A couple of photos of the rust as they're worth a thousand words.

AND - A photo of the car as at presently sits.
Note how the a*** end is quite high again... That's it without the 400kg of tools in the back. Had to take everything out the boot as have not fixed the leaks in the rear side window yet.... Never mind.


The rear clear lights are a tricky fit.

I can chop up another tailgate to add metal to each side eventually, but in the meantime I am going to chop up my currently rear lights and set the clear ones into the proper Ford ones. The lights I got are smaller - about 25mm vertically but about 50mm horizontally. Not too bad a fit tho - At least the angles are similar...

By adding metal to the boot I can fill the gap eventually... Yet another thing to do before I start worrying about paint to hide the "bitsa" qualities of the car. Have repainted the black rubbers, flashings, surrounds and covers with a PLASTI-COTE BUMPER COLOR product that seems to be real good. Other than showing my dirty fingerprints on the black surface when I push the door shut with that area. Hmmm, maybe I'll have to put a clear coat over the top and hope it doesn't go all glossy......

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The wheels and ride height make a massive difference.

Here we are --- Story so far -

Had an oil leak that left a puddle wherever I stopped. Front of engine was covered in very old oil build up and was dribbling everywhere.

Cleaned it with a degreaser after replacing the rocker cover and seals (that were leaking originally...)

Decided that my educated guess (some would suggest uneducated) of the problem stemming from the front crank seal area was spot on.
Thanks to everyone who has been suggesting the fixes for this leak. I checked all of your suggestions multiple times and spent many hours scratching my head before deciding the only place it could be was the crank seal.

Spent all morning removing the harmonic balancer and couldn't see a single drop of oil anywhere on the drive shaft seal that would indicate any form of leak from that area. I started pulling of the tensioner assembly just out of curiosity.


Now, bugger me... !

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Any input into what created this HUGE BLOODY HOLE IN MY TIMING COVER and let all my oil run out, please speak up.

This hole has been there since owning the car as it always leaked oil, but was told by various mechanics "not to worry about it, all old Fords do that..."

It's only after spending more time than I'd care to admit looking around Fordmods that it dawned on me that not all old Fords leak like that.

f**k hell mate...... go to every one of those mechanics & hit them in the head with a brick..... a few times

I think thats where the "pointer" is when measuring TDC (top dead center)

Dunno how it cracked/fell off..... but you might wanna check that your tensioner, and plastic guides are still there. Its possible they got flung around and ripped that hole open.

Oh and good job with the patchwork, keep an eye on it as oil likes to get underneath sealant quite easily

That's a real worry as to the cause of the damage.

No car stuff here as the weather was too nice. Did some work outside and made an arbour from recycled timber.

Yeah, like working with real wood too. NZ has heaps of good hard wood that you find in some damndest places --- like the 16x2" Rimu joists in 8m lengths holding up the rusty garage roof. If the owners gave permission I'd go buy some new age strongbacks or something and pull them all out one by one. That wood would be worth thousands!!! Easily worth the labour involved!

Yes, am concerned about what has died and spat itself out the front! But car has done 20,000 since I've owned it, and it starts every morning...... Fingers crossed, touch wood, buy a lotto ticket...



Dunno about the TDC tester thing... Just don't know enough about what this area looked like before this hole was there. Having never pulled one apart to this level, it is a little beyond me. I was just happy to get it back together in time for diner and find it started easily.

Am facing the fact that it was something coming out from the inside rather than something on the outside.......... Bugger it.


The sealant used is a silicon type that is recommended as a gasket seal or for making your own "gaskets". I used it to replace the rocker cover seal and there's no sign of leak from around that yet... Fingers crossed again!


Thanks for the help again guys....

BY THE WAY FAIRMONT BROTHER --- Just what the hell is a Kilowatt? Why do they use an electricity rating to tell how much rubber your wheels will leave on the road? In real world horsepower terms... How much does you graphic at http://www.fordmods.com/forums/image.ph ... 7&maxw=640 mean?

They look like this, pointer when lined up to balancer mark is TDC.... assuming balancer hasnt slipped




haha, i have no idea what & why they use Kw's.... but it equates to 210hp@wheels

Had a quick look at this... http://www.fordmods.com/forums/viewtopi ... %20bearing

I think this could have been it.,....

Ahah. So there is no actual moving part there, it is just a arrow or mark that can be lined up with balancer mark for the purposes of timing?

Hmmm... The balancer should never slip much as it has a bloody great 3mm notch and shaft has a 3mm lug!...

Although, I did see the Subaru one bounce around and chew out a 25 mm slot which meant the balancer could turn about 90 degrees around the shaft...!

