EK / FC

[msjc]

Hi, has anyone done or has seen a FC front on a EK / FB ? Wondering if this is a hard conversion. Looks not to hard except for the bonnet maybe cut and weld the two together at windscreen end. Thanks

[mcl1959]

Shape of guard is way different at the back, these would need cut and weld. Guard mount to subframe is also way different. Grille and associated panel ware for the FC front won't bolt up to EK subframe either.
I think if I was doing it I would remove all the EK skirt and graft on the skirt from the FC subframe. Cut and shut the guards and bonnet and see how it lines up.

Ken

[Errol62]

Heard of an FB van fitted with FC subframe on the FB EK site a while ago but it had FB guards.


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[ardiesse]

I agree with Ken.  It would be way harder than it looks.
Talk to Craig Jordan from the NSW club.  Craig tried an FB/EK roof, rear doors and rear glass graft onto an FC sedan shell.
The waistlines of the two series are actually quite different.  In FE/FC, the styling line of the top of the guards continues rearwards as the scalloped profile of the doors, a couple of inches lower than the waistline itself.  The front door waistline slopes up gently to the B-pillar, and the rear door/quarter panel waistline slopes gently down.
The guard tops in FB/EK run straight into the door waistline.  Now you might think that the waistline of the FB/EKs is horizontal, but it isn't.  It slopes down all the way from the front guard peak to the rear doors.  You can see that this is the case if you compare the height of an FE/FC front quarter window to an FB/EK front quarter window - the FB/EK front quarter window is shorter.
For ventilation, FB/EKs have a plenum chamber; FE/FCs have the cowl vent.
In FE/FC, the bonnet sits a few inches higher than the front guards; in FB/EK, the front guards sit a few inches higher than the bonnet.  The horizontal profile of the FB/EK fixed glass is a lot "flatter" than in FE/FC, which is more curved.  So I have a sneaking suspicion that at the car's centreline, the rear of an FE/FC bonnet would be sitting higher than the bottom of an FB/EK windscreen.

Rob

[msjc]

Wow, Thanks for the feedback guys it looks like a way bigger job than I thought. My thinking was that I really like the FC utes but hard to get a good one at the right price. I have been thinking of maybe looking for a EK / FB ute and fitting the whole front from the fire wall forward but looks like it is a bit of a nightmare. Didn't think of vents, bonnet height etc. Would be nice tho to see the curved windscreen and different dash in what would appear to be a FC ute.
Cheers Mark