PhilMeUp

As far as I can tell, it's the same key as the Mondeo. http://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?SearchText=mondeo+flip&catId=0 http://www.aliexpress.com/product-fm/423980473-Ford-Mondeo-flip-4d60-remote-key-with-433MHZ-Free-Shipping--wholesalers.html And the BA/BF/Territory key is the same as the Ford Focus. http://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale/wholesale-ford-focus.html?CatId=301002 However, I have seen two different frequencies - 315MHz and 433MHz. I need to confirm which one is for my BF. As soon as I confirm a way of buying just one key (with minimal postage costs) then I'll get one and try it out.

The new model DBA4000 rotors apparently aren't directional, so each rotor can go on either side of the car - this is very useful. With the previous ones, you had to make sure that you put the correct rotor on each side. This wasn't hard to figure out if you got the rotors new as it was marked on the box and there would be a small sticker on each disc. But it's a bit trickier if the discs aren't new when you put them on (ie bought them secondhand or had both discs off the car at the same time for machining, etc).

Take 2. When I changed the calipers and discs over last week I didn’t clean the hub backing back and disc rotors. There’s been a bit of brake shudder that could be because of this. I also bought some secondhand DBA4000 disc rotors over the weekend, which are slotted and a much higher quality disc. So, tonight I had a go at doing the things that I didn't do last week and fit the DBA rotors at the same time. I chose to try cleaning the relevant surfaces with an electric drill and wire brush instead of the usual emery cloth sandpaper. I already had the electric drill (Ozito LIR-012 which cost $90 from Bunnings) and bought a set of wire brushes for the job. After trying out different ones I found that one brush did pretty much everything. The first task was to clean the inside of the disc rotors. It didn't look particularly bad on this one but I had a go anyway. The wire brush made a huge difference, resulting in the inside of the rotor hat being spotless. I made sure that the inner ring was also clean, and this is what centres on the spigot (ie middle of the hub). I then adjourned to the front yard. So far, I was a lot more organised than last week (ie hook holding the calliper, axle stand behind the jack (but out of view)). I knocked the studs out with a hammer. Rather than stuff around getting around the studs, I wanted full access to the backing plate. It was starting to look a lot better, then my organised night suddenly became very disorganised. The battery in the drill went flat, so I went and got the spare. Which also turned out to be flat. Oh dear. Lots of cursing ensued as I realised that I would have to leave one of the batteries on charge for at least a couple of hours before I could resume. When I did get back to it almost three hours later, it was drizzling rain. The best laid plans of mice and men… When I finally did get back to it the night had gotten very cold. This meant that the backing plate had shrunk a bit and I couldn't get the wheel studs back in. I didn't have anything suitable to heat the backing plate up enough so that the studs would knock back in properly (a butane lighter didn't help). I even tried putting the wheel studs in the freezer for half an hour, hoping that they would shrink enough to fit back in. Nup, that failed to. By now I was starting to panic. I had a car in pieces in my front yard and possibly couldn't get it back together again. The only option was to get the studs in as far as I could and put the wheel back on. Hopefully tightening the wheel nuts up would pull the studs through. By now I had given up on fitting the DBA4000 rotors and the priority became getting the car mobile again. I got it sorted out - the wheel went back on and the wheel nuts pulled the studs back into the backing plate. Phew! I accepted that it just wasn't going to be my night. It was getting very cold and wet. I resigned myself to failing for the night, packed everything up and called it quits for the night. I was rather disgusted with myself. Take 3. I was still rather miffed about this a while later when it finally occurred to me that there wasn't a whole lot that I actually needed for this task. So, I put everything in the car and went looking around for a place that I could do the job. It was tempting to ask a service station if I could do it in the driveway but then I realised that a nearby car wash was suitable. One of the bays hadn't been used for hours, meaning that the concrete was dry. And there was light. This was an interesting novelty - working on a car without having to aim torches and lights everywhere. Wow. So that's how the other half lives. Despite scaring myself earlier by not being able to get the wheel studs back in I was now on a roll again. Here's the backing plate before cleaning. Here's the backing plate after cleaning - a big difference from how it was before. It looks scratched in the photo but that's just how the light is reflected by the flash - it was actually perfectly smooth. I was very thorough and made sure that any surface that was going to come into contact with the disc rotor was well cleaned. I also made sure that the spigot (ie the middle bit - the disc rotor sits against it) was spotless. The inside of the wheel before cleaning. The electric drill and wire brush did a very good job. While I was doing this I figured I might as well put some graphite power in each of the wheel nuts. This is a dry lubricant and will help the wheel nuts to rotate on and off when the time comes to change a flat tyre on the side of the road somewhere. I recently found a screw stuck in one of my new tyres and to prevent damaging the tyre I fitted the spare. From start to finish, I did it in just under six minutes, which I thought wasn't bad for a roadside tyre change. This is the left side back in one piece. You can see that I had done my homework earlier and marked on each disc which side it was for. You can also see that I cleaned the outside of the rotor hat to ensure that there was nothing to put the wheel off centre. The right side ready to have the wheel put back on. The wheel back in place. The slots can be seen. Finally I was done… 3:34am. The old discs are in the foreground and will be put away for future use. I am curious whether the brake shudder was because of warped discs or incorrect fitting, but my curiosity isn't enough right now to pull the brakes apart again and try the old rotors. The test drive was a success - no brake shudder at all. I did numerous stops to make sure that everything was settled and that my day driver wouldn't find any nasty surprises (and when I would be asleep and not able to attend to any problems). I had done the wheel nuts up very tight when I put the wheels back on and double checked them before I called it a night. Finally, success!

