Hello All,

I've been reading through a few build threads and I got the urge to show everyone my car.


The story goes like this:

Middle of 2010, I was still driving my N15 pulsar. It was getting a bit long in the Kays for a little Jap car- nearly 230,000 - and sucked at towing anything other than an empty trailer. So, I parted with $3,200 for a '96 EL.

1 month later, I learned that there is a right way and a very wrong way to ford a creek. Long story short, the car was a write off and with $2,250 of the settlement, I got this:

Last edited by evxr6 on Tue Oct 30, 2012 4:54 pm, edited 7 times in total.

Update:

Here's pretty much what it looked like when I got it home.



The main reason I went for a larger car was for towing the trailer to go camping. So, the first thing I needed to sort out was the goose neck for the towbar. The car has a genuine Ford towbar, so finding a gooseneck wasn't a problem. Found this at Pick 'n' Payless for $20:




Another thing that I fixed was the nonfunctional horn, which you need for blue slip and Sydney traffic. Turned out that the brass pins behind the steering wheel were completely worn out.


Got some replacement ones for nothing. Don't bother trying to get them new. Obsolete.

Also got some red 4.0i badges for the front quarters too off eBay


Previous owner (or vandals) did a pretty poor job getting the original badges off. Anyone know what's meant to be there?

Also installed a 4 channel amp. Was the easiest install I've ever done. Ford did the right thing installing the busbars on the battery terminals.


Threaded the cable through the clutch cable hole.

Here's my supervisor:


Thanks,

Evan.

nice car, nice colour

if you do a bit of camping id suggest fitting an LSD

Call down to Liverpool of Friday night and we can check her out and meet the guys and girls.

hmmm, nothing like a black e-series good pick up for the $'s

Also got some red 4.0i badges for the front quarters too off eBay



Previous owner (or vandals) did a pretty poor job getting the original badges off. Anyone know what's meant to be there?

Pretty much any time after about 7ish there is a decent crowd there. If you come out, people will gather for a look.

Hello all, long time, no post.

A lot has happened since last time. We have gone for our first camping trip with the car...actually twice I've just remembered. Went down to Racecourse beach for new years and down to Gerringong. Apart from the lack of air conditioning (think the condenser inside the car blew up with the new gas), the car has performed beautifully.

Living all the way out in Minchinbury was getting a bit expensive ($360/week rent). So, when the opportunity came up to live in my girlfriend's grandmothers house, we jumped at it. Cheaper, closer to work and most importantly a shed with electricity in it.





But this is a car forum, so stuff that has happened with the car.

Replaced the automatic shifter bushes as the old ones were completely disintergrated. Sounds and feels so much better.

Got new pads and rotors. Old ones were severely warped. Got them done at **JAX BLACKTOWN**. Never again. Only went there because I thought that they would be able to do it on a saturday. Wrong. They couldn't fit me in, even though I had booked, so I had to wait 'till the following Monday. They charged a ridiculous amount of money and broke my bonnet release cable. At least I got a free bonnet release cable out of it. From now on I'm doing everything myself or if I'm really stuck <free plug> Girraween Motor Service</>.

The old girl caught the E-series headlight gremlin. Thank god for fordmods. Never would have worked it out otherwise. Got a new 12v 30A self reseting circuit breaker from Jaycar for $12.00



Can't imagine what Ford would charge for such a thing, considering that they can charge $27.00 for a headlight relay!?!

On the sound front, I've installed a pair of Cadence 6" splits in the doors. Soooo much better than anything I have had in the past. Not hard, as I've never had splits before!



Also I've acquired a Kicker 12" Sub-in-box to supplement my geriatric Sony Xplod 12". Much improvement.



I had to re weld in the drivers side boot gas strut mount in. It broke the spot welds and took out the courtesy lamp wiring, blowing the fuse, and we all know what happens when that happens... Kills car. Could not for the life of me work out why the car was working ten minutes ago and now wasn't. I knew there was a bike in the shed for a reason.

After a very cold ride to work, it hit me. I wonder if the bang I heard when I closed the boot two days ago has something to do with it? After a quite warm ride home, I set to ripping out the back seat to see what destruction lay within. Sure enough, there was the positive wire shorting out on the strut. After some very careful welding and a few new crimp connections later all fixed. Gotta say that the interior lights are now brighter.


I am now waiting on a quote from the mechanics to do the front suspension bushes. They are completely gone.

While it was on the hoist, we had a good look at the soft underbelly of the Falcon. Not to bad. Found a leaking water pump and the belts could use some attention. I shall be replacing them this weekend. I've already made the water-pump-pulley-holder-whatsit from plans in my trusty Gregories. Sure got me thinking about EF/EL thermo fan conversion

After six months of ownership and 11,000km I'm still loving it and I could not imagine driving anything else.

Thanks, Evan.

Hey there.

i have the same car but in red!. I always wanted an ED XR6 but i got mine with low kms for a very good price 2 years ago. anyway i put the ED front on along with all the badges and everything else isnt much different.

things i have done to mine that i would suggest (im sure plenty of others agree here)

Thermo fans
Serpentine belt conversion
Manual Conversion

A few things i am in the process of doing now are
Cruise control
Power windows
installing sun roof


as you go camping i wouldnt suggest lowering but yeah they look awesome nice and low! i had to change the evaperator on my car as it was leaking too. i now have a VERY annoying high pitched whisle only when the compressor kicks on, very annoying and no one knows what it is!

anyway good luck with the mods and your in the right place if you have any concerns or questions!

Hi Evan

We should get together soon, seeing as we live quite close, and I can show you just what can be done to a box car (EA-ED models).

I am always willing to offer advice and give a hand to enthusiastic E Series owners.

We will be heading out to Liverpool soon, but you can always PM me to arrange a meet up.

Cheers
BenJ

Hello all,

Today I conquered the water pump replacement.

Here are some of the things that you will need for the job.



First thing, remove the splash guard and drain the coolant:




Then, using the home made water-pump-pulley-holder-thingy and modified 32mm spanner, remove clutch fan and shroud:



and you should have something that looks like this:



Remove all drivebelts. Might be an idea to replace them while you're doing this. Make sure that you get the correct ones- Unlike me, who bought the wrong powersteer belt, dammit! So I got the phone to my mate who was at work to see if he could pick me up the right one on his way home. Nope. He was going trailbike riding in the other direction. Doh...! The old one wasn't bad at all so I just re-used that one.

Move the power steering pump and belt tensioner out of the way and lo, behold the water pump!



Remove bottom rad hose and then the water pump.



and then marvel at the 18 years of coolant and oil and crap built up.




Fit the new o-ring on the heater pipe. Then, bolt on the new pump using RTD sealant on all the surfaces and bolt threads:



When fitting the water pump pulley, I think that it is a good idea to loctite the threads and put a paint mark on the nuts to see if/when they loosen.



Re-fit the power steering gear and fit and tension the drive belts:



After that re-fit the clutch-fan and shroud. Be sure to loctite the threads on the fan.



Re fill with coolant and run the engine at fast idle for 10 minutes with the heater on full to purge any air locks. Check for leaks:




Stand back and admire the Tickford Mill. Take 'arty' photo.



Whole job took about 2.5 hours. Water pump and belts (admittedly one wrong one) cost about $110.00.

Thanks,
Evan

Last edited by evxr6 on Sun Aug 05, 2012 4:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Very nice job!

Cheers
BenJ

Last night I bought some new gas struts for the bonnet from eBay. The ones in the car at the moment don't work very well when it's cold. Not fun when the bonnet slams shut on your head!

Cost $28.50 including freight from Melbourne. Looking forward to them.