Well, it all started in the year 2000 as a vibrant 20 year old. Two years of complaining about the AU and life was tough as a Ford fan, my Holden mates with their VT Commodore and Gen 3 LS1 were making weekend BBQ conversations tough. Especially when a couple of them with more money than brains and a developing internet had access to bolt on horsepower from the states. 350+ RWHP was an achievable effort for a Bogan.

Along comes the AU2 with a warmed Windsor and a much more desirable bodykit and interior.....something stirred in my pants (a common problem for 20 year olds apparently).

All I wanted was to offload my warm 6cyl EF XR6 and get the AU2 XR8, with leather, momo, premium sound, manual, big brakes, the works.

Fast forward 16 years, I've had about 7 or 8 Fords, including a lovely BF series 2 XR8 and a quick wagon.....but the closest I got to the 20 year old's wet dream was an AU2 XR6. Not bad but not exactly sizzling either.

Having recently lost my mining company job and company car, it was a blessing in disguise that saw me land into a new job within 4 weeks, more money, back in Perth....but no company car.

Short on funds and shy of getting a loan, I cast the net with $5k and "Ford" as my search requirements.

I came across a 2000 model XR8 in Galaxy, leather, momo, premium sound, upgraded brakes, 200kw motor. For the princely negotiated sum of $2000.

Now, she is tired. Scratches everywhere, missing it's side skirts, missing it's rims, missing half the stereo, worn bushes, torn seating, wobbly motor, tired gearbox (auto), air con doesn't work, and dents in the rear left door and bonnet.

I've saved $3k on purchase price, borrowed another $2k from the wife on a no interest but "pay for the rest of my life if I waste it" loan.

Let's see what can manage between me, my FIFO brother, a young spray painter apprentice, and a mechanic whom I trust but will charge full price for the tricky jobs.

Bring on gumtree and eBay.

The to do list is as follows.

Fibre sport front pursuit lip (maybe)
Fibre sport rear bumper (maybe rebel style)
Find some side skirts from somewhere
Find a new bonnet and rear left door
Bush kit and sway bar links front and rear
Fix handbrake as it is causing a grinding noise near the back end and doesn't work at the handle.
Paint replacement panels if not Galaxy Blue
Buff or reapply clearcoat to steel panels that are remaining.
Fix wobble, its either harmonic balancer or torque converter
Service gearbox
Replace power steering hose
Replace rear main seal
Find Tickford 17 inch rims and tyres
Wheel alignment
Fix air con (cracked condenser and regas)
Fix squeeky idler pulley
Replace a couple internal door handles
Relign roof lining as it's sagging
Repair two front seats torn leather
Replace hand hold on internal driver door (worn)
Replace sunglass holder as it's broken off

I think that's it. All for $5k. What are my chances?!?! Clearly I will be steering clear of Pedders and Dealerships.

Stay tuned to find out. Ill be doing bushes and sway bars and a few other things myself, need a mechanic to do gearbox/main seal/torque converter as I'm not really set up to pull gearbox out.

If anyone knows the best places to source parts and has a mechanic that works in beer or sexual favours let me know. I may just have to take one for the team to restore this beast to its former beauty.

If I can get it all done by tax time. I "may" be able to squeeze another $3k or $4k to warm up the engine.

DJ

Some pics of what we are starting with, scratches everywhere, wrong rims, missing body kit, sandblasted front and cracked bumper. Plus the dented bonnet and rear left door.

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Couple of the other issues.

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First purchase last night. Took me a while but I have managed to track down a good set, minimal scratching, no peeling clear coat.

2x new tyres, 2 @ 50%. The guy I bought them off had some spare Achilles tyres brand new, so he threw in a couple for me in the sale.

$500 later....there were cheaper ones but in worse condition. Plus I can hopefully sell the DJR 18's for $100 - $200 and make some money back.

Today; the car is down at the friendly mechanic. Harmonic balancer (rooted), plus gearbox service and replace the front belt.

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still looks pretty good in the pics mate..
in reading the first post i noticed you mentioned a squeaky idler, is it like a chirping sound?
a common issue on the au is the cam sync sensor bushes being worn making a squeak or chirping noise, so before you start chasing your tail changing pulley after pulley chasing a squeak, take the belt off and start it , if the noise is there its the cam sync, but on the bright side they can be brought cheap from usa..

been down this road before.. lol

Cheers Troy,
This is my first Windsor....plenty of 6 cyl and a couple Boss 260's, tips like this will potentially save me some hassles.

I'll get that check done first up. The front belt is looking naff anyway so will replace that.

Got the beast to the mechanic mate today. Definitely the harmonic balancer is rooted. Hard to see with the naked eye but a second set managed to see a bit of rubber sticking out an otherwise seemingly normal bit of kit. So that's the major source of wobble.

Good news, it's cheaper than a torque converter, bad news, I worry what that's been doing to my bottom end.

Cheapest quote for a gearbox service and synthetic oil...$188. Bargain. That was a job I wasn't really confident doing myself as never done it before.