Yep, lessons have learned for next time (as pointed out to me on one of the other forums): - don’t let any brake fluid leak onto the ground - put an axle stand under the chassis rail whilst the car is jacked up. - a turtle jaw clamp could be used on a rubber hose (but not braided), but a rubber cap on the end of the brake line would probably do the job. If nothing else is available, put a small plastic bag over the end and use a small zip tie to hold it on. - important - spend the time preparing the mating surfaces before putting the disc rotor on. And, I wish I knew about DBA's YouTube videos before I did this. There is a series of four videos that covers this. Part one:

The Territory and Falcon 322mm disc (ie BF XR6 Turbo and XR8) use the same front pads - http://bendix.com.au/catalogue?manufacturer=&model=&variant=&oepart=∂=DB1473 I bought a BF XR6 Turbo front brake setup from a wrecker this afternoon for $200 (ie 322mm discs). For that price it was too good to pass up on. Put it all on tonight. Can't pick a huge difference, but it's only early days. I'll do around 1,000km over the weekend so will have a better assessment of it by Sunday morning. Photos and what I did:

I've got a Brembo setup lined up for my car, so this week I've been trying to find a set of BA Premium Brake front calipers for my girlfriend's car (very good caliper that uses a 325mm disc that is also 4mm thicker than the standard rotor). I rang all the Ford wreckers in Perth and was unable to find the calipers that I'm looking for, but one place said that they had a set of BF XR6 Turbo front brakes there for $200. I own my taxi and will be setting up more in the future. I figured that at that price, I might as well go and grab the XR6T brake set and try it out. When I put the Brembo stuff on soon I'll put the XR6T stuff aside until I set up another taxi. As is the usual situation, I did the changeover in my front yard at night. At least this time it was relatively early (7pm to 10pm) instead of the midnight to 4am jobs that I've done lately. A workshop would be nice, but enough light to see what I'm doing would be enough of a luxury. I've just checked, and the temperature was a lovely 10 degrees Celcius for most of the three hours that it took me to do this job. Oh, and I never wear long pants or a jacket, everything I do is in shorts and t-shirt. Basically, it was bloody cold. Here is the standard disc rotor (298mm diameter) sitting on the XR6T rotor (322mm). Not a huge difference in size, but every little bit helps. You can see the colouring on the standard disc - a result of how much heat it's copping. I'm tough on brakes, hence my awareness that I need something better than the standard system. Got it all apart fairly easily but made one huge stuff-up. I didn't think to put anything under the brake hose to catch the fluid. Stupid, stupid, stupid mistake. Naturally, when I did the other side later, I put an oil drain pan under it all and didn't make a mess. This is how I am often getting things done. Not a good environment for working on a car, but that's what I've got. The electric drill is very useful for getting wheel nuts off quickly - loosen them with a wheel brace and then use the drill and 19mm socket to get the nuts off. You can see the small tripod light that I use to work with. Yep, that's what I do. I have a bit of an obsession about keeping wheels clean. I clean them regularly on the car, but when they're off the car it is an opportunity to do a thorough job without having to bend down all over the place. I use CT18 degreaser in a weed sprayer bottle and a brush that I bought at Bunnings. Then hose it all off. My interest in keeping my wheels clean is substantially higher than my interest in gardening and lawn maintenance, but CT18 doesn't cause any harm. I've lived in this house for almost 12 years now, and the lawn should by now be completely used to the fact that my care factor for it is extremely low. The battle scene. Tools and brake parts all over the place. I put the bracket on. That was easy. Then I realised why it was so easy - I'd forgotten to put the disc rotor on first. Idiot. Remove bracket, put rotor on and re-fit bracket. It is possible to fit the entire caliper assembly in one go but its a lot easier to do it piece by piece. Another photo of the bracket in place, also making sure that the brake hose is in it's holder. Whenever I removed the hose from the holder for something (ie putting the banjo bolt back in) I made sure that I put it back in the holder straight away so that I wouldn't forget later. I chose to try the Bendix pads that came with the calipers. Before putting the pads in, I coated the back of them with CRC Disc Brake Quiet to reduce the possibility of noise later on. I use a rubber glove for this part, so that I can just peel the glove off and get back to the job once I've applied this stuff. Got the pads in place, in the bracket. Ready to put the caliper on. Got the caliper on, and the brake hose bolted back on. My major stuff-up with not catching the brake fluid at the start meant that I was leaving brake fluid marks on things that I touched. I cleaned everything up with an aerosol degreaser before putting the wheel back on. Thanks to the speed bleeders that I got last week, bleeding the brakes was a simple one-person process. I undid the top bolt on the caliper, so that I could lever it away and make sure that the nipple was at the highest point (so that no air bubbles were left anywhere in the caliper). Put the nice clean wheel back on, do up the wheel nuts with the electric drill, let the car down and tighten the nuts up properly. This is where the lack of drain pan earlier caught me out again - the wheel is sitting in brake fluid! It was dispatched with CT18 degreaser, followed by plenty of scrubbing and water to make sure that my tyre didn't end up with brake fluid all over it when I reversed the car out. If you're ever going to work on a BA or BF Falcon you are going to need one of these - a 15mm ratchet spanner. The bolts that hold the caliper bracket to the car are a 15mm head, and this spanner makes it easy to undo and do them up. Much easier than messing around trying to fit a ratchet and socket in there. I also use this on the engine oil drain bolt (ie also a 15mm head). Time for a test drive, after double checking and stopping to think for a few minutes if there was anything that I'd forgotten. I've changed brake pads on cars plenty of times but never actually changed the calipers over. So I was very nervous when I got the car moving. It was make or brake time (bad pun). Is there much of a difference? Not particularly, at first. I did a bunch of slow, nerve-racking 20 to 30km/h stops for a while to make sure that it was all working properly, before trying some 50 to 60km/hr stops. It felt a little bit better, but not enough to convince me that it wasn't just my imagination. I returned home, put everything away and went for a proper drive. After a bunch of routine stops in normal driving I was convinced that there was definitely some improvement, but not wildly overwhelming. However, when I did some downhill stops I could definitely feel the difference. By the time you've got a BFII station wagon (kerb weight of 1,736kg), taxi stuff and pathetically overweight 120kg driver it's getting up to close to 2,000kg. That's a lot of weight to stop, hence my interest in brake performance. Downhill stops definitely took less pedal pressure. Instead of having to really push hard on the pedal it was like coming to a normal stop. I drove around for about 40km and concluded that there wasn't a massive difference in braking performance but it was worth doing for what it cost ($200). There will be other benefits, such as having more disc rotor metal to take the heat from regular braking. Naturally, if I was going to stick with these calipers for a while then I would get slotted disc rotors. I'll leave this on the car until I fit the Brembo setup, which will give me a weekend or two to really evaluate it properly. I cover between 450 and 550km on each of a Friday and Saturday night, so by Sunday I'll have a good feel for how much difference there is. Should everyone be replacing their 298mm front brake setup with a 322mm set? If you can get it done for the right cost then you'd be mad not to. The parts cost me $200 and the labour cost me nothing. I was going to get a workshop to fit the Brembo calipers but after doing this tonight I realise that I can do that myself easily enough. Tonight was a very useful learning experience, but it would have been very frustrating and time consuming if I didn't have speed bleeders to make it easy to bleed the brakes on my own. A task such as this is why I was so determined to find and obtain them (http://www.speedbleeder.com). For someone who is going to try this on their own personal car, you would want to research what pads and disc rotors to get before touching anything else. I just used the rotors and pads that came with calipers, but if I was going to keep this permanently then I would have lined up some good slotted rotors and pads first. Obviously, you would try and buy just the calipers from a wrecker (ie without rotors and pads) if it is going to make the project cheaper for you. But, it's also handy to have a spare set of pads and rotors stashed away. These discs are slightly warped, which can be noticed in the last few metres of stopping. If you're going to use the standard rotors then you might as well get them machined before putting them on. To do this properly (ie slotted rotors and good, new pads) would easily take the total cost to at least $400 to 500. But for someone who takes his/her car seriously, and wants to make sure that it will stop properly when you have to, this is worth pursuing. If you are going to replace the disc rotors and pads on your standard 298mm brakes, then you might as well try and find a set of these calipers at the same time. All of this is assuming that you have already got 17" wheels on the car, which is the minimum size required to clear the calipers. Now, as soon as my Goodridge braided brake lines turn up, I'm gonna have to get the Brembo stuff on there...

