Art's FC Sedan Build 2.0

[Longman]

Hi All.

I started a build a few years ago on an FC Standard that I bought. Well, as the thread went, I had to abandon it as once the shell was stripped, it was way beyond my skills at the time.  Fast forward some months later and I was able to pick up an FC Special sedan off a mate for $200. Obviously for that price I wasn't expecting much, and I was right. To say this thing has been a paradox is an understatement. From the roof down to just above the sill line, rust free.  Sills down, cactus.  These are the pics as she was found at the end of 2017. Much work has been done over the last year, which I will detail in this thread.

Thanks for listening.

[Longman]

We got her on wheels and towed to a mates property, where I proceeded to strip all parts off to leave just the shell. Discovered it's a special, in single colour, with full paint separator kit. A few weeks later, I went back up and brought it home.

[Longman]

Once home, she sat in the yard, under a tarp until I sorted out the garage. Whilst out there, I cleaned her out and took stock of the task ahead. All in all, the entire floor, including crossmembers, A pillars, outer sills, B pillar bottoms, entire boot floor, boot rails, rear valance, and both quarters would need work. Fun times.

[Longman]

Once I got her in the garage and all cleaned up, time for the fun to begin. Obviously it was a major task, with the complete floor gone, I was not sure what to do. Enter lady luck. It just so happened at that time on this forum, a member advertised a complete one piece sedan floor cut, sill to sill, rear seat to firewall, including larger trans tunnel. I jumped on it, and was very surprised to find it completely rust free when I picked it up. Following commenced the painstaking job of unstitching the floor from the sills at the spot welds.

[2brite]

great stuff
 
keep us informed on the build

[camxsmith]

Wow good save ..  can not wait to watch the rebuild 

[FireKraka]

Hey Longman I think for $200 you have picked up a great project there mate yes a lot of work but it will be great when you finish it and picking up that floor was awsome and will make life easier in the long run just a pity that we cannot buy floors etc. aftermarket like in the states there would be a lot more of our cars saved if this was the case.
Both my EK Ute and FB Station wagon have started out as $600 and $400 respectively so keep the photos coming and can't wait to see your progress.

Regards
Neil

[Longman]

Thanks for the replies guys. This car will be built as a budget cruiser. I don't have the coin for Rodtech fronts, USS 4 links or the like. I have the modified HR front end, inj 304/auto from a VT, shortened 10bolt LSD. I won't be breaking any new ground here, might get a few personal touches on the way though. The aim is the best car I can build with a very limited budget. On track so far, mostly through bartering and trading and doing as much as I can myself. I've had help from some top blokes, I will credit them throughout the thread.

[Longman]

Once the floor pan was unstitched, I set about removing the rusty floor from the car. It was almost a basket case, most of the floor just fell out with little resistance. We left the subframe attached to help with alignment. Surprisingly, the inner sills were really good, with no signs of rust, nice to have a win every now and then.

[Longman]

Once the floor was removed and everything cleaned up, the new floor was installed. It was a mammoth task, taking the best part of 2 days, but thanks to a mate (on ya NES304), it was accomplished. Over the following weeks, I finished the welding, did some patching around the rear seat mount and stripped the rear pans and coated them in rust reformer. The pans were perfect, no rust anywhere.

[Billy Blackarrow]

Does your other half know you are using her good stool . Looks alot better with a floor in .
 Billy

[Longman]

Once the main floor was done, onto the boot floor. The rust was removed from the rails, the insides cleaned and sprayed, then patches made up and welded in.  As the car is modified, I wanted to fit a steel VS commodore fuel tank, so a frame was welded up and installed, then the remainder of the floor was fabricated in 1.6mm steel. I acknowledge the help of a great mate, Micka Imrie, who is not a member, for his assistance and awesome metal skills.

[Longman]

Does your other half know you are using her good stool . Looks alot better with a floor in .
 Billy

Haha, The car is vintage, the stool antique. What's the difference?

