Sprint Build

Well I've been on the forum for a little while now and I thought it was about time I posted up my build thread. Some of you have probably seen this build on another forum but for those who haven't here she is.

The story starts with the purchase of the Sprint. At the time I was working in Dampier as a Trainee fixed plant operator for Rio. I was just browsing eBay and come across a Cobalt Blue Sprint for $7500 opening bid or buy it now for $8000. As you can imagine I was on the phone to my then wife straight away and we finalised the purchase the next morning.

When then had her shipped all the way from Sydney NSW up to Karratha, the cost wasn't too bad but the freight company was nice enough to break the passenger side mirror, which I claimed under the transport insurance. The cheapest quote I could get in K-Town was $540. The quote was for a new Ford mirror (didn't know you could still get them in 2008), remove the old mirror, then paint and fit the new one.

This is how she arrived in Karratha, a bit of a sorry state really.

http://i563.photobucket.com/albums/s...t/DSC01920.jpg
http://i563.photobucket.com/albums/s...t/DSC01919.jpg
http://i563.photobucket.com/albums/s...t/DSC01922.jpg

The broken mirror
http://i563.photobucket.com/albums/s...t/DSC01923.jpg

And this is how it sat from most of the time while I was in Dampier/Karratha. It only got the odd drive every now and then and a wash.
http://i563.photobucket.com/albums/s...t/DSC01926.jpg

Please keep the updates going, I got alot of time for these cars.:D

Nice Rich. Good to see you posting on Falcon Forums.

How back to the thread and start posting the transformation that this Sprint got. Oh and post your other Toy too!!!

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Originally Posted by XR6menace

Love these cars ...

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Yep feel the same mate.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by project 064

Please keep the updates going, I got alot of time for these cars.:D

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Cheers Project, this Sprint has ended up pretty modified which has disappointed some people but each to their own.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TICK4D-TAS

Nice Rich. Good to see you posting on Falcon Forums.

How back to the thread and start posting the transformation that this Sprint got. Oh and post your other Toy too!!!

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Hey Tim, yeah I thought it was about time I pull my finger out.

Updates coming thick and fast to bring everyone up to date to how it sits now.

When I moved to Perth in November 2010 the first thing the Sprint got was some new boots - Yokohama S-Drive and a big birthday. Spend a good twelve hours giving it a clean inside and out, polish and wash. Was pretty sore by the end of it, bloody red dust.

http://i563.photobucket.com/albums/s...t/Photo034.jpg
http://i563.photobucket.com/albums/s...t/Photo035.jpg

Stayed this way for the next couple of months before I finally did the suspension. I ended up with Pedders Sports Ryder springs and shocks front and rear. Very happy with the lower stance and the ride.

http://i563.photobucket.com/albums/s...ofPhoto086.jpg
http://i563.photobucket.com/albums/s...ofPhoto085.jpg

Just enjoyed the car the way it was while thinking what mods to go for. I was looking at heads and a cam and maybe change the intake manifold but I was hesitant at changing that due to it being one of the unique things on the car that make it a Sprint.

Here's a couple of pics at the Midland Speed Dome -thought it was appropriate :p
http://i563.photobucket.com/albums/s...me/sprint4.jpg
http://i563.photobucket.com/albums/s...me/sprint3.jpg
http://i563.photobucket.com/albums/s...me/sprint5.jpg

GTENVY, there were a couple of camshafts fitted to the Sprints. During the building of the EB GT prototypes Roush Engineering selected the camshafts & assembled the engines. This camshaft was very" peaky" in characteristics, in other words the power delivery was not as smooth. Roush then decided not to proceed with the build of the EB GT engines & Watson Engineering got the deal to build the engines. Watson engines used a different camshaft, however somewhere at sometime, some Sprints got a Roush camshaft. Tickford nor Ford, have any idea of what camshaft went where. AMC's Joe Kenwright did a very interesting article on all of this. To really confuse the issue, Project 064, the story of the building of the EL GT, states the EL GT uses the XR8 camshaft with 1.7:1 Cobra Rocker Arms. Yet when you read the Ford approved & printed Service manuals & Technician guide, it quite clearly states the GT camshaft is different to the XR8 camshaft.:confused:

Through some of the online Forums I started meeting people around Perth and making some good mates. As I wasn't from Perth I didn't know anyone except my work colleagues and certainly had no idea which were the good workshops and which ones to stay clear of.

The thing that really started everything down the path that this car has so far travelled was a bloke who has ended up being a great mate of mine took me for a spin in his Blown Sprint. This thing was an absolute animal. From the moment he first pulled out onto one of the main roads I was holding on with the biggest stupidest grin on my face, I even started laughing out loud it was that ridiculous.

The next issue was finding someone that could do the work without taking me for a ride and we all have hear horror stories about that happening. Through having a few issues with the timing cover (was badly leaking) I met Jeff Johnson of Streetbuilt racing. I was having drama's trying to get the top right bolt undone, pics below and after a few PM's on another forum and some text messages, Jeff offered to come around and have a look. Little did I know he had to travel 45 mins to my place, couldn't believe someone would go out of their way to give someone a hand in this way, I was simply blown away. The short of it all, we ended up getting the bolt out after some swearing and cursing and few cold Beams and Jeff invited me up to the workshop to have a look at some of the work we were doing.

At that time Streetbuilt were fitting a Vortech V2 T-trim supercharger to a NC Fairlane. The install quality was extremely good and knowing of Jeff's XH XR8 ute which at that stage had a Kenne Bell fitted to it I thought to myself that I was on to something.

The old timing cover. We ended up having to cut the section away that the bolt was stuck in and use that to undo the bolt with. Apparently this bolt getting seized is very common. Apologises for the image quality.
http://i563.photobucket.com/albums/s...l/IMAG0156.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by project 064

GTENVY, there were a couple of camshafts fitted to the Sprints. During the building of the EB GT prototypes Roush Engineering selected the camshafts & assembled the engines. This camshaft was very" peaky" in characteristics, in other words the power delivery was not as smooth. Roush then decided not to proceed with the build of the EB GT engines & Watson Engineering got the deal to build the engines. Watson engines used a different camshaft, however somewhere at sometime, some Sprints got a Roush camshaft. Tickford nor Ford, have any idea of what camshaft went where. AMC's Joe Kenwright did a very interesting article on all of this. To really confuse the issue, Project 064, the story of the building of the EL GT, states the EL GT uses the XR8 camshaft with 1.7:1 Cobra Rocker Arms. Yet when you read the Ford approved & printed Service manuals & Technician guide, it quite clearly states the GT camshaft is different to the XR8 camshaft.:confused:

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Yeah I have the AMC article and yes there are a lot of inconsistency's with information on the Sprints. Talking camshafts, funny enough when we pulled the camshaft out of my engine we checked the part number on it and it was the same part number as the cam for the standard XR8.

Easily the sprints are my favourite boxcars, can't wait to read the rest of the build...