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Last of the V8 Interceptors.. my XB Falcon Coupe

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Comments

  • Registered Users Posts: 1,214 ✭✭✭Daved_XB


    I wish there was a real update to be made, but there isn’t really… well not just yet anyway… unlike the Challenger project, there are little to no reproduction parts being made for these old Aussie Muscle cars.. so I had just moved the car to my new house the other week & I was getting ready to move my spare shell in too so I could start cutting it up to make 1 good car from the two…..

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    Then just last week I was informed about a company here that have just started to make a nice selection of new repro panels for some of the rear sections of this car, so I’ve just ordered a new parcel shelf (upper & lower) & new boot floor sections, plus the bumper support brackets that are bent & stuffed on mine… so hopefully the new panels turn up in the next week or two & then this project will kick off again in a big way, as I still hope to have her ready for a big show here in September….


  • Registered Users Posts: 44 Alan Ashe


    I love this thread, thanks for the quick update. Also, the mini trolley/cradles under the car, for moving it, is an excellent idea.


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,214 ✭✭✭Daved_XB


    Alan Ashe wrote: »
    I love this thread, thanks for the quick update. Also, the mini trolley/cradles under the car, for moving it, is an excellent idea.



    Thanks for the feedback mate…. Yeah, the Go-Jacks are a great tool to have in the shed… it’s so easy for me now to move the car around, they are really designed for two people to move the car but I can shift it where I want it on my own with little effort


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,214 ✭✭✭Daved_XB


    Wow… it’s been so long since I had an update for this thread…. Realistically progress stopped just before Xmas & not much really happened since… we have decided not to use my original boot as it’s too much work to get it as good as I want it, so we’ve fitted a spare one I had… my panel beater got all excited when he was stripping the boot back to bare metal as it had race car signage on it under the top coat… he didn’t take any pics, but it said Bridgestone across the back in very large letters it seems & the wing placement holes are a lot higher up the boot than they should be… so in my mind I’m now rebuilding this car with genuine race car parts…

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    One of the issues we had was space & having to keep moving the car about to work on it…. So last month I went to collect the old girl & move her to the new Skunk Works where the project will be based… this how sad she looked when I picked her up

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    Now she’s sitting waiting for me to finish off the Dodge so that I can concentrate 100% on her…

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    I got a set of seats from a late model XR8 Ute for the right price, I’m still not 100% sure what I’m doing with the interior… but now I have more options than just reusing the original seats or the Landau seats that I have..

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    I’ve also just picked up a load of new rust repair sections for the rear that some of which didn’t exist on the market last year.. so the timing worked out nice here… I have a set of wheel arch lips to go on, as I’m sure once I’ve removed the chrome trim & the paint there will be bugger all metal left there..

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    I also got the rear sections of the parcel shelf, both horizontal & vertical..

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    as you don’t ever see the metal I had just made up some flat plate steel to do the job, but much happier now that I can have it right..

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    I also got a set of boot floor panels to go in… again both the horizontal & vertical panels… mine are badly repaired from rear end smash she must have had in her past..

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  • Registered Users Posts: 1,214 ✭✭✭Daved_XB


    I also got a set of brackets & end plates..

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    New bracket next to old…

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    New repair section sitting on top of what it will replace..

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    & also got the fiddly little corner piece that ties it all together, to fill this hole…

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    & the outside rear section behind the bumper that it totally mashed up on mine..

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  • Registered Users Posts: 1,336 ✭✭✭rockatansky


    Daved_XB wrote: »
    this was my must own car when I was growing up as a little kid, never mind Lambo’s or prancing horses the day I saw Mad Max for the first time as a 7 year old kid I was hooked on that car… I promised myself that I would own my very own last of the V8 Interceptors one day…. .. as I grew up I had plans of making a replica out of a Capri

    How am I only seeing this thread now!!!!:eek::eek::eek: The above paragraph describes my life on a daily basis!! I beg of you, please keep this thread going!!!

    I've only ever sat in one Falcon XB, and it was THE XB Falcon! (thanks to the very kind people in Cars of the Stars in England), Max's Interceptor!

    Loving every post so far. I'm also a massive fan of the Falcon Sedan Yellow Pursuit specials. Ever think of going down that route?:D


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,214 ✭✭✭Daved_XB


    Well done on getting to see the original when she was in the UK, next time I'm in the US I hope to be able to swing past & see her in her new home...

