Clay’s Wedgewood Blue FB Ute

[Errol62]

Cheers Bones
Phew!

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[FireKraka]

It's a tough life Clay, wonder what the poor people were doing
Neil

[Errol62]

The beach is still free John, thank huey.
Fitting up stone shield.

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[rosco]

Looks good, Clay.
I note the larger radiator opening in the baffle...
I made up small triangle block inserts for mine to fill the gaping holes in the swages.. I lived with it looking sad for more years than I can remember.
Doing this makes the end result look much more "factory".
further, I cut away the back of the top cross-support and welded in a plate - this allowed me more room between the EH fan and the rear of the HK/T/G standard radiator... previously, I couldn't get my small finger between the water pump bolt heads and the radiator.. it was madness trying to fit the fan onto the water pump with the radiator in place... see if I can find some pix..
I fitted hand polished stainless bolts for the fan/water pump.. just adds a touch more to the overall effect.

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frats,
Rosco

[Errol62]

Thanks Rosco. The ute had an EH 179 radiator fitted when I got it so mounted slightly off centre and a very rough job cur with oxy. At this stage I am just going to tidy it up and install one of the ubiquitous HD to I think HG or is it HZ radiators, to get the car on the road. As I am retaining the original gearbox and engine mounts, I have modified the accelerator bar for clearance to the rear of the head. Clearance to the radiator is not too bad but I have been through this before with my old sedan. Then in the van I have massaged the firewall back about 25mm and will run a cable accelerator and original radiator with a fine triple core. I don’t really think it is necessary to run the wider radiator on a mild red motor but it is already done so I’ll stick with it.


FB ute fixer upper, EK van on rotisserie

[EK283]

Good stuff Clay !!

It's almost smiling at you ! Probably thinking I was a goner but Clay to the rescue !

Greg

[rosco]

Glad to learn you have a plan, Clay...
Mine has been a case of "making adjustments" and writing it as I went along.. in the early days, I did some terrible things... didn't have time to do it properly - car was driven every day and depended on...

I originally had an XY F-o-r-d radiator in there with a Davies-Craig thermatic fan when I put in the red motor.... it never did the job...
Found out that a HK-T-G radiator would "just" fit in between the subrame running rails and made the cutouts....
You'll see the resultant holes in the pic... where I ran two bent metal rods across the front of the baffle to fit the fan - the radiator people didn't like the idea of me fitting bolts through the radiator core as D/C instructions said.... I did this through the original EK radiator with the red... almost cooked it running it in... I later found out this reco engine was not bored to 186.... from the stock 179 HP block... it was in fact 192.... with 220 psi in every pot.. with a 3:55 diff... it would climb a brick wall if it could get traction... lost all that "magic" with a replacement head with pressures of 195... then I later put in a 3:08 diff.. that killed it a bit more... had to use 2nd gear a lot more often.... and now, with the 14 inch Dragways.. it has "de-fanged" it in top gear... but, it's a dream to run on the open road...

Ok - pic... I'm happy to say, it doesn't look like this now...

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frats,
Rosco

[Errol62]

Started on the passenger guard lower rear patch, using my new air flanger. Trial fit shows I need to trim and re- crimp the lower end to get the right gap at the bottom of the door. Live and learn.

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[rosco]

That will come up a treat when you work out how to mark up so that it fits precisely..... you have me seriously thinking on one of these... what a great fit it has made on the joint.

frats,
Rosco

[Errol62]

Trimmed and re-flanged, stripped, cleaned and weld through primer applied ready to go when dry.

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[rosco]

Sheesh! that's looking good... hope it doesn't buckle..... slow and steady, I expect - with a damp cloth underneath.... that's how I managed to stop the thin metal of the little Corona warping when I welded in a panel I rolled to shape... stitch, then fill the gaps... and grind........

frats,
Rosco

[Errol62]

Episode 1302 of clays misadventures with his mig kiddies.

Finally got to have a go at welding in the lower left guard patch. As usual the success rate has been moderate. The job is done and will have to do.

I started by clamping up the door edge and slowly tacking in place. Then refitting to the car with the bottom two guard bolts loose, I set the door gap with timber shims, otherwise known as ice cream sticks. I was supposed to then tighten the bottom two bolts and install the two nuts and bolts attaching to the sill end but didn't really matter that I forgot this. The lower leading edge of the latch then sat slightly further forward than the previously adjusted flange position, and the sill edge loos a tad low. Oh well, tacked it up in any case.

Pulled off and carefully clamped and filled in the spot welds. Tacked up the bottom edge. Trimmed and ground, ready to go. I'm satisfied with it. Just a few more repairs to brace and guard lip, roll the lip, shrink out some small dents, clean and paint inside with metalfix and it's time for more fun with filler.

Some photos

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[ardiesse]

More Power, Igor . . .

Clay, you need to wind the current up on Mister MIG.

Rob

[FJWALLY]

Very nice work mate - your patience is a credit to you


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[Errol62]

Tricky that. The patch is quite a bit heavier than what’s left of the original sheet metal.


FB ute fixer upper, EK van on rotisserie