PhilMeUp

That's not mine, but I'd sure like it to be. I saw it at a car wholesaler in Bentley back in July. It just had $27,000 spent on it at Monsta Torque and the car was priced at $45,000. Rear wheel output of 504kw and 1076Nm. Massive money was spent in March (invoice date) and the car was for sale in July. I took photos of the invoices. I would be interested in buying that one... in a couple of years... once it depreciates a bit more...

If you've got an ELM327 cable then have a tinker with FORScan - http://www.forscan.org I had the flashing hand on a BF dashboard a few weeks ago (ex taxi). Random engine cutting out. Did various things with FORSscan. DIdn't fix it. Did the same stuff again, because I'm stupid. Apparently the car is now behaving properly. Goody.

I read that and figured the same should apply to wives. I'm an arsehole. Better stay unmarried.

2013 called. It wants its prices back.

Looxury. Back in my day, we couldn't afford to have money to waste on booze/smokes/drugs. True story: I drove someone home recently who had to go home because he'd reached the $1,000 withdrawal limit on his ATM card that night. An out-of-work rigger, he was explaining to me how he's weeks away from the bank foreclosing on his house. When I suggested he take a sh*tty $60k/year local job of some sort he wouldn't even consider it.

When I was a kid I was afraid of the dark. Now when I see my electric bill I'm afraid of the lights. I'm starting group meetings at my house for people who have OCD, not because I have it, but surely one of them will be bothered enough to clean it. Farts are like children. I'm proud of mine and disgusted by yours.

The NA one that I bought has five clutches. The FG Turbo one has seven. The NA one was a quick and cheap solution, but its torque converter wasn't suitable and mine was stuffed. So, time to hit Gumtree and find an FG ZF transmission. Just because I buy something for less than it's worth doesn't mean that I'll sell it at the same price. I'll end up selling it for whatever the market value is, and offer to get fluid and a new filter for the buyer at wholesale cost. For price, I'll ask around next week and see what that ZF should be worth. The $1,400 ZF box that I bought - I spent that money because it was supposed to have 23,000km on it. I'm not an expert on transmissions - I'm only going by what the transmission guy told me. He was adamant that there was no way that fluid has done 23,000km. I should have kept some fluid and had it analysed. But when I pay that much money, and make it clear which transmission that I'm after... and they put the wrong one in the back of my ute... that's not a re-assuring start. That made me very uneasy. If they put the wrong transmission in the ute the first time, then how do I know that I’ve got the right one now? It’s unfortunate that I’m copping flack here. As with my other Tornado, this car has presented a whole bunch of problems (this car has become quite the nightmare). I’ve been documenting how I deal with each issue. You might not like how I do certain things (ie buying and selling stuff to finance other things) but all I’m trying to do is use some enterprise and initiative to get myself a better car.

Nah, it came across as dodgy. They initially put the wrong transmission in the back of my ute. The one that I was there to buy had a steel sump pan (ie recent FG). The ZF they put in my ute had a plastic pan. It was lucky that I noticed just before I left. The torque converter - they picked one up that they had sitting around. Normally wreckers write the car's km on things like the transmission. Not them, so I've got no proof of how many km it's done. But I can't see how 23,000km can make that fluid so black. The advice from the transmission guy was that was more like 123,000km. Sure, bulk skids wouldn't help, but I wouldn't imagine that a person that's bought a brand new car is going to be doing that. Who knows... anything's possible... but I'm skeptical. Ah well. Car's mobile again. I can resume trying to figure out how to get it licenced.

Car is running and mobile. As mentioned, I bought a 23,000km FG ZF for $1,400. I figured that would give me a just-about-new transmission, right? Check the transmission fluid. That's not 23,000km. Not a huge fan of FordHold Wreckers. Lying arseholes.

Just do what I do - take forever. Seven hours last night to replace front and rear suspension on my taxi. That should have been two to three hours. Started at midnight, finished at 7am, got to sleep at 10am and woke up at 4:30pm. Tired tonight. I should rent myself out to the CIA for the purpose of interrogating terrorists. Make 'em watch me work on a car for a while, and they'll tell you everything.

Headlight fluid. Every six weeks on my taxis, every four months on personal cars. Poorly lubricated headlight globes = bad news.

