WALLY'S EK

[Blacky]

wow - thats in awesome condition

[FJWALLY]

yeah thanks Blacky - I have a question for the wise re the paint colour though.

According to the list of ID plates etc mine falls in the Jan 62 sale/build dates but the paint colour Montana Grey is listed as a 61 manufacture colour so is there not a clear way to find out the build date - unfortunately there are no books to go with this ute so sale data is unknown.

[DOLLER60]

God dam! That's in bloody good nick!

[FJWALLY]

Managed to find all the suspension and steering parts no issue from rare spares and pedders but had to dig a bit harder for the inner tie rod ends - found some at Auto-surplus in rooks road Melbourne - apparently NOS so will see when I pick up.

[FJWALLY]

Important stuff taken care of today

[FJWALLY]

Yeah thanks SunnyTim - I'm going to stick with calling it a 61 and see how long I can get away with it
I bought a set of 13 ROH wheels (aus made so pretty much same as orrig but don't have the hubcap location so need to grind a groove) put a set of 185/80/13 Sumitomo tyres on them and they look really good - will just have to mount the spare in the tub somewhere as it no-longer fits in the spare compartment - might try and fit it under the floor boards if there is room.
I still have the original rims and bar a couple small knocks they might be worth restoring but will pull the tyres off and take a better look - they would be pretty rust pitted so would not be suitable for tubeless tyres and I'm not a big fan of tubes.

[FJWALLY]

Bit of an update - been a frustrating few weeks with the car
Front end pretty good now with new tie rod ends / shocks (front and back) - new springs(2 inch lower Pedders) new pins in most spots but king pins in good shape so left them alone and just pumped through with new grease and will keep that up.
Drag link not done as yet - just tightened and had plenty of adjustment left so should be fine - will strip it down when the steering gets done
Yes the steering box is knackered - no adjustment left and the bottom bushes are really sloppy which surprised me given the car had only done 32,000 miles but as most of it was farm use and rough dirt roads it does make sense I guess
Played around for a few days with lights and wiring getting things to work again and now pretty much 100% electrically apart from RHS indicator - still have both rear lights flashing when the right hand turn signal made
Headlights all good
brake lights work perfectly
wipers work
interior light works as well as all dash lights.

Pulled the seat and floor mats to have a look - pretty good but a couple rust holes under the drivers side feet - where the cross member comes from sill to centre support - gave everything a good clean and a good spray with rust converter and will revisit that later when it's getting some dents removed but mostly good clean steel - pics to come
Very happy the steel around the windows is all good as I have seen plenty with LOTS of rust in these areas - will be a perfect base for the seat belts which I have but not sure the bottom mount points location - need some help here before I start drilling holes.

Diff is very clunky and RHR wheel bearing (or shaft into diff centre) has some movement so the rear needs a rebuild.

Was booked for rego today BUT took it for a run last night around 4 for only about 4-5 k's and just as I pulled back into the driveway the radiator let go along the top tank seam and looks like a few smaller holes in the core so had to cancel the rego and striped the radiator out this morning and took down to mideast radiators in nunawading who are chasing a 3 row core from a mob in queensland but uncertain yet as many shops closed today.

Took the time to give the motor a flush through and lots of crap came out so I would suspect the previous owner who has replaced welsh plugs so would assume he flushed the block then - certainly did not flush the radiator.

Have doubts in the back of my mind re the engine now so might have to move forward my plans to reach the motor and add the Speco twin stromberg inlet manifold and rocker cover in the process - reboot out to 142 ish with a slight grind on the cam etc and return the motor to the correct colour etc as previous attempt was in a shitty silver paint over the old grease and shit still left on the block.

So I have a few days to get the seatbelt installed so thats next.

[FJWALLY]

Thanks Tim - what do you use as a sock? I'm more concerned that the guy that I bought it off was hiding some things from me so I'm finding it hard to trust he has done what he says in the motor - anyway first things first is to get it on the road so I can go and get a few things done to it like the steering box and the rusting body work.
Installed the seatbelt today which went quite well - all the mount areas are rust green and nice clean steel so no issues there.
The diff I'm more concerned withe the movement in the right hand wheel - it does not seam to be the bearing so I can only assume it is in the spline or diff bearings.

[Blacky]

If the diff isn't noisy or leaking I would leave it be - "if it aint broke don't fix it "

[FJWALLY]

Had a tough week with the old girl
fitted seatbelts
blew radiator
flushed block
found more rust that I like so pressure washed and rust treated for now until I can get it done properly.
fixed lights and horn (almost)

[FJWALLY]

a few more pics

[FJWALLY]

Got radiator back today - pretty neat job from Mideast Radiators in Nunawading Melb - cost 600$
It is a 3 row core using the original EK top tank/ bottom and sides.
Added a sock just in case there was something lurking in the block and then ran a flush through it (penrite blue stuff) - flushed with water and ran again and flushed with water - checked the sock and a bit of crap came through but nothing big.
Added some Penrite coolant with anti everything else and she's running sweetly again.

[FJWALLY]

Registered today - all good - guy did not check a thing - just confirmed numbers and took my money

[Craig Allardyce]

Most wouldn't know what they were looking at anyway if they checked it over. Great to hear another one on the road! Congrats.

[Brian Westlake]

Good to hear youve got rego mate. Now to have some fun Zipping around the place! EK utes weren't worth a second look to most people (I'm not Most People!) years ago, but now they have become a Status Symbol and a real Badge Of Honour on Australia Day (And any other time!) so go out and enjoy your great Aussie Ute.
Tony.