AU Xr6 + ED Xr6 Wagon

[Hayden]

Hey Guys, Thought I'd share my new car

It's an AUII Xr6, Stock, 5 speed tremec, Liquid SIlver and ghey because it's an AU

I bought it for 8,500 with a gay chrome chain number plate holder and LPG, with just over 200,000 km's it drives like a dream.

uhh future mods? Well there aren't too many in the near future, but I have bought an exhaust system off Justin which I'm just waiting on some money to get the cat welded. Which on apprentice wages should be about 2042 give or take a couple of months lol. Also thanks to Kyle I've got an AU cam which i will be getting reground into a 977b after the exhaust, which means J3 chip, and will probably lead on to a turbo lol. We'll see how I go with the exhaust first

but my wish list is:
white line sway bars
darker Tint
18's
AU Xr6 floor mats (arriving on thursday!!!)
Repair all the paint cracking on all the tickford kit.

Anyway, Carwash Glory Pic time.

Cheers.





and this is my old ED Classic, factory 5 speed, awesome car. Don't think anything would replace this.

From this:




To this:



And to this

[SLO4LT]

It's a shame about the ED mate, was a nice clean car + it was a manual! Should get some 20's for the AU

[Hayden]

haha cheers mate, maybe one day.. I'm still trying to figure out if ANY wheel would suit on an AU.. maybe your de corsa's ?

[wikdas351]

I miss my ed too, was a great all round car.
did u want to sell me that chain number plate holder

[Hayden]

lol unfortunately i broke the damn thing trying to get it off, took me an hour ... honestly you wouldn't want it, just look around for one mate, it was cast-iron aswell

[SLO4LT]

You wish buddy ive seen some wheels that would look better than average, I'll let you know the name of em when I find out what they are, in the mean time...DUMP IT!!

[Hayden]

haha, I have trouble going over speed humps with it now, and it's stock height T_T

How was the car after lastnight man? looked pretty good untill you went up onto the gutter lol, gotta get some more practice with that spool

[67rce]

I have a set of Starcorp Impuls coming up for sale in a few days, (18x8 front, 8.5 rear) possibly interested?

[nstg8a]

nice au, as said just needs wheels and itl be mint.


wonder how long it will be before au's out number e series...

[Hayden]

I have a set of Starcorp Impuls coming up for sale in a few days, (18x8 front, 8.5 rear) possibly interested?

Cheers man, but I dont know if i would have the cash for them, they look like a mint rim

nice au, as said just needs wheels and itl be mint.


wonder how long it will be before au's out number e series...

I don't think that'll ever happen, the au's are too ugly lol

[NL_CONCORDE]

Well heres a pic of my AU on anz 5+5 20x8's

[Hayden]

Is one of those wheels at kyle's place ? lol

I'll see how i go for wheel's after the zorst is on, can't do much with $10 an hour unfortunately

[NL_CONCORDE]

Yeah that would be it buckled a wheel goin over a pothole on a car cruise but thats it mate

[Hayden]

ow that sucks mate, i don't think i ever saw your AU

[Kyle the ED4LTR]

Looking good man, good to see a build thread up, and the cam your after is the Wade 1645au (977b au grind), with a 114LSA from memory . Should go well on injected gas if tuned up right.

[Hayden]

Thanks man, unfortunately it's going to have to wait.

I went and saw a panel beater today about this:


and he said it had already been repaired and resprayed, That's why it broke. So I've messaged a guy on ebay about one he's selling (it has a hairline crack in it) but if it's cheap enough I'll buy it. Ill be able to get a respray for $850, and it'll look like this:


I Also got the floor mat's today. Jordy sold them for $80. He is an absolute Legend!! I know where i'll be going for parts.

[Kyle the ED4LTR]

Thanks man, unfortunately it's going to have to wait.

I went and saw a panel beater today about this:


and he said it had already been repaired and resprayed, That's why it broke. So I've messaged a guy on ebay about one he's selling (it has a hairline crack in it) but if it's cheap enough I'll buy it. Ill be able to get a respray for $850, and it'll look like this:


I Also got the floor mat's today. Jordy sold them for $80. He is an absolute Legend!! I know where i'll be going for parts.

Floormats look good man, told ya he'd look after you

[pHaT`eL]

AU's are starting to take over atm, there were a fair few at the mini meet the other night. The Starcorp rims would look mint! GlennAUII on AFF had them on his in 19's with the wide rear, looked awesome!

[SLO4LT]

haha, I have trouble going over speed humps with it now, and it's stock height T_T

How was the car after lastnight man? looked pretty good untill you went up onto the gutter lol, gotta get some more practice with that spool

I didn't think au xr's were lowered enough to be any trouble over bumps? should be cruisy
and LOL! yet might need a bit of practice but goin up the gutter was more of a "tyre fault" such shit tyres I was nearly in full opposite lock and still slid over without the car re-correcting into the other direction but meh no damage, no love lost

Those wheels are sick!! sort of what I had in mind

[Hayden]

Good to hear damo, it looked a bit worrying for a second lol, i got a flash back to my prang =/

The AU's arent really that low at all, but the kit takes another 120-150mm off the ground clearance.

