Full Monty

The stock one serves 2 purposes, to warm the trans as quickly as possible to operating temp, and then to try and moderate its temp once up and running. Problem is, the core of the in ratiator cooler is smaller than a 30 cm ruler! total...its piss weak, and is relying on the radiators water temperature to cool the oil temperature. so you get heat transfer from the trans system into the engine cooling system. In my view, any reasonable sized cooler from a reputable brand and preferably with a thermostat / valve to allow the trans to warm up before opening and in some decent airflow will be leagues better than the standard in tank. I like the idea of having a trans temp guage, I will consider that when eventually I fit a tripod. my box was opened up, just after christmas to fit high energy frictions and the oil and internals were like new, no sign of burning or scorching. If I were fitting a cooler now, I'd seriously look at the new B+M with the thermo fan attached.

I had the car retuned yesterday, this setup made an extra 8rwkw over a standard BA "hi floed cat" I had the setup changed so the 3.5" mandrel pipe floes right back to the first bolt flange, at this point there is a nice 3.5" to twin 2.5" collector, which tapers down smoothly to twin 2.25" its amazing what a difference it makes to pay attention to the inner joins in the pipes and collectors, any sharp edges or protruding pipes really rob you of top end flow, the inside of the new collector is really nicely made, totally smooth curves with a sharp divider to split the 2 pipes. picked up around 10rwkw through the entire range over a BA gutted cat setup. My theory is that keeping the pipe in a single large diameter for further back from the turbo really helps relieve back pressure? will try to take a pic to post.

ROFL... yeah the handbrake design is a p.o.s...Basically like a drum brake setup that presses a large semi circular shoe against the inside of the Rotor hub. The cyclic swoosh can be heard at low speeds, (20 - 40 kmh) and especially if you drive with the window down and there are nearby walls, cars etc for the sound to reflect back at you. I heard it every morning as my wife drives off to work, drove me nuts. basically all BA's do it unless its been addressed in the TSB. Get it done at the same time they replace the rear hoses on recall, just insist that they do the full TSB and not just install the new centering spring, it must be adjusted on the cable adjuster on the inside of the dust sheild. they will cheat and try to just adjust the main cable tension, not the correct way to set it up.

Took me 3 visits to Ford toget the Handbrake shwoosh noise addressed as on the TSB document... First visit the apprentice replaced the shoes, didnt adjust handbrake settings to compensate at the disks. Second visit they tried to just adjust the main handbrake adjustment near the exhaust, rather than do it properly at the wheels. 3rd visit, nearly right, but I can still hear the faint swoosh noise at slow speeds occasionally. As I had already paid to get it fixed, I felt compelled to keep going back until it was fixed. Mind you I was waiting up to 4hrs on one occasion, and 3 hrs on another. The TSB allocates 0.8 to do the whole job. pathetic.

Back to back 4 power runs in a row, and measure inlet temps, core temp, end tank temps. Make it consistant, so car must be at full operating temp for the first run, with equal spacing in between each pull.. also the driver comes into the equation, must apply throttle in the same way for each test and hold power for a predetermined time. I think track testing brings in a few variables, such as driver, driving style etc If you can get a driver to run super consistant lap times then this would be a possibility, but I think on a dyno would be easier.

Be carefull you arent overcooling your trans, especially if you purchase one without a thermostat to allow the trans to get up to temp quicky. If you have seen the size of the standard intank unit, basically any reasonable quality cooler fitted with some airflow, and bypassing the radiator in tank item will be doing your trans a favour. I have a single B+M 70264, mounted behind the drivers side foglight (infront of the front wheel. if you are going to mount yours here, cut some louvers in the inner splash guard, with some fine flywire type mesh to prevent leaves / debris getting in the slots. Then cut a couple of large holes in the wind tray directly below the cooler, and make a type of duct / fin which will pull air up into this area and then through the cooler and out the louvers in the splash guard. The B+M has worked really well, even on track days. Recently had the box opened to installed Kevlar band, high friction clutchpack and Cryo Planetaries, and the inside of the box was immaculate, oil was like new, no burning etc. Gav

I was just reporting it, as I saw it in person, this is the same view shared by most people who witnessed it. Since when is it ok to pepperspray people willy nilly? I thought the police member had to be in danger to warrant its use? So what if they were asked to leave, that is what security is for, to evict people who are misbehaving. what next, tazers for just standing up for yourself in the street? This was a precendent and one which I dont want to see become the norm. Unless you were there and saw the incident unfold you wouldnt understand, your point of view you are entitled to, but dont bash me for passing on my eye witness account of what happened. I have nothing against the police, I have friends and family members who are police or in training to become one. But in my view this situation was completely mis handled.

