Yep soon Ill be as old and grumpy as yourself so Im planning ahead. I cannot be caught with my pants down so to speak.
Its a fitting means to finish up after it all with a Fairute since it was a f**k to begin with!

Well had a very successful easter with the Fairute and then it fell over.
Was invited to spend the break out at a good mates property near Woodstock in the Central West of NSW.
Well a weekend camping on private land with fires , trailbikes and random explosions was just took good an oportunity to pass up.
With the Mav off the road the Fairute was put to the test dragging our off road camper trailer out.


Loaded up and ready to go.

Made it out no issues whatsoever and had a great time.
After a while I got very patriotic and decided that since I was in the middle of 35 privately owned acres with a pretty smooth flat top paddock and was in a V8 manual Falcon ute something had to be done.




Drive back home was great and the Fairute did everything asked of it.
The night after we got back we had to go for a run up the street so jumped in the ute to be greeted by this terrible godforsaken noise that was consistant with wheel speed.
It was near impossible to pick where it was coming from and it was worked out it was either the diff or a front wheel bearing.
Jacked the car up to check the wheel bearings and all was well. When spinning the wheel in the torch light I noticed the tyre was out of round.
Somewhat uncool.
Climbed under the car to have a further look and was greeted with this terrible sight.




The tyre had delaminated the full circumference and you could easily push your fingers under the tread.
I thought that was pretty bad until I looked across and saw the right one had done exactly the same!
Lets just say when I thought about how only a couple of days ago I was doing 120km on country road with Don in the ute and near on a tonne of camper trailer hanging off the back I got cold chills.
Im normally right on top of s**t like this with the cars but in all honesty they didnt show a single sign of anything wrong. Steering had got a bit heavier but nothing anymore abnormal then it does when the tyres are getting low and close for replacement. I put off replacing them before I went on the trip because I knew there was a good chance I would hit a pothole out there so didnt see the sence in potentially wasting a new 19" tyre.
A couple of new tyres and took it for a drive. The tyres were not the source of the noise.
Firmly believed it was the diff so jacked it up , removed the brake calipers so there was nothing dragging anywhere and start the ute and run it up to 3rd gear while on stands.
Both myself and a total tool while looking at it made the call that it was definately the diff centre that was making the noise.
A few calls this morning saw prices up to $1100 for a exchange second hand diff!
Run the ute across to Bears Diffs which isnt far from home and the diagnosis was complete. Totally rooted pinion bearing................
Full diff rebuild with all new bearings , seals and wheel bearings was quoted at $770. Gritted the teeth and said do it so thats happening tomorrow.
Having a chat to them it was decided that I would be mad not to spend an extra $55 and have the cones in the LSD remachined and it tightened right up while it was already apart.
Diff already has 3.45 gears in it which isnt bad and they are in good condition so thats something.
Then this evening the bad man , a total tool dropped over a set of 3.9 gears he had on his parts shelf.
I will be dropping them over first thing in the morning and if it wont be too much of a s**t fight and added expense to shim them and set them up , they will be making their way into it.
Around about $1200+ eaten by the fairute in a couple of days.................its just like history repeating itself. Then rego is due on the 18th along with the Ghia 10 days later.
Does anyone want to buy any Fairmont Ghia parts of me or at least donate some 2 minute noodles for dinner?

3.9s and tightened LSD fitted.
I have only driven it 5km in the rain so far so cannot really make an accurate call on what its like so far.
About to go for a drive now it has dried up and see what its like.

3.9's behind a 5.0 manual=awesome.
They dont make it physically faster but you are always driving on the torque curve which makes the car quicker.
The ute will now happily hold 5th gear at 45km/h just idling along.
RPM at 110 is around the 2550 mark. Not overly offensive.
Pretty much any gear you are in at any speed , stand on it and it will pull away crisply.
I am finding it really really good around town in places where with the old 3.45 a*** , 3rd gear was not enough for it to be happy but 2nd gear was too much. Just click 3rd and ride the torque curve.
Corners , roundabouts etc can all be done in 3rd gear followed by a crisp get away.
I will be tuning it via Quarterhorse in the future after I have got over this little exercise so will remove the speed limiter etc then. With a good tune I reckon it will start to become a good performer.
I can strongly recommend the change to 3.9s and recommend Bears Gearbox and Diffs at Dunheved. He did the job for a pretty good price , it was ready to be picked up before he told me it would and he is just a straight up , no s**t kind of guy.
For a diff with 3.9's in it to be as quiet as a stocker shows he knows how to setup a diff.

Nice work man......

Might have to the the old mate to tighten the Mav's rear diff after the auto goes in....

Good upgrade. I went from 3.23 to 3.45 in my el and I also noticed it wasn't really faster just nicer/more fun to drive round town.3.7s wouldve been nicer though.

I found my car laboured a bit in 5th at 80 but since I put the cam in it didn't

Nah just bent valves instead lololololololol.
The paddock bashing looked like fun Matt

Nah mate no need to spend the cash.
We can do the Mavs one ourselves. A couple of shims , impact screwdriver and a few hours. Can just about turn them into a spool if you want.

I kinda liked the EA box in the EB because of the low gearing with 3.45 diff. Around town, chuck it in 3rd and never have to change gear.

But, I like the EF box because it's not f**k lol.

My red wagon had knackered pinion bearings - would make a nice hum around 50 -70 kms, particularly on accel and decel. Bearing shells were absolutely cactus.

I remember when i fitted 3.9 gears into the eb xr8 (already had hurricane headers and cats done) felt like it gave it s**t loads more torque down low and mid range, but because it was a 165 slug it ran out of wind at 4000rpm = too early.

After seeing your enjoyment from the gear swap its egged me on to do mine you bastard .

Haha. Does it happen to turn a tyre?
Yeah the gear swap was a great thing to do to it.

Really hoping my Mal Wood pin gets here tomorrow so I can change the pedal box over to fix the broken on in it. If that job goes ahead it will be dash conversion weekend.
Im hoping to have the Fairute basically finished in the next 6 weeks or so. I just want to get back into the Maverick.

Front leather seats go in tomorrow and then dash conversion happens.
Have already been up and had the gas sucked out of the old AC system so it has to happen now!

Come one step closer to completition today.
With a lot of help from a total tool the Fairlane interior was fitted into the ute.
Was pretty much a straight out bolt up , plug and play job. The only part really modified was where I shortened the carpet to suit the ute.
Heater box was a real easy bolt in swap.
Have tested it all out and am very happy to say everything on it works 100%. Climate control , headlight delay , door open indicators etc.
Just need to have the Air Con regassed tomorrow and thats it!