Been awhile since I contributed or posted.....long story
Anyways.....Keeping the grey, putting in HR front end (power upgrade later on I thinks!) with eh outrigger ( will need to drill holes for front eng mount) it has LC LJ disc brakes fitted. Can the steering sty the same as well?
What diff and or drum setup do I require? and I assume I remote boost it as well!?
You've already got the LC-LJ discs at the front. Hopefully on HR steering knuckles, as the LC-LJ steering knuckles have more steering axis inclination. When I did a disc conversion on my EK way back when, I found that the HR steering linkages tended to bind a bit at full lock (anyone else notice this, or was it just me?), and I went back to the EK steering linkages, without problems.
Beware using an EJ or EH crossmember outrigger. If you do, you'll need to put a spacer about 3/4" thick between front engine plate and front engine mount to preserve the correct angle of the engine/transmission assembly. I'd be inclined to go for an FB/EK crossmember outrigger instead.
Rear axle: you can use an EJ/EH rear axle and brakes, but you will need to move the attaching bracket for the rear brake hose over to the right hand side, and get new brake pipes to suit. Or you can go HD/HR rear axle and brakes. But I found that the original brake hose was almost, but not quite, long enough to mate with an HR rear axle. You would then need to get a custom brake hose made up, maybe 1-1/2" longer than the standard item.
Diff: all depends. If you have a healthy grey motor, and particularly if you're running 185/70-13 tyres, I'd suggest a 3.55 diff at least, and a 3.36 if you want a more relaxed cruise. For either of these ratios, you'll need to change the rear uni joints over to the same style as the fronts.
Brakes: Use HD/HR sedan/wagon (that's 1-3/4" wide) rear shoes for front disc brakes and the 9/16" bore rear cylinders to suit. They will fit in an EJ/EH rear axle too. If your HD/HR rear axle comes complete with self-adjusters too, use them. A VH40 in-line brake booster is the one you'll need, and I'm hoping the check valve is already removed from the master cylinder.
Bump stops: Keep your FB/EK bump stops in place, and keep the EJ-HR bump stops on the rear axle. The later bump stops contact the early body right on top of the bump stop bracket attaching bolt, and that works ok.
Handbrake cable: The best thing is to cut the rear handbrake cable attachment brackets out of an HD/HR and weld them to the FB/EK rear floor pans. Use an HD/HR rear handbrake cable in preference to an EJ/EH one. I also found that the HD/HR rear handbrake cable was a couple of inches too short. You'll have to use a couple of lengths of 1" wide by 16 gauge sheet steel strips and an extra clevis pin to bridge the gap between the lower handbrake lever and the FB/EK/HD/HR cable equaliser.
And finally, wheels. With the LC/LJ discs on the front you'll have different front and rear offsets. Torana wheels will tend to rub on the insides of the rear wheel arches because their offset isn't right for earlier rear axles. I'd be inclined to go with HD/HR wheel centres, and if you have wider rims, HD/HR wheel offsets.
I did all this work in the early '80s, and I had no problems getting the car pink-slipped without an engineer's certificate. Things have probably changed now.
My thoughts are know playing with a 186 or 202 as both mounts are on the cross member.
The only thing is is knowing what matches with what and what is the least hassle to upgrade. I love the nostalgia of the grey, but, with todays traffic conditions a crash box is not practical I think.
Hey Lex
You probably know this but if the mounts are in HD HR position you will need to move them well back.
Rod
Never had a binding issue on my old EK 215 using all HR steering, uprights, hubs and brakes. LC LJ brakes may affect this but seems unlikely. Don't know much about this but I'd guess you still use HD HR uprights with the Torrie brakes.
Cheers
Clay
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EK van on rotisserie
Front ones are the HR originals I'd say. The rear ones look like they'd give good clearance to the firewall but water pump snout to stock radiator clearance could be an issue, possibly requiring use of front mounted thermo fan and/or moving the radiator forward.
I prefer to modify the firewall slightly as it's less noticeable. Also a very slight benefit to handling keeping weight back which reduces understeer. Some (Rosco?) have modified the crossmember so that the driveline sits lower. More handling benefits and no mods to body required even with the larger all synchro/M20-21 4spd/Trimatic.
Above is a photo of my mounts. As you can see they are about 6mm forward of rear edge of crossmember. Originally I got away with just removing the seam lip behind the cylinder head to achieve clearance.
