Well I was hoping to have a pic of it this afternoon with a nice new Tonneau cover on it but at this stage the shop has not got back to me to let me know it has come in. Damn!
I had to get a new support bar as mine did not have one. You can only really get these from Fraud.
XD-XH one was $67.
FG one was $42.
The FG one actually fitted. It is a little tight and needs a bit of a whack to get it in place but it locks in nice and tight and has a square profile so it might keep the Tonneau nice and flat.

It is booked in on my next day off in a couple of weeks to have the windows tinted. 20% all round , so Ill have to extract my finger and get the window frames rubbed back and painted up.
Started to give it a bit of a polish today in between rain spurts and its coming up a treat. It really needed a good polish. Will work more on that in the afternoons.

Here is a couple of changes I made to the interior yesterday. In my quest to remove all signs of E series crap fom my yard I had a big clean up. Well I still had the NA Fairlane seats that came in the Cobalt Monty sitting here. I thought I would look and see how far off the runners were from fitting the ute before I decided what to do with them.
The runners were exactly the same and they bolted straight in. Bonus!
I thought I would then see how far off the old ED Fairmont console was from fitting in. It bolted straight in as well.
So I come out with a set of comfy seats and a console with a good size storage bin and an armrest. I still need to make up a panel to fill in where the old power window buttons were and it has been too wet and miserable today to shampoo it but after a quick wipeover here is what the interior came out like.



Should look a bit nicer once its cleaned up. I also did the same as BenJ did. I actually stole the idea from him.LOL
Before the old back seat went in the wreck to scrap I sliced all the matching pattened material off it for the arm rest inserts. I will be getting another set of XF door cards , trying my hand at making some speaker pods and trying to get some grey velour off the trimmer down the road to match the seats. Then I will cover the inserts in the matching material and it all should look pretty swish.
That will happen after I have fitted power windows and such once I track a set down.

I also found the set of wheels I want today. Cant think of the name of them but they are 17x8 and the package will be 235/45 17 fronts and 245/40 17 rear. They will look great on it but I just need to convince the minister that I need to spend another $1400 on a car this month. It might be a keen thought................................

Looking good there buddy.

Good thinking to cut out the material. When done, it should tie the whole interior together nicely.

As for the missing trim piece where the power windows would go, I have a factory blank that goes there. They are quite rare as they were only available on EA Monts without Pwr Windows.

I will be happy to part with it for $30.

Let me know if you would like it.

BenJ

Yes thankyou Mr Ben I shall take that. Sending you a PM now!

Maybe the hurricanes would look good polished up with the centre piece around the wheel nuts painted/polished to match the spokes and the inner part (faded black part) painted black?

Might look decent enough till you can convince the finance department to give you some cash

Yeah that could work too. The problem now is myself. The minster has said do it!
Dunno if I wanna spend the cash yet.

Hmmm, I have the Black 16 x 8 ROH Snypers sitting around here doing nothing in particular. For the right price, I may let them go.

Thought I would add some complexity to your pondering.

BenJ

You suck making me think

PM me a price. Im open to ideas at the moment!

DOH! The quote button is not the way to send PM's d***head!

They are certainly in the ball park too Ash.
I currently have 3 options. Hopefully something comes out of it!

Tonneau cover arrived today. Was pouring rain here when I put it on so didnt get any pics of it. Makes things look a lot tidier now but.
Not having much luck on the rims front.
Struggling to find something not toooo far from Sydney for around the $500- $600 mark.

Hey if you dont like black, you could always get the paint stripper to them and get them polished, but then again for the money getting them polished you could always buy other rims lol.

Josh

Well the wheel hunt continues.
14 and 15 inch rims are out because there is really no tyres available anymore. I can get a 265/50 14 for $450 each! They are old stock the supplier can charge what he wants for them as he knows someone will pay it and once they run out they run out.
Pretty much the same story for 15's.
Was thinking sixteens until I checked and unless you want a 225/55/16 its pretty much the same story as above.
There is stuff all available that I like brand new in 17's with the correct pre au offset.
Now Im looking at 18's. It could actually be cheaper this way as wheels and tyres are both cheaper due to high demand. Just wondering how poxy a set of 18's on a XF will look but..............................

Another thing to consider is how much weight you might want to carry in the ute. Tyre choice would effect this too.

BenJ

It will never be carrying that much weight for it to be a major issue. The worst it will be carrying on the nice wheels will be a load of firewood.
Plus where the final ride height will wind up will not be very load friendly with big wheels on. The guards will be making sweet sweet love with the tyres.
If it is going to get a big load it will have a pair of the 15" Fairmont Ghia rims I have here put on the back for the job. I used to swap wheels for a big tip run etc back in the days of my old XY ute.

Have seen 17" on XF/XG and I think that they are a good size, you may find 18"+ a bit big for that series. Also 17" tyres and not that dear. Still think chrome 12 slots would look the part