Now thats using your noggin, i like it.

lookin good in the flesh there ben .
ill see if i can get around to making that shifter mod for ya !

Nice work on the switch there BenJ, better pull my finger out and get some thermo's in..........time for a trip to supercrap I think

Well, there was only one last BIG job to get done on the Wagon.

Yep, you got it, the front suspension.

I drove it around for a few days with it's nose sitting up in the air (no pics) and had a day at home on Friday to swap the front struts and swaybar from my Red EB Sedan with the Wagon.

Sounds easy enough.

And it would have been except, on Friday it rained. Acually no, it p****d down all day. So seeing as I was at home, I decided a little water wasn't going to kill me, and got into it.

The plan was simple enough. Jack the right side of each car at the same time, remove strut from one, carry over to the other, remove that strut and install. Had the usual issues of fighting with lower control arm and strut to get the bloody thing to clear, but it was all good in the end.

I also decided to remove the Wagons upper control arms and apply some rubber grease to the bushes as there was a nice 'creak' coming from them. I also swapped in the Pedders Swaybar. There really is nothing like laying on your back under the car when it is pouring down with rain, handling wet metal with rubber grease on your hands, trying to tighten bolts with your fingers. Highly recommended!!!

I found that the right hand sway bar link on the wagon was missing the lower end that should have been protruding through the lower control arm, and the left hand sway bar link was mostly stripped of thread on one end. At least I could use the two from the Red EB.

Anyway, enough of me b**ch about the weather and cars. Some pics of how the Wagoon looks with the lowering blocks and the Super Low King Springs and BOGE Struts.











I think the Wagon Front sits higher than the Sedan did which I find a bit odd. I can't change the front, but the rear height is certainly up for discussion. Remember that while this is my new daily driver, I will rarely be carrying heavy loads, but I do have my drive way to negotiate.

Let me know what you think.

Cheers
BenJ

I think just drop the back one more inch and call it good.

looks great.

I love it, but as you said, the rear needs discussion. In regards to your driveway, if you got the red car down easy enough, then you can afford to go to that height, but no more. If your not going to be carrying loads that much you can go a little lower. If it was my car, it'd be slammed full stop, lol. However, becasue its not mine, i suggest another 1 to 1.5 inch in the back. You should be ok at that height, and it'll look good.

at least it dosent sit like my wagon Ben .
rofl your driveway , at least you got 1

Lookin good Ben. I don't know if I would go much lower in the rear, wagons don't look bad with a little rake. That extra bit of room could be handy when you have your 2 big monsters in the back with some tools etc.

Cheers
RD

Coming along very nicely.

Without hijacking Ben's excellant thread here I'd like to point out that yes, wagons do look better lowered like any other car although getting it right can be hard. I haven't got it right but it did get a little better after I converted it to LPG with the 100L gas bottle in the back.

Standard Fairmont height with the new tint job after we bought it back in 2003:



Lowered but before the LPG conversion:



Finally with the LPG tank in the back:

looking damn sexy ben... where is this XR lip??? should have been on ages ago lol

You mean this Lip?





I got up this morning after a nice sleep in and as the weather was not too bad went out and removed the Sprint Front Lip from the Red EB and after a quick sand, hit it with some of my favourite Satin Black paint and fitted it up.

Came up a treat I reckon.

Then I went for a shopping trip to Pick N Payless and came away with a Roof Lining from an EF Wagon, but only for the Passenger Area. Still need to find a Cargo Roof Lining in good nick.

While I had the Roof Lining out, I thought it was an opportune time to also swap in the NL Fairlane Dome Light. Then I remembered I had some AU map lights, so they got installed as well.

This Pic is not the best but you get the idea.



I wil get some better pics tomorrow.

Re the Rear suspension height, I crawled under the back and measured the height of the Lowering Blocks. Would have been much easier if I measured them BEFORE I installed them.

Anyway, the end result is that the blocks are 1.5 inches. I think the rear needs to come down another inch, so will place an order for some 2.5 inch blocks soon.

Cheers
BenJ

hmmm
looks like you had a productive day today to ben..
its looking sweet!!!

looking good there cuz. Bring on the rest of the body modifications!

And au map lights are indeed a handy little feature. I should know lol.

Love all the lights- much better like that, huh? You got yourself some solder, some LED's, and converted them all to LED's yet? Only ones worth keeping standard are the map ones really. Doesn't run ya battery down when you forget to shut the door properly is an added bonus.

Once again, very good work with the car BENJ.

Remember lowering blocks of about 2.5 inches, the top spring from standard wagon and the rest of the leaves from a one tonne - ended up with a good handling ride.

Funnily enough, it doesn't actually look that high in the rear end in person, maybe it was the way the ground was off camber or something?

http://www.fordmods.com/forums/uploads/ ... in_113.jpg

Last edited by fiend on Thu Dec 18, 2008 10:51 am, edited 1 time in total.