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Big Blue

XD Fairmont Ghia Rebuild

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Hi,

 

I have an 82 XD Fairmont Ghia that I'm rebuilding. I also have an XF Donor vehicle for any panel parts I require. Ive done quite a few 4wd's over the years and a few cars, but not an XD Falcon.

 

The turret has rust, but I can get whatever sections I need from the donor. My view is its easier to replace the skin and repair the structure at the same time.

 

Who has dont this swap, and any pic would really appreciated. Im interested on how the turrets were installed and where to unpick the XF turret from.

 

Again any help appreciated! 

 

 

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Haven't done much on that vintage, can't remember if there's a join at the dashboard level where the base of the windscreen meets the lower pillar. I'd start looking there, take the guard off to get at it.

When you say turret swap your talking about swapping everything from bonnet/boot level upwards? Genuine question, why the whole thing? Personally there would have to be pillars missing big chunks to contemplate the procedure. If it's a rusty roof panel and assume c pillar, I'd be stripping the paint off and unpicking the roof skin for a swap and keep the structure under it in place. Patching what needed to be done when the skin was off and rustproofing everything before putting the newer skin on the car.

To swap the whole structure, I'd be taking everything as low as possible. That means the whole b pillar and as far down the a & c pillar as the first factory joint. Preferably not cutting through any pillars if possible. If there's no way to unpick the pillar without having to take the lower a pillar then any cuts MUST be staggered by at least 50mm per layer. As in cut through one layer then move up or down by 50mm and cut through the next layer. It's hard to explain but basically the cut through the inside should be at a different height to the cut on the outside to increase strength and reduce possible cracking.

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from what i can GUESS from having all the windows out.. 
 
be spot welded under the windscreen sealant 1000 times, and under the C pillar panels and not sure about the rest. 
 

For the roof skin itself? Yep and in/under the rain gutters. Lots of spot welds and a few mig bits too but less work than properly swapping the a/b/c pillars as well.

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37 minutes ago, 2redrovers said:

For the roof skin itself?

yeah i'd expect ford fitted the skin last. not as a whole turret  all as one(speedway guys cut the roof off whole for the roll cage .. but not welded back on to spec as not needed. 

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Yeah, to my knowledge, the roof skins are mainly spot welded along the gutters,

and under the upper section of the front/rear window seals.

 

I can't imagine it's terribly difficult to un-pick, just very time consuming? 🤔

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Sorry, I'm talking about the skin only. :).  Just looking for advice weather to repair whats there, or use a complete skin, and any tips of removing a skin from one vehicle and reusing it. The skin of the XF has zero rust, I like the idea of using the full skin as it means rust wont potentially come back somewhere else. 

 

Spot welds are ok to remove around the skins and C pillar, it almost looks like the roof skin is clamped to the dip rail sections, just looking to see if anyone has removed one skin to another, and any tips, just checking first before I reinvent the wheel...  Thanks for the replies BTW.

 

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To remove the donor you can just use a normal type drill bit through the spot welds. For the rusty one, if you want to drill it off in one piece that's cool or you can cut the bulk away first leaving just the edge to drill out. Use proper spot weld bits for that one so you only go through one layer.

Swapping the skin let's you clean and protect the frame under it which you normally can't get to.

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On 2/24/2020 at 9:36 AM, 2redrovers said:

To remove the donor you can just use a normal type drill bit through the spot welds. For the rusty one, if you want to drill it off in one piece that's cool or you can cut the bulk away first leaving just the edge to drill out. Use proper spot weld bits for that one so you only go through one layer.

Swapping the skin let's you clean and protect the frame under it which you normally can't get to.

Totally agree.

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