Currently it has just the standard aftermarket OEM type brakes in the front, the box the rotors came in was Brembo but whether or not they are actually Brembo is beyond me. Pads are those Bendix CT or whatever it is. The only good thing about the front brakes is that they don't squeal or create too much dust, however those qualities aren't really important when you want the car to stop lol. The rear is just some slotted rotors of unknown brand and Ferodo Zero pads, seems to go okay, however I'll probably change the pads to something better once the front brakes get done.

It's good you mentioned the QFM HPX pads, they were among the 3 or 4 different types of pads I was considering. I'm also thought about the EBC green/red stuff pads, but the most likely choice will be some Znoelli SP500 performance pads. They are a NZ brand and are quite well renowned over here for being great for track-use too.

http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/car-par ... 588158.htm
http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/car-par ... 980917.htm

Would love a set of their DDS rotors up front, but the price tag stretches a bit out of my budget.

Regarding the wheel, chances are if I did end up fitting the BA wheel, I'd leave the airbag disabled anyway. Would rather have none at all, than tamper with one trying to get it to work and then not know how reliable it would be. I'll still have to see how I like the position of the wheel before going ahead with anything else though, from what I've read on here, the wheel sits closer to the driver making the indicator and wiper stalks feel further away.

Mate, an EB/ED Ghia would be quite nice I reckon. There's quite a few of them in 5.0 form over here. I actually wouldn't mind one of those either knowing how much modding potential there is with boxcars

since were on the brake pads topic, whats a good set of BUDGET pads that dont squeel?

my last AU had squeely brakes which i then replaced the rotors & pads with RDA items, and the f'ken thing still squeeled !!!!!.... i noticed the more pads squeel, the more dust they make on the wheels

however this AU is quite as a mouse and im afraid to touch anything brake wise

I had some 'Remsa' branded pads all round on the Fairmont when I first bought it. Never heard of them until the day they needed replacing, but was told by that they were a decent budget pad. I found them to be pretty good overall, they didn't dust the wheels up excessively, they were very quiet and stopped pretty well in normal day to day driving. Had a bit of brake fade when the pads/rotors got hot but that's only when pushing it hard.

Changed to those Bendix CT's when I replaced the rotors and regret it. It's funny because others find these pads pretty good. The only good thing I found with them was the lack of brake dust and squeal, but they just didn't have the 'bite' you'd want in a large car. I have pretty low confidence in them so I always find myself braking very early before corner or slowing down a fair distance before coming to a stop lol..

My Koni struts turned up today


As usual with Koni red's, they are rebound adjustable.. however little did I know that these specific ones I've got have circlip adjustable spring seats too - double score!

The part numbers on the actual struts don't match up with anything in the Koni catalogue, but they are definitely from the 82 series. According to the seller they were pulled out of an EA wagon which sat a bit lower than stock. The springs that came with the Koni's, appear to be stock springs so I'll most likely ditch them in favour of my current Pedder's low's for now. The spring seat is currently set to the 2nd lowest setting (has 5 circlip grooves for different seat heights) which looks to be a bit lower than standard spring seat height so hopefully it'll drop down to a nice height with the low springs. Guess it'll be a case of trial and error until I get a decent result both height and rebound wise.

Also received these in the mail this week which will come in handy for a few changes happening interior wise.. They were in fairly rough nick so got them pretty cheap.


I'm starting to get over the LTD woodgrain as it feels a little like it's just been thrown into the mix, especially since the woodgrain double din surround is no longer fitted and I still don't have LTD door trims to complete the look. I decided I'll incorporate a bit more carbon fibre into the interior inplace of the woodgrain. This way it'll match the carbon fibre wrapped cluster faceplate and perforated leather on the steering wheel better. I won't be going overboard with it so I'm hoping it'll turn out fairly decent. Plans are to wrap the door spears and the factory Fairmont dash spear in 3M Dinoc carbon fibre film (which is the same film I used for doing the faceplate) and fit them up. Will more than likely change back to the standard type shifter surround, but may try track down a cheap rough condition woodgrain surround out of a Ghia - that way I can wrap the woodgrain part and still have the chrome piece around the shifter rod which will tie in with the rest of the chrome highlights.

Nice. Let us know how you go with the shocks. If they drop the front a bit more thats a bonus too. I'd love to be able to change height.

With the woodgrain, I'd always thought about doing a similar thing but never actually had the guts to do it. Whats the Film worth?

The film is relatively cheap from the guy who supplied it last time. The film is actually very good quality and looks pretty real lol so it's worth the $$ IMO.

http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/car-par ... 371601.htm

Didn't get much done this weekend.. Combination of s**t weather/grand final weekend would be a good enough reason. Have decided to hold of on installing the Koni's for now, will wait till I have the new rotors and pads ready to go on up front so I can do it all in one hit. Have chosen to go with some Znoelli S6 slotted rotors and Znoelli SP500 pads. Will cost me about $350 odd for the pair of rotors through a mate @ Repco and $90 or so for the pads so I'll be saving for 2 or 3 weeks before I grab them. Cheapest I could get DBA slotted rotors for was up near the $400 mark a pair

Bought some 3M Dinoc carbon fiber film the other night so I could start getting the trims wrapped and ready to fit. Only managed to get the dash spear done so far, but it turned out fairly good - will try get the door spears done during the week if I have time

1000mm X 600mm

Seems to be good enough size for what I need to wrap

Dash spear wrapped and ready to go

I like it!

That film looks pretty well priced to me, looks like quality stuff.

Cheers! Yeah, it is pretty good quality stuff, as most 3M products are generally. Best part about it is it's quite easy to work with once you warm it up with the heat gun.

Once the door spears are done, I just have to work out a way of sticking them on to the door trims

It's good to see that you are still doing updates and mods to the car

Love the work on your car mate ! Always good to see the updates ! I do like the carbon fiber wrap that you used it comes up quite well, I initially thought it would look a bit tacky but it doesn't at all.

do your trims still have the little plastic knobs on the back of them? all mine has is those stupid little things, and then little holes in the door... not made very well, bloody henry. but yeah if youve still got those, whack a couple of small holes in your door card, and some selleys no more nails. this is how my drivers side one is now attached lol. you might have a bit of trouble getting the right angle though as your holes are not already there??? but yeah good luck haha

Haha, mate I'll be forever modding this damn Fairmont


Cheers mate! I too thought it may look tacky when I first considered the idea, turns out it works quite well and looks pretty good. I'll try keep the carbon fiber to a minimum though, last thing I want to do it over do and make the interior look a bit too 'rice'.



Cheers mate! I think 3 of them have a few of those locating tabs still in place, most of them have snapped off already and one has none at all. By the looks of it, it was just hot-glued in place and appears to be a replacement spear as it differs slightly in colour.

I was thinking of breaking off all the locating tabs, get some plastic filler or putty and filling the backside in (as the spears are domed from the back) so that it is completely flatand maybe that will allow it to be glued in place a bit better. I guess I'll just have to sort something out when I get to that stage.

You are right you don't want to be going over board with the stuff making it all riced out !
Though with the bits you are doing it will be subtle yet effective.

Got the door spears wrapped, turned out mint!!




The way it reflects differently with the curves of the spears looks quite cool

Picked up a std plastic shifter surround from Pick a Part which I'm gonna have a crack at wrapping. Still would like to use a woodgrain one to wrap so I can have the little extra chrome, but haven't managed to find a cheap one yet