    I have often thought of building up a yellow pursuit special… but with this XB project, the Dodge project & my still as yet undecided “spare” XB shell project… I’m not looking to take anything else on….


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,214 ✭✭✭Daved_XB


    Picked up a new Grille for this… well not new, but a reconditioned one… the quality is really very good.. it looks great..

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    My one was badly smashed.. the spot light rings where broken

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    Also the upright stays that hold the honeycomb centers where broken & missing… I’m told that once these are gone the grill becomes too hard to recondition.. so I guess mine will just become wall art now..

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    Now that I had a load of parts on order for the Dodge & they won’t be here for weeks.. my plan is to kick into this hard to see how much progress I can make… right now having the car done for September seems an impossible goal.. but I’ll try


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,428 ✭✭✭quietsailor


    Daved_XB wrote: »

    Also the upright stays that hold the honeycomb centers where broken & missing… I’m told that once these are gone the grill becomes too hard to recondition.. so I guess mine will just become wall art now..

    IMG_2826_zpsn7itkvdz.jpg

    There are open access workshops springing up in Ireland that allow people to come in off the street and use 3D printers - could you fabricate a repair that way and save the grill? It might put some money back into you pocket :eek:


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,214 ✭✭✭Daved_XB


    My understanding from those who restore them... the issue isn't making a new plastic upright stay, it's more the plastic welding of said stay in place so that it can take the stress... these grilles are designed that when the bonnet is open you can lean on them or drop tools on them... that's why a lot of them broke like this... now a complete 3D printed grille.... that might be cool


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  • Registered Users Posts: 1,428 ✭✭✭quietsailor


    :o
    Daved_XB wrote: »
    My understanding from those who restore them... the issue isn't making a new plastic upright stay, it's more the plastic welding of said stay in place so that it can take the stress... these grilles are designed that when the bonnet is open you can lean on them or drop tools on them... that's why a lot of them broke like this... now a complete 3D printed grille.... that might be cool

    I follow a lot of DIY CnC forums/threads and I am blue sky thinking of building a CnC table that would take multi heads - router, 3D scanner, plastic print head, engraver etc. If only you could find someone like that close to you :cool:

    blue sky as in pie-in-the-sky, it'll probably never happen :o

    Out of curiosity do you know what the plastic type is? I've heqard of people DIY welding plastic by getting a 2nd piece, breaking off a chunk, shaping it to look like a welding rod and then welding the first part using the "rod" and a small gas soldering iron/blowtorch.

    I'm not sure what materials it can/cannot work on though, I'll have a nose around the other forums I read and see if someone has tried it before


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,336 ✭✭✭rockatansky


    Any update on this Dave?


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,214 ✭✭✭Daved_XB


    Hi Mate, thanks for the interest in the project… I wish I had a nice big update for you with lots that’s been done to the old girl….. but the truth is nothing has been done at all really. I took the bonnet off the other week to allow me to pull the engine & gearbox out, but then I changed my mind as the garage is full of Dodge Challenger parts laying all around. I’ve been focusing all my time & efforts on getting the Dodge back together. Have a look in that thread on here if you haven’t already, it’s been way more work that I expected.. but I’m making progress & once I’ve got most of that car back together & have the space, then I’ll get back into this one


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,214 ✭✭✭Daved_XB


    Right, so I finally decided to get back into doing something with the XB again… partly because I’m waiting for parts for the Dodge on back order & that project has come to a halt & mostly because.. well just because..

    The car has spent the last year almost just tucked into the back of the shed on go jacks looking all sad

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    So I dragged her out into the middle of the shed so that I’d have lots of space to move around her & start pulling her apart again

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    First simple job was to remove all the lights from the front along with the radiator, uber simple job but quiet satisfying as it was just nice to be finally working on the old girl again

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    Next up was to remove the driver’s side guard, the more observant of you will have noticed that the passenger side was already off.. that’s because that guard had some bad rust & it’s been away getting repaired, I just haven’t gotten around to collecting it from my mates shed yet.. the guard removal is simple, apart from the bolts across the top of the engine bay, there are several at the front, one in the door jam & one under the bottom to the guard to undo… simples

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    The guard is in pretty good shape, no real rust at all to be seen on the front or back side.. I won’t know for sure till I remove the paint, but I’m optimistic..

