Helenor, Show Car Sunday Driver to Daily driver

Post photos of your pride and joy, or updates on your rebuild!

Moderators: reidy, Blacky

User avatar
briby
Posts: 113
Joined: Sat Sep 20, 2014 1:18 pm
State: VIC
Location: Geelong

Helenor, Show Car Sunday Driver to Daily driver

Post by briby »

Hi Guys, first post on My FB EK board. Scoobb did a great job putting her together, but as a show/Sunday driver car, not an everyday driver. To keep it clean and everything hidden, now presents a problem for me, everything is tucked up under the dash. So the start of the conversion is getting her ready for roadworthy.
Washer bottle, no, stainless tube under the LHF guard, holds 2 med. take away coffee cups of water, can fill it with wheels turned full lock to the left, but much easier with the car jacked up. That taken care of, turn wipers on, no flow, water leaking out of the washer pump, get new washer pump. Also mounted to the LHF inner gaurd, with a stainless hexagon head bolt, like everything else, everything is mounted using stainless allen head bolts, great quality. With the new pump now on, and jets removed and cleaned, try again, mmmmm, large amount of water cascading on to my feet. Dash out to find the hose hanging freely with the brass tube from the D collar fallen/forced out of it's hole. Remove the D collar, insert brass tube back in the hole with some glue, put it back together, wish it was that simple what with the windscreen trim pushing the D collar out of alignment, never worked on one before, made it a much longer job than should have. The hose was attached to the tube with the help of a cable tie because the hose is too big for the tube, so wrapped the tube with a small amount of tape, seems to work ok, good enough to get through a roadworthy anyway.
My plans for her are, everything that is under the dash to eventually go back to the engine bay, wiper motor from the LH corner, brake mastercyl/booster, maybe the V6 conversion fuse tray/relay plate, ECU/coil & wiring harness.
A decent size washer bottle, probably a stainless one to keep up appearances, will replace the current "pass roadworthy only" size tube, a stainless catch can to replace the hoses currently dripping oil onto the top of the tranny, aka open breather, all engine bay jobs done to the same standards as the rest of the car, while on the engine bay, the 8 throttle body manifold will go as it's huge over kill on a standard engine, crap fuel consumption/driveability & the pedal pressure to compensate for 4 return springs for my ageing muscles is too much & there is no funding available for an engine upgrade anyway.
A Vintage Air system yet to be determined, probably a Gen 11 Mini or Compaq, a centre console of some description, mainly for a little bit of storage room, and new paint, the same colour, while getting new paint, thinking of wrapping the dash with carbon fibre to finish 1/2 way down behind the dash centre trim, do the same to the centre console, maybe different wheel/tyre package, i like the American Racing 5 spoke Grey, thus the Greyish look flows to the outside.
Will try and add some photos now and as the adventure goes on. Cheers
Briby
Attachments
american_racing_hot_rod_gray_vn215_classic_torq_thrust_ii_1_pc.jpg
american_racing_hot_rod_gray_vn215_classic_torq_thrust_ii_1_pc.jpg (5.66 KiB) Viewed 3779 times
DSC_0007.JPG
DSC_0007.JPG (66.69 KiB) Viewed 3785 times
DSC_0009 (1).JPG
DSC_0009 (1).JPG (54.68 KiB) Viewed 3785 times
DSC_0008.JPG
DSC_0008.JPG (87.79 KiB) Viewed 3785 times
DSC_0006.JPG
DSC_0006.JPG (89.25 KiB) Viewed 3785 times
A place for everything and everything in it's place, just can't remember where that place is.
rosco
Posts: 2569
Joined: Wed Feb 04, 2004 8:34 pm
State: VIC
Location: Melbourne

Re: Helenor, Show Car Sunday Driver to Daily driver

Post by rosco »

Lovely work Briby.
One suggestion, which is going to save you a nightmare in waiting - those S/Steel bolts.
if you have screwed them into iron steel nuts - they will seize in a very short period of time.
My suggestion would be to get some Loctite 76769 silver paste - it's expensive, but you won't ever use a tub of it.
Only a smear on the threads then work it into the nuts.
This stuff is anti-seize and is brilliant for use when fitting stainless, copper or brass into iron, alloy or white-metal.

