Preperation, Body, Interior, Engine, Electrical,  Transmission, Suspension and Brakes, Wheels and Tyres

So we decide to do this horrifically expensive rally thing on another continent in another hemisphere, in what is meant to be a Vintage, Veteran or Classic vehicle.  Now you don’t want to go all that way just to bust a drive shaft day 2 and fly back home – so a 2010 Land Rover was the natural choice. 

A close read of the regulations put pay to that great idea, and while one of our own fleet may have been a natural ‘historic choice’ we suspected their Concourse standing may suffer a little after 14,000kms.

So coming from God’s own country we decided to choose Australia’s first production car, a Holden 48–215, colloquially known as an FX Holden.  A real powerhouse with king pin front end, drums all round, a 60hp 2160cc OHV engine and a 3 speed column shift.  She was bound not to break too many records, but well prepared she may stand a chance of holding together.

We then checked out the heritage of these old girls which were launched onto the Australia market in 1948 and found somewhat of a sporting history. 

A famous round Australia Race known as the Redex Trial had commenced around this time and for many years the FX and her successor, the FJ, were up on the podium.  Check out a 1954 FJ entry opposite.  Our decision was made, a 48-215 (FX) it was to be.

Now eBay is a great thing and after a bit of trawling we came upon our ‘White Boomer’, a 48-215 Holden born in the very same year & month as moi.  So it was meant to be. 

Preparation

The car trailer arrived with ‘White Boomer’ proudly tied down with straps to stop her bounding to the start line – well at least the dream was already there!   

Reality then set in as I put her up on the hoist examining her 4” wheels, leaking diff, gearbox and engine, light weight springs and spindly suspension.  14,000kms – I don’t think so. 

Well the entry regs, rally prep books, guides to this and that and anything else that I could lay my hands on was pulled out and an action plan put in place to make White Boomer’ the real rally car she was born to be!

Now if you’re not interested in things mechanical you can press HOME right now, otherwise keep reading for the finer details of global rally car preparation on a shoe string.

For those who are staying with us the decision was made to do the majority of the ‘rally preparation’ work myself – well at least then there was only one stupid sod to blame when it all went wrong.

Body

‘White Boomer’ was blessed with a great body and she had weathered the passage of time especially well given her 58 years.  Around 2000 her previous owner had done a pretty thorough restoration on her and all panels were straight as a die with no rust to be seen anywhere – a great start.  She even had a brand new wiring harness.  Things we have done / are doing include:

A whole lot of ‘period’ bits have been fitted for safety, utility or just straight pose value, mainly off eBay, including:

• Steel roof rack for spare wheel
• Mesh front sunvisor – essential heading east/west
• Rear 4” period ‘peep’ mirrors – though you can see little out of them
• Leather bonnet straps to tie it all down
• Laminated windscreens (yes 2 split screens)
• Rear tow bar which can carry a small vice for emergency repairs

Underneath I have treated her to the usual recommended stuff:

• Fuel lines tied up and covered in garden hose pipe
• Fuel tank removed, flushed and POR treated
• Second alloy tank installed in boot for those long legs
• Steel bash plates fitted beneath tank and engine / gearbox
• Hangers installed to retain rear axle and prop shaft
• Rear spring carriers strengthened

Interior

An FX Holden is a spartan animal inside, though she did have a new luxury crimson carpet fitout, so a big make-over was needed, including:

• Velour bucket seats ex Honda Prelude with good support & adjustment
• New period gauges - oil, temp, tacho and ammeter – to monitor progress
• Monit rally computer
• Sony stereo with iPod / MP3 connection
• Garmin navigation system
• Metal toggle switches, navigator horn button and 2 extra 12 volt outlets
• Electric wipers (replaced vacuum) and washers
• Centre console installed from HR Holden for pose and to store bits
• A basic Smith’s heater to keep the Mongolian winter at bay
• Bond roll bar, though her rotund shape ensures that she just keeps rolling
• Full-harness 4 point quick release seatbelts
• A sexy looking steering wheel
• Firewall between boot and passenger compartment
• The essential Aussie accessory - a 12 volt fridge for the beer stubbies
• 2 spare wheels behind the driver
• Spares and tools in the boot

Engine

While ‘White Boomer’ was running ok, 14,000kms over rough terrain was not to be sneezed at so a full rebuild was considered essential.  To keep the old girl on the road while the rebuild was underway, a donor engine was acquired, totally stripped down, acid washed and fully rebuilt including:

• 60 thou overbore
• New pistons, rings, oil pump, fuel pump and water pump
• Balanced crankshaft and flywheel
• Head was lightly machined with late model valves, collets, retainers & springs
• Hi-torque grind camshaft installed
• Twin period Stromberg carburettors on flowed alloy manifold with K&N filters
• Remote oil filter installed
• Alloy rocker cover straight from the 50’s for show
• Large bore extractors and rally prepared exhaust system
• Reconditioned rubber mounted FJ radiator with overflow tank and cap
• Emergency Facet pump at tank
• 3 fuel filters – in-line filter at tank, tractor removable glass bowl filter and Lucas glass bowl pump and filter on engine

 

The finished job was dyno tuned to run her in and now runs around 62hp and 120 ft lb torque at the rear wheels on 7:1 compression .  She was sprayed in original factory grey and looks a treat, if a bit drab.

Electrical

‘White Boomer’ had already been converted to 12 volts from the standard 6 volt system that ran from 1948 – 1956 and had a new replica wiring loom installed – so a good starting point.  Other mods we did include:

• Period blinkers fitted front and rear with column mounted arm
• New 80amp Bosch alternator with a spare in the boot
• 2 x 8” period driving lights essentially for show for the P2P
• Halogen reversing light
• Twin batteries – diesel 4WD battery mounted in boot and standard size H/D in the engine bay with large H/D marine change-over switch
• 60 globe LEDs installed in boot, engine bay and passenger compartment
• Navigator horn button
• Relays to all the big stuff
• Monit rally computer
• Garmin GPS
• Everything sealed with silicon

 Transmission

Not too much to do here other than:

• Fully reconditioned 3 speed box with synchros on 2nd and 3rd
• Heavy duty red motor clutch and pressure plate

Suspension and Brakes

While the 48-215 was built for tough Australian conditions, it really was too ‘light’ for the 14,000km bash.  So the formula was simple:

• Entire ball joint HR Holden front end grafted onto the chassis – big job
• Entire HR rear end installed necessitating relocating rear spring locators
• New HR disc brakes front and wide HR ute drums at the rear
• New heavy duty King rear leaf springs with an extra leaf
• New heavy duty King front springs
• New adjustable Koni’s all round
• New heavy duty Selby sway bars front and rear
• All new bushes, joints and bearings throughout
• Vacuum brake booster fitted in engine bay

Wheels and Tyres

With the new found HR front and rear ends our choices opened up.  While the stock wheels are 15” x 4” we chose to go 14” x 5” – basically new Holden wheels supplied by ROH in Adelaide with new offsets thanks to the welding skills of Graham at Morton and May, to avoid the upper ball joints.

Sorry but ‘down under’ Michelin and Avon do not supply 14” van tyres as recommended in all the P2P guides so shopping around led us to Yokohama RY818 light commercial tyres in 175 x 14 format.