Not at the moment MAD, but in all honesty, if you are sitting in the car it doesn't look any different, the raise is quite minimal, just enough to let a little air pass out the back of the engine bay. Side on, it's a bit more noticeable though as it lifts away from the body-line a fair bit.

Fiend; yep, I'd agree with your findings there. If anything, under pressure it would draw air into the engine bay rather than extract, however, I did it more to let air escape whilst stationary. Comes in handy when sitting in the pit lanes at the drags waiting to race. Majority of the time is spent sitting there rolling the car forward followed by a few seconds actually going down the 1/4. The air that gets drawn into the engine bay seems to help cooling to an effect as well though from what I've experienced after long drives on the open road, but no way near as effective as a proper vent.

After seeing what vents were out there, I wasn't too keen to start hacking into the bonnet for vents as it would ruin the smooth lines the EF/EL Fairmont bonnet has.

Well, may as well update while I'm here..

Had an All Ford Day coming up so got stuck into changing things before the show.

Main thing on the list was an intake swap. Picked up a BA XR8/GT pod style airbox + S&B filter and made it fit the EF engine bay. Fairly straight forward. Fitted a EF-EL XR/GT intake snorkel and made up some new intake piping and coated it in black Plasti-dip for a different look. Seems to work fairly well, doesn't really have the snappy throttle-response I had with the open-lid boxed off pod, but keeps heat away out of the box much better. Was planning to port a spare intake manifold and fit it also, but ran out of time.



Picked up a Tickford kit, just a fibreglass copy, not genuine, but the price was way too good to turn down. Was going to fit this the Fairmont and have it painted, but knowing the lack of driveways I can get up without scraping, it's probably best I don't. Might end up putting it on the old man's XR6, should look pretty sweet.


Picked up a set of chrome window strips from a NF Fairlane down at Pick a Part and spent an hour or so swapping them over. Front ones were a straight swap, rear ones needed to be shortened before swapping over. Turned out nicely though and added a touch of chrome to the side which I needed as I am swapping over to Fairlane door moulds which are smoother and don't have chrome stripe inserts.

Got sick of having silver wheels so ended up going back to black - like the saying, once you go black, you never go back. Tried Plasti-dipping the wheels to see how it would turn out and it worked out okay. Probably wouldn't do it again though as it's a real pain to spray considering how thin it is and how many coats it needs for full coverage. It is much more durable than paint though, so that's the only upside to it for me.


Anyways, took this down to Hamilton All Ford Day at the end of July. Good to see there was a decent E-series turnout, even caught up with a couple kiwi guys on the Boostedfalcon.net forum. Was a pretty good day considering I missed the majority of the show as I rocked up about 2 hours before it closed up, lol. The Fairmont had a good run there and back (about 1hr 20min's each way). As expected, it used much less fuel than it did last time I went down back when it had the old cam, haha.




After AFD was over, I had a bit of motivation to get a few things finished off on the Fairmont... Started with the intake manifold swap.

Started off with this spare BBM, pulled it apart, got it soda blasted and then went to work with it.


Finished off porting the intake manifold, gave it a quick coat of flat black engine enamel and spent a good Saturday arvo swapping it over.







Had a spare fuel rail Cermakrome coated so trial fitted that up to see how it looked.


Lined it up against my ported 91AA head + my old gloss black AU rocker cover, looked quite mad


Pulled the polished upper off my old BBM and gave it a quick clean (already smoothed the runner out when I polished it a few years back) and then gasket matched the ports between the upper and lower halves. The gasket between head and lower was trimmed slightly to make sure no parts of it protruded past the port, for some reason nearly every head-to-manifold gasket I have come across has been slightly smaller than the ports on the manifold

Upon pulling the lower intake manifold out of the engine bay, I saw a pretty awful amount of oil pooled up inside the lower manifold. Decided to put the catch can back in straight away, this time deleting the factory PCV breather setup and blocking off the open ports on the throttlebody and intake manifold. Mounted the catch can, gutted the PCV valve and hooked it directly up to to catch can, along with the rear breather hose so now no oil vapour is recirculating back through the intake.

Manifold off. Was planning to relocate the coilpack at this point, but just couldn't find a decent place for it that wouldn't make it stand out too much


Once the ported manifold was in, I got to work swapping over the Cermakrome coated fuel rail. Pulled the AU injectors apart, hooked them up to a DIY pulsing circuit and flushed some throttlebody cleaner through each of them. Grabbed a multimeter and did a quick resistance check on them first before fitting the new the o-rings, filters and pintle caps. Put it all back together and that was that!

