ONE MAN'S JUNK ANOTHER MAN'S TREASURE (2002)

(From the FX FJ Holden Car Club of WA 2002 - Wayne Tanzey's ute)

PART.1 - February 2002

One Man's Junk - Another Man's Treasure ...........
Well how many times have you heard that one? Many I guess! But by it's very nature that statement is as true today as it ever was. In the case of cars it holds especially true. Once someone becomes bored with their project, buys another car or for some other reason they decide to move on their current project, the hunt is on in earnest to sell, swap or finally give up and just get rid of the car by any means, even give it away! Well the following is a tale of such a sole, who shall remain anonymous but for the purpose of the article we'll call him 'buggalugs – 'bug' for short' (no offence intended). Now bug had been very laboriously toiling away for some time on a rather sad looking FX Ute. This was no ordinary ute, it had endured a hard life both from accident damage and from the ravages of time (read rust). From what I can gather someone in the club, since departed, had started the job of resurrecting the wreck but had 'stumbled' - probably when it got to the difficult part of putting it back together - and had then passed the project over to bug. For some time bug had battled away with it and installed some new bits along the way but was then attracted by the offer of a complete & registered FJ utility. Well who would blame the man – why bust your knuckles on something difficult when for a few extra dollars (OK then, probably quite a bit more than a few extra dollars) you can have something in better nick & readily drivable? Well this tale isn't about the good drivable ute but rather the sad case of the 'pass me down project FX ute'!

I first heard about the ute at a club meeting when it was offered for sale. I must admit the first attraction was the price but upon asking around I was told "forget it – that things a basket case!" So I did. But in the ensuing months it was still being offered for sale and late last year I decided to go and have a look to see for myself – you never know, there might just be a bargain in it. I arranged a viewing time and on the day I arrived at bugs place and upon the opening of the shed door, there it was in all it's glory. Initial inspections showed it wasn't 'too bad'. Well it was sitting on wheels wasn't it? But upon closer inspection I discovered there were some serious problems. A brief description is required: No hang on panels, No front or rear floor – none what so ever, No mechanics - apart from a front end and a diff, One half of the firewall was completely rusted & cracked up, No right or left sills, the roof had a large rust hole in it as well as many small pin holes (OK then a bit bigger than a pin!), the front half of the left rear quarter from the petrol cap down had been completely cut out, no glass and to top it all off someone had cut a large section from the right side of the dash out! And that just about covers the good points!

Ok then, well enough of the denigration but this one must have been the runt in the litter – that's for sure! It would be fair to say that this car was beyond me! I told bugs as much and headed for home - it would be risking divorce to bring this one home! Another thing that prevented me from going ahead was that many years ago I had all the gear to attempt this type of project, but now I have very little in the way of gas or welding & painting equipment, Such items are a necessity for such a job. I was also young & fit back then and could tackle any task – but times have changed since then. I once owned a workshop where we did all sorts of wondrous deeds to motor cars – at one stage I completely hand formed a lower section of a rear quarter for a 1959 'Tank' Fairlane (Hi Syd)– not an easy task! The job, if I took it on, would also require the resources of my two boys and it's not an easy task to 'nail' them down these days! The other option would be to outsource the work, which then adds considerably to the cost of such projects and in this case would make it a non viable project. Well I guess all the negatives were far out weighing the positives so what would a sensible person do? Go ahead and buy it of course! The reasoning? Well I quickly gathered that the asking price was covered by the new parts supplied with the car in the form of the Rare Spares™ floor sections, sills, subframes, etc. Bugs also supplied a good set of doors so if I failed to complete the car then I could get a couple of bob for the bits, give the rest away and at the end I shouldn't loose too much. After all it's only money!! (oh yeh) Of course there's one other factor – there's a mug born everyday! I fit the bill perfectly!

Well the correct amount of dollars was duly passed over and a tilt tray truck was organised to do the transport – I'm too old to be bothered with trailers, pushing & heaving. Do it the easy way, for $40.00 the car was picked up and delivered to it's new home, the truck driver even helped my wife push it into the garage! Amongst her bemoans of "what a heap of crap – you've really lost your marbles this time!" Ah 27 years of marriage – it does get better – she never asked for a divorce!

Every project should be planned – it helps when things stuff up – you can say "Well that's the problem, someone changed the plan"! Then it's not your fault. The basic plan of attack is to go the modified route. Some of the mods will hopefully include: Mechanical: Chassis kit, disk front end, rack & pinion steering, red motor & auto gearbox, disk rear end, late master cylinder/booster & later pedal assembly. Body mods: HQ door handles, central locking, electric windows (no vent windows), HJ/Z Van/Ute tail lights, Rolled pan at the back. The interior comforts: Bucket seats, late Commodore steering column, Air conditioning & Digital dash. We'll see what happens as we go some things might alter whilst other mods might be added. A flexible plan, one that's able to be bent to suit the finances!

