28 replies to this topic

[Leebo3]

Just a couple of pictures of my 73 XA wagon, has a 250ci engine, 3 speed auto, 2 huge benchies, single throat carb and some primer. When the escort goes this beast will get painted. Only has 90 000 miles on it, pretty good ride quality, takes 10 million turns from one lock to the other with the poo brown steering wheel.

[Leebo3]

Just some more pictures here, currently getting the carb rebuilt cos it was pissing petrol everywhere on the engine.



throw a stone down there son -


both oldschool fords -

[Leebo3]

Sold the escort the other day But that means that the falcon can get a paint job etc. It is only running on five at the moment, cylinder six is 100 pound down so will have to get a new head or recon the one that is on it.
I stuck some airshocks in it the other day, monroe jobbies, cost $50 which was pretty good, lift the car about an inch and a half or so which is good because the leafs were starting to get sacked from towing the boat, which it still does sweet on 5.

[Leebo3]

Some pics here of the strip ready for the big paint





On the front left door it looks as if some one has had to workmon the winder mechanism and just cut the panel out and welded it in as you can see

[Leebo3]

Another update. finally getting somewhere now.

Bracket before


After sandblasting








and


Chur

[Leebo3]

More progress now,
Car is all primed (what needs to be done) and I have got some parts back that have been painted.









Really pleased with the colour and the finish of the parts.

[Leebo3]

Well after the etremeness of the Palmy meet the Coon wagon is done at last. Now just have to put her back together.


Stupid hirequip, why cant they get bigger trailers!

[Leebo3]

Almost there, now, just waiting on a few minor things to get it done fully.










Still have to lower it, should look quite good with that done

[Leebo3]

Update time, now got some pinstripes and have lowered it all round.

This = just the back lowered


Thanks to Sykov6 for the springs the front has been done too






And if dogs could talk, well, i dont know what he would be saying. Maybe oldschool reppin'

[Leebo3]

hmmmmmmmmmm




302 windsor, i think its out of a 69 mustang. Now to see whats wrong/needs doing to it. I am not in a hurry to get it in the car so wont pile mega money into it to start with.

[Leebo3]

Bought some new carpet the other week and have just put that it.


33 years of rubbish and shit




All out


There was a good find under the back seat. The original quality control card from ford that checks if the paint is up to standard or not. From the card there are some errors that had to be fixed.


New lot in (sort of)


And havent done much to the motor except pull the heads off, so far it doesnt look like she needs a rebuild.

[Leebo3]

So after procrastinating for some time i thought i better put my gbox into "D" and do something about the falcon. So this weekend i popped the engine out. Come out pretty hassle free except i spilt a shed load of oil on the drive way which the old man isnt to happy about so i mite get some acid onto it rofl.

I took all the front valence etc off cos i thought i mite be able to get the front all off but its welded not bolted on.















I dont really know how to get the torque converter off too, there are 4 nuts in front of the flex plate, i can undo them but to get them off the bolt will be a bit of a mission to mars i think. Or do i need a gear puller?

I still dont have the V8 back yet back thats all gravy because now i will paint the engine bay and get the trans checked out etc etc.

No idea what to do exhaust wise the the 8 also, dont quite have enough room infront the the rear wheels to back door to have them there so i will see what happens.

[Leebo3]

Bit more of an update, still no sign of the engine, the short block is done, the dude doing it is just tinkering with some heads now. Also hidden some wires under the guard which tides it up some.

Striped the engine bay of most of the stuff so its easier to paint, and will paint that stuff now while its all out.


Took most of it back to bare metal which took ages




Made a make shift booth in the garage, just stapled sheets to the ceiling, would have got killed if any over spray on anything, but it worked out well


In primizzle


Front done in black which i had to re-do later anywho




Orange all down, not as glossy as i would of liked, but I am pretty happy with it considering i am a n00b at this shiz.




Thought i would be different and do the chassis rails black, my plan for the engine bay is to have NO chrome, just everything black and orange.

[Leebo3]

So yeah i have been mr. useless lately, as some you may know, on the first day i got the 8 back, i managed to leave it unattended while leaning on its end on some tyres, safe to say i wont do that again.





They are just press in studs, so i tried to remove it by putting a socket and heaps of washers on and cranking a nut up, but yeah that just stuffed both the nut and the stud, so i re-threaded the stud and tried again, this time with heat, and managed to snap the stud. So i took it into an engineer and 2 hours and $130 later i had a new stud in.



Rather than doing the full on token ford blue colour just going with the black and orange hard.





Putting the rockers on screwed me over big time because i was 90 degrees out and 1 cylinder just happened to line up and the rest was way out, took me a while to figure out why it was so weird.




Today was the big day, putting it all in the wagon, but as we were bolting the trans to the engine, we found that the sandwich plate isnt the right one. So off came the flex plate and we just stuck the motor alone in. If i can get the right plate this week i will get the gbox put in, but i reckon it wont be easy with the engine already in, so may have to wack the engine out again.

But the motor looks so small when in the car, heaps of room around it and stuff so thats all good, except i will have to do something with the throttle cos its all poos.




