fbekholden.com

Hi all,
I am really enjoying reading this site everyday and seeing the projects that everyone has on the go. I dragged the old ute out of the shed a few weeks ago with the intention of driving it to work the next day, but found a few problems. I then decided to try and slow down or stop the rust which has got quite bad in the 3 years since we stopped driving it. It's really wet my appetite and I've started to watch all the old cars shows on fox, I'm spotting old cars on the road, researching on the net about rust repairs and so on. I am torn between just patching a bit of rust to make it look ok, or doing something a bit more substantial, but I'm worried that I will strip the car down and never get it back together!!
The minister for finance has just told me that I could spend around 5 grand to get it up to scratch, wow!!!

I would really appreciate some guidance from you all. I know I might sound a bit lazy and I'm sure you have all spent hours/ years researching your own builds, but I have no idea where to start. It would be great to hear ideas on what to do to restore our old girl. Tips,tricks,suppliers,parts list, schedules,contacts, ideas on rust repair, paint and so on.

I have the following ideas;
Get a bunch of mates around for a barbi and strip the ute down as far as we can go,
Box up all the reusable stuff that needs a refinishing,
Put aside all the stuff that needs replacing,
Send the body off for blasting (sand or soda?) and primer.
Order all the new parts,
Begin the rust repairs ( shouldn't be too many!)
Send off for paint, ( or attempt it myself)
Being the rebuild process.

Am I on the right track?? All comments and criticism accepted.

Here's a heap of photos, see what you can see!!!

Thanks heaps, Matt

Ya gotta have a plan Stan.
Get heaps of quotes and do the math.
It'll probably scare the shit outta ya but enjoy anyway...

Nice looking rig, love the colour

Personally I would try and keep it on the road and on your weekends fix a patch of rust and have it back together for the next weeks driving (unless it's ready to fall in half due to rust).
If you can weld and paint yourself you should get away with the $5k budget no probs .

What Trev said

Hi Matt,

Based on the vibe of your first post it sounds like you are pretty keen to get it back on the road. A rolling resto might be the go. With a full strip down and rebuild you wont get it back on the road for a while.

Apart from the one door shown in the pics is there any other obvious rust?

Stewart

I would keep your mates away unless they know what they are doing because you will be the one putting it back together sorry to say this but they will lose interest before you do
BILL

What Trev said X2. Furthermore, your ute is modified (it has a red motor). Taking it off the road and letting the rego lapse may mean you have to get the car engineered for rego (although I'm not sure what WA is like in this regard).

g,day i hope its regoed with the red , ifnot , if not you need a collapesable column and seat belts ,20% hp rule

bat53retro wrote:g,day i hope its regoed with the red , ifnot , if not you need a collapesable column and seat belts ,20% hp rule

Yep it is, and it does have seat belts.

I think if you took it off the road it could snowball like everyone else's project - meaning you could go over budget and end up in the doghouse, or at the other extreme you could become overwhelmed with seeing it all apart and throw in the towel and never do it.
Keep it on the road and do little bits at a time i say.
There's some positives about your ute that will help keep you in reach of your budget too (judging only by photos of course):
Your upholstery looks quite respectable, so you'll save up to anywhere from $500 with a bit of DIY to $2000? there
Other than the rust spot the paint looks good - so if you get a good colour match on the repair you wouldn't necessarily need a respray straight away - another couple of grand there
It's running
Your chrome work looks quite good too - another grand or two saved there!

I don't know how the laws work in WA, but i wouldn't think it would be deemed roadworthy with that big rust hole - so look into getting that fixed. Even if you paid a pro to do it and asked to have the repairs left in primer (to save paint costs) if you're not confident to give it a go yourself.
Once that's done it'd be all mechanical after that.
When i put mine back on the road i wasn't sure where to start, so i took it to a local mechanic who does blue slips (roadworthy) and asked him to check over the car and tell me exactly what issues to fix. He gave me a list, i checked them off one by one and when i went back for a blue slip to the same mechanic it was a simple matter of a quick look over what i had fixed, and signing the paperwork for me.

Oh and another positive - it's the same colour as my EK

Jimmy

EKjimmy wrote:I think if you took it off the road it could snowball like everyone else's project - meaning you could go over budget and end up in the doghouse, or at the other extreme you could become overwhelmed with seeing it all apart and throw in the towel and never do it.
Keep it on the road and do little bits at a time i say.
There's some positives about your ute that will help keep you in reach of your budget too (judging only by photos of course):
Your upholstery looks quite respectable, so you'll save up to anywhere from $500 with a bit of DIY to $2000? there
Other than the rust spot the paint looks good - so if you get a good colour match on the repair you wouldn't necessarily need a respray straight away - another couple of grand there
It's running
Your chrome work looks quite good too - another grand or two saved there!

