fc into shed or grave feb 15

[fceedave]

hello to all in fc land.  I have only owned my fc for 6 weeks and already it has earned a space in the garage.
With rego due to run out soon,  the shed ( or grave depending what lies beneath ) is three weeks away.

after reading thru the pages here I am more confused with what I should do with the old girl.  6 or 8 ,auto or manual,  etc etc .  any ideas.  also i am in the adelaide hills if anyone wants to contact. help is always rewarded with beer and bbq's

cheers  DAVE

[Glenn 'Stinky' Stankevicius]

Mate, it's your car, you really need to work it out for yourself. What do want from the car, how often are you going to use it, how much have you got to spend etc, etc.
One thing though, if you do start modifying it, anything more than a standard 202 (ie modified at all) will require an engineer's certificate.

[sgo]

I think you should sit back and have a cold beer, and think about what you expect from the finished car.
Once you've got that picture in your head you'll at least have a good direction to head in.
But keep it realistic, so that it does get finished in your timeframe. You  know what you can do yourself, what needs to be done by someone else and what you can afford?
Till you make those descisions you can allways keep busy fixing any rust, getting the body straight etc. then when you're ready to restore or modify the rest I'm sure you'll find heaps of help on this forum.
Have fun!

[Blown_FC]

Dave...not sure if anything I say will help you any, as Stinky and Sgo have pretty much hit the nail on the head, but in the interest of sharing ideas, what the hell...here it goes.

I had the same dilemmas not that long ago.  What do I do, 6, V6, V8 ?   Then I thought to myself, I aint going to race it or drag it, nor am I going to pull a boat with it, and given the work involved ( and expense ), I decided not to be swayed to going the V8.

So then it was a decision, between 6 or V6...this decision didn't take long at all, as it's as much work as fitting a V8, plus it would sound just like the other  5 million Commodores out there...No thanks !

So the decision came back to OLD HOLDEN 6......and just between you and me.....have you ever heard a worked 202 at full tilt.....Sweeeeet !

Anwyay, now that I'm going 202.....it was time to pick a colour...RED, BLUE or BLACK....now don't confuse yourself, as there are many stories about which one is best, but for me, I decided RED !

Now came to how to make it breathe......I wanted something a bit more exotic than the old Holley, so I started looking at Blowers ( Superchargers )....sounds exotic and different, but given the only kit you can buy is a 2nd hand toyota unit that sits on the wrong side of the motor and still costs you $2000, and to have a normal B&M type blower, you need to be handy with custom making your own manifold, and this would still cost probably twice as much anyway ( and I aint handy with the welder ).....so it was back to a normally aspirated carb engine.......
BUT...still had to be different....then it hit me....what was the best, fastest and greatest Old Red Motor ever put into a Holden......an XU1 of course !

So that was it...decision made....I'm now planning a total restoration of a 58 FC Special Sedan with a Replica ( hard to find original ), XU1 motor, complete with XU1 Cam, Head, Specs, and of course those great Triple Stromberg carbs on a factory Holden XU1 Manifold.

As far as the Rego goes, you have to ask yourself how long is it going to take to finish the rebuild ?  With mine, I knew it was going to take over 3 years (minimum), so I let me rego lapse....in fact I handed the plates back a couple of months early, and actually got a rebate on the rego !

My thoughts are....why spend around $500 a year on rego for a car that sits in the shed in pieces....after 3 or 4 years of restoration, I would have save a couple of grand, which would buy me a nice set of wheels !

And besides, if you've done the rebuild right, and not shoddy, it should pass inspection easy anyway !

If you need to drive the car to get work done on it ( when it's at that stage, ), you can buy a temp permit for only $12 odd, which usually lasts 24 hours ( WA )...so there was no real reason for me to keep paying rego for no reason.

Well that's my story.......but Stinky and Sgo are spot on...it's you car...do what you want to do...and don't let any other jokers tell you otherwise.

I've noticed one thing.......those people who tell me "Oh why didn't you go the V8 ?", don't actually have a V8 FC themselves, so they are usually jsut full of shit.......then again, if a guy drives up your driveway in a sweet V8 FC conversion, and steps oout and tells you how great it is, and it was the best and cheapest move he ever made....then start to listen.

Good Luck

mark

[Al]

Mark, that has got to be the best advice anyone has given on this forum ever to anybody about what to do with your car. Please take note of what Mark has written Dave. Where were you 30yrs ago Mark when I needed advice. Dave if you are a bit doutfull of what you can or can't do for a rebuild sometimes it is better, cheaper and less stressfull to buy a car already done, turn the key and drive it. Sometimes I wish I had done just that. Good luck with what you end up doing Dave.

 Cheers Al