I've finally taken some pics of my EL fairmont sedan offroader.

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Last edited by relaxed_diplomacy on Thu Feb 18, 2010 11:30 pm, edited 2 times in total.

hahahaha thats brilliant!!!

Here's some info on the car.

The car has 20mm raised suspension, via spacers atop the front shock towers, and spacers atop the rear coil mounts. The rear upper shock mounts have been lowered as well. Thus suspension travel up and down is the same as standard, just in a raised position.

The front tyres are 225/75 and the rears are 235/75, on ford EB/ED S-pac/XR6 5 spoke 15x7 alloys. The front has 20mm hub adapters to provide clearance between the tyre sidewalls and upper ball joints. Since the car has an inwardly tilted steering axis (like most if not all) it is good to space out the wheels when the overall diameter is increased. Thus the steering feel is much like standard. Some minor mods were made to reduce/prevent the wheels from fouling against other parts of the car.

The suspension plus tyre lift gives a total of 70mm lift over standard.

This falcon and others are good candidates for offroad conversion. They have large wheel wells giving space for large tyres, and have as much suspension travel as the average 4wd, and way better than awd's. They have heaps of low-end torque, which coupled with an automatic transmission and ABS brakes largely negates the need for low range. They are designed for Australia's dirt roads, and have a decently stiff chassis.

My car has travelled heaps of 4wd tracks and conquered surprisingly tough conditions. The steeper the hill i climb, the more weight gets transferred to the rear, and hence the more traction i get, which is needed of course to keep climbing. It may not look that high, but it rarely scrapes. Part of the reason for this is there is no front diff hanging down, and the lower control arms are higher because there are no cv's. Visibility is excellent. While 4wd's have a higher seating position, they have long flat bonnets, and thus overall are no better and often worse than the falcon.

And the car laps-up normal dirt roads. You have a lot more confidence if you happen to explore the verge, and with tough high profile tyres sharp rocks are not a worry or discomfort.

But of course a main weakness is reverse, it's abilities in reverse are poor. A rear locking diff or at least an LSD would be a massive bonus in all off-road conditions. However, if i do get in trouble, i can put some rocks in the boot and this makes a big improvement to traction, and/or i can lower the rear tyre pressures. There are other options as well, plus i keep some recovery equipment handy.

You might say why don't i just buy a 4wd. There are numerous reasons for that. Most of them relate to the fact that i mostly have all the benefits of a normal falcon at the same time as an offroad vehicle. I have strong acceleration, decent handling, decent fuel consumption, low purchase price and maintenance, etc, yet can traverse most 4wd tracks when i want to. And it's modded! For very little cost i might add. But yeah 4wd would be nice sometimes.

The battery was replaced by a large battery in the boot for a number of reasons, one of which was to improve weight distribution and hence traction. Don't underestimate the improvement. I normally also carry a heavy toolbox in the boot, and that helps too.

I fitted a BA intake to improve engine breathing, plus added an old heater hose from the airbox through the opening next to the front chassis rail. I noticed more top end power and significantly improved smoothness at high revs. The heater hose also brought a slight whistle kind of sound, but this is rarely noticed, and even then hardly, and some may like it.

Hope that's not too much info at once?

Last edited by relaxed_diplomacy on Tue Jan 19, 2010 1:16 am, edited 5 times in total.

After four attempts i finally parked the car with a wheel in the air, the right rear wheel, but even then the front swaybar was probably limiting travel, which would not so much be the case in dynamic offroad situations. The second photo is an earlier shot with all four wheels on the deck.

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Last edited by relaxed_diplomacy on Tue Jan 19, 2010 1:22 am, edited 1 time in total.

Remove the mud flaps?? And imo the trunks on these a large so does it touch the bull bar at times?

NA! BIGGER MUD FLAPS!

Funny you should mention the mudflaps, they came with the car and have been good, except i tore one off today driving home after taking the photos, reversing through an unexpectedly big ditch. Bugger.

I did my best to check if the tyres could ever hit the 'bullbar', and they didn't, but with bush flex they could have scraped lightly. Before i owned it the car hit numerous roos, doing a variety of damage, including a split in the 'bullbar', repaired with rivets no less! It had headlight covers and std bulbs when i got it and the lighting was woeful, if they took them off and put blue power globes in like i did they wouldn't have hit nearly so many roos i reckon.

None of the dents are mine. Seemed a perfect car to tinker and push through the odd bit of scrub with.

The battery conversion, from around 400-450cca, to 900cca. Great for cold starts (high altitude), long battery life, engine-off stereo usage, compensation for longer cable runs, and weight re-distribution.

The positive cable runs from the starter motor, under the car cable-tied to the fixed fuel lines, then up through a bung under the rear seat. Protected it with a sheath of hardware spec 13mm clear plastic tube. Overall looks neat, was easy to do, and is a short run. Don't knock the ratchet strap, i just got a pink slip! There weren't any battery box's big enough to fit this battery, and they were too bulky anyway.

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Golden Thread!

Love it!!

Now a photo with all 4 wheels off the ground... haha

awesome car mate... got any vids of you going up hills or pics

can we please swap the front bar before you crack it?

Ha! That ride height is epic

I like it though, it's something different

Pretty interesting actually. I vote for more pics!

soo different and cool !