Injectors on the operating table, lol.

Old parts vs new parts..

All freshened up..



All back together..



Seems to run much smoother now, and combined with a tad more advance in the spark tables around half throttle and cruise, it seems to be slightly more economical and feels a bit more effortless.

Bottom end is now starting to show it's age though, pulled the plugs out a couple months back and saw that cylinders 4 and 5 had a small amount of oil on the them. Still feels fairly strong though which is a bit of a surprise. Hasn't really gotten any worse, but it's got a fair amount of blow-by. Suppose it's done pretty well though, has copped so much abuse over the past few years I've owned it (multiple times on the dyno, multiple skids and passes down at the drags, not to mention the thrashing it cops as a daily driver, lol)

Took it to the drags a couple weeks back for a muck around. Best I got was a 15.6 something, fairly muggy day and didn't get time to cool down between runs, at one point I got 3 runs back to back within about 5 minutes .



Took the Fairmont out to a local 'hardpark' type of event which seem to be all the rage these days, got a fair bit of interest as I was amongst the 5 or so Fords at the show which had around 500 cars or so in total. Car scene is massively dominated by Jap imports here in NZ. One of the photographers from the day snapped this up.


Got a couple of drag days coming up so might pull out the subs, the spare wheel and any other dead weight (might pay to drop a few kg's myself, ha!) and see if I can better that time.

Since then, I've changed to an alloy driveshaft out of an AU XR6 - straight swap over.


Weighed it up and it was half the weight of the steel one (~5kg vs ~10kg), but 1/4" bigger in diameter. I already had dramas with the steel shaft rubbing the tunnel at the diff end which was fixed with an EL XR6 diff bump stop, but with the alloy shaft being larger, it tends to rub slightly with the car loaded up with people on hard acceleration. Also found that the stop is sitting on the diff snout when the car is sitting at normal height, so would be interesting to cut it down a little bit, bash the tunnel up a bit more and see how much lower the ride height drops.

Decided to go back to the black AU rocker cover and get some proper fittings fitted in place of the factory breather port and PCV valve. Started by getting it sandblasted back to bare alloy. I bought a M18x1.5 to -8AN adaptor, took the AU rocker cover into work and completely drilled out the rear breather port and tapped it to suit the adaptor. The PCV hole was a bit too big to do the same, so bought a -8AN bung and had it welded in place. A pair of 90degree pushlock style fittings + some Parker pushlock hose and it's good to go (stainless braided hose shown is actually replacing my blue coolant overflow hoses)


Currently in the process of repainting the cover in gloss black again, then it will be swapped over. After that, keep thrashing it till the engine blows or dies completely then make a decision on what to do with it . Still not sure whether or not I buy an AU motor from a mate, or stick with the current motor and freshen it up for a possible turbo build (have been getting pretty damn keen after a couple of mates from Rotorua have got turbo'd Falcon's and seeing how hard they go). Running out of room to do s**t at home so it's looking like the latter which would suit me fine.

Also, jumped into a group buy happening over on Boostedfalcon.net for a pair of AU upper control arm adaptors, obviously to allow fitment of AU upper control arms to an E-series upright. The main benefit being a lot more caster angle. More caster means I won't have to run as much static negative camber and take advantage of the extra dynamic negative camber that comes with more caster. Can't wait for those to come through!!

Have important things to say regarding T5's, o2 sensor positions, removing fuel and brake lines before undersealing, sandlasting and vht painting exhaust pipes, driveshaft scraping on body, and many others.

But all that pales in comparison to...

I BLOODY HOPE YOU USED AXLE STANDS!
Wow. You what? Can you draw a picture?

Sure you don't want a T5, flywheel, clutch? No bellhousing or pedal box conversion to go with it mind you.

