fbekholden.com

Well it's been a long time but here is my FB wagon that I bought off mini earlier this year. It was previously owned by Jacko so it has some forum history.

The plan was to do some minor rust repairs and get it club regoed in it's current guise. Not planning a complete rebuild. I didn't know if it ran, but got the old girl going the other day (probably a month ago now) and it ran ok.

Some pics

On the trailer, ready for the trip home.







At home, waiting for work to begin.









So I've pulled the seats out and masked/protected all the glass and door trims to make a start repairing the rust and this is what I have unfortunately found. What I thought was going to be four floor pans has grown. The cross member that the subframe bolts to is toast the whole way across and where the subframe meets the sills, bottom of the A pillars is also stuffed. Most of this couldn't be seen when I first looked because it had the original vinyl floor still in. And certainly didn't look as bad from underneath. The importance of really having a very good look I suppose .

Back floor


Drivers floor


Passenger floor


I was hoping to not have to do a full rebuild on this old girl, but things are quickly getting out of hand. It looks like I'll have to pull the front end off and the subframe to repair it properly. I was hoping to keep it original paint, but I don't how viable that is considering I'll probably have to have it blasted.

Bummer!

Dont get the whole body blasted. Strip the large flat areas by hand and leave the blasting for the floors and door jambs.

cumon sam don't be fussy fix what needs to be fixed without getting carried away even though it's more work than expected which i don't think there's anyone here with a project that has less work than expected

bootlegger wrote:Dont get the whole body blasted. Strip the large flat areas by hand and leave the blasting for the floors and door jambs.

I don't really want to get the body blasted at all, just the floors. I'd like to keep the original paint and all it's patina.

Grimbo wrote:

bootlegger wrote:Dont get the whole body blasted. Strip the large flat areas by hand and leave the blasting for the floors and door jambs.

I don't really want to get the body blasted at all, just the floors. I'd like to keep the original paint and all it's patina.

Hi Sam, I think you are on the right track repair the rust properly and get the old grey running right.

Of course a little lower to the ground with 6" painted steelies (caps optional) Maybe ready in time for the "Chopped" run next year

Mick

choppedfan wrote:

Grimbo wrote:

bootlegger wrote:Dont get the whole body blasted. Strip the large flat areas by hand and leave the blasting for the floors and door jambs.

I don't really want to get the body blasted at all, just the floors. I'd like to keep the original paint and all it's patina.

Hi Sam, I think you are on the right track repair the rust properly and get the old grey running right.

Of course a little lower to the ground with 6" painted steelies (caps optional) Maybe ready in time for the "Chopped" run next year

Mick

Hi Mick, if I'm going to fix it there's only one way and that is properly . Did you go down to chopped this year?

No mate work got in the way

But the Chopped run looks the place to be

Those seats look in really good condition so that will save some $$$$, at least you've got a shed to work in and there weather is getting better so could be some after work "shedtime" coming up.

Mick

choppedfan wrote:
Those seats look in really good condition so that will save some $$$$, at least you've got a shed to work in and there weather is getting better so could be some after work "shedtime" coming up.

Mick

Yeah Mick the seats are great condition and the door trims are good also, one of the main reasons I bought the car. That and it's a finned wagon .

Besides the rust it's a pretty good old thing and about 98% complete.

I was bummed when I realised the extent of the rust. But looking through other peoples threads and re reading Stewart's old timer rebuild has got me keen to persevere with the old girl.

I'm still not going to totally rebuild it just fix the rust properly and running gear and try and preserve the originality of the car's paint and trim. Just clean, detail and polish the begeebus out of it.

The subframe is pretty bad, but I have a really good one on the EK wagon spares car. Is it ok to have an EK subframe on a FB? I suppose there is the problem with the numbers not matching up.

Cheers
Sam

Grimbo wrote:

choppedfan wrote:
Those seats look in really good condition so that will save some $$$$, at least you've got a shed to work in and there weather is getting better so could be some after work "shedtime" coming up.

