Hi there,

I'm Blair and I am a bit of a nutter from New Zealand. I have just come across these forums whilst doing some research on the 72 XA Falcon Ute (Affectionately known as "The Coon") that I have in my shed. Before I go into too much detail about that I will give you all a quick run down on me and my history with cars. Put simply, I am a 27 year old, self taught nutter! My mechanic has described me as knowing enough about cars to be dangerous which I guess is about right as I have had a few incidents where I have pulled something apart and either had to tow it to the mechanics for reassembly or enlist the use of friends who had a bit more of a clue than I did. To my defence though, this is going back a good 10 years - I am now a hell of a lot more confident and able to pick up my tools and do a job that I wouldnt have dreamed of doing back then. My current daily driver is a 1987 Isuzu Bighorn Irmscher (Holden Jackaroo for all you Aussies!) 2.8 Turbo Diesel Intercooled. I brought it as a dead vehicle - it had a hole as big as my fist through the sump - so I got it home and put a new engine in it. Since then I have replaced practically everything but the panels and the front diff.

Right, the Ute! A couple of months ago, a good friend of mine was offered a 72 XA Falcon Ute that has a 351 Cleveland and missing trans as this had blown. The ute had a 302 Windsor and trans sitting on the back as spares which is what my mate was after so he brought the whole thing. He was going to do it up himself but then thought about it and decided he didnt have the time to. (This guy has a 77 XC sedan that has been rebuilt from the ground up with a 289 Windsor, cam, highrise twin tunnel ram etc as well as a 75 Holden Sandman (Major cancer issues that he is working through) VR Commonwhore with VT Supercharged engine and 95 Clubsport with the 307 Chevy engine - so yeah, more than enough to keep him busy I should think!) Anyway, to make a long story short he gave me the XA on the condition that I did it up and didnt just flick it on to make a quick buck or two! Personally I am a GM/Holden Man but I can definitely appreciate the style and potential the old school falcons have!

So now I have the beast in my shed and am working on getting all the old paint and crap off the old girl - she has a bit of rust here and there as you would expect from any old car but unlike most of the XA's that I have seen still around, it isnt being held together by the rust.

The ute wasn't quite complete when I got her - it was missing the trans, the starter motor, driveshaft (oddly enough it still has the gearbox crossmember!) and the carbie. But most of the body is there and it has a perfectly straight bumper from a Marquis with twin headlight set up (although someone has damaged the grill so it's going to be fun trying to find another one of those!)

So far it has been in my shed for approximately 2 weeks. At the moment I am stripping back all the paint and BOG, all the way back to bare metal so I can get the best finish possible when it comes time to paint! Needless to say it is taking a long time to get through it because its just so thick in places - the previous owner has painted the deck with that tar like underseal so imagine how much fun that is trying to get that off with at least 5 layers of paint under that! Gota be done huh? I dont want to have to strip it back like this again if I can help it LOL

Will upload some photos of it shortly - in the mean time I am going back out to the shed for another couple of hours working on the beast before I have to go to work.

Would love to hear from anyone who has done one of these before -like what works and what doesnt!

Cool, look forward to getting to know you all on here

Blair

Hi, and welcome to FM. You may feel like a nutter now, but as you have come away from the dark side and gotten yourself a Falcon, you could well be considered to be on your way to a complete cure.
XA utes are cool, you will have lots of enjoyment with this project. The good thing with the XA is that all of the front suspension is the same right up to XF, and basically any falcon (pre AU) with leaf spring rear can donate it's rear end, is it will fit straight in. Engine and trans-wise, anything from any falcon will fit, from log head 250ci 6cyl's, crossflows, e-series OHC's, windsor, cleveland, big blocks, FE's, they all fit very easily. A mod/boss motor should even fit, but i'n not 100% on that. Keep your eyes open for donor vehicles, anything with the engine/trans you want. Most of it's mechanicals will fit very easily.
Enjoy.

Hey mate, thanks for this info - it will come in VERY handy! As it happens the mate who gave me this wee toy has an EF Fairmont sitting at his place that we used as a paddock basher until the fuel pump died and we started pillaging a few parts off of it. The car still runs but I think it needs a bit of attention. Not that I would consider replacing the 351 Cleveland with the 6 cylinder that is in that thing!

Well I guess the first thing I am doing in the morning is going round to his place and trying to convince him to let me steal a few more parts off of it. Has leather interior too but I dont think I am too keen on tan leather seats - I was thinking of a darker interior, such as black (Isn't that what Henry Ford said? "You can have any colour as long as its black"?)

I'm not entirely sure that "enjoyment" would be the right word for trying to get the deck stripped back to remove that tar like underseal crap. It looked shabby so I wanted to clean it off and paint it the same way I would any other panel. As I have been working through it I have come across a few places where he had simply painted over the rust with this tar - the panel directly below the rear window is going to need replacing. It's a pain in the butt having to strip it right back like this but I think I would rather take the time now to do things properly so I dont find myself having to go through the same rigmorale again in the future.

Oh and I am not too sure about your comments about being cured - the Pighorn is still my daily driver and will be for quite some time. Having wrecked around 15 of them for parts over the years I have enough parts in my shed to keep the old girl going relatively cheaply for years to come. This is important as there is nothing worse than having to spend money you have earmarked for your project vehicle on your daily driver!

Thanks again, your input has given me a lot to think about!

That's OK, Isuzu's dont really count as holdens, so you can get away with that.
Maybe think about sandblasting to get rid of the tar-stuff, but only in the tray, dont sandblast the outer body panels.
Enjoy your project.