Taminator

you guys will think I am sniffing glue, I was going to get some adrenalins , always like my bridgestones but I do about 35K a year, and its wet in melbourne sometimes, I put on a set of 235/45 ER300's and I am very happy with then especially in the wet, way better than teh SP3000A. quiet too, for the first time I could hear the BOV all the time, wondered what the hell it was initially. the guy at donellans reckon they wear really well as well. Tam

Yes I agree, I am about 6'8 and the rake of the windscreen puts our head into the roof line, the most unused part of my car is the sun visor, if its down I cant even see the bonnet. I have asked about modifying the seat and its a no go unless you replace the whole thing with a custom seat. Yes they say they have never heard anyone complain about this which is BS. There was slightly more headroom for a big bloke , I thought we might loose some b/c of curtain airbags in the top of the door (you have to add them somewhere) would like to see the measurement but they may have widened the roof slightly. Buy the way the new Late model camira is crap for a big bloke, I went and sat in a new SS before I bought the turbo, how they can make the car bigger in every dimension and less room in the drivers seat is an amazing feat of engineering As for the engine still reckon the intake manifold and piping is a cop out , good design is apparent in Kevins after market setup. He could have probably produced something better OEM for them without too much trouble saving ford all the work and testing. The rest of the interior of the car was OK , but still lacks the feel of the European cars, just the plastics and feel of the buttons, ect. If ford want to win back sales they need to get it to appeal not just to us but also to women since they have a large say in purchasing decisions in a family and this is a family car for the most part. They think they can win sales of people who are going to buy an SUV but I would doubt it. The trouble is is that is more of a evolution than revolution, alot of the car is still the same so it has the same feel to it. Although I still like it better than the VE, it feels better, I even think my BF feels better than a VE inside

Hi all, I have been trying to get a generic 8PSI tune I purchased for starters into my car and seem to be having no end of difficulty getting it done. below will be a chronology of evens and problems now with the final one. Can anyone give me some pointers where to look for a solution its driving me nuts, I load more complicated software/firmware with much more disastrous consequences if it doesn't work and never has as much problem as trying to flash a computer with less capability than my jasjam. I purchased my mates XCAL2 from him since it wouldn't work on his new car, they returned the car to stock and he has a supplier load a generic 10 pound tune in it. I was going for a custom tune and the guy said I should try the 10LB tune out first and tell him what I thought about things like where the boost comes on, economy ect ect. I put in new re gapped plugs and thought no worries will load it up The tune file backed up the stock program and uploaded the 10LB tune. thought great, went to start the car, nothing, thought no worries back to stock I go, plug the XCAL in and it comes up saying wrong vehicle. I couldnt get this message cleared and stuffing around with the box managed to blank the XCAL2. waited up until 2AM and rang the yanks and they sent me a stock tune for my car (thank you very much) , I used LL3 and loaded it up, whacked it in the car and it started fine. I think it backed up the dodgy tune as stock at the same time bugger it all I spoke to the tuner the original tune came from and he sent me a new Stock tune, 8 and 10lb tunes which I used extreme tune to program into the XCAL2. bit of stuffing around but got them in. (I suspect my mate gave him the wrong details and the tune was wrong not his fault I should have checked like I normally do with firmware) thought knowing I still have the other stock tune from SCT will have another go. Plugged it in and now I get a Invalid Stock CRC displayed on the screen. Can anyone help me out with what I can try to clear this error and get the map into the car

I had a half hour spare the other day so swung by repco and got a 4L of the stuff, 2 doors up was a brakes plus and they changed it for me. Only used the 4L , the box is quieter now anyway, heaps smoother and when cold in the morning is better than when the other was actually warm. such a big difference from just changing the fluid. That sort of thing really annoys me since Ford should do that to begin with, give the best end user satisfaction right up.

thanks for that, I drive the car over 30K a year so it costs the little stuff, getting a 10lb custom tune in it tomorrow and it wont be any good if I cant shift it any good. T

thanks for the quick reply mate appreciated so I need the 4 litre and then try and find a 1 litre container of the stuff, how long does it last for the synthetic stuff. Melbourne winter is commming and the shift is awful until it gets heat in it. Only good thing about it though when its 4C that crap intercooler they fit actually does a reasonable job T tam

I was in supercheap auto today and they have the transmax only in 4 litre containers, I suddenly thought , how much do I need and cannot find it in the service book, can somebody tell me how much trans fluid is need in the 6 speed manual please. Also anybody know the cheapest spot to buy it, 4L is 72 dollars there which seams reasonable for a fully synthetic oil Thanks tam

Yes it grinds and doesn't go into gear (doesnt happen often, once in a blue moon reallly), I thought it was my sloppy clutch control b/c my feet being so big make it a bit awkward, or the mat I had under the pedals not letting me push it down so much as needed. But I was really carefull for a bit of time and it happened again . Mind you is hasnt done it lately, a bloke told me sometime if the oil is sh*tty (thick) make it play up a bit. Tam