This time I am moving the section behind the head back 25mm for a factory look.
Cheers
Clay
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getting my FB ute on the road
EK van on rotisserie
re handbrake cable no need for cutting and welding (and i think the cable is wrong length anyway) you can just ring auto cables and just order a cable to suit your car
as for those engine mounts they are way to far forward they actually need to over hang the rear of the crossmember slightly, i'de say they are for EH but they even look to far forward for that
sometimes yor just better off shitting in yor hands and clapping
Like Mick said , Autocables are the go to people for handbrake cables , one phone call and the cables are made to suit your needs , also with the mounts , also like Mick said it looks like they need to go back - best bet is cut them off , bolt them to the block then sit the donk in and tack them. Remove motor and finish weld.
When you're faced with an unpleasant task that you really don't want to do, sometimes you just have to dig deep down inside and somehow find the patience to wait for someone else to do it for you.
Foundation member #61 of FB/EK Holden club of W.A.
For your info - your brake discs are LH-LX. What calipers were you thinking of using?
I don't know whether LC-LJ calipers can successfully be used with LH-LX discs (the swept area on the later brake discs isn't deep enough to suit the earlier pads?)
I ran LX brake discs and calipers on my HD X2 for a while. I had to grind material off the crossmember so that the calipers wouldn't foul on the crossmember at full rebound and full lock (a pretty rare combination admittedly). I had no end of trouble with the awful floating PBR calipers. The pads wore tapered, the calipers became stuck on the guide pins. Because the calipers were cocked, the pistons contacted the caliper bores and ground little bits of aluminium out of the caliper bodies, which then travelled through the hydraulic system, and blocked the compensating port in the master cylinder. My brakes ran hot and sometimes didn't release. I got used to carrying a spanner to crack the bleed nipples open when the car didn't want to move. In the end I binned the LX brakes and went back to XU-1 discs and calipers. Much lower-tech. Much more reliable.
How stringent are the rules in Qld for getting a pre-EH Holden registered with a 186?
Hi Lex;
I agree with Blacky the best way is to cut the mounts off of the x-member and bolt them to the engine so you can position them in the right place I did this with my FC sedan when I did the first build on it with a bored and stroked 186, from memory the mounts ended up at the back of the x-member and I had firewall clearance but ran a thermo fan up front.
I do the same process when fitting the V6's to my cars and I cut the bottom of the mount down as I trial fit to get the engine as low as I can to the x-member.
You can buy new HR mounts from Mallaby Sheet Metal in NSW (FCRB26 on the FE/FC Forum) he made them up from the drawings I sent him a while ago and also sells them on eBay.
Regards
Neil
Member of WA FB/EK Car Club
Frankenstein EK V6 Ute
FB Station Wagon Project
1950's Commer Light Truck (2.5 Ton)
Re rob, The front end came out of an eh as is. The calipers I have are LC LJ, and I got a set of LC LJ discs that are thinner than the ones already on so they probably are LH LX discs. Good idea about pre positioning mounts My next buggy is what gearbox for the 186 that will require least mucking about? and I use an HD HR rear axle and drums too? Cheers boys your input has been gold.... Thx
Here's a curiosity for you - At a car show in Berrima I came across a very tidy-looking FX ute with a 186 and HR running gear. It had the original crashbox, but without the rear engine mounts. So I found the owner and asked him what the trick was . . .
He made up a new gearbox crossmember which bolts into the original location and takes a standard red rear engine mount. He found a skilled aluminium welder to fabricate mounting brackets for a red motor rear engine mount and weld them onto an aluminium grey crashbox rear extension housing.
The whole installation was as neat as, and the best thing was - no transmission tunnel mods, no gearshift linkage mods. I think he had to go pendant pedals, dual circuit brakes, and a hydraulic clutch to satisfy ACT registration rules.
Neat
I was thinking red crash box and fabricated rear mount. Red slave cylinder stock speedo drive. Toyota corona 4spd fits and bolts up if you can find one but stick shift in an early not everyone's cup of tea. Then there's the seat clearance, clutch actuation and speedo. May as well mod the tunnel and go trimatic.
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, also with the mounts , also like Mick said it looks like they need to go back - best bet is cut them off , bolt them to the block then sit the donk in and tack them. Remove motor and finish weld.