FCCOOL KUSTOM WAGON REBUILD for Mt Gambier?

[graham_fuller]

Hey Leon,
Don't give it away just put it away for a while. You've come so far from when you first started.Rome wasn't built in a day mate you'll get there.
Cheers,
Graham

[fccool59]

thanks for the motorvation guys, I have had a crappy week but I am back in buisiness again, it was supposed to be a week of getting the car closer to finished but I seemed to have just wasted my holidays, after a crap begining to the week, tempataion to call the scrap metal people and nearly losing the family I dragged myself back out to the rusty pos and spent the day cleaning it back up, there is so much to be done that when I start in the morning now I spend 3 hours and 20 cigarettes working out were to start. the too hard basket is overfilling and the amount of money needed to finish it seems to go up and up everyday.
I guess half the users of this forum have been through it all before and if I ever do finish this thing it my pay off after a while once ive forgotten what a pain in the but this thing was to build.
At the moment I am trying to get all the panels to fit, bigest problem at the moment is the front passenger door that wont go forward enough to completely shut, has big holes in the top hinge witch may have previously been drilled out but still cant get enough forward movement, I made alot of the area around the top hige by hand as well as cuting the a pillar at the bottom of the windscreen so I hope I have stuck it together properly.
here is some pics, through the week off with basicly no progress

[HARKO]

 I find it amazing that now when you can see the car , You loose motivation

I was told by a very well respected personality and family freind once that Anticipation is the key to success .
Maybe use the theory leon and seal the doors before fitting them so if it rains you havent created more work .

Looking up and out of a situation is way better than looking at it all around you .

Geez Ive got a lot of wisdom for my age  
I bet you dont reply to this comment  

[TAYZ]

Leon,
          I got first dibs on the twin head light guards!!!!!!  Just kidding , get the bloody thing finished so i got someone to cruize with at a few hot rod shows.  I cant wait to see the finished product, will be a real kustom, now get it finished

                                                                       tayz

[GOA350]

Leon
        take this from someone who has been through it, look at each task as it presents itself and do it to the best of your ability then it will take no time to do. Time dosn't matter because when it's finished there's plenty of time to reflect. Good things come to those who wait.

[GOA350]

sorry Leon i just read my post and it sounds like you have no ability, but its not what i meant. I meant that things just fall into place once the small jobs start getting done. Mate I can't wait to see this old girl on the road so we can criuse together,
                          Cheers Scott

[fe hotrod]

 ;)Leon,must say it looks pretty kool!!maybe instead of going hammer and tongs trying to get the wagon done,spend a whole day re-organising stuff and just cleaning up,as a tidy workplace will make it easyer to see the end result!!and make you happier to go out and do some real work,i find if im not organised it takes for ever to find stuff which makes a small job take for ever!!and i loose motervation real quick....stick with it dude it looks real good the work youve done so far!! ;)cheers jamie

[minifcvan]

And Leon,
               Remember the GOLDEN rule.... when youve had enough and want to through it in go to the fridge and grab a beer or six then try again..... :PCheers mark.   Hmmmm maybe thats why i dont get much done on the van

[Blown_FC]

Leon...if you need any inspiration, there are two Super Golden Rules:

- Don't look at other peoples finished jobs..it just depresses you how much more you have to do on your own, whilst they are all smiles cruising around in their finished rides.

- Look back at YOUR old photos, and just think how much you have already done, and how far you have come.  You'll surprise yourself how much you have done and what the car used to look like.

I'm 4 years plus into my build, and still not finished, and although I like to look at other peoples finsihed cars, I always got down thinking about how much more I had to do ( and still have to do ).

But every time I look back at old photos of my car, It never ceases to amaze me how far I've come.

You have done a huge job and you are probably more inspiration to a lot of us than we are to you.

Keep at it mate......you'll get there !

Mark

[fccool59]

here is a update, over the weekend I ended up getting nothing done, I had to go out for materials on saturday morning, bad timing as craig wilson and Ed Ho both turned up  but Ed left me some bits and instructions that should provide all the info I could need for the door buttons.
Strange thing I noticed is my cats can piss upwards, I dont know if they lay on their back to do it but they actually piss up on the floor under the car wich sits pretty high, I dont know if all cats can do it or if our cat is specail but here is a pic of piss on the floor under the car.


Anyway, Sunday came and I had planned to get some paint on some bits to get this thing closer to rolling but it was a little breezy, the wind kind of kept getting worse and then the carport blew to peices, remains of its bones were banging all over the car, at one stage while hanging on it nearly picked me up but then it just ripped the part of I was holding, now its a pile of ripped tarp and snaped poles.


Well the rest of the day was spent trying to buy a new carport but everywere I went didnt sell them anymore, with bunnings being the only place open after hours of running around I ended up buying a tarp.
On monday we got a new letter from the council, I thought them guys must have died becuase I havent heard from them in ages but they are obviuosly still around. this time it says its a first complaint so I must have had my slate cleaned, yipee.



my wife rang up to ask about it, now I am to scared to use the grinder when it starts getting dark becuase I know the police will be called but this nice old gentleman next door is telling the council that I am grinding after 9pm, I think he needs to re-adjust his clock buy 4 or 5 hours, gotta love sydney.
I am having a break this long weekend, heading of to my mates place in orange, I wont be completely away from this stuff as he also is building a custom FC wagon.

