'74 G60HWU in SA

[Johnny Roadkill]

Hi all,

these are the "before" shots of my '74 G60. It was rescued from a paddock at Mt Compass SA in March 2013, after being purchased from a deceased estate by the previous owner a year or two before. The guy who owned it before that had it for at least 20 years according to the paperwork, and obviously loved this car - but used it too ( it's no show pony ). Some work has been done since, but I figured this thread should start at the beginning...

As purchased, it was both running and registered - and drove the 50km or so back to my place without a hitch. It came with a P motor with Stromberg WW carb, Marks 5-speed with original sale documentation, and standard transfer and diffs. Wheels are 15" steel one-piece items with 28.5x9.5" tires, and the LPG system is out of date - but as far as I can tell the cylinder head has been off which hopefully means some good LPG/ULP-compatible valve seats are in place. After a tune-up the motor sounds really smooth, idles nicely. The front bar is worse than useless unfortunately, since a decent roo-strike would likely see it bend back and ramp the unfortunate mammal onto the bonnet...it has since been removed !




















cheers,
D

[RiverPatrol]

That's a nice G60. It's in really nice condition.

Don't throw that front bumper away, it's the original one and hard to come by. Hard to come by because as you have pointed out it wouldn't take much to bend it.

[Johnny Roadkill]

Hi all,

the next few posts show work that was done in 2013, and was documented on another Patrol forum. Apologies to those for whom this is deja vu.

The cooling system seemed a good place to start, since the "coolant" was brown and some of the hoses and joiners seemed suspect. Sure enough...

Radiator front face...very ugly


The radiator core in my '75 was better, but the tanks had split at the seams thanks to the 13psi cap that was fitted. Found a local radiator shop, owner was really helpful and repaired the tanks, painted it up and sold me a 7psi cap - all for under $100. New cores are available, but expensive - we're talking AU$700-900 fitted. Maybe later...


The heater T-piece was...well, see for yourself :


Replacement Nissan part ~$130, ship from interstate. Local radiator shop part ~$20, pick it up with the radiator this arvo. Easy choice


Thermostat lower housing wasn't great, and neither was the one from my '75.


Bit of light sandblasting on the better one and it didn't come up too bad.


Thermostat upper housing...uh oh ! Both '74 and '75 parts are NBG.


Cut the useless spout off the worst housing and made up a test piece to see if the aluminium would take a weld. I didn't do the actual welding, left that to the professionals. Cheers to the workshop guys in my department for the help !


Crunched it in a vice to test it and the weld seemed to have enough penetration...


So I prepped the housing and made a replacement spout...


And let the experts join them up - not a perfect solution, but a solution nonetheless. After exhausting all reasonable avenues toward finding a new replacement I was happy to have this turn out ok !


Found a thermostat gasket which is a perfect fit - for the old pushrod Ford 4-cylinders ( Cortinas, Escorts and Anglias ). ACL part # KS-290 or Tridon # TTG-4.


Bought a radiator sock to catch any residual crap in the system - thanks to forum members for the tip on that one...


And replaced the temperature sender - Tridon part # TTS-031.


Thermostat is an 82C/180F, which I think is a bit too high...may revisit this later. Tridon part # TT1-180.


cheers,
D

[Johnny Roadkill]

Don't throw that front bumper away, it's the original one and hard to come by. Hard to come by because as you have pointed out it wouldn't take much to bend it.

Luckily the front bumper was unharmed, and is in average but re-usable condition. I have nothing against the original bumper - it has since been refitted - but this add-on was just a pair of tubular uprights butt-welded with no bracing to fixing plates which were then bolted to the chassis rails with no attachment to the original bumper at all. Just not a structurally sound piece of kit, but may have saved the front from some pinstriping I guess.

cheers,
D

[Johnny Roadkill]

Radiator hoses are NLA according to all the local auto parts shops, so I found a couple of Ford Falcon hoses that can be cut to suit.
G60 top hose Mackay part # CH632, Ford substitute Gates part # 05-0180
G60 bottom hose Mackay part # CH633, Ford substitute Gates part # 05-0637


Bypass hose also NLA, so a Nissan N14 Pulsar hose was sacrificed ( Mackay part # CH1784 )


I later found an original Nissan fan belt in my '77, but at the time I found a replacement at the local hardware store ( Rexon part # B46 )



A splash of paint, and then reinstalled



Yes, the blue I chose is WAY off I also pulled the water pump and cleaned up the inside, cleaned and painted the engine fan, and drilled & tapped the fan mounting flange for 1/4"UNF fixing bolts instead of the 12-24NC originals, which are not easy to find in a decent grade.

cheers,
D

[Johnny Roadkill]

Cooling system refurbished, next up was engine electrics...

