1959 FC Ute!!

[smitty]

Hey guys, Names Mark from the northern Beaches of Sydney.

Been watching the forum for awhile and in early October ended up getting a 1959 FC Ute for my 21st birthday off my parents (best present ever I think).My dad only agreed to getting it as he owns two automotive workshops, one in Crows Nest and the other in Brookvale and using all his contacts in the industry should make life a little bit easier. The Ute will be stored and worked on out of the Brookvale shop mostly on the weekends so not to get to much in the way. Since October we have got a fair bit done but ill start from the beginning now and add more posts later when I get the time.

The idea from the start is to keep it as original as possible with the HR front end (mums condition on getting the car) for a little added safety. With everything else being similar if not the same as original.


The first weekend after we received the car we striped it down as much as could still being able to roll it around until we got a hold a rotisserie. Has a lot of rust in the floors witch I am not to fussed about but hopeful the body itself is alight. 













The parts starting to pile up!



Ended up with mostly everything out in a day. The tailgate was a real struggle to get off so we left that for another day.


Here are the number for those who are interested:

BODY:   FC 2106-9301-S
TRIM:   351-651
PAINT:  256-2031

Engine:
chassis: FC-40208-S

The engine number I had but have lost somewhere and the engine buried deep behind every other part so cant get to it easily. From what I remember running it through the code translator on here it was a later grey engine witch doesn't bother me in the slightest and since we got it running in the shop before we took it out it will defiantly be staying.

[RichFC]

Congratulations Mark and welcome to the forum ! This forum will be your best resource by far !
Great club and great bunch of guys here, always willing to help and share !
Having a large workspace along with access to hoists and tools will be a great advantage as well.
Good luck with your build and well done !

[NES304]

Good score mate and welcome to the forum. Certainly a tonne of information to be found here!!!

Put a V8 in it!!!!!!!!!

[mcl1959]

Well done, sounds like you've got a great dad there to help you. I hope you have a great time together working on the project!

Ken

[customFC]

Welcome to the forum.
Looks like a great start there.
Keep the pics coming along the way.
Good luck.
Regards
Alex

[waynos]

yay another ute being revived!
welcome to the forum.
your 21 and wanna keep it original?
love it!
i can't wait to watch this build!

[Rick 123]

Original look, but v8 it
(My thoughts anyway )

[fink fc]

Paint it BLACK !

[NES304]

Original look, but v8 it
(My thoughts anyway )

YEAH!!!

[ridgey_didge]

Mark,

Ignore all these hoons and rev heads  and follow your own course with your car.  Original is very special and loved by afficionados everywhere.

Its your car - your decision.

Its also a great project and I wish you success with it.  Can your Dad and his 2 workshops adopt me too please?  I won't use up that much space - but seriously, it is great to have those facilities to use.  There are many jealous people out there including me!

Cheers
David

[smitty]

Thanks for the comments guys, and im sure me and my dad will have plenty of questions throughout the build!

As for the V8, my other beloved Holden HZ premier wagon has a 308 in it so im not to fussed with power for the ute, more the everyday slow cruiser.

Not sure if its allowed but ill put a few pics of the wagon up if anyone is interested once i find a few (surprising how much you can love a car but have no pictures of it).

[NES304]

As for the V8, my other beloved Holden HZ premier wagon has a 308 in it so im not to fussed with power for the ute, more the everyday slow cruiser.

Not sure if its allowed but ill put a few pics of the wagon up if anyone is interested once i find a few (surprising how much you can love a car but have no pictures of it).

