Well I am bored at work and thought I'd open up my own build thread...to be honest I'm not even sure if I had made a build thread before, so if I have doubled up, my bad mods.

EL Fairmont

Well to start, I love my Fords...for an Asian that is not normal. My first car was an EA Fairmont Ghia and it was an unreliable car...kept breaking down due to neglect and age, however that got me into fixing, maintaining and modifying cars...mainly the Fairmont. It was a great car, was going to keep it forever, until it had rust and died and ended up on the back of a flat bed looking like this...



Before it departed my parents driveway in such horrible condition, it was still drivable...but I saw an impending death and went out looking for its replacement. Scouring the car yards and interwebs helped me narrow down my replacement and from that I went to Fowles Auction to find something from the list. First time at the auction I found nothing, second time the EL Fairmont caught my eye. After a good betting pout with 4 people, I won the bid at a good price of $3250. After auction fees, a roadworthy repair/service, the car cost me roughly $5500, which at the time was still cheaper than car yards.

Unfortunately I don't have a before picture of the car, but it is pretty much the same as it is today with different rims. The EL initially came with stock FTRs, but then I got 17" AMG Quakes put on...in hindsight, I should have kept the FTRs rather than traded them in...they raped me on trade in, but I didn't know any better at the time .

Here are some pictures I have of the EL I have on photobucket.

Front on




Before it was lowered at Heathcote drags. This was when it was automatic still I believe.




This was when it was lowered...




Sound system as it is now...but this was taken some time in 2007



Old engine



Current engine



How it currently looks after a clean.




Over the first 3 years of ownership I did the following modifications to it.

Exterior:
17" AMG Quake rims

Interior:
Aftermarket sound system
Custom made baffle board for subwoofers (Free-to-Air setup)
Custom false floor boot storage
Custom parcel shelf to mount 10" speakers
LED lights in the cluster
A good bloody clean

Suspension:
Koni-yellow adjustable shocks
KingSprings low springs
Upgraded front sway bar (can't remember what size)
Custom rear shock tower
Some bushes here and there

Engine:
Tickford motor
1673 Camshaft
Adjustable cam gear
AU MLS head gasket
AU injectors
300kPa fuel regulator
3" SS intake
K&N air filter
J3 chip

Driveline:
Alloy tail shaft (stock back on while alloy needs balancing)
Manual T5 transmission conversion

That's all I can think of at the moment and those mods are pretty common now anyways, so nothing to brag about.

It has pretty much been the same car for 3 years going on 4 now, so not much has happened. I was hoping to remove the spoiler and fix the boot up, however time and money does not permit (unless I can find a clean sparkling burgundy boot lid). Also renewing the sound system would also be ideal too.


Cheers
Phong

Last edited by phongus on Fri Jan 20, 2017 11:13 am, edited 1 time in total.

Dont forget the shopping list on both doors on the Tarago! haha will be interesting to see a Sparkler Tarago. Some even had 4WD.... shouldnt be that hard to shoehorn a 3S-GTE and AWD in it

Your EL looks super nice in that last pic. You'll have to put up some interior pics.

Yeah some did come with AWD...not sure if they came to Australia or not, but the system is called All-track or something in the states. Supposedly a head ache though! Squeezing a better engine in there would be ideal, however the stock engine is mounted sideways to fit...75 degrees. Not sure how the engine mounts are on this thing. I'll find out when I jack it up!



Thanks! Took me forever to clean and wax. Best it has ever seen. Currently it looks like it came back from a weekend of bush bashing...might need to give it a clean again.

Wow, it's been 4 year since I have posted this! Time for an update!

Since this post, a lot has happened. Lost my job, drove the Tarago with EL off the road for 2 years, moved in with the missus, got a business with family, sold pretty much all my toys to make ends meet, sold the Tarago and put the EL back on the road (could not part with it), got married, built a new house, made a baby, got a full time job and this is where we are at.

Between business, full time work, wedding, building a house and baby, it has been a hectic 12 months to say the least and the EL has been neglected as priority is elsewhere. If the car ran, I was not going to fix anything...as they say, don't fix it till it's broke. But as things are calming down, I am able to give the EL a bit more TLC since it is now my daily and needs to be reliable.

As much as I would have loved to have modified the Tarago with a supercharger/turbo making it one hell of a people mover, it was not meant to be. It was a sad day to see that beast go...a sparkling boosted Tarago would have been unique!

I will update with some images of where it is at at the moment, not in its best state but I am hoping to get it back to its former glory!