Might be a bit of a thread peoples, with a bit of everything in it but here it goes;
About a month ago things were getting tight with the bills, we were falling behind on the payments of the current family car that I have owned for nearly 5 years and I was honestly panicing. My wife is currently pregnant with our second and it will be the third kid to sit in the back of a 2002 Tj Magna....... and there is just not enough room for 3 in the back when I produce giants. Then my boss gives me a call and tells me he has been under paying me and I will have about $700 going into my account over night. So in my male wisdom ( I blame the cones I smoked as a youth) I decided that even when the Magna is payed off it wont be worth enough to get another family car and I started looking on the net. Sounding like not a good idea anyone?
Ok, got a fist full of cash that should go on the outstanding amount oweing on the current car..... but then I see an ad for a 1998 El wagon with heaps of cash spent on it and rego till august going for $850. Told the missus and I said I could offer him $600 cash and can be there in 2 hours., thinking he would not respond....... but he does and within 10 minutes I am packing the Family into the Magna and heading down to waterloo in the city ( Sydney).
Turns out the guy is from some european country and purchased the car from W.A about a month prior for $2300 and put in a new steering pump, bushes and a brand new radiator, thermo's, coil,brake booster,back pads, brake res, cooling res, thermostat and did a total cooling flush ( all done by a mechanic). He then drove it from Perth to Sydney and then 2 days later needed it gone as he was to be in Thailand in 3 days. Sounds like a bargain.
The place I inspect the car is in a back alley with 2 kids under 6 that have been in a car for 2 hours, a pregnant missus who is s**t scared of the city and the owner who can speak limited english.... and to tell the truth I was busting for a piss at the same time ( damn coffee goes right through me). So I look it over, seems good. Its a backpackers car so its filthy and smells like a foreigners d**k cheese but I can clean it up. Even though the donk has 320 on it it still purrs and all in all I think well for $600 Im doing alright. Take it for a quick drive and it pulls like a car that needs some tlc but its alright, so I go back and exchange details and cash/keys.
Now like I said the missus is s**t scared of the city, but she has the GPS and I give her a quick run down and tell her to take the kids and the Magna and Ill drive the wagon behind her. One thing though, I need fuel in the Wagon, so I tell her I need to pull into the first fuel station we come to. Away we go.We get to the first petrol station and the missus drives right passed, now we are going straight for the M2/M7 so I know this is my last stop before I konk out on the fwy, so I pull in. At this time I am feeling real good about myself as the wagon is going fantastic. Get onto the M2, where is the missus? Must be further than I thought. follow to the M7 and set the cruise for 100, were the big 4L comes into its own, check the speedo and its sitting on just under 3000???/ Have I got it in drive, yep. Maybe the tacho is out. Drop it back to 3rd on the auto and no change..... Mother f**k. Hope its just a service as it was selecting 4th when I drove it in the city. So I slow down as to not over rev the donk ( about 90) and casually drive back. I call the missus when I get to Glenbrook ( bottom of the Blue Mountains) to tell her I am coming..... no answer at home. Call the mobile, where are you? She is just coming out of Blacktown and had got lost some how with a gps and had gone over the bridge twice when she missed the m2 exit ( yeah the Harbour bridge), ended in some estate out the back of homebush Bay, then back over to parra, around the city several times then onto the m4. What a night but we get home.
Now for the Wagon. up to last week all I had done is have a good look over it, cut and polished one side, cleaned the inside bar carpets and seats and thats about it. Last Saturday they had 20% off on supercheap so I grabbed oil, oil filter, fuel filter, air filter and new leads cause 6 lead boot went while I was checking the plugs. I also got a brand new Bosch fuel pump off Ebay. I am currently on 2 weeks anual leave so I have spent the last week stuffing round with the wagon but on holiday time ( 5 minute jobs take 6 hours to do) and while organising my shed. I have done the oil ( also flushed before new oil went in), air,fuel, leads ( pain in the a**!) and fuel filter. I was meant to replace the pump today but had a mate over and chatted for a bit longer than wanted. I also have thought the Magna has a killer sound system in it and its not going to increase the value of the car more than it would be for me to buy it for the wagon so I have been chopping and changing as well.
The last chapter brings me to the sound system. Its got a Sony MP3 deck in it I took from my Xg thats a high end unit, Jacar response component 6.5" splits from the magna in the tail gate with sound deadening foam behind the speaker ( took the foam out of a broken pair of Concept 4 home speakers), high end Welconic 4x75w rms amp from the Xg, a Rampage 12" sub in custom Rampage box I got off freecycle 2 weeks ago, currently factory front door speakers ( ones busted) that I will end up replacing ( had 6.5"s to in but they are too big and deep) and a Sonic 2 channel amp I got out of a box of audio crap off freecycle That I know nothing about except it runs nicely. The plan is to run 3 channels from the welconic amp to do the rear jacars and the sub ( amp can do 3 channels and has bass booster, crossovers etc), mount the sub box using existing bolt hole for centre child harness and use the Sonic amp to run the fronts.
Now the auto seemed to select 4th after I checked the fluid and found it to be over full, so hopefully that solves that problem but I will either service it myself or get the pro's to do it. There is a guy down in Penrith I have heard local mechanics swear by so might give him a go ( Marko auto). The donk ticks over like a new car with the new oil in it and pulls nicely with good throttle response from the leads and air filter. She does need a new inlet manifold gasket, rocker cover gasket and a timing cover gasket but the oil leaks are to the point that the motor is dirty but it doesnt leak on the ground, so they will come. I also had a huge drama finding the gaskets for some reason, but like I said they will come. The inlet gasket worries me but I cant get hold of one of them for some reason, but when I do I will also replace the dizzy cap and clean the throttle body out with some carby spray. I got new struts for the bonnet off a fellow fordmodder as the ones I had were s**t. The ones I got are longer than the stock ones and work a treat as the bonnet raises up as high as it can without hitting anything and in turn makes working a little easier. I also got a headlight switch at the same time as the struts as the one I had was missing the dimmer switch. It was out of an Ed, so the dimmer was not able to be used on the El, but I replaced the whole switch and used the El facia and it looks not 100% but its good.
So today, hopefully do the fuel pump and I need to look at why the heater is only running demist since the stereo and headlight switch was replaced. I have obviously pulled something out, but if its common and someone knows the best place to look it might save me half a day looking and would be great to hear from you. I swapped the wheels off the Xg ( falcon classic's), and even though one rim is off an ed(?) xr8 it still made a hell of a difference.
Lastly out of this thread, the Xg is not getting scrapped. The deck and amp from the Magna will go in it and the Sparco Jap import light weight 17's will to. Any idea's with the wagon or input would be great lad's and lasses and will hope to have pics up soon. Thanks and congrats for making it to the worlds longest thread post

