Harv's meth monster project

[FJWALLY]

If you want to get the head moving along Harv I have the contact details for Mark Reik's engine builder - Mark has that green FX that smashes out low 2's on the track with a turboe'd Grey motor. Does a lot of high performance Holden old school stuff.

With the wagon now on the road, its time to get a little more serious on the meth monster project. Kinda stuck motorwise, as I need the head (still waiting ). So in the meantime, I'll work the rest of it.

Had the engineer out for the approval-in-principle discussion. Very few dramas - looks like I got the OK for a bored out, Repco headed, dry sumped, Norman blown, McGee injected, LSD'd, Impala shifted FB sedan... on NSW rego

Few things either confirmed or needing change though:
a) doesn't need a chassis kit.
b) Hilborn scoop not OK, must be full covered scoop (fibreglass is OK) meeting visibility guidance.
c) Bonnet can be glass but needs original catch and probably a steel frame. Not OK to run guards or doors in glass, but boot OK.
d) OK to move radiator forwards to clear gilmer drive.
e) trans hump hole needs reinforcing
f) remote booster OK, start by front brakes boosting only.
g) Moon tank not OK, even if mounted inside bodywork (nothing at front of car).
h) retractor reels needed on outboard seatbelt positions, rears OK on parcel shelf with stickyflex holding the reinforcing plates in. Rears may need bolts onto wheel arch, no sharing bolts between belts. Need to replace my B-pillar sash mount holes.
i) will need brake test but would not if I used the same brakes as the wagon.
j) check track but OK in principle for kingpin front end with disks.
k) trim removal OK
l) Alien collapsible column OK with cert.
m) Probably only need to see clearances once assembled, nothing else specific to see as car is assembled.

Ordered the brakes, and the disks-to-stubaxle adaptors. Column is on it's way (nods to Mr Black), 2-speed wipers arrived and safely stashed away.

Cheers,
Harv

[Harv]

Thanks mate. I spoke to Mark’s engine builder a while back to understand whether I can run the Mitzi conrods full floating or not. He can’t help me much on the head... need to wait for the bloke to finish making the rockers for my Repco repro head. It’s been a lesson in patience.

Had to replace one of the rear shocks on the FB that the engineer spotted during the recent inspection. I’m blaming the four test-pilots who learnt to drive in it

212B154B-D0B8-4F85-BC76-B28A32CCC42B.jpeg (165.65 KiB) Viewed 967 times

I guess 10 years of towing car and box trailers, speed humps and the odd spirited roundabout may have contributed too.
Cheers,
Harv

[BS]

Looking forward to seeing this one kick back off

Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk

[Harv]

Managed to get the LSD in, after a battle with leaking brakes and seized diff filler plugs. Starting to work through the front stoppers.

I’m keeping the kingpins, and using the CRS brackets to adapt disks. After some great conversation with Hoppers Stoppers, I’m going to try their 226mm ventilated brake kit. It uses a top hat/hub rotor and HZ calipers. I figure the HR only got 253mm solids, and the HQ was first (?) with ventilated at 276mm, so the 226mm ventilated rotors should be whopper-stoppers on the FB.

A quick check shows that the rotor and caliper (just) fits inside the Sampson Magnum 13x7s and 13x6s.

B491B37C-6036-485B-B6EA-D72680185BFE.jpeg (193.76 KiB) Viewed 908 times

Very sexy, and could make a bloke paint the calipers red. Brembo and Willwood are jealous.

The fit is good news, as those are the rollers I want to use. No such luck with a standard FB/EK rim though... caliper clashes with the rim at the main hoop (fits inside the wider inner hoop though). Might work with some caliper grinding, but the area that clashes (pad carrier) doesn’t have much meat.

16AD7616-C9F9-49F3-B887-2D922CFA7AD1.jpeg (110.93 KiB) Viewed 908 times

Same problem (bad clash) with the LH Torana rim I checked.

Cheers,
Harv

[ardiesse]

Harv,

I'm going to rain on your parade (sorry) -
You had the filler plug fiasco. I can go you word-for-word on the subject of "those" PBR calipers. I had nothing but trouble with them when I used an LX Torana front disc setup on my X2.

They cocked, the pads wore tapered, the calipers jammed on the slide pins, the front brakes dragged when going forwards (but not backwards), the pistons wore material out of the caliper bores (see "cocked" above) which travelled through the hydraulic circuit, munched up the hydraulic section of my brake booster and then blocked the master cylinder's compensating port: uncontrolled brake pad wear, Wynyard-tunnel-on-a-hot-day smell, hot-spotted brake discs, and finally the car didn't budge.

HZs also came out with the first of the saddle/sliding caliper style, like the UC Toranas and the early Commodores. They are more compact, so they may even fit a 13" rim. And the hydraulic entry is in a much better place compared with the PBR calipers. (I've got a pair of UC calipers at home. Was going to put them on my X2, but I went old-school with LJ hardware instead, and had no front brake troubles at all. I can lend them to you for evaluation.)

Rob

[Harv]

Ouch. I’ve never really thought about how much fluid goes back and forth into the master. My mental picture was a “solid block” of fluid shunting back and forth. I guess because the brake line ID is so small, there is a fair chance of fluid from near the caliper piston getting back.

Seems funny that Hoppers recommend them though... I’ll give Ken McLean a yell and see what his view is.

