dude that sucks big time hope you are ok!

dont get a ba xr6t... they will be flogged harder than paris hilton on coke!
the only had a 4spd btr or a t5! EEEK!

find a nice au can pick them up cheap as nowdays and the motor wll drop straight in no worries

dont sell your setup, you have spent time and money on it !!!!

Some photos.

Where I ended up.


The commodore that hit me.


close up of the damage.. the Pillar has a big crease in it and is right up to the side of the seat back.. the doors don't shut and the sill is twisted.. interestingly the roof didn't crease.


still.. its a write off.

Funny story.. accidentally left my phone at home that day.. had no pen... only thing in my car to help me record details was my Nexus 7's front low res cam.. worked though.. these pics, pics of the insurance details and screen shots of witnesses details written in an email I couldn't send because my phone was at home and the nexus 7 only had wireless... worked well enough though.

Damn. You could always get insurance money, take car back and chop out a huge section from a wreck at your mates wrecking yard. By huge section, obviously this would go from left rear light to A pilar. Completely do-able.

I have a spare EL in the backyard that could donate a B pillar if i wanted to go that way, but then I'd feel I had to have the car stripped and put in a jig to be checked for straightness and I can't be bothered. I'd rather get a straight XR with the money and just put all my GHIA goodies and rebuilt engine/diff and manual gearbox in.

it cant donate its whole body to the cause of keeping an e-series alive?

Sadly no.. it is a spare because I bought it yonks ago expecting to do it up only to discover a whole heap of rust in the passenger front door pillar near the hinges.

I also chopped big chunks out of its sill panels and welded them into my wifes wagon when I bought it.

I've been staring at this a lot though.
http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/roleysto ... 1026019794

It appears to have a non factory sunroof though and that makes me nervous.
If I got that, I'd strip my old girl and put the manual, diff, engine, ghia dash and electrics, FG seats and black suede hood lining in the XR.

I would also be adding this. (which after ages and ages of sanding is getting close now to completion.)


Incidentally that is my spare EL it is bolted to.

I know you've put a lot of effort into it, but honestly... That bonnet is no good. If I was you I would look at keeping the front bar instead.

Rust in the front pillar by the hinges? Hahahahahah. In NZ they have all failed there five years ago. Lucky I found an old garaged NL to take the pillars from and replace mine - sill to roof, firewall to guard....

(Yes, it is a job!)

You could put the crashed car on a wheel alignment machine and see what it says?

Anyway mate, sorry to see. But hey, you will get something good out of it. Promise.

As it stands right now.. I can get a BA MKII XR6 turbo for just over 7.5k with brand new CSI 18inch mags and tires.. it's reasonably straight.. never been in a crash from the look and runs and drives really well. I'm having trouble figuring out why I should get an EL XR when all of the good ones are around the 5k mark anyway... this BA is a 2005 model so it's 8 years newer than my EL was. Plus it's way easier to upgrade the brakes and handling. As much as I love the EL shape.. It's way to expensive to make it go and stop compared to a BA. If I could afford the engineering, I'd buy the BA turbo and an EL XR shell and create a EL/BA hybrid.. but it just isn't worth it.. I have spent considerable time trying to work out how EL XR headlights would look on a BA though.

Then I found this and started wondering again....
http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/wangara/ ... 1026245259

So at present I am tipping towards getting the BA and buying my old car back. Then I would stip my old EL and convert my wifes EF GLI wagon to an EL Ghia. motor.. diff (center anyway), suspension and steering, she doesn't want a manual so I'd sell that, her transmission is already an EL one. Dash, door internals wiring etc etc. And my very nice front bar. I think that would be a pretty cool wagon.

If I don't like the BA, I'll keep the wagon myself, sell the BA and buy her the VAN she wants.

The bonnet is the original off the EL that just got totaled, it has the EL XR bonnet now.


The Sill is entirely twisted when the pillar was bent in.. that would be a HUGE amount of work.



Everyones always saying there are not enough good boxcar wagons about.. perhaps the end result of all this will be a supercharged EF wagon, since it's getting everything else anyway, why not the charger too?

+1 supercharged EF wag

Do you think 7.5 grand is a good price to pay for a BA Xr6 turbo with brand new CSI 18's and tires, it had a full wheel alignment and check and passed everything.. the engine purrs and burns no oil.. the interior is straight.. it has a couple of areas that need work but the paint is mainly excellent.

hard to look past all that right now. it many not be the right car for me.. but it's the car for right now I think.

I have a BA wagon and a EL wagon. You will like the BA, but may not love it.
Buy the BA XR6T and sell me your kit for my EL..... lol.

I am happy now to have decided what to do.

I have now owned the BA XR6T for a week and it's growing on me... the ride is much softer than the EL, which was low and hard, but cornered like there was no tomorrow. (unless it was wet) The BA is much more floaty.. but still goes around corners better than I expected. But the ride comfort is way nicer... with my EL I paid the price of comfort for good handling. The BA does a much better job of providing comfort and handling better.

The EF wagon is getting converted to an EL Ghia wagon. Harnesses, engine, steering, suspension, manual gb, diff center.. everything that was new or improved on the EL will be going on the EF wagon. Except the ultralow springs.. the car will be going up to live at my farm in QLD so it will need to keep some ground clearance.. so it will get my EL XR springs that I have in the shed somewhere.

I am thinking about just dropping the whole xmember and everything off the EL and putting it straight on the EF, including the speed sensitive steering and steering column and dash.

I won't be putting the short snout M90 charger on it though, or the oil filter relocation kit, or the hi volume fuel pump or the AU/XR6T fuel rail/reg that troyman sold me or dozens of other bits so I'll be selling them. (supercharger has no place on a car that will be used a few times a year to drive to town with the family and back.)

Then it will get the custom BA/EL xr nosecone. (so the fairmont front on end I put on a month ago is coming back off)

exciting, but lots of work ahead.

This weekend I have to change the rear extension housing on the BA's gearbox as it shudders when you accelerate hard. (and it accelerates really hard)

The other problem I have with the turbo is that when you give it a really solid boot full.. it accelerates for a sec, then it seems to blow the sparks out and the engine stalls. haven't figured that one out yet.

Check ya plug gaps bud, wanna sell me your m90?

xr6t breaking down under boost is usually coils and plugs need replacing..