Jim ..the guy, Brent, you referred me to for the gauge letters does not make them any more..he said " just go to any signwriter and have them made in Acrylic "

Gents  ..We are all experiencing the same dilemma ...I confess ,I did put some Permatex on the seal and the housing ,just a smear ,my logic ? what harm can it do !! Fraze ..Yours leaks a little now since you overcame the problem of seal spinning in housing ,I would suggest that shows a little oil making its way through ,there by lubricating the seal as it goes ,its striking the correct balance ,too much clearance too big a leak ,not enough ,"burn" the seal ,picks up on shaft and spins ...so the little bit of oil leaking at rear main would be normal ..I am sure in the 1950's it was considered perfectly normal ..the engine I re built was caked with silicone all round the rear main and front timing cover ,obviously a in car attempt by some one to try and stop oil leaks ..I am going to run my engine on the test rig quite a bit now , if it fails ,its an opportunity to fit Harvs head gasket as well ,I don't want to pull it down to fit new head gasket ,as it has a new one ,but not the improved one ,so it will just sit on shelf ..not totally comfortable with that ..have a good radiator and water pump ,very clean water jacket ,and will use soluble oil in water ..thousands of engines worked for years without improved head gaskets ..I'll let test runs tell me..cheers Vern ..

Rob ..  A few more thoughts ..The Grey engine ,you no doubt are aware ,have side plate ,timing cover ,sump ,rocker cover oil leak problems...and is some what assisted by modern day oils ..rubberised cork gaskets are not designed to be " crushed to death " ,check your components are true and flat ,I would sit your sump on the block ,no gasket ,and check it ,that it sits flat ,does not rock ,is not touching on inner edge but a gap on outer edge ,where some one levered it off block somewhere in its life ,a nice flat even seal is what you want ,"""DONT """ over tighten ,leave a few days and tighten 1/4 turn ..then when engine operating cork swells a bit and should be good seal ..Vern

G'Day Rob ..
I don't believe rear main oil seals were glued in place in the factory ,but the temptation to do so is huge ,as we all know a lot leak , in back of our minds we are half expecting it to happen and a 50yr plus old motor ,how " original " can it be in every respect ..so I guess the reason you are wondering about whats correct and what works is your fear of not having a problem down the track ,and its a bugger if its wrong as its in the car when it happens and not simple to remedy ..Be assured I went through the same thing last year when I built my FC engine ,its one of the "MAIN " reasons I built the test rig and ran the engine on it several times.I personally don't believe Grey motor rear main oil seal design was one of GMH's brilliant achievements. .Its been few months since I started it ,so now Im going to fit the finished gear box and run it again ...I used Permaseal gasket set to rebuild ,the rear main bearing material is not the same as the old stuff ,its a real bugger to cut as its not finished to size ,my guru mate told me the old asbestos type seals resisted " burn ' asbestos is heat resistant stuff ,you can " overcrush " modern seals and increase friction and " burn " the seal..they leak between the shaft and seal not the seal and its mounting groove ..fit your crank no seal ,get a good feel by hand ,,fit your seal ,tap it well into place ,remove rear main cap and trim excess ,maybe several times ,oil it and "feel" ,should turn by hand with slight drag..I used Permatex No.3 cement on sump gasket ,another area of extra care ,and don't over tighten,put cement in " through " holes and threads..cheers Vern ..

happy new year ladies gents .My FC turns 61 this year and I turn 71 ..We have a lot in common ,I go down to the shed and talk to her ,she's had a rebore and I haven't , she said her pedal goes soft occasionally ,I have a similar problem ,my memory is bit rusty ,her dog leg is also apparently , she doesn't like to start when she is hot ,I cant start hot or cold , we compare dents and scratches ,I come second ..we agreed ,when she is finished it will be a new lease of life for both of us …

Now on a serious note ..my speedo resto ..on removing the glass from the fuel gauge ,and tell tale gauge ,the words ( ie ..fuel ,gen ,temp ,oil ) on the glass have all but come off ,my fault not being careful enough, how do you re do those letters ?  ..THX Vern .

