Found Object

[ardiesse]

The weekend collapsed in on itself at both ends.  I swapped generators in my Humpy, but the replacement has too much clearance in the rear bush and growls a little just off idle.  And a lube service before the long weekend trip to Wagga.

OK, so that's what I did off-topic.

Measure, cut, fold, cut, drill spot welds, remove old section, massage new section approximately to shape, go to the new Bunnings up the highway for two more pressure-paks of black primer -



and that's about all I could do before it was time to pack everything away.

Rob

[Errol62]

Keep driving Rob. You'll be in Nuriootpa before you know it...

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[ardiesse]

Clay,

The exact same thought had crossed my mind . . .

Rob

[ardiesse]

As usual, it was forecast to rain today.  But it didn't.  So I welded in the section I made a couple of weekends ago:



That's one step closer to having the LHF floor repaired.

Rob

[ardiesse]

The floor section above the no. 1 body crossmember (passenger's side) -

After drawing up a cardboard pattern, it wasn't that hard to reproduce in sheet metal.  It's mainly parallel folds, with a raised portion in the middle.  When I had the section largely bent up to shape, the outermost folds were easily enough done with the piece in place.

So I red-oxide primed the inside of the no. 1 body crossmember as far as I could get the radiator brush in, and also primed the underside of the floor repair.  Then holes for the plug welds -



And I adjusted the gaps.  But a few of them were wider than I'd have liked.  Having a part of the floor cut away was a good thing, because I could G-clamp the repair section in place while I did the first few plug-welds.  A screwdriver jammed into the gaps at the right places sat the repair down hard onto the flanges of the no. 1 body crossmember for the rest of the plug welds.

Gentle massaging with a hammer to line the edges up, and a couple of feet of weld.  Some work with the grinder, and then a quick coat of black primer:



And then the sun went down on me.

Thinks:  They tell me that American Autos in Prospect has shut, and that all Rare Spares inquiries are handled through Brisbane.  I was thinking of picking up a driver's floor pan.  But now that I've got the cardboard pattern, and now that I've made one repair section, it won't be that hard to turn the pattern over and make another for the driver's side.  It's the most complicated shape I need to make for the driver's side too.

Rob

[ardiesse]

Whaddayaknow?  It rained again.  But today, inexplicably, Nephele and Hyetos got distracted, and Helios put in a surprise appearance.  So I filled in the LHF floor's remaining vacant bit.



The metal at the toeboard is thin.  The top seam turned into another of these frustrating exercises in welding air.

I was thinking of taking a couple of weeks' leave to get in front of all the wet weekends.  But guess what?  Another six days of rain are forecast.

Rob

[ardiesse]

Humpy Helpline (IV)(b): FJ engine rebuild (cont'd) -

The engine shop reconditioned the head (and yes, it appears that you can still buy grey exhaust valves new), but didn't pick up on the fact that it's a 1951 head, so had no valve stem oil seals originally, and the valve caps don't suit oil seals.  So I pulled all the valves out and removed the oil seals.  If I change over to the later type of valve cap, I'll need to check valve-cap-to-guide clearance at full lift to make sure there's no interference.

I reworked the coolant holes behind no. 6 to suit the "improved cooling" head gasket.  But because it's a 1951 head, I needed to remove the copper "spout" from behind no. 6 (1/2" UNC bottoming tap with a nut wound all the way up the tap to act as extractor).  And then the hole in the head's off-centre with respect to the gasket hole.  I used a die grinder to enlarge the hole concentric.

Some work with a MAP gas torch and an impact driver, and I removed the rear oil gallery plug for cleaning.

Then I thought I'd better check the fit of the head to the block, just to be sure.  As usual, the head contacted the block at the four corners only.  I could slide a 0.004" feeler gauge between block and head at nos. 2,3,4,5.  The block needs decking.  And then . . . it looks like there are cracks at most of the head bolt holes on the pushrod side, between the bolt hole and the oblong coolant holes.  I don't know if these make the block bin-worthy.  Another trip to the engine shop coming up.

The FJ's owner wants to go as original as possible.  As coincidence would have it, a grey motor I recovered from South Australia has a number 400 less than this block.  It may yet come in handy.

This is what happens when you strip a motor down, thinking it'll just need rings and bearings.

But I really need to do work on "Found Object".

Rob

[Harv]

From memory, the cracked block bolt holes are blind, so unlikely to leak coolant. Perhaps spread some sealant along the bolt threads during assembly if worried about corrosion.

The cracks may allow the bolt holes to spread though. Put a head bolt into each with a long pile of washers on the bolt. Torque the bolt up to 65 ftlb and see if the thread holds, or has spread.

Cheers,
Harv

[Errol62]

I’ve still got a short motor sitting here but it’s a B stamp.


