the risky shortcut to jindabyne (FCCOOL Tidy up)

[Sarge]

Leon
       Sitting here reading your last comment reminds me why when I was posted to Sydney my CO got sick of me in the first week as every morning I would put in a request for a transfer. It took him four years to wake up to the fact I hated it there so he posted me from Woolwich to Randwick a whole two suburbs away. Thats one place you can have all to yourself. May-be the tent idea is not such a bad one, If they cant see it then how can they know what to bitch about. Anyhow keep the chin up mate if the truth came out they are probably just pissed that they dont have an FE/FC of their own to restore.

Cheers
Sarge

[NO NAME]

Well yesterday the real estate came around who we rent through.
they photographed the car, then they went around the back yard and found a neat stack of FE-FC bumpers in a corner behind the garage as well as a hadfeild chev conversion front end and then photographed the kids small plastic see saw. its amazing what stuff you aren't allowed to have in your back yard.
these photos were taken to be submitted to the council.
I have never stuck my head over the fence to see if anything is in the neighbours back yard as I never thought it was my business but I might on the weekend.
real estate says my car has to go, they dont seem to have a clue what they are looking at, its already had over 400 hours go in since I took it off the road and a lot of money.
If I told them they had to throw out their car it wouldn't really be the same but they probably would still not be happy about it.
I have never complained about anything my neighbours do or how their house looks or their horribly ugly late model puss boxes being in my view and this crap makes me sick.
no more trying to keep the noise down when people come to look at the house next door on weekends as I nolonger have time to be generous george, I have to get this sucker finnished and on its wheels before it gets to the tribunal.
Its amazing the crap you have to go through for the crime of historic motoring and a interest in maintaining Australian automotive history due to idiots with no idea or respect good vintage aussie steel.
the yard may have been a mess before the nationals when I took my holidays but some low life around here is really against me getting my car back on the road.
anyway, what comes around goes around, he he he heee.
No shitter gets between me and my FC!

[Glenn 'Stinky' Stankevicius]

Sorry Leon, I didn't catch which country you were living in? Did I hear Cold-War Russia? or was that Communist China?

Bloody Hell, makes me appreciate my semi-rural setting.
2 1/4 acres, almost a footy oval out the front, big back yard, go-kart track in the "back paddock" and my own mini wrecking yard.

[NO NAME]

wow, sounds like there really is a heaven.
go cart track and a mini wrecking yard, it would be a big no no here, you would be less of a crim if you were a mass murderer, go kart track wouldnt suit families around here as their kids only go outside once every couple of years.
it never used to be this bad, I remember as a kid around here riding my bike, I would pass houses all the time were people were working on cars in the front yard.
our house has a fairly tall wood fence out the front but its still not enough to keep the neighbours eyes out.
I was thinking of putting a banner across the fence for the weekend saying"if you cant appreciate what you see DONT LOOK" I dont know if I should wait till more progress is made but incase s%$t hits the fan.
I reckon the neihgbours will spew when I fininsh this sucker without them being able to stop me, as long as they dont find a way.

[TorqueFC]

thats the way, dont give in, youll find a way

any new progress shots, if theres been any

cheers
torque

[normd]

Hey Leon
   That's why we moved out of the western Sydney   area in 1990    ,  wouldn't go back there for "quids"
  When we built at Erskine Park we had to "cut a tree down"   you'd think we were going to level the suburb, heaps of paperwork.  :-/   Had to cut a tree down here a few years ago , Council didn't want to know anything about it .

  Nothing like "good old country air"  mmmmm  

  Norm  

[Dave_EH]

Hey Leon,

Sounds like bad luck.  I can empathise with you.  Being at uni full time I bought my wagon in march last year and put it in a mates garage near uni who doesn't own a car.

I work on it maybe 2 or 3 hours a week, usually an hour or so before rugby training, or maybe on sunday morning when I can get one of my mates to give me a hand or at least stand round and have a chat and a pie while I fiddle around and talk about mechanical things they have no idea about.

