XRGhia's EF Wagon

[XRGhia]

Well, many of you will know me from AFF, so here's a quick run down....

-Name's Tony
-Have two cars... 1996 EF2 GLi Wagon/XR6 Ghia mock, and an ex-silver service 2002 AU2 Fairlylame Ghia...


I'll start with the EF...

Few years back, my dad gave me the wagon, so naturally after having grown up around cars all my life, I started looking for modifications that could be done to an EF...

I started with some small mods, first one of them was a trip computer install.. Unfortunately, this went badly, so I cracked it with the wagon, ripped out the dash, headed down to the wreckers, picked up an EF Fairmont Ghia dash loom (still have it in my car today), as well as a Fairmont Ghia heater/AC box, and put it all in...

Unfortunately, having to swap the heater boxes mean't the A/C had to be degassed... Well, degassed it, swapped in all the Fairmont gear, fitted the dash, hit the key and it fired right up! Geez I was happy. The first major mod and it all worked as it should...

I was chuffed with how well it went and how well I think I did for a then 14 year old (ouch, hard to believe that it was that long ago!)...

After that, some FTR's came, but apart from that, it remained heavily stock in every other form...

I slowly got bored and resprayed the rocker cover in Ford blue (well, turned out to be a lot lighter blue, but eh, what the hell...)...


The mods dried up, until I had the thought of installing chrome handles... They came around December 2010, then the car got resprayed in Flat Black at the start of 2011...


Fast forward to now... The wagon has gone from all 4L, LPG auto slowness, to being powered by an AU3 XR6 VCT engine, EF XR6 T5 & Exedy HD clutch, AU XR 3:45 diff gears and AU XR6 fuel system (incl. Injectors/Fuel Rail/FPR)...

Other mods are BF XR6 cloth front seats, AU Fairlane back seats, Lowered on Kings "Lows" and Boge short stroke struts all round, VY manual gear shifter (I know, commonwhore parts, but I like it), Ghia door trims, NL FBT cluster, Genuine EL XR6 front end, BA intake/airbox, BA header tank/fuse box and a few other things...


Here's some pics... I will be getting it sprayed soon, I'm trying to chase factory Heritage Green panels before I get any other panels like the rear 1/4's, roof and tailgate resprayed...







After a flat black paint job (and dirty as buggery, just drove 1000 odd km's in the week beforehand)





The paint looks shit compared to before because I took pretty much every panel back to metal, but since I couldn't get it sprayed before it was due for rego, super cheap spray cans came out...




New alloys



New front seats...



Engine bay:



Random pic from late last year...



Current interior...






That about sums it up for the wagon.... Information on the $1000 ex-silver service AU2 Fairlane will come in another thread for anyone interested...


Cheers...

Tony...

[Paxton]

Gee Tony, those FTRs look familiar. Don't know why... (Now have Michelin PS3s fitted to them, but the overspray is still there).

[XRGhia]

Good to hear they're still going well Andrew! (Apologies if I've gotten your name wrong, it's been a while!)

I'm on the look out for another set now.. Keep the 18's for the track and shows, and FTR's day to day...

[XRGhia]

So, after a range of new parts, and a few weeks of work, it passed pink slip!! (For Mexican's, a roadworthy)...


Drove it today on the way back, and damn, rides nice and soft and takes the bumps properly...


So the list of parts?

-new front shocks/springs
-new rear shocks
-new front ball joints and bushes (less swaybar links)
-new front and rear brakes
-new front bearings
-new leaf spring bushes, eyelet bolts, and u-bolts
-new fuel pump, gasket, and fuel lines.

There's a few other things, but damn, it's really made the car feel a lot more stable...


I'll upload a few pictures after I have new plates transferred to it, and pay the rego...

[XRGhia]

Oh, for those of you wondering, next (and final) major mods are...


-rear swaybar install with a 28mm Whiteline kit
-upgrade the front swaybar to a 32mm Whiteline bar
-LSD
-Black interior carpet
-New steering wheel
-Tune
-Paint

And then enjoy it I'm really happy with how reliable this car is and how much torque it has, gets everything done a P-Plater expects, but once paint and tune is done, it'll be a weekender...

[XRGhia]

Next step will be remove the upper BBM and rocker cover again, and send them off to be powercoated... I will be keeping the silver bits on the rocker cover polished though.

[Falc'man]

Coming along very nicely. The engine bay looks fantastic.

The EF/EL dashboard design is one of my favourites.

[FTe217]

yep well done young fella looking good.

[XRGhia]

Thanks Maurie and Youssef!

Car is now registered and driving on the road. Already done nearly 1200km's in it, 380 on Friday afternoon, the day it was registered...

I love the seats though, need some softer leather BA XR seats though due to a few back issues that I've had since the age of 12...

Edit: Captain Facebook Slow Maurie? Lol... Love it!

[XRGhia]

Soooo... Learnt something last night while doing 100km's in the hour... These tires on the back are crap! Went around a slight corner in 4th, and ended up sideways (full right lock)... Scared the shit out of me, so ended up doing 80 all the way home... Next step will be to sort out some new rears that actually grip.