fbekholden.com

Harv wrote:

thebrotherj wrote: Sat May 12, 2018 10:23 amOh 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

Too right Harv. I’m all for recycling and once you’ve done your CAM using your CAD, you can use CAP to stop getting paint everywhere when you coat your CAM part.

Here’s to cardboard

Cheers,

John


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I removed the front grill



and after disassembling it I thought I’d give the non chromed reinforcing frame a sandblast and paint.
Unfortunately it was a tad too big for my unit so I did a temporary mod to make it work





It worked pretty well and now it’s been etched and primed ready for paint



Anyway, gotta shoot as my lovely wife comes back from Bali early in the morning and I need to get that green sheet washed, dried and back on the bed beforehand.

Cheers,

John


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59wagon wrote:I removed the front grill



and after disassembling it I thought I’d give the non chromed reinforcing frame a sandblast and paint.
Unfortunately it was a tad too big for my unit so I did a temporary mod to make it work





It worked pretty well and now it’s been etched and primed ready for paint



Anyway, gotta shoot as my lovely wife comes back from Bali early in the morning and I need to get that green sheet washed, dried and back on the bed beforehand.

Cheers,

John


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Hahaha

It’s last drinks in Sydney right now and my phone is popping up with updates (now that I’m actually subscribed!) and the thought that you’re chucking that sheet in the washing machine is giving me and my drinking buddy a good giggle

Good work John.


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The three horizontal grill bars all had some panel beating done. Many of the areas where the vertical bars fit were something like this



They were fixed up pretty quickly. Two of the three needed straightening lengthwise, which was done with some very gentle tweak bending in the vice





The trickiest bit was a dent in the front radiused section.

Front view showing flattened radius



Back view showing crease



Being in a difficult area to use a hammer and dolly, I shoved a 3/8” tube in there and tapped it along with a hammer, slowly forcing it back into shape. I didn’t get all the front flattened bit out but was able to remove the crease.









Cheers,

John


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I’m admiring your patience on this car John. When do you think you will be driving it mate?


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I’m removing the front end, motor, etc. Clay, to get the subframe off for rust repairs, and fixing bits as I take them off. So I’ve resigned myself to the fact that it’ll be a little while yet If it wasn’t for the subframe rust, I think she’d be virtually ready now. Never mind, still having fun

Cheers, John

And very satisfying


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

You mean like this Rob?



Also bought new 3/8” x 3” bolts to replace the ones that hold the bumper brackets to the k-frame. One was badly pitted from fighting corrosion since 1960 and the other had transformed into a 5/16” x 4” bolt ??????



The long bolt also wasn’t high tensile



Cheers,

John


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I showed some front grill repairs earlier. After cleaning the chrome and cleaning and painting the support and fasteners, I began the reassembly.



After some mucking around, I found the best way for me was to start with the lower horizontal. Getting the tabs into the support and keeping them there was a bit fiddly until they were knocked down with a punch and sfh.







Next was the bottom row of verticals





Then just continued upwards until done









Also cleaned and painted the horn and bracket





Cheers,

John


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I wasn’t happy with the chassis black I used on the front bumper parts - even after a couple of weeks it was still soft and came off easily.
I pulled it apart again, sandblasted, etch primer, primer surfacer and then top coated with Metalshield satin black.

Here’s some shots of the reassembly.













I’ve left all the fasteners loose to allow for alignment when it goes back on the car.

Cheers,

John


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You have covered some ground there. The three inch bumper bolts have a tendency to corrode and shear off as well but at least they aren’t in a captive nut inside the frame. Have fun getting that out. The last thing you want to do is snap off an easy out in the thing like I have done previously. Just drill out and re-tap hey?

You are lucky with the grille that the tabs are intact. Keep it coming mate.


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Errol62 wrote: ....at least they aren’t in a captive nut inside the frame. Have fun getting that out. The last thing you want to do is snap off an easy out in the thing like I have done previously. Just drill out and re-tap hey?

More like cut out and replace the whole leg, Clay. I’ve gone and bought all the replacement legs for the k-frame.
I actually made up a couple about 2 years ago for my FC wagon using a bit thicker gauge steel and they worked out pretty well - should last a bit longer than the originals.









For the FB though, I’m in a bit more of a hurry and got the Rares ones.


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The sway bar and insulator brackets got the clean and paint treatment and some new insulators - old vs new.



There were a couple of issues with the new rubbers - there was no slit to fit them on the bar (they can’t be slid over the ends due to the “fat eyes”), and the holes were about 2mm smaller in diameter than the bar and old rubbers.





I used the special Swiss rubber slitter on one and tested the fit.





Not too flash, so I used the rubber boring machine with a 45/64” bit and held the yet to be split rubber by hand.



That looks better.



The one I split first was a pain as it couldn’t be held by hand so I used a vice.

Then reassembled







Cheers,

John












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When you buy a part made for the job you don't want to have to modify it do you
Billy

BILLY BLACKARROW wrote:When you buy a part made for the job you don't want to have to modify it do you
Billy

Gotta say I was pretty surprised, Billy, as the differences were quite significant.
I’ll mention it to the Rares guys next time I speak to them.
Anyone else have this issue? Maybe the wrong product was put in the package?


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