LankyKiwi's Rally-flavored SP20

@LankyKiwi, I made my own hood dampener brackets, and used the 'bonnet struts' (that's downunder speech) from a car you maybe familiar with in NZ. The mighty AU Falcon! 😁

I will post a couple of photos this weekend of my set up if you're interested.

Thanks! Yep would be keen to see how you've done it.
 
Here are the pic's. The top bracket I made myself, drilled out and tapped the existing middle hole in the factory hinge.

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Right side.
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Left side.
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Using factory Ford AU Falcon Stabilus struts (German owned, Australian made). Same struts as BA BF Falcons too.

Fitment is spot on. Slightly higher than factory when bonnet is open. With bonnet closed, there's 3-4mm clearance at the front mount to the underside of bonnet, and about the same to the sides between front guards and strut. It's a close fit, but they've been on the car for over a year now and no issues. No rubbing/touching anywhere.
 
Nice work! That bracket looks factory!

Will keep this in mind if the shorter struts I've got fail in the future
 
Nice work! That bracket looks factory!

Thanks. The good thing about using the factory Ford Stabilus branded struts is the bonnet opens at a decent speed and then slows right down just before fully open. All by itself. Not sure what the technical term is but seems like there's a two stage/soft open feature built into the Stabilus struts.

And making / mounting the top bracket the way I did meant I didn't lose the bonnet alignment - as I didn't have to undo the bottom bolt. Bonnet alignment wasn't affected.

I had an aftermarket kit on there prior - and that kit was a POS. Only opened half way and you had to manually push the bonnet up for it to open all the way.
 
I had a look at those kits and thought the same thing, cheap 'n nasty! At least when it's DIY you can choose the best components. Stabilus struts really are super nice if a little pricey if you need specific lengths.

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Most of the 6kg saved from the sound deadening is going straight back in with this lot lol. #0 AWG main battery cable, #4 starter- fusebox - alternator cables and a #2 earth for the battery. Crimping this large gauge stuff is a major workout!
 
So last week I was browsing on TradeMe (NZ's Craigslist) and a listing caught my eye...
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Another set of OZ F1's! They were waaay to cheap to pass up, partly because one of the wheels is broken :(
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IF they can be fixed (big maybe at this point) then one set will be refinished in white and red lettering. That'll give some variety when needed and the option to run different tires as well

Online auction places are dangerous to your wallet and storage space!
 
Personally, I would not repair that. That wheel is junk.

Last thing I would want after all the time, effort and money gone into the build is the car to be wrecked because of something stupid as a repaired wheel that should've been binned in the first place.
 
Personally, I would not repair that. That wheel is junk.

Last thing I would want after all the time, effort and money gone into the build is the car to be wrecked because of something stupid as a repaired wheel that should've been binned in the first place.

Yeah, the more I look at it, the more it seems like a bad idea :(

Nevermind, it was always a long shot for repairing that wheel and I've still got the others as spares!
 
Yeah, the more I look at it, the more it seems like a bad idea :(

Nevermind, it was always a long shot for repairing that wheel and I've still got the others as spares!
good call.

I had a look at those kits and thought the same thing, cheap 'n nasty! At least when it's DIY you can choose the best components. Stabilus struts really are super nice if a little pricey if you need specific lengths.

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Most of the 6kg saved from the sound deadening is going straight back in with this lot lol. #0 AWG main battery cable, #4 starter- fusebox - alternator cables and a #2 earth for the battery. Crimping this large gauge stuff is a major workout!

I never found them to be that much of an issue. I used a hammer and some kind of driver to make a big indent on the opposite side of the slit.
 
Haha, I used the big crimper at work but it was still a work out for my spaghetti arms!

Cables in, boot floor painted and carpets back in. Battery box sorted and planning the flat floor now...
 
What's this? An update?

Bare metal sections painted with a epoxy top coat, should prevent any rust issues later down the line
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With the rear seats not going back in the area where they were was a bit ugly so I decided to make an infill panel and a new boot floor. Here it is mocked up in cardboard:
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Aaaaaaand in 4.75mm MDF: With the battery box the rear section had to be split in to 3 sections, and seeing that the MDF only comes in 1200mm sheets and I needed 1280mm I had to make a joiner section for the front
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Trimmed up in charcoal carpet, this was the scary part! The top is glued down and the edges are wrapped around and stapled underneath. The carpet is almost exactly the same as the factory, just a slightly different pile and slightly lighter
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Front section is held in by an alloy lip and there is a tiny bit of storage under it where the jack and some tools will go once I make a spot for them!
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I'm stoked, it turned out exactly how I wanted it to and tidies up the rear of the car perfectly

Next project is getting stuck in to the engine wiring!
 
That looks phenomenal! Excellent work. The picture in the back seat facing the trunk area is the real MVP. Shows it off very well.
 
Second time I'm seeing this...first was on Instagram (and boy was it worthy of the post).

So clean!!! Definitely going to be watching for more high quality stuff like this.
 
A few small tasks completed this week
- Engine wiring stripped back and labeled
- MAP sensor mounted to the firewall
- coolant housing drilled and tapped for the new sensor
- just about all wiring run through the firewall
- Supercharger clutch wired up with a Deutsch connector in to the factory AC circuit
- Gauge panel made up and painted for the center console, needs an oil pressure gauge to fill the third hole, which is next week's purchase!

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All these little jobs are in preparation for sorting out this chaos!
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A few questions for ya'll:
- where's the best place to get a vacuum/boost source from?
- will the factory ECU play nice if I swap one of the O2 sensors with a wideband?
- Where does the factory tach take it's signal from. I've got a feeling it's the crank sensor but want to confirm before I muck it up!
 
Supercharger?

- Straight from the intake manifold is best.
- Probably not since the factory ECU is a b****. Best to just drill another hole and tap.. or if you're on stock J-pipe, there's already a bolt hole that will suffice.
- I THINK I have no idea.
 
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