FE-FC Holden Discussion Forum

Hi all.

Since taking delivery in February and a trip to the Nationals, Nev hasn't been out.

The reason is that I discovered a rusty NSR floor, much to my disgust because I thought I had checked cafefully, before purchase. I blame the underseal which is over 1/2" thick in some areas.

Like the guy in Dirty Harry, I just had to know what was underneath, sooo, on Anzac Day I stripped the interior. Getting the original front mat out without destroying it was a @#$%^& of a job.

This is what I found;

NSR

(http://i4.tinypic.com/2afabs7.jpg)

and NSF

(http://i15.tinypic.com/33y51fd.jpg)

Fortunately on cutting out the rusted sections we discovered that the under floor braces are sound, this was the real concern. Despite appearances the brace under the front floor is only surface rusted. This will be treated with rust converter then filled with cavity wax. We will only need half sections for both front floors.

I bought a set of floor sections fron Rares, however we weren't happy with the fit so, over time, I acquired NOS sections which are perfect. The rear sections aren't quite big enough for the rear floors as we have rust a little way up the tunnel. To fix this we cut and shut the rares sections to get a good fit. The next photo shows this, the NOS section is yellow and the black is from Rares. This is what it looked like before grinding:

(http://i15.tinypic.com/4dn4mqr.jpg)

We used a mig for the repair, drilled holes where the original spot welds were and carefully migged them to look like factory welds.

We are very lucky that the floors have rusted from the inside out. There is no apparent rust in the sills or A pillars.

We will progressively repair all floor sections before taking the guards off. The NS one has rust down the rear edge.

I will post some finished floor pictures later and some detail of the guard repair. We will also take this opportunity to have some rechroming done.

(http://i15.tinypic.com/2wdvgpu.jpg)

Cheers
John

Hi John,
Looks like your taking good care of Nev and he will be good as new I'm sure in the not too distant future.Keep up the pics.
Cheers,
Graham

Hi John, looking good mate ,if it was me would be best to garent blasting the floor top& bottom. then replace the floor pans.then you have a better look and clean were he welded is on rust he should spray weld throu ,it a spray you use between the new and old metal so it want rust inbetween.cheers AlfioM ;)

Thanks Alf.

We thought about bead/sandblasting, but didn't for two reasons, firstly we will have cut out all of the rusted and weakened metal by the time we are finished ;) We are going to do a little local blasting on the front box section floor braces, treat them and drill a couple of small holes so they can drain. Secondly, in a complete car, blasting makes a fearful mess.

If I were stripping to a bare shell, I would do it.

Cheers
John

Nice work John,

As Alf says, weld thru paint is great for these areas.

just bump up the amps a little to compensate.

Cheers

Ed

The near side floors are now complete.

This is how the nsf looked prior to repair, when this photo was taken removal of the damaged section was not complete;

(http://i13.tinypic.com/2n9dsg0.jpg)

We were concerned about the state of the underfloor brace, fortunately, apart from some jacking damage, it was ok, the pitting is light and we will fill all of these with cavity wax when we are finished;

(http://i13.tinypic.com/4dxji8h.jpg)

Here is the floor with the new section in;

(http://i13.tinypic.com/4d1xs7r.jpg)

Here is the near side finished off, the joins are over braces where possible and have been ground off carefully so they are smooth;

(http://i10.tinypic.com/2lxgtvt.jpg)

Note the crayon marks on the doors. We have re-hung the rear door, a bugger of a job, no wonder they eliminated the filler strip between the doors on the FB!The original paint on the doors is in excellent condition, I just carefully cleaned it all up.

The welder we are using is a Pulse welder, it's not a MIG and we are using silicon bronze wire, this runs 600 degrees cooler than MIG so there is almost no distortion. We did not need to panelbeat anywhere, all we did was grind the welds flush.

Cheers
John

looking good john, just one thing your going to do is cavity wax ,ok  ??? cavity wax is use on new paint ,not on old paint ,or rusty surface, use rust converter,then paint then cavity wax,sorry John not been a smart a##s just to help you out and others,cheers AlfioM

Thanks Alfio.

I'm working with two panelbeaters, I think we've got it all covered ;)

Cheers
John

What are these welders worth?? are they as versatile as MIGs

Hi all,

We have finished the floor repairs. All I need to do now is apply the POR15 process to the floor, after cleaning it up with a wire brush.

For those who haven't used it, it is a three part process involving a cleaner, rust converter and the final black finish.