Yup. I got all the info. Email me. patient3765@graylands.com.au

The parrot and the rabbit have eloped together.

Find out if AMCAP have one in stock (ie Welshpool). If so, see if they'll let you go there and measure it.

Lot 74: Built 10/14, Ford, Falcon, FG MkII XR6 Turbo That one went for $25,100.

Talk with Matt at Race Brakes Sydney. I use Hawk Performance ceramic pads. They are generally the least dustiest pads. However, brake pads are like sports teams. Everyone has their own favourite that they reckon is the best.

This. 1/2" drive = hours of fail. 1/4" or 3/8" drive = instant win.

Try driving in Perth. Absolutely useless lot here. Most people can't handle the simple task of breathing in oxygen and driving a car at the same time. No-one can multi-task here. I'm dodging Uber drivers all the time. Saw two of them driving on the wrong side of the road last night. Two in one night. Car smash repair places do very well here.

Girlfriend's previous two taxis (BFII wagon and BFIII wagon) used to both go through headlight globes at a rapid rate. And she cruises around like Driving Miss Daisy. She's slow. Meanwhile, I go through one or two globes a year, at the most. And I drive the car as though it's in Formula 1. These days I keep a spare globe in the bottom of the airbox. I buy globes in packets of 10 when they're on special at Covs. Always wanted to try the IPF Fatboy globes. That's what the 4WD crew use, and they're also a higher output globe.

Check the centre bearing. Might as well replace it anyway. 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

Check your tyres for a nail or screw being stuck in one of them.

Nah. Needs more driveway. GOTIM.

I've been going through similar drama with getting an ex-NSW car licenced here in WA. As soon as any part of the exhaust has been modified from standard they want an emissions test. It's the cat converter that's the problem - a high-flow cat doesn't pull enough of the bad stuff out of the exhaust. Hence, no matter what tune, a high-flow cat will result in failing an emissions test. My understanding is that E85 doesn't produce the chemicals that a cat needs to filter out, so that's a possibility. Easiest solution: put standard stuff back on, trailer car to inspection and then trailer car back home again. Great fun.

Keeping my rear Brembos, but can I interest you in an immaculate, low-km NA ZF transmission?

I do all sorts of wheeling and dealing to get things at a lower cost. This week I suddenly entered the world of buying and selling transmissions. Something that I know almost nothing about. No experience, and almost no knowledge about what I'm dealing with. Quite a crash course. Getting it figured out though. There may also be some more wheeling and dealing going on. There's another car in the transmission workshop that needs a certain rare transmission, and I know where there's a cheap one. Right now I look like an idiot on here, but hopefully by Tuesday night I can explain a few things. I was given a price of $800 by Nigel to recondition my existing torque converter. And the converter from the NA ZF isn't suitable. Bugger. I abandoned the plan to use the NA (naturally aspirated) ZF transmission, and went back to the original plan of buying a good turbo one. Having spent all night researching ZF transmissions, I was able to make a much more informed decision today when given the news about the converter. This was very useful: http://www.fordxr6turbo.com/forum/topic/78348-all-things-zf/ The NA ZF has 5 clutch packs. The BF turbo and V8 ZF has 6 clutch packs. The FG turbo one has 7 clutch packs. The NA one is rated for 450Nm. The turbo one is rated for 600Nm. The turbo one also has a stronger input shaft. I knew about a couple of options on Gumtree, so started making calls. For $1,400 I bought an FG Turbo ZF and converter with 23,000km on it. Yep, 23,000km. Way too good to pass up on that one. http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/maddington/engine-engine-parts-transmission/ford-fg-turbo-6-speed-auto-trans/1046972765 That should take care of the transmission and converter requirements. Being a later ZF, it's also got the steel pan already on it, so I can recoup some money by reselling the pan that I bought from Motospecs. That helps. I'll also resell the NA ZF that I bought yesterday. So, I've flipped back from something-temporary-to-get-the-car-mobile to a (hopefully) permanent solution. I'm very pissed off at myself at the moment for not getting this car through a local inspection yet. Fair enough, workshops are saying no to the dump pipe, cat and intake manifold. So, now I've set myself a deadline.. I've committed to getting this car through an inspection next Thursday.