PhilMeUp

Amazingly long and boring drive. Make sure you spend at least half a day in Kalgoorlie. Go check out mining stuff, museums, etc, including the military museum. Let us all know if/when you'll be in Perth. Ignore all the FIFOs on the side of the road, shaking empty cans for loose change.

Scenic Motors got their name from the look of their bank account.

Call the place back. Speak with the most senior person possible. Tell them that you won't be a customer there ever again. We all try to make a profit. But $230 for bearings that anyone can buy for around $60 is getting a tad carried away. Pressing them on with a press takes seconds. Considering what they charged you for the bearings, they should have offered that for free straight away. Scenic Motors ripped you off. Big time. These days I've got a press at home, but when I used to have rear axle bearings done at a workshop it cost me $130 per side. Condolences that it cost you so much. Not trying to be a smart arse - I would have said to find a taxi workshop and pay their rates. Or, remove axles at home, cut bearings off and any workshop with a press (eg suspension place) would have pressed on new bearings for minimal cash or beer. It literally takes seconds. I'm currently on my third ute in 12 months. On each one I've replaced the rear axle bearings because it's so cheap and easy to do at home. Do a search on eBay for Timken 2985. Print the results take that to the Ford dealership. Ask how the bloody hell they can justify $230. $30.92 each, including postage: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Timken-Wheel-Beraing-Kit-KIT2985-/141776940160?hash=item2102906c80 $60 for the pair, including postage: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/2-REAR-WHEEL-BEARING-KIT-HOLDEN-COMMODORE-VR-VS-NO-IRS-UTE-VG-VP-UTE-2985-/200902207547?hash=item2ec6b4683b Call the dealership. Give 'em hell.

How did the bearings cost $230? I pay $27.50 for each Timken 2985 bearing kit (ie $55 for both sides). The Timken bearing kits are known for lasting the longest. Replacing rear axle bearings on a ute or wagon is a an easy job. The only challenging part is getting the rear discs off if they're rusted on, but I found that a gear puller makes that part easy as well. http://www.fordxr6turbo.com/forum/topic/90489-2007-fpv-tornado-ute-tinkering-setup/page-2#entry1552015

If anyone besides you is injured in a crash then make sure that they die. Living, damaged people are much more expensive than dead ones. There's a degree of sarcasm there, but basically, if you remove safety stuff like airbags and someone gets injured in a crash later then you're gonna have a whole bunch of explaining to do...

Yup. That transmission is cheap. I’m tempted to buy it but one BF taxi is about to become a Camry and the transmissions in the other two are working perfectly. The diff is an ok price. Cheapskates like me have figured out to pay $100-150 for an AU diff and relocate one of the handbrake brackets, but not a lot of people have figured that out. Keep advertising that on Gumtree and someone will eventually pay the $500 for it. All this sort of stuff is selling very, very slowly this year on Gumtree. People aren’t buying stuff. You’ll get $500 for the diff and $300 for the transmission, but it might take some time. List them on Gumtree with photos. At least once a week delete the adverts and re-post them so that they are back at the start of the list again (ie date order). PM sent re 328mm rear brakes.

I bought a car from Pickles Auctions in Sydney last year and ended up finding a taxi workshop around the corner to a pink slip for a temporary movement permit. I found it by Google searching for taxi workshops in that suburb. Most taxi management companies have a workshop. There's this list on the Swan Taxis (ie Perth) web site: http://www.swantaxis.com.au/drivers/management_companies.php Find something similar for Sydney (and other cities).

Weekend mornings: There's also Chris at Lesmurdie Motor Wreckers. Grumpy bugger, but knows a lot. He also works from 6am on both Saturdays and Sundays. If it's a suspension swap that you want then call Steve at Bianco Automotive and see if you can book it in with him.

Yep, I'm the token white guy. I'm the ethnic minority.

Some of the taxi workshops in Perth: My preferred one: Bianca Automotive 122 Angove Street, North Perth 9328 1167 Recently found Angelo to be very knowledgeable at: Jamas Property Services (no idea why it’s called that) 5/86 Beechboro Road, Bayswater Phone: 0412 124 902 (He employs Dominic, who is on call at night) Some others: Combined Taxi Management 321 Guildford Road, Bayswater 6053 Phone: 9371 3229 Complete Cab Services 206 Star St, Welshpool 6106 Phone: 9361 2376 or 0411 223 408 (Note: this one is NOT my favourite…) Embleton Motor Co Car Dealer and Taxi Management 24 Embleton Avenue, Bayswater WA 6053 Phone: 9271 9999 Fremantle Taxi Services and Management 13 Zeta Crescent O'Connor Phone: 9331 6300 Metro Taxi Management 5/24 Rudloc Rd, Morley 6062 Phone: 9371 7666

"Sandman" is an old name, but really, really old people (ie me) remember it. A Sandman panel van was my dream car when I was a teenager.

Just normal mechanical workshops, but more basic and down to earth. No flashy couch or carpet. No free coffee machine. Qualified mechanics. Jobs get done properly. It's just that they specialise in Falcons (and now Toyotoa hybrids). Because they have so much specialised Falcon experience, they're quicker than other mechanics.

