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25th September 99
It seems that my modified Landau XA GT look is not going ahead, I think that it would look a little weird, cut and shut a piece from here and a piece from there type of thing. So now I have come to the conclusion that the XA GT is the best looking of all the coupes so that is what I'm going to have.
Places where I went to buy my XA stuff.
Affordable Spares Dandenong
Right hand XA front guard $130
Under Grill tray $10
XA GT grill (replica) $120
XA GT Bonnet scoops $90 (pair)
XY GT shaker (replica, steel base) $150
Apex Auto Recyclers Thomastown
Left hand XA front guard $80
Left / Right front Indicators $150 (rip off)
XA GT bonnet $50
(The bonnet looked like shit but was only $50 so I grabbed it, it was rusted on the top and the paint was cracked and stuffed but it was original. so I took it home, sanded it all back and found that there was only three dents in it, the rust had barely got started. I saved myself about $350).
Rare Spares Bayswater
XA GT mudguard flutes and inserts $98 (pair)
GT Bonnet pin kit $80
GT grill badge $25
Pick-A-Part Kilsyth
Front Bumper plus pair overiders $50
Front stone tray $25
Head Light assemblies $20
Assorted misc parts $25
GT Ford Performance Niddrie
XA GT front blade spoiler $107 (delivered)
Front Guards XA GT buildup
The guards were first sanded to bare metal with a disc sander so that I could see exactly what was wrong and the measures that were needed to correct it.
The guards had the appropriate sized hole cut out of them. The Flutes were crimped around their perimeter with an airtool so that they would fit flush with the guard. then put in a vice and bent so that a definate crease can be seen where the slope of the flute lines up with the actual guard itself (the rare spares inserts are made slightly wrong and must have these modifications done to them so they look original).
Flutes were then welded into guards from the top not underneith or the insert will not flex with the guard causing cracking of body filler and paint . Body filler was then applied to the guards over the welds and sanded to look original.
The rust was then cut out of the guard and the appropriate sized metal patch was then welded into place and bogged over and sanded.
Grill and Head Light Assembly
The grill that I bought was a standard XA grill that had two driving light rings slotted and glued into it to make it look like a GT twin headlight grill. It was in the original grey plastic color and had the chrome strip through the centre missing like most do. I went around to alot of wreckers to try and find a non dented centre chrome strip that was actually still chromed. I managed to track one down at a wrecker in Mulgrave. It of course was off a single headlight grill so it had to be cut to fit the twin headlight grill (no drama there).
The grill had all the existing chrome removed, then the grill was lightly sanded back and sprayed with plastic primer and then a gloss black. Chrome was then replaced along with a GT badge fitted to the left hand side.
I don't know if anyone knows this unless they have undertaken the same transplant but the XA headlight assembly is completely different from the XC and nothing matches up. First I had to strip all welded on brackets that held the front guards, grill, headlights and bonnet catch, and replace them with the XA equivelent which includes alot more pieces. The XC has no stone tray or plate under the grill and the guards do not bolt to plates on the sides at the front like the XA. I'll say this, the XA is alot more complicated at the front but it is a hell of alot strongly bolted together.
The guards bonnet were then fitted, alot of time was spent lineing things up then I had to weld a captive bolt back into the sub frame that holds the bumper on because it broke loose. The grill was then fitted, stone tray then bumper. On the XC the parking lights are inside the headlights while on the XA the parkers are in the indicator assembly. Also the XC has indicators both in the grill and in the guards while the XA has wrap around indicators that can be seen both from the front and the side. So as a consequence the wiring loom had to be cut and modified to match the XA indicators and parking lights.
18th October 99Here are some pics of the guards and bonnet fitted to my car during different stages of the buildup.
All fitted on except the front spoiler and shaker.
This is the whole car in all it's multi-colored glory.
25th October 99Now finally some pics of the car with the guards painted, shaker and front spoiler on.
I think that those doors need a bit of a fix and paint.
19th November 99
Not much has happened in the last month I just started a new course in the city and scratched my car along the rear drivers side quarter panel. That really annoyed me. I was parking in the same spot each day and then my GT badge got stolen off my grill so that also annoyed me. So I had to buy another one and also change parking spots.
Just last weekend I removed the rear side indicators, I thought that they looked a bit tacky being shoved on the quarter without a recess so I welded the hole and bogged up the rest, now everything looks clean and neat. This weekend I may get around to fixing that scratch on the quarter.
7th December 99I cleaned up and spray painted the doors a couple of days ago. Here are the pictures, including one of Sharelle. The XA buildup may be heading for a close pretty soon because as a result of Wanted ad on this web site I have located another XC coupe with a factory sunroof, so it seems that it will become my next project and the XA buildup car will now be my daily driver (which it always has been).
Side on with doors painted.
In the park with Sharelle.
