Axistr new project

[axistr]

Still waiting for my son to come around and help me put the bonnet on and complete the front panels alignment. So I had to find something else to do.
The first thing the wife picked on when I first brought the van home was she hated the interior colour, then my daughter and son in law got into the act. Most of my cars have been either black or grey interior. I didn't mind the original colour but may not have been the perfect colour choice to match the exterior colour. Every time one of my mates come over they put their two bobs worth in and all hated the original colour also. The wife finally hounded me enough and got her way. So being a good husband and all I strip out the dash and change the colour. The dash come up excellent, at the same time I stripped the steering wheel and column covers and freshened them up with new paint. It sure look a bit darker inside now, much darker than the before. Anyway to late now its done, not everyone will like the black and if it was up to me I would have let it be.

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[axistr]

Almost finished the interior colour change. I forget hove many parts need painting. You will notice the console lid is slightly different WB style.

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[Vombil]

Wb used all three holes in firewall to mount guard. Earlier models just used two in my experience

[axistr]

Thanks Vombil, the HZ front guards have the top holes drilled but don't have any welded nut behind the hole for securing the bolts, and you cant fit J nuts like the other two lower holes. I will just have to get the Mrs to hold a spanner on a compatible nut. Maybe the original WB guards had the nut welded behind the top holes from factory.

[axistr]

The thread on the new Rare Spares HQ-WB ute rear quarters has disappeared. I assume it has been removed by the moderators. I posted in that thread I had issues with my HZ front blinker assemblies. The problem was with the manufacturing company and I realise that's its not directly Rare Spares fault and the quality (Q.A) department at the manufacturing company contracted by Rare Spares might need a new guide dog.

Thanks to Greg for helping me and steering me in the right direction. I sent off an e-mail including photos of the faulty parts to head office. I stated my concerns and informed them that I couldn't produce a sales docket and the possibility that they were purchased over twelve months ago and may be outside the warranty period. It really didn't matter how old they were they were manufactured faulty. Anyway they didn't have to legally replacement them. When I got home yesterday there was a parcel sitting behind my front fence. I opened it up and to my surprise the box contained two new blinker assemblies. Well all I can say is well done Rare Spares, its good to know for what ever reason if the parts were not up to scratch they come to the party, replaced and freighted them free of charge. Its great to know they stand behind the parts they sell.


Faulty part, spot the problem.

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Happy little vegemite.

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Thanks Greg and Rare spares well done.

[Valencia]

Yeah that thread went sour Lenny so it got deleted
Kudos to Rares Spares

[axistr]

My son finally turned up on the weekend and we tossed the bonnet on. Wasn't happy with the fit so we had to do a bit of tweaking. I spent two days getting the bonnet perfectly straight. But the bonnet side edges where it meets the top of the guards was a bit high in the centres both sides. My son is a tradesman panel beater and decided to push down with both hands complaining how tuff the old cars are compared to what he works on day to day. The bonnet come good and the lines are now perfect. The downside however is that he put some ripples in the bonnet on both sided. I spent all day yesterday getting it straight again.

Sometimes it feels like its one step forward and two backwards. My bad I should have trial fitted the bonnet before I highfilled it, anyway its done now and one step closer. Defently getting plenty of practice and re honing my body repair skills. Not that I was any wizard at it in the first place.

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[wbute]

Someone must have stood on the bonnet on my WB. I hadn’t even noticed until an old bloke I worked with at the mines pointed it out. He was a pretty handy panel bloke. He spent about half an hour with a block of wood wrapped in a rag carefully pushing the bonnet down on it. He got it all but perfectly lined up again without damaging the paint. He knocked another dint out of the guard just by massaging it from the inside with his hands.
Patience is a great thing. Wish I had more of it.

[axistr]

My bonnet didn't have any rust or accident damage, only half a dozen hail stone dents. I recon the hinges have gotten tight over the years and the bonnet been forced down quite a few times causing a slight bow in the bonnet over the years. One of the old hinges was cracked, bent and twisted. Not to mention being dry as a nuns under smile. I usually give door locks, hinges and latches a squirt of spray lube when I do a service, but I don't think the original hinges have had a lube since leaving the assembly line. Yeh I thought my boy rushed it a bit and should have taken a bit more time and we may have gotten away with it, but to late now.

[axistr]

Almost finished the body repairs. I decided to attack the pellum today a job that I wasn't looking forward to and couldn't do it before due to no bonnet fitted. The first panel beater cut out the left and right outer pellum panels. My mate supplied the panel beater with a complete panel, but he decided to just cut the ends off and weld them in(short cut) I got my inspection camera and checked to make sure there wasn't any rust in the lower scuttle. Couldn't find any so lucky there. But the door and guard gaps to pellum were bloody horrible.

I had to knock the pellum around a bit to get a better shape and lower the high spots. The pellum was 5 mm higher than the bonnet and door. I don't remember how they were finished from factory. Do they have a flange on the outers edges like in the attached photos? I hope I got it right. I have seen a few vans around that have big gaps around the pellum to door and guard and remember thinking I will have to make sure mine doesn't turn out like that. But I didn't check them to see if they had a flange like I have or jut flush. Maybe they had their pellums rust repaired to using aftermarket panels. So if anyone could post up a photo of an original outer pellum shape to ensure I have it right before I put it in Hifill would be much appreciated.

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