Good to see you got those seats in!
The rest of the car looks great too, and the photos  should be a great help for anyone looking at doing some mods as well.
Cheers,George.

I thought that a change of engine that gave a 10% increase in power was the point where an engineers report was required, and the basics for that included seatbelts, demisters and two speed wipers.
Why not just ask an engineer if the cabin mods require a report, you never know it might not?
I wouldn't trust an insurance co. to accept just a roadworthy as they usually want to know of any modifications and could use that as an excuse to get out of any claim.
I do think that the cabin mod sounds like a good idea!

The RTA, or is it Vicroads, has a list of approved engineers that you can take your pick from, so just ask them.It might not be handy for you but the one in Geelong is OK.

The second link in "not an fe/fc" shows build-up pics of an fj with the pics in" part 3" showing the chassis and join at the front cross member, and would be the same for your fc.
In the photo section of my 59v6 the pic of the rear gearbox mount shows the chassis along the top of the pic and near the rh top corner you can see the edge of a plate that joins the rear part of the chassis to the front part that  sits betwwen the Y-subframes. This is as well as this connection to the floor crossmember being fully welded.

The thread "not an fe/fc" will link to some build-up photos of a hr including ones of a part chassis which will give you some idea.
I have welded mine in from the rear spring mount and frame area and then to the front crossmember, which was reinforced to spread the load over a greater area.
From the front of this crossmember the process was repeated and continues up to the top of the original motor mounts in between the Y sub frames. All this applies to a sedan.
The owner on the hr site has his own comments to make about the merits of welded compared to bolt-in chassis!
Another thought is to weld in any captive nuts into the chassis for saftey loops etc before you install them in the car?

If you can sort out the switch and wiring problems, the motor will fit, with a bit of persuasion of the firewall, and the ek rotating arm will fit onto the spline of the motor, just make sure it sits horizontally when the motor is bolted in.

An interesting site that has some good pics and a write up of mods done to a HR, but should be interesting to anyone modifying their FC/FE  can be found at,
http://www.hr350.com2.info/

I might be biased by the instrument binicle used, but there's other build up pics at
http://www.oldholden.com/fxfjclub/edzunder.htm

G'day Jim, as with most mods I think there are more than one way to get the desired result. I used a sedan as a doner car and used every part that I could make fit!
As for the steering column I used the VP one but think it is too short for a comfortable driving position, so it is on my list of things to re-do.
Send me your e-mail address, to my private messages box, and I can answer more specific questions you may have.
Cheers,George.

Although it wasn't in a Holden, I did use a set up from a 70's jap car that was shortened a bit and worked well.
The theory being that if it came out of a small car to begin with, it had more chance of fitting in to the limited space I had. Try a few wreckers check out what is available, then you could also find it cheaper in a private sale wreck?

A power rack that doesn't need shortening sounds like a real good idea, but before we all rush off to the local Volvo wreckers with a tape measure in hand, or around to Hoppers Stoppers, is the rack mounted to the front or rear of the front-end?

Back on the subject, the bloke I bought my FC off was in the process of fitting a power rack from a Jag to his rod and commented that the power function was not too hard a modification. I'm just wondering if he was right, and is shortening the rack and keeping the power function the hard bit , or is the main problem just getting the rack set up properly?

Dear Disapointed Bloke, I think that if you look at the responses to Harkos original request  they would seem to be quite balanced with someone  being in agreement with just about every viewpoint!I dont think anyone named you personally so the comments should be taken as general ones regarding the reactions to the original question, not aimed just at you.
I note that you did pick up some new knowledge on the ABC thread, as did I and Im sure many others, and would hope that that sharing of experiences continues?
Cheers.

