Full Monty

I had mine done recently, but used the Polyurethane Super Pro bush. (warning it does increase NVH slightly) my diff whine is a little more noticable now. I used Lantern Motors in Brunswick, they service Tons of Taxis so know the BA inside and out. Speak to Domonic. The workshop looks a little dodgey, but they are good honest mechanics, only charged me $350 labour, and that was to change all 3 bushes which I supplied. Gav

Thanks to TUFXR6T and EvilDaifu for organising everything today, great day for it, everything turned out great! This was the first cruise I have been on in the time I have been in the forums, really enjoyed it and will be back next time! Enjoyed meeting allot of the people I have spoken to on the forums. There are some beutifully presented cars in the Melbourne Crew, xlnt6, spines ute, etc..too many to mention all of them... It sure is dangerous coming on one of these get togethers, seeing what mods everyone has done, makes the wallet pocket a little lighter! Great Pic Danny! Natalie was the one who gave the heads up on the CB that was coming past! LOL Gavin & Natalie.

Trust Wilkos word, he repairs wheels for a living.. BTW wilko, wheels look great, thanks again! To the O.P, they probably need re-clear coating... P.M Wilko he'll look after you. Gav

That is what I had read also.

Do what my Dads mate did years ago, when he came out in the morning to find the neighbours cat sitting on the bonnet of his black VK SS... he walked up calmly, grabbed the cat by the collar, started the car, popped the bonnet and threw it in and shut the bonnet.....then gave it a few revs! Opened the bonnet, the cat flew out at a hundred miles an hour, fluff everywhere.... he said it never went near his car again!

Looks fkn awesome mate, fantastic airbrushing, some of the best work Ive seen. Really nice flames, and the dragon looks eeevil!

Will this be a complete kit kev? hoses, clamps, sandwich plates and cooler. if so great, saves me the hassle of researching correct types, getting hoses, deciding on location etc. keep us posted.

Yep me too Kev, after having my car go into limp mode on a track day for oil overtemp, I believe these are necessary if you want to drive your car hard for more than 2 laps. Mine is stock and it went to limp mode, I shudder at the thought of the temps obtained with double or tripple the PSI as my stock tune generates. I have been told that the temp figure in which the ECU triggers limp mode is very conservative, and could possibly be raised a few degrees, especially if you use good quality synthetic oils.

Sensational work there Mr Bean! How sturdy is the balsa wood? From my experiences with Car audio, MDF is the material of choice for custom work, easily sanded and contoured, primed and painted, can acheive plastic like appearance. for the cup holder interface device, perhas get a BA model cup holder, with the lid and modify that? cant wait to see it all finished.

I can highly recommend John Bowe Driving courses, I have attended an advanced / performance course, and my wife is doing an advanced course in 2 weeks time. They do all the FPV driver training days in victoria, and also do training interstate, as far north as Hidden Valley. Excellent tuition from some of australias leading race drivers. an absolute blast, you will gain a much better understanding of your car, and its limitations along with improving apon your own driving abilities and understandings of vehicle dynamics, I.e how to drive fast whilst asking the least of your car. Gavin

TXR speak to Howard Reynolds at Race Brakes in Melbourne. He has been fitting upgraded braking systems for years, and fitted my AP racing 4 pots. you are wasting your time and money as far as I have been told, as the ABS porportioning valve cuts brake line pressure to the rear brakes under hard braking, to prevent you spinning out. his advice was, leave them standard, fit braided lines to the rear and improve the pads to a higher friction material such as their RB24 compound - when they are due for replacement. you could go to all that effort to gain a tiny improvement in initial brake bite, but nothing in hard stop applications. You'd be up for re-engineering the braking system and re-programming the ecu, along with larger master cylender etc. putting twin pot front calipers on the rear, without addressing any of these matters could be down right dangerous.

Your looking at around a grand as they would want to blend the guards to get an undetectable colour blend. if you specify just the bonnet, sprayed off the car, and the painter can get a close to perfect match, around $500-$600 I would say.