First up the car was lifted & supported and then the front end was removed. Then followed the front rails which after having the side skirts and radiator support panels removed were duly delivered to the sand blasters with instructions to go easy, lest they be blown away! Along with the car came another FX bulkhead that included a good firewall and dash so this was unpicked along the spot welds using a cold chisel & drill. Only the right half of the firewall was required so it was cut down the centre with a 4" angle grinder. Then followed the complete dash, a very fiddly job trying to get it all out in one piece, but we got there in the end. The new firewall section was stripped and tidied up with a dolly & hammer and the dash was stripped to bare metal and then they were both put aside whilst their damaged counterparts were removed from the ute. Accurate measurements were made on the firewall where it had to be cut so that the replacement section would be a perfect fit in it's new home. Once the ute was prepared for the new section it was placed in position and clamped up then tack welded in. It is important to note that prior to anything being cut out the body should be braced so 50mm box tube was used to brace out the cabin area so that the alignments would not be lost. I remember many years ago replacing the sills in a sedan and I didn't support the underside of the vehicle only find that when I'd finished and went to put the doors back on they wouldn't fit properly – an expensive lesson. I might add that I had to go and buy a new Mig welder for this project - which promptly broke down the next day, but luckily I wasn't held up too long before it was repaired. Once stitched in the join was then fully welded, it is prudent to be careful welding panels with large flat areas – don't get too much heat into the one area or you'll buckle up the panel, make short runs and alternate from one end of the join to the other. I would have preferred to use a gas torch to do the welding as this would have allowed me to 'hammer weld' the join but I don't have access to one these days so the Mig will have to do the job. The weld produced by a Mig welder is too hard to be hammer welded and must be ground back to finish off.

Following the firewall the chopped up dash panel was removed. As the left side of the original dash was still good I cut down beside the glove compartment and following some careful measurements prepared the replacement dash for a snug fit. Once clamped in position it was tack welded and then finished off in the same manner as the firewall. Next up was the vent opening – I told you there weren't many good bits left on this car! Again the spare bulkhead was used to supply the complete area around the vent and the actual vent as well. More careful measuring and the removal of the rusted section and we were ready to fit the new replacement section. The lower cut, closest to the firewall, was made along the part that is covered by the bonnet lacing and the top of the section removed by unpicking the spot welds around the window opening. When replacing pieces like these the better you can make the parts fit to each other before the welding process then the easier it is to weld them, almost fusing the two parts together. Use a saw or snips for a nice clean cut and then a file to dress up the mating edges for a perfect fit – the extra time put in makes the job so much easier. Well now that the major damaged areas in this part of the car were back to something like they should be it's time to clean up all the welds and put some filler over them to sand back to a nice even flat finish. I must confess I'm not that good that I can metal & file finish only, that's a real art, but I believe you can do a TAFE course that will teach you the skills of such body work if your that way inclined. I had decided early in the planning of the project and after talks with our very knowledgable 'new boy' at the club - Neville, that I would use a 2 pack system to prepare the body, even though I'll most likely still use acrylic lacquer for the finishing coats. I'm glad I took his advice as the better adhesion is very evident even at this very early stage of repair.

Of course whilst the work continues the hunt goes on for parts for the rebuild. By vigilant perusal of the papers and word of mouth advertising I've already picked up an HR disk front end and a complete UC Torana disk brake diff at more than reasonable cost. In the next instalment I'll hopefully continue the saga so that you can follow the progress. That way you can endure the pain & agony of it all with me. Another old adage – "A problem shared - is a problem halved!" Pity you can't share the cost as well!

Part.2 - March 2002

Well last month we looked at the acquisition and the start of strip down – well at least the strip down of what was left which was very little. At least by purchasing a vehicle as a bare shell there's no problem storing the parts! It does however present a problem when it comes time to put it all back together. An example is that I would have liked to have sorted out the modified electric wiper setup whilst the dash panel was out but had no suitable wiper motor or even the linkages to do this so it will have be left until later. Last month I told you about the firewall and now that the 'new' one is in place it was time to weld up all those unnecessary holes, and this one had heaps, not just the factory holes but about another 50 odd! As I wanted a completely smooth firewall every hole was filled. For the larger holes I cut suitable material into small disks to fill the hole, again take your time if doing this and make the disks a reasonable fit. Then simply tack them in position and after that fully weld them. An old speaker magnet is handy to hold them in place until they're tacked into position, if large enough it also acts as a heat sink. Once fully welded I ground the welds back then a thin layer of filler is applied over the effected areas and blocked back to a smooth and level surface.

With the front of the vehicle all looking 'smicko' – well almost! It was time to attack the right hand side of the ute, in particular the right sill panel and the rear quarter. I don't have a great deal of room in my garage and I like to keep my good restored FJ sedan under cover which unfortunately for me is in the same garage. Given that problem, one side of the vehicle can only be accessed at one time. The right sill panel had already been prepared for fitment but I wasn't happy with it's fit so discarded it. Luckily I had a spare sill panel that I'd purchased amongst a pile of bits some time ago, it didn't take long to prepare it and then tack it in position. I might add that I still had all the bracing fitted to the vehicle from the firewall & dash cut job so just added some extra braces across the door opening to hold everything in the correct alignment whilst the sill was tacked and then fully welded into position. Prior to this I did a trial fitment of the door in the opening and made any adjustments required – no good welding everything up and then finding the door won't fit – I did that many years ago with disastrous results!

