XR front bar on ghia - Page 2

LUXO_8 · 20-01-2009, 10:53 PM

im not sure why they didn't mould the XR bar to fill that gap, but its there due to the rubber strip design on the normal headlights.

take a look at your old headlights and you'll see what i mean

ronwest · 20-01-2009, 11:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LUXO_8

im not sure why they didn't mould the XR bar to fill that gap,

Probably an oversight. Although you'd figure the assembler of the first one would have brought it to someone's attention, lol.

Cheers guys...

b2tf · 21-01-2009, 07:18 AM

It'll look great in Burgundy once you get it on. As mentioned, the gap is always there, my old AU actually had one side of the front bar that sat higher at that point than the other side - looked a bit weird but it was never involved in an accident etc so I didnt worry too much about it.

MrXr6Tickford · 21-01-2009, 10:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by b2tf

It'll look great in Burgundy once you get it on. As mentioned, the gap is always there, my old AU actually had one side of the front bar that sat higher at that point than the other side - looked a bit weird but it was never involved in an accident etc so I didnt worry too much about it.

Funnily enough thats the same here!

RG · 21-01-2009, 10:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ronwest

XR bar is spray puttied/primed ready for topcoat tomorrow. Had to get a small dent out of it with a hairdryer - worked surprisingly well.

Most of the time, about 8 hours spent stripping the old paint... of a job!

Made the brackets up... bit of a tight squeeze up in there but all good.

The Fairmont grill has been trimmed close but I'll finalise that when the bar is bolted up for the final time - everyone who has seen it likes the combination.

The wiring won't take long. The brief look I had indicates that the wiring for the different lights is the same colour coding so I'll leave both sets of connectors intact - or maybe the harness will reach anyway... if the connectors are the same?

The main reason for this update is to see if someone can upload a pic or maybe just confirm that there is a gap between the bonnet and the bar at the circled location. I'm guessing that it's a 6mm - 8mm? gap on mine. Looks a bit odd but I just put it down to the fact I'm using the hi series bonnet.
In this pic it looks as though there is a gap there as well?

edit: apologies to the owner of the fine example pictured for defacing his vehicle. It is in a good cause

Bloody hell it's been a while since she looked like that....a LONG while lol.

Yes it does have a 6-8mm gap there but my bonnet wasn't on particularly straight in that pic so it looks a little deceiving.

**Mont5.0** · 21-01-2009, 11:04 AM

the main loom for the lights hooks up alright, This gives you driving and High beam on the out side lights ONLY. Parkers connection is different, I still havent sorted out wiring the inner lights to come on when high beams are activated. Not a hard job- just havent done it yet.

JC · 21-01-2009, 01:24 PM

Ron - this will look great. hurry up and finish it will you; so we can all see :-)

ronwest · 21-01-2009, 03:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JC

Ron - this will look great. hurry up and finish it will you; so we can all see :-)

Brisbane airport is only 20 mins away... c'mon you know you want to get down and dirty with an au...

Topcoat done...

Should really get a bit of work done but later this evening I'll mount the lights (or maybe I'll just put them on the car) and sort out the wiring.

Front bar on tomorrow... buff in a few days

Jobs about done...

oops, meant to finalise the grill fitment before I top coated.... see! you guys rushing me, lol

JC · 21-01-2009, 04:48 PM

I was in Qld (including a few days in Brisbane) up until yesterday - I should have been in touch, but we had a hectic schedule anyway; as it was I only had 2 hours to see one mate!

Anyway, less typing and more working....

LUXO_8 · 21-01-2009, 05:04 PM

as far as i knew they plugged straight in..... did you get the lights with the wiring harnesses?

ronwest · 21-01-2009, 06:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JC

I was in Qld (including a few days in Brisbane) up until yesterday - I should have been in touch, but we had a hectic schedule anyway; as it was I only had 2 hours to see one mate!

That was why I mentioned the airport... you could have popped over here, fixed the bar and been on plane back home within a week or two, lol.

Quote:

Originally Posted by LUXO_8

as far as i knew they plugged straight in..... did you get the lights with the wiring harnesses?

Yes came with harnesses. I haven't looked closely as yet but I thought that XR's had at least one different globe?

InfernoSR · 21-01-2009, 06:19 PM

I have the same gap problem with my XR bonnet too... must be a low series issue :P

b2tf · 21-01-2009, 07:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ronwest

Yes came with harnesses. I haven't looked closely as yet but I thought that XR's had at least one different globe?

The parker bulb is different from a normal wedge one, from memory it's either a T5 or T24 bulb and its in a right of a spot too.

