Front Help

[mpeck83]

Hi guys,
Was hoping someone could tell me how to tell what front end I have in my EK. She has a 186 red motor in it at the moment with a 4 speed floor shift and drum front brakes so I am not sure if it still has the original front end. Is there any way of telling by looking at my front end if it’s original or possibly a HR front end? I am hoping to restore the EK back to original so would like to put a 138 back in her and I am hoping to still have the original front end in her still.
Any help much appreciated.

[Trev]

If it has ball joints it's hr and if it's got king pins it's EK.

[Blacky]

........ and if ya cant tell the difference take a pic and post it up and we will tell you what you have.

[mpeck83]

Hey guys,
Here are some photos of each side, i am pretty sure it is a king pin front end but was hoping you could confirm that for me.
If it is a king pin front end that means that it still has the original front end in her right?

[Trev]

King pin alright , as original

[mpeck83]

Awesome, cheers for your help Trev. Like I said I was hoping it was original seen I want to restore her to as original as possible. Thought you might like to see a couple of other photos of her. The garage has just been finished and I just moved both my cars over on Friday night. My other car is a 1984 WB statesman which my dad brought brand new and was his pride and joy. Unfortunately he is 72 years old now and the WB is just too big for him so he has passed her down to me for a few a little TLC.
I love both cars but I really love the story of the WB only being in my family and my brothers and I growing up in the car and now its mine. It would be a cold day hell before I sold Bert. (the WB name is Bert after my dad who name is Albert).

[Craig Allardyce]

Be careful mate,
just because its a kingpin front end doesn't mean its original to your EK.
EJ, EH, and HD's came out with kingpin front ends as well.
In the past some people used to fit them to EK's and earlier models to either get the larger brakes and or red motor mounts. After that there was HD ball joint front ends with drum brakes, then after that HR disc brake front ends appeared and all the rest fell by the wayside.
You need to check your brakes to see what width they are, whether they are leading trailing or duo servo, etc
Also check to see if the outrigger is rivetted to the front end or welded. If welded that would indicate if there was a swap in the past.
One quick give away would be to see that there is either two brake adjuster slots at the top of the brake backing plate or one at the bottom. FB & EK had the two adjusters at the the wheel cylinder mounted in the top of the backing plate. EJ onwards had duo servo with a single adjuster at the bottom.

Hope this helps.

[muza]

Not sure that the lower bump stops are fb/ek, unless there was more than 1 type?
Fb/ek are shaped like a light bulb?
Someone might correct me on this

[Mick]

i've seen more FB/EK front ends with this type of bump stop than the bulb type (unless they've all been changed)
and as for the brakes they look to be FB/EK brakes so i'de say there's a pretty high possabillity that it's the original front end

[muza]

i've seen more FB/EK front ends with this type of bump stop than the bulb type (unless they've all been changed)
and as for the brakes they look to be FB/EK brakes so i'de say there's a pretty high possabillity that it's the original front end

Ahh righto, thanks mate.
I'm not too experienced with these suckers so i'd take your word before mine !!

[mpeck83]

I checked the front brake adjusters and found that both sides have 2 slots either side of the wheel cylinder as can be seen in photos, so would it be save to say it is the original front end????
A huge thanks for all your help too guys!

[Mick]

definately not EJ or later