Leroy the EK Ute

[thebrotherj]

He sure does mate.
The photos in the sun are just great.

Love the twin USB’s such a good idea.

Is your dash / interior colour Wedgwood Blue?

I bet he’s a blast to cruise in.
It just makes you smile.
I’ve been out in my FB a lot recently even taking it to work most days,
and workmates say they have never seen me so happy LOL

Ric.

I’ve heard the same from my friends whenever I roll over in the Ute, it’s definitely a mood improver

The dash is very close to Wedgewood, but is actually just chosen from an auto paint rattle can catalogue from what I can make out - Bill painted the interior and the turret externally in this colour. Leroy was two tone for a while... he had some rust repaired, the screens re-sealed and new hoodliner installed. The light blue dash gives a terrible reflection on the screen in the sun, any future re-spray (if I get round to it) will involve a satin black/clinker grey style dash top for sure.

Have fun in the FB!

Cheers J


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Patrick_R]

Hi Joe.

I hear you about the glare, I took the rear Venetian and front sun visor off the car to clean them.

I spent the weekend, driving the car without them, it was so different, hot and glarey. Even with my clinker grey dashtop it was still full on.

A sun visor of the cheese grater type might be in order, and as you already said a rear Venetian is already in the pipeline.

Ric.

[In the Shed]

G'day Joe,

Great pics of the ute on the roof top. Some chrome caps on the wheels should look great against the black rims and white walls. Your interior looks neat with the painted bench seat, tidy dash and retro radio unit. :

What did you end up sticking the tailgate badge on with?

Regards
Stephen

[thebrotherj]

G'day Joe,

Great pics of the ute on the roof top. Some chrome caps on the wheels should look great against the black rims and white walls. Your interior looks neat with the painted bench seat, tidy dash and retro radio unit. :

What did you end up sticking the tailgate badge on with?

Regards
Stephen

Yeah I can’t wait to Chuck hub caps over Xmas

Oh and sorry, I never replied - I used some old 3M super thin double sided tape I had left over from when I re-wrapped an old drum kit. It will probably lift the paint if I remove it but oh well! Sticks real well...

Thanks again for that badge, I have the spare which I’ll try to paint in brighter chrome at some point maybe.

Cheers for the comments!
Joe


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[thebrotherj]

Joe,

Well done. But I'm a little mystified . . .
The rear axle housing has oil seals in it, inboard of the wheel bearing bores? I thought that GMH deleted them for FB-EK, and then realised they'd made a tactical error.

Are the seals the full diameter of the bearings' outer races? (In which case, they're the EJ-HG type)
Or are they smaller than the outer races, and sit in the rear axle tube inboard of the bearing bores? (in which case, they're the FX-FC type).

The EK shop manual I have shows a special tool for fitting a special oil seal between the bearing inner and outer races, on the outboard side of the bearing. Plus there's an "oil slinger" aka rubber ring which sits inside the rear brake anchor plate. The rear wheel bearing is lubricated by diff oil. The O-ring, exterior oil seal and the "oil slinger" between them are supposed to discourage diff oil from getting into the rear brakes.

Rob

Hi Rob,

I’m familiar with the later type seals from the HRs and KTGs I’ve built. The ones in the Ute are not concaved, they have a flat face and appear to sit further inboard than I remember of the later models. Basically, the diff tube is a different design from what I am make out:



and you can see where the seal was running on the axle:



Cheers, Joe


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Happy New Year forum friends, hope ya'll had a good festive season

So the Ute has sprung a leak from the LHR axle seal. I haven't pulled it down yet, but the grease flung up inside the wheel rim is definitely gear oil, not grease from the wheel bearing.

My diff runs the old style inner axle seal as pictured in my previous post above, which is different to the later type that is advertised at the Rares website here:
https://www.rarespares.net.au/rarespare ... r-hk-ht-hg

Am I right in assuming that this later style seal will still work ok, or do I need to seek out something to match the original? Any assistance will be very much appreciated.
Cheers, Joe

[thebrotherj]

Further to my last post, I'm thinking the FE-FC type seal is the one I need. Rob ardiesse mentioned something to this effect in his reply... it also looks about right:

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/NEW-REAR-WH ... :rk:1:pf:0

Seem right?
Thanks in advance - J

[FireKraka]

Hi Loe;
Happy New Year to you also.
Can you tell me how you did the USB mod, where did you get it and was it an easy wire in I assume you have removed the cigarette lighter socket altogether.
Neil

[ardiesse]

Joe,

You're going to need the FE-FC style of oil seal. Beware! The replacement seals are much thinner section than the originals, and are very easy to bend when installing. I'd suggest turning up a drift to just under the outer race's diameter, so the oil seal goes in square. And then you'll need a big socket once the seal's started in the bore. At least your rear axle has a decent-size chamfer where the oil seal goes in.

