Popular Post The Bronze Posted July 16, 2013 Popular Post Share Posted July 16, 2013 Way back before I neglected her... Bronze is the colour of my XB – well Walnut glow, but it’s bronzey, it’s also the dopest QOTSA track. And, The Bronze is the name for the police in Mad Max for the bronze police badges they carry and they all drive XBs, or thereabouts, so this is The Bronze. Makes gratuitous sense to me. She’s only got 114ish km’s on the clock and I’ve had her on hold for about 4 years now I think. She runs a factory pre-crossflow 250 motor with the Borg Warner behind it, it’s cruisey as, with the ability to drive fast enough to realize the suspension is wallowy and not designed to go fast. I picked this car up off a lovely old geezer named Neville Kane who met me at the Palmerston North airport when I flew in after buying it on tardem. I remember his name because I am a scholar, and a gentleman, as all OSers are. And because he wrote it in wobbly old man handwriting behind each of the four original hubcaps which she wore up until recently. I think that was about 2006/7. I blazed home to Auckland, Piha at the time, only stopping to call an insurance company and for the occasional tank of gas. The Bronze lived there with me for a while, only making the odd Sunday drive, revealing all kinds of weird quirks I wasn’t smart enough to figure out at the time. Because I was busy babymaking and housebuying she didn’t really get the love she deserved. I rebuilt the fuel pump, redid some brake lines, enjoyed people looking at it, fitted a loud stereo, but generally just looked at it and wished I could do more. So, after buying a house, she got parked up and sometimes rubbed and tugged on weekends, but seldom going anywhere, save the odd unregoed and unwarranted run along Scenic Drive to check things weren’t seizing up. Basically it turned into my own barnfind. Guilt finally got the better of me, plus I found all the surface rust building up underneath her and I pulled it out of the shed and got my shit together a bit over summer. I spent a few weekends underneath with a wire brush and chassis paint, cleaning it up. I replaced the shocks; it had airshocks for towing running off a single air line, making for awesome cornering effects. I got it lowered and a new exhaust – I hacked off the other one a few years back after putting headers on and finding it all yuck rusty. Replaced the coil. Drained and resealed the fuel tank. Redid some more brake lines. Some other little bits. It’s not very far off roadable now, it needs an alignment, the LPG system recerted, the carb rebuilt and that should be about that, it won’t be mint, but it will be legal. Hopefully it'll be the feelgood hit this summer... Tumblr Photoset: http://monkeygrease.tumblr.com/post/55595994657 Disgust: //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/39329-the-bronzes-xb-falcon/ 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Bronze Posted April 27, 2014 Author Share Posted April 27, 2014 This has been sitting since I bought a house at the end of last year; driving it here was the last trip it's done in a while. I've been slowly amassing a pile of little bits and bobs to do on it when the house redecoration shit is done and while I build up some enthusiasm. First up was rebuilding the carb, which I did last night, so I chucked the rebuild one back on, put on a new fuel filter, sucked some gas down the line and give it a whirl this morning. Turns out the throttle shaft is fucked in the old carb and gas is whizzing out of it. I have a spare carb somewhere I think, so I'll pull that apart and swap the bottoms over, should do the trick. I have a few new hoses and things to put on it. But I also decided to bin the LPG system because I hate the cunts at the LPG place and I can't be fucked spending hundreds on the system recert when I don't do fuck all miles anyway. So I need to get all the heater hoses and figure out how to gut all that shit. Fun times. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Bronze Posted June 22, 2014 Author Share Posted June 22, 2014 Pulled off the LPG system today - found a nasty chunk of metal blocking one of the T's from the LPG unit. All rather grim, drained the coolant and readied it all for a full flush, new heater hoses put in, took off the thermostat housing, will need a housing too. New radiator hoses will go on when I put that back together. The spare carb I have is off an XD and different at the bottom which I needed so need to get the carb done professionally. Taking out the tank lifted the rear a bit, so now it's got a slight rake, although in theory the blocks in the rear match the springs in the front - which may be down to the shagged old shocks in the front. Those are also on the shopping list. Took some photos, but really, hoses aren't that exciting. Quite excited about the room in the boot though. Looking forward to lining it and putting in a clean little sub setup. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Bronze Posted July 7, 2014 Author Share Posted July 7, 2014 I sent the throttle body section of my carb off for reconditioning. It has come back looking beyond new. Best present-to-self yet. Bless you Weber Specialties in Silverdale. Hopefully the wahine is picking up a new waterpump today as well. