Guys,
I know this would be a major.......but has anyone converted/swapped the running gear, internals, ie seats, dash externals ie, bonnet,guards,bumpers,etc effectively creating an XR8 ute, from the 4 door sedan.
The reason I ask is that recently, I was cruising the Ford dealers and was offered 7K trade on a later model worth 28K.....it was about 2 months ago and I think the figures are correct. ( Mine is no dog, nothing special, but...drives ok, looks ok, hey what the......). Anyway I thought maybe a conversion to a ute for work , then work on the missus, lol...to trade her riceburner for a later model XR.
Just a thought?
Regards,
Gary.

No I don't know of anyone that has converted...but it isn't hard. In the interior, there isn't much difference between an XHII S and a XR8. Is yours a GLi or S?

Converting an S to XR8 is easy. The visuals in the cabin are the see through head rests, and fabric pattern is different so you would have to change that too.

The body is pretty easy too - Just a new XR front bar, XR headlights & Park/indicator lights & XR rims. Depending on the colour there is a red stripe down the side. The engine has tickford wings on the engine cover, as does the intake snorkel.

You would also have to change the exhaust to a 3 inch as well.

If you did all of this, you would fool most people into thinking its an XR8.

You would also have to change the obvious - badges.

Hope this helps. If you have a GLi it is just not worth the effort - new instrument cluster, carpet, new door trims etc etc.

Well, everything firewall back is X series, so no, interior wont fir in. Everything will need to be custom. Some have fitted AU centre consoles but. All front panels are xh ute specific, so cant swap guards with an ef/el. But front bumper should be fine to swap over with a set of xr lights.

Everything ouf of the EF-EL and XH are all the same inside desides the door trims and dash, but XH XR8 stuff will all fit into the standed XH Longreact ect as i have done all this myself with mine, EL bonnets are different but front bar will fit but like been already said you will need the head lighs and blinkers to suit, EL XR stuff such as Bonnets and doors wont wit onto the XH

Thanks guys,
Just to clarify things: I'm thinking that since the dealers will only offer me 7k for my Dec 97 ,ex copper, El xr8,solid rear end, 145,000ks on, with a few metal ants struttin' their stuff at 1 or 2 locations :-0, on a BA XR8 worth 28K and 60,000 kms on that maybe I could change my sedan into a ute for work.
My idea being that since the , panels, seats etc. in my car are still in reasonable "good nick", ....but nothing flash, and are interchangeable with an XH , that I could transplant the gear into the shell of an XH ute. This would be my work vehicle for everyday use.
Why bother you might say....sell it privately for maybe 10-11k and fork the rest on a BA ute ? yep! a definite possibility, but I like the EL XR8 gear and although it's 145k old , the drivetrain is in A1 condition, and I know where it's been, if you get my drift?
Of course this is all hypothetical..but I welcome your input.
Regards,
Gary.