[sc0tty]

Hi guys. First post so be nice
Tomorrow I am heading over to check out an EA Falcon as my first car. I was just wondering what advice you guys could offer me. Ie. What to look out for, whats good whats not, and whats a decent price to pay.
I'll give you the run down on the information about the car I have so far.

Its a 1990 EA Falcon-S Series 2, 5-speed manual.
It has 206,000k on the clock, but a new cylinder head was put on it 6000k's ago, and a new radiator about 1000k's ago. It has receipts.
Its been lowered (King Spring lows?), tinted (Darkest legal) , and has extractors (Genie?) and an exhaust (2.5inch).

Standard mags, but it has some decent yokohama's on it apparently.

The firewall has been welded around the clutch cable as well (Could someone explain what that means). Also has a new pedal box.

Comes with stock radio and the pioneer 6x9's in the back, nothing else.

It does have a cracked dash (covered by dash mat easily)

Its dropping a small amount of oil, about the size of a 20c coin a day. He believes that its comming from around the timing cover area, and is most likely comming out of the timming chain tensioner. Apparently its a cheap part then from ford and any mechanic would be able to replace it in under an hour.

There's no rust, and has been garaged 24/7 for the entire time he has owned her until about two months ago until the XR8 took her spot in the garage. Has a heavy duty tow bar package and has a few spare parts and mechanics manual that he is going to throw in with it.

Price he has given was $2000, but I made a thread on another forum asking what car's would be good to look at with a budget of $2000, so im not sure what the car would be worth.

So thats all the info i could gather. From my research it seems as though he has down the standard mods most people do with there EA's (eg, extractors, exhaust etc), but being on my L's actual power isnt a major concern. Ive read the EA's have had some big problems regarding blown heads and stuff but they were in the earlier series. I am after something that will be reliable, as I dont plan on spending a $1000 a month to keep her on the road. My uncle will be coming to check it out and he is very experienced with cars, but I am just looking for a few pointers from you guys.

Thanks for any help

 

[barry_v]

welcome to the forums! the EA is an excellent choice for a first car. $2000 sounds like a good deal.

"The firewall has been welded around the clutch cable as well"
apparently (i have an auto) the point where the clutch cable runs through the firewall becomes fatigued and breaks, this was obviously the solution.

blown head gaskets are the 2nd biggest worry (1st worry being the gearbox). this is caused by the engine overheating. with a new radiator this shouldnt be a worry.

I'd be looking very closely at the gearbox, the cost to fix that will almost be as much as the car. I'd write some more tips but ive got a very sick EB2 out the front that ive got to fix, hopefully someone else can elaborate more.

 

[hoon69]

cracked firewall is no biggy,mine had the same problem,just age and fray,if its welded professionally you wont need to worry about it for ever basically.

check the steering rack (check for play in the wheel) and as for the oil leak,find out exactly where its coming from,the timing chain maybe but check the back off the motor common place for oil leaks that cant be seen properly.
i bought my wagon,and thought it was a bargain for the price i payed,then the repairs came all up she owes me 3g's in total but im lucky if i get 1,000 unregistered for her(well thats how much i got on her at present)
just make sure you check everything cause sometimes things can look to good to be true,take it for a run,give it to her abit,check all gear changes are smooth,check everything really,steering,blown head,gbox smooth gear changes,if its like you described if the head aint stuffed and the box is alright you have a good buy.

 

[Troutman]

Welcome to the forums!

Actually that sounds like a really good car! I'd check over all the hoses and fan belts because these can be a pain. Sounds like the head gasket has already been done and as for the transmission, my EA's 5 speed has done 250,000 and is still going strong.

