Cheers dude

Haha, yeah it's a decent size. I made the airbox a bit too big so needed something reasonable to fill it lol. Still smaller than the previous filter I had on though, only problem was that one was red and looked out of place with the engine bay theme I'm gunning for.

Chrome (alloy?) mesh filter cover. At least it's blue though!

Uhm, a few years ago (back when mine was actually drive able and the J3 was going good for first time) someone asked how much power it had. After being in it you'd think more, but my very rough guess was around 200hp too. It always feels more with the manual box though huh?

Must get to Dyno Utopia when mobile again. I'd be happy with hitting 200HP where the 17's meet terra firma.

Mate, it definitely would be heaps different backed with a T5. I've never actually had the pleasure of driving a manual e-series so wouldn't know first hand, but everyone who's converted to a T5 raves about how much more lively it feels.

It's almost enough for me to consider the conversion, but I don't really want a s**t T5 that's known to have weaknesses; knowing me, I'd expose those weaknesses early on lol

Hamilton All Ford Day / Henry Ford Memorial Day 2012

Well what a day! Minimal sleep, but still managed to have my car and the old man's XR6 fully washed and detailed before hitting the shower and then bed by 2am.

Up at 5am to get ready to meet up with the Northen NZFF members before convoying down to Hamilton. Great drive on the way down, nothing beats driving along with a group of mint cars in nice peaceful conditions with almost no traffic the entire way down.

The show was awesome, such a good time catching up with the NZFF guys and gals again and meeting some new people too. Oh, can't forget the cars either! Great range of Ford's and a few more E-series Fords which is always excellent to see haha. Weather held up okay for the most part, few showers here and there but nothing extreme. No way near as big as last years show, but still a good turn-out considering, a lot of people would have been put off by the weather forecast.

Got the Fairmont looking pretty decent for the day so took a few shots as always lol..




On the way home got pulled up for doing 24k's over the limit. Was on the motorway coming down a slight declining blind bend, in 3rd accelerating and just as I round the bend and onto the straight, the copper was sitting there about 150m further down just pulling onto the motorway to nab someone else speeding past when I caught his attention on the radar instead. Turned out to be a decent bloke and let me off with a warning thankfully lol.. Pretty rare that I get to save money, but this was definitely one occasion


For anyone interested, here's a link to all photo's from the Ford Day..
http://s717.photobucket.com/albums/ww17 ... ay%202012/

Some better-ish photo's of the seats now that they've had the conditioner applied.




I think I may need the console lid recovered in black to tie it in a bit more.

They sell black covers for $35 or so I think on Ebay.

The conditioner worked wonders, which did you use?

Hmm, might need to jump on there asap then lol, that's fkn cheap as!

I used Mothers Leather Conditioners, has some lanolin stuff in it that smells nice lol. Seems to work okay, gives the leather a slightly softer feel and deeper colour. On the look out for some Autoglym leather conditioner though, heard that stuff is awesome!

hey man i sat up for a good 2-3 hours reading this thread from page one, there's nothing bad to say about this car! apart from it's auto IMO haha.. you've got a good taste everything is well done and clean, a really nice sleek looking car you've got yourself pal.
well done, hopefully when i get my license and some money i can have something as clean as this!

I've heard good things about the mothers one, looks like it worked well.

That place in the Uk was selling the console lid covers, can't see them on there now though.

Just Dye it like you did with the other stuff, should work well on the vinyl. Still has the factory pattern then too.

Woah, thanks mate! Hope the read wasn't too boring, I know the majority of it is BS talking on my behalf lol.

Haha, everyone that see's this car and the work I've done to it says the same thing, convert it to manual!! . Maybe one day, but not in the near future, need the auto for lazy driving haha.


Yeah man, turned out quite well, big difference in terms of feel compared to when I first picked them up.

I jumped on Ebay the other night and spotted that black console lid, looked pretty good! Have you bought anything e-series related through that seller before by any chance? Saw they were based in UK and felt about iffy about it all lol. Worse comes to worse, I'll take it somewhere to get re-trimmed, shouldn't cost too much. Didn't even think of trying the vinyl dye, might have to give that a go first

I honestly think the vinyl paint will work perfect, its made for that stuff.

In another life I bought a gear boot from them for a Celica, it was well made and the service was good.

Will definitely give the vinyl dye a go this weekend. Have got like 3 full can's of satin black sitting in the garage and have to do the armrests on the rest door trims so may as well make a decent job of it lol

what rims are those your have there? they look nice.

Thanks mate . The wheels are just CSA Gladiators in 17x8". Usually silver, but I have done them in gloss black.

oh ok so need new rims, how much did those set you?

love the engine bay more!

Haha, I paid $250 for the wheels 2nd hand, about $100 in paint and prep materials and a couple of days work getting them re-painted. Add another $300 for decent 2nd hand tyres, plus $40 odd for fitting and balancing and they were ready to bolt on.

Worked out pretty good, saved me a lot of money going out and buying a new wheel and tyre combo that's for sure.