily driver.  Spare parts can be difficult to get, and they're often dear.  A reco grey motor will cost double what a reco red would cost you, for example.

Brakes?  Again, covered at length elsewhere in these forums.  Most common and simplest upgrade is HR discs + drums.  Check the Technical Board for discussions about this sort of stuff.

Other modifications?  Have a read of this thread http://www.fefcholden.org.au/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=general;action=display;num=1020079564 which talks about costs and benefits of a few different engine swaps.

Hope this is some help to you.  There is a lot of quality information about all manner of things related to FEs and FCs in these forums.  None of the General or Technical boards ever get purged, so take the time to check them out.  Lots of good stuff there.

cheers
RET

WHEN YOU REFER TO AN UNDERSTANDING BOSS I ASSUME YOU ARE REFERING TO MRS.RET WHO IF SHE DOESN'T SHARE YOUR PASSION MUST SURELY HAVE TO GAIN NOMINATION FOR SAINTHOOD.

Actually, I was referring to my employer (being self-employed), but "The Boss" does deserve a medal, there's no doubt about that.  She doesn't 'share the passion' for the cars, but that was emotional baggage I already had when we met.

"Love me, love my jalopy... and my car club".

Having said that, she'd have a greater appreciation for the cars etc if I could get around to fitting kiddie seats in the FE so that when I go off on some Sunday jaunt, I could take them with me and give her a chance to potter in the garden (that's her passion) 'without the little helpers'.

RET

Back in the days when rego papers used to show kerb weight, I'm pretty sure mine said 1040kg (for an FC).

I doubt the HR shell weighed significantly more than the FC.  Most people fit the HR front end disc-to-disc, including the springs.  Given that in most cases they're carrying a HR engine, that would seem to make sense.

Check out our tech info section, there's an article about fitting HR front ends there:
http://www.fefcholden.org.au/techinfo/index.html

cheers
RET

Just thought I should point out that Simon lives in Sydney

Fair enough.  I guess cruising around with the grey+trimatic combo for a while should be all the incentive you need to put a red in  

Having said that, the body mods you have done might require an engineer's report before you can get it registered anyway, regardless of engine.  I suggest you check before spending any more money on a stop-gap solution.

cheers
RET

And in the interests of completeness, there's also a 173.

We have the same bureaucracy in NSW, except you can go up to 149 without a engineer's report, based on the "less than 10% increase in capacity" rule.

One variant of the HQ series exported to South Africa sported (if that's the word) the 138 red.  What a slug that must have been  , although probably not as horrid as a Starfire Commodore.....

With enough money, time and motivation you can do just about anything, no matter how crazy.  Apart from simply proving it could be done, why would you want to do this?

Having said that, you'll need serious floor and tunnel mods, which could well lead you to an engineer.  A trimatic will certainly bolt up to a 138 red, and will probably fit a grey - after all, you can bolt a red to a grey crashbox, so it's feasible to bolt a grey to a red slushbox I suppose  

You won't need a pressure plate, though  

Before spending any money on this venture, see if you can get a ride in an original EK or EJ automatic.  Not exactly a performance powerhouse, are they?  :-/

cheers
RET

PS I have fitted a 186/powerglide combo to my FE, so I have some experience in this area.  I like it, but I wouldn't do it again.

Hey there Sarge,

I can help you with the Trim Code.  It is made up of the GMH paint code (the first group of numbers) and the GMH Trim Code (the second group).

Check out http://www.fefcholden.org.au/techinfo/gmhpaintcodes.html which explains many of the paint codes.  200 represents "Huron Green over Ocean Mist Green", which of course corresponds with what you previously wrote.

The GMH Trim code of 708 denotes interior trim to suit a special sedan in "Tasman Green & Egret Ivory".  More details about trim numbers can be found at http://www.fefcholden.org.au/techinfo/fetrims.html.  Typically when dealers ordered a piece of trim, they supplied the part number with this suffix, to ensure the right colour arrived.  I'm not sure why there are multiple numbers that all seem to correspond to the same colour combination (471 and 708 both mean the same thing), but I presume it was to allow GM-H to identify the material supplier.

I've seen the "AO" suffix plenty of times, but I can't tell you what it means  

cheers
RET

i may as well add my ditto re ret's excellent job as moderator [does he have time for anything else like prehaps work or sleep?]

I've got a two year old and a not-quite-one year old.  What would I know about sleep?  

And work?  Let's just say I have an understanding boss  

But really, you're all too kind.  This is my contribution to the club (well, one of them, I can't seem to shake the Secretary or Editor gigs... offers?)  I'm not a mechanic's backside, and I know it.  I'm really lucky to have made good friends in the NSW club who have helped me with my car (and other things too) over the years:  Geoff - for much good advice on anything and everything, Alex and Charlie, who helped me fit a red motor to Dad's FC after I killed the grey motor in it, as well as many other favours over the years; Dad and Charlie for their work on my auto conversion, Geoff and Alex both helped me move house, CraigA for his help with my wiper conversion (just a small fire ) amongst other things, and they're just the recent ones.  There was also the small matter of Geoff, Alex, Darren and Siggy driving up to Tamworth (5.5 hours from Sydney) in their FE/FCs for our wedding cars.

Anyway, I haven't won an Oscar, so enough with the speeches.  I've gone a bit off-topic here, but in my 15 years with this club I've met a few blokes I wouldn't piss on if they were on fire, but the overwhelming majority - like 95+% - are terrific mates, who would be even if the cars disappeared tomorrow.  Apart from access to secret boards this is what you miss out on by not being a member of a club.

