Baldies XC Falcon

[Bearded Baldy]

Daughter had a sleepover this weekend which meant i disappeared into the shed.

Prototype 1 is now ready to go see the cert man during the week.

Perfect amount of clearance.

[Bearded Baldy]

And a pic of it all assembled up.

Will shape the edges of the flat to match the rails on the final version, these ones have a few extra 'development' holes, so will not be able to just slap the paint on.

[Bearded Baldy]

Cert man is happy with the first edition.

Need to round off all edges etc etc, expected to hear comments like that but explained this was just a rough out to test the design.

So at some point over the next few weeks i will make 2 more sets, round off, sandblast and paint/prettify everything.

Described how i wanted to mount the back seats and got a good response for that too. Since he is only a few km's away from home he is willing to come round and check out my idea when i am ready, rather than have to do the whole photo and email deal.

Bloody good way to round off a monday.

[Bearded Baldy]

For those who may want to put "xr6 seats in xa xb xc falcon" and who got duped into thinking the x series rails bolt on to the b series seats, this one is for you.

Works for me, might not for you, my cert man likes it, yours may not YMMV etc etc

Part1. The main adaptor.

Step1. Have a beer and bitch about the liars of the internet.

 

Step2. Get 4 pieces of 65x5 mild steel plate 445mm(need to remeasure to confirm) long, and stack in pairs. Tack weld the ends of each pair together to hold steady for drilling.

Step3. Mark out and centerpunch each stack as per this picture.

 

Step4. Keep hydrated.

 

Step5. Drill holes as required, i used 8.5 mm and 10mm. Countersink 8.5mm holes.

Step6. Test counters for correct depth.

Step7. Grind off tackwelds and attach the first pair to a stripped seat base. Mark out contour of the seat. (Marked out on the prototype here. Dont mind the extra holes)

Step8. Bolt both plates together cut/grind to shape. Unbolt and round off all edges with a flapdisc.

Step9. Rehydrate for at least 3 cans. Go on, you have earned it.

Step10. Repeat for the second seat. Clean and paint.

 

 

[Bearded Baldy]

Part2 The Spacers. Pics to follow as i do the second seat.

 

Step1. Cut 8 30mm wide pieces of 100x10 plate.

Step2. Mark and centrepunch as per picture.

Step3. Drill and tap 3 holes per spacer. Thread needs to be 8x1.25.

 

Step4. Beersies.

 

Step5. Loosely mount spacers to adaptor plates and fit plates to seat base. Place xr6 rail mounting nuts over the studs and mark the necessary clearance on the spacers.

 

Step6. This bit gets a bit tedius but end results wil be worth it. Remove and grind/testfit each spacer one at a time until the mounting nuts can be done up freely.

Step7. You guessed it, hydration time.

Step8. Remove and stamp/scratch/label each spaceron the underside so you know which goes where. Flapdisc again to round off all the sharp edges that do not sit against the main plates.

Step9. Clean and paint.

Step10. Pre assembly beersies while the paint dries. This step could take a few days.

[Bearded Baldy]

Which should look something like this once painted and assembled.

[Bearded Baldy]

Attach X series rails to the adaptors.

Bolt seats to floor, cursing whoever deseigned the semi captive bolts of the X rails.

[Bearded Baldy]

Admire your handiwork.

 

Final step.... sit in drivers seat with your cold drink of choice and make brum brum noises.

[Bearded Baldy]

Found a set of ltd door scuff plates with the rubber liner going cheap on the tard, looked like only one would need some panelbeating so jumped on them.

Then nz post got their mitts on them.....

 

Ffs.

[Bearded Baldy]

Forums been down, distractions were lacking, so out in the shed a bald guy got cracking...

Into some cans and then did some grinding and painting.

End result.

Second seat installed and tested.

Put the XE centre console in the other day to check the look. Digging it.

[Bearded Baldy]

So after the success with the seats i attempted to cut out the windscreen with a bit of welding wire. Got a foots worth of progress and the wire snapped, as i was heading up the A pillar, resulting in a nearly full force fist to my nose. After leaning on the freezer half laughing half cursing for ten minutes i shut the shed door and ignored the problem.

Yesterday i bludged some fancy square edged wire from the glaziers next door and he let me borrow the handpieces for the weekend too, quietly think he was judging me for wrapping the other wire round some offcuts of broomhandle.

This morning went pretty smooth and the screen is now lying in my glass storage shed. I scraped off most of the urethane from the frame and it is a lot better than i expected.

 

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[Bearded Baldy]

Those are the worst sections.

Then i looked at the steering wheel and fought off the urge to swap it for the XD wheel to see how it suits the later interior.

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Just kidding.

Totally let myself get distracted.

[Bearded Baldy]

Trip out of town yesterday so i called into a wrecking yard i have used for years through work.

 

Gave him 24 beersies and was let loose out the back to grab the rear seat mounts from a ba fairmont, had a quick look over the rest of the car to see if anything else might be usable and grabbed the cupholder.

It is not perfect but the guy didn't charge me so that makes it mint!

 

I have a spare xc console which got shattered in the post, i had always planned to resin it up and recover it. Now i am going to see if i can't add the cupholder to it aswell.

Pics to follow once it warms up outside....

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So these brackets.

Need to be mounted here.

[Bearded Baldy]

Like so...

 

And the top mounts through this panel.

Am taking a bunch of photos and the seats/mounts to show cert man this afternoon just to make sure i haven't missed anything with my plans.

Need to chop and change this bracket a touch aswell. It is the centre pivot for the backrest, needs to go upwards an inch or 2 to position the seat at the right height.

 

As for the cupholder, it may even fit in the xf console.

[Bearded Baldy]

So in light of buying this....

I have had to pull finger and go through the parts hoard and see what is there to get it rolling so i can get it on and off a trailer.

Later xf hubs arrived today so i gave them a steamclean before i left work. Look fine for 40 year old cast iron.

Then dug out some fancy shmancy trw rotors that have been on the shelf for the best part of the last 10 years. Unfortunately 6 months of that was in a leaky shed, only surface rust but still annoying.

 

[Bearded Baldy]

Could be a lot worse. Seems a shame to put them on a donor vehicle. Might have to swap them over once i have everything on the same property.

Be a couple of weeks until i get the blue one home, will update status on whether it becomes a donor vehicle or a really really REALLY long term project once it has had a waterblast.

 

 

[Bearded Baldy]

Things wifey didn't notice when i showed her the listing on the tard.

Or she didn't care about. Not sure which tbh.

Still. Could have blown $200 on booze instead, worst case here is i get my money back in scrap value.