Art's FC build

[Longman]

Hi,

When I was 16 and living in Perth, I bought my very first car. It was an FC sedan, stock body and 2 tone green paint, it had a 149 red motor and Opel 4 speed. I paid it off at $100 per week, which was my entire pay, for 10 weeks. My sister drove it home and the good old Opel crapped itself on the drive. Long story short, it never got back on the road, and I didn't even have my licence yet. I sold that and bought an FC van a few months later, which my sister drove for a bit. I ended up trading that for a monza red FC sedan with chromies, 3 on the floor and a 161 red motor. I drove that car for several years once I got my P's. I was mid resto on it when I joined the Navy and moved away, leaving it at my mums house. She up and sold it on me for $600, the sale included a $3.5k race motor. I was miffed to say the least and I never quite got over it.

25 years on, I now live in Newcastle and the time was right, with my lovely wife saying "Why don't you get a car to work on?", bless her heart. We just bought a house with a big double garage, so I jumped on her offer as fast as I could. The budget is/was tight, given we just bought a house, so I sold one of my guitars to fund the purchase. I managed to find an FC sedan that was hot rodded in the 70's and 80's and I will be looking to bring her back to life.

It has a 202 with mild cam, big valves, holley 350 and extractors. The gearbox is a Sigma 5 speed (odd choice I know), and I have the receipt to show it was personally installed by Rod Hadfield at Castlemaine Rod Shop in December 1980. I have since discovered the logic of using a Sigma 5 speed. The box is a good strong box that can easily handle a mild red motor, and it's size means that the trans tunnel does not need to be modified from stock. At the back is a HR rear with LSD and upgraded sway bar, up front is a HR front with discs. Inside is a hand made solid timber dash and glovebox lid, with smiths gauges (I will be keeping this dash as I like it), premier seats, seat belts, a Sanyo heater blower and it has windscreen washers installed. All in all, she would have been a cool old gal back in her day. I have the owners manual with service history from new and she was last registered in 1987.  I have no idea what's under the paint or carpet, so fingers are crossed. So this build is full circle for me, finishing something I started back in 1989 and never got to finish. This is a hobby build, so I won't be rushing anything. A few pics:









If these images don't work for you, try this link. Photobucket make it as hard as possible to hotlink to images on their server these days, so they can show you scummy ads. -RET

[FCRB26]

Welcome..

What suburb you in ?

Pics didnt work shoot em too me and i will upload them peter@mallaby.com.au

[Longman]

Hi Pete,

I'm in Mount Hutton.  I've emailed you the pics, not sure why they didn't work in the post?

[FCRB26]

Dunno what you did but they now are working 

[Longman]

Thanks Peter. Is there something better than photobucket that I should use?

[Longman]

So today I started with the tear down. The car has been sitting in a shed for the last 28 years and was full of all sorts of junk, found a lot of 1 and 2c coins! My aim was to get the interior out today. After a full days toiling, I only managed to get 2 doors off, rear seats out and drivers side front seat out, bolts were all buggers to get off. I've removed the carpet, underlay and sound proofing and am happy to report that the drivers side floor is rust free and in excellent shape, rear drivers side floor is good too, with one small rust hole due to a leak of some sort, but will only require a very small patch. That's some good news. Whilst under the car, I checked the inner sills and no sign of rust, outer sills look solid as well. It looks as though the biggest issue will be the boot area, most of the weather seal lip will need to be replaced and drivers side lower quarter is gone.  I will get the passenger side interior out this weekend, I can only hope that side floor is as good as the drivers side.

[FCRB26]

[weddo]

Thats a realy good starting point Longman, keep up the photos and progress details.


Regards

Weddo

[fcwrangler]

Welcome aboard, always good to see another old girl getting the treatment. Good luck with the rebuild and keep us posted on your progress.
Jim

[NES304]

Bout time you posted Art!! been waiting for the pics.
Good start! Cheers

[Longman]

Thanks Marc, back to it tomorrow.

[FireKraka]

Hi Longman looks like you have a great start point make sure you keep posting photos look forward to see it progress.
Regards
Neil H

[Ol_Girl_58]

Sweet dash! Looks like she had a centre console, too.

Welcome and good luck with your build, Art!

[Longman]

Hi, yes a full centre console with hand crafted lift up lid same as the dash.

[NES304]

Should show us that!! 
Good meeting you today Art. (Do the V8 conversion!! )
Cheers

[Longman]

Back to it. I got the passenger seat and seatbelts out and the carpet/underlay/sound proofing off. The front floor is nearly as good as the drivers. It has a small 20c piece sized rust hole in the top corner. I'll know more when I get the wire wheel onto it. the rest looks solid as. The passenger rear though is a concern. It has a smooth steel plate welded in, and inspection underneath shows about 3 plates with pop rivets. God only knows what's going on under there, but I can't see any rust from below. I may get a grinder out and try to get the plate off to see whats going on. See pics below.

[Longman]

Should show us that!! 
Good meeting you today Art. (Do the V8 conversion!! )
Cheers

Hey Marc, yes mate was an absolute pleasure to meet you, I can't wait to come see your beast. If my budget could stretch to it, my dream would be for a nice
naturally aspirated small block, but alas not at this point in time, just had my first mortgage payment come out today in fact, so it looks like lots of sandpaper and wire wheels for me.

[NES304]

Fast reply considering I dobbed you in! At least you worked out the photo posting!

[Longman]

Fast reply considering I dobbed you in! At least you worked out the photo posting!

Yes mate, got onto imgur, much better than that photobucket rubbish.  Took a few quick snaps of the custom centre console. A bit sad now, but in it's day would have been pretty cool.

[Longman]

How time flies. Been on an overseas holiday and plenty of work on the newly purchased home have slowed things in the garage, but I'm still chipping away. All running gear is out and mostly gone. Only got a cain manifold with 350 holley to get rid of (if anyone is interested, $50, needs a good clean but in good nick), a Sigma 5 speed conversion (happy to give this away if anyone is interested, has adaptor, crossmember, tailshaft, starter motor , speedo cable etc) and a full banjo rear end, drum to drum with 3.55:1 LSD (I will sell this or swap for some expertise in rust repair in newcastle, to be negotiated). Depression is setting in as the further I go, the worse this car is turning out to be. I do have to give credit to whoever did the bog work all those years ago, they were a master at covering rust. Sills looked rust free and passed the magnet test, but are turning out to be completely cactus. B pillars are stuffed at the bottom and the front A pillars under the guards are completely gone on both sides. Add to that some modifications underneath for the 5 speed, and  I'm at the stage where I'm considering looking around for a new shell, as this one is turning out to be a total lemon. Someone even welded the passenger side subframe on instead of fixing the rust (see below pic, bolt is fused, and subframe welded on the back). On a positive note, I would like to thank NES (Marc) for all his help, and for the running gear he threw my way. I always wanted a 5L V8 in my FC and now, if I can get the shell fixed, it will happen. Anyway, I'd like to hook up with any locals who may be able to offer some support. I'm happy to have anyone visit for a beer and a look/talk, and any advice would be greatly received at this stage.