I want a semi (as in, not spend a lot of money on) project car to tide me over until I get something mean, and have seriously landed upon the mid to late 90's Falcon as a starting point.

It's probably a good starting point too, because they're worth nothing, are pretty cheap to build up, there are plenty of things about them I don't like, and in the end they make fairly good cruisers. Or cruiseliners as Township Rebellion pointed out.

It will look something like this butterfaced EF GLi:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dd/1997_Ford_EL_Falcon_GLi.jpg

Biggest dislike: The interior is a sea of shitty grey 90's Ford plastic and the most turdsational seats (and thus worst riding position I've ever experienced) devised by man.

Biggest like: The Ford 4.0L goes hard, and is pretty cheap to modify.


What do you guys rekon? I can get one in good nick for a rock bottom price, so if no-one can talk any sense into me over the next day or two it's going on my front lawn.

well i guess ill be the first one to talk some sense into this lunatic.

YEAH BOY, SKID PIG!!!!!

fucking go for it. It's a brutal pig of car and you can let loose on the fucker with no holds barred.

DO IT!

What would you plan on doing to it anyway?


I got dragged off at the lights by an old Camaro the other day.

Sure, it sounds cool and beat me...but I reckon I'd have had him if there was, you know, a corner, or something that required stopping quickly.

do it!

What would you plan on doing to it anyway?



skidding it cunt.

:)

skidding it cunt.

:)


Not hard.

Even the BA's used to fishtail if you went around a roundabout.

Weld up the differential

GR8 4 DRIFTIN

Not hard.

Even the BA's used to fishtail if you went around a roundabout.

yeah man, generations of hoons have grown up skidding 6 cylinder commies and falcons.

hey frink, isn't a 2.0 litre a big car over in the UK?

Depends what car it's in. A 2 litre hatchback is pretty big, but a 2 litre small saloon is normal, and we have the big engined Mercs, Audis, BMWs, Lexuses like everyone else.

That said, most young people/women (not being sexist, it's just true) will drive a sub 2-litre hatchback, so it would be fair to say that the most popular car group has engines smaller than two litres.

weld up the differential

gr8 4 driftin

bad 4 turnin

The car in the picture runs on LPG. Does your car run on LPG?

The car in the picture runs on LPG. Does your car run on LPG?

Actually, it's different model to the one in that picture, but it doesn't run on LPG anyway. Crude or not, I wish it was fitted with Ford's LPG system, just so's that my wallet would a much smaller hit every time I drive this thirsty* cruiser. I'm not going to fit LPG though, because I'd never be able to offset the costs, even if I am eligible for the government rebate.

*"Expect a well-maintained GLi to return fuel economy of around 14.5l/100km for a combination of city and country driving." (https://www.mynrma.com.au/cps/rde/xchg/mynrma/hs.xsl/ford_falcon_ef_used_car.htm) Decrease that to about 17L/100km for LPG, and it's only going to cost about as much as the equivalent amount of fuel used by an 8.5L/100km vehicle to run. In the end though, the savings are unlikely to offset the cost of fitment. This may change in the future, so it's not 100% ruled out. EDIT: No, it won't. I just read that the LPG versions are sometimes as poor as 19L/100km.

I have thought of quite an extensive list of small changes, some of which I am considering in varying degrees of depth. There's a lot of waiting and biding of time involed in a budget build up. Today I've got a few minimum cost and engine tuning to do, but it's hot as heck in the shed (47°C outside alone) so I'd rather do other things. I'll take some photos when it cools down enough to take the car out into the daylight.

/Meandering blog-like post which is about as exciting and as a sunburn. I won't do it in the future. /VB.

Seafoaming, retarding timing, and taking pics tomorrow now. Compiled a 10 second list of ill considered to-do's that hopefully won't see me too bankrupted. If anyone can provide pretty accurate (within 10%) pricing that would apply to me, it'd be appreciated. I don't think there's really anything there I can't do myself, so labour costs will be down but I'll still have to deal with freight if I order new parts. Buuuut, fellow scumbags, I hope to scavenge most of the stuff over the next year or so though, fitting it as I go along, which will make it very affordable as well.

So far on my to do list (not all of it thoroughly considered and explored yet):



Christen the car by visiting a sealed backroad and leaving my (generous) mark - the easy way to determine if the car has the optional heavy duty LSD or is a single smoker. I will source the LSD option and fit that if not equipped (I don't know the extent of the options on this car other than those I have noticed it has, and this could have been fitted aftermarket at some stage anyway).
Taller diff gears for that immediate wakey wakey, a 3.47 crown gear might do.


