FE-FC Holden Discussion Forum

Here is a picture of the car I started out with. Came from Victoria. Bought it on a whim. Been looking for one for quite a while. Looked ok at first. Amazing what some bog sticky silver tape and tar can conseal. (http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/10/15/gy9eja6u.jpg)

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Some more pics
(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/10/15/y6umahat.jpg)
(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/10/15/u7y6uze6.jpg)
(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/10/15/5e7y3eny.jpg)
(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/10/15/azaqusuq.jpg)
(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/10/15/5a6ugype.jpg)
(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/10/15/vypu7ysa.jpg)
(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/10/15/buzyteza.jpg)

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I was looking round for body sections any thing to make job easier. Ran an add on gumtree looking for body. Some time later. I got a call from a guy in Sydney. Who had a shell down here in tassy at his parents place. He started to build but lost interest. A deal was done and I went and picked it up. Rust free and straight. 4 perfect doors bonnet and boot. And a reasonable set front guards. Got the mono back. Another shell to the blasters. And I got it all back. No rust !!!  Only catch. He had cut out the floor. And chasised it. Was going to v8 it. The floor from rusty one to the rescued. With 5 floor pan sections..(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/10/15/a3umy4es.jpg)(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/10/15/y3upazub.jpg)(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/10/15/ame3y7yq.jpg)(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/10/15/u5y6a9u2.jpg)

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been workin on her for about 10 months now. Starting to see the light  and the tunnel thing. (http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/10/15/bysajygy.jpg)(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/10/15/du8ubuga.jpg)(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/10/15/ajuzugym.jpg)

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the only parts i ended up useing from this car were the front subframe front and back windscreens dash and glove box , pedel box and the seats original bench, but ive dismantled the front seat and it has many broken springs so it looks like she will go too, what ya see is not wot ya get !!!!!

looking good so far, ar they the original engine pipes from the headers?. Ineed to get a set made for mine but haven't been able to find a photo of them.
Regards Jim

the engine pipes were already on the headers when I purchases them. I will run them for the meantime as they came with a complete near new exhaust system. If I was starting from scratch I would have made two separate pipes at least to the muffler. Here is a picture of the pipes before I wrapped them. (http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/10/16/5atu8esy.jpg)

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Similar set up as mine, although I have made a single air cleaner using a Dato 180B SSS oval filter. I was also thinking of doing twin pipes, but not sure of they would clear the idler arm on full lock. Something to look into when I get the front end back together.
Thanks, Jim

Nice work fix'n that rust,keep at it! 8)

Brakes all fitted waiting on wheel so I can get it to rolling stage(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/10/22/e7a7uzag.jpg)(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/10/22/jeza5e3u.jpg)(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/10/22/eravymyp.jpg)

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G'day Mickrat,
Your rear brake shoes are on back to front ;)
ACE  8)

Thanks for pointing out my mistake. Probably saved me from dramas down the track. Maybe auto sparkys shouldn't play with brakes. Guy who bonded them for me marked them F and R. 

Just checked brakes on the left . shoes round the right way on the right put the shoe marked R on the front. Probably because I assembled them together on the floor .not realizing when it goes on the other side it's on the opposite side. Thanks again

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Her are some numbers for ken.  Front subframe. 6_7794M(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/10/22/pugyhy5a.jpg)

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Looking good mate.
Brett

Thanks for that, Lockhart cream is a very rare colour. The only time I have it recorded is on single colour FE special sedans made in 1956.

Ken

Mickrat

Coming together nice.

Just for you info, if you run into trouble with the top ball joint hitting the rim, fit a WB one as ther are a sealed unit and sit much lower.

Keep those posts coming

Cheers
Craig D

All suspension fitted brake lines and fuel lines in and on four wheels. Was going to shorten steering column. But have decided to fit an ek unit complete. Looks like it will fit. Shorter. And like the look of the gear lever. Body work next fit doors and guards for alignment(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/10/31/ydequga6.jpg)(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/10/31/ununesa7.jpg)(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/10/31/2yse6uze.jpg)

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Nice to see it on all fours . Looks special Mickrat.