Whilst all was going along well Id decided to keep moving and attacked the area around the right rear wheel arch which had already had the rust effected areas removed. Once the aging undercoat was sanded away I discovered that a previous rust repair had been done many years ago by laying strips of lead tinned metal over the rust and then filling with lead. No welding just lead stuck over the lead tinned area and then finished over again with a layer of lead. Now I've played around with lead filling many years ago and I might add with not a great deal of success and as welding isn't compatible with a lead wiped surface I had to make a decision? Given my past experience it was an easy decision - grind out the lead, cut out more body and start again! Following this a pattern was prepared for a strip of metal to fit into the area that had been removed. This covered almost the whole of the area around the rear wheel arch. The inner guard area was also badly effected by rust but at this stage I'm leaving them as I intend to cut the original wheel arches out and fit 'psuedo' wheel tubs. These will be the same diameter but will go right across from the rear quarter panel to the chassis rail thus allowing wider tyres to be fitted. Anyway back to the job at hand. Welding it all up was a difficult job due to the existence of the lead – you have to remove every trace of it or the mig will spit a sputter it's way through it and a good weld can't be achieved. We got there in the end and again by keeping the weld runs short and alternating from one end to the other heat distortion of the panel wasn't a problem. I can tell you it was good to stand back at the end of it all and see a complete 'whole' body from the firewall to the back of the ute – but still a long way to go!

There were more problems at the immediate rear of the right rear quarter in the way of a whole heap of bog that had been slapped across it. There were all different shades of body filler obviously mixed at differing consistencies - it sort of had the appearance of an area that had been used to chuck all the scrap left overs from other 'bog jobs'. It all had to come out and once removed showed that the area had been knocked about quite a bit in the past – this ute had definitely been someone's farm hack or paddock bomb! I straightened it out as best I could and then started the process of restoring the area. A few days were spent tidying up the whole right side and sanding it back to achieve a nice straight surface with the odd blemish still here and there. At this stage it is no use preparing it to a stage ready for paint but rather to a stage where the surface is basically prepared and undercoated for protection against rust. Once it comes time to paint the car a couple of days preparation is all that should be required to get it ready for the top coats.

To give myself a break from the body work, I decided to take a break from it all and attack some other aspects of the ute rebuild. Before I had purchased the ute I had purchased a full set of digital instruments for installation in such a project. I had originally planned to make a whole new dashboard but after a couple of attempts at mocking up a cardboard sample I gave it away. The reason was that with the mock-up in place it just didn't look right, It took away the original character of the FX/FJ. It must be a bit of the restorer coming out in me but I think you need to maintain the classic look & style of the FX & FJ when modifying them and the classic look of the FX/FJ instrument cluster – well there's nothing quite like it. The cardboard mock-up got the heave ho and an old instrument panel was brought out from the dungeons of the back shed. First I cut the inner part of the instrument cluster panel out and replaced it with a flat sheet of aluminium. I measured the new digital instruments and then marked out their various positions on the new face of the panel. Then using a hole saw and file formed the new holes in their respective positions. Much sanding to smoothen it all out and the finished product was ready for the fitment of the new digital gauges. I actually took it one step further and connected up a 12 volt supply to them and lit them up which gave quite an impressive display. The new cluster panel was then put aside for the day when it can be painted and bolted into the dash for the last time.

Another task that I decided to do at this stage was mount the new VN Commodore brake booster & master cylinder & it's associated pedal assembly. I had been watching the papers for a supply of late Commodore parts and found a privateer who had the required goods at the right price. Following a quick phone call I loaded the wallet appropriately and headed off. Two hours later I was heading homeward bound with a VN master cylinder/booster & pedal box, a complete VS tilt steering column assembly (with keys) and a pair of VR height adjustable bucket seats – should have called this car the Fxodore! It was a very simple task to line up and fit the pedal box, pedal and master cylinder, it was almost as if it was made to fit the FX. With that in place I hopped on the computer to check out another guy on the web who had fitted a similar set up to his car. I found the appropriate image but low & behold his looked to be further to the right and sitting higher? I shot back outside, looked at mine, then thought "well his is now on the road – I'd better move it". One hour later, the holes were welded up and the cylinder, pedal, etc. moved over and raised 50mm, I then sat back and patted myself on the back. Now you must remember I had no front chassis rails bolted to the car at this stage and a horrible thought crossed my mind – "I wonder how much clearance to the chassis support arm there is?" One way to find out – bolt it on - and so I did, well almost – it fouled on the booster! Off it all came again and I then decided to cut out the whole area of the firewall where the booster was mounted to as it had the ribs pressed into the firewall where the battery used to sit. I fabricated a new panel, welded it in then marked out the new holes for the booster & cylinder. With the chassis rail in position everything now fitted and guess where the pedal ended up? In almost the exact same position as it's first location - there's got to be a moral there somewhere!

Part.3 - April 2002

Well it's on we go again this month. The rebuild has been continuing at a steady pace but I have been sidetracked from the bodywork a little. As stated last month the right hand side is now back into reasonable shape and following this I decided to move my attention towards the floor area and in particular the panel behind the seat that meets the floor. I was very lucky here as there was no rust what so ever in this panel - well actually there was no panel so that's why there was no rust! I did however have the original rusted one that had been removed and I also had a floor section from a sedan that would have to be fitted first. I laid the much larger sedan floor section in place on the ute chassis rails and then took some measurements from my sedan using the subframe that goes across the centre of the floor as a 'datum' point. Measurements were taken from this point back to the front subframes and these measurements were transferred across to the ute. Everything looked good so the rear edge of the ute floor was marked and then the whole floor panel removed and cut to size. The edges of the sedan floor panel were about 50mm short where it had been cut from the sedan. As luck would have it this edge ended up sitting right over the left & right subframes so that when a strip of steel was welded onto the edges of the floor pan, to meet up with the outer sill panel, the weld would not be able to be seen from underneath the vehicle. With the floor panel now the right size it was tacked into position, I might add that I had the floor section sandblasted and etched primed prior to it's installation which makes for an easier job when it's time to detail the underside of the car.

Now to the panel that goes behind the seat. I had a dual problem here as not only was the lower panel missing but a fair section of the upper panel was gone as well. I decided that rather than try and exactly replicate the lower panel I would fabricate an angle iron frame and then fill it in with a flat sheet of steel. A cardboard template was made of the curved section that goes over the transmission tunnel and it was simple matter, with the aid of some heat, to form a matching curve. Measurements for the height and width were taken and in short order the frame was assembled and then tacked into position. It was again a simple task to cut a suitable piece of steel sheet to fill in the frame and then add a couple of steel upright braces, as per the original. This lower section also has attached to it a bracket that supports the fuel tank. I didn't bother with this as I am going to fit a larger aluminium one and so will make brackets to suit this at a later date.

With the rear half of the floor and the lower panel behind the seat in place it was time to attack the panel above. A reproduction panel for this area is available but as I was only about 150mm short and I had been given a section of the same profile that had been removed from another ute, albeit a little short in width, I decided to repair this panel and use it. After trimming the panel to the height I required it was just a matter of adding a couple of short sections onto the ends of this panel which I did after I had welded the section into place. Well it sounds like all this happened in a day but let me assure you that it was a very time consuming process of measuring, cutting, tacking, welding. The finished job doesn't look too bad and I can't say that it would have been easier to have used the reproduction panel. As I will be putting all my electric's, fuel pump and battery in a compartment at the front of the tray (behind the seat) then the welded join will barely be visible. I'll possibly line the compartment out with another material which will completely obscure the join. Once completed all the welds, joins and areas of bare metal were given a liberal coating of Seam Sealer and a coat of primer. I also applied a body deadener to the rear panel and will cover the whole floor area with the same product when finished.

It was at this point that I got really sidetracked from the bodywork. I decided that I needed to get the gearbox cross member in place before any more of the floor area was welded in position. At this stage I didn't have access to a rotisserie and as such it would be easier to access the points on the chassis that I needed to weld brackets onto for the gearbox cross member.

Now the only problem with going down this route was that I didn't even have a motor or gearbox. I started to scan the papers for a suitable engine. The original plan called for a Red 6 and Tri-matic. I wished to buy a 'good' motor & gearbox and the only way to ensure that was to buy one that could be test driven. The papers were loaded with everything from a 149 through to the later black 3.3's. I might add that I resisted all temptations and prompts from others to go the Holden V6 route! The budget ruled out a V6. Following a week or so scanning the papers a suitable candidate was found, test driven and accepted. A deal was stuck at $100.00 below the asking price and following the removal of the motor & box by the owner I was homeward bound with a red 202 and auto on the trailer, complete with Holley 350 & extractors. It's certainly a buyers market out there with plenty to choose from. Once home another problem raised it's head – What am I going to lift it with? I didn't have anything at all in the way of lifting gear. Some quick phone calls around soon located a good price for an engine crane and I was off again, trailer in tow, then some time later, spread out on the shed floor amongst a mass of nuts, bolts, shiny bits of red painted steel and a largish 8 ton hydraulic ram assembling the crane. Well that gave the 'cook' something to grizzle about with screams of - "What about my new laundry"?

At this stage I also had some good fortune which demonstrates the idea of *'Networking' (Buzz word of the 1990's). I was offered an HR front end with a rear mounted and suitably shortened Commodore rack & pinion steering set up for a very good price. The front end and steering rack was a professionally modified unit from a well known establishment in country Victoria and by purchasing this I would save a considerable amount of dollars on having to buy it new. The front end had been fitted with all new ball joints, wheel bearings, shocks, disks and even came with a new set of mounting rubbers. It also had the engine mounts welded in position but they were positioned for a 25mm recess in the firewall. I didn't want to recess the firewall so I had to cut the engine mounts off, make up a new set and weld them back on once everything was in the correct position. I won't go into too much detail but it was a simple matter to swing the engine into position, weld the engine mounts on, jack the gearbox to the correct height and take some measurements for the gearbox cross member. I used 50 x 50 x 5mm box tube with a 50mm drop in the centre. I made it so that it bolts into position between the two existing chassis rails. Two large pieces of 5mm angle iron were used as attachment points for the cross member to bolt to and these are welded to the chassis rails. At this stage I only tacked the plates on, once the car is 'flipped' in the rotisserie then I'll fully weld them up. With the engine and gearbox sitting in position I had a good look at how everything was sitting including the rack & pinion steering shaft, extractor clearance, etc. I had to get a steering shaft machined to suit the late VS Commodore steering column that I'd chosen to use. Had I used an earlier Commodore column this would not have been necessary.

Many people had advised me that my plan to use a flip front would be plagued with problems, given the state of our current rego regulations. I had, until now, resisted all this advice but due to the sheer volume of it I decided to change 'tack' and go back to a standard bonnet opening set-up. (luckily I hadn't welded up the bonnet hinge holes!) The only problem that this change of tack raised was "where do I find a good set of rails and side skirts that aren't attached to a car"? Well again the old *Networking thing came to the fore. I just happened to mention to a club member if he knew of anyone who might have a set of rails and skirts and bingo as quick as I'd told him a name and phone number were in my hand! A quick inspection and again the trailer was heading home with a front chassis clip which was promptly taken to the sandblasters for a clean up job. Looks like lady luck is still on my side and so until next month – don't forget - *Networking! The key to your restorations future!

