Steve & Josh's EK wagon build

steved57 · Post by **steved57** » Mon Jan 25, 2010 1:33 am

Here's a few pic's of father/son (#1 son & I) EK wagon build project. We bought this old girl completely stripped (but all there, plus more) for a price too good to refuse (I wish I could say the same for the cost of the shed I had to put up to put her in!). She's had a fair bit of work done to her by a previous owner - not the guy I bought it off - including all major rust repairs (new floors etc), a CRS chassis kit & trans tunnel fitted and all panels 'cept the front guards repaired & primed. Got a bit of work to do on the guards, but they'll come up. She also came with a nice HR disc brake front end (in bits), a complete Rares rubber kit and a spare set of bumpers & trim off another car.

The guy I bought it off was going to turn it into a Variety bash car (before he realised it was probably too good for that) but unfortunately left it sitting outside for 12 months while he made up his mind what to do with it - not a good idea in the tropics! Hence we've had/got a bit of surface rust to deal with - particulary the roof & floor. As you'll see from the photo's I've already done the floor in POR15 ('cept the drivers side firewall - bit of mucking 'round to come there) and am in the process of cleaning up the roof. I gotta say the red oxide primer they used back in those days was good stuff - jeez it's a bugger to get off! Next phase will be to whack her up on stands, pull out the front & rear ends and start cleaning/painting the underside (oh, for a rotisserie!) before starting on the mechanical mods.

The master plan is to run a carbie'd LS1 & Turbo 400 (sitting in the corner of the shed ready to drop in), the HR front end with dropped stubs, VN discs & VT twin spot calipers up front with Commodore R&P, and a narrowed VN disc brake rear end (although I think I read somewhere that a VB - VK rear end is the same width as EK and will bolt straight in after relocating the mounts - anyone know?). We want to keep 'er retro looking - black with a silver roof, louvres, 15"wheels with full covers & whitewalls and a mainly black tuck & roll interior.

So here's the pics and we'll post up more as we go.

Cheers, Steve & Josh

ps: Ain't it nice to see that even young fella's these days still know how these old girls must be driven - elbow out the "window"!

Trev · Post by **Trev** » Mon Jan 25, 2010 4:06 am

Hope there are a few around for when my boys get to that age, nothing I'd like better than a father and son project

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Keep the updates coming Steved57, Trev

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EK JAY · Post by **EK JAY** » Mon Jan 25, 2010 8:47 am

Good on you Steve and Josh looks like a good buy
keep those pics comming and there's plenty of info on here

with the commodore diff i have a vc commodore drum brake diff
in my green sedan unshortened and im looking at putting a
disk brake one from a vc vh v8 commodore in my wagon
hopefully there the same length
i will let you know when i do some measurements .

Jay

wot179 · Post by **wot179** » Mon Jan 25, 2010 8:58 am

He looks like hes got the elbow-out-the-window stance down pat.

Now all he needs to do is practice the old gutter-grip..

FB MAD · Post by **FB MAD** » Mon Jan 25, 2010 9:15 am

Steve, grab yerself a milk crate, they make the best seats fer gettin rollers in and out of the shed!!

Know what you mean about the red primer, paint stripper won't work on it, just have to get the elbow grease on it.

There is, or was, some pics on the forum here of a VB to VH crumbledoor rear end in an FB/EK but it was a fair while back now and can't remember the forum topic??

A lot of rust work seems to have been done on it already so that saves you a lot of work and frustration.

Rust only seems to be surface so should be OK going by the photos.

Harko · Post by **Harko** » Mon Jan 25, 2010 9:55 am

Rust and paint removal pads or twisted wire wheel for the grinder will do it Steve .
Good to see you onboard with a very good start to a worthy project.
Harko

steved57 · Post by **steved57** » Mon Jan 25, 2010 8:11 pm

Thanks for the encouraging comments guys - much appreciated. Josh & I are having a lot of fun doing this. I got stuck in today and got the roof, window frames and door seal channels all stripped back - intensive work on the sanding discs and wire brush wheel. Bustin' to put the POR 15 on all these spots tomorrow - but have promised my dearly beloved that I'd take her to lunch & a movie. Reckon she'd understand if I told her that the more patriotic thing to do on Australia Day would be to work on an old Holden??

Harko · Post by **Harko** » Mon Jan 25, 2010 8:52 pm

your working on an old australian woman the night before

You are so patriotic

Devilrod · Post by **Devilrod** » Mon Jan 25, 2010 9:18 pm

Great base to start with and should get up and go with that drive line. Noice!

Jason · Post by **Jason** » Wed Jan 27, 2010 4:37 pm

G'day Steve,

What a fantastic way to spend time with your young bloke, doing something that you both enjoy, that's Gold.

My young bloke is only 4 but is dead keen to get out and give me a hand, I hope that never changes as I love spending that time with him. I work away out bush a lot so every minute I get is precious.

SS2ENVY · Post by **SS2ENVY** » Mon Feb 01, 2010 4:39 pm

Hey everyone. Thanks to all for the positive comments, certainly helps keep us motivated to get the old girl on the road!

SS2ENVY · Post by **SS2ENVY** » Sat Jun 26, 2010 5:51 pm

Hey guys. The old man has been a bit slack with the pics lately so i thought i'd do an update. Enjoy:

Malcolm · Post by **Malcolm** » Sat Jun 26, 2010 6:09 pm

Boy this brings back memories, keep up the good work. Looking forward to following your rebuild.
Mal

steved57 · Post by **steved57** » Sat Jun 26, 2010 6:20 pm

Thanks Junior - but who's that old bald headed prick playing with our engine??

t950cat · Post by **t950cat** » Sat Jun 26, 2010 7:55 pm

Welcome back mal and yes what a great build this will be.

fbekholden.com