Regards

Wayne b

I do recall a long time ago ,I modified a fc gear stick to fit in the ek selector tube . Try the crowd that do the 3 speed all sincro conversions .I did it by cutting off both sticks and swapping them but removing the selector tubes and changing the tops is better.I still use the ek column length on my fc-commo collapsible .Just thought I would put that out there. Regards haydn

Thanks for your input. Haydn. The More the better. Body work today. All day.

Just finished up fitting battery tray. Didn't go much on the standard one so fitted a f#*:_ one. Xf. Like the battery base hold down set up as opposed to top clamp and through bolts. Had a battery come adrift and fall into the fan once when I was a boy. And chopped the side out of the battery. Like it or lump it. (http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/11/10/ana5ate6.jpg)(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/11/10/4y5u2epe.jpg)

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Rubbed down initial primer coat and sprayed on a couple of coats of putty primer. Able to see all the blemishes and low spots ,more rubbing to go. First time at this. Just gunna take my time till I get it right. (http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/11/11/yzanaper.jpg)

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Hey mate , about that incident with the battery. The same thing happened to me some 40 years ago only problem was I was home alone and had decided to paddock my dads FC ute . Smashed the rad. and the fan with the battery and all the acid came running out . Then a big rush to swap everything with one of my older brothers wrecks before the olds got home . All good fun looking back .Cheers

Hi Mick what have you done with the first body wondering if i could use any sections like inner sill etc PM Me if you are interested mate
Regards
Neil

Front inner sills from rusty one (http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/11/17/yqy6uhy2.jpg)(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/11/17/u4ebu9er.jpg)(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/11/17/6urymy4y.jpg)(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/11/17/uqetaqen.jpg)

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Doors,boot and front valence done,bit more work on rear beaver panel ,front guards next. Nos bonnet should be a breeze. Wouldn't be a panel beater for quids(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/11/17/2y2a5yne.jpg)(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/11/17/7ebyhajy.jpg)(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/11/17/y9ybyta6.jpg)(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/11/17/6ynyvemy.jpg)

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Neil. Here are some more pics of A and B pillars. If you can use them you can have them if it means another early one back on the road. A total stranger done me a real good deal on another shell thanks again Matt. So I guess it's my turn to pass it on. Will only cost you postage. (http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/11/18/aqaqu9ev.jpg)(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/11/18/vy2ujy3a.jpg)(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/11/18/u2a8aqe7.jpg)(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/11/18/6yqu7uha.jpg)(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/11/18/3u3u8yme.jpg)(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/11/18/u3y9ejyd.jpg)

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Hi Mick
That would be fantastic really appreciated could you let me know how much postage and I will fix you up.
My business address is in Henederson Western Australia 6166 best place to send it and then the wife doesn't freak ;D
Regards
Neil H

Spent the whole day taking guards back to bare metal. Ground out heaps of bog. Found a dodgy repair, but surprisingly they are in pretty good nick. Slow and steady wins the race. (http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/11/18/a6eqa4at.jpg)(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/11/18/haza5ata.jpg)(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/11/18/ypapuput.jpg)

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Cut out a section from a wrecked guard to repair mine. It's a square section or would  i be better off making it triangular , worried about distortion from welding. Going to swage the section and overlap

Panel repaid section. (http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/11/19/a8ujame7.jpg)(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/11/19/qebypyvu.jpg)

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Corners act as heat risers, they should be avoided. You can keep the rectangular shape if you like but radius the corner.
I would butt weld rather than overlap

Ken

doing a nice job there, your getting more done than i am at the moment. How did you strip the front guards so nice, when i paint strip it only moves the top coat. Ive just got the shell to strip now.