So i got the bumper for $100. steal of the century considering ford wanted $3000-3500 for one, coulda got one of jordy for $1900 though.... legend, the crack is only a cm long and doesnt protrude which is excellent.

Hey kyle, would scotty want to earn some $$ to spray the car for me?

[Phillis]

looks good man! that car wash looks familiar too

this is obviously the AU with the vapour injection? what kinda economy are you getting out of it so far?

[Hayden]

Cheers dude. Yeah, It's the baysy one lol, always full of commodores lately for some reason though.

I've been getting around the 450 km mark with some 'spirited' driving, gone through 3 tanks at the moment. I've got an exhaust system to chuck on with pacey's and hi-flow cat when i get the money, but at the moment it's still running a stock exhaust

[Kyle the ED4LTR]

Good to hear damo, it looked a bit worrying for a second lol, i got a flash back to my prang =/

The AU's arent really that low at all, but the kit takes another 120-150mm off the ground clearance.

So i got the bumper for $100. steal of the century considering ford wanted $3000-3500 for one, coulda got one of jordy for $1900 though.... legend, the crack is only a cm long and doesnt protrude which is excellent.

Hey kyle, would scotty want to earn some $$ to spray the car for me?

I'll have a word with him tomorrow, worse case I might be able to help out

[Hayden]

Time for an update i reckon...

So, about 2 weeks into my ownership of the AU it busted it's pedal box, which according to the service history it's number 3 in 205,000k's. Luckily for me the dash didn't have to be taken out to replace it, all that's needed is disconnecting the clutch cable, dropping the steering rack and moving 50mtrs of gas wiring. A big thankyou to Kyle for directing me with it too! It was a decent effort sitting in the carwash untill 7.30 am in the freezing cold to get it changed lol.




A couple weeks later I picked myself up an AU XR8 or T-series snorkel (I know it's just a BA XR6T snorkle with wings on it, but the more tickford the better ) and ofcourse my numberplates!



I finally managed to get my ass into gear and get the exhaust welded, which included an exhaust-less run down the street to Dandy exhausts. Turns out it was only going to cost me $60 to get the cat welded. I would recommend Dandy Exhausts to anyone who were looking for a simular service, the job they did on my welds were clean and perfect. This is what the rear section of the old exhaust looked like.



a couple weeks ago I managed to pick up a set of BA XR8 rims for $150 with screwed tyres, after I gave them a wash i found a crack right through a spoke on 1 of the rims. I rang up a couple wheel repair joints, but unfortunately all of them agreed it were impossible to repair the crack, luckily one of them had a spare lying around for $50 . It's not so clear in the photos, but the clear coat is absolutely screwed on the finish, So next I'll be looking into refinishing the rims.





a little bit of 4x4ing:



This is how it sits today:





I took a trip up to shepparton to see my uncle, I thought I'd show you some pictures of his 350 63' Impala. Mechanically it's absolutely perfect, only 5,000 miles on the 350 engine. Unfortunately he sent the seats to be re-trimmed 5/10 years ago and he still hasn't seen any results from the guy, once i move up there in a couple of weeks I'll be sorting that out, then once seats are back It's got new carpet waiting to go in, apart from that all it needs for completion is a re-spray.





Oh almost forgot, Kyle (thanks heaps man!) and myself took a day trip to Sydney to pick up a little somethin somethin...






The only damage i saw was the bottom of the drivers seat had fallen out. I'm still in the process of getting it freighted back to Melbourne, as there was a big **** around to organise a trailer whilst we were up there. All hassels aside, It's not bad for $1000.

[SLO4LT]

I'd also recommend Dandy Exhaust, they did an awesome job on my exhaust and charged me f*** all for it too wags doesn't look too bad man, just needs a bit of cleaning and should be good! what's the plans for it?

[Hayden]

What I've decided on so far is T56, which means custom tailshaft. I'll see how well intact the LSD is once it's down in melbourne, If it's rooted I'd be looking into a true track.

but the reachable goals in the next 6 months are:
- EL mirrors, Tail lights, & AU clear side repeaters
- Repair the drivers seat
- Respray
- FTR's
- Slammed
- Tint
- change the aftermarket power windows to fairmont switches, but put the xr6 door cards in the fairmont trims
- exhaust
- swaybars

[SLO4LT]

just a nice clean cruiser!!

[superhuS!]

I get dibs on first skid in the wags.

[NUT347]

I can't believe that wagon has the original front bar still.

Good work!

