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| banarcus |
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{USERNAME} wrote: Once you get used to the handling with all that load on or behind the rear axle, you can live with it. Combined with the rear sway bar (I know, I know, $350 from Whiteline is an expense you could probably live without and wait for one to come up elsewhere...) I promise you that you'll look at your wagon with a new light. You'll even start considering that you could get around Mt Panorama faster in the wagon with the dogs in the back then you could have ever done with the EB sedan... Actually my ED station wagon handles quite well around Mt Panorama, only one corner that it struggles big time is the cutting with the off camber right hander. / on topic |
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| Rick's EF Fairmont Wagon |
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My EL wagon used to handle really good after I wasted $2400 on suspension and wheels/tyres. Young and stupid.
Now I am a family man its all done on the cheap. My EF wagon handles OK with the 1 ton leafs I found for $34 at pick-a-part. I have not gotten around to doing anything with the front end and the old struts are really showing their age now. I was going to get a good front end I saw at pick-a-part a while ago but they wanted $80 for secondhand struts which I was not prepared to pay. I need to find a rear sway bar so next time I get to the wreckers I will have a hunt for something suitable. Sometime soon I will invest in a set of heavy duty struts.. for now I have used the best ones I had from the 2 cars.
_________________ BF3 Egas XT Wagon |
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| fiend |
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Mount Panorama being a bad example, as the roads there look pretty nice for racing on (other than the off camber entrance at the Cutting... and a couple of the downhill bits look scary, but are probably easily do-able...) Anyways, just what does your wagon have in the back in Banarcus? Surely it is not......... Standard............
For handling well on NZ's often bumpy, regularly off camber, and always poorly maintained roads a standard wagon was / is just plain scary. No way you'd ever consider putting new cams, chips, turbos, blowers, etc into a plain wagon if you were driving around NZ I'd say........... Up to you, but just remember to brake WELL before any indication that the road is taking a corner. NZ - The land of the long treacherous corner, where the longest straight is 10km and the road surface aspires to be a motorcross track...... 
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| banarcus |
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Hey Ben, just reloaded the page and discovered that you have gladiators on your wagon. Nice choice of wheel there mate!! Also looks great with the new height. The big question now is, when are you going to give it a new coat of paint? Your photos remind me of a little chore that I need to do on mine that is way overdue, cut those damn U bolt threads!
fiend, I had a brain snap mate, I actually meant the worst corner was the chase on the left hander. The cutting is my favourite bit, especially when my wagon was a manual, just loved powering around that corner in 2nd and giving it stick up the hill. Love it, and all in a standard rear end apart from 2" lowering blocks and Monroe GT shocks. A sway bar on a already stiffened rear end would only step out mid corner with bumps on the road. A little bit of sway with leaf springs isn't that bad 
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| BenJ |
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Hey, thanks guys for the kind words.
Now, re rear suspension. I have considered the suggestion of the 1 tonne springs. However, in my situation where 99% of the time I carry nothing in the back, I believe the 1 tonne option will be too harsh for a daily. You need to have 'some' movement and pliability to assist with getting traction down while cornering, and to accomodate the 'top notch' road conditions we have here in Western Sydney. I will add some Heavy Duty shocks, and am looking for a sway bar myself. I am pleasantly surprised with how well the wagon on cart springs does handle, but it has a bit much body roll at the moment. I will also adjust the 'Load Helpers' to tighten up the rear slightly. ************************************************************** I did do some work on the bonnet on Sunday. I sanded the bog work and layed down a coat of primer, which I wet sanded with 400, before laying down a second coat of primer. I played with the gun settings while painting the first primer coat, and got some interesting results. Some of it was quite powdery, but I have now got a nice spray pattern happening. I will fine tune this over time. Cheers BenJ
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| Rick's EF Fairmont Wagon |
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I have been riding on the 1 tonners for about 7 years now with no complaints, You only really notice the heavy springs when you hit a speed hump. I did kill a set of shocker rubbers though!
 I considered just adding one extra leaf from the 7 in the 1 ton set up but I was lazy/ short of time etc and just fitted them as they came off the panel van. Since I pick up loads of tiles or bluestones or bricks or whatever else weighs a great deal from time to time, I am glad I left them fully stacked for loads. The suspension job I had on the EL was the addition of 1 leaf and GT shocks all round and lowered front springs, camber kit which was pretty good but really high a*** without any load. The car did handle like it was on rails. I know now that It would have been even better with thicker front and a rear sway bar. oh yeah, and I have gt gas rears which are still great after 230ks incredibly.
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| ausedwagon |
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i just put hd rear shocks in mine and its a big difference i didn't know how rooted the old ones were.
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| BenJ |
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Me Again.
On Monday I got home after work and blocked back the primer with some 400 wet and dry, in prep for today. After work today, I got out the paint gun, filled it up with half a tin of spray putty, and layed down a couple of coats. The bonnet is now a 'lovely shade of blue'. NOT. Reminds me of a Holden colour. YIKES!   And here is a snap shot of the wagon waiting patiently for me to finish, and get that bent piece of oversprayed wannabe bonnet off of it.  I am having a half day off work tomorrow, so I intend to spray a bit of a guide coat on and block back the spray putty and see how much work I still have ahead of me. I have no intention of striving for perfection. I want the bonnet on the car for the Doyalson, Walk in the Park car show, on the 17th. It may not have a clear coat, but it should at least be black. Cheers BenJ
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| racedirector |
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Age: 63 Posts: 1584 Joined: 20th Mar 2005 Ride: EDL Fairmont Wagon/AU XR8 Ghia Location: Riverstone |
Getting there bud, looking the goods more and more every day. Damn, the wagon looks good now, it really does.
May have to get some tips of ya re painting. I am going to give it a go myself when I get some gear. Might as well, another on budget dude here too! Cheers RD
_________________ =1994 ED Wagon GLi body/EL Fairmont spec with *ALL* EL running gear.= |
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| XR-Lane |
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Making good progress mate, I too might need some spray painting tips from you later down the track.
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| SLO247 |
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{USERNAME} wrote: This is sex Ben. You win. |
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| TROYMAN |
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hey ben..
the bonnet is looking really good.. 
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| FordFairmont |
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Posts: 6113 Joined: 8th May 2007 |
ok, me again about the driving lights...... last time i promise !!!
what about spacing them apart more... just an idea, not a criticism, your wagon looks great either way 
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| BenJ |
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{USERNAME} wrote: ok, me again about the driving lights...... last time i promise !!! what about spacing them apart more... just an idea, not a criticism, your wagon looks great either way LOL. Mate, if I space them apart, then it will look like all the other cars with them in that position. I like them where they are, although they may get replaced with some larger ones. BenJ
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| DA22LE |
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Hey BenJ,
I just noticed that the headlights look a different. Did you do the BA light conversion?? Looking real nice. Bet you cant wait to get GT bonnet back on....wanna come and do mine...lol Cheers  Daz
_________________ BA XR8 Boss 260 |
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