Mick

Yeah Mick the seats are great condition and the door trims are good also, one of the main reasons I bought the car. That and it's a finned wagon .

Besides the rust it's a pretty good old thing and about 98% complete.

I was bummed when I realised the extent of the rust. But looking through other peoples threads and re reading Stewart's old timer rebuild has got me keen to persevere with the old girl.

I'm still not going to totally rebuild it just fix the rust properly and running gear and try and preserve the originality of the car's paint and trim. Just clean, detail and polish the begeebus out of it.

The subframe is pretty bad, but I have a really good one on the EK wagon spares car. Is it ok to have an EK subframe on a FB? I suppose there is the problem with the numbers not matching up.

Cheers
Sam

Ya can cut the FB panel out with the numbers and weld it back into the other subframe, just don't tell anyone.....

This post will self destruct in 60 seconds.....

you could do as the post above sujests but if it were ever found there'de be quite a bit of explaining to do, by changing the subframe thus the No it just means the car is then registered as an EK

jeez hate to say this but starting to sound like you should have had a better look at it, may be easier to just keep fixing the EK

my, yor, our old wagon was at chopped, you know the one that an expert tried to tell the girl don't buy it it's a death trap she still drives it daily and loves it to death

Grimbo wrote:

bootlegger wrote:Dont get the whole body blasted. Strip the large flat areas by hand and leave the blasting for the floors and door jambs.

I don't really want to get the body blasted at all, just the floors. I'd like to keep the original paint and all it's patina.

Hey Sam
id be keeping the original paint aswell mate as its quite good with the floor mate you could cut out the really rusty
parts with the grinder then get a wire wheel that go's on the grinder and clean the rest of the floor with it and see how
much needs to come out these wire wheels will get it back to bare metal and make it easy to weld in new pan's we use these
stiff wire wheels at work to clean of any splatter from welding and i also used them to strip the floor in the ek wagon here is a pic of
a worn down one just make sure you wear eye protection or a full face sheild and some long clothing as the bits of wire tend to shoot of
and stick into you or who ever is in near range make sure know one is around you when doing this as for the sub frame mate i know you said
its no good but i would keep it find some one who is willing to repair it properly and while there doing that put the other one on that way it doesnt matter
how long they take then once done fit it back up then you still have a original matching numbers car

I (& others on here) have a mate who has just replaced the firewall, inner sills, floors & boot floor in a '56 Chev without needing to repaint the body.

It can be done, you just to be careful.

STANLEY wrote:I (& others on here) have a mate who has just replaced the firewall, inner sills, floors & boot floor in a '56 Chev without needing to repaint the body.

It can be done, you just to be careful.

I did the same thing on a rat eh v8 ute. Replaced tge whole floor from the firewall to the rear bumper.just unpicked the spotwelds. Dropped the rusty floor out and put the new floor out of a wagon in. Fair bit of work though

Thanks for the advice guys, I'm going to take my time and be careful. I made the most of the start of my long weekend and this morning started to pull the old girl apart.

This is how it sits at the moment.



Rust, no surprises there



More



The drivers side wasn't as bad as thought it was going to be.

A couple more surprises, found these whilst cleaning out the car.





I was also hoping someone could shed some light on the radiator, well the nasco badge more so.



And finally the reason it has taken so long to get started on the FB. Before starting I took the time to organise my shed and man cave it up a bit to make it more inspirational. It seems to have worked, got the tunes pumping and with the warm weather have enjoyed getting stuck in.



Cheers
Grimbo

Hi Sam

Love the FB wagon. Heartbreaker about the rust.

try and preserve the originality of the car's paint and trim. Just clean, detail and polish the begeebus out of it.

That's a good plan and I think that seeing most of the rust is in the floor it will be possible.

I bet those fuses will still work...

man cave it up a bit to make it more inspirational

Yep you've got to happy to "go to work"...

regards
Stewart