Why Not King Pin

[EJ_Dave]

Glad to hear you are making progress. Thanks for sharing some of the problems you have encountered and how you have overcome them. Should be very useful for anyone else doing this conversion.

I just wanted to respond to a question earlier in the thread about the benefit of HR drag links compared with the originals. The HR drag links take a lot of play out of the steering because there are ball joints linking the drag link to the tie rods, pitman arm and idler arm. In the original these unions are spring loaded ball and cup arrangements that are not as inherently rigid. To change over you need the HR pitman arm as well as the drag link (probably idler arm too).

David

[mcl1959]

Sorry  I have been away for a while, yes calipers go to the back, spacers are required for calipers and steering arms.  You can use EH kingpins (this is what I did) as they already have the machining done on the back of the 2 top holes.
You now see what I mean about difficult to fit.
I will try most things, but I consider this one not worth the effort.

Regards  Ken

[Burnsy]

Thanks Ken, are you saying that even with the machined kingpins from a EJ/H you still would need to fit a spacer between the actual caliper body and the pad holding bit?  If so, what would you say to having the face of the adapter plate machined down about 1mm where the caliper mounts onto it to move the caliper out enough to eliminate the spacer?  This would allow new disk pads to be fitted without any spacers (a standard washer currently does the trick).

I have managed to eliminate spacers from the steering arms by using the EJ arm and taking about 1mm of the outer most section.

Cheers,
Mike

[JimmyMac]

Hello Nicko
I am pulling the front end out of my FC shortly.  It has a LH Torana f/e that was poorly done.  It will need some work to make it ok and then I will have to look at steering etc.  I am curious whether the HR front end you mentioned would be an easy fit for a novice and less work than what I have got now?  If this is the case I would be interested in the front end you have.  I am at Morayfield, south of Caboolture. I am just finishing a HR rear end to go under the FC and slowly getting some bits and pieces together.  Any advice would be appreciated.

JimmyMac

[nicko]

hi,the front end we have is well done all you have to do is cut off engine mounts and move them to where your engine mounts need to be,you would be able to change the discs ,callipers and axles in to it and your nearly there,depends on whats wrong with yours as to wether its worth swapping,do you have some photo's of bad spots you can email to me .so you and i can work out wether mine is a better propersition.
reguards Nick
p.s bolting in new front end is an easy job.

[blacky]

G`day Burnsy, this is probably way too late to be of any help but may be handy for future reference,but front discs and calipers from a 4 cylinder commodore can be handy for early model swaps. They will fit behind a 13 inch rim and are the same stud pattern as proper holdens.

[JimmyMac]

Hey Nick - Won't be able to get pics until the weekend. Do you have an email address to send to?   I do know that the front bar on the steering rack has been cut and welded, and looks ugly - probably illegal?
JimmyMac

[nicko]

see the little icons on lower left of my replies? hold mouse over them and you will see one is (instant message)and the middle one is (email),you will find this on most peoples posts unless they wish to remain private

[mcl1959]

Burnsy yes that's right, the only advantage of the EH king pin is the machining on the back.
I don't see a problem with taking 1 mm off the plate.

Ken

[davids_ute]

hi guys, on talking about brake changes is there anybody who can tell me of a successful brake booster option other than the remote unit.
i thiought maybe a gemini or something like that would work  

[blacky]

A bloke from the FB-EK club told me that a booster from a Datsun 180B (apologies for using bad language ) will do the trick . I suppose they had to be put on this earth for a reason.

[Spinner]

At the last NSW AHD, I saw an EK with a small master vac setup.  The master was a twin circuit job.  The booster is about 6" diameter.  The assembly was mounted to the firewall in the master cylinder's location, no spacers and cleared the bonnet hinges.  Remember, this is on an EK, where the hinges are closer to the vehicle's centre line.

After finding the bloke who owned it, he told me that the assembly comes off a Mitsubishi Lancer , old style, that were initially marketed as Chrysler Lancers.  It has the same bore & stroke as the Torana master cylinder.  It might be worth looking at.


Spinner