Thanks everyone,
RET

Ed,

One of our members (Vince) built his FE "BYEBYE" on a rotisserie in a garage that you couldn't swing a cat in.  If memory serves me right it had to be wheeled out into the driveway to spin the car on its axis, the garage was so small.

So it can be done.  Charlie (of the EK bonnet) built his car using the mattress technique, so maybe he can give you some pointers on that.

If you want Vince's or Charlie's phone number I can probably find them without too much difficulty.

cheers
RET

Mike,

That is the correct email address - it could be that the person who receives that mail is on holidays?  Anyway, you could also try phoning them on 08 8381 5121 - all the contact details can be found at http://www.sa.fefcholden.org.au

cheers
RET

John,

We were in a pickle because Shannons had pulled the pin and were not renewing policies after end-March.  Our policy was due mid-April  As luck would have it, they backed down and decided they would honour policies until end-May, which got us out of a jam.

However, during the intervening panic :-/, we chased up quotes from a variety of sources.  We got one in the post two months later (thanks so much) for $2441, urging us to respond quickly.  What a joke.

However, we were able to get one quote through a broker for $893, from Triton Insurance.  This appeared to be our best option until the fortunes smiled on us wrt Shannons

In SA they have some sort of state scheme for volunteers, which car clubs are able to be part of.  I don't know all the details, I heard about this from the CMC.  Maybe someone from there could fill us in?

Apparently the Qld government are working on something similar, it has been reported in the local press up there.

Otherwise, one option we considered was affiliation with the Street Machine Association.  They have an umbrella scheme which costs (I think) $60 + $8/per member.  That might be something to consider for you.

We also did a lot of phoning around to see if we could get an umbrella scheme for the FE-FC HCC of Aust (also through Triton), but that went a bit pear-shaped with the realisation that some clubs (ACT and Vic) hold regular events that are guaranteed to increase the premiums for all clubs, ie the ACT AHD and the Vic Auction Day.  We are still working on it, but it's gone on the back-burner a little.

We can only hope that common sense prevails some time in the next twelve months.  Our club's feeling was that we might have to live with one year of extortionate insurance (sorry, call it like I see it), while the federal and state govts sort out the mess we are currently in.

Hope that's some help to you.  Send me a PM if you want the details of the broker we used, and check out SMA.

cheers
RET

ps - there have been other threads on this topic.  There's one in the club area somewhere, and another in General

Guys,

There's a s/hand grille badge for sale on Ebay at the moment: http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1732035502&ssPageName=ADME:B:SS:AU:1.  At $145 to open the bidding it sounds way overpriced, but what do I know?    If you're keen enough (slim? you're after one of these, aren't you?), check it out.  Bidding closes 23/5 at 10:59

RET

As per air-chief's excellent suggestion, I have created new groups for each of the participating clubs, and updated all of the user records appropriately.  (Look to the left, you'll see what I mean).  I was originally reluctant to do this, because I wasn't sure I'd be able to create many groups and give them all access to the club area - YaBB allows each user to belong to one group only.  But it turns out that I can configure this so it will work.  Let me know if I broke your access somehow :-/

A by-product of this is that I can now set up extremely private boards ("The Inner Sanctum") that only members of one club can see, so if you want to use this to discuss stuff that's private in your own club, you can.  In other words NSW couldn't see Vic's extra-private area, and vice-versa.  Does anyone think this might be useful?

As far as the Nationals are concerned, I did think about adding a board for that when I added the private For Sale board.  I decided not to, because the Nats are an event we like to publicise and promote, so it would be better served somewhere in the public area, I would have thought.  But I'm open to opinion/comment on this too.  Do we put in the Events board, or does it merit a board of its own?  And if so, where - public/private?

I did also think about a "National" private board as well, to talk about club-related things that affect us all, such as PLI.  What do people think about that?

Thanks for the feedback, and keep it coming.

RET

If you've read the News that appears on the 'Home' page of these discussion boards, you will know that there is an area here which is just for the members of the FE-FC Holden Car Clubs of Australia.  These boards are not visible to the public (so that might be why you can't see them )

In the NSW club we use them to hold discussions about issues that affect us - allowing members of the club who aren't able to get along to meetings to still have a say.  Information about upcoming runs goes in there, as well as run-reports afterwards.

There are similar boards for Vic, Qld, SA and ACT.  However, they don't seem to get much use.  This could be due to people not being aware of them - hence this note.  If you are a member of one (or more) of the above clubs, send an email to me with your board username, real name, club and membership number so that I can grant you access to the members' area.

Lastly there is another "For Sale" board in the members' area.  This is for Club members to post offers of stuff for sale that is open to club members only, or perhaps offered to club members first.

The whole point of this message is to make sure people are aware that there are additional benefits available to members of the FE-FC Holden Car Clubs of Australia - who, after all, pay for this site.  But I'm also very interested to know if anyone has any other suggestions for the private area, or opinions about it.

cheers
RET

Paul,

Your membership application and associated paperwork was received on Tuesday night - that was our first meeting since you posted it.  We got a bit of a laugh from the photocopy of the old newsletter you included, as the other guy who joined that night - John Payne - was at the meeting too, for the first time in ages.

Anyway, thanks for rejoining, and we look forward to seeing you soon.  A receipt and so on will be in the post to you before long.  I have also granted you access to the club member area.

cheers
RET

... or check http://www.rarespares.net.au ?

Leon.

That's great news.  Good on you.  We look forward to seeing you and the green machine on a run sometime soon.  Our next meeting is tomorrow night (Tue May 14) if you're free.

cheers
RET