First published in the February 2002 issue of Street Machine
It’s not often that people refer to an FJ Holden as a tough car. Fact of the matter is a lot of people would never take on what Greg and Jo Carlton have attempted because building a wild Pro Street FJ drag ute that looks this good on such a tight budget simply can’t be done… unless you’re from a country town in central NSW where everyone sticks together.
And the result? A fair dinkum Aussie masterpiece. Perfection upon perfection, some Holden fans might say.
“I bought the car through Parts Peddler magazine about four years ago,” Greg says. “It was in fairly poor condition and an unfinished project in dire need of attention. Among other things it needed new sills, there were crow’s feet all over the black paint, most parts of the car were unfinished, but it did come with those massive rear Pro Stock 15×15 Centrelines on it.
“There was no diff centre, no axles, no motor or gearbox and a Hadfield rack-and-pinion front end had been grafted in but the quality of the workmanship was real rough. Apart from that the car came with a box full of four-link pieces and cost me $2200,” Greg recalls.
“When I look back at it, we (my wife Jo and I) bought the car we wanted. I was going to do the same to a panelvan but couldn’t find a good one. This came up just as we wanted to buy one – with some of the work already done.
“I wanted an FJ and the price was right, so it was a perfect buy for us.”
Greg had been planning the build for so long he knew exactly what he wanted and how to do it. The Humpy was trucked home and the first step was to fit new sills. Fact was, the list was growing with each day and it took Greg and his mates a lot of work to get through what needed to be done.
But the Dubbo locals rallied around the project as only country folk seem to do and Greg got down and dirty in his garage over the next three years finishing off the roll cage, which had to be fully welded, intrusion bars for the cage, the four-link, engine plates and finish making all the tube chassis bits for the front end out of CDW.
“I lifted off the body with the help of a few mates and sent the chassis out to the Dubbo powdercoaters where they powdercoated the chassis, diff housing, coils, the four-link rear end and anodised the engine plates in blaze blue and all the alloy in clear powdercoat after it had been polished,” Greg says.
“The body was blasted also and came out a total mess. I thought I’d have to throw it all away and start again. The roof was in bad shape after a rough roof chop and everywhere you looked at the body there was bad repair after bad repair.
“But we persevered and a local guy by the name of Reg Trip, who at that stage used to own his own repair shop in town, did the bodywork after-hours. He plodded away, bit by bit, and brought the body back to new,” he adds.
The body took the best part of 12 months to clean up and to redo the chop-top. The new fibreglass front end (the one that came with the car was buggered) was also modified and while all the boys were helping out with their respective duties on the body, another local, Rob Blyton, fabricated all the tubular front end.
“I wanted to build a drag-car-come-show-car on a tight budget and by wheeling and dealing we’ve built ourselves one tough car,” Greg says.
While the body was copping a gentle massage, Greg had his heart set on sticking a blown 350 Chev between the front rails. It wasn’t going to be a missile, but a blown mill nonetheless.
Matt Marsh in Orange was contacted to machine the short motor and massage the smog heads which have been fitted with stainless one-piece valves, Crow springs, machined locks and retainers.
The short motor was bored .030 thou and fitted with standard crank, X rods, TRW blower slugs, moly rings with a static comp of 7.8:1. The block was O-ringed, squared-decked, tunnel-bored, honed and chemically cleaned, with new cam bearings and the whole combo balanced and sealed with a set of Ridgecrest .060 thou copper gaskets.
In the induction department a pair of 600 vacuum secondary Holleys bolted to a freshly-clearanced Weiand 6/71 blower and a Weiand intake with 13.9mm pulleys with 19 per cent underdrive squirts BP100 into the little block.
Rob Blyton whipped up a set of pipes for the job and spent gasses are expelled through two-inch primaries running into five-inch collectors out the bottom of the front guards.
Backing up the combo is a two-speed Powerglide built by Orana Transmissions in Dubbo with a full manual kit, kevlar bands, hardened input shaft, 1.86:1 planetary and various other go-fast bits matched to a 4500 Kayver converter.
Up the back is a Ford nine-inch and four-link combo with 6.2:1 gears, mini spool, 31-spline F100 axles with EF Falcon discs and calipers and Leyland P76 discs with HJ alloy calipers.
Well, the day finally came that the body was finished and Jeremy Fardell was given the nod to break out the new brushes and rollers for coat after coat of luscious Barbados Green. Once painted and blocked back the boys hit the body with the buffer and started putting it all together.
Sure, you’re not going to see Greg’s car out cruising the highways of Australia, the car wasn’t built for that, it was built to have fun and turn heads. What Greg and Jo have managed to do is turn an old Humpy, which has rarely been thought of as an aggressive-looking car, into one awesome ground pounder on a budget.
“Nearly all the car was built on our 25-acre farm and the people of Dubbo gave us a lot of support. We ran the car recently at the drags at Dubbo and ran 7.84 over the eighth mile. Hey, it’s not a killer but it’s fun on a budget,” laughs Greg.
Greg and Jo Carlton
’53 FJ Holden ute
Colour: | Barbados Green |
MAKIN’ IT GO | |
Engine: | 350 Chev |
Induction: | 6/71 supercharger, Weiand intake, dual 600 Holleys |
UNDERNEATH | |
Gearbox: | Two-speed Powerglide, manual valvebody |
Converter: | 4500 Kayvar |
Diff: | Ford nine-inch, mini spool, 6.2:1 gears and 31-spline axles |
COMFORT ZONE | |
Seats: | Hornet |
Gauges: | AutoMeter |
ROLLING STOCK | |
Shoes: | Centre Line Pro Stock 15×4 and 15×15 |
Socks: | 15×14.5×32 Firestone slicks and crossply radials on the front |
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