Or (brute-force solution): get the bearing bores in your rear axle housing machined deeper by the thickness of the EJ-HG oil seal.

Rob

[thebrotherj]

Joe,

You're going to need the FE-FC style of oil seal. Beware! The replacement seals are much thinner section than the originals, and are very easy to bend when installing. I'd suggest turning up a drift to just under the outer race's diameter, so the oil seal goes in square. And then you'll need a big socket once the seal's started in the bore. At least your rear axle has a decent-size chamfer where the oil seal goes in.

Or (brute-force solution): get the bearing bores in your rear axle housing machined deeper by the thickness of the EJ-HG oil seal.

Rob

Thanks Rob.
I've found a pair of NOS seals that I might grab. $25 each... but I think will be worth it as they have the metal outer.

Thanks for the heads up too. I'm very familiar with problems associated with flimsy oil seals in SAABs that would warp easily, even when using the Factory special tools to install. Mighty glad that's not my life anymore.

Cheers, Joe

[thebrotherj]

Hi Loe;
Happy New Year to you also.
Can you tell me how you did the USB mod, where did you get it and was it an easy wire in I assume you have removed the cigarette lighter socket altogether.
Neil

Hey Neil
I picked this up from Auto1, Narva brand I think it was. It had a water proof rubber flap as well which I left out.

Leroy had no lighter installed, just the flat circular blank next to the ashtray. I gingerly drilled a hole using a hole saw until the USB fitting went in and secured with plastic nut from behind. Easy as.





The two spade terminals are labelled + and - so I ran the neg to the same earth point I used for the radio, and positive over to the fuse block. There was a spare spade terminal there which only gets power with the ignition on, I am pretty sure that was intended for the cig lighter option.

I gather you have a Commodore fuse board situation for yours. I would find a way to provide fused power (or fit an in-line fuse) when in the accessories and on position.

Cheers, Joe


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[FireKraka]

Thanks Joe I will get to auto 1 and get me one of them fandangled USB thingys looks pretty easy once you see it.

No don't have a commodore fuse board doing my own thing but will make sure I run it fused as you say.

Thanks again
Neil

[59wagon]

Nice mod with the USB Joe. You can also get flush mount USB sockets that plug straight into the durry socket. Not as neat as Joe’s method, but an option if you want to keep the original socket for accessories or looks.

Cheers,

John


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[thebrotherj]

Thanks Joe I will get to auto 1 and get me one of them fandangled USB thingys looks pretty easy once you see it.

No don't have a commodore fuse board doing my own thing but will make sure I run it fused as you say.

Thanks again
Neil

oh Neil another thing, just double check the depth of the USB socket you buy. My one is pretty long and only just cleared the bottom of the dash where it curves back under. If you follow. I had a hard time pushing the terminals on once it was installed. Coulda connected it up before screwing the ashtray back into place, which I didn't do of course...

Anyway, you'll work it out!!

[FireKraka]

cheers mate
Neil

[thebrotherj]

Axle seals arrived for Leroy and they’re proper old. It’s hard not to love NOS packaging





Looking at the fonts and Lion logo, this feels a lot like the 1968 era literature that accompanies dad’s HK Wagon and appears on stickers around that car.

Speaking of the HK, it’s due for rego soon so I had to go visit Mum and Dad to give it some attention





Leroy’s ride height lookin’ good with a load, but geez it was slow! Stopping it wasn’t much fun either

Main complaints with the HK was the need for new tyres, assessment of clunky brakes and oh yeah, the small matter of wheel alignment that seems ok after a period acceleration but not so good after braking...

Threw on some temporary wheels while I send the stock ones out for re-tyring and the latter two complaints were soon diagnosed. Let’s play spot the difference:





LHR spring pad mount has flogged out, so the ol girl has a bit of four wheel steering going on just now!!

Easy fix thankfully

This weekend I’ll sort out the axle seals on Leroy, then hook into the wagon once parts arrive. Geez I love old cars

Cheers Joe


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk