Thread: Ernest.

We managed to get most of the front end rebuilt on Saturday, thx to Harry and Scanfor for the help. A few little problems encountered along the way were sorted out without much hassle. Sunday, Scanfor and I finished off the brakes and axle flanges, fitted some temporary tyres to the front and it fired up to move it from the drive nicely. Next is to remove the tray and wheels and attack the chassis with a little sand blaster I bought, patch up a hole on the under side of the front cross member and start to repaint the chassis.

I had a lot of fun getting the front bumper bar bolts out on Saturday, the heads of the bolts sheared off and I couldn't pull them out from the bottom due to the length and lack of room to manoeuvre them out. I ended up having to get the gas axe out and cut them out after drilling down from the top with a 3/16 then 10mm bit to shorten them. Got the bar off to find the front face of the chassis bulging with rust. Cut the face off and the inside was caked with dirt, right back to the crush tube for the bar, cleaned it all out and the crush tubes were Ted's brother, so I cut them out as well as the sides back the the front of the spring hangers and the base of the chassis. I am now in the process of manufacturing new front dumb irons to stitch in hopefully this weekend. I will have to refit the crush tubes as well. I Managed to strip all the ancillaries from the engine, clean it up and give it a coat of paint, then refit the alternator, dizzy,coil etc. Put the exhaust manifold into a molasses bath to give it a clean up on Friday night, I'll pull it out tonight and pressure clean it and see how it comes up. I am looking at rebuilding the 2.25ltr motor I have a home and taking the 202ci out, The motor was reconditioned 4 years ago, but it'll do for now to move it around. I had a look online Sunday, I couldn't believe how much recon Holden motors go for nowadays!!

A bit more progress yesterday, bought a sandblaster from that hardware chain thats monopolised the market and hit the dash. Quite impressed with it. Gave it a coat of etch and colour and its looking good. Now for the floor and dash panels.

Is that a hole in your firewall straight under the instrument cluster?

Someone cut a hole in mine there to get to the head, not my style at all.

Originally Posted by shack

Is that a hole in your firewall straight under the instrument cluster?

Someone cut a hole in mine there to get to the head, not my style at all.

No mate, only grommits to bring oil pressure line and a few other wires into the cab.
Cheers Ian

Originally Posted by shack

Is that a hole in your firewall straight under the instrument cluster?

Someone cut a hole in mine there to get to the head, not my style at all.

Seen it done on few so that the welsh plug at the rear could be accessed without removing the donk.
Some have been done in a rather neat fashion, others by a butcher with a cold chisel.

Have to agree with you, it's not my thing either.

Cheers, Mick.

Originally Posted by mick88

Seen it done on few so that the welsh plug at the rear could be accessed without removing the donk.
Some have been done in a rather neat fashion, others by a butcher with a cold chisel.

Have to agree with you, it's not my thing either.

Cheers, Mick.

Well they started out well...

Drilled 4 holes, but then they didn't line them up square, then they used an angle grinder, but must have decided they didn't really need to cut the whole way, tried to bend it out the way...ooops no go, then cut the rest of the way and got it, so all wonky and bent in a few different places,

Success..

Hi All

Scanfor and I hooked in on the weekend, we had a hell of a time replacing the rear drivers shockie. we couldn't spin a spanner on the bottom mount, so we cut through the bottom pin with a grinder. The top bolt snapped off and we had to heat the crud out of it, whilst driving it through with a drift and a 4 pound lump hammer, only for it to stop and inch from the inside from dropping out. We had to cut it off at the face of the chassis and then incrementally drill it out from the inside under the tray. Fun huh?. All of the other 3 shocks came off without any real issues. We also managed to braze up some little holes in the drivers side floor pan, sand back and give them a coat of paint along with the pedal arms and fitted new pedal pads. Last night I picked up some 6mm x 1mm strips of aluminium 800 long and slid the up the guts of the door gasket material I got from the UK, bent the gasket to the door frame shape and glued them on with adhesive. I got the door pivot hinges changed over, the top one was deformed quite badly. I had to loosen all the bolts and re hang the door with the new pins fitted. Also finally got the new seats in which I think look great. I think the next thing to do is remove the tray and clean and paint the rear of the chassis and fit the truck cab and roof.
I am still in two minds on whether to re-do the outside or just leave the inside looking flash and have the original patina on the outside. Any ideas?
Cheers Ian