Ol' Rusty - FB/EK Sedan

[EK283]

Your doing a great job Scott,

I imagine at this stage you are real keen because the end is near, or just fed up !!!!

Those stretcher/shrinkers are awesome, I must get one.

Greg

[funkyscooter]

Wish the end was near Greg! Still feel like there is a fair bit to do and haven't stripped the doors yet so might be a surprise or two there.
My tip for the stretcher / shrinker is not to buy the package with one of each, but buy two of the body that comes with both types of jaws. Works out to be the same price and you have spare jaws. I think the foot pedal stand would make it even better but you get pretty good control with the hand lever.

[funkyscooter]

In a classic, here is one I prepared earlier, did a quick test fit of the pre prepared section.

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Used a bit of 10mm square, and some flatten out copper wire to create a 11mm gap. Clamped with a decent bit of overlap to try and give me a bit of metal to weld into. Tack, check, tack etc.

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Test fit, managed to control any warpage. Sill haven't cut the old metal fully away at this point, but have been mentally factoring in the extra 1mm.

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In all it g(l)ory, here is the first pass fully welded. Didn't dress down the initial tacks as I didn't want to lose the extra lip of metal.

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Flip side - not good penetration. Totally forgot that the last time I did this I had the MIG turned up and wire speed flat out

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So ground it all down and did it again. This time, with the lip gone, I welded straight into the joint at a 45 degree angle. Zap, hot red glow dulls, zap, red dulls, zap, red dulls..... pretty much a 3:2 waltz.

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Penetration way better.

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Cleaned up the welds on the outside, trimmed, scribed and trimmed some more, then tacked in.

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[funkyscooter]

Then a bunch of welding and grinding. Two low spots but no pin holes, filled them with weld and dressed the lot, along with plug welding the support on.

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Not sure how I'm going to tidy up these little rust magnets - leave for another day.

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Two corners down, two to go.

[funkyscooter]

Also got some goodies in the mail. These are the cheap stainless braided door loom I mentioned over on Taz's build.

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Also got an "one touch up/down window control", which I might use with the universal power window kit I ordered. Still waiting on that to ship from the States.

[Errol62]

Impressive mate. Did you find any lead?

Spray a black guide coat on those hillocks and hit with a fresh square garnet wheel on the 18v grinder would be my plan, at least for straight sections. Get very clean and work in and smear some fine finish filler is another possibility.


FB ute fixer upper, EK van on rotisserie

[FbSTDwagon]

Nice job mate, certainly a difficult piece to make and you did well!

[funkyscooter]

Impressive mate. Did you find any lead?

Spray a black guide coat on those hillocks and hit with a fresh square garnet wheel on the 18v grinder would be my plan, at least for straight sections. Get very clean and work in and smear some fine finish filler is another possibility.

Hey Clay, in the last pic you can see the blob of melted lead in the corner. Hit the join with the mapp torch to clear it out to get a decent weld.
Good tip with the guide coat and wheel. That corner is going to be a bugger though. Die grinder might be another possibility but it can make a mess of things quickly if it gets away from you in tight spaces.

[funkyscooter]

So sorted out the blobs of weld - 5 thin dremel disks sandwiched together. Worked out okay - went through 30 disks to get it done but made grinding the tight bend a breeze.

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[Errol62]

Ingenious

Sent from my SM-G781B using Tapatalk

[funkyscooter]

Bored with metal and can't keep putting off the things that need to be done, so today I decided to strip down the steering box.
I guess (as I can never make a decision until forced to) the plan is ....
Buy a 28in collapsible column and what ever bits needed to mount under dash
Shorten the steering shaft on a good steering box
Machine shaft and join with double D uni joint

So first, discover if mine is a good box.
Ground and drilled out rivets on outer shaft - figured I won't need it.
Pulled the steering shaft out, and with it came the remains of the top worm thrust bearing minus most balls. The steering was always a bit rough, and now I know why.

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I don't remember doing it , but looks like the gear worm adjuster was tightened up too much in an effort to reduce free play in the steering. Sounds like something I would have done.
Pulled the pitman shaft and not much wear at all. In fact I don't feel any play in the shaft. The faces of the gear are smooth and not worn. Same with the worm gear.
So looks like it might be a good box, shame about the pitting on the steering shaft.

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Moving forward seems a bit silly not to get the major overhaul kit for peace of mind.
But feel free to talk me down off the ledge before I add it to my Rare Spares cart

[Errol62]

Rebuilt box done for me by Roger Hancock has given my utes steering good precision. Before that it was dubious. Any pitting whatsoever in the nut and worm shaft can be problematic, so the new bits seem justified. I reckon maintaining original steering geometry is a big bonus vs rack and pinion when you don’t need the clearance.


FB ute fixer upper, EK van on rotisserie

[ardiesse]

Scott,

Because the damage is limited to the thrust bearing faces on the worm shaft, it can be repaired. Or, I should say, it used to be repairable . . . in the '90s, which was when I had it done.

Go talk to Diamond hard-chrome at Cosgrove Rd, Enfield and see what they say. Or they may be able to point you in the right direction.

That's an HR column!

Rob

[Errol62]

HR are slightly slower ratio which isn't a bad thing with bigger rubber.

Sent from my SM-G781B using Tapatalk

[funkyscooter]

I reckon maintaining original steering geometry is a big bonus vs rack and pinion when you don’t need the clearance.

Yeah, it worked before so going to stick with it. Would have like the power steering - but not enough to go through with hassle.

Go talk to Diamond hard-chrome at Cosgrove Rd, Enfield and see what they say. Or they may be able to point you in the right direction.

That's an HR column!

Thanks for the info Rob - I'll give them a call. And thanks for letting me know it's a HR column. That might explain the bottom mounting hole on the steering box - looks like the hole was plugged and re drilled.