THE HARD ROAD

[mickusmickus]

Hi all,

My little project to get my FC back on the road again has begun.  As usual my initial plans just to do a quick engine transplant have now blown out to a much bigger project.

The engine/box were taken out on the weekend and will be off to the reconditioner early next week.....In the mean time off will come the front end and subframe......new coat of paint for the engine bay and freshen up of the front end......the rats nest that is currently the wiring will be stripped and redone before the fresh new engine is dropped back in.....that should get me drivin the old girl again anyway...

TRALA

[TTV6FC]

Aaahh,it has begun.I hope for your sake you can stop at the engine bay.Good luck with the tidy up anyway.Cheers,Jamie.

[mickusmickus]

Well another week goes by and things on my mini project are still moving forward.  Have most of the front end stripped, grill, guards and wiring plan for next weekend is to get the subframe and front end off and start prepping for paint........


LOOKS LIKE A TRANSFORMER!


chrome stripped washed and ready for some TLC


Filthy engine bay.....cant wait to compare this shot with the finished product!

TRALA

[trevmc62]

The picture of the front end you called it a tranformer well Ithink it looks like you are going for the
LOW N' WIDE look!

[mickusmickus]

Thats it.....you should see it when the guards are tucked up over the wheels and the cover is over it all........it seriously looks like the car is sitting on its guts!

[Ed]

nice...

is that an XR400 in the background?

Cheers

Ed

[JB]

Trust you Ed...

[mickusmickus]

hahahaha,

far from a XR450 its actually a modified CRF50F, another of my toys.......it has an 88cc head, exhaust, cam, 24mm carby, i-shock, hardened fork springs, longer fork legs......the list goes on and on.....

It is banished at the moment as I got a 200 dollar fine for riding it last weekend.

MICK

[mickusmickus]

Hello again everyone,

Well another week down and I have taken a few more steps down the road to getting my old girl back on the road again......This weekend my goal was to get the sub-frame and front end out leaving just the few minor bits and pieces to take out before preperation for paint begins...........

After initially struggling a little to get the subframe fre from the body a little gentle persausion with a gemmy bar soon had it swinging in the breeze......turns out the subframe is in perfect condition, cant see any rust at all which Im very happy about....



front end is also now out and before long I will have started pulling it down for a complete re-build...



This next pic was taken a little before work finished for the day but the fire wall is almost ready for prepping, steering column, wiper motor and cluth and brake master cylinders now stripped, photo shows my axel stands looking a little wonky better get in and fix them before it all comes crashing down......you will see the fantastic conditions I have to work on my car, I wish I could have $1 every time I dropped a nut, bolt or washer on the grass/dirt (water is scarce up here in QLD)



Next it was off to pick up my new long motor, thanks very much to forum member Troy who helped me out here.  I got my new donk out of his onging project which is now ready to undergo a V6 ecotech conversion.





And to finish it all off I just could not resist taking a pic of the point where new and old engine technology collide.....the motor and box in the back of the ute did make it look very tough.....



TRALA

[mickusmickus]

Just another quick update,

Preperation on the fire wall has begun and after only about 3-4 hours of grinding and two and a half wire wheels the firewall is almost done.....Next is a full rebuild of the fornt end....If anyone has some good contacts for getting bits and pieces for a standard FC front end I would be very appreciative......



In other news my motor is being put together today and should be back in my hot little hands before the weekend..........will post some more pics soon......

[steamman]

AAAHHHH! memories of rebuilding fc's in the back yard,just glad you didnt drop the box on youre safety boots
Cheers
Deano

[mickusmickus]

I was joking about that with one of my mates, I have to admit I am an OH&S nightmare when it comes to using PPE........

MICK

[mickusmickus]

Hey all just thought id put another quick upade up......got my motor back last week havent had much chance do anything with it yet as I have most of the cront cross member in getting powder coated.....here are a couple of quick shots I took, will no doubt post a few more once I get her out of the plastic and shoot a coat of paint and strap on a few of the pretty bits and pieces I have collected.  All in all it ended up costing me about 2500 for a mildly worked 132....

[FC0058]

Hi Mick
Who did you get to rebuild your grey for you. ?

Cheers Jim

[mickusmickus]

Gday Jim,

Had a local engine recon guy here in QLD do it, they are called RLC, I looked around a lot of places and spoke to a lot of people before settling on someone to do it.

MICK

[mickusmickus]

Just to make a few people jelous I thought I would add a pic of the latest addition to my project.  Got in touch with a guy out at Woodford QLD who had this set of Jack Meyers headers on an old FC that had been sitting for years.  He had great intentions to do the car up but wasnt planning to run a grey in it.  It does go to show that there are still some great old finds out there........I had a good chat to the guy and told him they were selling for stupid proces on ebay at the moment, he was just happy to see them go to a good home with the knowlege that they would become part of my pride and joy.......$300 was the end result......and I am a very happy camper........

[Spinner]

Mick,

you got a good buy there and I think that the bloke who sold them to you is happy too.

I'm intrigued by the marking on the block, behind the front flange.  Is it a plate put there by an engine rebuilding company?  Can you get a better picture of it please? 



Cheers

Brett

[zulu]

That looks like a "Repco Gold Star" sticker, indicating that the engine has been reconditioned.

I think I recall reading somewhere that Gold Star engines had additional work done on them to improve performance.

I have an FJ Gold Star donk down in the shed, one of these days I'll whip the sump & head off and have a gander.

Nice pick up on the headers MICK, he'll probably throw the engine in too for a slab, might be good for bits.

Keep up the progress pics. Cheers, Gary

[mickusmickus]

Guys as Gary correctly pointed out it was a REPCO gold star engine......I know absolutley nothing about them but the guy who owned the car told me that they were supposed to be pretty special back in the day.......Only problem was REPCO took all of the standard bits and pieces out of them and installed parts that could only be sourced from REPCO, hence giving themselves a monopoly on the parts for them.......not sure on the validity of this story but Im running with it.......

I already have my brand new recond motor and one other for parts so I didnt take the motor......from what he said about it when inspecting apparently it has been under water anyway......

[mickusmickus]

Well another weekend has passed and thank god I finally made a little progress........

New Jack Myers headers sandblasted and painted.  Still need to be re-studded as you can see.....



Firewall primed and ready for paint.



The floor of your bedroom is a great place to store a freshly powdercoated front cross member......Its amasing how quickly the dust builds up (read: its amasing how quickly the completion date for a project blows out).  The powder coating came up absolutley brilliantly and would you believe it the whole lot only cost me $40.....Way to get yourself some repeat business..........