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    The inner wheelarch area looks great too… again no real rust at all, I was expecting to find some nasty surprises in here but it’s starting to look like the only real body issue with this car is the very botched repair work she had in the rear all those years ago

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  • Registered Users Posts: 1,214 ✭✭✭Daved_XB


    I was really not looking forward to removing this piece of trim from the sill… I have had many a nightmare thinking of what mass of rust & rot lives hidden behind that

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    I couldn’t believe my luck when I pulled this off… it’s perfect under there, a bit dirty but no rust at all… happy days..

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    Next up was to remove the engine & gearbox from the car, I’ve had the engine out before & indeed the box too but never both at the same time, so I decided that I’d remove them as a one unit.. first I started removing all the bits that would stop the extraction, so I removed the tail shaft, starter motor, extractors, the rear gearbox crossmember & the carb (replaced with the lifting plate).

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    Like the Dodge the yoke comes out attached to the tail shaft followed by a flow of trans fluid…

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    Unlike Dodge, Ford didn’t see the point in fitting a drain plug to the bottom of the pan on the C4 transmission..

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    As such the correct way to empty the fluid is to loosen all the bolts on the pan & pry down a corner to allow it all to run out… really Ford, how much would a drain plug have cost here…

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    Having spoken to several people for advise it seemed that the easiest way get the engine & box out in one go was to keep the rear of the car raised to allow for a better angle

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    The jack is holding the back of the transmission as the crossmember is out now

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  • Registered Users Posts: 1,214 ✭✭✭Daved_XB


    Then I attached the engine lift to the lifting plate & started lifting until the engine just raised up on the mounts by a fraction to take the weight off the bolts to make it easy to slide them out

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    Then you just start jacking up, puling forward & tilting the whole assembly back (having a load leveler on the engine hoist makes this a one man job)

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    Keep repeating the whole up, forward, tilt thing until the whole lot is clear of the car

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    Job done

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    With that done I put the old girl back up on axle stands (guess who needs a 2nd hoist) so she was at a nice working height & I cut the back off again… what is it with me & plasma cutters & angle grinders, anyway I have a new boot floor to go in, so for easy access I removed the light panel again & the fuel tank

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  • Registered Users Posts: 1,214 ✭✭✭Daved_XB


    Then just for fun I decided to try my new wheels that have been sitting in boxes for what must be over two years now.. I wanted to see how the fit with the back space was to work out if I need to get my diff length changed when I send it out to be worked..

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    Pretty happy with that fit, they are 17” x 10.5” wide with a 6” backspace… there is just over an inch of room to the spring (doesn’t matter anyway as I’m putting a multilink rear end in)

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    Plenty of room for the tire to fit up under the guard without having to roll them too… I’ll get a little more scientific later, I’ll have tires mounted to the rim & I’ll remove the drum brakes & fit my disk conversion kit & then take full measurements for the diff, but for now it’s all looking good..

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  • Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 60,027 Mod ✭✭✭✭Wibbs


    Man you were blessed with the condition of your sills. That could have been a world of hurt lurking there. Fantastic pics. :) Though the blood pumping from your gearbox had me a bit wobbly. :D

    Rejoice in the awareness of feeling stupid, for that’s how you end up learning new things. If you’re not aware you’re stupid, you probably are.



  • Registered Users Posts: 1,214 ✭✭✭Daved_XB


    Wibbs wrote: »
    Man you were blessed with the condition of your sills. That could have been a world of hurt lurking there. Fantastic pics. :) Though the blood pumping from your gearbox had me a bit wobbly. :D

    You're not wrong.. I was really expecting to find a lot of holes & rust back there..


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,214 ✭✭✭Daved_XB


    I dragged the old girl out into the open & sprayed down all the suspension & underside with degreaser to clean off the years of crud before I started to unbolt everything

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    After cleaning the car off, I had a bit of a look for rust at the front end & she’s actually really good… there is a bit on the passenger side behind the guard

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    But the actual lower sill looks great

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    On the drivers side there seems to be no rust at all really…

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    But the sill has been repaired before… so I’ll have to have a closer look at that later

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    I also found a rather interesting when cleaning the rear suspension…

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    Hmmm, seems a rather important bolt had parted company some time ago… judging by the wear in the chassis it was dangling half out for a while… bugger

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  • Registered Users Posts: 1,214 ✭✭✭Daved_XB


    Now the more observant of you may have noticed a big ugly dent on the driver’s side rear guard just above the wheel… I did this dent what must be 14 years ago now & it’s been ****ting me every day since then finally today was the day that I attempted to fix that dent..

