Fairmont GT

Hey guys!

I have a '71 XW Fairmont GT - Silver fox - Cherry interior - 2v auto- that need a thorough going over. I will keep you posted on the progress here.

I last drove the car to my brother in law's Wedding 2 years ago- and now the wife's friend wants to use the car for her wedding. So - "No problem" I say .
BUT

Now the cars head gaskets have blown. SO here is my tale so far.
To my knowledge this motor has never been opened
Pulled the heads and took them to Johnstons engineering in Woodstock to have the valves recut and a light skim etc etc. Turned out the exhaust valves all had to be replaced due to a wierd scoring pattern ( knurling??) on them.
So in with new oversize stem valves and 8 "K" Liners for the intake valves. Johnstons did a awesome job in record time (8 days total) So kudo's to them.

Then I painted the heads and intake with VHT light blue and slapped them on the beast. - Yaaay job done-

Or so I thought

Took the car to my friends at Power Pipes ( Cowley Exhausts) to fit the "olive ring" between the exhaust manifold and downpipe. The looked around and told me the manifold was warped and needed a skim- Took it off but had to remove the engine mounting to get it out, ...and...BAM the bolt breaks off. And then i see.... A leaking Welch plug Too. Damn....

So thread maniacs to fix bolt and a new stainless welch plug fitted and then I look at the manifold an see its cracked and warped.
So I shoot off to Burt (a member here) to get a second hand set off a Fairlane - Then skim the one to give to Max at Power pipes. Wow !

So I Got the car back about a hour ago and now I know why I do this - I just love that machine sooooo much.

Now a wash and polish and all is good for the wedding on SAturday -
Hopefully!!!!!

once again thanks to Power Pipes, Johnstons engineering and Burt for the help! _
I will post pics soon of the car at the wedding

Yep...

it never ends Maxman.

It's just a constant supply of little niggly problems... But we love it.

J1

AAAARRRGGGG!!!

It seems the gremlins are still out to get me- Drove home through the traffic 100% lots of thumbs up and offers to buy the car ( as per normal)- THEN a total POS Ford Fiesta diesel wants to dice- I throw it in low and go. All is fine and dandy and I am still driving a bit fast after dispatching the Fiesta. And then i pull into the bottle store to buy some celbratory beer ...And .... The frikken car pukes all the water out the overflow. SH*T. After some car park theatrics - a speed home and shower the car with the garden hose to cool it off....GRRRRR just washed the thing..GRRR and investigate....

Half the radiator is ice cold..... Damn the RAD is BLOCKED
Pulled the rad now and will load in the cougar to take to work. Some dude is coming to look at the cat to buy it - HOPEFULLY- then i can shell out for the new interior and other nice bitz.
Oh well - such is life i guess. Hope the car will make it the 300 km round trip for the wedding on SAT. Otherwise the brides gonna be pissed.

Keep you guys posted.

HAPPY DAYS

The car is running as cool a ice now (almost) all is well now the Radiator is clean. Thanks to Silverton Radiators in Montague Gardens for sorting that out for me. There was a surprising amont of gunk that came out the core, Some of it looks to be small slivers of RTV sealer, probably from scraping the block to refit the head ! DOH !
Anyone know of a inline filter that you can install ?
The heater is not really working so good now , so I must assume the same goop has gone in there. has anyone posted a guide on removing the heater box?

Anyhow, on my way to the wedding tomorrow - fingers crossed and a boot full of tools and supplies should see me through.

I will keep you guys posted on the slow resto, Next up a new front screen and a upholstery job,- ( still looking for a good place to take it to) - Any suggestions - Stealth ( warren )????????

Hey Guys, Here are some pics of tha car at the wedding I was rambling about on my previous posts.


Arty Black and White shot !!



!!! The Happy Bride and Groom !!!



The Money Shot.

Well as you can see it's all about the Beauty and the BEAST

Rory,
That is awesome the car as well lol... . That is one SWEET looking XWGT. I would really love to see some more photos of this baby. The rims really suit that your GT. I noticed that it has a Fairmont GT Club grille badge on the car & also it has XYGT bonnet pins. Did you fit the bonnet pins??

Really a lovely GT well done Boet.

A tad late but this may help: viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1113&hilit=heater+box

viewtopic.php?f=16&t=3388&hilit=Heater+box

Hi, Ja thanks for your comments.

The car came with the XY bonnet pins, I actually prefer them over the orignals anyway. The Mags are called TSW Apex and I got them for free for making some wheel adapters for a mates' 58 studebaker. He had them on his 2001 Astra.
I had to make some serious wheel adapters to get the stud pattern and the wheel offset correct. They have got Falken Azenis Semi slicks on them at the moment and they stick so well the you have to reeeeeely try to spin the tyres. the handling on smooth roads in the dry is actually quite awesome.

As to the Fairmont Club badge I found it in the Glovebox so I just put it on the grille for old time's sake, I was actually stopped one day by a old geezer who said the car belonged to the chairman of the Cape Town Caravan Club and that made kinda sense, cos there was a HUGE towbar on the back.

Anyway, Its now getting new front brake discs and pads and hopefully new upholstery soon.

I will post some more pics when the Cougar is out of my garage and in the new owners.