I went and had a look at an EF wagon today to replace my ute as the daily.

It's unregistered with a leaky head gasket..

The bad:

No rego
Gasket
Dirt in the front R/H indicator
R/H side mirror mount is a bit broken
No floor carpet in the wagon boot bit
Auto selector is slightly misaligned (to select reverse the shifter needs to be a few mil towards park)
Wheels have spacers because he didn't have lugs with enough depth for the studs
Park brake is only partially effective
It's a GLI..


The good:
Body is straight
Only a couple of scratches on the whole car
CD player (some Sony thing..)
Car drives really smoothly
Apparently the heater and air con works
Interior is in excellent condition
Door locks work prefectly
It has Hotwire mags in mint condition, and they're polished! (prefect for my XC)


I've arranged with the current owner to have a pit pass inspection done before I decide to buy it or not, I can't really afford a cash muncher.
Although after seeing how mint the hotwires are and the nice state of the body and immaculate interior it's still a good buy.


The few small issues it may with rego:

Air bag light is on
Steering wheel pulls to the right by a few degrees
The park brake doesn't have full effect
The gear selector needs to be slightly towards park to engage reverse


That should be about it, I can probably borrow the indicator and side mirror for the inspection adn throw some 18's on it for the inspection too so I can remove the spacers.

Although I'm not too sure if the leaky gasket will cause it to fail? As far as I know they don't run a compression test or anything in depth engine wise?


He's calling me tomorrow to let me know if he could arrange to have it moved down to the suburb I live in (and his mate who put me on to the car) and temporarily stored at said blokes place and inspected at Goodyear just up the road.

A quick update on cars:

EF
The EF wagon is hopefully being moved down to my suburb this week, I'll then be able to do a couple of required bits to if and register it and make it my new daily

I'll also be taking the mint hotwires off it and chuck on a spare set of LTD alloys which I've started to polish up.


EB
I also went to have a look at a $500 EB today, it has a smashed rear door quarter window, rooted driver door, slight dent on the front guard and a small bit of peeling clear coat on the boot lid.

It's registered and all! It'll need some glass and a new door though.

I'm going to go and pick that up hopefully tomorrow. That'll be my new daily (once I chuck on a door) until I get the EF suitable to be a daily.
That way I can put my ute in the garage and finish the body work / respray.

DC
I'm expecting the PS pump for my DC by mid week, after that it should be all good for registration

XC
And on the P6 LTD interior that I was hoping to get for my XC, well the guy apparently wants a fair bit for it, I'll see about that soon though, I thin I've got enough to do for the moment.


XF
I've installed the blue dash with most bits of trim (trip computer, climate control and the other control panel, etc) and also the FD LTD console and passenger seat. I haven't wired up the seat just yet though. And I haven't wired up the windows to the FD console, I'll be leaving the window controls on the door like the stock XF style is.

I grabbed a new bonnet release cable after the engine bay fire, just got to install it.

I've also found some amp wiring gear I had from my first DA LTD that I can use in my XF since the original cable was damaged too.

I just need a couple of speaker boxes and then I'll reinstall the stereo, speakers and amplifier.

Also, before I removed the old tan interior I plugged in the central electric oscillating air duct louvers and found they work perfectly, all that's wrong in one backlight globe has blown for the button in between both ducts.

sounds good man and as for a rear qauter window we can try pop one outta the back door i got here if you like?

Thanks mate but the EF/EL use the Fairlane/Wagon style rear doors. AFAIK the glass isn't compatible.

But I might be interested in the drivers door, from memory the early E-series use different internal door structure from the EF?


EB
Well I bought the EB today, $500 with three months rego, it's a series II EB so it's got the 4.0lt engine, smartlock and ABS.

The bad:
Buggered drivers door
Dented R/H front guard
Rear section of the exhaust is lose
A few scratches and dints on a few panels
Possible power steering leak
Engine idle varies out of gear and sometimes idles a bit low
Both side mirrors are cracked
Broken R/H rear door quarter window


The good:
Heater works
All aircon functions work
S-Pak instrument cluster
All lights are in good nick
Remote boot and door locks work
Stereo works
The gearbox functions perfectly
The differential is totally inaudible
The engine performs like it's just been rebuilt
Suspension and brakes can't be flawed
All lights, indicators etc work


The pickup and general smoothness of this car is shockingly good, it's got 276,000 on the clock but the odometer is broken so who knows how much it's done? But from driving it you wouldn't know it had done much if any more than my DC which has 117,000, and that is in immaculate nick.


Not bad for $500, all it needs in a door, piece of glass and a good clean.

I'll be putting the DA LTD door trims and console in, and maybe the rear seats. As for wheel I'm not too sure, I'm polishing a set of LTD alloys up but i was going to put them on my EF to replace the hotwires I'll be taking of it ASAP..


DC

I finally got around to programming the DC's remote today, now it's remote boot and locks work..