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    First up, I sanded off the paint back to bare metal & marked out the body line as it should be along that panel

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    Then I got to play with a new toy… this ray gun looking tool takes what looks like a flat head nail or a rivet in the end

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    You push it up against the metal in the deepest part of your dent & pull the trigger, it then quickly welds the rivet tip to the metal, you continue that along the length of your dent

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    Then you take your slide-bar puller

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    & attach it to each rivet in turn & then you very gently slide the hammer back until you pull the dent out

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    Then you cut off the shaft of the rivet with a side cutters & grind down the tip till it’s flush with the metal

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    It’ll need another pass to get it right, but for a first pass & first time using this tool I’m very happy with the results

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  • Registered Users Posts: 1,214 ✭✭✭Daved_XB


    Then as part of operation “This is why I can’t have nice things” I then attacked the back of the car with an angle grinder again…

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    But don’t worry.. this panel was rooted anyway, it’s been damaged in a past rear ender & then badly repaired, so rather than try & fix this one I’m just going to replace it

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    Now looking at the original boot floor where it goes over the diff, there seems to be a raised line in the floor

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    My new boot floor replacement panel doesn’t have that raised line…

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    So I had a bit of a play with the bench vise bead roller

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    I probably won’t get it perfect, but it’ll be close & whilst I know that close only counts in horseshoes & hand grenades.. in this case I’ll extend that to far inner reaches of boot floor too

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  • Registered Users Posts: 1,214 ✭✭✭Daved_XB


    Then since I had the angle grinder out anyway, it only made sense to hack away at the boot floor now

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    Then it was time to start test fitting the new panels, they’re not bad… I reckon this will come up alright in the end…

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    Not just the top floor is being replaced here but the vertical side that goes down to join the bottom of the rear Qtr too

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  • Registered Users Posts: 1,214 ✭✭✭Daved_XB


    Last job of the day then was to pull the front suspension end off, you don’t need to be a rocket doctor here which clearly suits me…

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    Shocks & springs off

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    Then brakes, hubs, upper & lowers arms came off

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    Then all packed away in a box to be stored like in raiders of the lost ark as none of it is going back on…. The only original parts going back on will be the sway bar & that I think needs some new Polly mounts

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  • Registered Users Posts: 1,214 ✭✭✭Daved_XB


    Wow, it s been a while since I ve updated this thread.. I ended up spending a little over two months out of the country there in April & May & then when I got back there was a lot to catch up on long story short I m a long way off where I had expected to be by now but for those of you following along at home this is where I m at now.



    I pulled the last of the suspension off, so the sway bar & strut rods. Then it was time to remove the old steering box, the plan for this car as you may remember from many many posts ago now is to fit a modern rack & pinion rack to the car to replace the old steering box.



    IMG_5984_zpsxyzv8skg.jpg



    I was going to disconnect all the pieces, like tie rod ends & idler arms etc, but then I figured why bother busting them all apart when it ll be just as easy to take everything off in one lump & store it with the rest of the bits so that meant it was just two bolts holding on the idler arm



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    & the once the rag joint was undone to disconnect the steering column from the steering box it s only 3 bolts to get the steering box off the chassis rail



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    It s clear to see that it was never removed when a past owner decided to change the engine bay colour years ago



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    As I was pulling the wiring out of the engine bay to get it out of the way looks like it ran a little too close to the exhaust in the past, I m surprised it still ran . No wonder it always has electrical issues



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    The bay is fully empty now



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  • Registered Users Posts: 1,214 ✭✭✭Daved_XB


    Then it was back to the arse end of the car, to continue cutting the old boot floor out.. this time the driver s side. It s clear from looking at this side of the car that whatever crash she was involved in years ago was definitely more on this side



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    That s when I could see the crease in the rear chassis rail



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    You can see where they ve heated the rail up from the outside & then pulled & hammered at it to try & get it straight they failed BTW..



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    Also there is a really bad kink at the end of the rail..



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    You can see how the new straight floor sits on the rail to see just how far out it is



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    Now I had really thought that rust would be the big drama with this car when I started this, but she s really good compared to lot of other Falcons I ve seen, my issue is really going to be fixing this dodgy repair & then reworking all the rear panels to line up properly again I have a few ideas for fixing this rail, I m not 100% if they work just yet but stay tuned for my cunning plan.