Anyhooo.... Thanks for the graphic dude. Much appreciated - I don't need to buy a new part as I have two on the Fairmont donor vehicles... Is just a learning curve to go and actually start pulling it all apart. Then again, unless something has come loose from the timing cam chain tensioners or sprockets I'd guess the damage to the engine has been done already. If the cam chain decides to part company from the motor because of whatever is loose, then I'll be swearing at myself for taking too long to replace the cover...

Last edited by fiend on Mon Sep 15, 2008 5:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.

With the balancer slipping, i mean the outside rubber with the timing mark can breakaway from the balancer and shift in the wrong position.

It doesnt affect the timing as the inside section with the pickup remains the same, BUT when you go to set the timing for whatever reason and use the mark thats in the wrong position, thats when you can have problems.

Mine had moved 15mm, and had to check TDC through the spark plug hole, but eventually got a new one anyway.

And the above pic isnt new, just a few coats of chrome before i had it fitted

Balancer didn't appear to have any errors or any signs of being out of original alignment. I guess someone could have knocked the hole in the bloody cover by trying to do timing or something and something got caught in the belt and... hey presto - a hole...

Hmmmph.

Spent an hour on car this afternoon trying to get the new tailights in... Photos sometime tomorrow...

Clear tail lights in a Wagon? Hmmmmph.

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well done mate, that looks quite good actually...... very original, and what FordMods is about

Shame you have bombadore parts attached to your wagon now though........ although i am using a VN intake piece !!!

Dude --- One of the first things I did was replace a broken interior light and found a FORD part number opposite a GM part number. Same part, different number for different car. Ring Ford to find out how much... Rung Holden... Holden bit was actually in stock and $10 cheaper than the Ford one that would have to come from Auckland. Anyway, didn't need a new one, just wanted to see what the dealer service was like. I now buy all my bits from after market guys all over the net. These lights came from Aussie - I have a funny feeling it's actually someone on FordMods who has noticed how us NZ guys struggle for parts...!

Pity those damn slotted disks cost so much to frieght to NZ. I coulda made some money on them...


AND I am still trying to find some clear repeaters (such as you appear to own) for the front of the wagon... Was quoted $45 each PLUS postage. That's around $110NZ (95au) which is just a bloody joke... I got the clear VN lights for $80 including post, bulbs and a smiley face.

HAHHHAHAAHHA... Now the missus just got home and I showed her the pictures of what I did to the lights and she saw your wedding purple Fairmont photo and started telling me how she was sure that you were late for your wedding as you had to upload photos to Fordmods... I explained you probably had a laptop with a mobile internet connection and thus were only a second or two late as you were just pushing "SUBMIT" as the music started and the bride entered.

Just when it was getting simple, Frankieh goes and shows me this http://autospeed.com/A_2159/cms/article.html from a FordMods thread

http://www.fordmods.com/forums/viewtopi ... net%20vent

Now... My theory of where to put the bonnet vent is blown by AUTOSPEED doing a scientific test. Rank. It was so easy to put it at the back third of the bonnet. And it would work if the car was doing 0-20 in traffic all day, but hit 30 and it would be drawing air back in to the engine bay, which would possibly keep the air intake manifolds cool but would in turn make radiator very annoyed with me.

I am concerned about the amount of warm air at back passenger side of engine bay around all the air intake pipes and manifold.

What do you think about putting in a couple of 1" pipes from that area behind the strut tower (about where the window washer bottle is) to somewhere like under the passenger door pillar and moving the possible bonnet vent position forward to sit above manifold in front of throttle body?

All good...


Something needs to be done - I don't mind putting a vent more forward than aft, but that is loosing the purpose of removing warm air from around the pipes and manifolds that are moving my hard won cold air from the pod filter to the combustion chamber.

These manifolds do get awfully bloody hot, and the air actually going in to the petrol mix is bound to be going up a fair bit in temperature - particularly if you're just sitting there idling away at the lights with no real airflow through the whole induction.


Maybe cut some holes through and put "gills" in the front guards between wheel arch and front doors?

Hell...


I am giving myself yet another headache.

Thanks Frankieh!

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Had mentioned to my daughter that we'd go and see the seals. Not tar seals. Live seals. The type that smell bad and get real grumpy when you make loud noises, stand near them, or look at them funny.

We were running a bit late and she was like "when are we going to see the seals Dad?" in the tone of a "are we there yet"? This isn't so bad, but when you don't get to see much of the little girl you don't wanna let her down on anything.