I swapped the stock LTD alloys for my set of 18x8 inch RJR Tremors, it looks so much better and they go pretty well with the colour. I took some photo's but I won't upload any tonight


EF

I'm going to call the guy with the EF tomorrow and see what to go is with moving it down here. Then I can start doing the necessary things for registration and swap over the wheels and give my XC the mint condition hotwires

Now that I've got a registered daily EB in awesome mechanical (and body when the door is done) condition I'm not too sure what to do with the EF. The EF's state is way too good to wreck, the interior is immaculate and the body is very good too. The drive train is great and the engine only has a leaky gasket.

But I've wanted a wagon for some time, maybe I could use the EB as a 'hoon' car and the EF as a daily, and switch between the two for variety?

The XF will be the tough old load hauler and a semi project car.

And the DC will be the cruiser for special weekend drives? Lol..

That's all for now, I swear I'll upload photos of all this very soon

Far out man, that's a few projects on the go, you sound almost as bad as me, but that isn't such a bad thing is it? lol

Cheers

ToranaGuy

Yeah I've got four cars ATM with a fifth on the way in a week or two

I love cars


I was looking in the Just Cars mag this morning and noted a couple of P6 LTDs for sale for less than $2000, perfect for the 351C and interior for my XC..

I also saw some 302/351 4spd manual XC's in great condish for around $200 too.


But the EB and EF will be daily sorta cars, not going to do too much to them. The XF and XC will get some work done to them now that I can get my XF off the road and it'll be in the same garage as my XC so I'll be able to work on both at the same time.

BTW ToranaGuy, I've seen your garage thread and you've got some nice cars, I love your Torana and E-series V8's

Photo time.

EB
I took these pics in the garage so they are really dark..




That's the only photo that is viewable..
But the engine bay is tidy!


XF
These are the new FD LTD power seats and console I got:



I haven't got a pic of the seat and console installed in the ute yet or the seat controllers, looks good though.

This is the old interior half way out and the modified cab/tray wall:



P6 LTD
Here are some rough pics of the P6 LTDs interior:


It's in as new condition, it looks stunning.


DC
I swapped the stock LTD alloys for my set of 18x8 inch alloys yesterday, it suites it really well I think and looks heaps better.




Also there was a thick layer of ice on my ute this morning, I had a look under my DC's car cover out of interest and it was ice and condensation free! It dry like a summer's day, and when it rains the DC doesn't get even a bit wet through the cover, I'm really happy with it.


That's all for now, I've got a fair few more to come though, especially of the new EB and EF (and the awesome Hotwires!).

On a side note I'm going to install my spare DA LTD full velour with woodgrain interior into the EB, I'm not sure if I should just make holes for the pov-pak window winders or give it power windows..

It's the first car I've ever had (except my XC) that's had manual windows..

Oh, and I also realised the EB is my 9th car, the EF will make it 10

A fellow Fordmods member just contacted me offering to sell my a DC LTD grill (mines a bit cracked) and DC style tail lights! Exactly what I need, I still regret selling a spare LTD grill just a month or so before buying my DC (I never thought I'd own another LTD)..

I'm also hopefully going to grab a new drivers door for my EB in the next day or so before my utes rego runs out, I'm going to let it lapse but renew it before the three months period expires.

i imagine your driveway looks abit like a car yard car looks awesome with the wheels on it.

Cheers mate. Nah not really, I've gt a couple of cars at my mums in her garage.

Thanks dude. Sounds like you have been scoping out some good buys there. I used to have a Xb wit a 351c & 4spd ( converted from 250ci & auto ) before i had the torry. Probably shouldn't have sold the old Xb, but oh well. I just need to get some serious progress done on my car's soon. They are starting to s**t me, with how slow things have been moving, but it's hard when you can't get much help with them.

Keep up the good work dude.

Cheers

ToranaGuy

That's it, the problem I have is I'm always spending all my money on cars stuff..

And I also go to school four days a week and work the other three days, so it's seven days a week and full days, which is especially bad during these seasons because it gets dark so early and by the time I travel home there isn't much time to do things


It is a shame you sold your XB, do you have any pics of it?

Nah, no pics. That was long before i owned a camera, digital or film type.

It started out as a rust bucket, but my pa & i cut it all out & made replacement sections, got the body straight. Did a crappy home spray job the same color as his XB & got a 2nd set of his number plates & rego sticker so it could be driven... lol. That was 15 years ago now, can't get away with that sort of stuff these days.

Cheers

ToranaGuy

Haha that's cool. It's a bugger you sold it..

Just thought I'd post up a picture of the instrument cluster in the EB:
download/file.php?id=36765&t=1


I was also thinking about some upgrades:

High series digital instrument cluster
Climate control
Trip computer
LTD door cards and console
LTD rear seats
Electric fuel door release
EA intake piping
Cruise control
Power aerial
High series headlight switch (light dimming control)
One of the spare sets on mags I've got

And some I'm not so keen on:
LTD bonnet mascot
LTD badges


It's very tempting as I have all the parts to do all of the above

I'd really like to do some of that stuff, but at the same time I like having an ordinary daily. Although I reckon I'll definitely put one of the spare trip computers in though, I just can't seem to live without them..


XF

Here's some pics I took of the half done interior on my ute:


Here's a pic I took to try and show the tray/cab modification and the huge storage under the tray