Needless to say when I went to buy it, the supplier didn't have the rust conveter, so we won't get to this now until after Christmas.

Here are some photos;

(http://i16.tinypic.com/2ngqwkx.jpg)

You might notice some holes in the repair section. These are for the application of cavity wax to the box section braces. We couldn't do this earlier for fear of fire, compounded by the underseal that covers the underside of the car. When finished we will seal the holes with grommets.

(http://i12.tinypic.com/43e3eqv.jpg)

(http://i10.tinypic.com/2qdwq6h.jpg)

I found the original front seat uncomfortable, so we have been experimenting with light weight replacements. I think we still have some work to do  ???

(http://i16.tinypic.com/47hvzwp.jpg)

Here is the welder we used;

(http://i14.tinypic.com/4c0bfps.jpg)

(http://i11.tinypic.com/2crk1o1.jpg)

It is an inverter pulse MIG. Inverter means the amperage is more controllable - it doesn't draw current straight from the mains - it comes from internal capacitors. The Pulse program allows you to halve the amperage, it welds at 900c as opposed to 1700c from a normal MIG. We used silicon bronze wire.

These units are used by MB, Ferrari, BMW etc.,

This completes the major part of the job, next is removal of the front guards for a minor rust repair on the NS and inspection and clean of the OS. I'm stll debating whether to take off all the chrome for replating, its a bit tired but not too bad. I'm trying not to interfere with the car too much, as its quite original.

Then we will remove the engine for repainting and possibly a precautionary head service and rear main replacement.

As the firewall and inner guards are in pretty good original condition we have decided not to paint these. We can't avoid repainting the engine, it has no paint on it!

More pics to follow.

To everyone on the forum, Merry Christmas and all the best for a happy, healthy and rust free 2007. And mostly thanks for your company - its been informative and above all, great fun.

John

john
i have got a few spare cans of WURTH cavity wax if you want them (1 of the perks of being a WURTH rep }
free also have a couple of cans of weld thru primer if u need em
regards


queensland kiwi

A very generous offer there from queensland kiwi, I just bought a can of weld through primer at $30  :o.
Maybe they saw me coming  ::).
Trev 8)

Happy new year everyone.

Efter a vst to Nu Zuland over Chrestmus thet wus ruly weckered eh?, work recommenced on Nev last weekend.

As foreshadowed we removed the NSF guard for inspection and repair. Here is the skirt after it was removed.

(http://i1.tinypic.com/2u755b7.jpg)

It is hard to appreciate from the photo just how much underseal has been applied to this car. At the rear of the guard it was 4 inches thick, such that we thought there must have been a splash shield covering the A pillar! Because we could'nt see the rear guard bolts, we thought they bolted fron the guard end, took a while to figure that one out::)

We weighed the stuff on the ground, we dug out 2 kilos just from this guard alone. I reckon the car must be at least 30 kilos heavier than normal. Its ugly, sticky, horrible shit that turns really gooey when wet with petrol, which seems to be the best stuff to remove it. I did, briefly think about trying to remove it all, but I don't think I'll live that long. Here's a close up;

(http://i1.tinypic.com/4g7zsr5.jpg)

What looks like rust in the photo is only holes in the door rubber return, underneath its fine. The only rust in the A pillar is where the bump for the bottom door hinge meets the guard inner surface, apart from a little surface rust the bottom of the A Pillar and subframe mount bolt area are perfect. The guard has has two previous small repairs which have been quite well patched, we will tidy these up. The stainless molds need some minor repairs. Since I took this photo I have removed more of the underseal, as you can see its about half an inch thick on the front face of the A pillar >:(

The door seals don't appear to be original but as you can see in this photo, they have a return section which fits between the A pillar and guard. Can anyone clarify?

There was also a small u shaped rubber gasket over the lower portion of the guard;

(http://i13.tinypic.com/35i8viu.jpg)

(http://i16.tinypic.com/2h50e4x.jpg)

Does anyone know if this is original? it looks like it but I couldn't find it in the Master Parts book.

Cheers
John

Yes original. They are listed in the parts book 8.161 ANTI-SQUEAK.  One at the top of the guard rear 7409498,
One at the bottom of the guard rear 7409621/2 and one at the grille opening 7410013/2.
The rust proofing treatment was also a Nasco option.
I have had a few cars with this treatment and generally it held the cars in good stead rust wise.

Ken

Ken,

Thanks for your response, I thought you would know.