So... Where as I usually would have driven past the first stream and stopped before the second beach, whop-de-do's and second river I continued.
"Where's the seals Dad?"
We went through the soft sand by tooting my horn to make sure all the trampers knew we was coming and making sure the 4WD had got far enough ahead..
Then powering through at 80km/h and having enough momentum to get back to the hard rocks.
"Woohooooo Dad, go faster..."
We had to go fast into the river as there was a couple of foot drop off that would have got us stopped dead with our wheels off the ground if going slow. We got all four wheels off the ground when climbing out of the river (same reasoning - the lip at the top of the bank would have bellied us with no wheels left on the ground...)
"We were going sideways Dad, I could hear the wheels spinning..."
We drove over down the first rock garden even though there was only a milimetre of space between the doors and the boulders we couldn't slow down as had to have some speed to yank on the handbrake to get the long car sideways a touch to make it through a tight right hander...
"Where's the seals Dad...?"
Had to keep it floored and steering uphill on the 33 degree slope that had to be traversed...
"Hey Dad, I can see the ground..."
The ruts and the whop-de-do's... The next river... The soft bog... The sump killing rocks... All negotiated with no problem.

"HEY DAD, I CAN SEE THE SEALS"

Bang..... Pssssssssstttttttttthhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
There goes my right rear tyre.

"Okay - Go and see the seals you lot... I'm changing the wheel."

A number of bemused, amused and interested four wheel drivers combined with a couple of stunned looking trail bikers passed with raised eyebrows and comment. General consensus was that low profile tryes on a lowered long wheel base two wheel drive probably shouldn't have made it that far.

Judging by the parked 4WD Nirvana and the rather worse for wear Suzuki we passed on the way in, there was not a lot of point arguing with them. They were spot on with this assumption to be honest.

Had doubts about getting back out. The hard left hander with only a centimetre between smashing the doors in on one side and falling off the track on the other would be interesting... For sure. Futurlane was going to get stuck and possibly do a lot of damage to itself on the way to getting stuck...


The arrival back of the daughter was announced.
"Hey Dad, seals smell BAAAAAADDD..."

Had to do a 20 point turn to get the nose pointed back towards the city... And we were off.

More of the same...
"Sideways Dad, go sideways..."
"Faster Dad..."
"Ohhh, that WAS a big bump Dad..."

Until.

BANG, WHIIZZZZZZZZZ...

Yeahp, back wheels where off the ground and weren't moving forwards anymore what-so-ever. Bugger. We were starting to get late returning the little darling to her Mum.

Lucky there's still two jacks in the boot as car fell of one and totally bent it. Got the other one underneath just as a bunch of startled looking Irish 4WD'ers in a large raised Toyota Hilux clambered down from their machine with smiles and laughter ensuing like it was St Paddies day in a pud with green walls.

"You bloody Kiwi's... You're all bleedin maaa'"
Guess that maaa means mad, but unconvinced as to their assertations. We ain't all maaa. Honestly. Bloody Irush. Not as tough as they make out...

Anyhow, they had the right idea putting logs and boulders under the wheels whilst car was jacked up and jack repositioned and up again...

Another Toyota HiLux truck appeared in front and took offer of putting a strop to the front of Futurlane so they could pull... As it happens, good old reard wheel drive Ford did enough by itself but was good to have the extra momentum.

Another 6 point turn required just to line up the next tricky bit which left a line of rubber along a boulder about 1 foot up but didn't hit a panel.

"Be careful, watch out..." Although the daughter was actually ordering people to be careful of rocks being spat out the a*** end of the now wheel spinning Ford, it sounded as though she was asking the boulder to move for us. Must learn to pay more attention and not chuckle so much.

Some poeple in a Subaru forester had seen this and promptly done a bloody great reverse and turn and headed back to the city without exploring further. Fair enough. Honestly think they'd have had serious difficulties themselves...
"They were wimps Dad..."

Ahem...

If ever you need an excuse to get under your car, go try bottoming it out on large rocks and ploughing through beaches.

There's a few hours worth of testing and tightening to be done.


At least there's no way on earth the U-Bolts are ever going slip now....
Problem solved.

Thanks for the advice re-stainless steel nuts - but they are now almost surplus to requirements as the U-Bolts have been re-shaped to work without locking devices........

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yeah ,done a bit of country driving,the grooves are deep enough to bottom out all 4 wheels,and in reverse up hills,wudda been fun on the country road,get a shifter and slowly work the roll back,then hammer it square-did the ltd last week,all 4 points and other hits,i have to weld a stiffener on the back,they bend to easy.what type of seals do you get?

haha thats a fair effort there, well done! lol