I read the last sentence, that was the enough!

i managed half, lost interest afterthe part where he got the car home haah

Overfilling the trans will cause it to behave oddly, so hopefully the service will do it the world of good.

any pictures of the beast

Hope so Esteven8, I made a big call with the wagon and now I have to fix my stuff up...... You know, clean your own s**t up. Its coming on nicely though

Ask any wagon owner on here... you've made the right choice Can't beat em in my opinion, especially as a kids (and the 10 tonne of crap that goes with them) hauler. I brought mine for $600 as well off the ex's sister and haven't really been let down yet.

Yeah thats it. Took it down to Wisemans Ferry a few weeks ago and even running oddly it was so handy to have. I am 6 foot 4 and my seat could go back further than I wanted, then when our youngest needed a nappy change I just poped the tail gate and dropped a mat on the carpet.....instant change table. Even the addition of the sub box and amps leaves more than enough room. It kind of handles nice too. Weighty but can also go into corners at a decent speed without alot of body roll or the a** skipping out. Coming down the hill to Wisemans Ferry, through the bends I was worried but it felt good, safe almost. Like I knew if the missus was driving it all 4 foot of her could handle it easily

I was surprised at how well behaved mine is in the bendy stuff too.. but she'll let you know in plenty of time if she's going to let go as well. But the Ex's wagon was pretty average by comparison. Guess it depends on the car.

The plan is eventually to drop 18's on it, then when the donk finally dies drop an xr6 motor with a shaven head, but I am tossing up on either a xr auto or to go a 5 speed. Been told the auto's are always playing up, but they are easy to drive for the missus and then on the other hand a 5 speed would go well with the xr donk. After the cars running well though the next step is a mandrel bent straight through cat back pipe with a hotdog and a high flow magna flow rear muffler and 3 to 4" chrome tip. Also headers are so cheap second hand on ebay and with a lick of paint they look new. Normally you can find them for around $100, cant get much better performance bang for bucks there