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My uncle was the most senior engineer at Qantas when he retired. The reason then never had a fatal accident was the extraordinary lengths they went to in maintenance. Now they outsource it overseas where it is cheaper so they are no better than any other airline.

the last count I heard was 17,000 but that could be old news by now.
This one was upgraded to 9 richter. There have been no reports or news from any villages in the area where the epicentre was, which doesn't look good.

Just a few days ago there was an 8.1 earthquake near Macquarie Island, between Tasmania and Antarctica. Where I live on the south east is only about 700km away and it shook my house and there was a roaring noise like wind. That was 700 km away! And the one in INdonesia was a 9!
Until the Indonesian one, the one south of here was teh biggest all year in the world, but luckily it was horizontal movement not vertical so there was no Tsunami, or I might still be swimming.

My grandfather was in the Australian Air Force in WW2 and he helped turn the Japanese army in New Guinea. They shot him down and sent him to the Burma Railway where he was one of the few survivors.
His older brother was killed on the Western Front in 1917.
Remembrance day is very special to me.  It is great to see so many others who feel the same way.

Dad used to buy it in the early 80s and again in the late 80s and early 90s. I have al those issues and read them occaisionally. There is a lot of good stuff in them, but they got crap so we stopped getting them. Nowadays we buy one about every 5 years.
I would like to get a copy of the articles they did in around 83 to make your own garden tractor. It used a VW transaxle and steel I beam for the front axle etc. I have one issue but not the whole 3 part series of articles.
I never saw the electric car issues, but I have part of the series where they did a 3 wheeler with motorbike running gear and tilting front wheels. It was really cool.
They have lost the plot.

Sorry, Mk1,2 and 3 were the English Capris, shat I should have said is series 1 and 2. they were here IIRC from around 89 to around 93. I don't know anything about the autos, but the entire powerplant was Mazda sourced.  Series 2 were from around 91 onwards. They had a minor facelift mostly in the bumpers and are said to be better quality. The roof leaks are the most well known problem with them here and they got the reputation within a couple of months after being put on sale when a television progreamme did an expose on them. They eventually did stop them from leaking when new, but I don't know how well they stand up. They are getting cheaper now, around $A6-9,000 for a good one depending on year.

They wer Ford Capri here, and although tey were designed and built here they wer powered by Mazda's finest.
The Mk1s had a really bad reputation here for quality, with teh roof leaking being the most common but series 2 cars are generally thought of as ebing much better sorted.

We sometimes have a quality issue or two but usually build quality here is pretty good, although it is generally thought that the japanese have better fit and finish.
What problems have you had?

Bloody Holdens won! never mind, there is always next year.

The early 60s Falcons were virtually identical to US ones, but we started to design our own. They had basically the same engine as the Mustang for yonks but changed to an iron head crossflow ( which will bolt right on to a pre crossflow block) in the mid 70s. They changed to an alloy head around 1980 or so and that lasted until 1988 when an all new OHC engine came out. That has been upgraded a few times and 2 years ago they brought out a DOHC version rated at 182Kw ( around 240hp ) with a turbo version at 240Kw ( around 320 hp ).
The V8s were originally stuff like 289W from the late 60s but the Cleveland was offered in 302 and 351 from about 1970 until 1983 when V8s were cut from the lineup and when V8s were re offered the new engine bay would not fit a Clevo so from then ( 1993 iirc) until 2002 they had EFI 5.0 litre Windsors and now they run the OHC V8 ex Mustang etc.

We have an 87 Falcon wagon for a shopping hack and my brother has a 71 Falcon ute ( pickup)

we had an old Holden ute that used to wander in the back when it hit bumps or when it was overloaded ( not that I would ever overload a ute of course ) and it turned out to be loose U bolts. We found it when we replaced the diff and ti was heaps better afterwards with them tightened down. It wouldn't move if you kicked at it, but it would under load.

I think you will find that castlemaine will have a bellhousing that will allow you to bolt up a toyota 5 speed box direct inc clutch fork and pilot bearing as I remember they are not expensive

That would probably be to a Celica or Supra box. It is running a Single rail now, and we do a fair bit of towing and heavy load work in it and the single rail is getting a little tired so we are looking fo rsomething a litte heavier duty, that is why we are considering a Toyota Dyna light truck box. Also the shifter on the single rail is too far back, we did look for  one out of a Cortina six cylinder which is 4" forward, but they are a little hard to find. Ideally we are looking at something with 4, preferrably 5 speeds, linkages going to the side of the box, not a lever coming out of the top so we can put the shifter where we want it. SOmething with the lever coming out of the box would work if the lever comes out fairly forward on the gearbox.

We do have a Landcruiser 4 speed box which has a good shift, is strong, and the lever is in the right place, but it is hooked up to a transfer box. If there is an easy way of removing the transfer and running it 2wd I would like to use it, as we have a Castlemaine Rod Shop adapter plate to mount it to a Ford six cylinder motor. Is it hard to convert a 4wd box to 2wd?

Um, it's not exactly an Econoline. We didn't have them in Australia.
It is a 1969 Mk1 Transit from England.
It was originally a V4 but we have fitted an alloy head crossflow 250 from an 83 Falcon and it has the 4 speed gearbox from an 85 Falcon and 71 Falcon front discs with a mid 70s Falcon diff. The gearbox is a Borg Warner 0503 "Single Rail" 4 speed.
A Jeep gearbox if I can find one would be fantastic. I do know where there is  Jeep but am not sure if the owner will sell it. Is the Jeep box you are referring to a 3 or 4 speed?
Also how do I convert it from 4wd to 2wd?

It has been a lot of fun so far converting it and so on. The next stage will probably be a diff from an F100 as the Falcon diff is too narrow and needs deep dish rims.
It is alos getting sooner or later an IFS from something, preferrably with power rack and pinion steering. Ultimately I would like ti to get the OHC engine from a newer Falcon, best of all a twin cam one, a 5 speed gearbox, and the IFS with LSD and ABS from a current model Falcon.


Here is the engine in the engine bay.


Here is the van.

Thanks, I am looking very soon at adapting a Toyota truck gearbox to a Ford six cylinder engine, as the van has just about eaten the Falcon gearbox and we are lining up a Dyna heavy duty gearbox for it.
I think modifying cars is fascinating, as there is always  something that was not meant to go with something else and for our own contrary reasons we want them to match, and thinking up wasy of doing it is interesting.
Thankyou for your simple method of making adaptor plates, It would have taken me a long time to think of it myself.

What is the procedure for making adapter plates to fit different engines and gearboxes together?
How do you measure the positons of al the holes, i imagine a ruler would be way too innacurate, and it is hard to meaure to the middle of holes and the holes must be right to have the shaft and engine in alignment.
how is it generally done?

You might have guessed that I am pretty newto ghis game compared to some of you guys.

I'm going to start building the small wheel from this site in the next few weeks. Where did you guys get the plans for that big one, and what did you do for rollers?