Found Object

[ardiesse]

And here is the rear axle hump, with hedgehogs removed and some paint applied, ready for the rear shock crossmember to be welded in place:



Rob

[ardiesse]

Aa-and -  Here's the rear shock crossmember, welded in place:



It almost looks original.  Enough so it won't attract attention, come blue-slip time.

I discovered (because of rain) that I can work in the carport with the body shell raised enough so I can get underneath it.  As long as I don't try to rotate the shell.  Don't want crease marks in the roof.

Rob

[Errol62]

Nice work Rob!


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[Harv]

Aa-and -  Here's the rear shock crossmember, welded in place:

It almost looks original.

Now all we need to do is work out which rumour to nurture, ready for when someone finds this in 30 years. 
Premier prototype?
Factory preparations for the Armstrong 500?
Gelignite Jack's work for the Ampol Round Australia Trial?
Repco upgrade as part of the crossflow head offerings?
Warren Armour's modification for Castlereigh?

Cheers,
Harv

[ardiesse]

Factory preparation for the Armstrong 500, or perhaps Jack Davey's work for a round-Australia trial(*) sound plausible, but my favourite would have to be Repco upgrade.  Wasn't it Lou Kingsley who had a Repco-headed FE, and used to tow his caravan between meetings with his race car? (**)

Finding a Repco head might be a challenge, though.  For the moment I'll be satisfied with a 3-3/16"-bore motor, worked-up Holden head, twin Strombergs, headers and some work in the camshaft department . . .

* "Dust and Glory" by Evan Green.  A retelling of the Australian section of the 1968 London-Sydney marathon, but set in the late 50s.

** Rumour has it that Lou, for laughs, used to take his FE to an unsuspecting garage, whereupon the young apprentice mechanic would say,"it's not idling that well," take the car for a blat down the road and come back ashen-faced.

Rob

[Brett027]

Have you got a motor in mind Rob?

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[Harv]

Factory preparation for the Armstrong 500, or perhaps Jack Davey's work for a round-Australia trial(*) sound plausible, but my favourite would have to be Repco upgrade.  Wasn't it Lou Kingsley who had a Repco-headed FE, and used to tow his caravan between meetings with his race car?

I think Lou’s crossflow tow car was an FC wagon.

Hunting down a Repco head and then prepping it for abuse has given me one heck of an education in patience.

Cheers,
Harv

[ardiesse]

Brett,

Down in the dungeon I have a well-used Repco Special Sports 3-3/16"-bore B-series motor which I got from Stan Bennett.  It might have been his speedway car tow vehicle's motor.  The head's been ported and had red motor valves fitted.  It could do with new valves, guides, rings, bearings and a balance (I have a lightened flywheel to suit) plus a reground cam, as I think it's running a stock cam at the moment.  It'll give me something to play with.

Rob

[Brett027]

Sounds like you have it well covered Rob. I am starting to feel the need to move my EK engine on which has everything you are thinking about.

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[ardiesse]

Brett,

Buying your motor would be the sensible option, but I like the idea of building something up out of discarded parts.

Rob

[ardiesse]

Distraction, or, Life With Old Vehicles -

It's yearly inspection time for my Humpy.  The last few years I've been pleasantly surprised that the garage hasn't failed it for the exhaust system.  This year, with registration on the point of expiry, I decided to do something about it.

Any normal person would have replaced the entire system.

The muffler-to-tailpipe join was, shall we say, lacking in places.  I estimated how much needed to be cut out of both, cut a piece of 1.2 sheet to length, converted 1-3/4" to proper units, multiplied by 3.1, cut the piece to width, bent it into a cylinder, realised it should be 134 mm, not 154 mm, and cut the offending 20 mm out.  I sliced the pipe off the muffler at a welded seam, tacked the homemade pipe on, tacked the remains of the tailpipe on, and trial-fitted the muffler in the car.  So far,so good.  I welded the pieces together.  Now the tailpipe is probably the 1950 factory original, so it is very thin.  And that's where it has no holes.  Which I fixed with sheet and my best air-welds.