I don't know how the laws work in WA, but i wouldn't think it would be deemed roadworthy with that big rust hole - so look into getting that fixed. Even if you paid a pro to do it and asked to have the repairs left in primer (to save paint costs) if you're not confident to give it a go yourself.
Once that's done it'd be all mechanical after that.


When i put mine back on the road i wasn't sure where to start, so i took it to a local mechanic who does blue slips (roadworthy) and asked him to check over the car and tell me exactly what issues to fix. He gave me a list, i checked them off one by one and when i went back for a blue slip to the same mechanic it was a simple matter of a quick look over what i had fixed, and signing the paperwork for me.

Oh and another positive - it's the same colour as my EK

Jimmy

Hi Jimmy, thanks for the great reply. I'm guessing that our laws over here are far different to yours over there. I haven't had the ute on the road for a couple of years but I kept paying the rego, therefore it's still considered road worthy and doesn't have to be reassesed by anyone. I think I might just do bit by bit like everyone has said.

X3 for Trev's comments and the couple of posts after his. Keep it on the road and farm out what you can't do but be warned your budget may disappear quickly. Good work ain't cheap and cheap work ain't good.....

Lol Nah you just have more money than me, that saves you from the tricky part ie engineers cert etc. Good luck and keep us updated, start a build thread in my fb Ek to post your progress

Good on you Matt.
You've taken a good outlook from the start with your ute (which I might add, I like ), I have to agree with "Wrongway- Trev-fuzz" as well...keep the ute on the road & do bits at a time. Sand or soda blasting is great on a off road re-build but can be devastating or impossible to do to a car that you may want to drive around... (this said if you have spare panels ie: doors, guards tailgate & bonnet you can pick the best of these and get 'em blasted off the car while you use the iffy ones to drive around in ).
Think of it as an on-going work of art..plus you can learn a whole lot of new skills getting the ute up to scratch, like welding & painting, if you have petrol-headed mates (and let's face it, who on this forum does'nt? ) you can ask for a hand or practical how-to's off them, but try to do as much as you can as it's a great feeling of pride in one's own work learning to 'do-it-yourself'.
Looking at the photo's of the ute..it looks like the drivers side rear quarter-panel has the worst rust located down low between the sill & the door (my guess this was rusty before the paint was applied and was rust converted & bogged over without it being cut out). Firstly...DON'T PANIC..(I too have a spot on my rear 1/4 that needs attention soon ).. first with a wire brush attachment or flapper disc on the handy angle grinder remove a large area around the rust until you get nothing but clean steel showing then all you need to do is cut out the offending area a good inch (2.5 cm) around
the rust hole (make sure you cut out all the rust here if it runs up or back attack this too!) once you have a neat & clean hole in the side of the car get out a bit of cardboard or paper and make a template of the hole, one you've done this cut the template out and check it to make sure the it fits into the hole perfectly (if you make a mistake here just get another bit of cardboard), once this is done draw the shape on the new steel sheet (which you've picked up at the local steel suppliers..forgot that little bit of information..did'nt I you can get off cuts from them for a few bucks if you don't wanna buy a whole sheet)...now cut the sheet out (inside the line) to the shape..this area of the car has a slight bow in it so make sure you lightly bend the sheet to shape...once ready all you have to do is hold the new piece up to the hole and check that it will fit a perfectly as possible (if any bit overlaps grind or file it down until it fits..you also don't want to have a big gap anywhere as it will become a pain when welding it in! If so you can cut a small bit and weld it to it before it's on the car...that's why we check the new piece BEFORE we weld it in!!!!!).
Now all you (or a competent mate) have to do is tack the new steel into position...at this point I weld it in in small runs as not to warp the panel by having it get too hot...some blokes are genius' & can do it in one go...not me! Once it's all welded grind down the weld until it's the same height of the panel then etch prime, bog (if needed) prime then paint & there you have one bit repaired!!
Now that's one piece you've done yourself..keep this up and the old ute will get better & better.
It's the way my car is done and I love the thing...the more bit's you do the better you get & the better the ute gets
NOTE: if you plan to do the whole quarter panel remove all the paint from the door to the seam that runs down the center of the tail light & where the roof & sill joins.

Have fun CRICKEYS....I'M turning into Rosco!!!

Scotty

I agree with Trev and Blacky rolling rego'd resto is the way too go, just think of the money you'll save on towing fee's

I would get replacement panels and fix the main visable rust areas, so you can get it rego'd.

Keep your mates away unless they like cars and do know what they are doing, otherwise after a few beers you'll all down tools.

Love the Rego plates.

James