That really does make it look neater and better.

Im getting lowering blocks and all bits for it soon, and considering that you have done it, whats the easiest way to install them? They are only 1.5inch

how has street fords and the like NOT snapped this up?

probably cause it has a few "scruffy" bits of paintwork

so did EL Venoms car, but they just airbrushed them out

They did? i didnt notice

they do it to alot of cars in the magazines, you think about all the 'daily driven cars' in the magazines and none have stone chips in the front, yet go look through a carpart and almost every car will have them.

... And there I was spouting on about how good tougher springs and sway bars were in the back of wagons only to be ridiculed two years back ...

Do you already have a tougher sway bar in the front too?

Bloody good though aye Benj? I could go on and on and on about how good this style mod is... But I have already.

If i was putting my car in as a "street car" i would be asking they take at least one close up pic of the front of the car to show up a few stone chips to prove it was street driven. I hate seeing car's that look like they just rolled out of the spray booth with owners crapping on about driving them daily on the streets. Unless of course it did literally roll out of the spray booth....

I do however love to see car's with nice paint jobs that have the odd stone chip on them, it shows the owners are not afraid to drive their car! No street driven car is perfect, and i don't expect them to be when I'm told they are street driven. I just expect to see them "clean but not quite perfect".

I loved a feature Street Machine did a little while ago, a Ford coupe, X series, that was in bare metal, with all the new steel welded in, and the welds were not even fully done yet. Later they did a feature on the car when it was done. It's nice to see that the feature car's do start out like a lot of our projects. Gives more motorvation to keep going with them!

Cheers

ToranaGuy

I cant comment on what street fords do as my sedan only appeared in it as a reader rides piece and the picture used was one taken by huggiebear, but in the shoot I did have done of my sedan the only air brushing or photoshopping done was to 1 picture to show the engine with the bonnet down.

Anyone can take a photo of a vehicle and have imperfections in the body work seemingly dissapear. When you see one the those magazine photoshots take place you start to see how they make the cars look so good. The shoot of my car took over 3 hours with 100's of pictures taken and much of the time spent posistioning the car and the camera in just the right way to get the best 11 shots.

I would love to see this or another nice E-series wagon in a magazine 1 day but to say the car has to be perfect or alot of air brushing/ photoshop work done to the photos inorder for them to look good on the glossy pages of a magazine from my experiences is false

For a long time, I have wanted to paint the instrument cluster and surround. However, I didn't want to just spray the parts matt or satin black leaving the grain/texture in the plastic. I also don't like a full gloss finish on the interior of the car, as I find it looks very fake, and can cause some unwanted reflections.

Some time ago, I was given a variety of rattle cans, one of which is a Satin Clear. This gave me some ideas, and using a spare fairmont dash spear I tried them out.

I sanded the spear, masked up the 'F' badge, and painted it in Black Pearl.

Photo of Black Pearl in full gloss. You can really see the metallic finish in this photo.



The I used the Satin Clear.



BINGO!! Exactly the finish I was looking for. In direct sunlight, you can still see the metallic finish, but in shadow the colour looks more like black stone, and has a subdued sheen.

I have had the painted dash spear in the car for a few of months, and when I was able to find time I had been sanding parts.

I finally decided to get into it and with the great winter weather got out the sandpaper and spray gun.

I completely stripped down a spare instrument cluster, trip computer and climate control module. Interstingly, I found the climate control module had a heavier grain in the plastic.

Original Ford Part.


Sanded down. You can still see the pits from the grain.


After using the spray putty and final sanding.


The trip computer has a small raised section with a + and - on it.


For a smoother finish, I sanded this off.


Once all of the parts had been painted with the spray putty and sanded smooth, I loaded up the spray gun with 'Jet Black' and painted all the parts.

Once this was dry, I sanded the parts with 800 wet and dry, then painted them with Black Pearl.

All the bits and pieces. The small parts kept moving while I was painting them. In the end I had to hold them with my hand. Took a while to get the paint off LOL.


Here are some shots of the main surround in Black Pearl. My apology for the pics, as my camera died and I had to use my phone.



Once the Black Pearl had dried, I layed down a light coat of the Satin Clear.



And here are some finished pics.



And a before and after look.



As my previous dash was from an EL, I had grey buttons on the trip comp, climate control, antenna, rear wiper, rear demist and vent controls. Over time I had collected good black versions as found in the EF, and was able to reassemble with a full set of black buttons.

I really like the finished result, as it looks great, and is in keeping with the rest of the car. The door spears will be painted in the same finish soon.

PS. After painting the dash parts, the dust etc, really sticks to it well. Any suggestions on how to fix this, or remove the dust easily?

Cheers
BenJ

The satin black you have used on your car what brand is it?

The dash spear and surround looks so awesome in person. This wagon should be in a magazine.

To anybody who hasn't seen Ben's wagon in person the pics just don't due it the justice it deserves

cheers bear

Nice work there BenJ, that black pearl is an awesome colour. Especially like the metallic look it has under sunlight, reminds me of the Ego paint colour as seen in the BF and FG range.

Cool idea with the spray putty too, might consider doing that with mine to give it that smooth look if i ever need to re-spray mine.

Keep up the great work bud

F**k, that looks s**t hot! Only thing is that if i wanted to do that i would have excellent condition black buttons. how hard was it to actually do and how long did it take?

Thanks Fellas.

Once I got up and going, it took all Long Weekend to get it done. There is a lot of sanding involved, and a fair bit of waiting between coats of paint.

The Satin Black Paint I used for the rear number plate surround and the wiper cowl, is just the el cheapo Export paint from supercheap. It seems to wear OK too as there is no issue with the handle area on the number plate surround.

Cheers
BenJ

Hey Ben, This is going back to nearly when you got the EB but when you put the 1.5" blocks in, did it sit level on level ground with the front or was the front a little higher than the rear? My wagon looks near XR height on the front but im wondering if i lower it the 1.5" in the rear if it will sit lower than the front or if it would look normal.

Sorry if i confused you...