So you have a donor car  

Chuck the HZ pics in here mate.
http://fefcholden.org.au/forum/index.php/board,42.0.html

[Not Happy Jan]

Hi Mark
Welcome to the forum.... You will have a great time doing  up the ute I'm sure and looks like you have great start!
A good chance to catch up would be on Australia Day at Macquarie street in town. Come along and make your self know. There will be a few cars there!
Nick

[NES304]

Whats on there Nick? Excuse my ignorance

[RET]

The event previously known as NRMA Motorfest, now called CARnivale. If it remains the same size as the old event, if will be 900 cars - all 30 years old at minimum. Have a look through the Events board for events with that name.

cheers RET

[NES304]

The event previously known as NRMA Motorfest, now called CARnivale. If it remains the same size as the old event, if will be 900 cars - all 30 years old at minimum. Have a look through the Events board for events with that name.

cheers RET

Thanks

[Rick 123]

Thanks for the comments guys, and im sure me and my dad will have plenty of questions throughout the build!

As for the V8, my other beloved Holden HZ premier wagon has a 308 in it so im not to fussed with power for the ute, more the everyday slow cruiser.

Not sure if its allowed but ill put a few pics of the wagon up if anyone is interested once i find a few (surprising how much you can love a car but have no pictures of it).

I still think V8 it

[NES304]

Yeah sting your old man for it !!!!

[smitty]

Time for another update..

Spent another few days getting the tailgate off, diff and front end out and getting it on the rotisserie. We ended up buying a rotisserie instead of making one for the main reason I didn't trust my welding and fab skills at the time (didn't really want the whole thing falling off at any time over the next 6-8 months).



Ended up working great so turned out ok for a cheap and fairly nasty online thing.

Using the hoist to get it at the right height we just made up some plates that attached to the tow bar attachment points and some basic square tube for the front. Had a moment of stress when we took the front subframe off we almost lost the whole shell off the back of hoist haha, should really have paid more attention to the position and weight distribution on the hoist. 





The week after that it was off to the central coat to get sand blasted. We ended up only sending the bigger parts as one of my dads mates has a fairly large blasting cabinet at his shop so will just use that for the smaller stuff.



I would put more photos up but these where the only ones we could salvage after the old man tried his hand at technology and somehow ended up deleting all the photos before he transferred them to the computer haha, I think ill give him a lesson or two soon!!

I think this was my most nervous period, my own anxiety of how it would come back (either not much or warped) along with my mum/girlfriend and all my dads workman jeeing me up about how only the dash would come back!! I think everyday I didn't hear back from the guy doing the job it only got worse. Ended up being fine though and a picture tells a thousands words so here you go!!










The other side is way worse 





Other then the floor that is bad and the side bits where the subframe connects (not sure what there called?) I thought the body, subframe, guards and bonnet came out much better then I thought and no real surprises anywhere else to my relief.

Would be good to hear what you guys think?

Is there any particular order I should be cutting and replacing bits, or just a section at a time?

Let us know what you think 

Thanks
Mark & Jeff (the old man)

[mcl1959]

So this is the way I would do it.
Replace the front floor first as this will keep the integrity of the body shape intact if the sill has to removed.
Looks like the inner sill is not too bad- maybe a little rusted at the very front, so I would remove the front section of the outer sill and repair the bottom of the A pillar. No sections are available here so all hand made is the go. You will see how the bottom of the A pillar extends under the outer sill and is attached to the inner sill.
Then remove the outer sill and replace as the last step. The rear of the inner sill can be repaired if there is any rust in this section when the outer sill is off. The outer sill is welded to the front floor as well as the inner sill. Swing the front door once the outer sill is tacked in place and check alignment of door with the sill.
The rear of the sill on a ute is tricky, if the quarter is good enough at the bottom then this should be saved and not removed from the sill, rather trim the sill and join the new sill to the old sill below the quarter join line. But if the quarter is rusted and a patch panel is going to be used then remove the entire sill and replace. It is tricky to get the replacement patch panel to look original, a lot of restorations simply eliminate the line where the quarter joins the sill. This should be avoided in my opinion if possible.
The rear section of body around the tank is easiest repaired by finding a wrecked wagon, no replacement sections are available so hand making is all you can do unless you get a wagon piece. This section on a wagon is usually OK.
Ken