Baldies XC Falcon

[Bearded Baldy]

Well. Shit. I couldn't buy just the idler arm pivot on its own so ended up buying a second steering assembly minus the box. While laying everything out last night i thought the 'racks' looked different.

Ignored it.

Lay them on the bench this arvo and sure enough the one i got as a spare with the car is shorter than the newest one. I just ran the part number on the steering box attached to the shorter one and...... that setup and box is from a 67 to 70 mustang. Which won't fit. So tonight i have to take out the power steer box out of the bronze bitch and try not to spill manky old p/s fluid everywhere.

I am one rounded pipe fitting away from having regerts about buying the ute....

[Bearded Baldy]

Fecking got the bastard. Forgot how much of a prick drop arms are to break free in place.

Bonus though, found a very cold box of double brown which had made its way into the shed fridge at some point. So will work my way through half of those then an early night for me.

Leaving at 9am for the super long drive to the big smoke of rotovegas. Updates to come by lunchtime all going to plan.

 

No pics because it is dark, cold and wet. 

[Bearded Baldy]

Got to vegas just after 10am, had the front end assembled and ready to go on trailer by 10:45 and then noticed the hire trailer has no winch. WTAF!

Thankfully fella had an old excavator so with some precision chaining, nudging and forcing, the ute was manhandled onto the trailer.

This thing is so rusty that when i climbed over the front to tighten up the steering idler the frame folded down a couple of inches!

Anyways. Got it home and off the trailer, swapped the rear destroyed tires for some not so nasty, might hold air ones. Then had a walk around and made a plan.

It will definately never be on the road again so i will be cutting it up and stripping it. 

Pics of perfection.

Cant have rusty sills if the sills aren't there.

BadChad must have practiced here in NZ.

Tray and fuel tank zone.

Only a little bit bent!

[Bearded Baldy]

Good stuff.

In here is a set of gxl rectangular headlights and buckets, late xc to xf wide radiator i can use for mocking up as the copper car has the older narrow rad. And the ute/van specific stainless upper doorframe mouldings and rubbers i can sell off.

Here we have yet another 5 position wiper switch for the hoard. And another clock.

 

Dash is in very good condition really so will dismantle that part nicely, the rest will be cutting discs and kicking.

[Bearded Baldy]

Oh. And the COMPLETE steering assembly, box and links, idler blah blah blah.... was in the tray!

Another day tomorrow to deal with that.

[Bearded Baldy]

..

[Bearded Baldy]

Never mind that bland post there @RUNAMUCK,must have left the screen open when i went to sleep and when i slapped the screen to shut down the morning alarm i managed to qoute and repost the one above it.

Anywho, this blue pile of bog has revealed some real gems this morning, i braved opening the doors and seeing if the floor would collapse, it sagged but didn't flop so happy days.

It has something so rare i was not aware any survived the 80s, intact crack free A pillar covers!

And looking under the door card lying on the passengers side was....

Spare tail lights, front indicator lenses, a bag of factory black inner door handles, new gearstick boot retainer, unbroken lower steering column cover (normally all cracked or drilled for switches).

All were in bags too so somebody had a dream for this. 

[Bearded Baldy]

Started the cleanout properly today.

Padded dash for the win!

 

Hadn't noticed it before as the catch is missing so the glovebox has been open.

[Bearded Baldy]

Tonights episode of hoarders brought to you by trademe.

Was warmer when i got home tonight than it was all weekend so i took a torch and some screwdrivers outside and started pulling the dash apart.

This ute must have been well appointed in the 90s, upon taking the glovebox screws out i found it has the 'glovebox vanity light' option fitted. This coupled with the padded dash panels and 5 position wiper switch makes me think that someone must have stripped a fairmont and fitted all the option parts to the ute, or it was the fanciest tradies ute sold in 1979.

 

[Bearded Baldy]

The vanity light switch is still luminous!

I know what you are thinking, that is a fantastic photo of darkness. But look on the rh side.

[Bearded Baldy]

Pulled the dash out of the ute over the weekend, found another skink, got tired of rusty screws so left the heater box for another day.

Neither the xd steering wheel i put in the sedan nor the xd wheel in the rotten ute have the centre cap. 

Started playing with freecad and learning the ropes to suss out some ideas now i have a 3d printer.

I prefer the option on the left so far, i think in black with copper inlay should look sweet.

Will do some more mucking around during the week.

[Bearded Baldy]

Tactically acquired some copperish nail polish from one of the daughters last night....

Sharpie and paint make the 3dprinter i aint!

Nearly a perfect fit too.

[Bearded Baldy]

Have been avoiding going out to the shed due to the rain, frost, and general lazyness.

Went to start tactical cutting of the ute today and the rain arrived, so i went to look over the next things i need to do to the sedan.

Found something that will help with my latest trademe purchase which was a happy bonus, more on that later.

Then i remember a trademe deal from a while ago that arrived bent and got distracted with that.

Braced myself and cut the rest open.

Yup, bloody bent alright, i knew there was a bit of deformation on one end of one of the smaller ones, but i did not know just how bad it really was.

Along with the usual bumps and knocks that scuff plates get.

My game plan has never been for this car to be a showstopper, just a tidy example so with all that said, here is the finished goods.

Obviously i saved the gnarley one until the very end.

Turned out a lot better than i expected.

[Bearded Baldy]

Eagle eyes will have noticed, one of the scuffplates is missing the center badge, and the other is damaged.

Forced to confront the world of black magic and dark arts, i gave a few prayers to various entities, and booted up freecad.

An hour or so and unknown attempts later i had this, complete with mounting lugs underneath.

Sent it to print on the unbroken section of my print board and realised quickly i prayed to the wrong gods....

[Bearded Baldy]

It is not 18mmx45, which was already bigger than original, but 36x90.

Set the distance from the start point, not end to end. But at least i know where i went wrong, tomorrow nights mission is to try fix it.

 

[Bearded Baldy]

Hmmm, i actually don't mind the sizing, needs the height dropped down by half though. Or i could sink it into the rubber for the same effect.

 

[Bearded Baldy]

Finally using this printer for my own stuff and not kids toys. Should have bought one years ago.

Much more betterer.

Now who was it on here that was getting things 3d printed in ali?

[Bearded Baldy]

Factory rear undertray mounted retractable seatbelts! Complete with the unobtainium bracketry!

Advert said purchased for coupe but may be sedan. Was cheap enough i took the punt on them. Will trial fit this weekend and see what happens.

There are factory mounting points for the outer lower spots already in place, and the upper spots in the parcel tray are there too.

[Bearded Baldy]

Next mission of unrelated works, is making 2 replacements for the rear BA seats lockout tabs, as i only have 1.

Stay tuned to see how i probably end up doing something completely different. 

[Bearded Baldy]

Spent the morning inside with a migraine, started to come right so came out to the shed for some calm and quiet time.

Yeah right.

Tried to fit the seatbelts but they are not the right ones, so i guess i need to find someone with a coupe to sell them to. Or i am just not seeing something obvious.

 

Moved on to playing with the rear seats, refitted the original upper and marked the top and bottom heights.

Sat the new base in and then got sidetracked cleaning one of the workbenches.

Always next week i suppose.