In essence, I've probably used a power drill once or twice, a die grinder once and work with the garage door down.

My mate got a letter from body corporate of the units saying that they had passed a by law stopping all "mechanical work" in any garage.  I had no idea that a ratchet on a socket could be so loud it could be heard from a concrete basement.

Now I've got nowhere to work on my car, just cause someone has nothing better to do with their day.  In 18months I've probably turned the engine over once a month or so to keep the battery charged.

I saw one of the old blokes with a flat battery in his garage the other day - the funny thing is I would have given him a jump start or a push, but unfortunately there was no mechanical work allowed anymore.  So he had to call RACQ and be late to where ever he was going.  Karma...

Its unreal how pathetic some peoples lives are.  I can't wait to finish it so I can park it out the front and rev the ringers out of it at 11pm at night.

Good luck with your troubles.  I find the best thing is to keep your mouth shut and wait for the tide to turn.

I agree that a tent or some type of barrier could be a good option in your case.  Whatever the result don't be too hasty, as it is a registered motor vehicle that is garaged in its rightfull street address.  It may well be you don't have to move it at all, as a "mobile mechanic" may well be coming to do so "repairs."

Dave

[NO NAME]

huh, didnt think of that mobile mechanic thing but it is bloody pathetic, next thing people wont be allowed to go to the toilet if they like cars.
how do we start at having the law removed, a petition in every parts store, wreckers, events across nsw plus through every car club.
why are they letting grannies still knit, what would happen if they got nasty with someone with a knitting needle? what about those noisy home renovators and people planting flowers that others are highly allergic too?
how are we supposed to keep our cars roadworthy and safe, you cant book it in at the mechanics every week and they dont usually know what they are looking at.
and these sad bastards that have nothing better to do with their time than ring up and winge becuase they spotted someone actually doing something constructive need to get a hobby.
I can just imagine them sitting inside with the phone in their hand and the other in their pants as they watch everyone from their window.
they probably would have difficulty working out what to do with a spanner let alone hand forming intricate rust replacement sections.
I remember one night when some guy came into a car park in newcastle and called the police and complained about people hanging out in cars, he wasn't as much of a coward as some and did it were he could be heard.
a ambulance collected him before the police got there.
hopefully he has learned to mind his own business and let things be.
I dont know why society is turning against car enthusiests, most of the sooks would be stuffed without cars.
should tool stores, parts suppliers, wreckers, tafe, hardware stores etc be punished also for aiding the crime of people fixing their car?
is it just banned becuase the govt cant claim services taxes on the repairs?
when you have built your car from scratch to your personal specs isnt it a bit ridiculous to have someone who knows nothing about it try and repair it?
why do tafe run a home mechanics classes? thats training people to do illegal activities.

[Ed]

Leon..
mate its good to see that floor pan found a home at last.

Neighbours who needs them huh?
I have major run-ins with mine, as they dont understand a garage is used to work on things... albeit motorbikes or anything else i wish to do.

as payback I often leave big blackies through the garage, fill the garage with 2 stroke smoke.  its juvenile, counter productive but hey it makes me feel good.

Needless to say we are selling up and moving out after a few big blues with my dickhead neighbour resulting in the attendance of the police... is it considered much of a threat if i told a person I was going  to break their fingers if they touched my belongings??  I didnt think so but apprrently it is.

and im a quiet kinda guy... just dont touch my belongings without my authority. heh heh.

the best kind of neaighbour is one who looks you in the eye and tells you how it is I reckon.

back on track... u can get a big car port portable from supercheap at the moment I think which are reasonably priced.

neighbours who needs em.....

Im blessed with a property to work on my car... im cursed by the tyranny of distance it takes to ge to my car.. can't win em all!!

*BRAINWAVE*.. we should get a few ppl together to rent a warehouse somewhere.. have greater access to tools, help and klnowledge..


