Leroy the EK Ute

[thebrotherj]

LHR chassis rail rail extension (previously fibre glass over strips of galv held in place by bog) is now repaired.

Couple of shots of the mock up:





And the somewhat Frankenstein-looking mess that I made, contorted under the car with a stop-start bloody MIG welder. Sorry for the swearing, dear neighbours:







As mentioned earlier, I’m forced to run a high wire speed on the MIG so there’s a bit of excess... but it worked well for the plug welds. The stitching... not so pretty. But I don’t care, it’s surely twice as strong as the original section on the other side of the car and I’m bloody sick of the sight this, so yeah. It’s done.

Next!


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[Errol62]

Grinder covers a multitude of sins joe.


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[In the Shed]

Good work Joe,
That is a solid repair that ain't going anywhere.

Stephen

[thebrotherj]

Grinder covers a multitude of sins joe.


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Ha! Yeah, I know it

Oh and I got my hands on a can of the weld-through Cold Galv, was able to get in behind every section before closing it up. I’ll drip-seal the little holes too, should be good for years to come.


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[thebrotherj]

Good work Joe,
That is a solid repair that ain't going anywhere.

Stephen

Thanks. It’s ugly, it’s overkill, I’m fine with it.

Imagine posting pics like these on Facebook, I’d get hung, drawn & quartered in the comments section for crimes against welding haha


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[thebrotherj]

I had to abandon the elaborate 1-piece tie I folded up last week (pics a few posts back) as it couldn’t be installed now that the inner sill is welded in... so I whipped up a 2-piece approach and zapped it in tonight (crappy photo, sorry):



Hopefully close the hole at the end of the sill/inner wheel arch section this weekend, dress the welds, then paint & seam seal as needed. Let’s get this over with!




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[thebrotherj]

Work on the LHR spring extension, tie and inner wheel arch is done at last.



Wheel arches and rails painted in bituminous underbody paint over zinc primer, messy business that was, won’t use that again. The entire floor pan had been scrubbed clean and painted now also, using Metalshield epoxy enamel in stain black. Very pleased with how that went on this arvo, first dry & relatively warm day in a while here in Sydney.



Need to do a little work on the RH inner sill and locate those oddly routed brake & fuel lines... I suspect they have been curved out of the way to allow access to previous sill repairs.

Exhaust system cleaned up and a lick of flame proof paint has gone on.



Gonna eat some pizza and drink a beer then I’ll throw the exhaust in tonight, then maybe start getting the springs & diff back in place too. It’s all happening.


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[EK283]

Spiritual !!!!

So much history in these old cars well done Joe !

Regards Greg

[thebrotherj]

Spiritual !!!!

So much history in these old cars well done Joe !

Regards Greg

Haha yeah, this car has more scars than a skin cancer clinic! Thanks mate. Finally in reassembly mode, the best feeling.

(mind my terrible spelling also, stupid iPhone correct ‘has’ to ‘had’... and ‘satin’ to ‘stain’)



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[Errol62]

Good work mate. See what you mean about the lines. Should be tucked up along the sill then under gear box mount bracket. Would have been fun getting it clean underneath.


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[thebrotherj]

Exhaust, springs & diff all installed tonight.







I need to modify the spring pad retainers: Ute is on top, sedan is on bottom. The pad rubbers that arrived are chunkier to suit sedan (5 leaf) versus Ute ones (6 leaf).
I don’t mind, it will make the rear even lower on top of the lowering blocks... and probably account for the flogged out spring bushes in terms of overall ride height now.



I’ll trim them tomorrow, it’s too late tonight to summon the wailing banshees of hell (read: cut-off wheel) so I’m calling it a night.

Very happy with today’s work


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[thebrotherj]

Good work mate. See what you mean about the lines. Should be tucked up along the sill then under gear box mount bracket. Would have been fun getting it clean underneath.


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Thanks mate

I had already done a big Gerni wash and a lot of scraping way back when, so today was mostly rags and Prepsol. I have had enough of rolling around on the floor beneath this car that’s for sure!


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[thebrotherj]

Leroy’s back on all fours.





Little hard to tell from those crappy photos, but the ride height seems pretty good after a good bounce, will torque everything to spec when I get home tonight. Could maybe go half an inch lower? Bag of cement in the tray? LHF tyre is flat and the other three are all different sizes so I won’t truly know how it sits till I get wheels & new tyres sorted.

Had a tricky time aligning the exhaust - Bill must have backed it into a tall gutter real hard at some point, there’s even a dent in the floor where the bend over the diff has impacted. Might be a little close to the fuel tank when that goes in so may need to re-hang it all. New rubber hangers also threw it out of whack from before.

Brakes bled up ok. No leaks from the new hose and metal lines, or the old wheel cylinders... they must’ve been replaced just before the car was parked, fingers crossed they hang in there. Pedal is solid. Diff pinion seal is holding oil (rejoice!) with level set a little below the line with the arse up in the air. Damned hand brake cable is all set up despite a bunch of cursing while trying to get those bastard retainer bolts in near the spring eyes. Bah.





I’m not a huge fan of lowering blocks, I haven’t used a set in over 20 years, but this seems to sit ok, pinion angle is better than I remember, last time I used wedges if I recall. Guess I’ll lop some thread off the bottom of those U-bolts once I’m satisfied it’s all kosher. I also prefer two locknuts to Nyloc nuts but I’m sure it’ll be fine, right?...

Shackles look to be sitting right too, suspension feels good with all new bushes and shocks.



Fuel tank will go in next - do folks use caulking compound to seal the fuel tank flange to the floor?

Cheers, Joe


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[Errol62]

Envious of your progress specially the brakes. Sent you a pm.


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[Harv]

Fuel tank will go in next - do folks use caulking compound to seal the fuel tank flange to the floor?

Looking good Joe.

Yep, black mastic to seal the tank in. Fishoil, then grey mastic to seal the tub board onto the tub. Keeps the under-tub area relatively dry, or at least dry enough that the floor drains can keep up.

Cheers,
Harv