xr6greg

Gearbox CSC etc.

Try the MGW unit. http://www.mgwltd.com/mustang_1990-2004.shtml

Dude... Bleed it as much as you like but you need to answer the question as asked by Bel@Pitlane a few posts ago. What is your CSC crush depth measurement? If you don't know what it is then you are in all sorts of bother until you get it right.

I have no experience with utes but isn't the setup with the pipes in the first image going to have the 'tray' of the ute sitting a mile in the air?

Running a Fidanza lightened billet flywheel on a BA XR8 - so I already have the torque a 6 cylinder sadly lack. My perspective is that I would defy anyone to get in my car and tell me, if they didn't know of course, whether its a steel or alloy flywheel. Yes. It spins up faster. Yes. The revs decrease faster between gear changes. Did I need to have the car tuned? No. Does it make a difference doing a hill start? Not really. Is it a pain in the rear-end in peak hour traffic. Not really. Do I have to rev it to 5,000rpm to take off from the lights? No. Could my mum drive it? She wouldn't know the difference so yes she could. Would I recommend other people get one? Yes, if you think you need one. Why did I get one? Got it off a forum, along with a slave cylinder, and an organo-ceramic clutch plate (all new) for $500 (RRP $2,200).

Having been through numerous shifters, the last being the Herrod one (rebadged Billet Industries job), I fitted the MGW T56 to my XR8. Yes. The feel of various car bits and pieces is always subjective (Koni shocks are better the Bilstein, leather seats are better than cloth, my tyres are better than yours, etc) so I can only comment on my impression of the MGW shifter. Cost, depending on the exchange rate of course, is about AUD $225.00 delivered. George is the man to talk to at MGW. I was happy with all the other shifters I had, but simply wanted to have a go with the MGW job after hearing about them. QUALITY gear! Fitted it in and JAW droppingly different on the test drive! Not just a 'this is a little better' feel, more a 'this is how a gearbox should feel all the time' experience. Be aware that the MGW DOES transmit more noise into the cabin of the car as there is NO rubber bushes involved, basically a piece of steel directly into your gearbox. Therefore if you have sensitive ears, or a partner who doesn't like man noises coming from your car as she listens to the opera it won't be a good choice. However. In my car the increase in noise is marginal and only under power, once at cruise speed you can't hear it. Some people ask me every so often 'What is the gravel noise?' so don't buy one and be surprised about the noise. I also have a quad system fitted, Herrod extractors etc, so I really don't care about the minimal extra noise via the MGW shifter. The MGW unit has DECREASED the amount of 'effort' required to change gears compared to the Herrod unit. Don't ask me why as short shifters usually increase the effort. Again, in my car it decreased it, maybe due to the quality of the unit and no squishy rubber insulating bushes involved. IMPORTANT: Go to the MGW site, you will see that the Mustang unit for the T56 comes with a rather gay yellow 'handle' which is bent at an angle that is made for the MUSTANG layout. I ordered the T56 unit and asked George to swap out the 'yellow' handle for the later model straight handle. Not a problem as the 'handles' are interchangeable and George will swap them over. Bought one for son number one (mechanic - 420RWHP turbo) and he was a bit iffy about it until he unpacked his and commented on the quality. Fitted it up to his car first as doing mine was no longer high on his list of things to do. Did a bit of track work with it and couldn't wipe the smile off his face.

The advantage? If you just drive the car on the weekend, drop the kids off at school, go shopping, then of no advantage at all and would prove to be a pain in the ass... If you drive the car 'enthusiastically' then a short throw shifter is a must. In any case the first youtube search for the MGW came up with this which is what you can't do with a stock rubber isolated shifter. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySPsfj7yhSI&feature=related

Shouldn't you have asked this question before you ordered the shifter? Lot of people are using the MGW shifter... http://www.mgwltd.com/mustang_shifter.shtml

Had the same problem. $5.00 and five minutes to solve the problem at a local carpet place. Had the 'top' of the carpet cut off and retrimmed with the existing trim. Basically the carpet finishes where the the fire wall starts - NO carpet mat under any of the pedals.