*Networking – Involves telling every one you know what your doing, the object being that they will be your 'eyes & ears' in finding parts or information for you. It usually relates to finding a job.

Part.4 - June 2002

Well we're into the project again after being sidelined by a mishap with my son's car – the engine blew up in his Ford Laser, a legacy of his heavy foot. Dare I infiltrate these pages with tales of woe about a Ford, I mean one would have to be asking for trouble by buying one in the first place! Least to say that due to very limited room in the form of garage space at this residence the poor old ute was sidelined whilst we found a suitable motor to replace the broken one. Normal circumstances would have seen me give him the thumbs down but he does help me out with the printing of this Newsletter so it was only fair that I return the favour and help fix his car. You see, like many young people these days, he knows how to wreck 'em – but he don't know how to fix 'em! Nuff said……

The ute has been progressing well since the Laser episode and the vehicle was eventually put back on wheels, turned around and work began on the disastrous mess that was the left rear quarter panel. You might remember my earlier explanation but for those that don't the left rear quarter panel had been mostly chopped out – from the petrol filler hole down (all the way down) and from the door opening across to (and including) the wheel arch. About 75mm of the wheel arch had also been completely removed. To effect a repair of the wheel arch I used a sedan rear guard, which had the exact same profile. It was a simple matter to cut about 125mm from this guard then transfer this cut piece across to the ute, position it and tack it into position. As I had no guide of the exact position where it had to locate I sketched out a 'grid' on the, now repaired, right side rear quarter panel. I then carefully drew the same grid on the left side quarter panel, using the bracket that supports the hood bow as a central datum point for all my measurements. The grid consisted of multiple lines spaced 100mm apart and once in position on both sides of the quarters I was able to measure from this to precisely locate the 'new' wheel arch. Once clamped and then tacked into position I moved onto the ugly bit – the dreaded missing lower rear quarter!

I think I told you in an earlier article that I was lucky enough to have a replacement panel made for the front lower rear quarter. I jigged it up in position and it was almost a drop-in fit. But nothing comes that easy and much careful trimming had to be done to get the panel sitting just right. The new panel had a bit more curve in it than the original and had been made from a much heavier gauge of steel than the holden so it was very difficult to rework it. After much fiddling about I had the panel in position and started to tack it in. As I went along the top join I used a piece of wood behind the quarter panel to keep the join firmly together, it's a difficult area to work in because there's not a lot of room and clamps can't be pressed into service. Eventually the panel was welded up and I don't know how (well I guess I do…..?) but a bit of distortion had snuck up on me and the join had pulled in about 10mm. Again, like I said, It's a horrible part of the car to try and work and no matter what I did I couldn't pry/lever the panel back to flush. I managed to get it back a few mm and so that's the way it will stay, albeit some filler will fix the void.

With the major gaping hole in the rear quarter fixed I returned back to the wheel arch and finished welding it into place. This time I was more careful and no distortion was evident from the finished weld. Finally the car was starting to look a complete body again. I guess you all know that feeling of internal satisfaction when you reach a major milestone in a project, well I was no different – I felt invincible at that point! But I still had more to go before this old hand me down ute was anywhere near finished so the elation was short lived as I moved onto the left front sill panel.

So it was out with the new sill, I reckoned that this would be the easy part of the job, I sat it in position – "yep that looks good" – shut the door –" yep that's enough clearance" – Cut to length and sit it back again – "Nup, needs a snip here" – "a bit more there" – "good oh". So I clamped the bottom up to the lip on the inner sill and then tacked the ends into position and tried the door again, everything was looking good so I added some more tacks – "who said putting sills in is hard yakka – what a breeze"! I was going that well that I fully welded the sill into position. I then stood back and admired my handi-work only to get down and look underneath the car and then shock of horrors! The clamps had somehow lost their grip and the bottom edge of the sill panel had crept down and in about 12mm, it was now totally out of line with the lip of the inner sill and the crease was way out of whack with the crease line of the lower edge of the rear quarter panel – ugh! I'm not going to lower my standards by repeating what I muttered to myself at that point but rest assured I wasn't happy. Well there was only one solution the panel would have to be removed and set up again, actually upon close inspection the sill panel doesn't seem to have enough roll in it. I guess it's old story we've all been told before but don't always adhere to it when we're on a roll – Check, Check and Check again, then when all seems right, Check it again – just in case. I decided to leave the sill for the time being and return to it a later date.

The original plan called for a roll pan and recessed number plate and tails lights so I decided to move onto that part of the car. The area where the spare wheel once resided had already been chopped out when I brought the car but some remnants still remained. Using the angle grinder and gas axe I tidied up the remaining area and also removed the rear bumper mounts that protruded on each side. I looked around but couldn't find a suitably sized piece of steel sheet to form the roll pan and then my eyes passed over the old Ford Laser we'd brought to get the motor for my sons car. I measured the roof, which was nice and flat and bingo! just what I needed, so it was out with the angle grinder and out with the roof! I took some measurements from the rear of the ute, transferred them to the steel sheet and with the aid of a pair of large tinsnips I had the beginnings of my roll pan. I thought that I would be able to tack weld the top section onto the car and then pull the sheet around to the bottom but it was too difficult to do. I ended up by making a cardboard template and took the sheet of steel to a local steel fabricator and had them roll it for me. Whilst it was there I also had them fold a 6mm edge on the lower section to give the panel some extra support at the bottom. They did a brilliant job and the profile was perfect, unlike the sill panel the roll pan sat straight in position and was welded in without any difficulty what so ever.