Ok, after a few weeks of having the aftermarket polyurethane diff bush installed, I am not happy with the amount of noise and vibration it transmits into the cabin. My Diff is quite new, and is still breaking in, before I could just notice the diff whine at 100 - 110. Now it is more noticable, and at lower speeds. (can hear is as low as 65kph, periodically through to 80, then dissapears until 100kph and rises in amplitude and frequency from there on (havent tested over 120). I am considering going back to a std Ford bush, as the softer compliance of the bush is obviously masking the majority of the noise. I have spoken to a number of Diff builders, they all say there is nothing that can be done with the Dana m86 due to the curved gear teeth, they all seem to have periodic whine at certain ranges. Which seems evident by the amount of people going through new diffs under warranty, to no avail. There is only so much that can be done with the backlash adjustment, as the centre contact of the gear teeth is whats most important, and the deciding factor in the final setup. so all in all, if your car exhibits any noticable diff whine with the standard bush, this will be amplified twofold with the firmer polyurethane bush. =(

Speak to Howard Reynolds at Race Brakes in flemington re Brake packages, he will probably advise against spending heaps of money on rear brakes for a BA-BF, as the brake biasing system cuts brake pressure to the rear lines in a hard stop. I ended up getting AP racing 4 pots, with DBA 2 peice rotors, braided lines, + Motul 600 fluid. Rear is bog stock standard. Very very happy with this setup, no brake fade whatsoever after a sandown track day, and that was using their street / sport pads RB24's. I have a set of enduro 3000 pads I can swap in for track days if wanted, takes all of 5 minutes per corner once the wheel is off. A single allen bolt is removed, calipers squeezed back and out they come. Brilliant design. If you want to spend money on your rear brakes, get some decent ventillated rotors, and some higher friction pads. all up the AP racing package from Race brakes is $3200 fitted. That leaves you more money for your / Valvesprings / Injectors and plenum / I.C tune. Gav

Did it fix your driveline clunks?

900 not bad you reckon? for your info, the bush itself costs $58 dollars . I paid $350 labour, supplied the bush myself. and the whole rear end will be tightened up on refitting anyway!, as the rear subframe is completely removed from the car. They checked over the suspension components tightness, and even found a rear swaybar linkage was worn. what else did your $900 involve? did you go through ford? I shopped around for my price, the original quote from ford was $600, with me supplying the bushes.

Did it go into limp mode? restricting power and holding gear? If so I'd suggest it was Trans over heat, if not and it just reduced power a little, more likely to have been engine oil over temperature. Gav

Only drive it if you want to Fk your CV's, Diff and possibly tailshaft, as only the 2 side bushes will be supporting the diff, nothing to stop it rocking back and forth with driveline torque. I personally wouldnt drive it, and unless you have a hoist and an engine stand, along with the re-alignment tools, you'd be better off getting it done at a workshop. Im pretty certain you cant do the job without removing the subframe...the only way to get the old bolt out otherwise is to drill a big hole in the spare wheel well yo get access to the bolt end, and then weld something to the remnants of the stripped / snapped bolt end. but if the diff cover is stripped its all in vein, as it has to be dropped out anyways.

Thanks for the heads up Tuf. do you have house and contents also? as I have both car, house and contents with RACV, my premium - rating one, mult policy discount and years of insurance discount taken into account is $695 PA. Im going to be pulling all of my policies from them if they try it on me at renewal, ive seen it happen in the past, first year with new car, they cut you a good deal, only to up your premium every following year, whilst your insured amount drops with depreciation... they must think people are stupid.