Thread revival.... Does anyone know what the solution was? Was there a change in the calipers? Change in the design of the car? Any idea why some people are having success and others are having trouble with pad knock-off?

Oh bugger, didn't know anything about that. Was it happening to all live axle cars or just some of them? Would this be a solution - an anti knock-off valve? http://www.bmsc.com.au/forums/rallying-technical/507-brake-pad-knock-off.html#post5078

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh, nup. What issues? Hence one of the advantages of the Brembo calipers. Easy access to the nipples, and they are in the right location. I bought them from Jegs - http://www.jegs.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/KeywordSearchCmd?storeId=10001&catalogId=10002&langId=-1&Ntk=all&Jnar=0&Ne=1%2B2%2B3%2B13%2B1147708&searchTerm=speed+bleeder&N=0&mkYEAR=1576988&mkMAKE=1578180&mkMODEL=1578211 They were $US9.99 a pair (I bought 12 pairs), but the postage is a killer. However, I also bought front and rear Hawk ceramic pads to make the order worth doing. Total cost, including Fedex, was $A480 (gotta just love the current exchange rate!). The order: ..1...486...HB616Z.607....179.99...BRAKE PADS.........................179.99 ..1...486...HB194Z.665....111.99...CERAMIC PADS.....................111.99 12...799...639630..............9.99....Speed Bleeder 10MM x 1.00...119.88 .................................................Handling fee...........................13.99 .................................................Fed Ex freight.........................90.98 .................................................Order total...........................516.83 For cheaper postage, buying them direct from www.speedbleeder.com is the way to go. You pay more for the bleeders ($US7.00 each individual one) but much less for postage ($US5.95). However, I did order some extra sealant and some other things direct from them on the 11th of June, which hasn't arrived yet.