Gravity bleed. Sit the whole car on a hoist, axle stands (purely to give you a bit of room. Crack open all the nipples and let the fluid 'bleed' through the system. Takes a while, half hour or longer, to do it properly. Gets messy as you can imagine.

And the 'special tool' (magic wand?) that undoes all the bolts, suspension componets, brake lines, cables, etc, looks like what?

Dude. I've rarely bought anything in Australia apart from oil filters and oil; never had a problem. God bless the internet and the US of A. Chances of a dud gauge are about a million to one. Buy from a big distributor and they will exchange it but you would have to pay the return postage - maybe $20.00 - you are still WAAAAAAAAY ahead as far as cash in the pocket goes.

Firstly. You will definately need to make some extremely minor changes to the fittings at the back; depending on what gauge you are fitting (water temp / oil pressure etc) but VERY minor bending of the tabs, maybe a bit of creative soldering. Secondly. I had to 'shave' the inside of the tripod housing to fit two of my autometers. Bit of sandpaper to open it up a tad - nothing that you can't do whilst watching Top Gear; your better half bringing you coffee as she does the washing up. Thirdly. Aussie prices for Autometer Cobalt guages - are they kidding? If you can find someone in the US of A who will send them over to you via USPS you can usually save around 1/3 of the price - which can amount to $100 or more, again depending on what guages you get. Email a few of the sellers over there (eBay.com USA is a good starting point).

I'm guessing you could bend down and take a look under the guard to see what the lip looks like? Its either rolled or its not...

BA Falcon settings attached BA Falcon camber.pdf

http://www.nolathane.com.au/product_detail.php?part_number=46909 (Link to the adjustable upper rear control arms) Just how bad is the camber adjustment on your rear wheels? Mine is sitting on SSL springs at the rear and only one side of my car was out by 1.5 degree (tore the inside of the tyre up as a consequence). Fitted the SupePro offset eccentric bush and took care of that problem in an hour for $75.00 as I had to buy a set of them (both sides). What is the camber and toe readings of your rear wheels? I haven't needed an alignment for yonks so I don't have any of my old readings but I think I ended up with -1 degree camber (negative one) from the problem setting of -2.25 degrees (negative 2.25). And the -2.25 was noticeable when seen from the rear. The SSL springs went in and you could visually tell it was waaaay too much negative camber when it came off the jacks. Anyone else have any major issues with rear camber settings?

"Just ordered adjustable upper arms from Nolathane $482 rrp." What is the part number for these? And if possible, can you stick a few photos up of the control arms when they come in. Thanx

As far as I am aware, I have been in there and done it, you can only adjust the rear camber on XR Falcons by a few methods. One being to install an adjustable upper control arm and I assume they must be available, or you could get one custom made, and that could be done at some exhorbatant price by an engineer etc (never seen this done by they way). Or. You have some minimal adjustment (only on the XR's) on the outer end (the bush end attached to the rear hub) of the rear upper control arm. Having done the above and if you still require further adjustment you can install an offset upper inner control arm bush (SuperPro Part number SPF2413K) which provides about 1.5 degrees of extra camber adjustment. An hours work, you need a press to install the bush in the control arm. (I have one of those bushes, brand new, as I didn't need it because I only had to do one side of my BA). If there is any other method of adjusting the reat camber on a BA BF XR Falcon I would be interested in seeing how it would be done?

$445.00 fitted?! What did they fit for $445.00? The off-set upper inner control arm bushes are $75.00 a set (the kit has two bushes, you can't buy a single one if you only want one side of the car done.) and took me about an hour to fit one side (all I needed to fix up the camber problem). PS: I have one brand new upper inner control arm bush gathering dust if anyone wants it - $40 delivered anywhere in Oz.

