Bens XP Coooner

[f100_dreamin]

So ive been doing a few things to my XP wagon since i posted up on the introduction thread, and figured all though im not doing much to it at the moment, it would be good to start a thread and slowly potter away as i do the little bits and pieces

so heres the beast.

so i started out first by sorting the Exhaust leak, turns out old matey i bought the car from figured he didnt need an exhaust manifold gasket so just used maniseal, so went to my parts guy $8.12 later new exhaust gasket, half an hours work and hey presto i now have a super quiet car,

next on the list was the non functioning fuel gauge, firstly i checked that the gauge itself still operated by removing the wire from the sender and connecting it straight to earth, and boom it shot to full, so i removed the sender unit and found the float full of fuel and acting more like a sinker, so being the Mcgyver kinda guy, i rumbled around in the shed and found an old unused Cork sanding block, cut a section off and speared it onto the float arm, pluged it back in to the wiring, and checked that the gauge moved in relation to the arm, which it did so i refitted the sender unit......however its miles off accurate (when the tank is full it reads half, and when its half full it reads empty, and when its empty i dont know....not ideal) so as soon as i can get to my parts guy and get some cork casket sheet to make a new gasket for the tank sender i will remove it again and tweak the arm,

then came the cooling system, the week before Kumeu i decided i wanted to get the cooling system sorted (long ques in and out of the event and climbing temps over 104degC is not my idea of a fun time), so i ripped out the radiator, water pump and thermotstat, Pump and thermostat were mint so i refitted them, the radiator went off to Grant at Pakuranga radiators (top bloke, cant reccomend him enough) only to find out that it was 25% solid blocked, couldnt even get the cleaning rod through it kinda blocked, so i figured that was the end of my chance to take the falcon to Kumeu, However like i said Grant is a super top bloke who just happened to have a spare radiator lying around that i could have, LEGEND!! only thing was it was a manual trans radiator that had no provision for a trans cooler, again luck played a hand here, but as i was fitting the radiator up my neighbour popped his head over the fence to see what i was up to, as luck would have it he had recently upgraded the cooling system in his 406cui 6/71 blown 72 SS camaro to an Aussie desert cooler system and happened to have a Craig Davies Trans Cooler from his old cooling setup that i could have, So got everthing installed crusisng on the road saw temps of around 82degC and queing only saw 94degC max, so Super stoked to have an awesomely functioning cooling system,

that brings me to Todays efforts:

in preperation for beach hop, i want to personalise the look of the car a bit more to my tastes, So i rang Barry the Whitewall man, again another bloke i cant reccomend highly enough. and got him to come put some 1" whitewalls onto my existing tyres, and finally to satisfy and reward you for all that reading one more photo (bearing in mind that the above photos were taken on a Proper digital SLR camera, and the following one on my Iphone)

So before beach hop i want to install a stealth stereo so i can have some sounds to cruise to, and if i can wrangle the $$$ i want to lower it too,

I still need to sort out seatbelts for the back for the child seat, but then its mainly cosmetic stuff (old school roof rack, external windscreen visor, maybe spats)

then come winter ill look at more mechanical upgrades, brakes, de-loom and paint engine bay, rattle can rebuild of engine, and possibly extractors and send the head off for hardened valve seats (very $$ dependant)

Discuss: http://www.oldschool.co.nz//phpbb/viewt ... 18&t=31871

[f100_dreamin]

Sweet F A update,

priced up my lowering stuff, superlow kings for the front (probably minus a coil.....or 2) and a 2" block kit for the rear (probably minus a leaf aswell) and will still have enough change from 300 notes to buy a couple of boxes of booze to drink while i do the work.

[f100_dreamin]

Well it took a bit longer than expected to get my shit sorted,

Big cheers to Manu, for hooking me up with the front shock spacers,

went 2" in front and about 2.5" in the rear, am stoked how the car looks now,

Roll on BEACH HOP!!!!

And the best thing is, the ride is still mint!

[f100_dreamin]

Ok so i had toyed with the idea of selling this,

however i had a minor mishap involving the vehicle jumping out of park and into reverse whilst opening the garage door, and it took off down the door, clipped a couple of trees and then stopped in a couple shrubs/small trees,

this resulted in both drivers side doors getting dented where the handles clipped the trees, some grazing on the r/r quarter panel, and a slightly out of shape rear bumper,

Luckily insurance company (classic cover) was more than helpful, and part of my policy allowed me to choose my own repairer,

the guy i wouldve preferred to use (Craig Thompson, Mooney Brothers Panelbeaters, Avid old car lover) has recently had his workshop bought by the Council to allow for road developement, so was unable to do the repairs,

So i used the company we use through work, this however is not a bad thing, Greenpark Panel and Paint. Mike the owner is a bit of an old car nut, and owns "EZPEEL" a Big Black 10sec Ford Galaxie,

needless to say the repair is faultless, and im super stoked with the repair, (as usual excuse the photos, Iphone 3 not the best for taking photos):

However getting the car back has done away with any ideas of selling it

During the time the car was away being repaired, My Wife and I bought a new house and moved in, and luckily for me ive gone from a 18ish Sq/m shed to a 42sq/m shed, so now have plenty of room to play:

Since moving to the new house and getting the car home ive only done a couple of little things,

firstly ive reset the angle of the float on the fuel sender so hopefully its a bit more accurate now,

Secondly ive traced the wiring to the factory temp gauge and found that the gauge on the dash actually works fine, so I plan on removing the aftermarket gauge (cant actually see it whilst driving any way) and run the factory one, all I need is a temp sender and im away!

Anyway sorry for the verbal overload, but im up to date now hahaha

[f100_dreamin]

thread revival..... see i told you it would be a slow going project

so sunday weather was shitty, so I decided I needed to do something in the shed, i figured it was time to start tidying up the engine bay, so I set to removing the rocker cover so i can clean it up and repaint it, am planning on a similar shade of blue to the interior (which is what im planning on doing my wheels aswell)

So off came the rocker cover,

and i thought why not check the valve clearances......... so out came the workshop manual

only to find zero clearance on all cylinders, so off came the ht leads, out came the spark plugs,

so i set all valve clearances, will take plugs to work tomorow and give them a clean up (along with my seemingly forgotten rocker cover now)

then ill re-assemble, check and set the timing, and try to tune the carb the best i can, and see how it goes,

After Xmas whern $$ free up a bit then ill start on the brake upgrade

Discuss 'ere: //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/32061-bens-xp-coooner/page__st__20

chur

[f100_dreamin]

Sooo boring picture less update,

So New Year's Day I took the car for a drive with my mate and his HT kingswood, car was going good, we pulled over and stopped for a while, when I restarted the old girl the GEN light remained on.

So drove home and ripped the generator out, and stripped it down. Found a broken brush, sourced a new set of brushes cleaned the commuter up, took it to work an painted everything and then slapped it together.

Threw it in the car this morning and hey presto no more GEN light when she's running

Total cost of repair $5!! God I love old cars!!!