Gidday

I am combining my various threads into this one build thread.


I extend my thanks to all those that have contributed to the other threads and hope that you will continue to do so in this one. I will not be moving over YOUR existing posts or comments, but will link to those threads from here and from them back to here.

Cheers
BenJ

Interior Mods
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Exterior Mods
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EL Engine Conversion
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Diff Swap
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Brakes and Suspension
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It all started in Jine 2005 when my pride and joy, a 1993 EBII Fairmont, blew it's head gasket just before rego was due. While I am good with my hands and all things mechanical, at that stage I just didn't have the confidence to change the head gasket myself. So off the mechanics I went and came back with a quote for $900 to do the head and gasket, plus another $900 work required to pass a pink slip. Add rego and green slip to that and we were looking at around $2500 to get the car back.

The Fairmont had a new auto put in late 2004 and I had fitted a redback exhaust when the standard one needed replacing.

This is the only decent pic of the Fairmont I could find.


My wife suggested we look for a different car so we started looking around with a budget of under $1500 with some rego and a pink slip.

After looking at a couple of cars including a VN Commodore (yuk) I found the EBII GL at a local car dealer.

These are pictures of the car I took the day I first saw it.




The EB is a Series 2 GL, Le Mans red, 4.0l 4 speed auto with a 3.27 diff with over 320000ks. The car was sold new to Parkes RTA and was factory fitted with Cruise Control. The previous owner had fitted the ROH wheels, driving lights and 15" thermo fan with Davies Craig Switch. They also got a little carried away with the red theme.

Rear Parcel Shelf


Rear Seat Bolsters


Carpet


They also had some red crap things attached to the windscreen wipers as seen in the first pictures, and red plastic and alloy pedals on the accelerator and brake. The hood lining was torn, the paint was faded and scratched with numerous small dents. The front bumper plastic was completly stuffed and I later discovered there were no bumpstops in the front struts. BANG (ouch) Oh and the right hand mirror was smashed.

I took it for a spin and it drove really nicely. The suspension was firm and the engine was really strong compared to the Fairmont. The dealer supplied a pink slip after the mirror was fixed.

After parting with $1200 the EB was mine along with half a ton of red dust. Did I mention the car was from out Dubbo way?

I took her home and the fun began. Next update soon.

Regards
BenJ

The plan in general was to transfer all the good bits from the Fairmont into the EB.

First things moved were the Redback 2.5" cat back exhaust.


This was followed by the interior, including the Fairmont seats front and rear, the rear parcel shelf, the carpet, the console and the roof lining and lights. I also wired in the trip computer and installed the Fairmont Instrument cluster.



I also grabbed some AU clear repeaters and I already had the clear front indicators so they went in too.


The Fairmont boot garnish found its way on too.

Here are some pics of how it stood two weeks after purchase.



Soon after that I installed the power windows from the Fairmont. Luckily the EB had cruise control, and all the wiring and plugs were already in place, making this a much simpler task.

More to come soon.

BenJ

Not long after that I purchased a rocker cover off Ebay for $40 and also picked up the XG Snorkle.

The engine bay copped a clean and a bit of a tidy up and didn't look too bad.

Before


After


More to come soon

BenJ

Ok, back again.

The EB remained pretty much that way until the single 15" thermo fan bearings decided to call it quits two weeks before christmas. I purchased some el twin thermo fans off ebay, went to Jaycar and acquired the necessary wire switches and relays.

I installed the fans, using the existing Davies Craig thermo switch, but relocated it. You can see here the original position of the switch held on with cable ties.


The wiring in general was pretty dodgy.


Here you can see the large single fan.


Here are some shots I took recently. These photos also show the EF/EL thermostat housing and too hose. The fans fitted with the original hose, but I had to shorten it and even then it still rubbed the fan housing.



The fans worked a treat. I wired them up so they both come on together and I installed an manual overide switch in the cabin. One day I will get around to hooking one fan up to the aircon.

The car then remained much the same for over a year. Details on what happened in the next update

BenJ

Well, we used the car for well over a year. The EB always had a minor oil leak (which eseries doesn't?), but in around Feb 2007 the oil leak got a lot worse, to the point that I was putting in around 2 litres of oil in every two weeks.

I did a bit of poking around a discovered that the oil was leaking from the drivers side of the engine out of the headgasket near No 1 cylinder. I went and got a couple of quotes ranging from over $900 to a more reasonable $500, but as money was really tight, I looked into doing it myself.

I sourced a VRS set for $100 bucks, and seeing as the car was running fine and there were no other symptoms I decided to just pull the head, change the gasket and bolt it all back together again.