The other gaskets weren't present, but this guard has been off before. The OF side one hasn't, as far as we are aware, so I will be interested to see what is there.

It's difficult to be positive about the underseal in this case. The car has done few miles and clearly not been left in the weather. I can't really see how it could have been much worse off if the stuff hadn't been applied.

regards
John

Keep up the good work John, looks like you are making good progress.

I had that stuff on my FE as well, although I don't recall it being that thick, took ages to remove.

Ken, Is there an appropriate replacement rubber profile that you know of for those guard rubber seals

Cheers, Gary

There was a whole bundle of them at the place at Redfern. I presume they would still have them.

From memory only one side was available though.

Edward

Both the guard rear sections are a u shape moulded to shape, but with careful cutting both pieces could be made from straight sections. The front piece is really only a rubber sandwich between the guard and the grille with a bit of a lip on it to hold it in place during installation. Once again, could be made with flat rubber and glue.
Problems I have had with the rear lower section is that after repair to the bottom of the A pillar, the rubber doesn't quite fit properly any more and is easier to eliminate than fix.

Ken

Hi all.

Work on Nev progresses steadily, if not quickly.

I have finished applying POR 15 to the floor. Expensive, but really good stuff, you just have to forget everything you ever learn't about being a bloke and actually read the instructions ??? because if don't you wear gloves and get it on your hands, you can't get it off. Sorry about the poor photo, I had to take it inside.

(http://i19.tinypic.com/40462yb.jpg)

We then repaired the FE speed limiter, aka the sun visor, which did its best to fling itself off the roof when I was cruising at 110kph up the Hume on the way back from the Nationals last year (the car was on a trailer). It looks as though the centre screws came undone, the centre lifted, the OS bracket then let go and the visor was left flapping against the roof, only held on by the NS bracket >:(

People were pulling along side waving at me, I just thought it was because they liked the car. Unbelieveably the visor just needed a little straightening and will need paint, I didn't even lose the acorn nuts.

Therefore, if you are travelling and you have a sun visor, check your nuts :P

The NS guard had been repaired but had not been off. It had a couple of rust spots, one where it is tight against the A pillar, the other was that the return around the rear edge had rusted away between the centre and lower guard bolts. We found this gives this part of the guard most of its strength so we repalced this section and refitted the caged nuts.

This part of the guard was out of shape. We made a cardboard template of the door shape adjacent the guard, so we knew the profile it had to be when it was off the car and didn't have to keep fitting and unfitting it. We shrunk and filed it, we'll put a skim of filler in later to get the profile exactly the same as the door.

We cleaned some of the !@#$% underseal from the inner A pillar, it came up pretty well. If you look carefully you can see a small rust hole near the lower bolt hole. We'll repair this also.

There is a photo of the bottom of the A pillar, we are lucky its very good here.

(http://i18.tinypic.com/29n6u83.jpg)

(http://i18.tinypic.com/44gvse8.jpg)

(http://i13.tinypic.com/2hga0l1.jpg)

Next, we have to finish the guard, cavity wax it both before and after it is refitted, cavity wax the floor box sections. K & H make an acceptable one but the best I have used is made by a Dutch company called Den Braven, it comes in a green and white aerosol can. It flows very well and has a fine nozzel extension for hard to get to areas. The K&N product doesn't have this.

After an exploratory look inside the OS guard, the car will be off to the painter for some colour matching and painting.

The door trims are at the trimmers for new cards, I have some calico at home to glue to the underside of the original front floor matt where it has split, so that I can refit it later, without further damage.

As soon as we've adjusted the headlamp rim mounts, we'll send the die cast bits off for plating. I've decided not to rechrome the grille and bumper bars. Although worn, they are in fairly good condition and as this is a conservation exercise rather than a resto, I'll leave them be.

Cheers
John

Hi everyone,

Nev went to the painters yesterday, his longest trip since the Phillip Island Nationals. He cruised beautifully at 55 - 60 mph and I even had a couple of truckies toot me on the M7, sweet.

All the die cast parts, except the tailamp surrounds and rear quarter badges were sent to the platers in Queenbeyan on Monday. The trimmer has the door trims for new cards to be made and I will take some of the Tilli molds for repair next week.

After 5 months we're nearly there, then I have to start on the engine bay :P

Cheers
John

did you need a  bank loan for that?

Good progress John, Ol Nev will feel like hes been to the barber, had a hair cut and a shave and walk out with a big smile on his face!! 8)  The chrome plater down here (2 places) refuses to plate die cast.  I really had to talk him around to do my horn ring, cheers

                                                                     tayz

Hi all.