frats,
Rosco
User avatar
SC00BB
Posts: 590
Joined: Sat Nov 15, 2008 11:37 am
State: NSW
Location: in Tha Hills, Sydney

Re: Helenor, Show Car Sunday Driver to Daily driver

Post by SC00BB »

Great to see you having fun with her Briby, she always did make me do things 3 times before she was happy :lol: , I'm going to have to change my avatar picture now as I have just bought another car, I will put a post up in other cars of interest..
Blacky
Posts: 12171
Joined: Tue Jul 20, 2004 8:58 am
State: WA
Location: up in the Perth hills

Re: Helenor, Show Car Sunday Driver to Daily driver

Post by Blacky »

Is a great looking car , what Rosco said with the stainless bolts - they gall up real quick if they haven't been coated with Nevr-Seez or something. he headlights seem to sit right in the buckets going by the photo above, that's weird ...
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.
User avatar
briby
Posts: 113
Joined: Sat Sep 20, 2014 1:18 pm
State: VIC
Location: Geelong

Re: Helenor, Show Car Sunday Driver to Daily driver

Post by briby »

rosco wrote:Lovely work Briby.
One suggestion, which is going to save you a nightmare in waiting - those S/Steel bolts.
if you have screwed them into iron steel nuts - they will seize in a very short period of time.
My suggestion would be to get some Loctite 76769 silver paste - it's expensive, but you won't ever use a tub of it.
Only a smear on the threads then work it into the nuts.
This stuff is anti-seize and is brilliant for use when fitting stainless, copper or brass into iron, alloy or white-metal.

frats,
Rosco
Will do, might take a while, they're everywhere.
Cheers
A place for everything and everything in it's place, just can't remember where that place is.
User avatar
briby
Posts: 113
Joined: Sat Sep 20, 2014 1:18 pm
State: VIC
Location: Geelong

Re: Helenor, Show Car Sunday Driver to Daily driver

Post by briby »

Blacky wrote:Is a great looking car , what Rosco said with the stainless bolts - they gall up real quick if they haven't been coated with Nevr-Seez or something. he headlights seem to sit right in the buckets going by the photo above, that's weird ...
Yeah. Black, even the H4 on the glass is on a slight angle, will try another type or something from a wreckers
Cheers
A place for everything and everything in it's place, just can't remember where that place is.
User avatar
briby
Posts: 113
Joined: Sat Sep 20, 2014 1:18 pm
State: VIC
Location: Geelong

Re: Helenor, Show Car Sunday Driver to Daily driver

Post by briby »

SC00BB wrote:Great to see you having fun with her Briby, she always did make me do things 3 times before she was happy :lol: , I'm going to have to change my avatar picture now as I have just bought another car, I will put a post up in other cars of interest..
Hey Scoobb, can't wait to see the new project, I know what you said you wanted to do, but, will have to wait and see.
A place for everything and everything in it's place, just can't remember where that place is.
User avatar
briby
Posts: 113
Joined: Sat Sep 20, 2014 1:18 pm
State: VIC
Location: Geelong

Re: Helenor, Show Car Sunday Driver to Daily driver

Post by briby »

Latest update, getting her ready for roadworthy.
Catalytic converters fitted
FBUPDATE.jpg
FBUPDATE.jpg (92.46 KiB) Viewed 3649 times
Auxillary socket and Defroster till A/C is fitted
FB Update defroster.jpg
FB Update defroster.jpg (81.97 KiB) Viewed 3649 times
Choke marked as WASHERS, has a wiper switch set up for washers
FB Update washers.jpg
FB Update washers.jpg (83.98 KiB) Viewed 3649 times
Also while in the air, the speedo adaptor was leaking, the retainer plate was too thick and not allowing the adaptor halves to screw together tight enough, so ground the retainer down enough and that worked.The O ring for the adaptor was too thin so fitted a thicker o ring, hopefully that takes care of a couple of oil leaks.
New headlights to replace the ascew semi sealed units in it. So called Projectors with 55/60 white Halogens, see how good they are tonight.
FB Update headlights.jpg
FB Update headlights.jpg (80.65 KiB) Viewed 3649 times
Fb Update headlights 2.jpg
Fb Update headlights 2.jpg (83.49 KiB) Viewed 3649 times
Guess that's that till next Tuesday, hopefully have some pics with Vic plates aboard.
A place for everything and everything in it's place, just can't remember where that place is.
User avatar
briby
Posts: 113
Joined: Sat Sep 20, 2014 1:18 pm
State: VIC
Location: Geelong