It all went well and she has been fine ever since.

The point is that all this work on the EB got me interested in working on her again.

I was very lucky and stumbled accross a cheap set of wheels. I didn't want anything too big diametre wise as I personally am not a fan of the 18inch and up sizes on the boxcars. The wheels I bought for the grand total of $50 with OK tyres are 16 x 8 ROH Snypers. They have some gutter marks and need a good polish (still to do) but I think they suit the shape and feel of the EB really well. They also have a bit of dish too, which I like.

Then two weeks later, I scored a FREEBIE. Kings Super Low Springs with BOGE front struts. An old fella bought an EA from this young bloke and didn't like the way it rode, so he put standard springs in and just wanted to get rid of the low springs. I was just in the right place at the right time.

Anyway enough of the blabber, here are some pics.





The EB drives really nice now. I updated the rear shocks as they bottomed out quite easily even though they were Monroe GTs, with Ultima Heavyduty short stroke shocks. This made a huge difference driving when the car has the four of us in it.

Another update soon.

BenJ

So now the modifying bug had hit.

There were a few things I wanted to do, and I knew the sort of look I wanted to achieve.

I knew the paint and body would never be in show condition without big dollars being thrown at it. So I decided to go with the look and feel of a 'Daily Driver', where the odd scrape or scratch is to be expected and adds to the car rather than detracts from it.

I sourced an ED Fairmont Grill from the wreckers for $5 bucks and made it fit the EB bonnet. If you didn't know, EA, EB and ED bonnets are all different with separate pressings where the grill mounts. But I worked it out. I combined the chrome with a colour coded centre for a slightly custom look.

I also picked up a reasonable front bumper in white for $10 off Ebay. The previous photos show how faded the front grey strip was. In fact it was so bad it was powdery. I went to work with some sandpaper, bog and paint, adding the front lip from my old fairmont and came up with a pretty good home paint job on the front bumper. I also removed the spot lights.





A mate was selling an ED XR6 Boot Lip Spoiler which I acquired for $80. The only thing was it was blue. So I got out the paper, paint and bog again and went to work. It was red soon enough and I fitted it to the car. So as some of you know, the XR6 spoilers are made of rubber, which flexes, and paint doesn't. As I tightened the spoiler down the paint cracked in a couple of places I will repaint it on the car some day in the future.

Still it looks the part.



The next score was a set of EF/EL Fairmont Door Trims. These were fitted and I have to say are one of the best mods I have done. They really update the interior and reduce the road noise significantly.




Will be back with some more updates soon.

BenJ

This is a rough costing of how much I have spent to date.

$1200 - Car
$230 - EF Thermo fans and wiring
$45 - XH Snorkle
$40 - Red Rocker Cover
$50 - Wheels
$80 - Bootlip Spoiler
$10 - Front Bumber
$40 - Paint and materials
$5 - ED Fairmont Grill
$0 - Kings Springs and BOGE Struts
$125 - Ultima Rear Shocks
$80 - EF Fairmont Door Trims
$0 - EB Fairmont Interior, Electric Windows, Hood lining, Trip Computer

$1905 Total

$705 without car. Not bad really. When I get up to date, yes more to come yet, I will do it again.

BenJ

Hello Again

I have had the 2.5" Cat Back Redback exhaust system on the EB from around 2 days after it came home. I have been happy with both the volume and the note. My system has the rear muffler. Being a family car, I didn't want it too loud.

I however always wanted to add extractors, but the approx $600 price tag including fitting and modifying my cat was out of reach.

I watched a few second hand sets come and go on Ebay and the forums, but they were either too far away or it was just a case of bad timing.

But good things come to those that wait.....and wait............and wait. In August I spotted some Pacemaker extractors with highflow cat on Ebay located at Gosford (1 hr above Sydney) pickup only. I was lucky and prepared to drive up and get them and won them for the princely sum of $227 and change.

I was very happy with this, as I could bolt them up at home. Which I did the next day

Some piccies.




An interesting point is how much difference this setup made to the sound of the exhaust note. It is now different somehow. The good part is how much stronger the car feels from around 2500rpm to the redline.


Another mod I have done, seeing as everyone else was doing thier own, was to make some custom cluster gauge faces. I ended up doing my own enhancements in photoshop and creating replacement backings to get the lighting right at night.




The dash is still a work in progress and just needs to be adjusted a little for exact fitment.

Hope you like what I have done so far.

The latest changes next.

BenJ

Hello again

Most recent mods.

I built and installed an electronic shift kit for the auto, and it works a treat. I put a small switch in the handbrake recess to turn it on and off. No pics sorry.

