fbekholden.com

Congratulations, its a beautiful thing.


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I reckon the ute looks great with the body coloured headlight and taillight surrounds as per factory. It's interesting that whereas the standard sedans and wagons also had body colour windscreen trim, the commercials all appear to have stainless unless I'm mistaken. The dash cluster is another area of confusion. I reckon I've seen both body colour and chrome on original looking commercials. The standards were body colour and I have trouble deciding which I prefer. No contest on a special of course it's the chrome.
Very tasteful resto.
Cheers
Clay


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Too true Blacky. Thanks for all your help, very much appreciated.

Cheers Trev.

Clay - appreciate your thoughts and kind words. I have to admit Pa's Ute was never really intended to be restored back to complete original. The motor is painted blue, the tray is a combination of wood and marine carpet, the upholstery is obviously not original and you're right that the dash should be body colour. I also found out the hard way that the centre bumper I got chromed was from an FB and not an EK. Therefore the overriders (that are also rechromed) don't fit unless I put holes in it.

Anyway there is still a few things I want to do - rubber mat rather than carpet, retro seatbelts from Seatbelt Solutions WA, a bit more rechroming, lower it for handling and a new block as the one I have in has a very small water leak (tried a few products like Chemweld without success). But I suspect the restoration will never be complete.

Great stuff lacky. Rubber mat for sure. When younger I went nuts putting brightware on my standard ek sedan. The stainless windscreen mouldings are way superior. Don't know why they bothered with painted on the pov packs. Sorry to rant on. She's a great looking bus.
Cheers
Clay


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Mate,

Absolutely awesome, glad it has all come together, life is terrible but sometimes wonderful so the ute will be a great piece of family remembrance.

Well done !

Greg

Howdy,
Ute looks a treat and you should be very happy with it. With the front over riders I know they differ between the Ek & Fb but I thought the fixings were the same through the bumper sections? Anyway get ready to be pestered every time you take it out........ hey you wanna sell your ute mate?

Regards
Stephen

In the Shed wrote: Mon Sep 25, 2017 10:54 pmUte looks a treat and you should be very happy with it. With the front over riders I know they differ between the Ek & Fb but I thought the fixings were the same through the bumper sections?

The FB's had a single type of front overrider (7412612), whilst the EK's had a left-hand and right-hand (7418787 and 7418786). The EK's have a separate mounting plate behind the overrider (7418783 and 7418782 for LH and RH) which the FB's don't have. From memory, one of the FB or EK styles is a two-bolt mount, whilst the other is a 3-bolt. The two front centres are drilled differently to suit the different bolt hole numbers (7401687 for FB, 7414788 for EK). The ends are the same for FB/EK front bars (7412903 for LH, 7312902 for RH).

FB/EK bars are unique, except for the rear bumperettes on vans and utes, which were shared with FE/FC (7410473 for LH, 7410472 for RH).

All FB/EK overriders come with factory rust, and many mounting brackets were fitted with aftermarket NASCO spooders . My FB looks like it has a rotten tooth in a nice smile .

Cheers,
Harv

Thanks Greg and Stephen.

Greg - how is your project progressing or is the home still taking priority?

Where were you Dr Harv when I needed you? LOL.

You wrote -

". . . and a new block as the one I have in has a very small water leak (tried a few products like Chemweld without success)."

Where's the water leaking from, or is it difficult to locate?

Rusty stains on the left hand side of the crankcase are usually welch plugs.
An occasional drip of water from the bottom of the bellhousing is a sign that the welch plug at the back of the block's had it.
If you have water in the oil, it's either the welch plugs on the right hand side of the block, or a leaking head gasket.
Run your finger around the inside of the welch plug at the back of the head. If you wipe out water or rusty mud, you've found the leak.

Does water tend to pool up on the front engine mount plate? That's usually water pump or water pump gaskets.
Thermostat housing gaskets? Look in the little gap between the water pump and the cylinder head. If water builds up there, it's usually the thermostat housing-to-head gasket.

Your radiator may have a very slow leak.
I mention all this because replacing the block is an enormous undertaking.
(But if you need another block, I have an unmolested, Nov 1961 one.)

Rob

Harv wrote: Tue Sep 26, 2017 7:05 am

In the Shed wrote: Mon Sep 25, 2017 10:54 pmUte looks a treat and you should be very happy with it. With the front over riders I know they differ between the Ek & Fb but I thought the fixings were the same through the bumper sections?

The FB's had a single type of front overrider (7412612), whilst the EK's had a left-hand and right-hand (7418787 and 7418786). The EK's have a separate mounting plate behind the overrider (7418783 and 7418782 for LH and RH) which the FB's don't have. From memory, one of the FB or EK styles is a two-bolt mount, whilst the other is a 3-bolt. The two front centres are drilled differently to suit the different bolt hole numbers (7401687 for FB, 7414788 for EK). The ends are the same for FB/EK front bars (7412903 for LH, 7312902 for RH).

FB/EK bars are unique, except for the rear bumperettes on vans and utes, which were shared with FE/FC (7410473 for LH, 7410472 for RH).

All FB/EK overriders come with factory rust, and many mounting brackets were fitted with aftermarket NASCO spooders . My FB looks like it has a rotten tooth in a nice smile .

Cheers,
Harv

Onya Harv,
I'm now a bit nervous about looking at my front bar on the EK ute as I have probably got me lefts and rights arse about!

Regards
Stephen

Hi Rob,
The leak is quite obvious (pictured). My old man actually tried to weld it a number of years ago. It hasn't held.
Would be interested in your block depending on price of course.
Thank you!

Well done , she looks good , hope you enjoy

Cheers Rusty! Got a lot of inspiration from your build. One of my favs.

OldMan's Lacky wrote: Wed Sep 27, 2017 3:12 pm Hi Rob,
The leak is quite obvious (pictured). My old man actually tried to weld it a number of years ago. It hasn't held.

Umm, yeah. I see what you mean. I'll pm you with a description of my block, and we'll take it from there.

Rob

Hi Lacky

I’ve been reading this post with interest.

How have you progressed since you last post?

Ric.