Leaderboard

Soooooooooo - as some of you will know, I sold my XE Falcon project, along with basically EVERYTHING in the shed. And this is the reason - welcome to my XY Fairmont 4.1L column auto bench seat It's an ex South African car and the body is bloody amazing. Interior needs new upholstery and I want bucket seats... Plans - to keep it Fairmont and just add a few of the GS touches such as: - XYGT lower lip spoiler - XYGT fog lights - XYGT square based aerial - XYGT wing mirrors - XYGT gas cap I picked it up 4 days ago from up north and drove it back to Aukland with a faulty brake booster - only a couple of hairy moments. The first port of call was for me to remove the classic trident (tridon) mags and wack on my 14X8 12 slots and NEW 245 50 14 eagers. Discussion thread https://oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/forum/11-project-discussion/&do=add

Specs on the build so far.... Engine had 32000km on it when came into the country, genuine kms. Now done 48k or so. Doesnt use a drop of oil it doesnt drip (been chasing that leak for ages) Diesel pump is off a similar mazda 2.0 turbo diesel, bolt on fit and works well. Had a lot of fun "tuning" it, quite a cool design. Turbo manifold is steampipe log style, post turbo is all 2.5" mandrel bent with a single muffler. Has a chinese water to air intercooler where the airbox used to be under the drivers seat, with a Davies-Craig water pump and heat exchanger in front of radiator. Had a lot of overheating issues initially, changed all the pump, thermostat, got the radiator flushed and cleaned as its pretty big and thick from stock, had a massive high power elec fan and it just kept cooking itself. Put a mechanical stock fan back on with a shroud and it now runs around 80 to 90deg all day, except for really wild 2nd gear hills where it gets to high 90s after a while. Have had the front of the crank break off, mrs was heading to Waihi beach with kids for school hols, died on side of road. Wasnt happy. Got a short block bottom end cheap, swapped the crank out, reused the bearings as low km and looked fine, and then a new head as the valves all got smashed from the cam belt drive being part that came off. Old original crank was a poor design, new one was better at least. Certification also required driveshaft hoop, rear steel frames to allow for 2 more seatbelts so it can legally sleep 4. Diesel heater does hot water too. Homemade lithium battery with 24v 2500w inverter, 300w solar panel, 120amp 2nd alternator to keep charge up while driving. Run a 200w induction cook top off inverter, works a treat. Its very compact inside, but main bed in back is pretty much queen size, and kids sleep easy enough over cab space. Also fitted a 130litre fridge.

I will be cobbling together a 351c and C4 along with a mustang 9" if I can locate one. I need to get new shocks and have the leaves reset (has 2" blocks) plus super low front springs. I will load more pics as I get more time to tinker on it - sh1t the bed the body is clean and that paint is supposed to be factory yellow ochre. Now to sell my wrx type r v limited so I can sleep at night..... I owned an XY Fairmont 1997 factory v8 and sold it for $4K.....aaaaand regretted it daily since. I am so happy and can't wait to give this the loving it deserves - no I'm not keeping it 6cyl (no offence to those folks). but this will remain Fairmont with a GS twist. Nothing I am doing to this car will be irreversible. @Lord Gruntfuttock I know you are going to dig this!

The interior is gagging for a redo - hunting the bucket seats now.

3rd thermostat in 2 years. 1st was the shitty ebay one that came with the thermostat housing (great housing though). 2nd was from ford.. last year but seemed to stick open as of a few weeks ago... the st170 runs like shit cold and premature wear on the motor... so ordered a tridon one and it turned up today.. swapped it over (easiest thermostat swap ever). but this is what I found with the one from Ford... how unlucky was that .. opened hot and couldn't close as it hit the little thingy.

I have toyed with a barra turbo option and I'm at a 15% likelihood at this stage - I love the simplicity of a small block Ford 351c I can't be too mad at the bench front seat as it has a fold down arm rest and the back section dips down in the middle and kind of looks like buckets anyway. The seats need a reco and dash top is toast also. I probable will get the door cards all mint at the same time however that will be in a few months as I'm tapped out $ 100% keeping all the original bits and its going to be a homage to a Fairmont GS.

Got the engine bay stripped out this evening.. Bunch of holes I would like to weld up ... and maybe paint strip it. Not removing any interior so try and keep it all masked up and as clean as I can... once doors are removed.