Harmonic balancer is $250 on eBay, plus another $40 for new belt. I can do these myself.

Tranny serviced, power steering hose done, harmonic balancer replaced, all for under $1k.

I started it up....vibration and shaking completely gone, as in 100%. It honestly feels like a sewing machine or inline 4 now as it revs so smoothly. The car feels brand new.

so clearly not a torque converter issue (yet). So I can breathe a sigh of relief there.

What I am sensing though is a bit of a cough/splutter on idle. I had a compression check done when I bought the car and all 8 were within tolerances, so im thinking something in the fuel or spark side of things.

Ill get a fuel filter change as im suspicious of when it was actually last done mI'm finding the previous owner hasnt done about 90% of the maintenance he said he did....so im now required to suspect the only attention this car has had in last 8 years is oil changes.

ive asked a question over in the V8 section....what are the better brands of plugs, coil packs and leads? OEM is overpriced, top gun is to stay away from, how about NGK, MSD, Eagle 8mm, any others?

The parts bin in the garage is starting to take shape. Ive sourced:

new bonnet (AU series 1 XR8 donor)
side skirts (standard AU3 style)
new rear bumper (donor AU3 fairmont)
Front bumper XR pods
rear left door (donor AU1 forte)

Interior bling (yet to be fitted...will add at the end) from a wrecking 02 Fairmont Ghia:
chrome door handles
leather auto shifter and handbrake cover/button
Brand new/2nd hand AU momo wheel in blue/black to replace mine...a pricey item and took ages to find but its in mint condition.
leather wrap centre console lid

These will complement with the existing leather interior and finish the dress up nicely inside. Pics will go up at the end once installed.

Next on the list is to attend to some worn suspension components. Namwly sway bar links front and rear plus some tie rod ends. Cheapeenough to buy theparts but its going to be a prick to replace th3m myself....all in the pursuit of saving money for the respray at the end.

i run ngk plugs, eagle or msd leads and msd coils

Eagle leads and MSD coils purchased off eBay. I'll hunt down some plugs next, tossing up between motorcraft and ngk.....keep surfing.

Suffered a flat, New tyre valve shat itself...in my work suit ready for a meeting this morning, swapping the Tikki 17 inch back for the old Rod Jane 18 on the front right...looking bogan as today.

Valve fixed, 17 back on.

Oh, an fyi, if anyone wants a set of 18 inch lightweight rims they are going cheap, as in really cheap. $150 the set and they are gone. Tyres need replacing but I know a guy with a backyard full of them for about $50 a pop second hand...otherwise plenty places do tyres out there including gumtree.

Premium Sound fixed...kinda.

I worked out the distinct lack of bass was due to corroded main plug and blown fuse on factory amp.

So, cleaned back the main plug to shiny, some contact cleaner, new 20amp fuse.,.the 8 inch parcel shelf sub is firing again.

its no show quality...but for a 16 year old premium setup I honestly think it has more clarity than my BF Premium setup had in it.

At some stage I might upgrade some speakers and fit a better sub if I can find one, plus also maybe ditch the amp as well...but for now I officially have tunes.

With a busted power aerial that wont go down, ill need to attention that before I determine what condition the cd player/6 stacker is in. I have no idea if it works and I cant change from radio with the aerial like it is (jammed up).

Bargain purchase today, I managed to find some genuine Tickford rear skirt and matching side skirts...saves me going with the base model side skirts that I was thinking of using.

My painter has quoted me $60 for some plastic welding, and $2k for a full respray in factory galaxy blue. Thats including doing all the replacement panels, buffing, etc.

He is looking after me, charging me about a grand less than normal. I considered going a different colour but my rebuild/original side wanted to restore the beast to former glory. The paint will get laid down at the end of the month on the main body, time will be spent during the month on the replacement panels.

So far im kind of on budget. Have spent about $4k, still have roof lining to do, restitch the leather seats, fix aerial, plus a couple more mrchanical gremlims to suss out.

Ill post up pics once I finish interior and exterior paintwork. Then come tax time the work starts under the bonnet. Ill be reaching out to all for r3comendations on motorwork/purchasing parts from the US/perth Windsor specialists.

Oh, also picked these bad boys up today... I was a bit cautious about fitting the t bar handle but oh my so bloody easy in the end.

Whole show took about 90 seconds to fit both items.

I'm looking for leather handbrake and also chrome door handles. Minor tweaks to an interior already resplendent in black and leather.

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Last edited by EFFALCONMAN on Mon May 30, 2016 11:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.

This was sent to me too today...lovely bit of kit from a fellow fordmodder...so hard to find replacement parts like this for these old cars now. My blue momo steering wheel is completely shagged in comparison.

I'll be biting my teeth and praying to the airbag gods when I fit it. Once installed I think I'll start driving with gloves. In another 16 years I doubt I'll be able to find a replacement.

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PM Sent.

nice!!!

got to love a good au and in galaxy!

re the ariel there is a good chance the toothed cable inside has snapped
you can buy replacements from auto 1 etc

and nice find on the wheel! im looking for a red black one!