I'm Bleeding For You Starting on Deb's taxi first (girlfriend). Ladies first. It was dark within minutes. Some guy called Martin Luther King once gave a big speech, where he said, "I have a dream that some day all men shall be equal". I also have a dream. Some day, I shall work on a car in daylight. Working on a car without spending the night holding a torch in my mouth would be lovely. Someone really needs to invent a torch that tastes like chocolate instead of the usual plastic and metal tastes. Deb's brake fluid reservoir. Not completely bad but not real clean either. A check with my brake fluid tester showed that it was up to 2% water. Again, not completely bad but not the best. Time to fix that. This is what I used for cleaning out the reservoir: Coke bottle for the old fluid, big 60mL syringe for sucking the fluid out (get them from anywhere that sells stuff for horses) and a rubber glove. I used the syringe to remove the old fluid and put it in the Coke bottle. Then I refilled the reservoir with clean fluid, put the glove on and poked around with my fingers to get the other junk mixed into the fluid (the glove keeps my hand clean). Then I drained that fluid and refilled it again. A bit excessive, but thorough. Nice clean reservoir. There's still a bit of fluid in each of the two holes that lead to the brake booster, thus ensuring I don't get air bubbles into the system. The old fluid. Yummy. Standard brake nipple on the rear caliper. Very easy to access and replace. The speed bleeder in place. Took seconds to swap it over. Previously, when I've bought clear tubing hose from hardware shops for bleeding brakes, I've bought various different sizes. This is because I've never been clever enough at the time to remember to take the actual nipple with me to the shop so that I can get the right size tubing. Brilliant. However, this also meant that I have a collection of hoses. It turned out that 6mm tubing fitted the speed bleeder nipples perfectly. I hooked up some hose and a bottle, and then pumped away at the brake pedal, without having to worry about twisting the bleed nipple back and forth. Very quick and easy. Anyone who has flushed brake fluid on a BA/BF Falcon will know what a nightmare it is to access the nipples on the front calipers. In the past I've removed the calipers to do it. Now it's easy, because you only have to loosen the nipple half a turn and get a hose on to it. Got it all done and Deb had to take off for a private booking that she had. By now I had figured out that doing all this (including replacing the original nipples with the speed bleeders) was a one-person job. The consistently bored look on her face was a hint about this. Finally, it was time to do the same on my taxi. I've been very keen to get this done for some time. But, tragically, my magic moment had to be delayed due to bad weather. It kept raining on and off like this for the next couple of hours, dragging this out a lot longer than it should have taken. But, my car definitely needed fresh brake fluid, and it was going to be done. I was about about to bleed the first one (ie rear passenger side) when it occurred to me that now would be a good time to see if the rear calipers from my Brembo kit will actually fit on the wagon. When I was originally negotiating to buy these, the seller did explain that he had bought them for his XR6 ute but had since sold it before putting the calipers on. This didn't really seem relevant at the time, but became very important once I remembered that my wagon has a completely different back end to a sedan. The wagon back end and ute are the same (as far as brakes go), so it has turned out to be a very lucky fluke that the guy had a ute. I had been comparing part numbers on the mounting brackets to sedan ones and they were different, which I took as confirmation that these were for a ute and would therefore fit my car. Time to find out. This was a truly glorious moment. I even got Deb to hold and pass the caliper to me, as she had cleaner hands and I didn't have any velvet gloves handy. She was very dismissive of my explanation that this was one of the greatest moments in the history of the universe. Needless to say, I was extremely pleased to confirm that the rear calipers have the mounting brackets that are suitable for a wagon. You can also see the Koni shock absorber in the background. I replaced all four nipples with the speed bleeders and bled the line at each caliper. This was much, much easier than when I did it previously (five months ago). I checked the reservoir to make sure that the fluid was clean. Conclusion: My experiment with fitting speed bleeders has been a huge success. Flushing the fluid and bleeding brake lines is now extremely easy and can be done by one person. There is now no need to have a second person pushing the brake pedal whilst someone loosens and tightens up the bleed nipples. Just put some hose on, turn the nipple half a turn or so and go pump away at the brake pedal. To be thorough, I was counting 15 pedal pumps for each caliper and then a few more just to be certain. Bleeding brakes doesn't require that much pumping but I wanted to make absolutely sure that all the old fluid was flushed out. I had plenty of new fluid ready to use - 6 x 500mL bottles of PBR Super Dot 4, which I had bought recently for $4.95 each (hence buying 6, although I now realise I should have bought a lot more). I took my car for a test drive and it was immediately obvious that the brakes were much better. It now takes less pedal pressure than it did previously to make a sudden stop. My taxi is now a safer vehicle, and I also now know that when I fit the Brembo calipers I won't get any nasty surprises when I put the rear ones on. Why haven't I put the Brembo stuff on yet? There's a lot more to this than I originally expected, but I'm getting there. I've got the wheels (ie that clear the calipers). I've got the disc rotors. I've got the low-dust ceramic pads (to keep the wheels clean). The final piece of the puzzle is braided brake lines. I rang the distributor today and am waiting for an email with pricing. Once I've got that I'll order the brake lines and have everything I need. This car will soon have the best brakes of any taxi in Australia. I'll need to keep a large paint scraper in the car to peel passengers off the windscreen. But why do all this? On a taxi? Exactly, I'm doing this because it is a taxi. It's my taxi, and it's going to be the best performing and most organised taxi that I can create. The car has good suspension (Koni shock absorbers). It has good tyres, that grip well in all conditions. Soon it will have the ultimate in brakes. The car is insured for $15,000. My most recent insurance policy was $4,300 for the year, and that's doing it as cheap as possible. I have a $2,000 excess instead of the standard $1,000. And I've got the maximum no-claim bonus. I regularly come across situations where I have to brake suddenly. Animals run across the road often, such as cats, dogs, rabbits, foxes and even the occasional kangaroo. Then there are the drunk idiots that run out in front of the car in the night club areas. If I hit any of these then it's going to cost me money and cause me grief. If I crash then I'm out of pocket for the $2,000 excess. And then there's the loss of income, both for myself and my day driver while the car is off the road. I would also risk losing him to another car, and good day drivers are extremely hard to find right now (ie ones that look after the vehicle). I'll hopefully use the Brembo kit on several cars, and possibly keep it for the rest of my life. When this car is retired from taxi work some day then the kit will get transferred to the next one. Ford stopped making station wagons in September 2010 so it's likely that I will have to switch to a Late model camira wagon some day (ie sedans don't have enough carrying capacity). When that happens I'll hopefully be able to get suitable mounts and discs, and keep using the calipers.

