I had been looking for a new car for about 2 years and untill a few months ago i wasn't having any luck. The main reason it took me so long to find one is beause i was being very specific in what i was going to buy.

I was looking for a 1998 el tickford XR6 ford falcon with manual transmition and Solid red. I didnt want to settle for anything less cause i was going to buy it as a project car. While i was looking for the car i thought it would be a good idea to start buying parts ready for the modifications.

My list included................

Full Typhoon Body Kit (Phat Custom Kits)
Boss XR8 bonnet buldge fabricated onto a EF falcon eli, EF EL XR style bonnet (Kurnell Kustoms)
MOMO leather steering wheel and gear knob (Shipped direct from Italy)
Red leather shifter boot
custom GT style dash
EF Tail lights
EF instrument cluster face
T5 billiet short shifter
T5 LED's for interiour clock LCD and cluster lighting
Red LCD filters
Pioneer Head Unit
Ford FG push starter button (FTG Auto Salvage)
New passenger headlights
Pre AU 20" FPV dark agent mags- painted black
2 1/2inch sports exhaust (cat back)
Re-Spray same colour
sunroof
Custom XR badges
Lowered
Polished rocker cover
Clear or black side indicators

Then i found a car one morning on the Trading Post and it was a
-Red
-Manual
-1998 tickford EL XR6
-Factory Hollianda Sunroof
-low Km's for year
Perfect!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I had a deposit on it that night only problem was i was only 17 and needed a loan so 8 weeks later, on my 18th B-Day i went into the bank and walked out with a cheque and the car was myn
that night.

I drove the car for about a week and then the fun really started.........

Driving home one day the gears began to stick and wouldn't go in propably. Opened the bonnet to adjust the clutch and found out the bracing where the cable goes through the firewall had collapsed (common E-series and AU manual trans problem) and left a hole in the firewall the size of a golf ball.

I went to a dealer and was quoted over $1000 to fix as everything had to be removed such as seats, dash, carpet, roof lining ect from interiour and on the other side the break booster needed to be removet to access the area for welding. The seats and everything needed to be removed so if anything were to atch fire they wouldnt be held resprosale for the damage. My interior was in A1 condition and i didnt want to go burning it.

I wasnt going to pay that so on my day off work i used scrap metal and welded up a re-enforced bracket and bolted it on the firewall. Re-connected the clutch cable to the pedal and now drives like a dream. All in all took around 30 min for welding and couldn't be happier.

Then more bad news. when i bought the car i was told the sunroof was busted and the brackets were snapped. A local sunroof installer had one in stock but was $2500 installed. I didnt have that lying around so i couldnt drive it as it was unsafe so i started to look at the body kit and start on that.

The Boss XR8 Bonnet went on first and the front of the car started to look more aggresive. Once that was on i started removing the factory tickford body kit and skirts so i could install my XR Typhoon Kit. I was having some issues fitting the front bar and realisded the kit was warped and the side skirts were about 1cm too short and wasnt going to fit at all and after an argument with Phat Custom Kits i was only left with one option, And that was to get another kit.

That one arived and i started to fit it. One bit by bit the kit went on perfectly and looked great. the second kit was better made and looked alot stronger. The kit had the rubber scuff moulds on the front and rear bar and i had already removed them from the doors so i used some body filler and bogged it up. The look transformed and looked even more agressive and more round and smooth.

While i was waiting to find a spray painter i turned my attention onto the interior. I have always been a fan of the EL GT black dash and decided to modify on that style a little to make it a little more modern. The interior was painted and continued onto the centre console and aircon vents and looks great in my opinion. The instrument cluster looked out of place and out dated with the new interiour so i decided to change my clusters filters and my clock filters from orange to red and use EF black cluster faces to make the cluster blend in with the dash. I then frosted my cluster needles to look like glass and wired it back in. The result was a compleatly customised interiour with rear colour mods everywhere you looked.

The car was ready for paint and i was looking for a local painter to do it but the guy i knew was booked out for 2 months and i wanted it done now. I then started to look for other places around the Adelaide Hills and found a few but was looking at about $3000 for a paint. I went home and as i drove through Mt Barker i drove past a Maughan Theim Ford Dealer and thought it would be an idea just to ask.

They said they would only do it if they could gaunentee their finish and quality but normally they wouldnt touch aftermarket body kits. Only Factory. We got talking and he said he would ring me if he would take it on. The following week he asked me to come in and get a quote.$2200 with factory paint!! the car went into the booth today and has been there 2 weeks so far.

thread needs pics.

Pics will be up shortly, just finishing uploading them onto photobucket and then will display them on the thread.