[Hayden]

A little update:

For weeks I kept getting wet feet everytime it'd rain, so i looked around ford forums to see what i could find. Apparantly it's a common problem for manual AU's, and more prone in xr6's. Probably because there were hardly any manual non-xr's, anyway the cause of the problem are 3 spot welds about 5mm in diameter. These are located under the wiper cowl and behind the wiper arm motor.

here's a picture stolen from ford forums which outlines the spot welds:



This is the thread if anyone has the same problem:
http://www.fordforums.com.au/showthread.php?t=11220972

and this is my solution




I'm still waiting for it to rain again, so I can see if it has worked, If not it'll be a crack in the firewall somewhere, Au's.........

I also found out the reason behind my alarm not working, someone had cut the power wire to the module, anyway that's been fixed now.

to end, The guy I bought the wagon off has refused to take an hour out of his "busy" schedule to hand the keys to the transport company, which were booked in today to pick it up. even though I said to him I'd been in hospital this week for chest pains/strained heart so after a long conversation of getting nowhere, and even organising a mate of mine to drive down from newcastle for the day, the seller has refused to let anyone near his house whilst he isn't home or to even give the keys to his neighbour or leave them in a hidden place. fucking ****!

So, another 24 hour trip to Sydney is in order for wednesday , considering the gearbox is on it's way out, it'll be interesting to see how far it can tow the wagon, If all else fails i'll just stick the au on the trailer and tow with the wagon lol.

[XR_Lightning]

yeah common problem with AU's leaking there, seen it a few times, loving that ED XR6 wagon! ive wanted to do a turbo project ED XR6 wagon for ages! i look foward to seeing how this thing comes along

[THUMPS]

Hey I was gonna buy that XR wagon..... I had it all organised with the guy and when I rang him the next day to organise payment he told me it was sold LOL kinda glad I didnt buy it now sounds like you had troubles....

The next day I bought an arctic blue 97 EL wagon wholesale for $900 hehe!!

[Hayden]

It wasn't too bad, he was actually pretty chatty when i went to pick it up... nice bloke in the end. Mechanically it's pretty good, It ended up being a very comfortable drive back from wodonga.

[Hayden]

I'm moving up to shepparton tomorrow so I wont have the internet for awhile, so here's what's been going on with my cars.

AU: the diff is fuxed, the gearbox is about to blow up and the bar is still cracked. Other than that it's awesome, fixed the water leak with no dramas!

I got the wagon back on Thursday, towed it with the AU from sydney to wodonga with an epic 29L/100km. Everything went well, gearbox didn't blow up thank god!

I Drove it from wodonga to heidelberg, once it was in wodonga, I started it up and it just ran like complete shit, so I changed the plugs aswell as all the blown globes and it started up and ran as if it were a brand new motor.
I'm actually surprised in how nice it drives and handles, even with the wheel alignment being completely screwed and to top it off, it only used 1/4 of a tank of 91

I've done a little on it over the last couple of days, replaced the 2 front windows with the tinted windows out of my old ED due to the "UV Resistant" clear tint that has rippled, in-turn reducing visibility down to 10% and found out that sedan & wagon rear windows are different shapes . So I might get a window tinting shop to remove the old clear tint and put some limo tint in

I've also replaced the rear wiper motor, as the old one had actually shattered into pieces, changed the tail lights to EL wagon lights, clear AU repeaters and picked up a drivers seat to replace the fucked one. I also managed to get the weather sheilds off the front doors, as my luck would have it, it's stripped off the paint under the double-sided tape.

The Bad:
A dent in the tailgate, front drivers quater and rear passenger quater.
Clear Tint
Roof lining is completely ****ed!!
Wheel alignment
Pod Filter

The Good:
The bonnet & XR front look like they've been resprayed, I'd like to know who did it, because it looks better than factory!
the interior, besides the drivers seat is in mint condition.
Motor is perfect

So in conclusion, It was well worth the 2 trips to sydney to pick it up.

[Hayden]

So... I think I'll put up an update.

The AU got hit by a roo, That's right.. the roo hit me! asshole. the frontbar/lights & guard are all fked and rego ran out, so I'm driving the wagon.

Wagon news. Got it rego'd and rwc'd, even though the night after getting it rego'd the castor arm popped out of the control arm pulling the bush with it in the middle of prinny/FTG rd on a friday night, (the friday night before C4C), luckily it didn't happen on the hume, but after 6 hours of the car being on stands, running backwards and forwards to get tools, spare parts, rip the suspension apart and put it back togeather again, we (big thanks to Huss & mark) got it all back togeather again an hour before c4c.

As it stands at the moment, I got a new roof lining, NC door trims, converted to power windows, darkest legal tint, new tyres put on the xr , new steering rack, front end bushes, ball joints, struts.. .etc... etc... etc...

I'll try not to bore you with the details, long story short, It's on the road!

things to do still.
- replace the rusted sills
- new exhaust
- replace tailgate
- heavier clutch (GLi clutch just doesn't cut it)
- front end respray
- most importantly dump it!!


now the realistic apprentice wage wish list:
- somehow afford to run it.

[Hayden]

lol... both of my cars are so fked up since the start.