Nev will be back from the painter next week, he looks great ;D

The plater did a sensational job on what were less than first rate die cast pieces, particularly the headlamp rims. I deliberately gave them my worst ones. The platers are Electro Plating Technology at Queanbeyan - ask for Shane or Brett  6297 - 0535 - 12 month warranty, they told me to send back anything I wasn't happy with and returned it all when they said they would 8) They are not cheap but you get what you pay for.

I sent some of the Tilli molds off for repair, these are now finished and the new door cards are done.

I will post some photos soon.

Cheers
John

John sounds great. Just out of interest how much did they charge to do the headlight rims?
Cheers,
Graham

See how good the bottom of the A pillar is?  Generally this area is very rusty on most cars without the rust proofing treatment.

Ken

Graham, pm sent.

Cheers
John

Hi everyone.

Collected Nev today. The repairs and some off colour panels have been expertly dealt with by Glenn Alderson of Hughes and Gibson at St Marys. The job is superb, as you can see.

We also had the Tilli molds on both front gaurds repaired - I missed a few on the doors with small dents in them, we will take them off for repair after Grey Pride.

Now we have to put the rechromed bits back on and finish the interior. I'll keep you, er, posted.

(http://i5.tinypic.com/4uo5d03.jpg)
(http://i14.tinypic.com/6ewqkwj.jpg)

Cheers
John

Very nice John,now I know why you asked about the continental kit. :)

Hey John...

Nev's come up a treat...!! He looks great!!

Are you going to leave the visor off now...? Looks like the holes are gone....

Cheers
Les...

Looking forward to checking out the workmanship at Grey Pride. Looks sweet from the pics.
Regards
Alex

Hi John,

Nev's looking really nice.  Panels look good. I see you're going for the Miss Behavin' look there minus the front bar.

who did your stainless repairs?

Cheers

Ed

Thanks Guys.

Les; We didn't fill the holes in, Nev will ride again with his hat on ;D

Ed; Mould repairs were by Allan McCoy of Moulding Repairs and Polishing at Kingswood  :P Phone no is 024731 1239.

They are not cheap, but as always, you get what you pay for.

Cheers
John

John,

Nev looks great, can't wait to see the car in person.

cheers
RET

PS - If you're reading this, GET BACK INTO THE GARAGE!  Grey Pride is tomorrow, you know ;D

Missed Grey Pride, will settle down now and detail Nev properly.

A mate is going to reinforce the original plastic seat surrounds- believe it or not they're undamaged- with fiberglass. I'll also remove that bloody piece of metal near the seat adjuster on the drivers side that both wrecks the plastic surrounds and tears the seat >:(

Cheers
John

Hi everyone.

Taking on board Ed's rant, I thought I should provide an update on progress on Nev - now that I've got my very rare Teal over Elk Blue car sorted. Work didn't actually stop on Nev, it sort of accelerated. Y'see the engine bay looks like this;
(http://i12.tinypic.com/5xgtlzd.jpg)
or at least it used to, before it was blasted and the small amount of paint left on the engine disappeared along with that on the inner guards. I was going to ignore this except that the two small firewall cover plates that "seal" the steering column are rusty and can only be accessed when the floor mat is out, so, we removed them.... ;D
(http://i15.tinypic.com/4msobx3.jpg)
(http://i14.tinypic.com/5xy0ig3.jpg)
(http://i10.tinypic.com/52qfjtl.jpg)
If you think things are getting out of control, you're right :-\ I'm not going to remove the subframe or even split the guards to remove the grille as there are too many consequences. All the ancillaries will be stripped recoed and painted, all the relevent nuts bolts washers and brackets will be bright zinc coated ( I know it isn't quite correct but it looks nearly the same as silver cad but is much more durable). To get a good finish all parts have been sand blasted, we will also plate some of the parts that will be black as this will help hinder rust coming through.

We are going to pressure wash the front end and lower firewall and paint only the parts that can be seen with satin two pack to replicate chassis black.

We also need to paint the engine
(http://i16.tinypic.com/6g9uq15.jpg)
Not a bad idea since it has bugger all on it. Before that we will replace clutch, timing gear, water pump, thermostat, welsh plugs and gaskets, so hopefully we won't have to disturb the nice new paint job.

The grille is now to be chromed, we need to reco the carby, check the regulator etc, etc.

