Maybe, it's about 1000 kays each way. Of course the bulk of that would be on the Spirit.




Not really, this particular one was completely rooted body-wise. Rust and dents on every panel.
It had been used by some bogans, looks like it was very well looked after prior to that though.

I read that you were trying to trade up your DA for a DC.

Are you after a V8 and BTR?

It's in Vic IIRC and it look's like you're in Queensland, but there's a DCII with a rough body for $1000. It's a V8..

Just got off the phone with the guy about the LTD. He's accepted someone's offer of $1300..

If it falls through he's going to let me know tomorrow.


Also Brad, remember that threaded thing you saw at the front of my AU? It's the left-hand sway bar mount... I've no idea how long that's been off for or how it's happened. It wasn't off when I put the alloys on it a few weeks ago.

lol

thought it might of been that was abit hard to tell from the back of the car. hurry up and fix it

yeah V8 and BTR... i found a EB V8 for 750 as is... if i can come up with the cash ill buy that one and do a motor swap as the body on the falcon looks a bit R/S

$750 seems a very reasonable price for a V8 donor car

IT is very reasonable, and those v8's are not too expensive for things like bearings & rings if they need them...

Cheers

ToranaGuy

Yeah he's done well.

I've just got to book a trailer and should be all set to pickup a complete AUI Fairmont Ghia VCT wreck.

Unfortunately it's a series one, so using the climate control, premium sound, cluster, computers and wiring looms won't be as simple as I'd like. But I'm going to try and either swap the whole loom and computers, change the existing looms or just sell the gear.

how much foir the vct gear?

AFAIK:

The climate control unit interchanges 100%. I have an S2 unit in an S1 Fairmont.

The Audio swaps right over, however you lose the steering wheel controls.

Does it? I thought S1 and S2 were different, must just be the backlight colour?

Yeah that's a bit of a pain, but I'm sure they aren't too different and could be made to suit. Or I could swap over the clock spring and some of the loom if necessary. But that's a big job while driving it

motor is sold to me

All set to pick the car up tomorrow, yay

I've been researching the following stuff:

BA SSS shifter, cable and SSS function
AU IRS retrofit to leaf sprung chassis
AUI and AUII computers, wiring looms and device cross compatibility
BA/BF XR8 & Territory brakes

It's a very large amount of work really..


BA SSS
All the hard work has already been done for this, as most would know. Muzza makes a kit for E-series which would also apply for AU's too. All that's required (apart from Muzza's gear) is the BA shifter, cable, shifter base and perhaps the surround trim. I'm lead to believe the most difficult parts are the shifter cable conversion mounting etc and the mounting and console integration of the BA shifter base as it's quite deep.

I plan to make a cut-out in the AU shifter trim to allow the BA shifter to move to the left for SSS mode as that'll allow for good integration into the somewhat odd shape AU console. I also have a Forte shifter trim and a Ghia trim with rippled chrome to get it right before using the actual Ghia trim. Otherwise it'll be cutting the BA trim into the AU outer's of the surround and fibreglassing it.


IRS
AU double wishbone IRS is very different to BA control blade IRS. The BA gear doesn't require shock towers, where as the AU setup does. Of course the A and B series wagons and utes don't have shock towers as it mounts on the outside of the chassis rails.

It seems fairly straight forward to fit AU IRS to AU and E-series Watts link rear ends though. The IRS sub-frame is designed to bolt to the Watts link mounts on the AU (sedans and LWB, not leaf sprung though of course).

Still, I don't mind shock towers consuming space at all, and since the Fairmont will have everything required I'm pretty set on cutting and welding any mounts and floor pieces if necessary. I'm going to measure things up when possible.


B-series brakes


From what I've read several people have bolted BA or BF XR8/Territory brakes straight into the front and rear of an AUII.
If that's accurate it'll make a cheap and easy brake upgrade, especially for the rear, not that the rear does too much of the braking anyhow..


I've also made a list of stuff from the Fairmont that's going in my AU:

Front and rear seats
Door cards and interior handles
Power window switches
Rear power windows
Both front doors
One or both side mirrors
Rear view mirror
B-pillar trim
A-pillar trim (for the speakers)
All 11 premium speakers
Amp and possible the headunit w/ CD stacker
Steering wheel radio control (depending on the S1 audio gear installed)
Dash (eventually after sorting S1 and S2 wiring and computer differences)
Power aerial (my current one clicks a lot since the day I bought the car..)
Cabin wiring loom for the drivers power seat and rear power windows
Speaker wiring looms
Door ajar sensors
Console
Steering wheel
Shifter (until the BA stuff gets going)
Headlight switch (ideally using the delay feature, with either the S1 or a new S2 BCM)

Possibly the S1 high-end cluster if the compatibility can be sorted reasonably easy, and the analogue clock, trip computer and climate control unit. Which will also mean swapping the automatic climate control gear in too.

I also want to look into a traction control conversion too, although I've read that the AU only has 3 channel ABS (true?) so it's a bit primitive. I've also read some conflicting reports that traction control and LSD aren't able to work together on an AU, due to the 3 channel ABS.
But I'm sure I've seen AU Fairlane's etc with LSD and of course traction control..

I'm not sure whether this Fairmont has LSD or not, nor what ratio the gearing is.


This is really a long term wishlist for obvious reasons. But I've been eyeing a WB Kingswood flat tray ute a few houses up from mine. I've only ever seen it moved once since I've lived here. It's parked on the road so it's registered and presumably goes as it's tray was full and it's now empty.

It's probably a 3spd manual column and 202, but the body is in incredibly good condition. There's no rust that I can see at all in the cab, it's a creme colour but it looks very tidy for an 80's ute.
I'm going to see if the owner wants to sell it as it rarely seems to be used..

someones got a large list of plans did you ever hear back about the BF front end from the b**ch at the wreckers?

No, I've called back four times now over two weeks. The last reply was "talk to whatsitsface, he should be here at about 2pm".. Not even an offer of a call back (not that it's worth anything).