Well once again we were running hot so from here on it was a simple matter to make up the recessed portion for the number plate, transfer the measurements of the recess to the roll pan and remove that section then weld in the new recessed piece. Likewise the position of the stop/tail and blinker lights were marked onto the roll pan. After looking around for something suitable to form the recesses for the lights my son came home with a short length of 3.5 inch exhaust pipe from a truck and this was cut to the correct depth, which in my case was 50mm, a blank piece of steel was then welded into one end then the whole piece welded into the roll pan. To cut the hole out of the roll pan I used the largest hole saw I had then used a pair of aviation type snips to trim the hole to size. Sometimes these tasks appear difficult but once you get going they become very easy. With regards the exhaust pipe? Exhausts shops are handy places to befriend for bits of steel, in most cases they have a large bin where they toss all their off cuts into so if your after some light gauge tube just ask – in most cases they'll give you all you can take. Exhaust tube is handy for mounting gauges into the dash and frenching (recessing) antenna's into the bodywork as well. That's it for this month – cheers!

Part.5 - July 2002

Well the project again stalled for a month or so due to ill health but with that out of the way (until next time) we're back into the old hand me down ute project once again. The body is now at the stage that all the rust has been removed and replaced and is mostly reasonably straight. Of course more effort will be required to even it out before the top coats are applied, but it'll be a case of lots of elbow grease, blocking it back, rather than hammering, welding, filling and sanding. My attention has now turned to straightening out the tray area and in particular placement of the fuel tank and a permanent place for the spare wheel. Why not the stock position you ask? Well in my case the stock position at the rear was out of the question as the area where the spare wheel door once resided was badly hacked about and it now sports a roll pan that prevents any access via the rear. I had planned to make up a new spare wheel tray at the back which would be similar to, but much deeper than the original and access it by lifting the rear section of the tray floor. Like all good plans mine changed and I opted to locate the spare wheel up behind the seat panel at the front of the tray, where it would be hidden in a compartment that I was going to construct. In other words the wheel would stand vertical rather than lay flat. This compartment would also house the battery, the electric's and the fuel pump. A door will close it all off from view. The original plan to have an aluminium fuel tank was also dropped when a VL Commodore tank happened my way and it dropped between the rear chassis rails like it was made for the job – I wish all the modifications were that easy! For the spare wheel I constructed a recess out of steel so that the wheel could sit down into the chassis rails and so fit in under the top of the tray. Because there isn't a lot of depth or width in the compartment I've only allowed for a 320mm width of tyre but have ample room to fit a reasonable diameter of wheel & tyre. It's only for the spare so a 150mm width rim & tyre combo will be OK. With the wheel in position there's not a whole lot of room for much else in the compartment but the battery and electrical panel will still all fit OK.

There was another task that had been lurking in the shadows and I'm sure it's one that many ute and panel van restorers/modifiers suffer with alike and that is, mud stuck in the chassis rails. With the ute in the rotisserie every time I rotated the body all you'd hear was sand and dirt rolling about in the chassis rails. I don't know of any easy fix for this and really the only method of clearing it is to cut the rails open. So that was how I did it, I took the angle grinder and sliced the rails open in three places for a 150mm length and the width of the rail. With the chassis opened up like this it's easy to get the air line and blast the living daylights out of the insides. With the cleaning process accomplished I filled the kero gun with fish oil and liberally blasted it up into the chassis rails to help stall any rust. Following that I took some 'fresh' 50 x 3mm steel, cut to the appropriate length and then welded the pieces into the gaping holes to restore the faithfulness of the rails. To add further strength to the chassis I then ran the same 50 x 3mm steel from the front of the rail right back to the point at which the rear spring shackle starts, this was attached by welding it at approximately 150mm intervals along the bottom of the rail. It also served the purpose of cleaning up the look of the rail, it's now nice and straight and smooth and there's no openings anywhere to allow dirt into the rails again.

In the tray, there are steel floor panels that are located on both sides of the original timber floor and between the wheel arches and the tailgate, and also at the opposite end, between the wheel tubs and the rear seat panel. All of these panels had been badly damaged with dents, rust and the odd hole or two that been drilled in it's past life. I decided that rather than repair the sections I would cut them out and replace them. The steel used in this part of the tray is much thicker (like me!) than normal body steel but the angle grinder made short work of it and soon the tray was looking slightly on the bare side. I went up to my local steelyard to look for some suitable replacement steel sheet but everything they had was either too thin or (again like me) too thick. I went home disgruntled and rummaged through my stocks of steel (read junk pile) and came up with a piece about a metre square but 3mm thick, a bit on the heavy side, but hey it's cheap and won't be easily damaged again!

