Some more fab on the EH ute







With all the welding on the front end it moved around and when I measured its width at the mounting points to the body it had narrowed by 20mm. I don't have a portapower so I sliced it through the front in the centre and spread it to the right width. I then put a reinforcing plate in there and welded it all back together.

Stone chip protector done.






Strengthening plates added to the footwells to replace the flimsy flat washers that come in the CRS chassis kit. These should help with the clamping of the chassis kit up to the floor and also help to stop the floor itself being deformed by the tension on the bolts.






I also blocked ff the plenum vent. No longer needed as the car will have airconditioning.

Today's effort. A/C mounted and hoses finalised and crimped. Main battery feed cables sorted and wrapped. A/C demister ducts fitted. Trans shifter mounting sorted. Chassis kit reinforcing plates Sikaflexed to the floor. Plenum drain tubes fitted and finally all the remaining seat belt mounting plates fitted.

This is how I fitted seatbelt mounting plates to the B pillar of our EH ute. It already had a hole in the pillar for the old style "through the pillar" upper bolt. The hole in the outer skin was filled and the hole on the inner panel was reused to mount the upper plate. Minimum plate size (VSCCS requirement) is 3750sqmm. That's generally 75x50mm. The upper plate is 100x50mm and the lower needed to be trimmed to 85x50mm to keep the retractor as low as possible on the pillar.

Centre hole is the seat belt mounting hole. The outer 2 holes are for plug welds to hold the plate in place. All the holes were deburred inside the pillar to ensure the plate is flush with the pillar


Cleaned up and ready to slide the mounting plate up through the large factory hole in the pillar below my holes. You can get your hand in there easily.


Plate fitted and held in place with a seat belt bolt.


Plug welds done




I held the retractor up to the pillar to find the best position. The lower hole in the picture is where it will mount. The upper hole will be a welding hole. I then marked out a triangle shaped cutting line and removed this piece of pillar.


Cuts done. I would recommend cleaning the pillar now as everything is still flat. A flap disc will clean everything for welding in just a few seconds


Look what I found inside. This ute has SO much dirt and gravel in it. It is still falling out of places I didn't even know it was possible to get into..



Edges cleaned ready for the plate to go in.


Plate fitted. A tack at the top holds it in place. Bend the tab back and weld.


Welding done. No pics of the welds before I ground them. Not pretty. Haha

I have just spent the last couple of hours reading this thread in full. I had only glanced at the updates before.
Wow, what a great level of detail - not only in the work, but in posting the extensive photos & text for others to enjoy, and learn.

I love what you're doing with the ute - all the mod-cons and safety upgrades that we take for granted these days, but in a classic Holden body.
You've absolutely nailed it when it comes to making a cool, safe, reliable & enjoyable vehicle.
It doesn't need a blown SBC or massive tubs to be impressive.

Getting things back together finally..

Some more progress on the ute

Horn ring and indicator self cancelling sorted. I chopped the centre out of the stock EH wheel and used it to give me the spring loaded horn contact and the 2 roll pins that cancel the indicators. Final machining to get preload on the horn contact and also to get good contact of the roll pins on the indicator switch will be done once the column covers are fitted and the steering wheel final position is worked out.

What model is the EPAS column from? How are you going to control it?