Lawler's 97 EL Fairmont

[lawler]

Hi ive accaly interduced myself properly. My names David and Im from tas. Some of my post may be a bit confusing because my mate with the green eb turbo forgot his account password on here so he just use my account.

Long story short I joined up a few years ago when I was working on the tools at the local ford delership when I was doing som reserch to help my mate out befor he turboed his eb and have just ended up sticking around for the awsome tech info and cars.

It came time to go looking for a new car after selling my r31 ti. having allways loved the look and how the ef-el fairmonts drove I started my hunt for a good one. I manged to find a neat looking manual 97 EL fairmont with 162km on the clock. It was bit of a drive to go have a look but turned out well worth it.

Having had it in my ownership for about a week now heres a run down of the mods Ive found on it.

94DT tickford head
Au mls head gasket
Pacemaker extractors
2 1/2 inch exhaust
king spring super lows
No name ajustable shocks
19x8.5 +6 advanti wheels
Rear sloted rotors

Plans for it are just
3.45 LSd
Koni reds all round
Whiteline swaybars
Sloted rotors on the front
3inch intake pipe
Pod filter in air box and cai
Eather 1636 or 977b Cam
j3 chip to suit on 98 octain
and upgraded speckers and just a 10inch sub off the standard head unit so I can keep the 6 stacker

Ill put some more photos up latter Because I gave it a good wash and a wax last night just gota give it a vaccum out

[lawler]

Before mods start I have a few small things I need to fix up first
Insurance
Drivers door droped a little
window rubbers
boot gas struts
and just that sort of stuff

[EFFalcon]

looks like quite a nice car.
good luck with it!

[lawler]

Well im just waiting on my black joiners and 45deg bend to turn up then i can do my 3 inch intake and cai.

Can anyone tell me if a 3inch pipe fits in the rubber joiner on the air box or do i have to do away with that i havnt had the time to check my self. Its not overly inportant seeing as im going to run a pod in the box but would proffer to run it.

Also any one ran 3inch flexy tube from bumper to air box past the abs unit and if so where did you need to drill the hole through?

[lawler]

Well im just waiting on my black joiners and 45deg bend to turn up then i can do my 3 inch intake and cai.

Can anyone tell me if a 3inch pipe fits in the rubber joiner on the air box or do i have to do away with that i havnt had the time to check my self. Its not overly inportant seeing as im going to run a pod in the box but would proffer to run it.

Also any one ran 3inch flexy tube from bumper to air box past the abs unit and if so where did you need to drill the hole through?

[EFFalcon]

an EF airbox lid has a larger joiner on it.
get one of those

[lawler]

Cheers man. The bottem the same or do i need the whole air box?

[EFFalcon]

its actually just the part that bolts to the airbox lid. the lid itself is physically the same.
its just easier to swap the whole lid over.

[lawler]

Cheers man. Looks like a wreckers raid after work lol

Anyone payed attention to if the pipe that runs over the rocker cover heat sooks much?

Thinking of doing a heat shield or heat wrapping it. Then again im probly over thinking it for my very mild set up

[lawler]

Double post.....

[TechXR]

The bottom half should all be the same.

[braad]

Looks nice.

[lawler]

As tipical for me ive by chance ive found a 3.45 lsd for a good price. Down side is its an 8 hour round trip to pick it up and i have no free time to go get it and got rego and a few otherthings due

[lawler]

well ive manged to brake my wrist and now have a metal plate in it so to kill some time started my CAI. still need to attach it to the opening in the bumper but cant get into do that one handed.

got my bends, filter and ef air box bit ready for my 3 inch intake just waiting on my joiners to show up. (no one sell black joiners around here)



http://i690.photobucket.com/albums/vv26 ... 110327.jpg

[lawler]

Well got my 3 inch intake and pod in the box in. Im not quite happy with how it sits just yet but i cant do much about it with one hand and i had to order a longer joiner for one bit.

Once im happy with how it sits ill post a photo up.