Lol, that undershot was taken about 5 seconds before I let the car back down. Axle stands were under the diff whilst working under there. Safety first

Re: the AU upper arm adaptors, everything is covered in theses topics with some decent photo's showing the differences in the castor angle and camber gain on full lock (you might need to register to view if you aren't already on boostedfalcon).
http://www.boostedfalcon.net/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=26125
http://www.boostedfalcon.net/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=26367

And no, no T5 for me, lol. Hi-stalled auto is the only way I'll go with this build. If I had a dollar for everytime someone tried to convince me to convert the Fairmont to manual, I might have enough to actually buy a full T5 conversion . Funnily enough, I've had 2 full conversions offered to me in the last 2 months, best of which was $750 cash for a full T5 conversion out of an EF XR6 from a wrecker I bought my Concorde wheels from. I probably should have bought it and chucked it on Trade Me for some profit

I was just interested to know how much of a gap it was. Ideas in my head needed to know.

I'll try get a decent photo of the view from inside tomorrow after work when I've got a bit of light. Just had a double check on my PC if I had any different shots, but everything I have is side-on.

How's things going with the EL, MAD? Having engine bay temp issues as well?

Things are happening slowly. It all seems to be prep work though cause nothing's really changing.
One day it will all come together.

Sure.I did notice that when I left the AU parked on full look it looked like the wheels were half way through falling off. Like a skier turning into a big skid. Sort of. And no, why would I be on "boosted"? I lose enough time with this place already. Even tho it has died. I blame GTA5.But then, you would put it on TradeMe and not sell it for one hundred years and end up giving it away. Two days later a heap of people will come out the wood work and say "I would have got that......"

Like me buying the T5z with new billet plates, gears, seals - Rebuilt for a cost of over $3000. I got it for $1500 and was the only person to put a bid on. But there were ten to fifteen "watches" on the auction. Then some of them say "I would have bought that..."

Good on them.

And, I don't think things are happening slowly. I think you're going along well. Quality over quantity. Good on ya.

Now, how do I put AU seats in the EF again?

Sorry for the massive delay in getting some photo's mate, my little old camera decided to pack up last week after a drop test

Managed to get these tonight, although they are far from decent. I tried getting a photo from inside, but the SLR I've got is a bit too bulky to get above the dash for a decent angle so had to settle for an outside shot compared to the normal fitment on my Dad's XR6.
Stock

Raised


Pretty hopeless shots I know, but I hope that is of some help.

While I'm here, got my AU rocker cover done with -8 bungs fitted, 90 degree pushlock fittings + matching Parker pushlock hose. Removed the baffles blocking the breather ports under the rocker cover so the engine should be able to get rid of vapour a bit better now (should come in handy for future mods also).

Sprayed it in low gloss black with a couple coats of clear and blocked back lettering. While I was at it, got rid of the silicon overflow hoses and replaced it with stainless -8 braided hose. Just need to get rid of the blue radiator hoses as they are now looking tacky as f**k . Will probably get the throttlebody redone in HPC and be done with it.

Engine bay looks killer

Where do you get this braided hose from? And does it last forever compared to normal hose?

Cheers Tyler . Braided hose should be available at pretty much any speed/performance shop. I got mine through a local company who supplies the D1NZ (national drift series here) so I could be assured of the quality.

Not sure if it'll last forever, but it'll sure outlive a normal rubber hose. The stainless braid gives the rubber inner hose a tough exterior to resist abrasions and cuts. The outer braid also restricts the expansion of rubber under pressure so the rubber doesn't really have a chance to over-expand and swell up or burst.

Thanks for the shots.
I did a little investigating myself to see how much space there was.

I'm hoping I'll be able to jig up a reverse cowl induction without the reverse cowl, and so far it's looking pretty good. Just need to investigate a few more things like where the airbox will meet the firewall and bonnet.

I will probably either cut a section of the lip off the bonnet and bend the lip on the firewall for suitable air flow.

Initially I was thinking to cut in to the plenum area through the firewall but the brake lines are in the way and that's just extra work.

That'll definitely be something different! Extremely interested in seeing how you get on with the cowl induction idea, sounds like it could be made to work quite well with your setup

If it works the way I hope, it should be easy to do for N/A as well.

Well, things have been going pretty well for the Fairmont lately! Haven't really done anything to it apart from get it all ready for this season of Night Speed Drag Wars, but had a few gremlins in the way beforehand. Fuel pump slowly started dying on me a couple weeks back, so swapped that out for a 2nd hand unit to get me by (aftermarket pumps here are stupidly overpriced). Have been in talks with Tuff Car Parts so should have a Walbro pump on order once I get some money together.

Got it all running fine so took it down to the first round last Friday for some fun.