I'm sure there were no XY Falcons in SA. All I can see is that the SA Fairmont's have the following differences from the AUS/NZ cars (happy to be corrected): Factory black below the sill trim No courtesy light in the inner C pillar Unsure if NZ Fairmont's has the bench with fold down arm rest? There seem to be more XY GT Fairmont's there than straight XY Fairmont's? For some further context re the GT's, this information was taken from www.aussiexport.com: What is the difference between a South African XW/XY Fairmont GT and an Australian XW/XY Falcon GT? The Australian XW/XY Falcon GT was in fact made on the Fairmont production line, so they are really a fairmont as well, though Falcon GT does sound better. The reason the GT's were badge Fairmont GT in South Africa is because they never had a Falcon over there in those days, they had XR and XT Fairmont's, but no Falcons, so to keep the model name continuing, when the XW and XY GT's were sold there, they rebadged them to be a Fairmont GT. There are a couple of differences between the cars, but it's only cosmetic. These cars are a full spec GT.

This is the style of how I want it to be - but in yellow ochre The 7" 5 slots are even growing on me even though I am all about the 14X8 life

Here's my partner's and I new weekend get away toy and project, a New Zealand made 1977 Lilliput Gazelle. In recent years we have started to get into weekend travel and camping in our spare time. A few years back we hired a camper and explored the South Island and love it!, and later years resorted to a good old fashion tent for a roof over our head. We always envisioned to have our own set wheels whether that be a campervan or a caravan. So rewind to 2021 this popped up for sale. My uncle decided to let it go as it had been living in a shed and not being used. Previously it had been used as a promotional tool for his vineyard. During the peak of covid with the likes of border controls and such we decided to make the purchase mid year, but actually couldn't collect it until Christmas time of 2021. As an added bonus part of the deal it came with my late grandmothers old 1988 5 series BMW. So my partner Elisa and I flew up to Kerikeri, hooked the van up to the BMW and made the journey back to Rotorua, with smooth sailing along the way and no issues. I'll add some history on these Van's and more photos along the way as I compile this thread. Thanks

End of 2019 I picked up a 1992 Mazda Bongo Brawny 4wd camper van, ex japan but been in NZ uncomplied since 2014. Mighty Mazda R2 non crossflow 2.2 diesel non turbo. 1st drive, its gutless so put a 1kz turbo on it, custom manifold, shit load of work and prob should have pulled engine and put something else in. At the end of it all, it actually goes ok, have towed jetski to Kaiiwi and back a couple of times, over the Coro hill a few times, been around East Cape. I made a EGT digital switch that at 630deg pre turbo opens a boost control solenoid and bleeds off boost to the diaphram, drops boost from 9psi to about 4psi and the egt drops down pretty quick to mid to low 500s, with a pretty decent drop in power too, so its best to ride the egt gauge and keep it on the boil around 550 to 580 deg and it will get there just fine. Plan has been for a while to make a Arduino controller with a screen, sensors for EGT, water temp ( it manages temp pretty good most of time), and maybe boost sensor, and use those inputs to control the boost solenoid with duty cycle on closed loop to actually control egt. Boost control and EGT gauges are common projects, so i think this is possible. Arduino is on the bench, bit to learn and then hopefully make things work. Video from Japan, 2013ish before it came here. The roof box must have hit something on the way as the base was in the back still, and the bars had been torn from the roof.

depends where the ecu is feed from also, quite common to get volt drop if wiring not up to it. likely find if measure at alternator, will be holding stable I'll try disconnect alternator next time have something on dyno

Great cars . I had one . 302W auto. I put a floor shifter from a Sierra in it . The bucket seats were like Lazy Boys!! I often look on car jam to see if it's still alive somewhere......yes miss it heaps FY2178 . They are definitely the best model .

Every paint shop in nz will have Toyota codes, for a small amount it will be around $100 I think it was about 80 for 500ml of matched lacquer in cream And about $240 for 2L of matched basecoat in fancy metallic with all the pearl in it. Most places have Toyota white for cheap, might not be that white

It has a cream/white hood lining which is another thing I will put back to black. Strangely enough the South African XY Fairmont's don't have the rear inner C pillar courtesy lights. I will plonk some in when doing the hood lining. I never thought I'd like a "yellow" car but it's bloody nice and not too common either. I will probably leave the black paint under the sill trim bit paint over the rear lower guards black paint as it ruins the lines IMHO and isn't factory. New all black interior, cheeky black shaker and black front lower lip spoiler and I reckon it will be looking great.

Yeah that's a pretty cool front bench. Yellow and black are great colors too...

For what it's worth - my old XY Fairmont factory 302W bucket seats

Discussion here for those who are interested Build thread

Maybe it's just electrical load. Your injectors and coils would be working hard as rpms rise, and there is only .6v difference. At 6:20 the voltage jumps straight up as soon as the load drops.