Gave it a nice little power incress. Nothing major though maun diffrance is up top plus a little bit more intake noise so im happy with it

[lawler]

Well sadly the motor is using oil slowly so looking into going au bottem end so if anyone knows who build thread i can find photos of how i have to mod the sump it would be good

On the up side ive been offered a solid axle 4runner cheap that needs a few things done to it so ill get that done and on the road first then i can drive that while i swap bottem ends in the fairmont

[kwikxr]

Check here for sump mod
http://www.fordmods.com/ford-4l-and-6-c ... 79648.html

You could always mod the k-frame (cut and shut job) to clear the sump, that seems to be another popular way of putting the AU bottom end in, but that would have to be engineered if you want to do things properly I guess..

Awesome looking Fairmont by the way, very tidy and sits nicely . Top effort for still modding away with a broken wrist too lol, dedication!

[lawler]

Cheers man. Gota do somthing to keep stop going crazy lol

I accaly found that same page alittle while after posting in here. I posted the link in the au convertion thread as well.

Ill do sump. I realy dont like the idea of modding the k frame.

What are people oppinion. Use an au head or use my tickford head?

[lawler]

Well picked up a 3.45 lsd on the weekend for $200 so once my wrist is better that will be going in.

Put some new speakers and a little 10inch sub in running off the starndard head unit just for a little upgrade.

Besides that fairmont wont be getting any more mods until after the 4runners on the road so i can pull it off the road and do au bottem end

[lawler]

well im having a tad annoying problem. fairmont isnt pulling past about 3000rpm that well. it keeps reving but its not very smooth and dosnt seem to pull.

i havnt had much of a chance to look at it but has all new plugs, leads and fuel filter on it

[kwikxr]

Possibly a block in the exhaust somewhere? i.e collapsed cat converter

[lawler]

yeah. hopfly be able to get under it thursday to check whats in the cat.

what revs dose the inlet change over and anyone know roughly what revs and if it will do it on free revs

[kwikxr]

The BBM switchover point is at around 3800rpm. It should also do it when free revving too, just put the car in park/neutral and rev it whilst looking at the vacuum diaphragm in front of the BBM, the rod should move the lever once it hits that certain RPM.

[lawler]

well its not the cat. theres nothing in it at sll

[lawler]

well going to throw new coil, dizzy cap and rotor button on it and see if its any better

[lawler]

Well its alot better. still seem to be a weird spot bettwen 3500-4000rpm where the inlet swaps over.

Im still running the stock auto none tickford ecu with just abit more timming add via the dizzy. anyone know if illd pick up much getting a j3 chip to suit the tickford head, cam, compression and the other mods to suit 98?

On another note mates running a 4ltr in a early model sorer as a budget drift car. motor is a stock ef motor with eb inlet manifold, pod filter strait on the throttle body, stock exhaust manifold, 3 inch strait through exhausted and he also scored an ecu cheap.

suprised us all and manged to make 151.6 rwkw on 98ocatin

Bit of an update Installed some new front speakers and a fusion 10ich sub tube I got off a mate cheap. simple case of undo a plug and rca then just undo the 2 straps and it comes strait out. best bit is bike still fits in with it in



3inch intake done. just waiting on my last 2 black joiners to show up. I still havnt washed the engine bay sence ive got it

also planning on getting some super lows kings springs to suit v8 for the front. it sits at a good hight but front to soft. the v8 fronts work realy well in the front of my mates eb when it was still on the road so think they are worth ago

[lawler]

Well i currantly have 4 wheel steer. Gona have to get a super pro reae bush kit and another set of arm sorted so i can swap them and the lsd in at the same time.

Gona get swaybars, sloted front rotors and some better pads in it befor i worry about getting any more power out of it

[lawler]

So got bored yesterday and put the lsd in. Its not as tight as i would have liked but cant complain for the price i got it for. Think i might drain a little bit of the diff oil out and put a bit of normal diff oil in it. Wont last aslong but normaly cut 2 better.

Did a few wet hills runs afterwards but have to adjust hand brake inside the brakes abit better so down hill was a struggle and dodgy