Neils Frankenstein Ute

[Harv]

My understanding is that the VP V8s all had the finned front caliper and 270mm rotor. The Series 1 V6's got the non-finned front caliper and 289mm rotor, whilst the Series 2 V6's got the finned front caliper and 270mm rotor. Rear calipers for the VP were not finned, and as above are markedly smaller in appearance.

Pads are the same VB-VS. However, in June 1992 a revision was made to the rotors. Thickness was increased from 22mm to 23mm. Mounting bracket was changed to suit. Pads were reduced from 6mm to 5mm, with the 5mm pads having 1mm "joggle" ends to give the same outer dimension. The revised pads had 1mm thicker friction material with a changed orientation to cover more of the rotor. The "joggle" backing plates can be used with all the mounting brackets, but the earlier backing plates should not be used with the later brackets.

Cheers,
Harv

[ehsv6]

Yes John I see, sorry, its hard to see scale, now relooking they look very similar to those on a HZ/WB and therefore the VB VK models. I was under the false belief that VN VS all had same caliper. Need to visit local wrecking yard again and reeducate myself. I think I thought that I believe rears are all the same.
Thanks Harv that makes sence of it, I could see several rotor sizes available but only one pad for all.
Hope Neil can get it sorted..
Cheers Keith

[FireKraka]

Hey guys I don't mind the thread being 'hijacked' as you put it I like that there is discussion going on regarding something that will help enlighten others possibly.
After having another look yesterday I am going to leave the rotor/caliper setup as is for now, the rotor comes all the way to the outer edge of the pad which I can see by looking between the pads at the edge of the rotor and as Keith said the unswept part of the disc doesn't matter, I may revisit this after I get the brakes bled and am actually able to put Frank under his own power if I fel the braking is not sufficient then I will look at alternative.

As I said yesterday my issue now is steering arms so I'm on the hunt for a pair of HR arms, I think I have FB/EK ones, they sweep down and curve in.

On a good note I now have an accelerator and I got the handbrake lever installed

Neil

[Errol62]

Wow Neil, you’ve got what steering arms?! When I swapped in a HR front to my first EK many years ago I just changed the snout and bolted up the entire setup to the steering box. Later I realised I needed to make the rear brakes compatible. Now there are so many permutations available I honestly can’t get my head around it all. Keep at it, you’ll get there.
Cheers
Clay


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[Blacky]

what front end are you using ? Its a rear mount rack isn't it ? V6 Conversions ??? Surely they can tell you what steering arms are required ?

[FireKraka]

The front end I have is a HR cross member but I had bought it without any stub axles then I bought the drum brake stubs and modified them and now I can't remember where the steering arms came from this is why the ute is called Frankenstein because his parts come from whatever source I can find.

I went and did a search on the FE FC Forum as this had been discussed at length on there.
Below is thanks to the FE FC Forum
The photos shows the difference Left to right HR ..HK... HT HG.....HQ HZ power steering...LC....LH.....


LC/LJ , HR , HQ "power steering ", and HJ manual steering arms here at home ( LC/LJ arms at a mates place ATM ).

The LC/LJ arms are 75 mm between the centre of the first bolt hole ( the closest one to the tie rod boss ) and the centre of the tie rod boss hole.

The HR arms are 120 mm from centre of first bole hole to centre of tie rod boss hole.

The HQ " power steering" arms are 90 mm from centre of first bolt hole to centre of tie rod boss hole.

The HJ manual arms are 120 mm from centre of first bolt hole to centre of tie rod boss hole.

The photo shows a HQ "power steering" arm ( third in from right, not a manual arm ) which is 90 mm bolt hole to bolt hole.

The HJ manual steering arm ( not shown in photo ) is pretty much identical to this HQ 90 mm "power steering" arm but is longer at 120 mm

So from all of this I have HR steering arms and due to the drop spindles they are now fowling on the rim, they didn't before but they were close; the discussion on the FE FC Forum indicates that the HQ HZ power steering arms are the right ones for my setup so I have purchased a set from evilbay hopefully this solves the problem and they are not cheap one place here in WA wanted $150 per side.

The FC sedan I am fitting a 305 to for a friend has a CRS HR front end with these HQ HZ power steering arms on it as well.

Neil

[FireKraka]

The front end I have is a HR cross member but I had bought it without any stub axles then I bought the drum brake stubs and modified them and now I can't remember where the steering arms came from this is why the ute is called Frankenstein because his parts come from whatever source I can find.