Guys I really appreciate the feedback, will go for the oil and clutch bleed as well. Its embarrassing, you at the lights or near tram stop and you go to shift and RRRRRRRRRR RRRRRRR RRRRRRR, you look like a dickhead. One of my real problems is getting my head aournd the low gearing in the car and picking the correct gear, I always end up too short, 2nd when I should have hit third doesn any one else find that or am I just a dill (wont be offended if you say yes) . The car has only 30K on it and I have never dropped it at the lights and its still stock, (still awaiting the guy who has my xcal2 and 10lb tune) Thanks for the feedback, now time to book it in. That Transmax stuff, would a normal trans shop carry that stuff our you better getting it from Repco or something and taking it with you. Also to check the bolts on the shifter itself, how do you get that plastic bit off without wreking it, it looks like mine has been taken off before Tam

Hi all, I have a BF 6 speed manual, it is very notchy when going from 2 to 3 rd gear, there is a point when you come out of 2nd and go to select third about half way (little less) that las like a notch or something before it goes right in. the problem is alot worse then the box is cold and improves after being driven a bit. I has ground a bit and not let me select the gear first go. This happens even when driving sedately. First I though it was my big feet not letting me engage the clutch fully but it still happens even when being very careful. (I have very long feet and the clutch pedal is very poorly designed for people who are a fair bit bigger than normal). This doesn't happen all the time so I would not think that is something broken since it wouldn't fix itself. Has anyone had a similar problem and if so how did you cure it. If anyone can recommend somebody in eastern Melbourne who is good with these boxes can somebody let me know. thanks taminator

It doesn't matter the section with the most restriction is the limiting factor , since its got to get down a 3" dump pipe and go back into a 3 inch section after the cat I would think it didnt matter, all the restriction was in the flow of the cat itself, I was quoted that the stock heap of rubbish flowed only about 380cfm where as the installed one is around 700. It was on the dyno today to a quick check to get a baseline and it does make a difference getting rid of that bit of it. remember I am after affordable increments in performance. To get rid of that cat with new one installed for 550 is good value leaving cash for the tuner and somebody to custom it to how I want which isnt max power. I would rather have bulk torque down at the bottom end that an idiotic number a KW only avaiable at 6 grand b/c my car never sees it. And I would think you only really need a mega high flow exchaust if you pushing lots of hot gas down it which would entail high revs which I just dont do. 15 years ago I had a custom built 360CU Cleveland built for straight gas, thought I was being clever and it produced heaps of power, but at over 4500 revs, it never saw it , that's the beauty of the turbo in such a big motor, piles or torque down low and that's what counts. that's the stat that lets us eat the commodores so easy, the big torque down low. Now if I can just learn to shift that 6 speed smoothly I will be really happy, either mine isnt any good or a lemon becaue I reckon the feel of it is crap. Also my feet are too big for the pedals (Size 16) you think bloody ford were designing it for a pack of women in high heels Taminator

If you were asking me mate, I got mine done at midas at blackburn cost about 550 including the cat which as a 3 inch xforce metal cat. My exhaust was 3" in and 3" out so just use the 3" version so save stuffing around. im not interested in 300+ KW so just an improvement . Mostly it was the ground clearance I get that is great, I used to scrape over the factory cat, while servicing noticed a nice worn shiny strip so would have eventually worn it thru anyway. you will be surprised at the size difference. Goes to the tuners tomorrow morning , with just this mod and a CAI from ford so be interesting to see the numbers, not going to push it too hard I drive it too much. Tam

Did my plugs yesterday and they are a *beep* of a thing that last screw holding down the plug cover was giving me the sh*ts (I have big hands). If you wish, you can get a small cheap socket from bunning for about 6 bucks (.25 inch drive), a 5mm socket, cut a peice of 5mm allen key off and glue it in socket and it makes it simple , tool me ages to get it off with allen key and got it back in and tight in about a minute. Mind you I dropped one of the crossover mount bolts down the side of the motor (intake side) and spent more time trying to find it than changing the bloody plugs themselves, it was stuck between the intake plenum and the engine hoist mount, took me 30 minutes to eventually flick it out with a screwdriver, spewing!!! By the way on recommendation of the bloke who is going to tune it in the next couple of weeks he reckons a NGK 6962 BKR6E are the way to go, factory gapped to 0.8mm. I reckon is smoothed out the running alot under boost whereas the stock plugs were sort of surging a bit. might be all in my head of course. Got all 6 from repco for like $26 or something like that. Dont know how long they will last though. I will be getting it tuned for BP 98 and not for straight out power b/c I drive it so much.

I had the standard cat replaced with a 3 inch metal cat this week and have been impressed by the difference its made. Its certainly is quicker, it seems to build boost quicker, the exhaust note is alot better (love it now), a bit of a low rumble now and I managed to get nearly an extra inch of clearance over the speed humps. My BF had a 3 inch dump pipe then the factory cat to a foot and a bit long section of 3" pipe then the bell to split to the 2 2.25 pipes, to they just fitted the metal cat in its place, nice and neat and all the factory heat shielding is still there. Happy with the result and I didnt have to spend big $$$ on a half/full system leaving room for other upgrades as time permits I drive the car about 30+K a year so have to be mindfull of the bowser so test each upgrade. Has anyone tried custom tuning their car on the E10 boost 95 blend, and what was the result, its nice and cheap but uses a bit more than the standard juice but then its probably not using it as good as it can. Taminator