[Longman]

I took a break for a few days whilst waiting for some poly strip discs to arrive off ebay (I could not afford to have the car sandblasted unfortunately, not if I wanted to stay married), so I turned my attention to the diff. I scored the diff in a trade, it's already been shortened to suit the model, has had HR saddles grafted and is a VB-VC 10 bolt Salisbury with 2.60:1 LSD centre (perfect for a cruiser, not a racer). I stripped it down and checked internals, all good. I discarded the original commodore brakes and refurbished a set of VS commodore rear brake calipers, and bought new DBA T2 slottted rotors. I know it's typically best to choose your wheels before having the diff done, but as I'm on a tight budget and not tubbing the car, it was not a major concern.

[Longman]

Around the same time I was working on the diff, a member of this forum had a change of heart and advertised a setup for an FC to suit a 304. HR front end with engine mounts done and rear mounted commodore rack done. I could not pass up that deal, so purchased it (thanks a million SCOOP).  I got it home, stripped it, had it sandblasted and powder coated. I put in KMAC lowered springs (thanks Pete Mallaby) and replaced all the bushes. I refurbished a set of VS calipers and it came with brand new T2 rotors and bearings. Very happy with how it turned out.

[Longman]

Originally, I had planned on an ecotec conversion, but when I got a message from a mate (thanks again NES304) telling me he had a 5L VT Calais in his driveway and was I interested, hells yes I was. I scored the entire drivetrain from radiator back, a good running engine/box, wiring loom, BCM/PCM, key etc. Marc was nice enough to organise a flash of the chip to HSV 220KW and VATS removed. Happy days.  Having also scored a set of extractors, engine mounts and modified sump from SCOOP when I bought the HR the front end, I was cruising.

I pulled the engine apart to replace gaskets and paint it up. The internals were in good condition with no sludge. I had the oil pickup tig welded to suit and fitted it all up.

[Longman]

Still on the engine. I primered/painted it in gloss black. I got a set of rockers and matching cover done in hydrodipped 2 pak, as soon as I saw them, I fell in love and had to have them!  I rebuilt all 8 injectors. The only issue is that I will have to modify a dipstick tube to fit, as the hole was moved to the other side.

Alas, the motor has been sitting for a couple years. I did put oil in the cylinders and turn it over by hand every few weeks, but I will have new rings/bearings etc put in before running it.

[Longman]

OK. Back to the shell.  The car looks to have been a paddock racer in it's life. The bonnet was ruined, with a badly constructed home-made scoop and the dog leg subframes underneath were dented in both sides (from hitting rocks and logs). The worst bit though was the rear quarters and wheel arches. Someone had bashed in the inner arches on the quarter side to fit larger tyres. The result was pressure applied to the quarter panel, bulging out the arches to look like shitty flares. It has obviously been like this for decades, based on the buildup of grime and rust.

Again, with the help of my mate Micka, his plasma cuttter and a lot of time, we cut the offending piece of arch out and welded in a patch. The quarters themselves were quite stretched and required a lot of relief cuts, heat shrinking and hammer/dolly work to get them straight again. A skim coat of Fibral filler finished off the job ready for some bondo. This had to be done on both sides.











Result: a nice straight speed line.

[Longman]

I had stripped back the outer sills and coated them some months before. The drivers side was solid with only 3 small pin holes of rust. I had thought about keeping them, however, as I had a set of replacement panels already, I decided to cut them off. Glad I did. As noted in the pics below, both sides were chocked full of flaky, dirty, rusty badness.  The inner sills were great, just some minor pitting, but nothing major. Both pillar supports at the front of the sill needed small patches, and one end needed patching. Aside from that, all went smoothly and as planned.

[Longman]

I knew inevitably that I would have to tackle the front A pillar bottoms. They seemed OK originally, however once I put the wire brush to them, they fell apart.  Luckily, inside was in good condition, it was only the outside that needed fabricating. Like a jigsaw, old removed, new built up piece by piece, job done. Plenty of rust converter and rustproofing sprayed inside though!