Might take you up on the caliper loan once I get the brackets etc mounted on one side.

No mistaking the Wynyard tunnel smell. Brings back memories of riding red rattlers.

Cheers,
Harv

[FireKraka]

Hey Harv
I used the HZ/WB Girlock aluminium calipers on my FC sedan they are the best of the early calipers but I doubt you would be able to run those rims.
Neil

[Harv]

I'm wary of the PBR calipers, though reading the instructions there is a warning:
NOTE: these are the only calipers that work with the HR front end as the other HQ-WB calipers will hit the spring tower lip on full lock and you can't remove enough metal to make them work.

Hmmmm… Not sure. I'm bodgying a Hoppers brake kit with a CRS bracket kit into an FB... the normal rules may not apply, so this will be suck it and see for a while.

Onwards and upwards.

Put the bum of the FB back onto the ground (now that the brakes are not leaking), and spent half an hour grinning at the 205 tyres. Jacked the front end up, and started removing brake bits. Once I get this working, I'll write it up step-by-step, but for now its fit and fiddle. Started with this:

original brakes.png (18.15 MiB) Viewed 854 times

… and ended up closer to this:

ready for disks.png (11.22 MiB) Viewed 854 times

Put the disk on, and checked for clearance.
Houston, we have a problem.
The disk sits neatly on the spindle, but as it slides on it hits the steering arm. The obnoxious bit is the bottom of the steering arm, where the brake shoe pivot bolt goes. The FB arms bend outboard at this point, and hence clash with the disk. I need to move the bottom of the FB arms inboard by about 0.8", as per the red circle above. Trouble is, even at 0.4" spacing, the steering arms clash with the lower control arm (blue circle) at part lock.

Now I need an early Holden steering arm guru.

What steering arms will bolt up to FB/EK, but do not have the outboard "bend" for the brake shoe pivot bolt?

Cheers,
Harv

[ardiesse]

Harv,

You need to find a pair of EJ-early HD steering arms.

Rob

[ardiesse]

I hope. Looking at the HD shop manual, it's not easy to tell. Holden didn't completely update the Figures in the manual when parts were revised. The Checking Dimensions chart for front suspension components suggests that in the HD steering arm, just the hole for the brake anchor bolt was deleted, and the same forging dies were used as for the earlier models. But Figure 3-10 in the HD shop manual shows a much gentler profile for the steering arm.

You'd have to get a pair of EJ-HD steering arms and compare. But Murphy is telling me that the later steering arms will only be a partial cure.

Rob

[Harv]

Thankyou sir. I'll start the hunt for some later arms.

What I need is someone who has a work of art like the below, but for earlier Holdens.

Holden steering arms L to R HR HK HT-HG HQ-WB LC LH.jpg (38.71 KiB) Viewed 835 times

Cheers,
Harv

[FireKraka]

Hi Harv;
I'm a little confused with the comment re the HZ/WB calipers, yes with my FC sedan I had to remove a small amount of metal from the lip but I have no issue with them hitting now on full lock can only think that this may be in reference to front mounted racks maybe where the caliper is at the back of the stub axle, obviously with the rear mounted racks (which I've used) the caliper is in the front maybe this lessens the issue.
I've used commodore calipers on Frank and again no issues, don't think I even notched the front with the commodore calipers.

"NOTE: these are the only calipers that work with the HR front end as the other HQ-WB calipers will hit the spring tower lip on full lock and you can't remove enough metal to make them work."

[EK283]

Hi Harv;
I'm a little confused with the comment re the HZ/WB calipers, yes with my FC sedan I had to remove a small amount of metal from the lip but I have no issue with them hitting now on full lock can only think that this may be in reference to front mounted racks maybe where the caliper is at the back of the stub axle, obviously with the rear mounted racks (which I've used) the caliper is in the front maybe this lessens the issue.
I've used commodore calipers on Frank and again no issues, don't think I even notched the front with the commodore calipers.

"NOTE: these are the only calipers that work with the HR front end as the other HQ-WB calipers will hit the spring tower lip on full lock and you can't remove enough metal to make them work."

I think the ball joint front is different to the king pin front in relation to wishbone / arm positioning ????????? Another expert need to confirm this.

Its all trial and error in unknown territory, watching with interest.

Greg

[Harv]

Yep, fit, fiddle, fix, repeat.

One of FE/FC forum brethren Mr Burns fitted the stub axle kit, and I am working from his notes:
http://forum.fefcholden.club/index.php? ... 6#msg24476

This was 16 years ago though. Some stuff has changed in the meantime, including parts in the kits. There are conflicts between Burnsy's notes, and the procedures supplied by both Hoppers and CRS. I'm being really careful before lashing out with the angle grinder. Makes me more confident though that Burnsy found that he needed EJ-HD arms - methinks Rob is on the right track. I'm taking photos as I go, and once I get it sorted will write it up properly on this thread:
http://www.fbekholden.com/forum/viewtop ... 05#p238445

Cheers,
Harv

[Harv]

The collapsible column came from Alien Retro today. Very sexy. Honeypot filled to suit floor shift (Impala inline shifter).

6CE6A893-2847-483B-824F-8CBFA1F6C527.jpeg (127.32 KiB) Viewed 805 times

(nods head to Mr Black in appreciation of finding the donor column).

Cheers,
Harv