Pulled the distributor open and it wasn't in great shape...


New parts...
Points - Fuel Miser S219VU
Rotor - Fuel Miser JR517
Distributor Cap - Bosch GH526, Champion JP526



Tuned the carb according to the Stromberg manual, and it's a smooth old lump of an engine once more.

Removed the battery tray from under the bonnet, wasn't real flash


Original battery hole had been massacred at the edges


Because previous owner installed a gunbox under the passenger seat. No guns left in it, but lots of spent shells.


Managed to straighten it out ok for now


Got some "00" gauge cables for the battery hook up. Mmmm...electron superhighways


Made up a replacement battery clamp along the lines of the original - should clamp any size battery that will fit in the tray


And grabbed the cover from my '75


Battery looks too small for the tray, but it is the listed size...


Fixed seat rails had to come out, will replace these with tilt-mounts shortly...



And cleaned up some more bits. Meep meep.


cheers,
D

[Johnny Roadkill]

Time to tackle the suspension...

This has been a steep learning curve for me, and I have made mistakes. Briefly, I got a "kit" from Industrial Springs in SA - fresh springs, shackles & bushes sourced from EFS, u-bolts, and fixed pins ( non-greasable unfortunately ). Shocks are Old Man Emu from ARB ( Nitrocharger N49 ) and steering damper is OME SD22. Swaybar link bushes I have used Datsun 1600/510 items which are so close I suspect they are the same part.

First mistake - assumed Industrial Springs would be a bit more helpful with the ride height specification. I have ended up with 4 great looking heavy duty springs that have too much lift in them to be useful without modifying the chassis spring perches. I will have to remove them, return to sender and pay MORE money to have some camber taken out.

In the mean time I have removed leaves, tried all manner of combinations of the leaves, loaded them up with weights to settle them, driven back and forth over spoon drains...nothing. Live and learn ( but also curse and swear a bit ).

The new parts from Industrial Springs - looking good so far.


New shock absorbers...


Now to remove the old stuff...swaybar links - Houston, we have a problem...


The ones from my '75 were much better and worth cleaning up for reuse


Same for the spring plates, the '74 ones had been bent out of shape by overtightening


Made up a tool to remove the old bushes from an L-series cylinder head bolt...


But that was after trying to do things the hard ( and painful ) way...


Rear springs in...but those shackle angles look dodgy...


Refurbished the front spring plates and swaybar links...


Again, springs are in but shackles are way off...


cheers,
D

[Johnny Roadkill]

After pulling a leaf or 2 out of the springs I thought I had the ride height to a point where I could take a test drive and see if they would settle a bit. In the end they didn't budge, but at least I got to take my Patrol out for a rumble - which was a hoot !

There's a bit of crown land a few k's from home with a bit of a climb and some rocks and ruts, so I headed there via the dirt roads and had some fun.



















So that's about where I'm at with the '74. Next up is replace all the milky rear plastic windows and pull the springs out for re-arching. The last few months have been busy - 2 dirt bike tours in the VIC high country, lots of weekends camping, hiking and riding...but now I'm starting to miss out on 4wd days so I have to put the shoe on backwards and kick my own butt into action !

cheers,
D

[RiverPatrol]

Good detail on the spring replacement. That job is always a tough one, even with the right parts.

I have a little finger that matches your thumb right now.

[Johnny Roadkill]

Good detail on the spring replacement. That job is always a tough one, even with the right parts.

I have a little finger that matches your thumb right now.

Yeah, the right knowledge before I started would have been the ticket

Sorry to hear about your digit - I squashed mine last year and the nail is still not back to normal...

cheers,
D

PS - I've pulled the Stromberg carby off the '74 - float was a bit sticky and I want to flush the whole fuel system out anyway. Found a rebuild kit for Stromberg WW - Fuel Miser part # SB-651. Pics soon...