rockafellqeinstien

another water tank - sorry officer, I dont think there is a height restriction on loads in utes and I measure the rear over hang from the back of the folded out tail gate ............ I'll stop talking now

I always get the impression that euro's have much better Aerodynamics due to their higher freeway speeds (improves top speed, fuel economy, noise and high speed acceleration). I think that shows out in this test. wonder what the track temp was - Euro's also seem slower when its hot (I guess like all cars) but when tested in europe its usually less than 20deg C. I am sure my car would be vastly different if tested at 15 degc and 30+ degc

I am doing some construction on a large property that had a dodgy private sealed road over 50km long to get to the dirt road that leads to the construction sight (another 10km). this track becomes too dodgy for concrete trucks so its all hand mixed.. I load 3.5 tone (sand metal mix) into a 1 tone trailer (total 4.5 ton) and the ute tows it easy. The dirt track is steep (too steep for a concrete truck) both up and down. probably done 50 loads in total Had a few hairy moments when the trailer brake failed (the cable broke) but the ute is still going strong. when I get back on public roads and tow legal loads it feels like (in ned flanders voice) nothing at all. and its a manual. I get about 14 L/100 towing at 80 kmh - they are great towing cars. (Hayman reese HD towbar fitted)

xtream HD clutch - holds my 460rwkw no problemo I got it at 120,000 with 300rwkw and now I am at 250,000km with 460rwkw - and I tow 4 ton regularly (private road of course) - cant complain - (but I dont need to do kicks - just squeeze and she frys tyres)

check your wheel nut tourque. incorectly torqued nuts can cause clicking noises (drove me nuts until I took the wheel off and put it back on and it fixed it self (confimed later) and might also be effecting the brakes

yes, I have had one snap there. In my case I didnt do the nut up tight enough, it came loose a bit and worked itself into a wired angle that then snapped the thread. Next one I did it put a second nut on there and also used loctite and it has been good as gold (was just weired why it kept coming loose - same tourque as the others ) hope that helps for the record I used $40 ebay pair

if its dropping boost all of a sudden, I would say it is intake related (as 90% of issues I have found are). Coils plugs etc cause different sensations. pressure test your intake if you can but it seems like when boost gets high enough it dumps it like a faulty BOV valve or a bad pipe connection but the hole would have to be big enough to dump a lot of air. a tuner could do this on a dyno and look for the leak. to take the bov out of the equation take it off and block the outlets and see if its the same symptoms. It could also be the boost solinoid. you could always run a hose direct from the turbo to the actuator and see if it still happens (run turbo with the waste gate full upen at all revs) will build boost slowly but might show if its related

upon inspecting my old one I would sugest finding something better than wd40 to lube it with. I had almost a honey goop in some parts which concurs with what people way about WD40. it is infact a Water Displacement spray not really lubrication. a good light machine oil ould be better. look here and dont use wd40 if you cna help it. http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/how-to/products/wd-40-vs-the-world-of-lubricants-2

my boost control was getting a bit rough and with 250,000 on the old FG I decided I would pay the $60 and get a new solenoid. The old one seemed to work fine when testing it out of the car (and the actuator was all good and relatively new) it certainly smoothed things out and bought the actual boost much closer to the desired boost on the laptop log. easy to change (removed the 4" from the gtx and you can pop it off the bracket with a screw driver) - I also put a better clamp on the outlet as it was way to easy to pull off. $60 well spent

I run rda slotted (cheap ones) and afm pads. rotors last 2 sets of pad befor they are truly destroyed (almost no slottedness left) they hold up pretty well - good fluid makes a big difference

you can test the actuator pretty easily to an extent by pulling the hose off the solenoid and puting a "regulated" compressed air line into the hose and watching the movement. should move incremental with increased air presure and nice and smooth with no leaks. dont put unregulated airpresure in it as you can blow it. mine tops out around 20psi but I have a 12lb actuator - yours might be less.

Ok, I have a question - what would it take to make a ecu/tune that close to the limit safe. obviously a Ethanol sensor would be a start then maybe a wide band afr guage on every cylinder (with a ecu and tune that can use it) knock sensors on each cylinder (is that posible) direct injection for better measurement? bunch of safty equipment (like presure relief valve .......) if you had a ecu that could use all that stuff (and maybe other stuff) could you theoretically set it up to run close to the edge and not worry about changes in fuel density/octane and other mishaps? Id be interested in the AMG45 set up - 250kw out of a 2ltr = 500kw out of a 4ltr????? and 26psi stock?

I agree, my bro has a sedan and I have the ute - his gets the power down much nicer and is a much smoother ride but.......... my live axle is a drift master - although it doesnt like mid corner bumps much at all and to rub salt in the wound, the sedans are much more areodynamic meaning less fuel at 120kmph and much less power to hit those top speeds (250+)

clean throttle body and look for vacuum leak on intake piping (pressure test and soap suds)

when I had a leak on my throttle body gasket it would hold almost 2k rpm when idling - initially it wasa random but became permanent. pressure test of intake found it and new gasket for $5 fixed it.