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[ardiesse]

Gentlemen,

Yes, one advantage of the grey motor is blind head bolt holes.  I was also wondering if heli-coiling the head bolt holes would help.  The easiest thing to do, on reflection, is bolt the head down onto the block without a gasket, and inspect the block for spreading when the "long" head bolts are torqued to spec.  Head stud sealant (the same as used on red motors) would definitely be a good idea if the block is still usable.  Otherwise it'll be the ex-Willunga FJ block, rebored.

Meanwhile -

I formed up a repair section for the driver's floor pan.



The photo doesn't show it too well, but the fold lines have to deviate from parallel near the cowl.  Otherwise the section doesn't fit.  And the day ended before I could weld it in, though.

Rob

[ardiesse]

I haven't yet welded in the repair piece I made a couple of weekends back.  I looked at the floor section I was going to weld it to, " 'ad a fink", and then cleaned it up with wire brush, MAP gas torch, wire brush again, and phosphoric acid.  There were a few pinholes, you see . . .



You can see the inevitable coming.  I was still thinking about welding the holes up shut.  No.  It's less trouble to fabricate a repair.  It's only parallel folds, and I've done a few of these.

So I made the repair.



The fun bit, as always, was guessing the locations of the spot-welds.  Easy where the metal wasn't rusted, but a bit harder where it was.  I've now cut the old piece out, and painted the "longeron" inside.  It wasn't rusted at all here.  Odd.

And I did a "postage stamp" repair where the drain holes rusted out.

Rob

[ardiesse]

The two sections welded in:



More fun to come.  Next is the channeled section that goes over the top of the no. 1 body crossmember.

Rob

[ardiesse]

Top-of-Number-1-Body-Crossmember Repair (Driver's Side) -



I still have to drill it for plug welds and paint the underside, but it's largely good to go.  Plus I cut the old section out and red-oxide-primer'd the inside of the crossmember.

Rob

[ardiesse]

No. 1 body crossmember boxed up on the driver's side:



The seam at the front was a worry.  Note to self: Clean the metal on the underside also.  Remnant body sealer underneath makes the arc misbehave big-time.  And a couple of small holes became thumbnail-size, so there's a couple of decent-size air-welds as well.

And I got out with an old cereal box too.  But that's best left for tomorrow.

Rob

[Errol62]

WFH Rob?

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[ardiesse]

Clay,

I wondered when someone was going to notice.  No, not WFH, but good honest leave, which I pretty much have to take now in order not to be "deemed" on leave.

And while the "Post Reply" window is open, here is the cereal-box pattern:



And, of course, the remaining repair section for the driver's floor pan.  I plug-welded the return at the right hand side of the toeboard to the cowl panel, as it was an easy matter to find and drill through the spot-welds from the outside.  There had been a farm-grade repair to the floor pan, with rough but very solid welds.  I removed it, but it's tricky welding onto a previous weld seam.  Welding left-handed didn't help either.  The new weld just didn't take as easily as with fresh sheet metal, and there's a "hedgehog" to clean off the other side.

And another thing - they tell you not to weld when it's raining.  Amen to that.

Rob

[Errol62]

I was quenching with a damp rag the other day. Pigskin tig gloves got damp fingers and I must have created a path to the earth which was under my left hand holding the mig tip. Got a nice little boot through my fingers. Lucky I had the juice down quite low.


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[ardiesse]

Wet skin decreases the body's resistance by a factor of a hundred or so.  Beware!

Meanwhile . . .

I thought I'd trial-fit the transmission tunnel cover.  It and the opening in the tunnel had been bent out of shape, so after adjusting the outlines and running a tap through the weld-nuts, the cover now fits.



There's going to be a lot more work like this coming.

Rob

[Rod]

Rob, I love getting my fix watching your builds. Your attention to detail with your sheet metal work is fantastic. I am not sure if I have mentioned it before but I recon you could be making some money through putting your progress into a Youtube Channel. I look forward in the work that is coming.

Cheers Rod

[ardiesse]

Today's effort was watching paint dry . . . after applying it to the front floors and transmission tunnel.

And I reconditioned the upper driver's door hinge.  It had all the usual problems which afflict Holden door hinges:  broken hold-open spring, hinge pin loose in the body, and badly worn hinge tongue.



I replaced the broken hold-open spring (and yes, setting the replacement rivets is a pain because you can't get a drift directly onto them.  To make the hinge pin hold in the housing, I centre-punched around the holes to shrink them.  And I filled the worn parts of the hinge tongue with weld, and dressed it back.

Meanwhile - Humpy Helpline (IV)(c): FJ engine rebuild (cont'd) -

The block's good for the bin.  The engine shop test-fitted a cylinder head, and all the bolts torqued up except one.  The ex-Willunga FJ motor is now a contender, but would need a rebore to 3-1/8".

Rob