As we have proven with the XW restoration, it isn't possible to fit all work carried out on one page without the necessity for endless scrolling to get to current works in progress. So, on this page, we will document the reassembly of our Fairmont GXL, detailing all necessary work in the process. There may even be enough material for a third page, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Whatever the case, I hope you're enjoying the restoration of our latest Australian classic...
Yay... Finally we get to begin reassembly. Take a look, hope you enjoy!
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More re-assembly, with the heater box, dash assembly and steering column being relocated to their new home.
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A few more parts arrive and a few more jobs are completed.
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A few more parts fitted and sorted, with a list of others yet to be sourced. Plus a wonderful donation from NeilNZ from the Australian Ford Forum.
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The engine block is off for machining, we complete the dash, look at an old home movie and try a rather unconventional method of repairing a steering wheel.
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We take a look at a few parts which will need to be fitted in the not too distant future and take a quick look at another old home movie from 1986. We also receive a call from the engine reconditioner - our newly machined 351 block and rotating assembly is now ready for collection...
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In this chapter, we gather parts and prepare the engine block for assembly.
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With much to do around the house and some waiting on the engine, we tackle some light refurbishment on the gearbox and purchase another Carter carburettor.
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A few parts are considered in this chapter and others are media blasted.
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In this chapter, we take a look at the front end among a few other details.
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Apologies for the late release of this chapter... this video begins with around six minutes of discussion, so it can be skipped if need be. We concentrate on front suspension and buffing in this installment.
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All about the parts, which we now have to fit the engine, gearbox, wheels etc.
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With the wheels and tyres all sorted, we take take a look at the rear axel bearings, fit and run the Thermoquad, remove the engine from the running stand and fit the clutch.
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With several parts not fitting and non-exchangeable over the Easter break, I found a lot of other things to do on our XC. The engine will be fitted in Part 28, but I hope you enjoy this chapter as well.
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I fitted an engine today.
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In this chapter, we begin fitting out the engine bay and a couple of other items are addressed as well.
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In this chapter we take a look at a beautiful original GXL, knock over most of the wiring and plumb the engine bay... we also look at those pesky yellow washer and overflow bottles.
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In this chapter, we almost finalise the engine bay... still waiting on a couple of ordered parts though. We also look at a genuine cassette deck and what's involved to repair it. Finally a lovely new headlining arrives, so we take a look at that as well.
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In this chapter, we complete the engine bay,. take a close look at the high series interior light assembly (map lights) and wire it in and begin work on the brakes.
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27th May 2016: Well, "nice and easy does it" seems to be the order of the day at this point. Work and home life are super busy at present, so progress is a little slow. Still, I've managed to get hold of a pretty much flawless GS/GXL bonnet and a pretty good dual exhaust rear bumper, so I'm happy. These two parts are becoming very difficult to find indeed, but they've now been consigned to yesterday's worries. A few dash wiring issues had manifested themselves, because of the printed circuit on the rear of the cluster contacting the dash frame, but that's sorted as well. Neill Bryce from New Zealand has kindly offered to donate a new printed circuit, which is indicative of his wonderful generosity. So, although slow progress prevails, this restoration is still moving along quite well.
10th September 2016: Again, a "nice and easy does it" approach has taken hold. Not a great deal to discuss where the cars' concerned, but plenty of family and house action both at this end and at my mothers. I've had a clearance issue with the engine which I need to take back to the machine shop, so engine building work has been stalled. Another issue that has reared its head is the "junkyard" 302 block I have been preparing for rebuild for the XD Falcon. A few cracks have shown up on one of the decks, which isn't uncommon, but I don't want to use it. I've found another crack free block that I will use instead... so I have two 351 Clevelands that have both been bored .020 to match their respective sets of hypereutectic pistons. Two engines being completely rebuilt... crazy, stupid or both... not sure.
There is one exciting thing that happened today though... Jason dropped in with fabric samples for the seats. Macro suede that matches the original Dusk vinyl beautifully!
There is one exciting thing that happened today though... Jason dropped in with fabric samples for the seats. Macro suede that matches the original Dusk vinyl beautifully!
Rebuilding the 351 Cleveland
26th October 2016: We're now up to the engine building stage and so far have the short motor pretty much completed. Listed below is the series of video links, which begins with a little history of the engine and follows it through the rebuild process.
An introduction to our 351 Cleveland and some plans for the upcoming rebuild... this is reasonably short, so I added a slide show focusing on a prior 429 big block build.
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In this chapter, we strip the 351 engine down to a bare block and discuss a few items.
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A note to XC Restoration viewers - most of the footage on this video is from Part 20 of the XC series, with only the final part containing new material... In this video our engine block is back from the machine shop, where we discuss the work performed and the parts to be fitted.
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We fit the rotating assembly and camshaft in this chapter. Although there was not enough time to demonstrate the dialing in procedure, I will outline it in the next upload. Hope you enjoy it!
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In this chapter, we take a good look at dialing in the camshaft with a Summit Racing degree wheel. We also look at a basic cc checking technique using some home made apparatus and a few other odds and ends as well. Hope you enjoy it!
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In this chapter, we paint and re-assemble our Cleveland engine, with the next being the final installment - testing and breaking the camshaft in.
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Well, we're finished building our engine for the XC Fairmont restoration... once we collect a clutch fork and flywheel, it can be installed in the car. In this chapter, we finalise work on the engine running stand and break in the camshaft... The engine speed was varied, but I only filmed a portion of it.
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I'm tired of people being dishonest when peddling their junk online. I've seen Ford eight cylinder air cleaners with $400 price tags which are a joke. In this video, we acquire some cheap old parts and make a far nicer one. Hope you enjoy!
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There will be two videos on the Thermoquad carburettor, where we will take a look at a couple of very poor examples and have them professionally cleaned. From there, we assess what we have and assemble what we hope to be a great running carburettor. Apologies if this video is a little disjointed as it's been put together at different times using excerpts from different videos.
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This is the second of three parts on the Carter Thermoquad Carburettor. In this chapter, we begin with all cleaned parts and an overhaul kit. We will reassemble our Carter and have it ready for fitting to the engine and some final adjustments.
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I bought this old 351 years ago because I knew that one day I'd use it. The engine was in a semi disassembled state and was a virgin bore. The following are the photographs that appeared in the advertisement, with a price of $200.00, so I jumped on it.
And here it is about seven years later being rebuilt. I did have it bored .020 as there was a minor lip and figured that a small over bore of .020 would leave rebuilding room far into the future. I wanted the engine to appear stock but in addition to all of the relevant machine work, fitted it with: Hypereutectic pistons, ARP rod bolts, Competition cam, Rollmaster 9 key way billet timing set, 4MA crank (original was cracked), Reco heads with 4V valves etc etc.
With the rebuild complete, the engine received a nice blue paint job in a colour I made up after being dissatisfied with the paint I bought for it. The engine was then fitted to the running stand to have it's flat tappet cam run in... it was a warm day, but the engine performed flawlessly. Also featured is the air cleaner I made up from a couple of bad ones - I was pleased with the overall result.
After the engine had its preliminary run in, it was time to overhaul the Carter Thermoquad carburettor and fit it to the engine. The carburettor was tested and passed with flying colours... although there are a few adjustments that will need to be performed later on in the car.
And then I installed it... nice looking old thing isn't it?
Well, with all of these pictures and video links, it looks like I need to create another page. Please refer to page three of the XC Restoration... you can find it under 1977 XC Fairmont GXL Part 3: Final Fitting Out.