My new Fb

[FireKraka]

Great work John you are really knocking over a lot of the jobs that would have kept you from rego.
Keep up the pace like that mate and it will be on the road in no time.

Damn good fish there as well mate.

Regards
Neil

[59wagon]

nice work mate, I don't know how you can pull something off and leave the rest - I wish I could I woul dbe - oh well , may as well pull the wishbones off and paint them and the springs - hmm , now the rest of the crossmember is the only bit not done , better yank that too ...... and the next thing you know is the car is a bare shell and theres piles of parts stacked up to be cleaned and painted

That might still happen, Blacky I’ll be taking more bits off to get to the chassis repairs - I just picked up some NOS upper inner control arm bushes for cheap off eBay so if I’m doing that then ......
But I’ve decided a different approach, I’m going to fix each bit as it comes off (like I did with the bumper), rather than having a pile of parts waiting for attention. I’ll have a pile of parts ready to install instead. I’ll see how that goes

[ardiesse]

John,

Front suspension repairs is one area where the more you take things apart, the more you discover.
You may pull the front shocks and springs out only to discover that the bottom coil is broken off each front spring. And then you may find that the lower control arm bushes need to be replaced. And then it may be that what looks like loose lower control arm bushes is, in fact, the shafts loose in the crossmember. And that's totally separate from the little things like sway bar posts which break off, worn outer pivots and sloppy king pins.

I am so full of encouragement and good cheer today . . .

Because I had all this and more when I restored my FC. The previous owner said he could never get the front wheel alignment right . . .

Rob

[ardiesse]

Postscript: And did I mention sway bar bracket bolts which break off at the subframe?

[Errol62]

Very thorough tidy up John.


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[59wagon]

John,

Front suspension repairs is one area where the more you take things apart, the more you discover.
You may pull the front shocks and springs out only to discover that the bottom coil is broken off each front spring. And then you may find that the lower control arm bushes need to be replaced. And then it may be that what looks like loose lower control arm bushes is, in fact, the shafts loose in the crossmember. And that's totally separate from the little things like sway bar posts which break off, worn outer pivots and sloppy king pins.

I am so full of encouragement and good cheer today . . .

Because I had all this and more when I restored my FC. The previous owner said he could never get the front wheel alignment right . . .

Rob

Thanks for the “encouragement” Rob
Yep, I’m prepared for the worst, I think??
I think those bits you mentioned are important so I’ll do what’s needed and the car can go for a few more decades untouched in that department. It looks like all the parts are available.
Just be ready, Rob, ‘cos I’ll be coming to you for advice!

Cheers,
John



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[59wagon]

Very thorough tidy up John.


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Thanks, Clay. You still chugging along with the you beaut’ blue Ute?


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[Errol62]

Done a bit. Getting spark, induction and exhaust sorted while I wait for wheel cylinders.


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[59wagon]

After cleaning up the front bumper bar, I noticed the bumper irons didn’t fit to the sub frame very well - they had to be squeezed in about 2 or 3 inches.
I hammered out some bends that shouldn’t have been there (probably caused by the prangs that dented the chrome work) and took measurements.
With the irons installed, they should have a 27 1/2” inner measurement at the bumper connections, and a 26” inner measurement between the forward mounting holes on the sub frame, and 26 1/4” between the rear holes.
I made a CAD drawing and a bit of a jig and bent things until I got it right.

Before .....



After .....



The CAD drawing and jig .....



Cheers

John


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[Errol62]

It just didn’t look right so I had to venture out to the shed and fig one out. Sure enough there is close to an inch offset.


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[thebrotherj]

I'm blaming Tapatalk - I think I am supposed to subscribe to each thread in order to receive updates - but I've missed a bunch of these!

Enjoying this build a lot, you've gone above and beyond to repair fiddly parts that would've had me phoning the wreckers (after shaking my head at how much old mate wants for them on eBay....)

I've just had flashbacks to such fun moments as "how to reattach sway bar D bush to overkill rust repair on subframe" and "sending things flying across the workshop when the upper pivot pin let go at the behest of a metre-long breaker bar" and "lowering the control arm to watch the spring come out in three pieces" and my most recent comparable, curse-worthy battle "making a bent front bumper from another car line up with modified subframe and bent fenders on current car".

Oh and honourable mention for "CAD", something I'm employing currently also! I might have to steal that line
Cheers, keep up the great work & updates.
JD.

[thebrotherj]

ps: I noticed a stubby of VB in the pics of your front end rebuild. After my king pin incident, I highly recommend a switch to tinnies. I am still finding shards of VB stubby glass on the other side of the workshop after that event hahahaa

JD

[Harv]

Oh and honourable mention for "CAD", something I'm employing currently also! I might have to steal that line

CAD/CAM is an essential part of working on old Holdens. Its also a good way to use up those pesky empty VB boxes

Cheers,
Harv

[59wagon]

I'm blaming Tapatalk - I think I am supposed to subscribe to each thread in order to receive updates - but I've missed a bunch of these!

Enjoying this build a lot, you've gone above and beyond to repair fiddly parts that would've had me phoning the wreckers (after shaking my head at how much old mate wants for them on eBay....)

I've just had flashbacks to such fun moments as "how to reattach sway bar D bush to overkill rust repair on subframe" and "sending things flying across the workshop when the upper pivot pin let go at the behest of a metre-long breaker bar" and "lowering the control arm to watch the spring come out in three pieces" and my most recent comparable, curse-worthy battle "making a bent front bumper from another car line up with modified subframe and bent fenders on current car".

Oh and honourable mention for "CAD", something I'm employing currently also! I might have to steal that line
Cheers, keep up the great work & updates.
JD.

Hahaha. Some funny moments there, Joe. Hopefully you haven’t done yourself any serious injuries.
I think one of the bits I enjoy most playing with these old girls is the challenges they present and working out how to overcome them.
Enjoying your Ute thread too, I don’t know too much about motors and gearboxes, so it’s been real useful.
Cheers,
John


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[59wagon]

ps: I noticed a stubby of VB in the pics of your front end rebuild. After my king pin incident, I highly recommend a switch to tinnies. I am still finding shards of VB stubby glass on the other side of the workshop after that event hahahaa

JD

I prefer stubbies to tinnies so I think I’ll live with the increased risk. Maybe I should use a stubby holder


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