The exhaust pipe needed a couple of postage-stamp repairs, as did the muffler.  Easy in comparison.

And then last night, about sunset, I fitted the system, with clamps in place and finger tight - and -

Vertigo.  I am not as good at working under cars as I used to be.  Fortunately this afternoon, moving slowly and deliberately, I tightened all the nuts up, and pronounced my emergency repairs successful.

They'll probably last five years or more.

Rob

[Rod]

Rob,

I continue to be inspired by your skills and your repairs. Reminds me when I was a young fella having a "hotted up" XB Falcon. The exhaust leaks made it sound better than what it was. Nothing like some tin moulded to the contour of the pipe, some mufler putty and some hose clamps. The repairs would outlast the rest of the pipe, which would fall apart arount it.

I look forward in following future updates on your current project.

Cheers Rod

[zulu]

That's uncanny Rob, I've had similar issues and the repair piece was more or less the same size 



But no doubt your repair will outlive mine, love your work

[Maco]

Now that is thinking outside the square Gary.

[ardiesse]

Tidying up the rear wheel arches . . .

I "unlipped" the rear wheel arches, because I'm not going to run wide wheels, and with the lips bent up, it provided a trap for mud, which is the perfect home for rust.  But the wheel arch lips also had a series of chisel cuts in them, presumably to aid in folding the lips over.

I don't know about you(se), but whenever I get up from doing work on the rear brakes (say), I pull myself up by hanging onto the rear wheel arch.  Which, on this car, is a bit fraught because of the sharp edges.  So I welded the chisel cuts up as best I could, then dressed the welds down and applied a lick of paint.  Here's the LHR wheel arch:



I "unlipped" the RHR wheel arch and welded the chisel cuts also, but I need to take to the wheel arch with a new strip'n'clean disc.  And decent breathing protection.

Rob

[ardiesse]

We've got into one of these seven-day weather cycles, where the working days are fine and the weekends are wet . . .

But today I found a motor body trimmer who

(i) is fairly close by,
(ii) has a clean shop,
(iii) is happy to repair what of Found Object's interior can be repaired, and
(iv) can start in a couple of weeks.

That's one major motivational barrier overcome.  I'll start off with the back seat squab and cushion first.

Rob

[Rod]

Hi Rob,

I know what you mean by the interior being a motivational barrier. I couldn't find a trimmer that was willing to repair the horizonal part of my front seat where the wire attachments points had rusted and rotted the calico part of the seat. Secondly I had some of the pleats let go and they said it was too difficult to do. This back and forth with trimmers zapped my motivation and held my current project up because I felt this could be repaired and I was not willing to have my entire interior replaced because of this.

I found an old school trimmer in another town who was willing to replace the calico attachment points with more sturdy material but was reluctant to have a go at the pleats with his machine as it would weaken the vinyl because more holes would be made. When I got the covers back, he was able to repair a couple of the pleats very well but couldn't get access to the others. Not to be outdone, I spent a few hours hand sewing the other let go pleats ensuring I used the old holes and not to make new ones. I was happy with the end result and now the interior doesn't look out of place.

Knowing that someone is willing to do the repairs will now reenvigourate in moving forward. Keep up the great work. I know you inspire others in sharing your journey.

Cheers Rod

[ardiesse]

Back seat cushion and squab delivered to the trimmer today.
- Repair of the back seat covers was a forlorn hope.  Too much sun since 1959.  It's now going to be a complete re-trim (and we chose a suitable shade of red).  Which amuses me.  A ratty with a sparkling new interior.
- I pointed out the rusted frame wire at the bottom of the squab.  No problem.  It'll be replaced.  The trimmer says he's worked with way worse.
- The back seat will be re-done by the end of July, and then I'll swap it for the front seat.

Rob

[Jolls]

Ratty outside - comfy  inside  - nothing wrong with that approach.

[blacky]

 Are you going with original style material ? There is  a bloke bringing in a lot of very good quality reproduction material for old Holdens now and he also has the molds for the pressing of the welded lines