A cardboard template of each panel was made and this transferred to the steel and again with the aid of the trusty angle grinder I soon had my replacement pieces to weld in. A few hours later, and the job was done – albeit amongst the screams of neighbours who don't seem to like the sound of screaming angle grinders! No sense of adventure I say – Don't they realise when they see these nice old cars trundling down the road that their owners didn't just wave a magic wand and the car was like new – it's a dirty, noisy job. All in all I'm pretty considerate to their needs, I don't start work too early and I'm always finished by late afternoon. I guess the old saying of 'putting yourself in their shoes is a good one – I'm sure I wouldn't like it if they were grinding and bashing steel all day. Actually I can remember when their son was porting a head with an air operated die grinder – I know for a fact that I wasn't too happy about the racket so I guess I'm justified - it's pay back time!

Back to the job at hand. Another task that had been on the drawing board for some time was to construct a new cross member for the telescopic shock absorbers. My vehicle was originally fitted with knee action shock absorbers which had been unceremoniously cut off and replaced with a telescopic 'conversion' at some later stage. The conversion was a poor substitute with the top of the shocker mounted via a hole drilled through the wheel arch – little or no support at all! Actually given the amount of rust in the wheel arches it's a wonder they held on at all. I took some measurements of the location for the cross member and shocker mounting points from an FJ ute and then purchased a suitable length of 50mm x 5mm wall thickness RHS (my scrap steel pile is getting a bit like Old Mother Hubbard's cupboard – a bit bare!) I attached some pieces of 5mm angle iron with a hole drilled through it for the shocker stud to pass through and this was then lightly tacked to the cross member in roughly the right position. I then had to mock the springs and lower shocker mounting plates into position to make sure the top shocker mounting plates were at 90 degrees to the line of the shock absorber. Once everything was aligned in the correct position the cross member was removed, the mounting plates fully welded on using an arc welder rather than the mig and finally the cross member placed back in position and fully welded in, again using the arc welder. Another one of those niggly little jobs out of the way. In a project of this proportion there's many such niggly jobs – they seem never ending! Another use for the new cross member will be to use as a mounting point for the fuel tank belly straps and it also provides a protective barrier to anything flying up under the car that might want to damage the fuel outlet pipes and fuel tank sender unit. It will also be a handy point to tie the fuel lines and fuel sender cables onto.

Well with most of the tray now sorted out I spent the best part of a day cleaning up the welds, seam sealing everything and then applied a coat of etch primer and after that had dried I followed up with a heavy coat of 2K primer. It was actually the last of a 4 litre tin of 2K primer so I was quite amazed to wonder where it had all gone – I haven't finished yet! The insides of the wheel tubs will be given liberal coats of 'C' Guard or Stone guard as some call it. I'll also apply this to the panel behind the seat and other out of the way nooks and crannies. Once all the preparation of the underneath of the ute is finished I'll top coat it and at that stage the ute will have reached the point where it can come out of the rotisserie and the front chassis rails, suspension, etc can all be remounted on. It might even start to look like a complete car again! I'm sure that after assembly it will need to be torn down again and go back into the rotisserie to do some other minor work before I actually get to put the car together for the last time. The brake lines and wiring have yet to be run so there's still plenty to do underneath the car.

Once the car is back on all four's I've also got to do the doors. I'm fitting electric mirrors and electric window winders to them, they will also have full glass fitted rather than the original vent windows. I've already got all the electric's and have also purchased a pair of complete front doors from a VN Commodore so that I can remove all the window run channels, mirror mounting plates and the door locks and handles as well for fitment into the FX door frames. I told you it should have been called an FXODORE! Well that's it for this month and hopefully all going well I'll have some more for you next month.

PART.6 - August 2002

One Man's Junk - Another Man's Treasure ...........

Work continues on the old rusted, busted ute - though there's little evidence of rust to be seen these days. Something must be going right and progress is, forward rather than in the opposite direction, as the car is slowly turning towards the "put me back together" stage. Don't get me wrong - lots of hard yakka left to go yet before we get to the most enjoyable part of any rebuild, the task of bolting everything in place for the final time.

After preparing the underneath of the vehicle and then priming it all I decided to lay on the finishing coats of 2K enamel to the underside. A quick phone call to our esteemed member and auto paint expert, Neville, soon had in hand a one litre tin of Glasurit(tm) 2K paint in 'Devil Yellow' the new V2 Monaro colour. To hell with conservatism - let's make this old ute stand out in the crowd! A day later and the underneath of the car looked better than the top - Well that's not hard considering it's past history! I painted the complete floor pan, chassis rails, inside the wheel tubs and up to the lower edge of the firewall. With this area painted I could now remove the ute from the rotisserie and spend some time preparing the firewall to get it as smooth as a babies bum for the same Devil Yellow top coats. I wanted a full gloss finish to the firewall rather than 'lumpy' C-Guard(tm) finish I'd used on the underneath. Once everything was prepared I laid on the top coats to the firewall and just as promptly got over excited by the ensuing glow of the colour and laid it on too heavy and ended up with a big run right smack bang in the middle of the firewall. I muttered some expletives then went and sought some advice from David, another of our 'flock' that's an expert on paint & panel work - with this many experts in the Club why would YOU be a member?