You will need the whole IRS subframe removed, at a cost of around 400 - 600 dollars depending on workshop. You will most likely have ruined the diff cover plate, stripped the thread, along with stripping or snapping the bolt! I have a cover plate for sale - as new, as I replaced the cover plate with a Mal Wood strengthened unit when I installed a firmer polyurethane diff bush. the diff plate is taken off a near new diff which was replaced under warranty, has done 5000kms. 5 hours labour and you'll be back on the road. might pay to replace the rear main bush at the same time if its the original one. Gav

wow, what engine mods do you have? I am with RACV, my car is stock engine wise, but I was of the understanding as long as it is legal and roadworthy they were fine with mods as long as you had disclosed them.. for them to mislead you, approve the mods, listed on your policy and take your money, then to refuse cover in event of a claim is totally dishonest, and I would think your case would stand up in court if they refused your claim. secondly, doesnt the modification have to in some way caused or contributed to the incident for them to legally reject your claim? whether you had informed them of the mod or not. I believe they are required to repair your car with standard parts if you hadnt informed them of specific mods. I think the industry is ripe with this kind of dishonesty, stuff like rejecting a claim because you didnt tell them you had an alarm, what stupidity, you install an alarm to make it a deterrent for theft. I have insured with RACV for over 12 years, rating one, only one at fault claim (not really at fault but it washed up that way), I am seriously thinking of changing when I hear of crap like this. Imagine this, you buy a car second hand, months later you have a bingle, and your claim is rejected because you didnt disclose to them that you have an aftermarket air filter or something which you didnt know about. Honestly if they are telling you that you arent insured, when you were previously led to believe that you were with those mods listed on your policy. I would demand a full refund and take my insurance elsewhere. you were totally honest and upfront, they should tell you straight away if something isnt covered, not wait for you to make a claim then reject you. that's criminal Get advice from a lawyer, as they effectivly havent provided you with insurance for a year, yet happily took your money.

Dags, do nolathane do rear swaybar linkages for the T? Im not talking about the 2 rubber bushes that hold the swaybar to the chassis, but the metal links that attach the swaybar ends to the suspension arms.

Dags, do nolathane do rear swaybar linkages for the T? Im not talking about the 2 rubber bushes that hold the swaybar to the chassis, but the metal links that attach the swaybar ends to the suspension arms. they are not servicable, you cant remove the bushes and install nolathane ones into the links.

If you are experiencing rear end rattle over small bumps, especially noticable at slow speeds and whilst braking for a intersection, check your rear swaybar linkages to the suspension arms. My right rear linkage was flogged out after 90,000k, had been the source of an annoying rattle for months,.(sounds kinda like a stuck tappet in the engine) It will only be evident after removing the linkage from the suspension arm and swaybar, as the nut and bolt hides the rubber bushing. Undo the 2 nuts and take it out, and stick a screwdriver through the bolt sleeve in the bush and give it a wiggle back and forth, you will see if the bush is perished and split. cost is $65 from ford each! , I at first did just the RHS rear, but once this side was firmed up, it transmitted extra load onto the Left side link, hence its now rattling, will replace on the weekend. Gav

The cover cost me $298 from Mal Wood, plus $25 to overnight courier it to me. Its been a week now since installed, I was under the rear of the car last night to install a new swaybar linkage (bush was worn out causing it to rattle). So had a good look at it all with the torch, certainly a nicely fabricated peice of gear. The only downside to the Fulcrum Bush is slightly more diff whine is transmitted, I mean negligable and only noticable at 100 - 110kph. Caused by the bush being firmer than standard. My guess this is why ford went for the soft rubber bushes to prevent NVH, but to have to replace them every 2-3 years at a cost of $600 is a joke. Im happy mine is done and wont have to be done again for the life of the car. If anyone wants an as new diff cover (standard) let me know (has done approx 5,000 km). Its easy to tell if your rear main bush is rooted, apart from excessive clunks from the rear end, hop under the rear of the car (from side is easiest, behind rear wheel) and have a look at the back of the Diff where it bolts to the subframe, check the large Rubber Bushing surrounding this bolt, it may show signs of wear and tear, mine was sagging a little, and had a large split under the centre metal sleeve. Side bushes were replaced also, but generally not necessary, mine were fine, but for an extra $20 each it was worth doing them for peice of mind.