Update: After making billions of phone calls all over the place I couldn't find any of these in Perth. Some places had heard of them but never seen them, and other places had never even heard of them. Lots of frustration here. I rang the Australian distributor for Russel (ie Rocket Industries) and it turned out that they actually didn't have any in the country. They've actually never imported them! So, overseas mail order it had to be. At least I tried. So I ordered some speed bleeders from America a few weeks ago and they arrived today. The brake fluid in my taxi is due for flushing and I'd love to do it tonight but it's raining and wet outside. Bugger. Will try to get it done tomorrow night, when the girlfriend is over. Goody. They take an 11mm spanner (same as the Brembo nipple), instead of the 10mm on the standard one: Here are the three types of nipple together, standard, Brembo and speed bleeder. The speed bleeders have got some sort of thread sealant on the threads to help seal. I also have a bottle of this stuff coming separately but it hasn't arrived yet - http://speedbleeder.zoovy.com/c=PIhTud99i52HXZhrMbRKSgtJy/product/THREADSEALANT/Sealant.html The holes in the bottom of the speed bleeder are nice and big. The end that the hose goes over is also much larger than on the standard nipple, which should help with keeping the hose on. And the neck where the spanner goes is the largest of the three, which will help prevent stripping if the nipple is done up too tight.

QFM Taxi 69 pads - http://www.qfm.com.au/index.php/taxi/ I'll be trying out Hawk ceramic pads when I put the Brembo calipers on.

It rained tonight. A lot. In a very short amount of time. It really, really, really, really, really pissed down. It started over a few minutes and went for about half an hour. Not a particularly long time, but there was too much water for drainage systems to handle, resulting in lakes of water everywhere. By fluke, I had fitted new wheels and tyres the night before. After lots of hours researching what tyres would be good in wet weather conditions at a good price, I chose the Neuton NT5000 tyre, paying $160 each for 235/40ZR18 size. This night confirmed that I'd made the right choice - they were amazing. No matter what I did, the car drove well and felt stable and safe. There was no sliding or loss of traction at all, and I pushed the car very hard through some corners to see how the tyres would hold. It wasn't easy to get any photos, but I had a go. Blurry photo, but shows the amount of water that cars were driving through. Yes, I am on the wrong side of the road. Yes, that is water gushing over the median strip. There were cars blocking the road, so going on the wrong side was the only way of getting through. This is the puddle of water at the intersection of Scarborough Beach Road and West Coast Highway. When I got there a Late model camira SS Ute was stuck in the middle of it, with a very unhappy looking driver.

Who said anything about moderately low speeds? The car does get to move at a good pace, in certain locations, very late at night. It's the heat factor that's caused me some drama so far. Lots of constant stop/starts through backstreets - I actually do stop at every single stop sign, so there's a big heat build-up. It's extremely irritating, but a good habit to have. My licence is my job, so copping a three demerit point ticket every so often from a bored cop doing suburban patrol is going to bother me a lot. I almost t-boned another taxi last year. It was a two-car job, going from the same pickup location to the same destination. We got "competitive", and when I came up to a t-junction I had no brakes left. The other car was coming down the road and I had to make the turn because of brake fade. Luckily, the other car was about 50 metres from the intersection, but it could have gone bad. I also cooked the brakes early this year, coming down the hill from Darlington late one night. Had a pick-up in Herne Hill to get to urgently. Half way down the hill I had major brake fade, which I didn't expect as I had done a thorough service on the brakes three weeks earlier (ie new pads all round, flush fluid, etc). Everyone that I've spoken to that drives a car with a Brembo setup raves about how well the car stops when you suddenly jump on the brakes. That's what I need. A fox or rabbit runs across the road (happens several times a week). Drunk dickheads run out on to the road and stand there (happens all the time). I need to know exactly what braking response that I'm going to get so that I can make the split second decision what to do. Hopefully, the braking force spread over a bigger area/device will mean that pads and discs will last longer between changes than the current setup. I'm tough on brakes, and I'm certainly pushing the standard stuff well beyond what it's capable of doing. The Brembo front calipers will be much easier to do brake fluid flushes on, compared to the impossible-to-access nipple on the standard front caliper. If all this stuff means that I miss just one crash some day then it all pays for itself at that exact moment. One thing I'm looking for is not having to be aware of the condition of my brakes after a bunch of stops in a row. I want to know that I can jump on the brake pedal and get the same response every single time. Tyres: I've gone with Neuton NT5000 tyres, for $160 each. A bit more expensive than the Accelera Alpha 17" tyres that I was paying $125 each for, but I'll tolerate the difference of $140 per set. There is an element of pride and ego in all of this. I want to know that I've got the best equipment setup possible. Driving a base-model Falcon around constantly is just soooooooooooo bloody boring! You can easily lose concentration, and that's when very expensive stuff-ups can happen. I've got new Koni shocks on there, with new front springs and reset rear leaf springs. Now I've got good tyres. I'm loving the Parrot MKi9200 phone kit that I had put in a few weeks ago. Soon I'll have good brakes (calipers, rotors and braided lines). Soon I'll have Recaro front seats, which will result in less fatigue and back pain from sitting in a crap seat for 12 hours at a time. I've spent years riding and racing motorbikes off-road (ie enduros) and it's all about bike setup and machine preparation. There's a lot of attention to detail involved. I'm applying the same attitudes to my taxi. It's not about racing, but it is about preparing a vehicle that will perform reliably, consistently and efficiently. If I can make the vehicle perform better then I'll also perform better, which results in a higher money income.