There seems to be a lot of interest in rack and pinion steering so (xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxc) I'd like to start a thread on that topic, the ABC of rack and pinion mods!
Some of the basic principles that I think are relevant are:
B for bugger! -I'ts not legal or safe to cut and weld, heat and bend any steering                                                   component.If you're a metallurgist and engineer then there may be exceptions!
A for Ackerman-your workshop manual explains this but I think that seeing it mainly relates to the wheelbase of the vehicle and for the usual front end swap in most FE/FC's the difference in wheelbases is minimal , Ackerman has a minimal effect, so can be ignored!
S for steering arms-all (most?) early holden steering arms have the same bolt spacing and are different lengths.The ones to use would be the ones that are the same length as those on the rack that you intend to use. This will ensure that the movement of the wheels relative to the movement of the rack, ie steering effort, and turns of the steering wheel, is the same as what the designers of the rack intended.
T for tie-rod ends-the taper on the tie-rod end must match the taper in the steering arms, as you don't want these to separate when you're on the move!
P for parallel-the tie rods must be mounted parallel to the bottom wishbone to prevent bump steer. So when you have the steering-arms sorted this will give you the height at which the rack will be mounted at. When the bottom wishbone is horizontal the tie-rods should be horizontal as well, with one end connected to the rack and the other connected to the steering arm.
B for bump-steer: as your wheels move up and down over a bumpy road you don't want that movement causing your steering wheel to turn, if it does you have bump-steer!
S for shorten the rack- the rack is shortened on the opposite end to that of the steering column connection, by machining / duplicating the original end on the cut down end for connection of the tie-rod.
L for length of rack- this is critical to prevent bump steer. Imagine looking at your front-end from the back of your car (for a rear mounted rack), Draw a line from the inner pivot point of the top wishbone to the inner pivot point of the bottom wishbone, it will be at an angle, not vertical. If your bottom wishbone is horizontal, so will the tie-rod be and where the centre of the tie-rod meets our imaginary line through the pivot points will give you the position of the new rack ends.
M for mounts- duplicate the mounting brackets used on the racks original vehicle and add strong gussuts to stop sideways movement and to keep the engineer happy  and you're just about on the road!

Ever since the first Holden owner got their car into the home driveway I;m sure ideas for modifications and improved technology began to grow. Wanting the benefits of the latest technology is what led to the installation of heaters, demisters, twin carbs, lay back seats, and all the other mods you can think of.
This evolution includes red motor swaps from 149 to 202 and any other later motor to the current range of V6;s.I;m sure that whatever GMH comes up with next will eventually find its way into an FC/FE and years from now we will see hybrid -power , and electric engined cars at your local club events. It;s not just the urge to have an individual and modern equipped car but also pressure from government that will see these mods evolve in the future. The best part is that at least old classics will still be seen and enjoyed on the road for years to come, and those of us in this hobby will still have lots of fun trying to make it all work!
Oh, and stock is O.K. too!

I trimmed the commodore mounting plate and tacked it to the inside of the firewall, after marking and drilling the mounting holes, so the stock commodore bolts would all line up. The view of the engine bay of 59V6 in the photos section  shows how it sits from outside.
I must say that to get the wipers to sweep properly I got a lot of info from "digger" as I was not familiar with the normal FC electric set up!
Cheers, George.

I for one  , as I'm sure many others are ,would be interested in some info on this mod, so could you post some of what you've learnt on this board?
Thanks, George.

This page has some interesting info on fitting discs to an early holden,
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~mykell/garage.html#disc

In regard removing the quarter-vent windows I did this on a 48 Desoto, which was pretty much just a big FJ, and had the verticle runners for the window folded up at a sheetmetal shop, and for baily channel substituted a later model one piece flexible rubber type, available from most restoration suppliers. For the horizontal felt strip a late model rubber type was also used.Check out a suppler near you and you should find a profile to fit.For the corner bit I used some stainles steel sheet which you could bolt the mirror to, and polish up for looks!

Just a suggestion, but why not use the entire loom from the Calaise so it all plugs into the computer and all the engine bay senders, fuse box etc. I dont know what instruments are in the Calaise but using what you can will make it easier to hook up as well.

If you check out the photos in "59V6" on this 'board it will give you some idea as to what can be involved.