Building my dream EK Wagon...

[EKV8WAGON]

My mate thats doing alot of the fabrication on the car spoke to the engineer & said it is all good for rego.The wheel arches are very mild,more high than wide,just to get the car as low as possible,still remains as leaf spring,not 4 link.Hope his right because I want a street car,not just a drag car.I don`t really want to get into rego/engineer stuff as I`m not dealing with the engineer,my mate is & I will leave it as that...Enjoy the build fellas

[SC00BB]

My mate thats doing alot of the fabrication on the car spoke to the engineer & said it is all good for rego.The wheel arches are very mild,more high than wide,just to get the car as low as possible,still remains as leaf spring,not 4 link.Hope his right because I want a street car,not just a drag car.I don`t really want to get into rego/engineer stuff as I`m not dealing with the engineer,my mate is & I will leave it as that...Enjoy the build fellas

I was wondering how it was going as well (I would of loved a set of tubs on mine but was told I couldn't do it)
But it's a credit to you and your mate this is going to be one wicked wagon
I hope your mate is right as I want to see this thing on the road

[kiid61]

How are you setting up the leafs man?

You'll end up 4 linking it if you want her that low...... Trust me

[EKV8WAGON]

How are you setting up the leafs man?

You'll end up 4 linking it if you want her that low...... Trust me

The leafs have been reset to be virtually straight,the shakles have been welded into place to suit length of leaf of course.
I do want it to sit as low as possible,not as low as yours,we`ll see once the wheels are under it and rolling...
By the way,your build is awsome,super low & coool...

[Smooth customs]

*Thanks SCOOBB,I can`t wait to see this thing finished,but as you would know,-TIME & MONEY...Your car is AWESOME,looks like your just about there...
*ek amigo,can`t really answer your questions until the front end is complete & fitted.They tell me that the P76 rotor is set in so it gives me more turning room for my tyres as I want it to sit low.I`m still deciding what R&P to use.Crossing my fingers,hoping nothing scrubs when fitted...

Five years to think about what you are going to do and this is the way you view the front suspension steering and brakes?
Your mate the fabricator spoke to and engineer who said the mods are ok! And you are leaving this part of the car to your mate
what will you do when you try to get the car engineered and registered and you are confronted with there is no way this thing will get registered and all you have is "My mate said the engineer said it was ok when we were building it"
I have seen this happen to many times


I will offer you some really good advice
STOP EVERYTHING YOU ARE DOING NOW
Get the engineer out to look at the car and all the work that has been done so far
Then get him to put in writing what he requires in every aspect of the build of this car and that he will garentee that it will get registration when finished.This is something that you should have done before any work was started. And as the owner of the car and the person paying for everything its your responsability. If the wagon was in a recognised buisness this part is sometimes organised by them but you still need to be involved
Depending on what he sees and says once he is there will govern how you proceed
Make arrangements for progress inspections so he can keep track of what is being done, and any changes that may need to be made then not later
Once you have all the proper paperwork, then you start back into the job

[Mick]

different engineers have different views and interpretations of the "guidlines"
does anybody remember oldnek off here go look at his thread when i first saw that based on anything any engineer had ever told me that would not pass but he was there to prove what i'de been told wrong
a mate has an LJ torana when he first built it he could not get an engineer to sign off on anything bigger than a naturally aspirated 253, so he does what most do put a 253 No on a 383 stroker that blew up and he fitted a turboed 5.7 gen111, and just trailered it with the occasional street use he then got in contact with an engineer that said he would sign off on the turboed 5.7 which was done ALL LEGAL

so all the people saying IT CAN'T BE DONE well there's 2 cars above that were "can't be dones" aswell both with full engineers and LEGAL NSW rego
so if he says he has an engineer why can't you'se leave it at that, there's only 1 person that suffers IF he can't get it regoed

for the record i was sceptical but as above doesn't affect me and also as above you got to find the right person, it's allso a big worry with the engineering signatories changing hope yor engineer is one in the new system

cool car good luck with it

[searsy]

I too love where you are going with this build but for peace of mind get the engineer out then you know exactly where you stand.
There is no way on earth my engineer would pass any modifications to the original frame,mini tubs yes as i have ,full tubs no way.
For your sake I hope your engineer inturperates the rules differantly.good luck