LUXO_8 · 21-01-2009, 09:23 PM

as mentioned the parker bulb is different, however its still a 5w bulb....
headlights themselves still have a H1 and H4 bulb as per normal au...
it should all be plug and play i would imagine...

**Mont5.0** · 21-01-2009, 11:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LUXO_8

as mentioned the parker bulb is different, however its still a 5w bulb....
headlights themselves still have a H1 and H4 bulb as per normal au...
it should all be plug and play i would imagine...

Wrong. as i mentioned, (not going to retype it all). The fairmont parker and XR parker connections are different.

LUXO_8 · 21-01-2009, 11:41 PM

erm...if he has the correct XR headlight loom, it will have the correct park lamp connections on it....

**Mont5.0** · 22-01-2009, 01:08 AM

My Bad.

ronwest · 22-01-2009, 01:32 AM

Wirings done...

The parker globe is different as mentioned and also the high beam connector is configured differently. On the standard high beam the spades are "parallel" but on the xr the spades are at right angles to each other.

It would have been easy enough to change one of the female spades in the connector but as I will probably swap the xr bar and the brumby bar around from time to time it's better to solder spade connectors onto the appropriate wires and be done with it.

The humidity up here has caused a bit of blushing in the topcoat :(
Hopefully it won't be too bad and will buff out.

ronwest · 22-01-2009, 03:15 PM

Actually, now that I read my last post I may have been able to fit the second (new) spade into the standard connector (there's a blank) and use it for either.

I'll check on that this evening after I finish slaving.

dreadly · 22-01-2009, 04:22 PM

They all have a gap hey each kit is hand fitted.. some are better than others.
I think the best you can get is a 2-3mm gap fitting hey. ;)
What's this t-series front better than xr business?? Lol imoa the t series would have sold a lot more numbers if they'd had the pursuit bar and lights or xr50 awc kit on them?

ronwest · 26-01-2009, 10:01 PM

So... bar is painted, on the car and 75% buffed.

Had to repaint some of the blush and repair a few scratches it collected when it toppled off the saw horses :(

Over the next couple of days I'll finish buffing/polishing it and post a pic.

The Fairmont grill is not a perfect fit but is plenty good enough. There's a slight gap between the bottom of it and the bar... varies between 3 - 6mm. You've got to look to notice it, so it'll be fine.

For today's sweetener I'll post a pic of the guard - bar brace. I got the flat from Bunnings and bent it at right angles. As luck would have it the holes are exactly 100mm apart which is the same as the guard. I opened up both upper and lower holes to 10mm to give it a bit of travel for adjustment.

JC · 27-01-2009, 01:50 AM

Nice job Ron. I think that's the exact Bunnings flatbar I used when I did mine! Can't wait to see pics of it with the Fairie grille; certainly will be different, and I think in a good way.

ronwest · 28-01-2009, 11:32 PM

Ok, just got home from the cricket... Bulls killed 'em ;)

Took pic earlier today.
The bar is about 90% done. Ended up with a bit more blush which will need to be repainted and it needs some more buffing but to be honest I'm a bit sick of it at the mo. I'll give it a while and when it's a bit cooler I'll fix it up.
I think it's quite ok. As mentioned previously there is a gap at the bottom of the grill surround but it's not as pronounced as it looks in the pic.
It's mostly shadow making it look like a 1" gap, lol.

_CRUZ_ · 29-01-2009, 10:56 AM

wow that does look different, nice job hope you are happy with the result.

ronwest · 29-01-2009, 02:59 PM

Yeah, cheers 3...

I really like the affect of the Fairmont grill so that part is great.

It was a lot more work than I thought, particularly because of the humidity effected paint but also stripping the paint was a pita.

Now that it's 90% done I can appreciate it but still have a little bit more to do.

Sox · 29-01-2009, 05:17 PM

I think the chrome needs to be colour coded, or black, or something.
The chrome is a bit prominent for me, doesn't look quite right.
Good job though, different is good.

LUXO_8 · 29-01-2009, 05:22 PM

metallic silver (like....lightning strike kinda colour) instead of the chrome, would really set it off i think.

someone photoshop it

UU TS50 · 29-01-2009, 08:33 PM

looks well worth the effort but my preference woud be for a colour coded falcon grille instead of the fairmont trim but its not my car so as long as its turned out how you wanted its worth the effort
cheers John

InfernoSR · 29-01-2009, 10:44 PM

I say try adding the chrome pin striping to it... change the door buffers to BA units and you'll be looking even better! awesome work!

XRLNT-8 · 29-01-2009, 10:59 PM

I love it!

Well done, that looks truly unique.

Cheers,

Simon