I HAVE to get to kumeu on the 19th of Jan, (with a cert) so mite be touch and go for it, but money is on the plus which is always handy.

[Leebo3]

Starting to get ever so slightly annoyed here, ended up having to take the engine back out so we could manage to get the gbox in. Then the radiator was being dumb so had to maori some mounts up for it which took longer than expected.

Towed it into truck stops which a mate works, sooo handy having the pit and forklift right there.

Mackin' the R series


Couple of under belly shots




Gangsta az n shit


Then this trailer was in the way and we needed to move "just hook it on the cort bowl"




Gave it a quick stem clean underneath


And my moon gauge, is ever so slightly bit big though. Doesnt look to bad i spose


But today i went to turn the engine over to get it to TDC to stick the dizzy in, and it wouldnt turn over! I think it must be something thats out of line with the torque converter and box, but cant quite figure out how, because if it was out it wouldnt bolt up would it? So mite hire and engine crane tomorrow and drop the engine down so its easy to fiddle with the box and give it a wiggle to see what i can do. Plus cant get the alternator lined up properly.

So my goal, get it going this weekend, exhaust next week, cert week after then that will give me 10 days to iron out any problems befroe i rock kumeu.

Easier said than done.

[Leebo3]

Yeah well, didnt quite make Kumeu, was on the way up (with no cert) when it started to over heat (but it never boiled), so pretty much turned round and came back slowly.



But went for a decent fang last night, and a mate bought his temp sensor gun and everything seemed fine, untill on the way home on a straight piece of 100km road temp started to rise and rise, so i cranked the heater on and then pulled over to check the heat and it was fine, so we carry on and i turn my lights off to check its not something silly.... And it was! Having my lights on raises the heat heaps, so its an electrical problem, and on the day to kumeu i had my lights on so BANG there is the problem.



Failed cert on friday for 3 minor things, being need a fan gaurd at the top/i really needed a shroud for flow anyway, 2 springs needed on accelorator for return and to fix up a hose underneath. So i am m3ga stoked at that, thought there would be way worse shit.









So happy everything is all done, taken longer than i thought but it has been good times except when something goes wrong of course. So next step with the car, maybe some new wheels, thought about jumping on the band wagon and doing some widend steels, but yeah see what happens.

[Leebo3]

Oh hi there, been a busy few months, had a wicked time at trackday even tho this isnt the ideal car for the track i still had fun.

Finally got my cert plate too, and it says its for a 351 not a 302, so one day if i find some money/351 windsor under my bed can chuck it in and i will be sweet. But k33n for column manual.

Then the beach hop was also 10 x awesome, m3an as time with BDA ansd steelies etc.


But through out these good times, there has been one thing holding me back, a stupid starter problem. When it wants the starter simply clicks, so i have to jump out and turn the engine over on the crank, and it fires. I had the starter checked out and it was fine.

So this weekend i decided to pop a new flex plate in. So i got the bopx on and off yesterday with the new flex plate on. And i finished off this morning. Go to start it and i have an ugle grunching/metal grinding noise.

Thought i would try a different starter and my old 6 cyl one happened to line up, so i chucked that in and it was sweet to start with then it must have moved and it was rubbing against the flex plate, making a nasty noise.

Can see where it was grinding


New vs old


Mis-matched covers are the way of the future


Worlds greatest invention, not that my car is sacked on ass but the extractors are pretty low, so this save them from getting super wasted, especially when you have 11 codges in the wagon.




Then i took the starter out and filed some of the body away so it wouldnt rub, but its still doing that stupid click thing, so i guess maybe not enough volts getting to starter?

And yeah, got 245s on the back zomg.

Discussion stz
viewtopic.php?f=18&t=11483

[Leebo3]

Have had quite the developments lately. With sparkle being on my back about new wheels, thought i would get something sorted in time for palmy swap stz.

So i bought 2 x "D slot" centres and 2 outer rims, i thought i could get some 15x8"s but only got 7s. And this was produced, i gave it a quick coat of matty b before the trip down.
I did have to roll my guards though, with a baseball bat, did a pretty good job too.
Result


And while at the swapmeet, Joe Flange and seedy mentioned some centreless 15x12" that were only $25, i didnt think much of it at the time, then uterus and kyteler grabbed my arm, twisted it round so that i could touch my left ear with my right arm round my back and said they wont let go till i buy the rims. So that was that.
Went to the my tyre peeps the other day to look at options for rubber.
I dont exactly think stretch would suit my stz, so my options are 295/50, 255/60 or a 265/50, ideally i want the 295 but its 310mm width, thats extreme to extreme. So i will machine a bit of timber so it is the exact size and put the centre in and see if it clears.

While at the tyre place, the dude said they are off a farm item rofl, so they havent been widened, the 8 inch band is factory!


Put some spotlights in behind my grille too because kyteler once again told me to. Bit harder to see then they arent on.


Also, now officailly rocking venetians.




Also got a lushcone bench seat, has the armrest which my old one didnt have. And got it recovered in lushcone browncone.


Do the pics seem big for you boes?

[Leebo3]

Hi

[Leebo3]

Another page please.