Photos: Will get a better photo over the next few days. Will figure what centre caps to use next week. On another note... 12:14pm. I'm finally winding down and getting sleepy. Good, need to get to sleep. Then tree loppers turned up to remove a tree that was meant to be taken about two months ago. Lovely. Just lovely. You couldn't even make this stuff up. Got to sleep about 1:30pm. Woke up at 4:00pm, calling the alarm clock a lovely array of names. Got to tyre shop at about 4:30pm and collected wheels and tyres. Had a go at polishing up the rims and put them on the car at 7:00pm, pretty much exactly 24 hours after I started this lovely little adventure. Taxi is now 100% legal and will handle superbly in the wet with the tyres I've chosen. HUGE amounts of relief.

- in a normal week, the car does around 4,000km, 2,500km of which is done by me. I spend a lot of hours each week driving that thing. - I do a lot of stop/start/stop/start stuff and the brakes and fluid get very hot. I've cooked them very well several times. Brembo stuff will handle the heat much better and will require less brake fluid flushes (ie less heat corruption of the fluid). - the Brembo stuff is a long term investment. I'll most likely be driving BF MkII Falcons for another five to six years, and the kit will get transferred from car to car. Additionally, if I switch to Late model camira some day (ie no more Falcon wagons) then hopefully I'll be able to get mounting brackets and keep using the Brembo calipers. It's possible that I'll be using the calipers in 20 years time, on the umpteenth car (that's what I'm hoping for). - safety for myself (crash injury prevention). I regularly have to brake suddenly for foxes/rabbits/cats/dogs/drunk dickheads. If I hit one it's gonna cost me a lot of money. - crashing a taxi is incredibly expensive. The excess on the insurance policy is $2,000. Plus loss of income for both myself and my day driver. I've done a heap of homework to decide on what braking system and tyres will give me the best braking ability to avoid crashes. - I want the best possible performance from the vehicle. It's not about engine power (ie I need low running costs and good reliability), but I want/need good suspension, steering, ergonomics (ie Recaro seats going in soon), brakes, etc. These things make the car better to drive and less fatiguing. - coz I felt like it. I was gonna go with a 322mm XR6 Turbo front setup and 328mm Territory rear setup, but the Brembo is the ultimate. My taxi will have the best braking system of any taxi in Australia. My car for personal use is a 2000 Alfa Romeo 156. I bought the thing in August, 10 months ago. I've driven it 2,000km that time - it's not worth throwing cash at a vehicle that only gets occasional use. I'm better off investing in something that I'm going to use on a daily basis.

Yep, full Brembo system, on a taxi. I'm gonna be peeling passengers off the windscreen with a paint scraper. You know how those WWII jeeps had the windscreen that folds down forward? I need that for my taxi now - if I want to eject someone from the taxi then all I would have to do is jump on the brakes and watch the offending passenger fly right past me. South Perth. If you're interested in some racing slicks or XR8 rims them gimme a call on 0418 922 500.