OK ..thanks fellas ..that gives me the tried and tested method ,it will allow us to redrill the two holes in correct place in lower/rear of the front guard that have been welded up, and also have the procedure down pat so we have no scratches in new paint on final assembly ..as I have said before my panel beater mate is a pommie ,and hasn't worked on any FE-FC Holdens except mine ,he sure has looked at lots ,he was talking about painting all blind spots of front guards ,fit to car ,then paint with rest of body ,doors,boot lid and bonnet painted off car but at same time ..what have you fellas done ?

Peter ..When you get that antenna right ,last fitment procedure is fox tail ,if your quick there a couple on side of road between Lithgow and Bathurst at moment..Or you can always put a National Transistor radio up on rear parcel shelf ,the one in the leather casing ,tuned to 2UW " Ward Pally Austin " in studio ,a couple packets Marlborough ,some BRYLL cream ...and board wax ..and some 2 shilling coins for the bridge ..Vern ..

get your antenna before you cut any holes ,see what hole size suits the particular one you buy , and apply that to Alex's template,check the mounting base suits a curve fitment and still be verticle when installed ,most should be OK , cheers Vern

Gents ..we plan to test fit the front guards and apron after rust repairs/welding etc ,prior to painting ,for those of you who have done it several times ,would we be best advised to assemble the guards ,apron , grille ,into one piece off car and then offer it up that way ,or have you found it better to do the 2 guards first ,then apron ,then grille ..I watched  old footage where in the factory they fitted the assembly to the car ..

Harv ..parcel received .all intact no probs ,gaskets with instructions and warning on fitting correctly ..Thanks for packaging so well ,your efforts to do this is appreciated.a very happy and safe Christmas to you and yours ..Vern ..

G'day Rob ..Thanks very much for your reply ..My generator is Bosch ...And yes the paper is mostly gone..I will have a go at rewinding the coils as you described,some excellent tips there ,nothing to loose ,probably after Santa does his thing..I'll post results here .Vern

see a post before this one. on re chrome  .I didn't make it new topic..sorry

Gents ..Firstly have received the luminous paint for the speedo dial ,I intend to take before and after images and post them here ..hopefully ..
secondly ..I have dismantled the generator ,boy was it dirty inside ,including the remains of a mouse ..Who in Sydney would re tape/insulate the field coils ,item 14 in the catalogue exploded view ..thanks Vern 

2jz ...THX the color is Marigold ,I was wondering what type of paint ,is it 2pack ?

so what paint did you use

good work Greg ..Its very rewarding isn't it ,My panel beater mate passed my rust repairs around the boot seal area on my FC ,I am quite chuffed ,its never too late to get better and better ..Vern

Graham ..ok thanks for that ..I'll probably just go with the bolts ..Re the speedo ,paint my wife got ,its just acrylic and didn't adhere to any plastic surfaces around the place except an old casset case , but its not luminous ,would just make the numbers green ,don't want that ,so that will go to grandkids ..I got onto some on line ,Luminous as they stated" glows in dark " ..a very light careful coat should have desired effect ...Vern ..

Hi Rob ..If you are hunting around for parts ,in the 1984 Repco catalogue ,under DUFOR suspension section "knuckle supports" ..56-59 FE-FC all models part number is SX17 for upper and SX18 for lower ..king pin set KX17 ( not reamed ) KX17R is a reamed set .Upper inner control set is SX1037A  ..
Knuckle support kits for FB to EH ( with 1.3/4'' brakes is SX71 ( note 71 not 17 ) lower is same SX18 ..Just in case you come across some new old parts ,numbers always help .. Vern ..

obviously Ken ..17 of them you didn't use ,its good to know if I bugger things up there is a spare at your place ..my wife bought me a little jar of paint and a brush yesterday ,made in Japan ,very soft green ..the guy told her as he didn't know the material the speedo is made of and not all the compatability of the paint ,he said try it on a video disc case and if bad effect don't use it ..right got that ..

Hi gents ..Another question for you ..Have taken my speedo apart ,the plastic dial lense which has the MPH numbers in it ,had a paint or similar product in it which has dried out and mostly fallen out ,,I seem to remember when last saw a speedo at night ,many moons ago ,it had a glow ,bit like a wrist watch with luminous hours  .If I am correct is there a product that I can use to replace what has come out ..thx Vern