chasinthemirage

Looking for some advice on removing stains from cloth upholstery. Had a water bottle leak in the Fairmont and this stain has appeared on the seat. There was nothing coloured in the water bottle and nothing on the seat which the colour could have come from. I'm wondering if it's somehow been lifted from the foam by the moisture? I've sponged it with a soft cloth and some dish soap as that was all I had access to over the weekend but I'd really  like to remove it properly. What do you jokers recommend? Wet vac, spray on cleaner etc etc? I'm all ears as otherwise the interior is fairly immaculate and I'd like to keep it that way!

Fuck I can't wait to go for a hoon in this at nats next year...

On 12/12/2022 at 18:25, cletus said:

Technically,  modifying or replacing bump stops with non standard ones, requires cert. 

 

But, a scallywag with no regard to following the rules of the land,

an outlaw if you will,

 

would likely get away with it if it looked standard. 

 

The aforementioned scallywag should be careful that a replacement shorter bump stop still limits the travel before the driveshaft hits the tunnel though  

Thanks for this, it's shaping up to be a lot of measuring and hassle for the sake of lowering the car another 3cm haha. My old man suggested some bags of cement in the boot, might be an easier way to go!

What's the go with replacing bump stops? Haven't got much clearance between the pinion snubber on the wagon, it's 65mm tall overall. Can I replace it with an aftermarket one that's shorter? Virm says they can't be modified but doesn't mention replacing them with an aftermarket option.

13 hours ago, Bling said:

Don't open that can of worms. Are you leaving the blocks in with this setup or removing them and having the pack made to suit?

I'm going to leave the blocks in so that I can easily raise it again if I need to without having to do anything to the spring pack. That's the plan at this stage anyway.

Thanks @cletus! I do remember being told about the shackles once upon a time. I'll have a decent look at it and have a chat to the spring makers. Ideally I'd like to only do stuff that can be reversed, if I'm going to cert it then I'd be tempted to bag it but thats a whole other can of worms that I'm not clued up on.

Okay another suspension question for @cletus. Is there a minimum amount of arch required for a leaf spring? I've measured the Fairmont, if I lower it 40mm it'll even up the guard gap, leave the structure of the vehicle about 110mm from the ground and should give about 50mm between the unmodified bump stops and the diff. I'll get an extra over load leaf fitted but the springs will be fairly flat, I'm hoping fitting an extra leaf will mitigate this. Am I likely to run into any other issues? Couldn't see anything in the Virm.

Thought as much. Thanks mate! I'll just spend the $300 and get the leaves reset properly.

Yeah already has 2" blocks installed and still sits very high. Almost wonder if it's got springs in it that have been raised it's that high.

What's the go with flipped leaves? Just been looking at a post on another forum where a guy reckons you can lower an E series wagon 2" buy taking the spring pack apart and putting the small leaf on the bottom upside down on top of the pack. Seems somewhat dodgy. Is it legal and how shit is the ride quality likely to be?

I've bypassed the heater in the Fairmont as it's more admin than I have time for at the moment. I've run a hose from the outlet from the thermostat housing to the coolant hardline that runs around the back of the engine and goes to the water pump, bypassing both the heater tap and core. Because of where it has to run through the inlet manifold it's got a fairly tight bend in it and is on the verge of collapsing on itself. The original bypass that links the two pipes is still in place so there's a small but constant coolant flow, if the hose that I've added does collapse will this cause any issues? I can't see it being any different to having the heater tap closed (which is no longer fitted) but it's been a sec since I've done any car stuff and I want to make sure I haven't missed anything.

On 21/09/2022 at 19:19, HighLUX said:

Remove pipe wire wheel then build up with Jb weld sand and sealing again

Sweet will give this a go, cheers!

On 21/09/2022 at 19:37, igor said:

You're fucked. I've just recently replaced all those hoses on mine. You'll have to take the manifold off to reach anything. Check the distributor cap, rotor and leads while you're in there.

I was worried that might be the case, managed to do the hose by forcing my arm through a gap but it wasn't easy. Might give it a birthday while I'm there.

Fairmont has a coolant leak from one of the heater bypass hoses. I cut the end off the hose and replaced the clamp. Leaking less than it was but still weeping. The metal pipe is fairly crusty but it's a bit of a nightmare to get to as it's under the inlet manifold. Any ideas?

Big swooooooon.

Forget the grey interior, what it really needs is camo door cards and mirror tints.

Need to replace the inner rack end on the EA, never done one before and haven't got a manual yet. Is there a flat on the steering rack shaft itself or do I just screw the new rack end on and nip it up? Bit worried about putting too much twisting force on the rack itself.

Where did you score your seats from? Having mine retrimmed at the mo but my frames are pretty fucked. Would potentially be keen on buying another set if you know someone with parts.

On 30/03/2022 at 19:56, HighLUX said:

Dual batteries was a cold weather option or something

Had a surf with dual batteries running 12v

Was great for parties in the wops could run the stereo all night without going flat

Pretty sure mine just flattens both batteries eh. Honestly not sure how it's set up though as I've never looked into to.

Where's the best place to go price wise for automotive batteries? Surf has been getting a bit slow to start for awhile and finally decided not to start after work today. I need a NS70MF and a NS70LMF.

On 17/03/2022 at 07:15, tortron said:

/buy the gun and compressor and respirator, and some plastic sheets

Pretty keen tbh, wanna come paint it for me? /talk me through it haha. 

On 16/03/2022 at 23:02, Bling said:

What's the car look like now? Does it NEED a new paint job? Hate to be that guy, but borrowing serious cash to paint a car doesn't seem like the best plan (to me). Store it away nice and dry, do some hunting and stay away from car debt. I'd be stocked as fuck to get a new paint job on my project, but holy balls I don't have the money to spend to get it done properly. So it's about four different shades of colour match paint and i'm ok with that.

/save some money up and ship it to tortron for a hillbilly pearl job.

/or someone local that will do it in their shed for 4 figures

Nah dude I completely agree with you, I'm not keen on having to borrow money to get it painted either. It definitely needs a paint job, it's currently in primer and has been for a couple of years. I think it's been damp while in primer and there's some rusty looking staining in a couple of spots that I'm concerned about. The body work is done now, just needs paint. After getting another estimate of 15-25k for paint I'm really tempted to have a go at painting it myself. I really just want to drive it again, it was four different colours before and I loved it. I really don't feel that a flash paint job adds much value to the car, certainly does for some people but not to me. 

I can definitely understand how the cost can get so high as the quote has a tonne of hours allocated for prep, the actual cost of the wet and dry items isn't that much in the grand scheme of things. I've never had a car painted before though so really wanted to make sure I wasn't completely out of touch with reality as far as price was concerned. 

Definitely one of those things where you get what you pay for eh. I'll get a couple more quotes and see how it looks, there's just no way I can afford or justify spending that much.

The car is currently in primer but it's been in primer for a few years and I'm worried it's been damp. I want to take it back to bare metal for peace of mind but the body work should be pretty sweet, the rust repairs have been done well so should just need a skim and a sand. I've been quoted just over 30k to strip and paint it and at that point it's almost worth just buying another car. I'll get a couple more quotes but it really makes me wonder about the possibility of painting it myself. 

Got my first quote for the panel work today, eye wateringly more expensive than I was expecting. Admittedly it's the first quite I've had and it's meant to be a worst case scenario quote but even so. Roughly what sort of coin have you guys spent or would you expect to spend on having a car painted? Needs to be taken back to bare metal and then any skim coating etc done before paint but shouldn't need any panel repairs.