Nice mate, this is what i want to do when i can afford it, i just got rid of my EF and got a BF, once its paid for i'll look into doing the same sort of thing as what you are. Looking forward to seeing the pics!

as soon as i saw you mention Phat Customs further up in your post I was going to post and warn you but then kept reading and saw you made the same mistake as me. i got the BF GT kit and also had many problems with it fitting correctly. my side skirts were also too short and warped and the front and rear bars needed alot of work to fit nicely. I had a lengthy arugument with PCK and my panel beater actually rang them as well, all Ron could say was bring the car and the skirts and i will fit it for you, i am in Sydney and the trip was not worth it so had to bite the bullet and source more. I too have just ordered a new kit from SSV who make a far better kit so can't wait to get it painted and fitted.

I can't stress enough to everyone here - STAY AWAY FROM PHAT CUSTOM KITS, they are cheap but there is a reason for this, their kits don't fit properly!!

Finally got around to uploading some pics. I have only uploaded the main ones but have many more on the camera. Let me know what you think. There is still alot of work i need to do to it but its getting there.

Car stock









Body Kit












Sunroof





De-Badging




Bonnet






Tail lights


Badges ect





Clutch






Dash




















Cluster













Body work






I went and had a look at the progress with the paint job and as soon as i got there i noticed a big problem. The front lip and the back lip including the two foggies were all red. I asked for those areas to be black cause all red looks to plain. I discussed it with the painter before hand and he forgot. I havnt taken any pics of it so far but i will once it is painted black.

Apart from that everything looks really good, the bonnet lines up nicely and the quality of the paint is hard to critisise. Its imaculate not one blemish or pin hole and the area on the front and read bars where i have bogged it up in un noticable. could not be happier as far as that goes, Just not too happy with the colour all being red.

Honestly, Phat Custom Kits isn't woth 1cent of your money. They make their kits, sent em off and dont want anything to do with you after. Once Ron has yr money thats it!! I know i might sound a bit agressive towards him and Phat Custom Kits but i spent alot of time and money on my first kit that didnt fit and i was furious. I would have gotten the seciond kit from somewhere else however as far as i know he is the only guy who makes Typhoon Body Kits for us XR guys.

i quote again "STAY AWAY FROM PHAT CUSTOM KITS"

That looks bloody good mate! and i might add that having the bodykit inserts black with dark agent rims would look awesome! Engine start mod is pretty cool too.

Canu girun down on the Boss XR8 bonnet install??? as it seems u just bolted it up which im trying to figure out.

Nice build and keep up the good work

Yeah mate exactly the same experience i had with Phat Custom kits, your's looked like it fit quite well though, mine was s**t house. ive only got the rear bar on the rest i have bought from ssv, someone crunched my front bar in a car park so i had to buy a new one decided to buy XR headlights at the same time but yeah got it all from SSV, paid like 600bux for the just front bar but the quality is so much better, plus its more flexible, unlike Rons which is very ridged which made it harder to fit right as well. Cant wait to see the completed pics, i will put new ones of mine up in the AU/BA/BF pic thread so keep your eye out!

The bonnet if full fiberglass and bolts straight on to the hindges and comes with gas struts. Alot lighter aswell. SSV i have heard are very good and make nice quality moulds. I will definatly be getting one from there if need be and not Phat Customs. There a joke!

Thanks for your comments guys, Ill post some more recent pics when i get my car back tomoro from Maughan Theim Ford. She is all painted but is still all red. Needs to be re-sprayed again in black on the front and back lip and the fog lights.

Wow mate, this is scarily close to what I'm doing to my XR6, yours is looking very damn fine though!!! I was also looking for my car for ages, almost a year, had the same preferences, red or white, factory manual. Wish i had of held out for a factory sunroof though, it definately completes the look when its popped up, just sets off that EL XR front

I went with a Venom front bar from SSV and they were really good, got it made up in 6 weeks, then shipped down to Vic, I have a mate who is a spray painter who did the customization on it, he reckons its one of the best aftermarket kits he has seen, usually they're on the thin side and have heaps of pinholes that need filling in them.

I was going to go down the F6 front road like you, but at the time I got my kit (almost 2 years ago) they only made the F6 fronts for fairmonts and falcons not XR6. I still love the look of that bar with the EL XR headlights, looks so aggressive, even if it takes you a bit longer to get right, it will defiantely be worth the wait!!! Cant wait to see how she looks all painted up, especially that bonnet bulge as its still on my list of things too do. Going to be watching this one very very closely mate, its looking awesome

Thanks mate, i have seen your car on a thread before, some pics of when the motor was out and the venom front end was fitted. After my mistake with buying the first F6 kit i almost went for the Venom style but it wasnt the look i was after. Funny enough i was almost going to buy a blue 98 el manual from Vic when i saw your red one and decided to wait till i came cross a red one aswell. Personally i think the red on El's is hard to top.

Then i came across this one and wouldnt regret buying it in million years.

Shame we are all in different states, would be good to meet up and go for a cruise!

Yeah your not wrong, when the car is finished id like to take it for a cruise. I go for local ford cruises around adelaide and the hills area and have done so for years. They never get old, there is always something new to see.

I havn't gone latley cause they are becoming less and less frequent unfortuently.