Cheers

Ed

[Fast_Eddie]

it only gets worse when you leave the western suburbs

I beg to differ...

[FATBOY]

i didnt have  to get the neighbour to complain about the noise my missus complained so i went and rented a 3 car garage and office in the industrial area of town it has a fridge  tv toilet shower. best of all we get to make noise on a tuesday night till when ever (only night i get to work on the car finished at 1230 last tuesday and no one was whinging you should move down to batemans bayon any tuesday night there could be between 5 to 20 people keen to work on modified cars . great atmosphere

cheers fatboy

[NO NAME]

I know that there are probably proceses in the works at present against me, but as I said what comes around goes around.
I recieved a letter today from the council about a complaint about offensive light/noise emitted from my premises while operating a welding machine.
to resolve the matter they sent me list of the times
I have to use power tools.
these are-
8am-8pm on sundays and public holidays
7am-8pm on weekdays and saturdays.

looks like I can start using my lights again.

also one of the suspect neighbours was taken away in a ambulance yesterday, doing dagerous stuff in the back yard she stuffed her back, this is one that has admitted to me about complaining to the council about me before I started on my car.
she needs a safer hobby, like old holdens.

LMAO

[Sarge]

Leon
       Well a small victory is a good victory. May-be when your neighbour get back from hospitail you should offer them a ladder so they dont injure them selfs trying to gig of the fence.hehe

Those car port that ED mentioned are around the $200 mark, with a couple of those blue elcheapo tarps as side the car is out of site.

Cheers
Sarge

[NO NAME]

OK, tommorow the real estate come to see if the car is gone yet, being mothers day I didnt go to flat out, not becuase I am a mother, not becuase my wife is (She had to work today) but becuase I was trying to keep it down a bit.
I did however start yesterday at 7am, he he hee.
this friggin floor is taking me forever.
there is mega rust at the back of the floor (Fuel tank area) wich I am trying not to think about yet.
I was supposed to take the motor this weekend for mahining and head but wont now be taking it till next weekend as I am still trying to decide on a crank.
here is a pic of its current state.

[NO NAME]

well a whole rain free saturday passed and I didn't touch the car once, I still havent even sent the motor of for machining.
I pulled the motor apart, everything was clean except for the valves, combustion chambers, exhaust ports, and piston tops, these had heaps of shit built up on them, it's been running for the last two years on pulp, the piston tops have 1-2mm thick barnickles growing on them, the rest of the motor had not a spot of sludge and drained out to look new without even cleaning anything. modern oil must be good but the fuel must be crap.
I went to the wreckers to get the head, crank, and rods out of the boot of a efi vk, only problem was the car was gone.
now I will lose another day pulling out a motor at the wreckers and pulling it down. bugger.
I spent a large part of the day looking for .06 wire and some tips for the mig, I had no luck as this weekend everyone is sold out of both except bunnings who had a roll of wire for more than triple what you normally pay, stuff them rip off bastards.
the local welding shop had no c02 argon bottles, wire or cutting wheels left as I bought them all in the previous weeks and they still havent restocked, to top it of they were also out of tips, I know there is one new one somewere in the garage but I dont like the chances of finding it.
usually it is quite pleasant to hear sounds coming from the western sydney drag strip but to day it was just a big strip tease, hearing all those cars thundering down the strip while nothing was going to plan with my car that I am itching to get there in.
The strip is nearly 25 mins away from me but I still got to feel the rumble, even when I was at the wreckers and inside shops, it must have been a good day at the creak.
I now have 4 weeks to get rego before my 3 months run out and things aint looking good.

