Right now then.

start a build thread since I uploaded all the pics in my phone.

Its getting late so I will start with the before first and continue later next week.

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Did you straighten out that door? That's top work.

This should be good, body swaps are fun!

It's only taken 2 years so far as I spent 6 weeks getting the car looking good then Vic Roads told me I needed the dreaded "VIV Inspection" I knew this would cost about $3000.00 so I contacted the guy I got a door and guard from and got the rest of his car minus most of the interior and engine/trans for $500.00.
I wish I had done this from the start.
I would have finished the car within the original budget and time frame. I wanted it done before we moved into the new house so the garage wasn't a project mess like it is now. I also knew I would not have the time to work on it for months after moving in as there were 500 jobs to do in the brand new house. Like build a driveway and path, front door step etc. etc.

So far I have fully stripped the Fairmont and send it to the crushers. The engine and trans went in at Christmas. I have recently been rebuilding the broken cables on the electric windows using the old manual mechs for cables.

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Last edited by Rick's EF Fairmont Wagon on Sun Apr 19, 2009 3:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Cool way of getting the engine out! Would be nice to have a level surface to work on....one can only dream though

Whats this VIV inspection? Is it like a Blue Slip here in NSW (unreg car outside a 3 month timeframe)? And why 3K for it, sounds like a govt ripoff to me!

Cheers
RD

The VIV inspection was where you take it to a Vic roads approved engineer. They charge you about $400 to measure it all out with a laser rack and I knew there was no way it would pass without spending over $3000.

I should have done my homework before starting.

The car was only $770 delivered from auction, so if I had spent the $500 for the body plus $50 for trailer hire and another $500 on paint for bonnet etc. I would be in front and have had the fun of doing it all myself.

The kids love helping which is great but tends to slow things down


I just got these this week should look great.

I got the idea for dropping the engine and subrame out from my book about the Territory development project. I saw they do it this way in the factory and since i had no lifting gear but plenty of jacks..... it made sense. I was swapping the whole front anyway to get the ABS working.

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Last edited by Rick's EF Fairmont Wagon on Sun Apr 19, 2009 3:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Ah, thanks guys on the VIV thing, thought for a moment it cost 3 grand!

Rick, those wheels should look good with the wagon lowered - Lows in the front and 2" blocks in the back

Cheers
RD

i dont understand what has happened, and what is going on, but good luck with it!!

ABOUT BLOODY TIME!!!!

Good to see some pics and a bit of a write up Rick.

I look forward to future updates.

BenJ

I thought it was time I stopped hijacking Fiends's Futurlane build thread.

Seeing as how I spent hours trying to find my original thread after it got deleted by a Fordmods Upgrade!

So I had it driveable but the front end was still wrong.
I found the K-frame was bent where the radius arm mounts on so i sourced another one along with a replacement steering rack, which was bent as well.


It was much better but still felt wrong driving round the block so I realised the body was pretty f**k.

This was when I went to the Vic roads office to get a 28 day permit so I could try for a roadworthy.
They told me I needed a VIV inspection........ OH s**t!!!
I think the strut tower was bent too so I knew it was not going to pass the VIV laser tell all. I was going to slop a load of underbody deadener under the guard to cover up the crumpled bits that I had straightened with my new 10ton hydraulic kit. Nice toy but I could have skipped it if I had just planned on a body swap right from the begining.

The week before I had bought a door and Guard from a guy who was stripping his wagon with a dead motor and exhaust. As soon as iIsaw it the brain started buzzing........ this was what I should have done right from the start, before I had wasted all that time and money on fixing the wreck.

I called him up and asked how much for the rest of the car? $500.. done!
I Knew it was straight and in pretty good condition with good paintwork. not my first choice of colour but it would look good once done up.

Still hunting through the PC for some before pictures of the "new" body in gunmetal grey.

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Last edited by Rick's EF Fairmont Wagon on Thu Dec 16, 2010 6:59 am, edited 3 times in total.

I will go have a look on the office PC for some more photos. Must be on the other SD Memory cards.

In the meanwhile Here's the ABS swap out which was easy with the engine out.

This involves replacing all of the front half brake lines and the diff complete in my case.
I also swapped out the whole front suspension so as to get the ABS sensors on etc.






I found it interesting that the rear ABS sensor wiring is fitted to the GLI loom already. There is no connector for the ABS pump though so I had to replace the complete LHS engine ECU loom

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Last edited by Rick's EF Fairmont Wagon on Sun Apr 19, 2009 1:33 am, edited 1 time in total.

Mate, great to see... Wish I'd been more onto it taking photos in the beginning and keeping them somewhere! This looks good, and hope the poverty pack lack of wires doesn't cause too many headaches along the way. The only panels of the original Futura on mine are now the drivers door, the roof and the bit that goes from right rear door to tail lights. Spose that doesn't count as a proper body swap huh?!!!

Did you get much sign of rust in the bit where the vacuum reservoir clips into? I know you once said you got no rust in your rear wheel arches or doglegs either, but in NZ it's rampant....

No Tony,
I am swapping out the entire wiring loom apart from the tailgate and rear lights as the centre loom plugs in there. I am also installing the roof loom at the moent and fixing the headlining and courtesy lights. I was thinking of fitting the AU courtesy lights like the territory has, as they are nicer with a much better quality switch.

I am on the other PC now and I found some more photos. I need to sort them out and add them to the fairmont master file. I found that there are more on yet another PC here I will power up another time.
It doesn't help when I have upgraded PC 4 times and used 2 different camera phones and an old kodak digital camera.
I am always looking out for old PC's getting chucked out at the university I work at.
I was playing with my brother's $2000 flashy digital Nikon SLR at the hospital today. Man it's good, and so is using a real keyboard to type instead of the damn laptop.

The other thing that slowed up progress as in put it in the not so urgent anymore category, was the crazy purchase of a Territory for the Mrs ( I love it)

Here I have removed the engine and transmission still on the front subframe. you can see the new body on the left under all that crap.

The next job was rolling the old body out on a dolly I made up.
Then I rolled the new body out and moved it over to make it easier to work from both sides.

It is currently fitted with engine and transmission. The body is all up on stands and blocks whilst the newly painted 1 ton springs and diff are fitted. I have also been installing the electric windows.

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Mate, I took a load of photos as I used to discuss the current problems with the guys at work who were all into car tinkering.

The seats still smell like an ashtray even now so before I refit them (still hoping for a set of leather seats) I am trying yet another cleaning product. I may just take them to the carwash and hit them with the pressure washer.
You know how you go to the wreckers for a suspension part for the project car and come home with a tailgate($100) and bumper($80) for the daily hack??? I fixed three things with this which was worthwhile. The rear screen was scratched badly by a fallen off wiper blade. The wiper motor was not parking properly, there was a nasty ding on the tailgate, the speaker holes were hacked up to fit 6x9's (by me) and I was sick of being hit on the head constantly even after buying new gas struts. I bought a new set of 6" 3ways which sound great. Oh and i also got a fairmont trim($10 Ebay) for the tailgate which is nicer.

I wasted a lot of the budget on things I didn't need urgently.

I got a set of Ghia door trims($60), a leather steering wheel($50) from an AU XR8, a tickford GAS ECU($50), various other bits like indicators($20), headlight($50), subframe($80), lower arm($20), and switches and stuff. goodbye to another $500.00