The Stats: Initial phone call: 6:35pm Filled up with petrol near home: 7:15pm Arrived at seller's house: 11:41pm Distance driven so far: 483km Time spent at seller's house: 13 minutes Time arrived home: 5:53am Total distance driven: 948km I've been trying to find Brembo-compatible wheels for about two months now. They have to be 18" (instead of the more common 19”). Why? - to keep it legal - wheels can't be more than 2 inches bigger than the original ones (16”). - I want as much tyre profile as possible for sharp bumps. - costs - 18" tyres are cheaper than 19" tyres. They also had to be a simple, five spoke design to make it easy to keep them clean. This made it tricky because the trend in wheel design at the moment is away from five spokes and toward more complex (and hard to clean) designs. After heaps of internet research I had eventually figured out that BA XR8 18" rims were the way to go. But trying to find some in undamaged condition was impossible. I even bought a couple of sets that were badly scratched for use as spares. I finally realised that I wasn't going to find undamaged XR8 rims so explored getting some scratched ones repaired. I even spent a day and a bit taking the wheels to each of the wheel repair places in Perth. All said that they weren't really fixable and I would have to settle for painting them instead. Nup, didn't want painted. I wanted a glossy, shiny look. I even got one repaired at a cost of $150 to see if it would look how I wanted. Nup, failed once again. It didn't look too bad, but still wasn't what I was seeking. Bloody hell. Surely it can't be that hard just to find a set of wheels that fits over Brembo callipers and is easy to clean? It got to the point where I was checking Gumtree and eBay every day. Sometimes several times a day. Obsessive doesn't even begin to cover it. My taxi was due for new tyres, wet weather was on the way and I had spent over $3,000 on brake parts that I couldn't use yet. Massive levels of frustration. I did see an advert on Gumtree that stuck in my mind. It was a simple advert, with just one photo of a wheel and text that said, "Set of 4 Low Profile Bridgestone Potenza Race tyres on ROH rims. Suitable for FPV GT with 6 Pot brakes." Not a whole lot of detail to go on but enough to make me not forget it. Finally, after a couple of emails and finally getting more than one photo of the wheels, I made the phone call. These wheels were in Geraldton, which is over 400km away, so it wasn't just a matter of dropping by for a quick look. The seller, Steele, answered the phone and I got straight to haggling. He was possibly coming to Perth in a couple of weeks but was reluctant to bring the wheels because it would mean towing a trailer and paying extra fuel costs. I made a blunt cash offer, including picking them up that night. He accepted, and agreed to wait up past his usual 9pm bedtime for me. Damn. I had just dug myself into quite a hole. It turned out that he lives a bit past Geraldton, about 450km away. A rather long drive to just spontaneously do. But, I needed wheels desperately. After some initial indecision about whether to drive the taxi (ie cheaper on LPG but had to be back by 6am) or my girlfriend's ute (currently not insured), I decided to use the ute After some stuffing around and frantic thinking about what to take I got moving. I drove straight there. I made one stop along the way, which consisted of running into a service station and getting an energy drink and hamburger. Not overwhelmingly healthy stuff but it would keep me going. I was back in the ute in about one minute. This was racing pit-stop stuff. Not far from Geraldton there was a detour, which added 17km to the trip. I later found out that there had been a fatal crash on the highway earlier in the day and that section of road was closed until it was all cleaned up. My TomTom GPS led me to exactly the right house. By now my bladder had been quite the attention seeker for the last hour or two but I wanted to get these wheels. Steele came out the front and showed me the wheels, which were now on his back lawn. Cash was passed over and wheels were loaded into the back of the ute. It was that simple. I got a receipt and it was clear that Steele was way past bedtime so I headed off. I was there for an entire 13 minutes. I took it easy on the way home. The pressure was off now. I had the wheels and there was no-one waiting up for me. I had a look around the Geraldton townsite and headed back toward home. The drive home was at a much more relaxed pace and took me considerably longer than the trip there. I didn't have to take the detour past the scene of the fatal crash and got to see where it happened. It's one thing to read about fatal crashes but it's a much more surreal feeling to drive past the exact location where someone died hours earlier. The skid marks and painted markings on the road made it clear that someone died rather suddenly. I finally got home and parked in my front yard at 5:53am. Ten hours and 38 minutes after I initially started. There was no stopping yet. I didn't even have time to have a good look at the wheels in Geraldton so now it was time to unload and start cleaning them. By now I was extremely keen to see how they would look so got very busy with wheel cleaner, degreaser and cleaning brushes. One wheel has a gouge on one of the spokes that I didn't know about earlier but I can live with that. They cleaned up reasonably well but the chrome will need a proper polishing. Darn, I was hoping to get tyres fitted and have the whole lot running on the taxi by afternoon. Oh well, at least it's starting to come together. Surprisingly, the whole trip wasn't all that hard. I've done heaps of country driving over the years but I've found it extremely hard to maintain concentration for the last couple of years because I've become so used to city driving, where there are always things to analyse and be aware of. But this drive was a breeze. It's now exactly two hours after I got back and I'm still very much awake. Going to have to focus on winding down and getting to sleep soon. The sun is up now and I need to go to bed. Today is a good day. I have wheels. The hunter returns with his prey: Cleaning time: Dammit, too wet to put in my bedroom. It was tempting to dry them with the petrol powered weed blower but I figured that 6:30am might be a tad early for that: They'll be going on this ASAP: BA XR8 18" rims all over the place. It's like an orphanage for XR8 rims around here: Front porch. Yeah, the rims came with near-new street legal racing slicks. I won't be using the slicks on the taxi: Back tyre on the taxi. Needs replacing ASAP, hence the urgency: Bridgestone Potenza RE55S street legal racing slicks. They'll be removed and re-sold: They look like forklift tyres: Just when it's time to wind down and go to bed for the day, builders turn up for the house that's being built across the road. Lots of noise. Lovely:

What is this "mates" that you speak of? My taxi is on the road pretty close to 24/7 so access to it for maintenance is a bit limited. The last time I flushed the fluid was back in January, and it's due for it again now. In January I started at about midnight and by the time I had it all done, had thoroughly test driven the car to a point where I was 100% confident it was 4:30am. I also changed all pads and had to make really, really, really, really sure that it was all going to work properly. That was in summer. Nice and warm outside. Dunno about you, but I don't want to spend three hours in my front yard at that time of night in winter. One of the reasons that I'm looking forward to the Brembo calipers so much is the much easier access to the bleed nipples on all of the calipers. Last time (on the standard calipers) I did the back brakes first and it didn't take very long. Was rather proud of myself for being so quick and efficient. Then I did the front ones. Oh dear. People that commit major crimes should be punished by making them bleed Falcon front calipers. In a front yard at 3am. It's easy enough in daylight, but imagine doing this late at night:

I've just ordered from Speedbleeder.com: Bottle of sealant (x1) - $US10.00 each http://speedbleeder.zoovy.com/product/THREADSEALANT Thread Guage (x2) - $US7.50 each speedbleeder.zoovy.com/product/THREADGAUGE Extra Dust Caps (x10) - $US0.10 each speedbleeder.zoovy.com/product/DUSTCAP Speed Bleeder Bag (x2) - $US3.00 each http://speedbleeder.zoovy.com/product/SPEEDBLEEDERBAG/ Plus $US5.95 for shipping, for a total of $US37.95. There's a debit on my card of $A35.85 so I'm guessing that's it The speed bleeders from that side are $US7.00 each (ie not per pair). Other sites have them for around $US10 per pair (ie the Russell ones come in pairs). If I was only buying a set of four for one car then I'd buy them from there but I'm going to buy 24 - 8 for my Brembos, 4 for girlfriend's taxi, 4 for girlfriend's ute and 8 for whatever else I get up to in the future. Buying 24 of them from Speed Bleeder means about a $50 difference. Bugger. I'm probably going to order some Hawk ceramic pads for the Brembos from No Limit Motorsport (http://www.nolimitmotorsport.com) and am waiting to hear back from them to see if they can supply the 639630 nipples as well. Jegs (http://www.jegs.com) sell them but only have 5 in stock at the moment. Edit: decided to order the 5 pairs that Jegs have in stock but when you get to the final checkout point there's an International Air Express charge of $51.22. I dropped it down to 2 pairs and the charge didn't alter. Just a leeeeeeeeedle bit too much for something that will fit in a normal envelope...