2.5" catback exhaust system with flow through mufflers (done some research and 2.5" is as much as you'll want on a 4.0L Falcon until you're making quite a bit of power).
Large tube extractors (scavenging type performance headers)
High flow cat


Mild performance cam (& lightened)
Upgraded bearings
Lash adjusters
Uprated valve springs
Au Falcon head gasket, to bump compression up and simultaneously increase reliability (though what was that I heard about weakest links and moving down the chain?).


3000-3200rpm Stall converter
Trans-cooler (badly needed)
Shift kit
Get the tranny upgraded with brass parts - and adjusted solenoids, cos these Falcon trannies are apt to tearing themselves apart, especially when they don't have a trans cooler.


Laser wash and wax


Rims off a later model Falcon. Pricey for legit parts, might get knockoff rims, and by that I don't mean the wheels off a british sports car, this is a cruiser but it ain't a low-ri-duh. Requires adaptors, may as well get much wanted spacers to do the job.
Wheel spacers (I do not want to lengthen the axles). Requires camber kit.
Lower it 2 - 2.5 inches (still not going to end up another lowrider though) Also requires camber kit and different shocks. Method as of yet undecided but I definitely won't be cutting springs, might even consult Nerets for opinion. If I go crazy and catch the fever that afflicts everyone else with an EF Falcon that didn't buy it new, I may consider getting King Springs super lows.


Next time the brakes need new rotors I'll buy a big brake kit. Badly needed, stock brakes may as well be your bare feet for stopping this monolith. MIGHT consider upgrading to ABS (pretty sure didn't get optioned with ABS) if it's very cheap, but unlikely.


Fix the pedal feel (easy DIY trick), which I hate so much, being a Commodore driver and Mopar man after all. Yes, it's a mixed up world.
The darkest all way around tint level I can afford.
Upgrade the tired factory 4 speaker stereo dramatically, Using a secondhand head unit and a full range of speakers (subs, mids, tweeters amirite?), and I'll ask you guys to teach me how to do the wiring and installation. I'll build a set of professional looking sub enclosures myself though, thankyou very much ;).


Possibly replace the seats with Commodore seats. The drilling holes in floor and mounting seats from a different car would make it unfit for RWC, and piss off a lot of Ford fags.
Possibly learn how to retrim interior, begin with material inserts then move on to the rest.


Eventually I'll think about getting a late model performance head, depending on cost and it's affect on the powerband, as well as a better iginition system with coils for every cylinder (currently has 3 for 6, just like South Africa). I should think the head will bolt right up, but it might cost a bit to get some electronics nerd to wire it all up.

Although they respond very, very well to forced induction, that won't be in my budget and would be a very bad move legally.

I might have to visit a godforsaken Ford forum or two in order to get all these prices if the ol' dog n bone and the legs don't do the work.

It all sounds lovely, but I hope you're not planning on fixing it up AND thrashing it at the same time, one or the other. As the owner of a still-in-good-nick bombidore with over 400,000ks on the original engine, it makes me cry to see people ruin the old family barges at 200-300. Your call though. Otherwise, you'll probably find that the rails for Commodore seats are ever so slightly different from Falcon ones, It would be easier to try and find a nice set of leather ones from a Ghia/Fairlane/LTD of the same era from a ford wrecker. Same applies with the wheels, quite a few wreckers seem to keep factory overstock, factory rims and tyres from BA's and whatnot sitting around. You should be able to find a set of 16 or 17 inch alloys for under a grand, which is quite alright considering the tyres probably haven't been driven on.

Best of luck with it though. Try to stay clear of Rum Pig lisence plates and Conargo Pub bumper stickers if anything.

Daammmmmnnnnnn! :mad:

I just missed picking up a full set of King Springs Ultralows + Pedders comfort ride shockers for $170 the lot.

Didn't PM the dude on the FalconForums in time, someone else got em. I woulda payed more, too.

Good choice, my brother had a 4.0L falcon. Ran that shit into the ground.

God damn I cannot fucking stand the seating position in the old falcons. I could NEVER get comfortable in the EL I used to drive.
But other than the whole ugly as sin in every aspect the engine is awsome.

Yeah, did a damn near 100 metre burnout a couple of hours ago seeing as my rear tyres *just* got below legal tread levels and Imay as well have given them a send off.
Speaking of send off, the party's ended and Jefs shutting us down, so catch you guys in your next lives.

Goodbye, kinda.