I was about 10 meters from where it happened and saw the whole thing unfold. basically on police member was intent on evicting one or 2 of the group, for reasons unknown - perhaps a prior verbal altercation. The greek crowd to my mind were doing nothing wrong, just cheering and singing inbetween points. Basically the police member in question tried to evict 1 or 2 of them, single handedly, which was a stupid decision to begin with, they then as a group were reacting, saying if you want to evict those 2, they would have to evict all 40 of them. The officer retreated, and came back with about 5-6 of them. he was pointing out the 2-3 head figures to the other officers from behind the group, un-noticed by them. They then quickly walked down the isle, and approached the people in question, there was a brief verbal altercation - no punches or violence as reported by police. Then one cowardly officer from behind maced one of the group, then another 2 officers let rip, totally unprovoked in my view. It was amazing how many people were affected, even 10 meters away it was like burning my eyes and I had to cover my mouth / nose with my t-shirt. Tastes really bitter. There was women and children affected, a number of innocent bystanders were forced to leave to treat stinging eyes with water. One of the guys who copped a direct spray, was left incapacitated, unable to stand unassited and walk out for treatment, he was assisted by a friend and security staff. Terrible conduct by the police, and if this is the way things are going, we are becoming more and more like america, complete over reaction and heavy handed, all police members had battens drawn and ready for escalation before the crowd had even shown any signs of violence.

Another Vote for Freeway Car Audio, I had 2 systems done at the Malvern store, great work, and after sales service. I went for the stealth approach, my previous car looked completely standard, apart from the Focal Lettering on the Carpeted panel that concealed the Sub in the boot.

Ouch how old are you and do you have a nasty driving record? loss of license etc?

At the time of a claim, you will need to show some sort of evidence I would imagine, be it photographs, receipts etc. they will replace it with exactly what you had, or the equivalent in value if that model etc is no longer available. that is how it was explained to me.

I know someone who is applying, and should give it a real shake, as either a presenter or the stig. (no one from here)

Did you see me Envy? I saw you having a squiz at something in the mirrors.

I saw xssiv? with the checkerplate numberplate surround, at the springvale rd / burwood hwy intersection yesterday, I was in the silver debadged T with the GT rear wing. Nice looking car, I like the wheels.

Just changed over to Shannons today, after 13 years with RACV, shannons were able to match my current premiums for car and house and contents with RACV, considering that racv supposedly gave us multiple policy discounts and years of membership discounts this was suprising. Goes to show, the $697 I was paying with RACV to insure the T, which included almost 50% in discounts, I was supposedly meant to be paying over $1300 without these discounts. Funny that, I walk into shannons, and after a brief discussion, I get quoted $860 for agreed value of $29000, and all mods listed on the policy (AP brakes, Custom Tune, Intercooler and exhaust mod. There is no way RACV would have gone near that, as I was insured for market value, with only the brakes and Intercooler noted on the policy. Funny thing was, RACV had no section in their systems for an intercooler, so they added it to my policy as an airconditioner....rofl, with a side note to say it was an intermacooler for the air. I also saved around a $100 on my home and contents insurance, so it balanced out nicely. Peace of mind knowing the car is fully covered, mods and all, with choice of repairer and people on the other end of the phone who are actually into cars...

sounds like the swaybar linkage / rosejoint. should be relatively easy to replace, I would imagine it is a press fit ball joint at the Lower suspension arm end, and a nut and bolt connection onto the swaybar. with one linkage broken, you effectively have no antiroll bar at that end of the car, and the grinding you have been hearing is the antiroll bar pivoting up and hitting the undercarriage, or the inside of the wheel. check for damage on the inside of your rim. Must of hit a decent bump or kerb at speed to break it, but they do appear under engineered. If you have no luck replacing it with a factory std one from ford, whiteline do aftermarket ones, that are adjustable. but a warning, these have much firmer bushes, and will transfer more clunks and bumps through into the cabin.