Keep us posted :thup:

 

[Dellboy999]

Drive it like you would if you owned it, don't baby it, ask them if there is anything you should know first, then tell them you want to give a good test drive and don't be shy, that way no complaints if it doesnt hold up, check for smoke out the exhaust pipe, stick ya finger in it and feel whats there, if it feels oily, then rings are a little worn out, your call from there, check the shocks push down on each croner as hard as you can, and see if bounces alot, should go down back and then stop, otherwise new shockies are in order (if it is lowered it may bounce anyway as stock ones dont hold up well with lowered springs), everything that opens and closes check it, wind up and down windows, pop the boot, check all possible setting of the climate control, blinkers all work, stop lights, reverse lights,etc. Check under the spare wheel for rust easy fixed but good to know, check under the boot carpet for leaks as well (evident by rust, again you call), check the front and rear window seal areas for rust a common place for rust in an EA. Check the door strikers have no cracks around them (only happens in ex-taxi's mainly but check it). Do the seats adjust as per they should. Check the power steering down where the CAT is, the switch there is prone to cracking and leaking ($60 or so gets you a new one). Its an EA its old, it will probably squeak thats normal, new rubbers will fix that one (or a can of WD40 sprayed on the rubbers is a temp quick fix to stop it, worked for me).

Cant think of much else, remeber everything you dont like is a good excuse to knock a few dollars off the price, if you feel it will be a problem if you buy it, then don't you have to live.

Well hope thats helpfull and I have not scrared you too much.

Cheers,
Jason

Thats all I can think of.

 

[sam]

Check the air conditioning, if he said it is out of gas there is probably something wrong and very expencive to fix, sounds like a good buy.

 

[sc0tty]

Thanks for the replies so far guys
All this advice is great, and I am sure my Uncle will give it a bit , I wont be driving seeing as I have never been in a manual before. It does sound very good, and well, the only way I will buy it if everything is in good working order.

Cant imagine owning a ford, being a Holden man , but as I am limited to $2000, and beggers can't be chooses, this seems like a good deal, and I am pretty sure this guy looks after his cars as they are his pride and joy. Hope everything goes well

 

[XRated]

Cant imagine owning a ford, being a Holden man , but as I am limited to $2000, and beggers can't be chooses, this seems like a good deal, and I am pretty sure this guy looks after his cars as they are his pride and joy. Hope everything goes well

You will be after mate, you will be after (Ford fan for life)

 

[Walkinshaw]

One thing that hasnt come up yet is, is it MPFI or CFI?

For 2k it sounds like a good deal.

 

[slowjud]

The welding in the fire wall is because they didn't catch the pedal box in time, it lines up with the fire wall and over time (about 200k) the pedal box starts to bend and then it doesn't line up properly and so the load is on the fire wall not the box. But if all is as it sounds grab it. Coming from holdens you will need to get use to the gear box as its a bit more rigid than holderns at the same time, but once you get used to it you will never go back. Trust me, i was holden 'till i drove an ea 5speed. theres just something about not getting thrown around the car as you put your foot down but still keeping up with a vn.

 

[coxy321]

If it sounds as good as you're tellin us - its sounding like a pretty cheap car. Factory 5 speeds are also a rare bonus these days.

If you get a chance, turn the steering full lock, and check the base of the struts on each side for oil (blown seals = expensive).

See if you can get the owner to have a roadworthy done by a reputable workshop (not 'Dodgy Joes').

Anyway, welcome to FordForums, and welcome to a whole new life of things that GMH could/would never be able to offer!!

Cheers - Coxy

 

[Rmyers]

Sounds like a very good buy, especially if it's MPFI, if not, that's easily fixed
Also sounds like it's a good base car to start modding as it's already got extractors, zorst, super lows, manual (and possibly mpfi) which are the first things people usually do, which means you got a good head start already for a fraction of the price it'd cost to do these mods yourself.

BTW blown head gasket = A good time to pull apart your engine yourself and learn what makes it tick, that's my view anyway...

 

[XRated]

BTW blown head gasket = A good time to pull apart your engine yourself and learn what makes it tick, that's my view anyway...

So what does make it friggen tick?

 

[Rmyers]

It's usually your lifters that tick