fbekholden.com

Good to hear youre stil with us Sammy , we still want pics of the utes progress mate - you cant get out of it that easy

yeah i was planning on that, not sure how fast dads progress is going to be on it but he has big plans of grafting a commodore or such fuel door into it, and fitting a commodore tank under the tray behind the cab, electric antenna that is in the passenger side guard and stuff like that so when he finally does it i'll be sure to get some pics for yas!

he was also looking at RTA plates website and apparently cant get the number plate he wants in 38 (engine size) but there is one in 42 or something and he wants a v6 stroker so that works out well apparently hehehe.

bit off topic but update on where my lifes at, since i cleared the FB Ute from the shed i have been working on a car trailer:


to tow my 202 gemini to the track


my only time out in it was pretty much how the motor came out of my torana with a powerglide/stock converter and street tyres, did a 14.5sec 1/4 mile and got heaps of wheel spin so i pulled the motor, upped the compression to about 14.5:1 (methanol) put the biggest valves in it i could fit, blended the head to suit, arp mains bolts and head studs, roller rockers, solid cam with more suitable power curve for the strip, and put a rebuilt V8 trimatic with kit in it and high stall to suit, add all that to the M/T front runners and slicks and im hoping for a mid 13 once the EFI is half decently tuned!

This is the current engine in it


i have recently purchased a rattly but running LS1 motor from a mate cheaper than you can imagine, and the plan is the put it in the gemini with a T350/400 once i get bored of the 202!!

Ask and ye shall recieve!

Good to hear from you Sammy. Thanks for the updates, and I look forward to seeing some of the ute, it's good to hear she is in good hands.

It was interesting looking back over your thread and seeing pics of the floods, they didn't affect me personally but I sure saw alot about it on forums and it was heart breaking watching what people lost and went through with it.

All the best mate

trailer looks great
should do high 12s!
loose the efi...
and hand sand/polish the ports
till 1200 grit

or low13

im probab ly wrong

hahahah your pretty close man

with the methanol 202 i got a best of 12.78 over the 1/4 and 8.16 over the 1/8th

ports are already pretty shiny polished

in the process of fitting a turbo to it at the moment which im hoping will put me into the 10's if im lucky!! but im not loosing the efi ... the LS1 wasn't going to be easy to fit so decided to turbo instead

will also try and get some pics of the FB Ute, the old man is going hard with it, finished off all the firewall cleanup and such, painted it white and hes working on fitting the commodore steering column as we speak. also done final build on the diff and brakes and front end aswell all tidied up!

ok guys finally got a few pics for you of some of dads progress on this car

so hes tidied up all the firewall excess holes and stuff behind where the brake booster is as well, and put a lick of paint on it.
you'll also notice in this picture, commodore booster and commodore wiper motor!
hes also finished off the enhine mount brackets to work with v8 holden mounts, bit of work going on to make the sump a bit larger.
also done a full diff rebuild/paint etc.

hope you enjoy!

Luv the Gemini mate.........looks like a sister car to mine!
I bet it's a hell of a lot of fun down the strip





Keep up the good work

well i chose the bonnet scoop to hide my bits, you certainly didn't hahahaha

yeah she is alot of fun on the strip! hopefuly alot more once i get this turbo on and running!

Sammy wrote:well i chose the bonnet scoop to hide my bits, you certainly didn't hahahaha

yeah she is alot of fun on the strip! hopefuly alot more once i get this turbo on and running!

Yep, she'd have to be a pretty big scoop

ok so i finally got some decent pics which were NOT taken from my phone

this is the steering column/dash strengthening, which ties everything together nicely.


this is the commodore brake booster on the original pedal box, it uses the centre of the pin to hold the pedal, there are shims either side to keep it in the right spot and then the brake switch and bump stop are relocated to the centre.


this is the mounting point for the bottom of the VR commodore steering column, uses the original mount from the commodore with a bearing in it but has been cut down and modded to fit better and then the hole in the floor has been welded up to just leave the area for the steering shaft to go through.


also incorporated is a commodore wiper motor, you can see to the lower right of the wiper motor is an indent, this was required to clear the motor properly.


this is the same as the above engine bay pic in the previous post but much clearer.


commodore double diaphram booster and wiper motor.


HR crossmember modified for v6 engine mounts using V8 rubber mounts.


and the other side showing the rack and pinion mounts.


custom engine mounts, these normally are in a slightly different spot, aswell as the crossmember mounts which normally have the motor sit further forward in the bay, this setup gets the motor back a good inch or so further than v6 conversions.








hope you enjoy guys......

there was talk the other night of possibly quickly tidying up the body and painting it flat black just to get it on the road (as the mods and driveline are mostly done) so hopefully more progress sooner rather than later

Good to see some progress Sammy

ssooooooo ...... how longs it been

I finally remembered to get some pics and remembered to take my camera to mum and dads!

theres going to be a few posts as I can only upload 8 images at a time, but this is the lastest on the FB Ute as of tonight!

for the moment i'll just post some pics and later i'llre-visit the posts and add some details.
Thermo fan is from &*#@ mondeo, nice very narrow twin fan setup which fits the commodore radiators with minimal trimming. the air box is made from a V8 item which happens to have the right angle outlet to suit this location. This is a VY SS Ute fuel tank I believe, fits in pretty well and the filler is in the side which lines up perfectly for the original fuel filler hole. new fuel lines with speedflow adaptors, nice and out of the way but easy enough to access for engine removal. and this is the other end of the fuel lines in the front of the tray area, they will then go under the tray boards to the fuel tank. fuel lines almost look factory other than being so nice looking

still some wiring stuff to do and tidy up, but the commodore steering column looks at home, and the steering wheel and gear shifter is right for the period I reckon! all new electronic gauges that will accept all the commodore wiring and still retain mostly the old dash look. commodore column fitted into the floor hole from the original steering. commodore 3.08 diff all rebuilt and tidied up. Walkinshaw wheels, just happen to fit the guards nicely and look the business! commodore rack and pinion steering, and the HR front end has been fully rebuilt and powder coated. VP V8 front brakes, original oil line hole on the back has been blocked and a new one added in the side to allow the brakes to clear the front end on full lock.

modifications needed to fit the commodore air box in