Due to the age of the EB and the desire to undertake some lenghty trips, I decided to install a toolbox so I can carry some tools and spares with me.

The tool box is bolted down through the floor, but is set up so you can remove it quickly.

I arranged it so you can acces it from behind the rear seats, so if you have a full boot, you don't have to unload the whole thing.



was very lucky and managed to pick up and ED Fairmont Ghia for an absolute bargain.

While I intend to put the Ghia on the road for my wife to use, in mostly standard form, I will be swapping out two important components. One is the LSD 3.27 diff, and when I do that I will post an update, but the other is the seats.

I am very happy with how the seats work with the EF door trims.

Enough blabber - PICS









All I need now is a new carpet and a sports steering wheel, and mabye do something with the dash and console plastics. I want to put in and AU console, but I need the electric window switches. Will have to give that some thought. I also want to add a bit of colour or contrast to the interior door trims.

Other mods to happen soon are:
EL exterior door handles -just need to paint
EF/EL door mirrors
Sports Steering Wheel and Remote Cruise Buttons
Paint the B Pillars Black
Tinted Windows

Mods for consideration are:
EB Fairmont Dash and wiring and Auto Climate Control
EF/EL Dash and wiring and console
Manual conversion
Sprint Front Spoiler
Slotted Brakes
Cup holders
Hide the Engine Bay wiring - General tidy up
Relocate Battery to Boot
Serpentine Belt Conversion
AU Engine - When current one finally dies - done 391k now

BenJ

Nice work man looks tops!

Hello Again

Just a small update.

I scored an EF XR6 3.45 LSD diff from ebay for $300. It was pulled out of a car with a reported 166000+ ks on it. The seller said he pulled the had off and checked for damage etc. From the condition of the diff I am inclined to believe him.

Some pics.





As you can see it looks pretty good.

To fit it to the EB I am going to use EB backing plates and calipers. I also have to fit the brake lines from the EB as there are none on my diff.

Will take pics of it all done ready to bolt in.

On a side note, I went on a Ford cruise to Bathurst last Saturday. What a blast. Had a great time.

Here is a shot of me taking the EB down the dipper.



The downside was I took the pads to the metal and scored the front rotors.

Luckily I had a set of new standard rotors and pads at home and today fitted them. I found that the calipers have frozen the slides and it was only the inside pads that were worn. I pulled the front calipers off of my parts car as they were fine and swapped them out.

Brakes much nicer now and has better pedal feel.

I will get new slotted rotors sometime next year.

Until next time.

BenJ

Ok

I had already put one replacement diff in the EB earlier this year. It was just a SS 3.27 diff I had in my spare car. The original diff was making complaints and now resides under the parts car. I borrowed some parts from it to get the EF diff ready to bolt in.

I spent yesterday and today cleaning parts and preparing the EF diff to go into the EB.

This is what the backing plates and dust sheilds looked like AFTER I degreased and steam cleaned them.



After some work with a wire brush and my dremmel they turned out like this.




I was surprised to find out the backing plate was made of aluminium. For some reason I thougt is would be cast iron or something. Oh Well.

I then removed the 4 9/16th nuts holding the axles in and backing plates on and popped the axles out (use the discs on backwards with some nuts and use them like a slide puller). I installed the EB backing plates and put the axles back in and tightned the nuts up a bit at a time until it was snug.

I then installed the brake lines as the EF use a different arrangement. First I removed the EF handbrake cable. Then undo the breather from the left hand axle tube and install the brake line junction from the EB. I had bend the brake lines a little bit to route them through the old handbrake brackets. I used cable ties to keep them secure.

Pics of it ready to install tomorrow.






Once the diff is in the car, I will mount the current calipers and discs on and it should be good to go.

I also purchased the correct speedo gear from Ford for $14.

Will let you all know how it turns out.

BenJ

Well It's in.

And I think it has a buggerd pinion bearing.

I fairly howles like a banshee.

I wil take it to a diff place in the morning to see if they can diagnose it. And yes I did check to see if it had oil in it. Does anyone know if you have to dissassemble the diff to change a pinion bearing?

The only hiccup I had putting it in is that the EF/EL diffs use different swaybay brackets, and I had to make a trip to the wreckers to get the correct ones.

Will let you know what the result is.

BenJ

Well, I saw a diff specialist this morning and it needs all new pinion and carrier bearings, about $460 to fix it.

So I pulled it back out of the car, second diff swap in two days, and put the old one back in.

I will put the XR6 diff in the garage until after christmas and look at getting it fixed then.

Regards
BenJ