Hey everyone been lurking on here for a while now, some awesome cars, and friendly people. So I thought I might post up a build thread of my own maybe get to know some of you.

It is a 4 speed series 3 2002 AU forte

Bought it a year ago completely stock in very good condition inside and out. Service history and a touch over 180k. Just talking to the previous owner I could tell it had been treated well, and further inspection supported this. Snapped it up and have been happy with it since. Au's are not for everybody and it has gained the nickname grandpa car from my mates but I love it.

I was still on my L's at the time so the first things that went in was a sound system (Who would have thought haha) just a kicker 12'' sub, kicker speakers and a jvc head unit nothing spectacular but it does the job.

My dad convinced me that if I'm going to be keeping the car a while I should probably get an LPG conversion so that's just what I did. Now I love the $50 tank fills and the fitter managed to get doing up to 550 kms on a full tank. But if I was to do it again and I knew what I know now I would probably have saved up that bit more for and injected system for the simple fact of it bugs me knowing that I have a very restricted air intake now ( I knew even less then than I do now, and was not aware of the down falls of venturi systems)

It stayed like this or quite a while until I got sick of not having any exhaust note ( Had a very new 2.25 walker system when I got it) so I fitted a 2.5 Lukey cat back and was quite happy with the result . It does not drone as much as I thought it might.


I read good things about the adjustable electronic shift kits so wired one in and fited the switch in the single DIN radio pocket out of the way. Turned down low I find it feels a lot better shifting under moderate acceleration when it is switched on but needs to be turned of for stop start driving, too harsh.

I then came across a Fairmont ghia grill. Its off a series 1, I would have preferred the later version without the chrome bar running through the middle but this one came up, may swap one day.

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I was looking around the local wrecker and found a chaser in one of the au's. Someone had riped the needles off of it and chucked it back in the car so I managed to get it for 20 bucks, got it home and put my needles on worked perfectly was very happy with that fined.

After scrubbing out a set of tires I installed a caster camber kit and have been enjoying very straight steering since

I got a bit sick of the base model door trims so I looked into wrapping the fabric inserts in vinyl and the power window switch trim in some cheap, ebay carbon fiber wrapping. I don't think it turned out too bad Was a bit of a job, lots of waiting for contact adhesive to dry in order to continue but it was worth it. Covered up the seats which now do not match the rest of the interior with povo super cheap seat covers. I'm hoping to replace the sagging roof lining with some kind of black sued like material.

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Again at the same wreck as before, I found a wrecked Fairmont that hadn't been striped, managed to pick up a mint ghia bonnet mold for $7 could not pay and get it home quick enough haha.

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Picked up a transmission fluid cooler as a bit of reassurance and gave the transmission a fluid flush and filter change was very black and do not get me started on the filler plug

Just got some herrod motor sport, 4499 equivalent headers and waiting on my high flow cat too fit them previous owner (of the headers) had a straight pipe and I don't like the smell of rotten eggs.

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So that is pretty much where I am now cannot wait to have my extractors on. This will be a slow build as I am finishing my year 12 so funds are tight.

Thanks for reading

Sounds like a good buy man, not really a fan of the look of the AU's but it is growing on me, and be sure to post a vid of the new exhaust.

Neither was I when I got it. But It has grown on me, especialy with a few fairmont trimmings. Will do, hopefully its not overly loud. I can put up with a bit of droning but I think this will be abit over the top.

yeah or xr ones i like the most, and yeah dont want it too loud for boys in blue etc hey

Well the headers and high flow cat are on and i am very happy with the result. A much nicer tone then before (for a 6), not necessarily louder which is good. It has seemed to induce some droning but nothing too bad.

Picked up a Soundstream t5-12 in a ported box and a Soundstream TX 1300.d amp. Very happy with the price and condition of these. I probably should have grown out of my *Doof Doof* Stage by now.... maybe next year.

Will get a video of the exhaust later.

Thanks

looking forward to the video, so need a job to get things done on mine