You sound like you've done this enough times - what are you using these days?

I went to Perth Brake Parts today after they said on the phone that they had speed nipples in stock. Turned out they don't stock them. I asked about how to seal the thread and the guy was adamant to avoid plumbing tape. He was definite on using Loctite 243 though. As for actually getting them, it seems like mail order from the US is the way to go at this stage. Or get a local shop to order them in from Rocket Industries (if they actually have them in stock).

If there’s one thing that the internet is good for, it’s sitting up late at night studying nipples. ie the same thread tape that plumbers use (ie get it from Bunnings)? Would applying lots of sealant to the threads be enough? http://speedbleeder.zoovy.com/product/THREADSEALANT/Sealant.html They come in packets of two, so you’d need two packets for a normal car or four packets for a Brembo setup. A quick Google search shows that around $US10 a pair is common. I haven’t called anywhere for local pricing yet - will be doing that today. http://www.jegs.com/I/Russell/799/639630/10002/-1 http://www.bizrate.com/automotive-parts/oid2249572860.html Speedbleeder.com has them at $US7.00 - I think that’s per pair. http://speedbleeder.zoovy.com/c=Uue1gF98wM13t4qTZ4OpAZlC2/product/SB1010S/SB1010S-Speed-Bleeder.html

Brake Nipples - Speed Bleeders and Brembo & Falcon standard brakes A speed bleeder is a brake nipple that has a valve inside to prevent air getting in. To bleed brakes you normally put pressure on the brake fluid (ie push the brake pedal down or have a gadget that pushes brake fluid at the reservoir) and quickly undo and do up the nipple. A speed bleeder makes it easy because you can just undo it a bit and pump away as much as you want, without air getting back in. Very useful. ie: For a while now I've wanted to put speed bleeders on my taxi so that I could flush my brake fluid regularly and quickly, but didn't know exactly which ones to get. Until just now I didn't realise that it's the base of the nipple that actually seals the brake fluid in. I wasn't sure previously whether it was the base or the nipple threads. Nup, it's the base, which means that the actual length of the brake nipple isn't particularly important. I bought a set of 6/4 Brembo calipers for my taxi a few months ago but haven't been able to fit them yet because I'm still hunting for suitable wheels. Just about got that sorted out - I'm getting some BA XR8 18" rims restored at a wheel repair place because I couldn't find a complete set undamaged. I'm tough on brakes and brake fluid in my taxi needs replacing fairly regularly. I asked around about speed bleeders for standard Falcon brakes a while ago but couldn't confirm which ones to get. It just occurred to me to try a standard Falcon brake nipple on the Brembo calipers. It fits fine. The Falcon nipple is a bit longer than the Brembo one, but the thread is the same and it appears to form a seal inside the caliper. Total length: Brembo nipple: 28.7mm Falcon nipple: 28.0mm Distance from collar to base of nipple: Brembo nipple: 14.5mm Falcon nipple: 16.0mm However, the base of the nipple (ie the bit that seals against the inside of the caliper) is a different diameter. Brembo nipple: 8.0mm Falcon nipple: 6.5mm But, then I looked down the hole where the nipple goes and saw that there's only a small contact area between the nipple and caliper. It's actually a tad scary that our lives depend on such a small amount of metal contact. The one to get appears to be the 639630: http://shop.rocketindustries.com.au/products/RU639630 So, conclusions: 1) the only two things that matter about a brake nipple are the thread and the contact patch at the end (ie that seals against the inside of the caliper). Everything else doesn't matter (within reason). 2) Brembo calipers and standard Falcon calipers can use the same nipples. If this is all correct then I'll be buying one set of speed bleeders for my taxi (ie eight - two per Brembo caliper) and a set for my girlfriend's taxi (four - standard calipers). Where they come from: There appears to be two companies that make them: Speed Bleeder Products and Russell Performance. Speed Bleeder Products: http://speedbleeder.com (part number is SB1010S) Russell Performance: http://www.russellperformance.com/mc/speed/domestic.shtml Russel Performance is owned by/is part of Edelbrock - http://www.edelbrock.com Their products are distributed in Australia by Rocket Industries. Any car accessory shop can order them in from Rocket. If I've got any of this wrong and someone knows the correct info then please post it here ASAP. Photos: This is the standard Falcon nipple: But, I didn't realise that there's actually a rubber collar that can be removed. I would assume that this is to keep dirt and grime out of the thread area. Falcon nipple and Brembo nipple side by side, lined up at the bases. Also, notice the difference in the sizes of the holes that the brake fluid gets out through: The two nipples, lined up at the collars: The Brembo nipple in the caliper: The Falcon nipple in the caliper: The hole in the caliper where the nipple goes. You can see where the nipple seals up against the caliper: The two nipples, side by side, showing the contact area on each one:

BA XR8 18" rims clear Brembo calipers. That's what I'll be running on my taxi. For a spare wheel, call wreckers and specialist wheel/repair places and you'll end up with a wheel for around $100. Just make sure that you get it checked for buckles before putting it in the car though.