I deal with Steve at Bianca Automotive - 122 Angove Street, North Perth. There's actually a 24hr callout guy these days, $50 callout fee and $50 for the first look - 0435 078 682. I recently found a place at 86 Beechboro Road, Bayswater. Guy called Angelo. Knows lots about Falcons. 0412 124 902 There's Metro Taxi Management in Morley. I deal with a guy there called Rio sometimes. Basically, taxi mechanics deal with Falcons all the time, so they know them very, very well. It's all about getting the job done fast and cheap. They won't know anything about turbo stuff, but everything else on the car is basic Falcon XT stuff, ie bearings, etc.

1) I've done the job three times on utes, but they are a CV joint and much easier to pull apart than a universal joint. There are photos of each job in my Tornado threads: http://www.fordxr6turbo.com/forum/topic/89684-2006-fpv-tornado-f6-ute-cleanup-resurrection/page-2#entry1521879 http://www.fordxr6turbo.com/forum/topic/90489-2007-fpv-tornado-ute-tinkering-setup/page-2#entry1551154 2) My understanding is the the universal joint usually requries replacing at the same time, but not always. If you've got the time and resources then remove the tail shaft and get the universal joint checked. I'd be surprised if it needs replacing after 90,000km. 3) I've used centre bearings from Hardy Spicer - http://www.hardyspicer.com.au Doesn't look like they have a branch in Darwin, but call head office and see if they can refer you to someone there. There's no reason why you can't get a Hardy Spicer bearing sent to you and have a local workshop fit it for you. A taxi workshop would be the cheapest place.

Go buy this for two grand. Drop it off at Luke's place. Pick it up the next day, all fixed. Win. http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/kwinana-town-centre/wrecking/ford-falcon-bf-mk2-turbo-ute/1087797811 Unlicensed Blown motor and turbo due to oil line blockage gear box transmission body and interior all fine only done 80000ks I need it gone send me a txt if you want pictures

Swap for a 1990s Nissan Patrol/Landcruiser/WRX?

Just rang spare parts at Lynford. Item: FG Front Wheel Stud Part Number: BG1107A Price (retail): $73 each Item: BA/BF Front Wheel Stud Part Number: AU21107A Price (retail): $23 FG Front Bearing Hub $330 (twice the cost of a BA/BF one) Blimey. I’m so glad that I don’t have to be one of the little people that pays retail for this stuff.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/FORD-FALCON-FRONT-WHEEL-STUDS-AU-BA-BF-FG-8-98-05-14-/330664556613 BA Steel Wheels BA Alloy Wheels BF Steel Wheels BF Alloy Wheels FG UP TO 2014

Interesting, I would have thought that Ford would keep using the same part for the FG as well. Time to go find the FG part number and see what the first two characters are - that indicates what model Falcon the part was first used on.

Ford Part Numbers: Wheel Stud: AU21107A Wheel Nut: ER1012A Rear Axle Wheel Stud - Wagon: AU1107B

http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/como/cars-vans-utes/2006-ford-performance-vehicles-fpv-bf-tornado-utility/1086918683 I delete the advert and re-post it every couple of weeks to bump it up the list. If you know of anyone interested then call me on 0418 922 500. It doesn't look particularly great (ie Shockwave paint chips) but mechanically it's damn good.

Got a Ford part number?

Had my blue Tornado on Gumtree and CarSales for a couple of months now. Had one person look at it. Priced it at $17,000 and with 99,000km. Most of them start at $20,000 and with 120-130,000km Had one person look it it in two months. People aren't buying stuff in Perth right now.

There was a cruise, but it was late at night and involved one car... Your fault for not being around at 2am on a weeknight...

I'd rather keep as much stuff on the car as possible for engineering and inspection, but it looks like the cat is going to be a problem. Sold my Plazmaman, the cat was actually made by a place called Advance Headers, in South Australia. The email from them: "1) The cat we use is a 100 CPI metallic substrate Euro 2 high flow cat converter. 2) No unfortunately I do not have any engineering reports or anything like that, we do not have much to do with that side of things as the laws are different in each state. 3) I don't think there would be a way to get passed a proper emissions test with the high flow cat converter. If you need to go through a proper emissions test the best thing I would recommend would be to put the standard dump pipe and cat converter setup on the car for it, our dump and cat setup is a direct bolt in replacement so there will be no cutting or welding required, it will just bolt off and the standard stuff will bolt on then once you have passed if you like it will all just bolt straight back on. The cat we use is a really high quality cat, as in build quality, so it wont rattle loose and will take quite a lot of power through it. But it is a high flow cat designed for good flow so as such will more than likely not pass a proper emissions test. 99% of aftermarket cats will not pass an emissions test so the best bet would be to re-fit the standard stuff to get it registered for you." Really, really, really not looking forward to swapping cat and dump pipes back and forth, but it's gotta be done. Me = large person. No hoist here. Not going to be fun trying to get under the car here. I'm going to go for a country drive soon and try a couple of country town inspection places (ie country workshops). Maybe I'll get lucky and someone will pass it as it is. Never know.