Tony

[Smooth customs]

different engineers have different views and interpretations of the "guidlines"
does anybody remember oldnek off here go look at his thread when i first saw that based on anything any engineer had ever told me that would not pass but he was there to prove what i'de been told wrong
a mate has an LJ torana when he first built it he could not get an engineer to sign off on anything bigger than a naturally aspirated 253, so he does what most do put a 253 No on a 383 stroker that blew up and he fitted a turboed 5.7 gen111, and just trailered it with the occasional street use he then got in contact with an engineer that said he would sign off on the turboed 5.7 which was done ALL LEGAL

so all the people saying IT CAN'T BE DONE well there's 2 cars above that were "can't be dones" aswell both with full engineers and LEGAL NSW rego
so if he says he has an engineer why can't you'se leave it at that, there's only 1 person that suffers IF he can't get it regoed

for the record i was sceptical but as above doesn't affect me and also as above you got to find the right person, it's allso a big worry with the engineering signatories changing hope yor engineer is one in the new system

cool car good luck with it

I never made the comment that the mods being made could not be engineered, but it seems nothing more than a conversation with an engineers has been made and possibly not before the building process was started.
And I have one other question, has the owner ever driven a car built like this???
People post here and ask questions, but it seems that if you dont pat them on the back and tell them how good they are and how great there car is you are putting them down by pointing out things that need attention or expressing concern at other areas that could cause problems.

So just ignore my previous post and just keep going

[Mick]

every car i've ever done was done just based on a conversation with an engineer, nothing was ever in writing
don't know what you mean by driving them they're better than driving a stock one (or all the ones i've had have been) but i do understand driving them in general they certainly aint a torana or commodore, but a torana or commodore is never gunna look like an EK my modded ones have steered and handled well just bumpy due to being low but he seems to have overcome the bumpy

[Smooth customs]

every car i've ever done was done just based on a conversation with an engineer, nothing was ever in writing
don't know what you mean by driving them they're better than driving a stock one (or all the ones i've had have been) but i do understand driving them in general they certainly aint a torana or commodore, but a torana or commodore is never gunna look like an EK my modded ones have steered and handled well just bumpy due to being low but he seems to have overcome the bumpy

Mick
this is the way I did builds for many years after engineering inspections and approvals were required, and I had a great working relationship with a couple of engineers.
But today so many things have changed, and where goverment departments and at time the owners of the cars have added so much more to what is required.
With the time and money that is being invested in builds today written guidelines and the engineers approval is like insurance. If changes happen on either side the paperwork will back up who ever needs it.
I have had so many customers over the years that want a certain type of car built just like this one in a magazine? After building a couple of cars where the owners comments were , Shit! I didnt think it would ride/Steer/ sound like that? as they had never been in or driven a car like what they wanted built.
So when a first time customer wanted something different I would get in touch with someone with a similar car and arrange a ride for the customer. This ride changed the build and want list for quite a few as it was not what they expected.
For first time owner / builders its can save them a lot of money and time, and dissapointment at the end of the project. Or it will be exactly what they wanted

[Trev]

Probably a very smart thing to do when you are building cars for other people, when they can come back to you and complain.
Speaking from my experience only, I spent allot of time and probably too much money on my EK because I like the shape, I had never driven one or even been in one before .
Probably why you see freshly built cars for sale .

Lucky for me I love my EK .

Loving where your going with this build .

[EKV8WAGON]

All this talk about engineering,before I started the build,my fabricater spoke to the engineer,told him what we wanted to do with the car,he gave us the go ahead,the engineer has seen the car a few weeks back,as I said,all going to plan & all ok.
As for driving these type of cars,I own & drive a FJ ute that was my first car,used it as a daily driver for 4 years,bought her in 1989,22 yrs I`ve had her.I had a FJ ute with a 350 in it,sold it to get married...(HOW STUPID OF ME... )I have owned 5 EKs,4 wagons & 1 sedan....

[searsy]

All this talk about engineering,before I started the build,my fabricater spoke to the engineer,told him what we wanted to do with the car,he gave us the go ahead,the engineer has seen the car a few weeks back,as I said,all going to plan & all ok.
As for driving these type of cars,I own & drive a FJ ute that was my first car,used it as a daily driver for 4 years,bought her in 1989,22 yrs I`ve had her.I had a FJ ute with a 350 in it,sold it to get married...(HOW STUPID OF ME... )I have owned 5 EKs,4 wagons & 1 sedan....

All good then :thumbsup
cant wait to see more pics, I reckon this is going to be one sick looking wagon which will handle like an old holden with a V8 in her ,
Not a modern day piece of CR@Pthat u buy off the shelf .
To me we are holden fanatics and lets be honest, before
radial tuned suspension they didnt handle so well .So go hard mate love the build so far

[Smooth customs]

Thats great new, but there is no harm in asking a question.

[searsy]

Thats great new, but there is no harm in asking a question.

true i wish his engineer lived closer