Cheers
John

You left off an 'etc' or two......

Take a big mouthful and chew like buggery  ;)

Nev is worth the effort, a particularly nice car and in a good colour combination.

Hi everyone.

Nev's tidy up continues, the engine bay is painted, all the plating and powder coating is done, the engine is bring rebuilt, I'll post some photos soon.

In the meantime I've been doing some little jobs on various parts of the car. One of them is that I finally got round to looking at my gauges. As seems to be the case with a number of these the print on the fuel and idiot gauge faces has sort of gone to a blob and faded almost away, like this;

(http://i4.tinypic.com/6h4hgle.jpg)

Last year I bought the insert John Wanner supplies for the fuel gauge. I've just finished intalling it and cleaning the gauge up. It worked a treat, here's the finished fuel gauge. Sorry about the flare from the flash.

(http://i11.tinypic.com/623ycty.jpg)

From memory John sells these for about $10 each.

Cheers
John

John while the engine is out, how about a big cam, some port work on the head, a set of tripples and headers for Nev, he will love it.  I also think he wants you to drop him about 4 inches to the ground!!!!!!! 8) 8) 8) 8) ;D ;D  (In all honesty though its looking real good, and at the last nats it was one of my favourite cars there)

Thanks Paul and congratulations on the new arrival  :)

Our daughter, Jess, has just got her Ls. Scary stuff, only because time moves so quickly. She's learning on a manual and I've told her that she can't go for her licence until she can drive the old Holdens competently. I reckon when she can steer them she can drive anything. Except perhaps the Buick, but we'll see 8)

I couldn't modify Nev, you blokes have done so well on your cars I wouldn't know where to start ???

Cheers
John

HI John,

Nev looks great,

The gauge labels are they an overlay or a complete new transparent lens? ???

Cheers
John

The gauge labels are a stick on decal.

Ken

... printed in reverse. They go on the inside of the glass.

Phil from Newcastle also has re-printed glass, but that's a fair bit more expensive.

cheers
RET

They don't stick on, they're cleverer than that 8) They are shaped so that they fit neatly within the gauge face and so line up exactly where they should when its all assembled.

Cheers
John

John, must have made new ones because mine had a peel off back and were stuck on. The peel off back was a clear colour and very hard to tell the difference between it and the decal - just slightly grainier.

Ken

We made some real progress today, we actually started Nev's reassembly.

Most parts, depending on original finish, have been either been zinc plated, powder coated or painted. today we installed the steering column, some wiring, the entire front end and the front brakes. here are some photos;

(http://i7.tinypic.com/6ww0kev.jpg)
(http://i1.tinypic.com/6ol20j4.jpg)
The entire front end including the crossmember has been powder coated.(http://i12.tinypic.com/6pycavc.jpg)
(http://i9.tinypic.com/6s9e6te.jpg)
(http://i5.tinypic.com/714yn0g.jpg)
Nev looks more like a car here. He turned 50 in October and his original number plates have never been off. Even though we can't obtain these in NSW, we will refurbish the originals.
(http://i7.tinypic.com/6y0385t.jpg)

There is a lot of detail work to do, including the engine.

Stay tuned

John :)

Looks like a trick new engine bay.
You have done wonders compared to what you started with.
Congrats on the progress, keep at it.
Regards
Alex

Lookin good John, won't be long before we see it on the road now.
Did you know you can get white on black NSW plates? pretty much identical to the QLD items, you could probably even get the same content, not as expensive as some of the other crook lookin plates they have on offer either!
Regards, Gary

She's looking good, John. As you've no doubt discovered, NEV-107 is not available in NSW. -106 and -109 are, if that's any help.

cheers
RET

looks great John,
very impressive.

 ;D :o

Cheers

Ed

Hi everyone.

Nev LIVES.

Its been a while since I reported on Nev's progress, mostly as I've been waiting for the engine..

When I last reported the engine had gone away for a (lengthy rebuild). It didn't really need it but it was out of the car and full of silt in the water galleries, so I thought it best to do it. With hindsight I should have flushed it out and left well alone.

It was bored 40 thou, so it could take EJ pistons, balanced and has a mild cam. Otherwise it is stock. All the ancilliaries have been rebuilt -except the wiper motor which will be completed soon - we have a new carby from Xtreme fuel systems, so hopefully it should drive ok.

