Harv's HR Holden Premier wagon

[Errol62]

Yeah nah, spew.

Sent from my SM-A705YN using Tapatalk

[ardiesse]

. . . I'll add the demist ducts and cups to the list also. Bring your fan switch with you. It *may* be possible to repair it, depending on how badly it's been dodgied.

There's another "feature" inside HD/HR demisters: when the heater/demister is set to "demist", a set of contacts engages inside the unit and switches the fan to "low", even though the switch is "off". Usually you have to do a lot of remedial work and painful adjustment to get this feature working . . .

Rob

[Harv]

Thankyou

[FCEKHKZD]

Need to keep my eye out for a roll of woodgrained Contact self-adhesive book covering to cover the new insert.

Cheers,
Harv
[/quote]
there is a guy that makes the HD HR woodgrain, its not spot on but not bad, he advertises on farcesook i think, cant recall his name, HK prem and brougham the same, the glove box mould may be wide enough, or else find a 60-70'd rinnai heater, same company made the wood grain vinyl for rinnai and GM, shhosshh dont tell anyone

[Harv]

I'm not sure yet about the woodgrain. The ball-milled insert looks pretty cool. Part of me says to replace the other woodgrained bits (lighter and ignition panels) with ball mill... the other part of me says that it is all supposed to be woodgrain.

Power supply for the new radio had to be re-run, as the old radio was wired "always on", rather than "only on with the ignition"... old power leads had multiple twist-the-wire joins covered in cellotape. When I pulled the old radio out, this mess was waiting for me:

Radio slot butchered.JPG (65.29 KiB) Viewed 961 times

The radio slot has been cut top and bottom, and two "ears" folded back. The photo shows one "ear", complete with round radio knob hole, bent back to where it should be. Bent both back into place, and put the new radio in:

Radio in place.JPG (100.03 KiB) Viewed 961 times

Looks good, though you can see the clash with the ball-milled insert and the adjoining cigarette lighter woodgrain. The radio has a fake clear acrylic station number plate on the front. When you turn it on, it lights up from behind with an LCD display, obliterating the station numbers:

Radio turned on.jpg (59.31 KiB) Viewed 961 times

(... and yes... that is Radio National ). It does AM/FM, has line-in connectors at the back if you wanted to run a CD player, and has an AUX input to let you run an iPhone into it. Neat radio.

Cheers,
Harv

[Errol62]

Thanks Harv. Very nice. Feel your pain over the wood grain. The steering wheel horn bar would have to be a factor. Looks like you’ve got the special gauge cluster? X2 item is desirable but pricey.


FB ute fixer upper, EK van on rotisserie

[ardiesse]

One of my many round tuits is a "period-correct" Nixie-tube clock for early Holdens (with option for radio tuner display). Most likely it won't see light of day, but I do have the Nixies.

Rob

[Harv]

There is something special about Nixie tubes. Just the right balance of modern and retro.

Cheers,
Harv

[rosco]

Love the radio, Harv..... to me, looks sweet.

On the cigarette lighter knob, you could contact the radio supplier and ask if he retails spare radio knobs..... with the inserts.
It would only be a matter of cut/fix the knob to the lighter... lathe down the outer edge to size and polish.. or leave as is.

I'm after one of those pesky little inserts for my Air Chief.... in my youth, I saw it on the floor mat.. didn't know what it was and threw it out....
Only to find months later that it was missing from the tuning knob of my radio.....

frats,
Rosco

[Harv]

On the cigarette lighter knob, you could contact the radio supplier and ask if he retails spare radio knobs..... with the inserts.
It would only be a matter of cut/fix the knob to the lighter... lathe down the outer edge to size and polish.. or leave as is.

The black plastic cigarette lighter fob annoys me almost as much as the modern radio did. I was lucky though, and managed to find a HR lighter fob through eBay. I might have to take up smoking though to make it pay for itself

Cheers,
Harv

[rosco]

Keen to see it in place, Harv .... modern plastic fittings in a classic car just don't seem to do justice, in my eyes... oops... might have to go check my own.

frats,
Rosco

[FJWALLY]

I wonder if that is a radio from Retro Radios - I got one to put in my ute but god it was fiddly with the knobs and the outer was such crap quality for the exorbitant price they are - I ended up sending it back for a refund - just didn't look or work right - have put the AWA back in and installing a separate power outlet on the parcel shelf at back so it's not very visible so I can run small bluetooth speaker off my phone and charge stuff also.

[Harv]

I wonder if that is a radio from Retro Radios - I got one to put in my ute but god it was fiddly with the knobs and the outer was such crap quality for the exorbitant price they are - I ended up sending it back for a refund - just didn't look or work right - have put the AWA back in and installing a separate power outlet on the parcel shelf at back so it's not very visible so I can run small bluetooth speaker off my phone and charge stuff also.

Not sure who Retro Radios are... couldn't find them on Google. This one is from my409, based in Australia. He uses Custom Autosound radios from the US. It's my third radio (two different models) from them - no issues with any of them.

Cheers,
Harv

[FJWALLY]

I bought a speaker off MY409 - is a great unit - the radio was an ebay one - classic auto sound - sorry not retro radios - guy there sells them with the facia trim etc - was just cheap chinese junk with huge price tag - nothing lined up - switches were very flimsy and they use what looks like the rares knob sets which are very ordinary - the ones listed under the EK on MY409 dont look the same so assume different seller.

[Harv]

I received a HR Prem care package yesterday (with thanks Rob), so now have some bits and pieces to tidy up. The visit raised an interesting question though, and I'm hoping to tap into some forum HR wisdom.

The Prem has a standard 186 engine, with single Strommie on the factory cast manifold. Exhaust is also factory cast. The Powerglide has been replaced with a Traumatic. I am planning a 186S upgrade.

I have to hand a set of cast iron 186S headers, a factory WW manifold and WW carb. I may well need the throttle bar (from accelerator pedal to carb), but can lay my hands on one if needs be.

The plan was to throw the headers on, then take a (noisey ) ride to the exhaust shop to run a new exhaust (perhaps twin). According to theory though, the headers will not work with the factory HR inlet manifold. I would need an early red motor manifold (EH, HD) to make this work. Before I go and raid Dad's EH stash, can someone please confirm this is correct?

I could change the plan of attack, and put the WW on first with the standard exhaust manifold. This is perhaps a smarter move, and saves me having to make a midnight-spares run on Dad's spare parts department. I understand though that I will need the 186S throttle bar. Given the fancy way the throttle bar works, can the throttle bar be removed with the engine still in place? Is there a simple bolt-up way to make this work without changing the throttle bar?

Are there any other bits to the 186S upgrade process that I am not thinking of? Is there a better order for the plan of attack?

Cheers,
Harv