A couple pic's from some photographers




First time back at the drags with the new mild cam so was good to test it out and see how different it performed compared to the bigger cam. Results were night and day, lol. Was getting much better 60' times and managed to get a new PB for the Fairmont. 15.19 @ 91mph (slow piece of s**t, lol). Still getting the same trap speed at half a second quicker, so I guess this cam is much better suited to everything else I have currently.

Quick vid made of the night at the drags. Made a quick feature at about 1:30 hahaha
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OIzM1d6oOc

Managed to get the low 15 I was after, so next up is to get it into the 14's

Currently in the process of looking at another cam option, something with slightly stronger midrange but nothing too aggressive with a stock stall modded for a 2500-2600rpm stall speed.

Scored some AU upper control arms on the cheap from Pick-a-Part a couple weeks back in preparation to do the AU upper arm conversion into the EF. My upper arm adaptors from Rollin arrived pretty quick so took the arms and adaptors into work this week and made use of the hydraulic press . 

Rollin's upper arm adaptors (some very well made units IMO)


Popped the balljoints out of the AU arms and pressed the adaptors in to allow fitment of the E-series balljoint into the upper arm as per normal. The adaptors were made to be a very tight fit into the AU arm bore, so there is absolutely no way these suckers are coming out hahaha



Fingers crossed I'll fit these up maybe Wednesday night after I get some new bushes and try get a wheel alignment sorted out hopefully for either Thursday, Friday or Monday whichever is free.

It's only been June 2008 since my last wheel alignment was done . The suspension has changed a fair bit since then and even more so when these AU arms go in, so it'll be a bloody good time for a decent alignment

Swapped the AU upper control arms in this past Thursday night..

Extremely impressed with the results!

Front end got jacked up and the factory control arms were removed along with all the wheel alignment shims. Massive difference in appearance to the AU arms, but the mounting points are exactly the same, and with the custom adaptors, balljoint stud fitment is exactly as per factory.


Ended up taking out about ~5mm worth of shims from front and rear of each control arm as I ran out of room on the standard AU studs. Even with less shims, the amount of negative camber seemed less than it did with the standard EF arms with more shims. Tried to eyeline the front end to keep the camber fairly even before taking it in for an alignment (turns out I did a pretty good job as I later found out, haha)


With standard EF upper arm


With AU upper arm + Rollin's adaptor


Full lock outside with standard EF upper arm

The same again, but with the AU upper arm


Full lock inside with standard EF upper arm


The same again, but with the AU upper arm



Took it down to 'Racelign' for an alignment Friday morning. Had a quick chat with the technician to discuss what sort of characteristics I was looking for out of the alignment and what work had been done to the suspension, he played with it for about 30min's and came back with some good results. Essentially, all it needed was a toe adjustment as camber and castor were already where we wanted them to be.


When it went in for an alignment both sides were almost bang on -1 degree so we left that as is . Castor was already at around 9 degrees so we left it there as well. Toe was out so far it wasn't funny! Just driving down my driveway, I could feel the tyres trying to scrub across the surface. The technician said the same thing and ended up making some adjustments before evening beginning to do the alignment. At a guess he said it would have been around 8mm toe out either side . Managed to get that back down to a nicer total of 1.2mm toe-in to start with and see how that goes.

So in short, the fitment of the AU upper control arms are brilliant! They have given me about 9 degrees of castor (I was previously running 3.5 degrees with the EF arms), alignment has been set up with -1 degree of camber and running 0.6mm toe-in each side.

Feels great all round, turn-in just feels completely different to before, it's awesome! Steering is nice and responsive, even more so when you come into a sharp corner. Feels like it has much more front end grip (could punt it around a round-about a couple of times slowly building up speed and it was hanging on beautifully, lol) and just generally feels nicer to drive in all conditions. Extra castor + the wheel alignment seems to have it driving a lot straighter, I use to have issues with the car tracking with the contours in the road, but can't feel that anymore.

Ended up taking this down the drags on Friday arvo/night for a few skids.




Best I could manage was a 15.2 . Couldn't crack a 14, was doing pretty s**t 2.3x 60 footers so was still getting low 15's all at 92mph. Might try advancing the cam a couple degrees before the next drag day and see if it'll give me that little extra bottom end to get off the line quicker. Have been leaving in ECON mode so it's shifting at 4500rpm, so shouldn't really effect top end anyway.