[SCUMMY]

hi fccool
u on about yards and stuff heres a pic of where i live from my driveway!
the landlord dont mine some cars there but with no shed that i can use  it a no win prob

ps good work on ya car

[TAYZ]

FCCOOL,
               I must say i do sympathise with over this.  I actually never knew Sydney was this bad(had heard rumours)  It is differnt if you statrt a wrecking yard in your front yard but to date all I see is a passionate bloke working on his old FC to get it back on the road.  My job unfortunately takes me to these jobs every day of the week.  A couple of my mates live in a court and are old holden freaks. when they first moved in the neighb ours were calling the police to noise, etc etc, so what I did was cruise around there every know and then and park out the front in the icecream van(if you know the vehicle im talking about) and go in for a couple a minutes, then leave.  Well the neighbours loved this thinking I had gone in there to give them a blasting.  Now there is no problems in the court at all.  I felt it was a good way to fix a problem that was never a problem in the first place, just blokes who loved there old cars and kept them out of site in the back yard.  Anyhow FCCOOL good luck and dont let them beat you!!!!
                                                        TAYZ

[NO NAME]

yeah Tayz, thats kind of what the police were like, they told me to keep up the good work and they are keen to see the finnished product.
I must be the king of bad luck, I went to the wreckers again to get a crank and rods, 1 lucky thing I suppose was that I ran into Greg Gleeson with the red FE V8 panel van that is always at the summernats. He gave me a hand to cart my tools and engine crane into the wreckers and then a hand to remove and pull down a engine.
after going through everything that had a holden six I spotted a torana with a black block( I assume this as the number started with VL) I was a little worried about it having a red head but it had a blue dizzy, blue sump and black block with a JP HV oil pump, this made me think it was a hotty using a black bottom end with some blue stuff.
we pulled out the engine from this car becuase it had no gearbox and looked easy, I then removed the harmonic balancer and timing cover, what, how silly they put in a fibre timing gear.
next it was of with the sump, s%#t it was a red crank and rods.
what a friggin waste of time for both of us.
I ended up taking the head and block to cambletown were they had to wait back for me to get there as I had spent so much time through the morning for nothing.
It looks like nitrous will be out of the question as the forged pistons I wanted arent available for holden sixes and would have to be custom made adding another grand to the engine.
The pistons we decided on are ACL race series dish top with the dish further machined to bring the compression down more.
I also have dropped the rod polish as the engine guy reckons it wont be to necassary for my application, so these will only be closed, honed and shot peened.
the block will be decked, chem cleaned, bored and O ringed and the head will be ported (mainly in the exhuast) have larger stainless swirl polished valves fitted and the VK efi manifold match ported.
Due to cost and set backs with time and progress on the car it looks like I wont make it to the Nostalgia drags.

[NO NAME]

Well another day, bit more welding and grinding till eventually I cought on fire.
not much damage just a few hairs gone from my stomach, after this there was a cold breeze coming in through my new big hole in the front of my shirt so I called it a day.
When I started It was stinking hot or pouring rain, now its just to cold to start till 12:00 and the sun turns of at 5:00.
I had planned to go to the wreckers and pull a motor out this morning but woke up lazy so my crank and rods wont make it to the engine shop for another week.
hopefully someone this weekend will buy a transmission or tourque convertor from one of the commodores at the wreckers so I can pull a motor out quicker and easier next weekend.

[NO NAME]

I cant show pics of this weekends progress as I am having a pain in the a$%e time with photobucket.
Anyway you guys are probably getting sick of looking at my floor pics, I sure am, I have every inch of a FC wagon floor permanantly in my mind.
I have the other subframe mounting point finnished and front inner sills in plus a rear inner sill, also the firewall has been modified to allow for the vk efi manifold and the tunnel is split at the rear waiting to be filled making more room for the tailshaft.
some cracks have been repaired in the firewall and a couple of bits welded in here and there.
I also gave it all another scrub 1st using a alkaline degreaser and then I went the other way for a balanced ph and sprayed it all with acid and scrubbed it again with a scourer.
I bought a packet of scourers from bunnings, they were a brand called edco but the font looked simular to that used in the Eelco speed equiptment name so I thought "cool" I'll get it.
Then when I got home I realised they were from indonesia, bugger, next time Ill make sure I get ones from china.