Re: Helenor, Show Car Sunday Driver to Daily driver

Post by briby »

Been a while, but a little bit has been going on. Got the roadworthy,& registered.
Reg plate.jpg
Reg plate.jpg (56.38 KiB) Viewed 3446 times
The brakes, to put it bluntly were crap at pulling the car up. In the end i was a little apprehensive in driving it, for fear of rear ending someone. So off to Hoppers Stoppers for firewall reinstall, new PBR m/cyl & 8 1/2" booster. What a huge difference in braking ability, that makes 3 different brake specialists that have said the 7" dual diaphragm boosters are crap. Took them much longer than quoted, but more than happy to pay the extra & the position & appearance match the engine bay quite nicely i think.
Engine bay mods.jpg
Engine bay mods.jpg (97.72 KiB) Viewed 3446 times
After getting her back from Hoppers, decided it was time to swap out the 8 stack throttle body. After undoing most things found the vacuum hose to the MAP sensor & it T pieced to the Auto trans modulating valve, was near torn in half, no wonder it idled rough & fast, & the auto wouldn't change properly, used heaps of fuel, & left black spots on the concrete. While apart replaced the cam with a Crane 268, glad i did as the old one had worn lobes & the timing chain was stretched to the max. So needed longer electrical cable for the TPS & accelerator cable, sorted them out, then found the IAC wires taped up under the L/H side of the dash, plenty long enough to reach the front of the engine. Replaced the standard fuel rails with Aeroflow reds, 70mm throttle body, & a K&N Apollo enclosed filter housing, no CAI hose fitted as yet, will decide after i work out where the A/C comp/bracket will go.

The instrument cluster had no ignition lights, just an orange light in the ash tray compartment, & the high beam indicator was a RED LED, not satisfactory, so i ordered 2 red 4mm LED lights from Newark Element 14[attachment=3]Red LED.jpg Gauge works here in Geelong can unroll the chrome surround & fitted the LED's just above the volt & oil pressure gauges. While apart they replaced the high beam indicator with a blue diode, so it all looks a little bit standard.

Next up will be a tune to suit the changes, a bigger windscreen washer bottle fitted in the engine bay, and probably use the current washer bottle as a radiator overflow container, as that's what it is. Till next time cheers & Merry Xmas & Happy New Year.
Attachments
DSC_0091.JPG
DSC_0091.JPG (83.33 KiB) Viewed 3446 times
DSC_0090.JPG
DSC_0090.JPG (88.47 KiB) Viewed 3446 times
DSC_0089.JPG
DSC_0089.JPG (85.46 KiB) Viewed 3446 times
Red LED.jpg
Red LED.jpg (4.81 KiB) Viewed 3446 times
A place for everything and everything in it's place, just can't remember where that place is.
Blacky
Posts: 12171
Joined: Tue Jul 20, 2004 8:58 am
State: WA
Location: up in the Perth hills

Re: Helenor, Show Car Sunday Driver to Daily driver

Post by Blacky »

nice - will we see you and this beast at Renmark ???
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.
rosco
Posts: 2569
Joined: Wed Feb 04, 2004 8:34 pm
State: VIC
Location: Melbourne

Re: Helenor, Show Car Sunday Driver to Daily driver

Post by rosco »

Looks a treat, Briby,
I like the work you did with your bonnet hinges, I expect you employ a rod to hold it up?
The engine bay looks extremely neat - it should allow you very easy and quick cleaning without all the clutter associated with those of us who have kept a lot of it exposed.

I'm not a great fan of modern gauge replacements, but this one certainly ticks many of the boxes when it comes to keeping auxiliary gauges within the confines of the binacle. My only concern is the oil pressure gauge - I probably would have gone for one with a lower value scale - along with the tacho. I do appreciate, however - that manufacturers are limited to what they can realistically make viable, and the values available are dictated by demand.