You must understand that I've never used 2K enamels before, well not in their current form anyway. I've sprayed many cars in ordinary enamels and acrylics but a very long time ago and I wasn't sure on how long I had to wait before I could block out the run. It turned out that 4 hours later the paint was hard enough to attack with some 1500 wet & dry and plenty of soap to lubricate it all. With the run removed I gave the whole area a light sanding I tried again and this time was a little more frugal in my approach to the job. Two light coats were all that was required and I was soon rewarded with a nice even glow of yellow. I let this dry for the rest of the day and then blocked it all lightly back with 1500 wet & dry before hitting it with the buff & cutters the next morning which really made the difference - no orange peel - just a smooth, flat surface. Job done!

With all the necessary parts now painted I could attach the front chassis rails & skirts for the last time. I let everything harden up for a day or two and then did just that, using polished stainless steel bolts of course. I'd made a decision early on that I'd replace every bolt and screw with stainless steel. Having a small lathe it's an easy task to face the head of the bolt off to a smooth finish and then using an appropriate 'soap' buff the head of the bolt to a brilliant shine, looks so much better than an ordinary bolt sitting there. Of course if your restoring you vehicle then it's a different story, you need to keep things as per original.

With the front now in place it was time to take stock of what was required to re-fit the front cross member. The HR front end I purchased had already been fitted with all new ball joints & bushes, etc. It also came with new mounting rubbers, albeit less the top rubbers so these were put on order through the local Rare Spares agent. The front end had been painted in black gloss paint which didn't exactly fit in with my colour scheme so the crossmember was stripped down and sand blasted to prepare it for a few coats of Devil Yellow(tm). I also sent the four mounting bolts and all the screw-in type bushes from the front end to the electroplaters to have them chromed. To finish off the line-up of 'fancy bits' I machined up and polished some new stainless steel top mount caps - no good having a nice shiny bolt and then a grungy old cap washer underneath. Once all the shiny bits are back from the platers I'll re-assemble the front end and then install it into the vehicle which will be a straight forward task.

While the front crossmember awaits it's installation I turned my attention to the rear axle and springs. I had earlier sent the springs away to be reset 50mm lower. I had pondered at the time wether I should drop the ute 75mm on the springs but opted for the 50mm drop to be on the safe side. The new spring mounting pads I had made for diff housing also lowered the rear of the ute another 40mm so we didn't want to overdo the lowering job. I already had the new shackle rubbers and spring mounting rubbers so assembly would be a straight forward job. The shackle rubbers were pushed into their respective holes and the front pins inserted and the nuts attached, following this the rear shackles were connected up and likewise the nuts done up finger tight. With both springs attached as such the diff was hoisted into position over the springs and centralised between the springs. At this stage the spring mounting pads are not welded to the diff housing. Once everything is aligned and the U-bolts nipped up there will be enough resistance to hold the diff in position but it will still be loose enough to be able to rotate it to get the pinion angle right before final welding. The pinion needs to have a 5 degree 'up' angle. I have an old clinometer which although not being designed for this exact purpose will do the job of ensuring this angle is right.

With the diff in place I was at last able to put some wheels back on the ute and see how it sat, keeping in mind that there's little or no weight on it - just a bare body shell. With an old set of 13" mags attached it was sitting pretty high so maybe the frugal 2" spring reset job may need to be redone. I'll probably run 15" rims which will certainly help things out with regards filling out the wheel arches. I want the vehicle to sit reasonably low but at this stage it's not worth doing anything until we get the body weight somewhere near about it's finished weight. At least I'll now know what offset I'll need on the rims so I'll be able to keep my eyes open if any bargains come along.

Well that's about it for this month but there's another short related article which follows about the challenge of replating an FX grille - there's no let-up, if it's not one thing it's another!

PREPARING AN FX GRILLE FOR REPLATING - Part - 1.

I'd been pondering my needs for an FX grille for some time and had looked at quite a few over the last few months. Good grilles with no rust holes are few and far between at any price. Prices vary greatly as well so if your in the market for an FX grille be patient, even better look for one that has already been redone - they're out there but you've got to be quick! To go through the whole exercise of finding a suitable grille then having to dismantle it for re-plating is an unforgiving task. Well being a glutton for punishment that was the route that I chose. Certainly you can get the plating shop to do the whole job for you - but it's gonna cost ya! In my case that wasn't an option as the plater I use said he would not dismantle the grille for me - that was my job - 'else take it somewhere else. Finally after much searching a suitable grille was located that had no holes, though it was badly surface rusted. I first took the grille to the platers to get their opinion and following their nod of approval that the grille would be OK I left it there for them strip all the rust & chrome from it. If your doing this job then DO get them to strip it first BEFORE you dismantle it as it makes finding the spot weld marks a lot easier.

It was about a week when I went back and picked up the grille, now stripped of all rust and chrome, then took it home for some drastic surgery. First I made up a frame to hold it all together. This is necessary as I was about to chop the grille up into it's individual components. The frame can be as elaborate as you like, made of steel or timber, but simplicity being my rule of thumb I used some 50 x 25mm hardwood. Picking up the original attachment points around the grille I made the frame a snug fit about it's perimeter. Where the top part of the grille curves around I went straight through, following the straight line either side of the hump in the middle. There's a couple of screw holes on both sides of the hump, on the straight part, that can be used to attach the grille to the frame. The object of the frame is to hold the basic shape of the grille so that the bars can be replaced back in the right position with respect to the grille's height & width. Double-Dutch I know but if you're your doing the same job you'll know what I mean. The basic frame was glued and screwed together to make a sturdy job of it as nails can twist and pull apart.

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Car was finished and sold - Wayne is currently building a Hot Rod!