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Bronze Posted July 24, 2014 Author Share Posted July 24, 2014 I had to cut that nut you see on the end of that shaft in half to get some clearance on the rest of the carb body. I'm not the first person to do that right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Bronze Posted September 7, 2014 Author Share Posted September 7, 2014 Finally got the rebuild carb on, but haven't fired it up. I got the new thermostat, housing and hoses on, then realised i didn't have enough hose clamps for the new radiator hoses, so only the top one is on for now. Oh well. Look at the shiny bits anyway... 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Bronze Posted January 24, 2015 Author Share Posted January 24, 2015 So these little chunks just fell out of the radiator top tank. Hopefully this is good, not bad. New water pump on, plastic flexfan, reassemble then brrrrmmm. Ideally not followed by clunk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Bronze Posted February 7, 2015 Author Share Posted February 7, 2015 In the process of sorting the cooling and radiator stuff I was hoping to find tout why the gauges weren't reading. I replaced the temp sender with no luck, so ended up researching some more and it turns out the CV voltage regulator on XA/B Falcons shits itself frequently. But, you can buy a voltage regulator fix off some geeze inOz for cheapish and wire it in and live happily ever after, so I decided to do that. I pulled the gauges, and added his module, and one of the connectors promptly fell off, which pissed me off. Regardless, repaired it and have reinstalled it, but still no temp/fuel readings - I also noticed one of the push-in bulb holders is awol - I am hoping that when I replace that it will complete a circuit and shit might start working. While I have the gauges out I've also replaced the acrylic lens covers; I went to Mums and lasered out the shape and heated it to bend into position - not perfect, but 174% clearer and mega happy with the newcar look. If anyone else wants some of these cut out let me know. I've also decided to pull the fuel tank and get it pro-sealed. The job I did doesn't seem to be up to scratch and flakey shit is still pumping through to the fuel filter. These are the days of our lives... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Bronze Posted May 31, 2015 Author Share Posted May 31, 2015 So I did some shit on this today, mainly in the boot. I took out the LPG tank a while back leaving a heap of holes and space. So I reinstated one of the bits of steel and used it to build a ply platform that'll hold a sub, because I may as well. Keen on advice on what to do in regards the back of the back seat - it looks like shit. Can I put a bit of mdf in there to tidy it up or is that goning to just rattle and make the sub less effective? Can I vinyl/carpet it? I also made a template for the boot inner sides, just to tidy it up. It looks rough, but it fits near perfect, so when i make the final one I'll worry about getting it all clean and tidy. Adjusted the idle, removed some dead rivets and whatnot from the lpg system underneath. began rebuilding the shit parcel tray speaker set up I made years ago. Pretty good day in the shed. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Bronze Posted August 29, 2015 Author Share Posted August 29, 2015 Finished these ^ on Monday. Accidentally made an extra because I forgot I did one the other day, and found one in the boot when I went to install the one I finished. Also made a new parcel tray with some fancy puffy foam and vinyl to match the seats, which replaces the bodge job I did a few years back, and because I pulled out the LPG tank, the speakers can now sit down lower, although they still require some spacing, with the puffy foam, and one spacer visible it looks rather pro. And then I got carried away and pulled out all the seats and carpet to clean it properly and allay my fears that a leak it had previously might've caused rust. it hasn't. Sweeeeeet relief. But now I'm gonna sound deaden and new carpet it. And wire an amp into the boot. My head deck doesn't have RCA outs but I can just jack the rear outs into an amp can't I? Will find out I guess. Then feed the rear speakers extra lots. The sub install in the Galaxie is underwhelming so CBF putting one into this one. Plus plan is to use this often, so bootspace is handy. I got a quote on blasting and spraying underneath, but when I was pulling the seats out I realised how close to finished I was when I wirebrushed and hand painted it years ago so I should just save the money and put in some hard work. Fuck I hate hard work. But that'll be the plan. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Bronze Posted August 30, 2015 Author Share Posted August 30, 2015 Spent a good couple of hours trying out two different sets of gauges I have and trying to figure out if my fuel and temp sender were both simultaneously shagged, if the wiring was, if the gauges are, or if some other mad shit was happening. Conducted a heap of tests eliminating variables and have pretty much concluded it's the new "totally working fine mate" sender I bought a year or two ago and the temp sender, which might be the wrong one (there are 4 that 'fit' but not all work). But am going to double check with the wizards on the Ozzie Ford forums. Took the fuel tank out, which was a prick because it was half full. filled three gas cans, and tipped the rest into a bucket to find it was brown with rust. so that got hosed out and about a half a cup of rust fell out. pissed me off as i used some hippie rust thing a while back. fuck the hippies. have a POR kit waiting to do one night this week. Got underneath and scrubbed and painted some more of the underside to tidy up the surface rust. Still some more to do but happy with a decent amount of progress. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Bronze Posted September 6, 2015 Author Share Posted September 6, 2015 Show and tell... Vinyled parcel tray. Will probably blind me being too light, but fuckit, live once. Guts out Oh, hello quiet... New chocolate Autodec carpet. Pretty average fit so far, too big over the hump, shitty seams. one gave way in the fucking unfolding... Split Seam: Will leave it laid out for a day or so and see if it sits down a bit. Yes, it has underfelt. Good at 10 feet though... Did the first two stages of the fuel tank POR kit, still trying to dry the thing out, slow process. Hopefully some more heatgunning and air blown through this week and it'll be dry enough for the last stage. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Bronze Posted September 9, 2015 Author Share Posted September 9, 2015 So horny right now. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Bronze Posted September 10, 2015 Author Share Posted September 10, 2015 POR Sealer in the tank doing it's sealing thing. This was mid ways through, followed instructions to the letter, so should be goodbe. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Bronze Posted October 11, 2015 Author Share Posted October 11, 2015 This is what happens when you let your car sit in a damp garage too long. Luckily all surface. This is post POR15. Next mission. Install these. So yeah, yesterday was spent taking out the RHF suspension set up, both control arms, spring and shock, pretty grubby. Then it was cleaned back and given a solid coat of POR15 - it's never going to be a show car, so I just want it covered and clean. All came apart with a bit of persuasion. The brake callipers were rebuilt about 3 years ago, since then it's done about 15km. So I will redo them. New hoses are a definite. Rotors are seeming like a good idea. Fucking money pit. I have tie rod ends but was thinking I might do those a bit later when I bin the Armstrong and put in power steering. Just a matter of locating the right PS mount and getting all those bits rebuilt. But first. This job. /edit: No the jack is not on the sump, the car is on stands. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Bronze Posted October 25, 2016 Author Share Posted October 25, 2016 In case you were worried, this is no longer on jacks. It also has new carpet from Oz, nolathane rear bushes for the leaves, courtesy of someone on here, sorry, forgot who sent me those, a complete interior, a near functional gauge cluster, (either an issue with the sender or fuel gauge) and does some mean gravel skids but not much on actual tarmac. I move it in and out of the shed at while. Needs a proper alignment and me to grow the balls to take it for a wof; just nervous on what it could fail on. good layer of dust on it too. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post The Bronze Posted January 7, 2017 Author Popular Post Share Posted January 7, 2017 Drove this today, adjusting the idle and carb until it ran out of gas. Wasn't mad. Love this car. That is so much dust on the bonnet. 19 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Bronze Posted March 26, 2017 Author Share Posted March 26, 2017 All the under the bonnet stuff is tidied up. Haven't taken many pics, just this one mid job. It's not perfect, but it's cleaner, and that's all i'm aiming for until I have the urge/time/tools to pull the engine out and do it all properly. The wiper motor is off getting rebuilt at the moment with mr Ron Wood 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Bronze Posted May 30, 2017 Author Share Posted May 30, 2017 Today I picked up a rebuilt wiper motor and ended up chatting to the geeze at the autosparkies, and chanced upon the fact he had a brand new in the packet wiper arm upstairs he was happy to sell me. Much joy. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Bronze Posted October 28, 2017 Author Share Posted October 28, 2017 Brakes seem to work. http://whenmikeandlouise.tumblr.com/post/166890478157 Went up and down the road a couple of times. Alternator light was off and on towards the end. Meh. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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