As for your work with fitting LED's for your oil, alternator and high beam - great work.
I'm not sure why you included the pic of the red LED in a holder - perhaps this is what you used within the main gauge.
If so, there is a much smaller option - that being a simple one piece insertion holder with barbs and a locking ring which fits over it once installed. This tiny fitting allows just two ultra-fne leads to exit the back of the gauge.
However - it's not the sort of component which needs any servicing - and your units are highly unlikely to annoy you should you need to remove the instrument cluster.

When I fitted LED's to my gauges, I employed the "jewel" lenses in the idiot light cluster. By carefully drilling out the centres of them from behind and without breaking through the face, I was able to file down LED's to an interference fit and insert them in the jewels.

I do appreciate that this would have been overkill in your application and would have resulted in the high beam LED looking out of place when employing the original jewels in the oil and gen lights.

One final suggestion I might have made (which you may still be able to include) is the fitting of an additional red LED to the cluster as your alarm warning light...

I almost detest the drilling of holes in the aluminium dash trim - I did this to mine back in the '70's and hated it. I have replaced that trim and take pride in the discipline of not weakened to drill any of it again.

So, as Blacky asks - do you intend to enter the Renmark nats? - if you haven't already done so..

Great work - great build - well done.

frats,
Rosco
User avatar
briby
Posts: 113
Joined: Sat Sep 20, 2014 1:18 pm
State: VIC
Location: Geelong

Re: Helenor, Show Car Sunday Driver to Daily driver

Post by briby »

Cheers guys,
Rosco, all the hard work was already done, i'm just doing some tidying up and putting my slant into the car. The bonnet hinges are highly modified Commodore items, the rear pivot pin runs through the guard to a gas strut, no need for a bonnet stay. Looks cute but a bit unsteady when closing the bonnet as paint chips on the fenders and bonnet attest to.
As for the Nats, either haven't seen anything about it or forgot, have been too busy working to build up a stash to do more to the car, anyway the paint isn't in real good condition, cracking caused by too much paint, (painted about 5yrs ago, i think Scoob said it starting cracking a couple yrs back),according to a PPG expert. May go over for a look though.
Cheers
A place for everything and everything in it's place, just can't remember where that place is.
Blacky
Posts: 12171
Joined: Tue Jul 20, 2004 8:58 am
State: WA
Location: up in the Perth hills

Re: Helenor, Show Car Sunday Driver to Daily driver

Post by Blacky »

Would be great to get an up close look at this beast, and the more cars at the nats the better ! ESPECIALLY FB's :ebiggrin: :ebiggrin: :ebiggrin: :ebiggrin:
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.
User avatar
briby
Posts: 113
Joined: Sat Sep 20, 2014 1:18 pm
State: VIC
Location: Geelong

Re: Helenor, Show Car Sunday Driver to Daily driver

Post by briby »

Hi Guys, just wondering what size wheels people have squeezed under the front with a SCW, Rodtech or CRS coil over front ends. Had an engine bay fire, so she's getting painted earlier than thought, engine trans needed to come out, so have ordered a SCW IFS, will be able to put normal width wheel/tyres with normal air pressures, should cut down on the jarring when running over cracks/expansion joints in the road. So started looking at wheel/tyre packages, a bit limited with the commodore stud pattern, but am sure i will find something suitable, am not going with the Salt Flat Specials. Will 7s fit, if i can find the wheels with suitable offset/backspace, i can let SCW know & they will build to suit.
And yes, will have a V6 conversion shortened rack front end for sale along with the Salt Flat Specials.
Sorry Blacky, couldn't make the Nats, holiday in UK for 5 weeks organised a long time ago, the fire wouldn't have helped either.
Cheers
Briby
A place for everything and everything in it's place, just can't remember where that place is.
TAZ
Posts: 336
Joined: Wed Sep 23, 2015 9:32 pm
State: TAS
Location: hobart

Re: Helenor, Show Car Sunday Driver to Daily driver

Post by TAZ »

I have a southern chassis works front end with early Commodore hubs but am going to change the hubs to HQ stud pattern as it will mean I can acces more one piece wheels such as Foose, Boyds and US Racers.Looking at 18x 7 or 8 on the front with a 3.5" dish.
Post Reply