Did you get mudflaps? How about some nice XR floor mats or scuff guards.. lol those are about the extent of mods that ford will allow, anything power related, they will void any engine driveline warranty work, even if it doesnt seem related, its an out clause. sorry

As far as I'm aware the geometry between T and typhoons is identical, the difference with your model is the revise shock piston valving (a couple of extra washers on the rebound valve). As far as good mods for track work, I'd suggest a good camber kit, Polyurethane front lower control arm bushing (std is liquid filled and has tons of slop). I'd then consider Tein Coilovers with EDFC in car adjustment module, along with whiteline adjustable anti roll bars, front 27mm, rear 21mm. The reason for going both ends, as you can adjust front bar stiffer or softer to effect corner entry - initial steering. and rear bar to effect over steer - traction at corner exit. And most importantly get some good track tires. Yokohama or Bridgestones.

Im still in, I vote we meet at the Marina BP servo area, not as busy as around the pier.

The rest of the standard system flows just fine, and only worth changing if chasing 350+rwkw. The 3.5" Metal Cat mates to the standard Dump fine, it requires dump to be cut to remove the original welded on factory cat, and then flare the end of the dump pipe to 3.5". The original system is tricky as it has twin 2.25 pipes exiting the cat, rather than a single larger diameter into a twin collector. What I had done, was to exit the 3.5 Cat, to Mandrel bent 3.5" pipes for a good 40-50 cm, before a Collector to mate to the standard pipes, ( a fair bit before the first flange at the first muffler. It may have been even better to continue in 3.5" back to the first flange. so when I sell the car, I can do a direct swap with someone back to standard if I wish, just unbolt 4 bolts and direct swap. Will take picks when I get the car back from nizpro. Coincidentally I was doing some maintenance on the car yesterday as well as fitting the new cooler. and when checking the exhaust manifold bolts I found the 2 underside studs holding the turbo to the manifold had dropped out..only 2 studs holding the snail on!..... I had strapp ford tighten all of these just 8,000 km ago at my last major service... Nizpro are replacing them with inconel studs and locking nuts. The main manifold bolts had loosened slightly, I am going to look into replacing them with better quality bolts and nordlock washers...cant be F'd doing that every 7,500 kms. cant wait to get her back tonight.

Congrats and welcome...Great looking car the R spec phoon, I was having a good look over one at Strapp Ford when they first came in, I like the combo of White with metallic grey accents, especially with a dark tint. Enjoy.

I supplied the cat myself, purchased from the very helpful Steve At site sponsor RDP. materials and labour to fit it (tedious s bend section and Y collector made from scratch by Jay from Stainless cost a very reasonable $175. No Idea of the power gains on a standard car, I am babying it until I get it looked at on the dyno for AFR's. but seeing the standard cat compared to the beutifully constructed Metal Cat, my guess is it will flow a whole lot better. I wont be able to tell you the gains from just the cat change, as I am fitting a monza cooler tomorrow before it goes to Nizpro for a "tune up". the fact that from the dump, it then widens to 3.5" cat, and then 3.5" S bend before a Y collector reduces it back to standard twin 2.25", im guessing that it flows a whole lot better, as the Hot gasses aren't forced through any bottle necks so close to exiting the engine. Exhuast note changed ever so slightly, deeper at idle, and marginally louder, but with no drone. will try to take pics when im under the car tomorrow. Gav Gav

Just got back fro Hillside Exhaust (thanks for recommending them Dalesey), they fitted up my new 3.5" Metal Cat, welded a 3" to 3.5" flare peice to the standard Dump pipe, to mate to the Metal Cat, then Mandrel Bent S bend section in 3.5" to a collector which joins back up to standard system. Lots of fiddling around to get it all right, but they did a fantastic job at a very reasonable price! Highly recommended for anyone wanting exhaust work done around Melb S.E suburbs. Speak to Jay or Chris. Hillside Exhaust: 97586444

Bad luck there vandrs.... have you had any grief from insurance with your mods? were they listed on your policy? hope its back on the road in no time. Gav