FC Holden Sedan "Black and White Taxi Service Co-Operative" restoration

[fcwrangler]

Better too do it now and have it all done in one go. I think Neil(firecracker) said a similar thing, he did a quick rebuild and then had too redo it all over again. You will look back when you have finished and be thankfully you did it. Mine was going to be a "quick" tidy up until I found out how much rust there was. For what it's worth, I would finish the taxi while you can and then if your health permits, finish the Brenton blue custom.
Jim

[fe350chev]

Yeah thanks Jim. I'm not all that old but I would qualify for disability (if I was single). Trying a variety if drugs atm which affects my adrenaline and heart conduction. I have noticed it's making me speed up like I'm on some bloody party drug but then I can go flat. So sorry if I don't make sense the last few years. Nearly have the drugs right now but they are all "off label" for this rare crap.

[fcwrangler]

Bloody hell!!, I'll stop complaining about how I feel at nearly 63. Life can be cruel, you just don't realise how well off you are until you hear of other peoples problems. Look after yourself and your family, as I said before, take it easy and work too your limits, better to finish later than not at all.
Jim

[fe350chev]

I think if I didn't have some level of physical disability that I'd be focussed more on making $$$ like I used to etc but I prefer to use my non physical time when I'm recovering to do research on general interests rather than sitting around watching tv etc. It's good doing the cars cos there's always research and planning involved and it gets my mind off all of this health crap that me and my son's keep getting surprised with. It's a bit hard when ya don't know what your dealing with and what turn it might take.

[fe350chev]

I cut sills off. Not bad compared to the FE.

[fe350chev]

Got a lot done today and found a cool surprise. Luke the farmer blaster is getting right into this resto and he showed off his skill and wound back the system to reveal this! Layer upon layer he found evidence of the original paint scheme. When he called me over I thought, "shit he has blasted through" but no, he found this 😁.

Very cool. So he blasted where I wanted and then I did the first etch coat. Some hints I have learned along the way. For us backyarders without the full on air dryers (I still have 2 traps and 3 air filters) I use a leaf blower to blow down the car cos it doesn't have impurities (a panel beater told me this). Also, when ppl say that blasting is the perfect surface to paint straight over, well only if you can guarantee there's no grease on the vehicle prior to blasting. The grease drives into the surface in tiny rolled up balls, so it's still important to prep properly. I like to dry scotch bright the surface (as long as I'm confident there's no bits of grease or sealants that can rub in) to remove the tiny embedded bits of metal and then wax and grease remove it too. I will remove some of the hard sealers after repairs are done with a grinder. Whatever doesn't come off after blasting deserves to stay. Today is just a coat for flash rust prevention. This is raw metal.  

Then I painted it after scotchbrighting where I though appropriate and prep etc.

[fe350chev]

Pretty damn happy about the front subframe. It's only got a few areas of rust in the easy areas and a bit in the battery area as usual. So with all the tie members being good, it's not going to be too much work to get this in good shape.

[hsv-001]

Mate I guess there is always someone worse off than yourself . Might be the time of year but I've been feeling a bit sorry for myself lately . Was telling my 83 year old Dad that I saw an interview with Kurt Fearnley and he was asked about goals he has achieved and he replied ,'' People have always kicked doors open for me", my experience is the exact opposite .Doors have always been slammed in my face . Anyway after hearing about your medical problems , mine seem insignificant . I am watching your build with interest so just grind slowly and look after yourself . Haydn

[fe350chev]

Thanks mate. I mainly wanted to come clean cos I have been on here doing these for a while and there was a time a few years back when I made little sense for a few months and people thought I developed dementia lol. It was about the time I fixed my red Ute. Turned out to be brain ischemia and it makes u drunk like cognitively. I had a lot of trouble stripping the blue car ages ago. Same thing, was blacking out a lot. Now it hardly happens but will if I say squat and undo too many hard bolts etc. But it is what it is. I tried to start my earth moving business again but fell backwards out of my excavator which gave a scare but I have no issues while sitting. It's all with movement. I still established all the fencing, gardens, the whole block on my own for the new place but had many falls and concussions. But I won't stop doing what I wanna do so bugger it.

I was really happy with how the ID plate came up with a light blast and screwdriver.

[fe350chev]

I'm not wasting $80 on car trailer hire lol. My next book will be "50 uses for an excavator". 😁

[mcl1959]

Dean, those diamond paint patches are cool. They give you positioning, spacing and size of the shape which runs round the car. This is a great find.
Next, the firewall. The hole in the centre of the firewall inside the circle is a typical radio mount, but the 2 holes that are below this are the interesting ones. I would say these two holes would be the rear mounts for the two way radio. Similar to the yellow cab radio shown.

Ken

[fe350chev]

Bloody heck Ken poor Luke thought I was going to kiss him when he found that. He lightly did the roof at the front but no strip could be found 😖. Yeah the shape is a bit different to what I thought and like you say, I now have dimensions. I'm going to lightly rub back the cowl and see if they are on there. Overall I'm glad I took your advice ages ago to cut the sills to see what's inside. If I need any small original sections for patching with the round inner bits, do you know who might have some? I now know that because the colour is red oxide, grey, white, black diamonds, cream spray putty/primer, then black under the window, the car probably did have a radio and it was likely to have been removed when the diamonds were blacked fully blacked out. I went around the car and did tests of layers. It appears that the car now has the white right around under windows, with the early colour scheme which if black and white is what I prefer. I also prefer that the white be under the front window. White wheels. Ken, see the dash, is that black or what do you think it should be?

[fe350chev]

I took her to the workshop just up the road to start more work next week.

[customFC]

Looks fairly solid.
Love seeing those diamonds. Look to be individually painted based on the spacings.
I hope you traced over one before totally removed.
Regards
Alex

[Old_Mt_Isa_Boy]

Great stuff Deano. The rust doesn't look that bad. Hopefully you did get a trace of the diamonds. If not I'm sure we could get a grab from the photo using a tracing tool in Photoshop.

Regards

Wayne b

[fe350chev]

Yeah I got the measurements. I told him not to blast the vent so have that too. I'll use the polisher to go down and I can get a better tracing off that too. I might even leave them under there and epoxy over and hi fill. The neighbour told me she watched him do the diamonds in his front yard with a brush over the white. He got told off for doing it himself without a stencil, but he was a Bush digger and thrifty. My pop fraught in New guinea twice. He was an ambulance driver, must have been terrible what he saw, but he got malaria and nearly died of that. He was only 18 and was in it for 5 years. Yeah so it fitted in the 8 by 5 trailer too. We blasted the front frame so today I set it up to start making a jigger before I start to de spot it for the repair. I'm not sure if anyone has any good inner sill sections so I can use them at the front. With the radio, the fe has no hole within the circle or the 2 stay support holes.

[mcl1959]

That's why I highlighted the holes, they're not factory.
Regarding the diamonds, I think it could be a mistake to leave them on the car. You've got to be careful that what you end up with looks good. By all means take photos and display them with the car, but restore the car so that it looks appealing.

Ken

[fe350chev]

What I mean Ken is leave them under the paint on the vent but new paint over the top. That way there is an original artifact left on the car if you get what I mean. Nobody would be able to tell and it could just be an interesting feature for a possible future owner. Not sure if you get the point of it.

[Not Happy Jan]

Is it only me or when you post a post Deano the title of the post does not come up. In any category you post in???
Nick

[NES304]

It can be removed or changed while posting