[craiga]

Leon,

Here is the answer to your problems:

Step 1 - shoot and kill all cats in your neighbourhood (Alex will support this move, and supply bullets if required.)

Step 2 - 'discuss' remaining issues with your neighbour (Ben Wall can help)

Step 3 - vote for car supportive reps in your next council election (call Liberal party for assistance)

Step 4 - insure your car with Shannons

Step 5 - buy a 5 litre can of petrol

Step 6 - USE YOUR IMAGINATION :-)

Just joking mate, keep at it because EVERYONE can't wait to see this thing finished.

Cheers,

Craig.

[NES304]

or get a stop watch and turn the grinder on ALL DAY between allocated hours

What were the hours anyway?

My neighbours come round and give me a hand if I'm up late..... different area I suppose

[GMH-O57(FLASH BACK 57)]

leon the other week end we was there your car was looking awsome cant wait  to see this thing built

[JB]

Had a builder that I knew do something similar... He was building a set of townhouses and the neighbour across the road protested every step of the way for any approval on these units. Eventually he got a similar letter stating the allowed times for the use of generators. So next morning at 7am on the nose 12 generators were started up at the front of the units and promptly shut down at 5pm. I think this happened for about a week to get the point across. End result, not too much more complaints from across the road.  

[customFC]

Hey Leon.
I think you need to attach some ropes to the jack stands, with the other end to a winch. Next time the cat is pissing under the car, hit the start button on the winch.....problem solved. I think cat blood is less corosive than cat piss.
Can you move all work using the grinder closer to the neighbours fence?
Regards
Alex

[fccool59]

looks like I had a few more things to add to the re do list, the motor has to come back apart so I can take the crank to have the end drilled and threaded, I thought I could do this with the crank in but aparently its to risky to drill freehand.
I also found out the spot putty I have been using is not really compatible with the 2k primer, I cant remember were I put it but I have used a fair bit so it looks like I will be doing a fair bit of rubbing back.
I just looked at my old crank and it has the hole drilled and taped, I thought this was only done to supercharged motors but it must have just been a common modification. It would have been nice if the engine shop said something before, after all they have done work on every supercharged holden six i have seen at eastern creek.

[fccool59]

I couldnt believe it, I had everything I wanted to paint preped and ready by 11:30am, it was a dead still nice warm morning and it all seemed to good to be true, I went inside for a bathurst update and a bite to eat, came out, gathered my tins and gun, ran the compresser through a cycle to drain it and then woosh, a sudden change to gail force winds, I had checked the weather earlier and it said 7 knots but I forgot to scroll down to the bit were it said it would change to 33 knots at midday, my boat nearly blew out the driveway into the road, and the tarp freed itself from the ropes holding it to the car and some new sheets of sandpaper found a new address.
I waited for a few hours and thought stuff it, paints going on. My silver parts sprayed up nice with the parklea markets gun but under the car I used a supercheap 2.mm suction feed gun wich is a heep of s%^t, never use a super works gun,, I know the 2.0 is too big for 2k colour but its all I had that I could get uder the car with, the size isnt the problem, this gun has never been able to spray out a consistant flow of paint and uses about 20 times more paint than the $100 parklea markets gun. end result was lots of missed spots and runs just trying to do touch ups and no 2k white left. any way you are supossed to keep it above 20 degrees for 24 hours for it to cure but I just went outside and its raining.
Anyway, although my previuos experiences with por 15 were not very good I have given the por 15 alloy wheel resto kit a go on some of my alloy bits, I used it at night after a quick sand and polish with the included autosol tube, cleaned and treated it with the supplied chemicals, mixed the clear/hardner/solvent and brushed it on, it was very easy to use, I applied it with the supplied brushes and it had a few strokes and slight sags but the next day it was all dead flat but not fully cured, after a couple of days it finally cured and its pretty hard to tell it has a clear coat over the polished alloy and there is no evidence at all of brush marks, hope this holds upto heat and chemicals.
A tip for next time, dont mix too much up as it seems to go a long way and ofcourse being two part you can not return the un used stuff back to the tin, I had to scrap most of what I mixed up.

[craiga]

Hi Leon,

I drilled and tapped my crank snout with the crank in the engine without any issues. My balancer is a ROMAC and came with the correct length bolt/thread. You will need a sharp drill, and a blind tap to suit the thread.

I only tapped a small distance at a time before cleaning out swarf and relubricating area. Everything worked fine.

I agree it would be better out of the engine but it worked for me.

Cheers,

Craig.

[fccool59]

 Hey Craig, I spoke to Jeff Ramsey Who does alot of the fabrication for supercharged cars and he said he doesnt drill stuff freehand, I cant really see why you couldnt, did it say anything in your fitting instructions about drilling the hole?
I asume you would need a pretty good tap to cut a thread in a crank, did you need a fancy drill bit or tap, the guy at ross engineering sugested a arp/chev bolt but I cant remember the size.

[fccool59]

sorry, just read it again, I think you answered my question.