Diesel hot water heater is the one shown in this vid. If i was doing a purely hot water setup id do it different, maybe a Webasto or something for pure hot water heating and have a separate air heater. Its a 8kw, and its a bit too powerful for the size of the camper, even on a cold night need to crack a roof vent or it gets a bit toasty. Camper had a propane hot water cyl from Japan, as well as a propane 2 burner cook top, but where the bottle used to be ended up being where the rear seat frames needed to go, and carrying a lpg bottle introduces a few other issues. I think it originally had a generator on a slider in the back left corner too. Ive got the diesel hot water plumbed through the original hot water cyl, has some fancy acutated valves so there is no water in the heater when the pump isnt on so doesnt go festering inside the heat exchanger. Can get cylinder to 60deg in about half an hour, enough to do proper dishes or a quick shower to rinse off. Only has a 85 litre fresh water so showers are brief if need be depending on supply.

Mate just replied. His is 6 seater, bench front with fold down armrest... * 'Full width front seat with foldaway centre armrest' was factory Futura and optional on Fairmont in Aus/NZ. * 'Reclining bucket seats' factory on Fairmonts and GTs, optional everywhere else...

my old XY Fairmont had buckets seats and the centre dickie seat arm rest too. Column shift. I have the lower part of the dickie seat already and only need the side hinges and the top part

Would be a cool seat modified with a small notch in front for floor shifter clearance (similar to the notch between seats on top).

I've got a mate with a factory XY 6 cyl Fairmont wagon. Dont think it has armrest in front bench...? (might have buckets actually, I'll have to check it out).

Maybe try that road first then. They will know what is and isn't in their system. When I got paint made they could use the paint code or match off my car. No point getting it made off the code unless doing a full respray, due to years of fading. No idea what you need it for so that's all I can add really.

Sweet! Is there much difference between SA spec Fairmonts and the NZ/AU ones? Did they get regular falcons there? I know a guy who imported a GT from SA, he said it was basically the same but was called a Fairmont GT instead of a Falcon

cant wait to spill some beer in this!

Any decent automotive paint shop can match off something you have, fuel door etc. Has your local paint shop said they can't knock something up for that colour?

Wow this thing is dreamy! Jealous as!

Big swooooooon.

I've had a box before where the input shaft had a bit of a whack in and it jammed the 4th synchro onto 4th gear. So it acted a bit like it was in two gears, maybe it had some slack like yours does I can't remember. If it drives in 4th that'll tell you

What a honey! Good job

If it's OK running the engine in neutral then yeah it does sound like your lost 10mm socket and it's found its way into the crown wheel.. Maybe if it's not a 10mm socket then that rag from @cletus oil pump drive is in there. Perhaps jack the car up noze down and start it up with the driveshaft removed from the gearbox? Shouldn't be too much spillage from the output shaft for a quick check.

Here is the copper sleeve I was talking about

Take a big one. Room for @Geophyand @Beavertoo!

I'll prolly put a towball on the avensis and take a trailer. Single cab was punishing.

I heard valiants cant do skids......

Next thing to sort out was tuning. I wanted to get this and the cooling sorted before I get it certed, because I didn't want to have to redo cert if the carb was going to be too hard to get right and I end up swapping to efi I rebuilt the carb when I swapped the motor in. When I had the whole setup in my VG I had a guy in Australia modify the carb to work better . From memory it was pretty good apart from a little flat spot at one point It's taken me a while to re learn about carbs and turbos again as there's a bit of mucking around getting them to work right I had some issues with lean backfires where it would pop back thru the carb at light throttle which was a lot worse than it was before . I swapped the old adjustable blow off valve back onto it as the one I put on it this time was a bit weak and would blow off early, with a carb turbo it's quite easy to have boost above the carb and vacuum below it, so the valve would open and leak boost which I think was doing wierd stuff to the carb So that made it a lot better Also put bowl vent extensions back on And had a fiddle with the boost referenced power valve. This seems to be where the solution is if I can adjust this a bit more finely

Alrighty then I think it's good enough for now. I'll see what it's like when summer comes but at the moment I can drive it all day and it hangs around 170-195 depending on what I'm doing So final stuff done= Flowkooler pump (I'd forgotten but it already had a high flow pump but I think the flowkooler one is better) Wrapped the crossover pipe in itchywrap No thermostat (barry) Bypass restricted to 6mm Two 11" spal fans on a shroud- originally I sealed it around the whole radiator and put holes in the bottom and made rubber flaps like an oem type shroud, I put a gopro in the engine bay to see what the flaps did at motorway speed and they only opened a little bit. So I put a seal just under the fans and removed the rubber flap, so the fans cover the top 2/3rds and cool that bit Also made a lip spoiler thing to direct air up to the bottom 1/3rd of the radiator which in my theory helps cooling at speed. This is a tester and I'll probably try to make a better looking one

