Spatman's Ute

[Spatman]

Well the decision has been made to launch into this build once and for all. You may have seen pictures of this ute my cousin uploaded a couple of years ago. I got this ute when I was about 14 along with a blue EK ute and a very poorly chopped FB panel van into a ute from a couple of farms near my old folks place. I then proceeded to pull them apart storing parts carefully in their barn. There were a few others around the place, some the old farmers wouldn't let go of and others I was allowed to take parts from, but it seemed every second farm had either an FB or an EK ute sitting around. Now moved the ute to my own shed and have time to start working on it.

As you can see from the pictures I have the old girl back to bare bones. Body isn't in bad nick but the entire floor will have to be replaced.







Now to maintain the progress.

[Rusty EK]

Hmmm , seen one like this somewhere before , keep the pics coming , love to see how you go about it , and welcome to the forum

[Blacky]

Welcome to the forum Spatman , good luck with the build.

[mickhrt]

welcome spatman get plenty of pics good luck will be worth it at the end

[fbtim]

Looks like a good project, do ya know what colour ya going to paint it?

[Sputzwagon]

YAY...I love to see the start of a new project like this.
When you near the end, look back and see how far you've come and be a satisfied fella.
A BIG "Welcome to the forum", Spatman.

Scotty.

[Thommo]

Welcome to the forum Spatman
Geez mate, she is sure going to keep you busy for a while

Cheers
Jeff

[Spatman]

Thanks for putting out the welcome mat guys.

FBTim, At the moment I see it in a blue, red and white colour scheme. Will have to see if I can be swayed to something different over the course of the build.

SunnyTim, I think Spat's will be a little too nostalgic for this build, but good connotation.

Here's another couple of pictures of where its currently up to.
New floor is on the way, will have to do some more work before its ready to go in though.



Removed rain gutter for smooth look. Other side yet to be done

One door done. Concrete floor making it a much better place to work!!! Also keeping it above "flood" level.

[matches]

hi shane,
good to see you finally got on here! i like the gutterless look, i did the same thing to my hz tonner i had. it's about time you got off working on the truck and onto the ute.
as everyone else said, "keep the pics coming"

[CHOPPED]

looking good mate did the same thing with my gutters
the big thing is you will need to get your gaps spot on cause you have no metal above to hide now

[matches]

heya shane, hows the ute coming??? its been a while.
cheers, luke.

[Cobber]

Beginning under a new alias, Progress has continued slowly since my last post once I got the pergola construction out of the road.
Tried to do the right thing with the pergola though, making it big enough to park about 5 cars under it.

I picked up the Panelvan from the folks place the other week. It will be used to donate some patch panel parts and has already donated a door and other bits and pieces, some of which may have been used on Matches sedan.
The panelvan donated part of its rear qtr to fill in the fuel filler hole. My first panel weld job which was a learning experience. Not fantastic, but alright.

I had the doors sandblasted which surprisingly didn't show up any holes in the lower sections, which has saved a lot of time. They are both in primer and stowed away for the moment. I also blasted the lower front apron which joins the fenders and primered it.

Latest work has been on the front subframe. After blasting it and working out it was actually fairly sturdy still, I got to work on the area under the battery box.
To repair this section I took a piece out of the opposite side of another subframe which was pretty much had it. I reshaped it a little on an anvil and it seemed to fit fairly well. After welding this in I put some new metal in the front corners of the frame where the blasting showed up some holes and now have it ready for primer.

Next job is to finish the upper body and get it ready in primer before attacking the floor sections.

[neatride]

Keep at it, a little each day, looks like some good progress in the right direction so far , cheers, Nick.

[matches]

so thats where my drivers side guard came from? good to see your into it again!

[Cobber]

Time to post some new photos. A little work has been completed.









Getting something done most nights now which is good. Will have to sleep some other time!!