Got my mate to weld patch on front guard , he ended up doing it with the TIG. Done a good job. Was going to have a crack at it with my mig    Glad I didn't. (http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/11/22/u4u9a2ub.jpg)

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Life wasn't meant to be easy !!!  Just struck a major hurdle. After fitting up doors for alignment on the last one. Left hand rear carnt get the door to line up. Tried another set of hinges. Pack with washers ever tried another door frame. Fault appears to be the shell is out of shape. Very dissapointed. Major set back. Was hoping to be on the road for tassy nationals. Just have to sit back now and take stock. Take some measurements and get some good advice. I'll go and see a panelbeater and see what they can come up with. More cash!! 

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(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/11/30/eqa4a3ur.jpg)(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/11/30/9u2u9y3e.jpg)(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/11/30/sy2upydy.jpg)(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/11/30/gube8yme.jpg)

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Bugger me you got it in primer real quick...

Looks like it may have twisted while doing the sills . Anyway I'd probably modify the doors to suit if the rest of the car is not too far out of square but first are these pictures of the rear ps door with the hinges off . What I'm getting at is when I fit doors I put the door in the opening ,usually sitting on a piece of carpet or an old towel folded on the sill and spaced with folded card board to get an idea of where it will fit before fitting the hinges . If the door then needs modification it will be obvious in the door gaps . I built two suicide doors from scratch for my hotrod and I know how frustrating it can be .Cheers Haydn

got a good mate to check it out he a shithot welder fabricator and knows his stuff, we removed the door skin and ground and cut the frame to suit the lower section fitting a new skin and positioning it to suit , the top frame nudged and manipulated to suit the top section, still got a fair bit of a gap down the slop of the window frame till just below the door handle level, so ive trimmed an 8 mm slice off the side of a star pickett and am going to weld this to the edge and grind it back to get the gap right so we will see how its going to turn out.................

Not much progress over Xmas. Built up door edges to get gaps right. And this is how I tackled top half to make it fit. Talk about square pegs in round holes !!!(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/01/18/e5eqemav.jpg)

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You will obviously take a look at that step out where the lower back corner of the window frame  meets the door skin after you push it back square .I've had badly fitting doors before but never that bad . Keep up the great work .Haydn

Some more pics on the door mod. (http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/01/31/urydubeg.jpg)(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/01/31/ajera9ud.jpg)(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/01/31/na6uny5e.jpg)(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/01/31/mynyhebu.jpg)(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/01/31/ba2emeta.jpg)

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Big job. Looking good.

The owner of a shop where I worked quite a few years ago was building a 39 Dodge pick up [ hotrod ] and wanted us to disassemble every panel so we could sandblast them individually and reassemble it . We had the same door and bonnet fitting problems and we used heavy welding wire tacked onto the edges and back filled with brass . In hind sight it was probably the chassis that had been distorted during boxing and not the body . Cheers Haydn

That's a pain, having to modify to get it to fit is a real downer, having said that, now you will be able to get the gaps just right. I also noticed the rear brake drums are flat(no dimples), what are they off?(EJ-EH?). The reason I ask is there has been a lot of talk about different rim fittment on early drums.
Jim

I'm guessing HD-HR drum brake [discs use smaller wheel cylinders and EJ-EH use U-bolts]. Haydn

Haydn, I brought a couple of boxes of misc. parts last weekend and there are a pair of HR front drums (so I was told) and stubs with them. The drums have a recessed face not flat so this is why I asked the question.
Jim

The rear brake drums are finned PBR teplacements for heavy towing application with Hr commercial backing plates and shoes. They are wider.

