Benny's EK wagon

[Rusty EK]

Amazing work , you are very talented at what you do , but

Today everyday people think thet are capable of everything from home renivations to car restorations

What is wrong with that ? Its called having a go

[searsy]

Amazing work , you are very talented at what you do , but

Today everyday people think thet are capable of everything from home renivations to car restorations

What is wrong with that ? Its called having a go

x2 Not all have the time or patiance to go to this extent.
Got to say love your work though

[Mick]

Amazing work , you are very talented at what you do , but

Today everyday people think thet are capable of everything from home renivations to car restorations

What is wrong with that ? Its called having a go

yes i know back yarders that can and have done just as good a job and know plenty of trades people that would be lucky to do half the job, infact i'm sure i could do as good a job IF and it's a VERY big IF i had pateiance which i have less and less of every day
back yarders have a go because they can't afford to pay people, and i'm not saying it's to much or a rip off just that it must be alot, and good on you if you can afford to have this type of job done i know if i could afford to have it done i would

[Mick Jagger]

Wow,thats an amazing amount of work to do ,and done superbly,not like
my "tidy up" ,but Ill have a go,funds and hours pending
of which both i have little
Ill shudder if I see a proper restoration,bloody restorers

Bennys a lucky bastard,good on em
ill drop mine down next week......

[Smooth customs]

Amazing work , you are very talented at what you do , but

Today everyday people think thet are capable of everything from home renivations to car restorations

What is wrong with that ? Its called having a go

yes i know back yarders that can and have done just as good a job and know plenty of trades people that would be lucky to do half the job, infact i'm sure i could do as good a job IF and it's a VERY big IF i had pateiance which i have less and less of every day
back yarders have a go because they can't afford to pay people, and i'm not saying it's to much or a rip off just that it must be alot, and good on you if you can afford to have this type of job done i know if i could afford to have it done i would

Trust me, I have nothing against Home built cars ( I built my first few cars in my parents yard and tiny gargage) and I know some home builders that are far better than recognised profesionals.
But dealing with dreamers and internet informed experts day in and out. It does get under your skin.
Only one in a thousand gunnas will achieve what they set out to do but all the others will not admit their limitations even when they stuff up badly.
You could not even imagine the things I have seen or have had to repair or through away because of people like this


Now lets look at from another point of view
Imagine if someone came along to one of you out there with no training or qualifications in your field of work that you work hard at and are proud of what you do and procedded to tell you how it should be done.

A little bit of knowledge can be extremly dangerious, till you learn how to use it properly
as I mentioned earlier, I have almost 40 years in the motor industry and am still learning things.

[Mick Jagger]

share your knowledge,were all ears,or eyes..

[Mick]

Now lets look at from another point of view
Imagine if someone came along to one of you out there with no training or qualifications in your field of work that you work hard at and are proud of what you do and procedded to tell you how it should be done.

yes i've seen it at mates workshops, people coming in and telling them how to do this or that i allways wonder why they just don't reply with, well why the f#%k did you bring it to me to fix
the other good one is forums they ask the say a mechanic how it should be fixed then proceed to tell him he's wrong cause joe bloe on the such and such forum told him to do it this way another well why the f#%k are you asking me

[Smooth customs]

Enough of who is better than who, and lets get back to what is important.
Looking at cars.

When the wagon arrived it had been upgraded over the years with the addition of a heater and two accessory underdash gauges.
All were a little worn and in need of rebuilding or going to the bin.
The Heater was interesting as was the plumbing. But most old cars have interesting pipework where heaters are concerned. Hot water was controlled by a tap at the front of the motor that had to be turned on with the bonnet open. The pipes from the heater were a combination of copper and garden hose! Australian enginunity, use whatever is available.
The gauges were buggered.

With the heater I made up all new SS tubing where needed, and a special fitting for the head that sopplied water to the heated and a position for the sender on the temp gauge.
An in line tap was fitted with an underdash cable to open and close it.
Two new 60's looking gauges were purchased, and a period SS Gauge bracket was fabricated. Between the gauges I fitted a metal switch and light for the motor on the heater.

[Devilrod]

Now lets look at from another point of view
Imagine if someone came along to one of you out there with no training or qualifications in your field of work that you work hard at and are proud of what you do and procedded to tell you how it should be done.

A little bit of knowledge can be extremly dangerious, till you learn how to use it properly
as I mentioned earlier, I have almost 40 years in the motor industry and am still learning things.

Oooh I hear you on that one Paul! Surveying is suffering from it too due to people thinking they can do what we do just with a hand held GPS unit.... Or worse tape measure. Tradesman are a dying breed unfortunately. I'd gladly pay for work of this quality especially if financially I could.

Please keep posting, this is great stuff.

[Smooth customs]

Now lets look at from another point of view
Imagine if someone came along to one of you out there with no training or qualifications in your field of work that you work hard at and are proud of what you do and procedded to tell you how it should be done.

A little bit of knowledge can be extremly dangerious, till you learn how to use it properly
as I mentioned earlier, I have almost 40 years in the motor industry and am still learning things.

Oooh I hear you on that one Paul! Surveying is suffering from it too due to people thinking they can do what we do just with a hand held GPS unit.... Or worse tape measure. Tradesman are a dying breed unfortunately. I'd gladly pay for work of this quality especially if financially I could.

Please keep posting, this is great stuff.

you can have that job
trapsing through long grass looking out for snakes, mud and wet areas with bugs that want to eat you!

[simmo65]

Fantastic work Smooth. Like others have said, its like a brand new Ek!

My tidy up consists of throwing out the take away wrappers and a vacuum!

[Sputzwagon]

.Hot water was controlled by a tap at the front of the motor that had to be turned on with the bonnet open.

just reminded me to stick a cable on my heater tap

Bloody perfectionists..always making me feel quite..er..inadequate!

Scotty.

[Smooth customs]

.Hot water was controlled by a tap at the front of the motor that had to be turned on with the bonnet open.

just reminded me to stick a cable on my heater tap

Bloody perfectionists..always making me feel quite..er..inadequate!

Scotty.

Do you want me to send a cable down to you

[Sputzwagon]

Do you want me to send a cable down to you

Nah mate..I have one here ...somewhere?....I'm just too slack about getting around to it!

Scotty.

[Smooth customs]

Ben wanted a sunvisor for the wagon, and MEZ found me one. It had been sandblasted, including the alloy edging and was missing the SS end covers.
Ben found one in his travels but there was a big piece missing out of the aloy front edge and had the SS end caps.
Having tried to remove and refit the alloy strip previously with not a 100% success in the refitting I decided to use the sandblasted one and the pieces from the second.

The already heavily blasted alloy edgeing was masked up and the unit was sent off to be blasted again. It was then epoxy primed. And then the work started to return the alloy edge to a much nicer condition.
Starting with coarse abrasive papers and working my way down the grades to the finner ones till all the pitting was not visable. Then a good polishing to return the lost shine.
The rest of the visor was repaired and prepared for paint along with the roof supports.
the underside was painted in a semi gloss green similar to their original colour. This colour varied from different states and suppliers
Nut serts were fitted to the roof and front pillars and new rubber gaskets were cut
a small amount of mastic was applied before fitting and final tightenging down.