I went and did a search on the FE FC Forum as this had been discussed at length on there.
Below is thanks to the FE FC Forum
The photos shows the difference Left to right HR ..HK... HT HG.....HQ HZ power steering...LC....LH.....


LC/LJ , HR , HQ "power steering ", and HJ manual steering arms here at home ( LC/LJ arms at a mates place ATM ).

The LC/LJ arms are 75 mm between the centre of the first bolt hole ( the closest one to the tie rod boss ) and the centre of the tie rod boss hole.

The HR arms are 120 mm from centre of first bole hole to centre of tie rod boss hole.

The HQ " power steering" arms are 90 mm from centre of first bolt hole to centre of tie rod boss hole.

The HJ manual arms are 120 mm from centre of first bolt hole to centre of tie rod boss hole.

The photo shows a HQ "power steering" arm ( third in from right, not a manual arm ) which is 90 mm bolt hole to bolt hole.

The HJ manual steering arm ( not shown in photo ) is pretty much identical to this HQ 90 mm "power steering" arm but is longer at 120 mm

So from all of this I have HR steering arms and due to the drop spindles they are now fowling on the rim, they didn't before but they were close; the discussion on the FE FC Forum indicates that the HQ HZ power steering arms are the right ones for my setup so I have purchased a set from evilbay hopefully this solves the problem and they are not cheap one place here in WA wanted $150 per side.

The FC sedan I am fitting a 305 to for a friend has a CRS HR front end with these HQ HZ power steering arms on it as well.

Neil

[Harv]

Another option (perhaps not quite as elegant) is to space the steering arms as per the red circle in the photo below (which I stole from Stinky a long time ago):

tie-rod clearance spacers.jpg (72.93 KiB) Viewed 689 times

Cheers,
Harv

[stinky]

Another option (perhaps not quite as elegant) is to space the steering arms as per the red circle in the photo below (which I stole from Stinky a long time ago):

Cheers,
Harv

I can't remember the final combination of parts, but I have gotten rid of the spacers as they reduce the turning circle by a noticeable amount.

[FireKraka]

I do really appreciate all the comments.

Harv the issue with the HR arms that I have now if that with the drop spindle, the length of the arms and also the curve downwards the tie rod end is actually on or extremely close to the rubber of the tyre (and I am running 16" rims) so yes spacing would move it away from the tyre but still be in a position that I think the engineer would not be happy with so the HZ power steering ones should solve the problem I really hope

I will get a photo of the way it is now with a wheel on so that people can see what I am on about and I did put a wheel on and jack the suspension up however it really did not make much of a difference.

I must admit that I have not checked out my FC Sedan you to see what I put on there it is so long ago that I have forgotten.

Neil

[Errol62]

I speculate the shorter arm will make the steering more direct and therefore heavier. This could be a good or a bad thing when combined with the modified rack setup. It’s all been done before no doubt so there should be plenty of info as you have found.

Good luck Neil
Following with interest.
Cheers
Clay


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[gledge]

You really have to look at the bump steer as well every different arm is going to change your bump steer and is usually the biggest fault of doing tack conversions


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[FireKraka]

Got a few more of the small things done over the weekend.
Made an accelerator (it does if you have one of these )
Connected the charcoal cannister to the fuel tank and inlet manifold.
Tightened the mounting bolts on the steering rack after having to drop the steering column again to reconnect the column to the rack.
Put the 3 sections of rear window into the rubber to let it settle over the next few weeks before fitting.
Not sure if I already siad that the headers are refitted and the handbrake lever installed.
Waiting for my headlining to arrive and then widows installed after fitting headlining.
Just ticking things off the final list.
Neil

[Harv]

While you’ve got the rear window out, check the location of the steel cover plates that go over the two vertical bits. The holes in the Rares ones are out by a mile, and need to be redrilled. Easier to do once the glass and rubber are in the car. The inner plates are pretty much fixed in position by the rubber. The outer plates can move around quite a bit.

Cheers,
Harv

[FireKraka]

Thanks for the info Harv; the rear rubber I have came with a whole lot of other stuff when I bought another garden art ute so not sure who made it.

I was able to install the joiner strips and screw them togther without too much trouble; hopefully it goes in ok when we takle it after my headliner goes in.

Question for the learned people on here I am still strugling to find a hole done the B pillar to run the interior light wires any advice would be appreciated.

Neil