  • Registered Users Posts: 1,214 ✭✭✭Daved_XB


    I decided on the weekend to drag my spare XB out of storage & bring it over to the skunk works so that I can use it for taking measurement from a good rear end that hasn t been crashed (as far as I can tell anyway) Also now that I can see it every day it ll inspire me to do something with this one too . Not 100% sure what I ll do, I m thinking stripped out race car right now or maybe make that Mad Max replica that I d bought them for in the first place not sure but I am sure I ll waste a lot of time staring at it & daydreaming over the next few months as I finish the first XB & the Dodge.



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    It s getting tight for storage space now think I ll have to make a mezz floor in the back corner & get a lot of the parts up & out of the way of course I could also just fit the blood parts to the cars & make space that way too I guess



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    So this is the first time that all my toys have ever been in the same place



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  • Registered Users Posts: 1,214 ✭✭✭Daved_XB


    There was change of pace in the Skunk Works today, I put down the grinders & hammers & left the welder unplugged & I decided to try my hand to simply bolting new stuff onto a car a sight so rare that my long suffering other half popped into the shed & offered to take a pic of me putting **** back on a car for once lest no one believed me. I decided to trial fit the shiny new front suspension, steering & brakes that I have for the Coupe to see if this stuff really does just bolt up with no special tools & no modifications as the sales brochure had lead me to believe.. now for those of you who just have to know & can t wait till the end of this update post . Yeah, they pretty much did what it said on the box.



    First up was my power Rack & Pinion steering conversion, the brochure tells me that getting rid of the old worm drive box & replacing it with this puppy will have my car steering like a 2010 Falcon XR8, sounds promising although you ll be a while awaiting my road test results.. but I have to say it looks an impressive piece of kit



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    Pollywhatsit bushes all round



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    And most importantly Bolt on brackets, there are a few options to upgrade this old girl, but I was after one that bolted into the factory mounting holes & could be undone to return the old girl to stock should I ever want too. The passenger side bracket install is pretty simple, uses the two existing bolt holes from the idler arm



    IMG_6050_zpsf1szejoi.jpg



    The driver s side on the other hand does foul a tiny bit of the support gusset



    IMG_6051_zpsi8o6r2wy.jpg



    IMG_6052_zpsepwcxxfi.jpg



    IMG_6053_zpsxnfxtss0.jpg



    & you do need to grind off about half an inch of said gusset to get this to fit



    IMG_6058_zpsvwqoljvw.jpg



    IMG_6056_zps5rlo92ml.jpg



    Both brackets sit a little shy of being fully flush with the underside of the chassis rail, but that s because I haven t drilled the two holes yet that you bolt them up to the chassis rail lip with, I m in two minds right now as to do some seam welding on these brackets too or just leave the bolts as the only means of attachment.



    IMG_6055_zpstdlbh7lu.jpg



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  • Registered Users Posts: 1,214 ✭✭✭Daved_XB


    Bolting the steering rack itself up was super simple, two u-brackets mount it to the two brackets I d just attached to the car



    IMG_6066_zps879gbhu0.jpg



    The only issue I had was that the steering arm was fouling on the chassis member in the engine bay not that that is an issue with the steering rack as you can see, my member (now now, mind out of the gutter) has seen better days



    IMG_6059_zpsut8gzaqt.jpg



    After some time beating my member (really) I got it to a point where there was no rubbing at all (it s like I can t stop)



    IMG_6061_zps5nlzmbdc.jpg



    It s a very neat install & really only took about 30 minutes & that s because I was stuffing about & taking pics, could be done in 15



    IMG_6063_zps5hbqnnjv.jpg



    Last thing was the U-joints



    IMG_6064_zpssfuzruz7.jpg



    Now this is a modern style connector & it doesn t mate directly up to the steering rag joint that I have, so I ll need to modify my steering column to suit (all the parts & instructions are supplied)



    IMG_6065_zpsgdqr6z3d.jpg



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  • Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 60,027 Mod ✭✭✭✭Wibbs


    Eeeeee fancy new parts. :)

    Rejoice in the awareness of feeling stupid, for that’s how you end up learning new things. If you’re not aware you’re stupid, you probably are.



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