G'day guys,

I've been meaning to make this thread for some time now, but I'm still deciding as to how I'm going to approach the build. I might as well start from the beginning (grab ya popcorn)

I was hunting around for a cheap car that I could call my own and learn in. I have plenty of knowledge in electronics and am very handy with a soldering iron, and I love researching and learning. My mechanical knowledge isn't the best, but I was determined to improve that.

It all started during the Easter holidays. Me and my mother are great friends with the pub owner, and I'd thought I'd ask if he knew of anyone with a cheap car they're wanting gone and needs work. My mother ended up asking him and he said that he had a car that a mob of backpackers left out the back. He had no use for it, and said I could have it for nothing. He said he could get it out and tow it in "at a later date". It wasn't running, but I was determined to fix whatever needs fixing. He is very forgetful, and told me it was a Ford ute.

So June comes around, and I am extremely excited to get the car. He delayed it for a far while, but on a random Monday afternoon, the car finally came. To my surprise it wasn't a ute, but instead a Falcon wagon.

A 1996 EL Falcon GLi wagon, column shift auto, bench seat, footbrake, smelt horrible and looked f**ked. I thought I was a bogan until I saw how those bast*rds treated it. It had no battery, so I couldn't find out how many kms it had done either. It was a wreck, and everyone around me told me it "wasn't worth doing". Growing up with a Holden and Toyota family, its not easy having a Falcon. I don't know what I see in this car, but one things for sure; I'm not giving up on it. It may look like a big sh*tbox, but its my sh*tbox that I am going to bring back to life. I borrowed a truck battery from a mate, too f**ked to start the car, but enough juice to give me the Kilometres... 360,751kms on the original engine No worries though, if need be I'll pick up a wreck and do an engine swap.

Since then I've washed the outside, cleaned the cr*p from the inside, given a few touchups here and there, a new headlight unit and picked up a battery and some fuel and she does start! But the smartlock needs attention (the old bang the side panel does the trick). I've got an exhaust coming (very near new, only $40!!) and am going to paint the roof and bonnet. The left side panel needs replacing too. Rear shockies need replacing too (looking at some Monroes).

As far as the build goes, I think I will go for a "better than stock" build. Not hooned up or fast, but just nice, with plenty of cool features. It's gonna be a challenge, especially with a column shift (jesus help me if I need a tranny replacement). Its gonna be a challenge, but I'm doing my research and saving up to complete my Falcon.

TL;DR: Was given a free car that was a bit of a wreck but have plans to bring it back and make it better than before.

Pics when I first got the car

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A few after I fixed a few things up, more on the way within the coming weeks

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good on ya .. the K's don't matter as long as was serviced appropriately ie changed engine oil & gearbox fluid. and the box is a standard box as far as i know

Backpackers and regular servicing LOL Not Happening................

true!

Agreed with both of ya, it is a concern as to how it has been treated in its life. I took the VIN number to the cops and they where able to ring the bloke who it was last rego'd to. It was reported stolen in 2009 and was involved in a bit of a police chase, but he got it back with no damage. He said he sold it because he was able to get tax off it, or not able to get tax off it anymore? Something about tax anyway...

The bloke he sold it to shared it with his group of backpackers. Thats where it started to become neglected. After the smartlock started causing trouble the bloke was wrecking it (he didn't take much, I've practically replaced everything he took). By this time he was getting ready to packup and leave with his backpacker friends, but couldn't afford the tabs he'd owed the pub owner. So instead he gave him the car (he had about $450 worth of tabs, and the car certainly wasn't worth that much) before fleeing. It was milked of fuel, didn't have any coolant and was low on oil.

I've done that bit of basic servicing (oil, oil filter and coolant) and she seems to be running fine. Did have problems when you go to make a stop and turn, but that turned out to be the IAC.

G'day all, I don't think its worth posting another thread for this, but I wanted to quickly ask if the key for an EL Falcon will work in an EF?

I'm having strong thoughts about swapping my Barina (yeah I know, yuck) for an EF but the bloke said hes lost the key to it and can't get in. If I can start it she's mine.

Also while I'm at it, the EF and EL Gli fender panels are the same aren't they? I know the lights are definitely different, but the indicators are the same so therefore the panels should be the same to.

Ignition Barrel and keys are the same for all E series. If you change the barrel, you with need to mate it to the BCM.

Front guards are the same for EF and EL GLi/Futura/XR and Fairmont/Fairlane/LTD.

Front indicators are the same for EF and EL GLi/Futura and Fairmont/Fairlane/LTD. XR are different.

Cheers mate, looks like I've got myself an EF

Well this forum looks like it could use a bit of updating
Ehhh, can't say its "going to plan" but its going some way at least. The other day I went to clean out the seats and to do some general cleanups, I went into the bay and checked the fluids. Not expecting anything out of the ordinary, just something to do. First thing I noticed was the coolant was running quite low. Seeing that there was a leak running across the rocker cover, I thought maybe it was just a bad rocker cover gasket, or at least that's what I was hoping for. Took of the rocker cover, nothing. Seal was a bit hard but that was about it.

Took the heat shield off, and sure enough there was a muck buildup in cylinder 4, 5 and 6. *Sigh*
At 360,751kms I've decided that it simply isn't worth spending the time and money on an engine with such mileage, and the fact that I know so little about the engines life.

But I'm not backing out of this fight!! I've ordered/reserved not one, but 2 Falcon wagons
An EF and an EL.
The EL is pretty battered and the engines a bit bang splutter splutter, but being a Futura its got some cool extras that will come in handy like electric windows, a twisty thing on the stalk that I have yet to figure out what it is and and an all round clean dash and wheel.

The EF has only done 210,xxxkms and was owned by an older fella who has all the paperwork and service history. It too has done a head gasket, but since I know its life completely and with such little mileage I'm happy to spend the money on it. The interior is in fantastic nick, and not a dent on any panel. Everything is complete, the only thing I can fault it is the rooflining needs to be redone.

So the plan: Sell as much as I can out of my Falcon and basically gut the interior and engine bay (keeping only a few things such as the column shift equipment, pedals, carpet ect.. anything that makes my car unique). I have done all the sums, and if I'm able to sell everything I will be able to afford the $400 for both cars and the tow truck home. From there, I will replace the EF head gasket. Then I will rewire the EL with the EF wiring loom and use the doors and tailgate from the EF to the EL. Then I'll basically be swapping everything from the EF and the other EL into my EL like the dash and seats before painting the replaced panels to the right colour. Pick up some brand new shocks and a nice stereo and hoping to have myself a clean, nice looking, comfortable 6 seater car. I've decided to not worry about performance, after all it is a column shift with a foot parking brake.

Why are you replacing the EL wiring loom with the EF Loom?

Just fit the dizzy etc from the EL to the EF Engine.

That was the original plan, but I thought since I had to respray the engine bay and replace the interior and dash anyway I may as well use the wiring loom from the all round better car. Just for piece of mind. Would there be any disadvantage to this? I'm happy to do all the work if it will be better in the future.

Finally bought and had a look at the 2 cars. Old mate gave me a deal of $150 for both as he wanted them gone. Bargain of the century I reckon. Also found out that the EF has a limited slip diff, near new exhaust and is the "Olympic Classic" edition, does this add any extra worth to the car?
Towie will pick them up on the 10th or so, the bloke who I'm buying them off has a car trailer, but not wide enough for the wagons.
Couple of pics:







One thing did trip me up today. I didn't realize that the switch for the electric windows are in the centre console, and I don't have a centre console!! Now I'm stuck as to whether I should try mount the switches to the dash or doors somewhere or if I should just stick with the old manual window winders.

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