fbekholden.com

Wrongway Roger wrote: Sat Mar 03, 2018 8:01 pm Heh John, I was very interested in the manufacture of the hinge Spring tool.
A lot of years ago now, I worked for a company (Litchfield Tools ), that made them and all the other " service tool" for early Holden.
If only I had loaded up the car when they closed the business.
Roger

If only, Roger. Did you manage to get any of the tools? I’ve made a few tools along the way. I enjoy it and sometimes they actually work!
Cheers,
John

Today I tackled the steering wheel after visiting Neil FireKraka for a pleasant morning and grabbing a spare wheel he had to see what I had to do to mine. Checked out Neil’s Ute and he’s done a lot of work to the old girl and the colour really sparkles in the sunlight.

Well, this is what I started with - a steering wheel with two large bits broken off and a chunk missing from the other side


I cleaned off the surface rust from the plastic bits and the metal support ring and used a super glue to stick them back onto the wheel


After reading in a thread on wheel repair in this forum that a large gap was needed for “Knead It” to work properly, I used this rotary tool to grind out the 3 vertical joins and the long horizontal join to about 1/4” wide and went right through so that the goo would penetrate to the inside of the hub and have a good anchor. I also bored blind holes into the inside of the hub for extra purchase


Not having used this product before, I wasn’t sure how much to use in one go so I cut off about a 2” length - man, does this stuff go off quick! It was pretty hot in the shed, though. I wasted a bit then did the rest in 3 separate goes using shorter lengths.


Then some die grinding, filing and sanding, using 240 grit for the final sand. I wasn’t too fussy with the inside of the hub as you can’t see it and I thought the more gunk the better strength wise


Some primer and paint and good to go, and Neil can have his wheel back


Cheers,

John


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nice work John, at this rate you will have her on the road well before the nationals !

Great work John the wheel came out really good.

Your welcome out my place anytime mate.

Neil

Thanks guys.
Just waiting for a few bits I’ve ordered Blacky, and then I’ll book in for an inspection and find out if I need to do anything else.
Good to see your work, Neil. You’re doing a great job bringing the Ute back from the dead.

Hey John, your wheel looks good, but I think you need to have bare metal where the horn contact touches the wheel for the horn to work


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ekv8ute wrote: Tue Mar 06, 2018 10:50 pm Hey John, your wheel looks good, but I think you need to have bare metal where the horn contact touches the wheel for the horn to work


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Yeh I was in a bit of a rush when I got to the paint stage and couldn’t be bothered masking up. I’ll need to do a little bit of sanding. Thanks for the reminder.

Cheers,

John

Made up a “Genuine, except for some bits, NOS reproduction battery clamp”.



I welded some flats for the spring washer to sit on ....



.... and a cable clamp



As the battery is shorter than original, the rubber bump stops won’t work properly, so I used a piece from a kindly donated & used plastic chopping board from the good wife to make a diffferent one



Fits up nice and snug



The battery tray’s not in great nick so I’ll make a new one down the track...
In the meantime, I gave it some rust converter, primer and paint.

Cheers,

John


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Good one John. Lump of conveyor belt rubber has been my lazy fix in the past.


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looking good john
untill the wife goes to cut your toast in the morning on the cutting board

Might be something else she’s cutting. John Chopped??!


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We removed the front hubcaps today to check for play in the bearings and found this sticker inside each of them



That joint was about 3k’s from where I am now. Note the 3 digit phone number.

Cheers,

John


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Got these in the mail from RET yesterday.




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hows progress John , do you think you will have her on the road for the Nationals mate ????