So i have painted some of the bus in bedliner. This has not gone as well as it could as i am clearly the wrong person for the job. Firstly it became apparent almost immediately that i did not have enough bed liner, in fact i will need 1.5x more at least to finish it. Then the colour choice is questionable, this is because I colour matched it from memory. So it is not the same blue for some reason, but it doesnt matter as I decided to paint all of the body of the bus. Hence for reasons that will become apparent the bus is now called Smurf. Then there is my spray gun skill and how this is affected by stress, and i can tell you that stress negatively affects my skill. And i have almost no skill to start with so this isnt an ideal situation. And I was stressed. So anyway, I painted the bus. The good news is the the ugly is covered up nicely (except for that dent that i didnt bother fixing lols). The bad news is that the variation in texture is amazing. So much so that i think i might do a final coat with a roller to even it out, although the nose is kindof convincing probably cos i had decent light. Stupid fucking paint bollocks. I should have known not to get involved in that shit.

To date we've been on a few adventures, Onaero beach near New Plymouth. Cooks Beach in Whitianga and Taupo for the 35th National Lilliput club run which we signed up too and became members. I made this decision to hopefully network with fellow enthusiasts, make some like minded mates and to get some ideas for our own van. The rally was an awesome weekend away, the weather wasn't on our side and certainly tested our tolerances as a couple when erecting the awning in the pouring rain haha but we got there in the end. The van stayed dry with no leaks, but not so much for the awning which later onwards I have since waterproofed.

So, Final update. Fitted the new slipper clutch to the mag part of the magdyno. Bike now makes 22v at fast idle when bridging the Field and Output terminals - Perfect Connected up regulator and bike now charges battery at 13.5 - 14.4v at fast idle. - Perfect Case closed

Great choice in tool, up there with one of the most common tools I use. One thing to pay attention to is that ideally you want to be doing your linishing over a rubber wheel is much quieter and leaves a better finish. Alot of the cheaper ones arent really linishers as such they are just belt sanders stood upright. With a bit of trimming you can rotate then to face outwards instead of upright but having an aluminium roller to linish against is a bit shit. https://www.bunnings.co.nz/ozito-240w-bench-grinder-and-belt-sander_p0323486 ^is your cheapest option at $120, they are fine very underpowered and need sander roatated to get best use out of them. They do work though and if money is tight they are a good stepping stone machine. https://www.machineryhouse.co.nz/g1590 ^ Is an option thats come into the market in the last couple of years, good design with belt pointing out and you can see the rubber wheel at the front. About $550. https://nzsafetyblackwoods.co.nz/en/linishall-bench-grinder-bg8l-each--01670411 ^About $700. Are a very good machine is what I have at home, takes a bit to spin up but has a fair amount of grunt. Are a very common machine most engineering shops have multiples of them scattered everywhere. Not so good for production material removal as are lacking in power but good for everything else. 10/10 would trade again. As far as buying 2nd hand I would be cautious and know the value of what gear is worth new the market is cooked. Was watching the bigger brother linishall 3ph linisher on trademe, it sold for $450 more then what they are worth brand new. See the same thing happen at machinery auctions as well. Main thing to take away is that whatever you buy get good consumables. Most grinding/sanding tools issues can be masked to a certain extent by installing good consumables. I buy most of my consumables through PPS, there red VSM Ceramic linishing belts are awesome last for ages and keep there edge well and arent that expensive. Dont even bother using the brown belts you can get from aliexpress and what they come with from the factory they suck shit. Might as well rub your parts with a brick they both remove about the same amount of material. Let me know if you want more info or if ive missed something.

Same as above, I just got a generic ELM327 chinese thing and whenever Ive wanted to use it, it has worked (they do drain your battery if plugged in and dont use car for a couple weeks)

Alt docs have been approved. 6 days shy of 3 months after i've submitted them. Need to book compliance now. Probably a 3 month wait on that.... Shit Jeah, I am excite.

I love how the engines look like they're from the 1920s. Def not a powerhouse. But has torque for africa. Was a bit concerned how the 4 speed box would be. 1st and 2nd are fine for around town/hills. Will see what its like on the open road once its complied. Currently doing the dance with compliance people. Go in one day, they give you a list of things you need. And horror stories how you can't register it if it doesn't have this sticker, or before the 1st of November cos if the new abs rule yada yada.... Go in the next day, literally the opposite of what was said before. Don't need the exemption required the day before, but need a different one, as what was acceptable documentation yesterday is not acceptable today and what was not acceptable yesterday, "oh nah mate, thats fine" today I don't know... Help a fuller understand.... Why can't it be easy. Should be a solid process. Not down to some persons mood on the day. If they're in a grump, then it makes your life misery. Should not be like that.