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I thought as much as I just recently recoed a mates HD wagon drum brakes and its a real pain to try and get the rear wheel cylinders out of the of the backing plates without taking all that auto adjusting gear out of the way first. Haydn

Just had another thought . What are you running for a booster because those rear cylinders are for drum brakes or are you only boosting the front ? Haydn

The wheel cylinders are 7eights of an inch diameter. Got a set of 1 inch as well was told to use the smaller ones with discs, vh 40 boosting all 4 wheels. Pickup up a brand new unit at a swap meet for $ 40

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More door pics(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/02/03/buza7ymu.jpg)(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/02/03/u4y9y2yn.jpg)(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/02/03/ega7e5eq.jpg)(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/02/03/buvyra5u.jpg)

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The original wheel cylinder for HR rear with discs up front was 5/8" so it could be a problem with the disc upgrade on the front as a friend of mine found a few years ago. He pulled his rear brake drums off and found the brake shoes had not moved enough to touch the drums ,still like new all the braking was at the front . Haydn

I use 9/16'' rear wheel cylinders with HR disc front end ;)
ACE  8)

Geez i thought my doors were a bad fit, that's unreal, good job on the repairs.
   Pedro

Often wondered what those small round flat circles on the rear lamp lenses were for. Now i know !!  Blue dots !!(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/03/24/7ubysejy.jpg)

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Yeah,they look great.Pitty they don't work on Fc/Fe.Although I overcame that problem... ;)

I'm going to fit a small globe holder directly behind them after rego

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(http://)
Made up a tool to make the window gaps wider worked fine

Reflector section of the tail light lens . If you cover or remove this reflector you could be in breach of RWC. Haydn

How it going?

Getting closer  wiring under way then brake lines(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/08/11/7324a8a1f358d0903077b935a4f8e9d3.jpg)(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/08/11/d9545dce24155042df6719c70edbff32.jpg)(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/08/11/7caafa04f03c62ffdc5a09661bc81028.jpg)

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Few more pics(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/08/11/23fb1e0473bcc38a74d6d868f07dc64c.jpg)(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/08/11/4024b199742a1aeab9705414024bcdf0.jpg)(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/08/11/3f156d8a8b156bca9cfd188ba1404e1c.jpg)

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And some more !(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/08/11/011556d08543a9d940ff7e82c3d8f098.jpg)(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/08/11/9213b0a6672f588c1cbed5401a8dbe20.jpg)(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/08/11/2557a1f93b9d77f36a3b53d746a758b8.jpg)

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Hi Mick;
Mate you have done a great job especially after overcoming what you had to start with and another red one (they go faster)  ;D

Looking good you will really enjoy it when all the hard work is completed.

Regards
Neil H

Thanks Neil  been 3 years at it  not long now and will be able to enjoy crusing aronnd in her 

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3 years is nothing. Looks great.

Hi Mick,

I just read through your build.  I like how you overcame the problems along the way. You've done a beaut' job. Congrat's and enjoy.

Cheers,

John

Agree with DJ 100%
Looks great ; 8)

Hi Mick, looking great so far,all the hard work is nearly done. Three years is not a bad effort, I wish I was at your stage, I've been just over 3 years and still not painted, so your way in front of me. Couple of weeks off at the end of the month, so I may be able too catch up.
Regards, Jim

The more you do, the less you have to do... But by bit it comes together.
Looking great, will look pretty nice when finished!

Very well done Mick, you will have one really cool car when "finished" - these things are never finished lol.  Cheers, Graeme

Looks great and yes I agree they are never finished.

Regards

Wayne b

Finished, registered  and im off crusing(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/10/26/42a1e3a5e8d8eb139de979eb95e39c27.jpg)(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/10/26/1bd07c60065ed176cc765e4511492b2d.jpg)(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/10/26/2ff85b03620c047e11f5d49dd2dbc2b1.jpg)

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Where did you get your windlace from?

They'll see a brilliant red flash from the mainland. Looks great, enjoy.

Well done Mick!! Hope you get plenty of enjoyment driving the flash around.

Put a couple of action shots in here when you get a chance, I am sure everyone will be keen to see them?

Cheers
JB

Gday nick  I have about 8 meters of black windlace if you are interested  mick johnson  0419567456  (http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/10/28/fe1544919c349cdcb7867486d8b183c4.jpg)

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Nice Mick

Great to see another FE back on the road

Gary