fbekholden.com

G'day everyone

Im so excited about getting started on the ek of mine but wanted to know whats the best place to start, or the order of what to tackle first.

How did everyone go about there projects? and if you found it good or bad experience, or troubles of doing one before the other?

Thanks guys

Hope everyone has a good weekend

Regards
Richard

G'day Richard.

I can also possibly vouch for a few members whom have restored there treasures, but this is how I would tackle the project.
The Biggest tip I can give is: With computer technology available a good digital camera with regular uploaded photos to disc, will ensure that you will know where all them bits go once you pulled them of. So then!

1st: Remove the Bonnet. Drain the Radiator, Engine,Gearbox and Diff oils. Drain the Fuel tank.
Remove all of the entire mechanicals (motor,box,diff, wiring and fuel pipes, brake lines and hoses, Fuel tank) Then hide emm, cause they look pretty ugly.

2nd: Remove front Suspension crossmember, unbolts off the subframe as a complete unit. Roll that away somewhere, oh! hide that too

3rd: Remove front bar, guards, Front apron and then unbolt the complete front subframe from the body,

4Th: You should be left with a complete body with windows and doors still on, this is were others out there maybe saying, He forgot to pull the Bloody doors off and the pop the windows. But if you leave them on and check the body alignment with everything off, you can tell staright away if your got a good body or not.
IE: Opening and closing of the doors + alignment gaps, load stresses when you pop the screens etc...
If all the above are no good then you've started with poor body, either rusted in the subframes, floor and sills or accident prone driving in the early days with poor repair techniques. The Fb Ek bodies are Monocoque in design and 90% of there strength lies in that area. So it good to start off with solid foundations.

5: Once then you have inspected the body for the above, pull the doors off and then pop the screens. Strip out the complete interior including hoodlining, Remove the bootlid and all the side trims.
Tip No 1: Keep a good stock of plastic screw top jars and icecream containers to label and store those vital little parts.

Tip No 2: Store it all and don't throw nothing out, regardless of how shitty the bits look.

6: You should have a stripped and bare body in front off you, pitty it proberlly looks nothing like you would of thought'
Now back to the car: ':D'
I would recommend sandblasting the Body inside and out then prime, I know Greg on the site and maybe a few others have had great sucess with Acid Dipping in solution and does a great job, but is costly and you need to make sure you have a pretty good solid base to warrent the cost of the exercise. To me it's the ducks Guts of total strip product removal and fast, but its no good spending around the 2 grand mark to pick up a Ek body that looks like a ARC fence, and I have seen a few come out like that before.( Bodies that are full of rust everywhere)
Now you know where your at!
Or'ff to work then.


Tip No 3: Don't let it drag on too long and get into it, when you see workin progress keeps you keen and eager.

Tip No 4: Mark your car like a grid or sections and complete the required repairs to those sections untill they are finished, you then see how you are travelling. A lot of restorers try to tackle the whole car at once OK for a tradesman, but not a 1st timmer.

Good Luck and stick with it

Regards John

PS: I'm sure there are things that others may add, but it works for me and I have 3 projects going on at the same time, and the section principle is great for that, stops you from goin mad.

Hey John,

That's a great summary for getting started on a rebuild - many thanks - maybe we could post it up as a sticky thread?

Another tip for storing all those bits n pieces is to buy a stack plastic zip-lock bags from Woolworths or Coles and also a permanent marker to label the bags.

regards
Stewart

Yes i Agree with parisian62 BAG AND TAG EVERTHING small that comes off and some times a small diagram of were it come from or photos even better

Yep, I'd be wacking Johns comments up as a sticky thread as its an excellent way to go about starting a restoration.

I can especially agree with John's comment about completing the car in sections.
Restore/rebuild one area/part at a time and put it away and go on to the next one and yes it definately stops you feeling you are getting nowhere as you can see progress happening and that you are getting somewhere.Also helps the rebuild budget as you are only paying to restore one part at a time instead of piling heaps into everything in one go.

Terry.

Just to add to Johns comments take photos of before and even during disassembly as it will help put it back together. Over time you forget things

Johns guide is pretty much how we did mine. Lots of containers makes it easier to find things. Also if you get a second car to strip for parts keep everything seperate but follow the same procedure.

Hey Devilrod,

You got me reading my post again cause I thought I actually put the camera/photo method in. I glad I'm not goin mad I did mention it at the start, but easy to miss.
I should of put that in as a tip. Good point.

Regards John

Hi guys,
Spot on John!
It takes great dedication and time to rebuild cars and of coarse a very understanding partner.
I have tackled a few cars in my time but never really went all out until this EK (see chev EK), mainly because they were my everyday cars.
A lot of experience a lot of questions and the guts to tackle the hard parts like welding/panel beating all come about from previous attempts.
It is certainly easier to rebuild rather than modify also, as a lot of mods need to be fitted twice or even 3 or 4 times to get results.
I have owned my EK for over 20 years and my grandfather owned it before me so I knew the history. The decision to spend some money on it was easy and the acid dip was recommended to me by a mate panel beater. The end result was awesome and I have saved heaps in time, enough to warrant the $ 2000.00 bill. I am lucky enough to have access to paint and booth so there is no cost for that hence the dipping.
My advise is to stay focused and if you get frustrated leave it alone for a few days then come back to it.
Do not be suprised if a year or two ticks by cause you have to live a normal life as well!
Regards Greg

Hi everybody, being new to this site I thought I could put my two bit in. Being a spraypainter for 13years, I have found that acid dipping car parts is easier on them than blasting, as that can workharden the steel and make it hard to panelbeat, hope this helps,regards

Thanks john and everyone

Thats the best answer i could of recieved, thanks for spending the time to type that out for me, greatly appreciated. One problem i got is i dont think i will have enough room to put it all.

I got to build a shed to put it in and if i go to big its gonna cost me a arm and a leg and i wont be able to save to start the ek for about a year lol (slight over exauguration. I havent even turned 2nd year apprentice, i bet everyone knows what thats like

How big would be big enough to work in comfortable for one car?

Thanks again everyone

Regards
Richard