G'day all,

I've got a '94 EF Futura 4.0L 5 speed. Its nothing exciting - except its mine and I own it outright. I bought it for the wife back in 98 as I worked in the city and used public transport. Since then I got her a little Mirage and the Falcon is mine again

Over the last 8 years its pick up a few dents and scratches and some prick clipped the front at the shopping centre, smashing the indicator and half ripped the bumper off. The brother and I bodgied it up for rego and replaced the indicator, although the bumper needs repairing/replacing.

Probably the most annoying thing though it the clear coat on the paint has gone. It started with the boot, now the rear guards and doors have pealing clear coat. Also, the bonnet has faded and it dull, no amount of elbow grease brings it up. What causes the clear coat to go?

My mates tell me to get rid of it and buy a BA - but I can't justify $25000+ on a BA, and its hard to find a good manual Falcon without going for an XR. Also - I'd get bugger all for the EF as it is now.

Instead, I've thought about doing the EF up a bit and enjoy it. Its a manual and goes pretty hard for a stock motor so it might have a bit of potential. I recently found FordMods.com and been reading all the posts, its a great site for sharing info etc.

What I intend to do to get started is get the bodywork sorted and get it resprayed - its currently Heritage Green which I like, so I'll do it the same colour. I've never sprayed anything bigger than a boot lid (pretty dodgy too) so I'll probably get a professional to do it. I don't want a show winner - just something I can feel proud to drive again. Can anyone recommend good spray shops in western Sydney (I'm in Blacktown) and a ball park figure I'd be looking at for a few dents knocked out and an all over respray?

Thanks all for your assistance.

even for a questionable job you're looking around 3 grand. same colour helps with the price, but my advice would be go to black because that way you can havea horn reasonably unique coloured ef/el and not have to tepaint the engine bay etc.
I would recommend putting aside about 5k, find someone that knows some sort of panel beater and get the paint and dints sorted, get your head ported, get a cam, extractors and exhaust, and go run 14s in a nice looking car that you own outright and is good fun to drive and not bad burnout spec, (until you kill your clutch).

Was gonna say he wanted to be proud of driving it again...i doubt youd get that with a 3 grand job....5-6K is a much better figure to huage off.
You also have a lil body work to be done to get it paint ready so that figure will be more round the mark.

DIY....If you do it right and take your time you can get the whole car looking like new

Nice idea, but I don't have the time to spend learning then doing it myself - also don't have the facilities to spray it. Its my everyday car so I'll need to catch a bus to work for the time its off the road - I can't afford to have it idle for 2 months +. Also - I work in IT, my spray painting skills are pretty amateurish

I'm taking small steps - first step I see is getting it looking reasonable. I don't know many panel beaters, so if anyone has any recommendations etc. I'm all ears.

Just leave it green?

Might look ok externally - but I wouldn't be happy because I'd know its not done....