There is limited adjustment for camber and toe on the rear of XR's. If too much negative camber can't be adjusted out then you need to fit some off-set inner upper control arm bushes. Good for about 1 degree of adjustment.

PM'd you with an opinion.

Smooth side is for the oil filter 'O' ring to seal against; ridged side to the block.

Speculation on my part about the dismissal but you need to look at VicPol (Govt) policy on traffic issues which is basically to raise as much revenue as they possibly can (not after an argument on that statement - their road toll has not reduced significantly, people are still hooning down there, etc... YET they raise almost 5 times as much revenue than Qld from fines). Anyhoo. When the Assistant Commissioner for traffic finds out one of his boys isn't 'doing the right thing' he sacks him. Now you actually need to look at the term 'doing the right thing' and understand how that fits in with discretion. You have an experienced Sergeant pulling people up, issuing fines, cautions, no doubt arresting people, basically doing his job. ALL police have an ability to exercise discretion, usually found in their procedural manual somewhere. Goes along the lines of 'althoug police should zealousy carry out their duties they should exercise discretion when dealing whith normally law abiding citizens who breach the law'. That's where the VicPol Commissioner, when he was a real police officer, could pull his mum up for speeding and caution her - make sense? Now the danger you have with this officer's dismissal is that most working cops are going to review their own work practice and perhaps the 25% of people who may have got a caution, or had their fine reduced, ain't gonna do that not more in case they get the sack? Traffic *beep* - you bet. Oh. And the offence for speeding in every State and Territory of Australia is that you 'exceed the speed limit (signed, built up area, whatever.) So 61 in a 60 zone is the offence. The Government decided to apply different penalties for different speeds above the limit (1 - 14 Kph; 15 - 30Kph, etc.) So the fact that this guy has pinged you at 120Kph in a 60 zone does NOT mean he has to apply the penalty for that speed; he needs only prove that you exceeded the speed limit. So if he decided to do you for 80, 70, 90, 84, that's entirely up to HIM as the investigating police officer. Be interesting to see how his appeal goes particularly as the VicPol Commissioner has stated in the media that he was dismissed only for not issuing the correct penalties.

MeR. Happy that your mate's fibreglass bonnet was replaced by the insurance company which I guess is definitive proof that you can now fit fibreglass, carbon fibre, or any composite material panels to your vehicle and it will not effect your insurance or road worthiness of your vehicle. Must get out my fibreglass kit and start replacing my boot and door skins. Might even fit my Jason recliner rocker as a driver's seat so I am comfy in my light weight (with all those fibreglass panels) car. Now where did I leave my old chrome chain steering wheel from the sixties, that would look way cool instead of the factory fitted one with the air bags... An insurance contract is a private contract between the parties; if the insurance company is OK to cover modificatons that may not be legal, not a problem. Again, after my outburst of sarcasm, all I said was check with the relevant people (insurance, transport authority) before you start fitting up non-standard body panels.

Apologies for being a bit generic in my comments about Qld Legislation. I was trying to avoid discussing the TORUM - Vehicle Standards & Safety Regs 1999, in particular Chapter 2, Part 1, sections 5 & 6. These to be read in conjunction with Schedule 1 (Vehicle Standards) Part 2 Divisions 1 & 2. Simply put it makes it illegal to modify a vehicle from standard without a 'compliance plate' being fitted after the modification is approved by an authorised person. And I certainly didn't want to discuss the provisions of the ADR's (Commonwealth Legislation that most State Legislation is derived from in relation to vehicle standards) which generally prohibits any alteration that may cause a reduction in the level of safety or overall strength of the vehicle. Yes. ADR 10B, 10/00 & 10/01 impacts on the decision to fit a non-standard bonnet along with ADR 69/00 or 72/00 as the after market bonnet may increase the likelyhood of injury to the occupants in a frontal collision. However, all I was suggesting is that before you spend a squillion dollars on a carbon fibre, or fibreglass, bonnet check with your local transport authority for a definitive answer, and make sure they give it to you in writing.