Yesterday it ran for the first time, as we ran the cam in. It seems counterintuitive to run a completely new engine for 20 minutes at 2,000 rpm, doesn't it. There are a number of jobs still to be done, reinstalling the interior is the main one. Others include sourcing new plug leads, correct oil sender, correct masters and tins, block drain, hose clamps etc.,. We also need to complete the front end, the sway bar isn't on yet, grease it, adjust the new wheel bearings and align it.

Here are some photos;

(http://i25.tinypic.com/2num03q.jpg)

(http://i31.tinypic.com/2a0al4h.jpg)

(http://i30.tinypic.com/5my1bq.jpg)

And the final one as we we were running the engine in. Compare this with the engine photo prior to removal.

(http://i26.tinypic.com/2lkcgwh.jpg)

Here is the current interior state;

(http://i31.tinypic.com/xlmjk4.jpg)

There's one guy without whom this would not have been possible, a huge thank you to Craig Alderson (Craig A on the forum) .  Also to Craig's brother Glenn Alderson of Hughes and Gibson and Garry Claypole (Zulu) for those vital bits I was missing, supplied at short notice.

Cheers
John

Nev's looking great John!!
Won't be long now until he's back on the road now!!
Congrats to everyone involved so far... great job!!

Cheers
Les...

Hi Everyone.

After a furious few weeks Nev is (almost) complete and made it to All Holden Day 2008. There are still a few jobs to do, but generally he's finished.

Here are a couple of photos.

(http://i35.tinypic.com/2q1vrcw.jpg)

(http://i34.tinypic.com/t565b8.jpg)

Regards
John

... and he looks fantastic, John. Great job.

cheers
RET

Another great FE back on the road. Looks terrific John.
Cheers,
Graham

As mentioned above,looks fantastic John.Very comprehensive rebuild. :o

very nice indeed john ;) ;)

if thats just a tidy up i'd love to see what you do with a complete rebuild :o ;D

well done

dean

I've just realised its been six years since I first started negotiating to buy Nev - I didn't complete this until just before the Philip Island Nats which he attended on a trailer completely unsorted.

I haven't really driven him since the Nats at Orange, that was six weeks after my motorcycle accident and was a bit of a struggle. Since that time I managed to get sidetracked with a couple more cars so Nev languished until recently when I recommissioned him with a rebuild of all of the hydraulics and took him out to the Rare Spares display earlier in the year.

Prior to the drive to Orange I hadn't really put any miles on the engine, which was rebuilt in late 2007 and didn't run until 2008. I was disappointed that it was fuming more than I would have expected for a new engine and wasn't particularly responsive. On the run to Orange I decided to see if I could get the rings to bed in properly and the run over the mountains was perfect for this as I could vary engine speed with no long periods of constant throttle opening. On the way home I traveled via the Bells Line of Road and I gave him a bit of a workout. That was a great drive. I left early in the morning to beat the Easter traffic as I wasn't sure how well my leg would last. The morning was crisp, weather fine with little traffic. I had that opportunity that you don't often get with slow old cars, to get in sync with the car and let it find its pace.

As I drove, time slipped back 50 odd years and I could imagine how chuffed I was to own my new, fast FE Holden after than run of underpowered, undergeared and unreliable Austins and Morrises I'd been forced to drive after the war when the waiting list and cost of a new Holden was a deterrent to upgrading. My decision to spend the extra few pounds on the Detroit kit was also worthwhile because I had the flashest FE in the Golf Club carpark. ( I was going to buy one of those dark blue over light blue cars, but everyone seemed to have one....). I traveled up Scenic Hill watching the temperature light as it failed to come on and I thought of my Austin A40 which boiled every time it looked at a hill.

I had a great drive over the mountains, still no traffic and with an 80 kph speed limit perfect for Nev. It was the perfect finish to a great weekend.

It seems to have worked wonders, the engine is responsive, he''ll cruise comfortably at 60 mph on the standard, albeit somewhat noisy, diff and the fuming has virtually disappeared. Plans now are to replace the drivers door windlace which has collapsed, maybe a new boot mat and perhaps upgrade the diff to a 3.55 which I had in my EJ - oh, and fix the bloody windscreen wiper motor >:(

Other than that, all seems to well and I intend to get him out more often :)

Cheers
John

Great post John, and i remember a chat at Orange re the fumey new motor and your dissapointment in it. Alls well that ends well it has settled in beautifully and good on you, i still remember the Phillip island nationals and Nev arriving on the trailer and a couple of drinks at the Nasco Social club Bar! Take care we all really enjoy your updates!
Brett