Phido

That is hugely disapointing. Even if they only appeared on certain models that would be better than nothing. A uprated suspension package would be a conciderable upgrade and would provide a reason for previous BA/BF owners to jump back into a Ford again. One hopes they are just changing manufacturer and some sort of enhanced suspension package will appear with improved NVH, better grip and handling. Otherwise BFII is going to be a pretty weak upgrade, not enough to keep VE at bay. The problem with FPV is that they run a diffrent brake caliper to the XR's and regular falcons. With them currently running several diffrent packages (small brembo + standard rear and big brembo and big brembo) its too much development. They need to unify the brake packages utilise the same brembo calipers across the range.

I think we will see the monotube stuck in the BF II end of this year to help combat the VE.

Police vechical are essentially the same but: Bigger alternator Slight wiring changes (high beam heavy duty) Pads Most likely rotors have been replaced (were using DBA replacements for a while). Expensive Daewoo however has recently made a few police specials. Executives with 15 or 16" steelies and V8's. And SS's with 17" wheels instead of 18"'ers.. While back in the old days things were a bit diffrent. most are taken out of police ECU mode when decommissioned.

There is apparently a massive undersupply of LPG parts. As soon as prices went up, every one drove down to the nearest LPG conversion store and paid a deposit. No ones going to be interested for alteast ~4 weeks. There was a injected LPG XR8 on the fordforums.com.au area. For a turbo I would only ever concider a injected LPG. Your talking about $3000+ for such a conversion. It is definately possible but find someone who does BA Taxis at the very least. Injected LPG is much like injected petrol. Normal LPG is basically a carb. Injected LPG uses less fuel, usually stays in tune for ever, makes more power and torque. Downsides are costs more.

The fronts are 322x28 and the rear 328x26. (although this is still somewhat unconfirmed I thought terrys had 322 front and rear).. Verse good old premium 325x32 and crud 303x16 or something rears. The new standard fronts are ~3mm smaller, and 6mm thiner. Thicker discs means they can take a more energy in say a single stop, but would take longer to disipate it. So its a muchness on that part. Good side is that they should be a fair bit lighter than premiums. Jack all diffrence really. The smaller fronts are easily compensated for the massive vented rears.. Realistically the new standard brakes are only ~20mm off the disc size you get on say a new M5. Which means they should be enough for most people most of the time. Those who aren't happy should really be looking at ~365mm discs and 4 or 6 spot calipers upfront for heavy duty trackwork. Good thing the rears are vented too, with DSC I would imagine the rear brakes would get used a fair bit.

Looks great. Dash looks great. Ford does have a image problem with the LTD and Fairlane.. Hopefully with BF that can change, the new G8 is ment to look pretty pimpin.. Fairmont Ghia certainly seems to look the goods.

Wouldn't suprise me. After all Ion has gone bust. Gearbox supply will be at best woeful. Lack of transmissions could completely shut ford down if they wanted to continue using the 4 speed. ZF 6 speed standard on the entire range. Has a nice sound to it. I also hope they add ESP standard to the entire range. Slice some Kg's of the kerb, improve NVH, improve economy, improve performance.. The falcon REALLY needed this gearbox.

For the same money I would.. -Buy two BA I6 heads.. -Go get a alloy block casted of a V12 60 degrees, using falcon bore spacing, bore, stroke, etc etc etc -Machine said block -Equipe with strong pistons and rods and custom crank -Tune and map with aftermarket ECU -Cams, porting, valves and springs for the I6 heads Say hello to your 8.0L QOHC QVCT 48 Valve V12 pushing over 400 naturally asperated Kws to your rears.. Place this engine in a Fairmont Ghia body with a 6 speed and suitable brakes/clutch/shafts. Okay, it would cost maybe $50,000... But then again I would imagine that engine wouldn't be cheap either.. Say $100,000 all up.. Nice little package.

ZF isn't making them. Ford is (ZF design though), they are going to make 200,000+ a year. The ZF 6 speed is pretty much the ultimate automatic gearbox. All the ratios you will ever need (in a car), light, compact, efficent, low parts count, high torque capacity, etc.. 4wd or RWD.. Which is why these days they are sticking them into almost everything, from top of the line BMW's, bentleys, jags etc to entry level 4 cylinder BMW's, to Falcons to Ford pickups and SUV's, to off road Military vechicals and landrovers etc.. Mercedes doesn't use it because it has its own 5 and 7 speed autos, and GM doesn't use it because it has its own range of gearboxes. But really none of them are better than the ZF all round. AFAIK most ZF cars take off in 2nd gear under light throttle opening because its still short enough to do this, requires less shifts (smoother) etc.. The only thing that would be technically better it is something like BMW's M5 7 speed box with its electromechanical clutch instead of a torque converter (good because auto gearboxes don't like 8500 rpm!!)..

Wheels 17" Alloys plus tyres verse 16" steelies and tyres (although 17" alloy on SR).. Softer suspension better grip on a launch. SR falcon is basically a XR6 with out the bumper and lights. I was suprised jumping into a basic XR6 how basic they are inside.. Appart from the blue dash lighting and foggies who would know the diffrence. All the other XR's I've been in had Far more sporty trim (MKII is rather bland?) and premium audio (big lift for the cabin). Given that SR will be ~$15k in no time second hand they are a real bargin.. I don't know, XR6 N/A kinda really was a disapointment. Its very basic, smelt very much as a fleet special. I kind of had dreams of it being a hard core N/A six with a bit of fire in its belly and felt special. Certainly didn't feel or drive that special. I suppose the real story is the 8.1 XR6 time is from a Auto and the 7.23 is from a 5 speeder.. Easy to explain..

http://www.drive.com.au/editorial/article....&vf=2&bg=1&pp=0 Just launched, the limited-edition R-34 GT-R Z-tune packs a fully reworked 368kW engine, race-spec suspension and brakes and costs $220,000. Only 20 will be built, essentially to whet the appetites of potential buyers for the next-generation GT-R due in late 2007. Engineers leaned heavily on 15 years of racing experience from the R32 through to the phased-out R34, with their main inspiration coming from last year's Japan Grand Touring Championship GT-R GT500 race car. Obviously only able to use secondhand GT-Rs, Nismo project team staffer Kojun Iwata says, "we went through dozens of GT-Rs looking for cars that had no body damage and under 30,000km on the clock". Then they stripped the cars down to the body shell and transformed each machine into a road-going race car. And the result is a car that takes your breath away. Looking like a GT-R on steroids, the Z-tune has lightweight aeroparts whose only goal in life is to maximise cooling efficiency to the engine bay and brakes. As can be expected, acceleration mirrors that of a GT-R GT500 race car. With its beefy-sounding exhaust tuned to just undercut noise limits, the stock 2.6-litre straight-six twin-turbo, bored out to 2.8-litres, is packed full of race engine internals. Pumping out 368kW at 6800rpm and 540Nm at 5200rpm, Iwata says he could easily tweak the car to a maximum of 463kW but then he'd have to worry about emissions regulations. Nismo's in-house data has the Z-tune covering 400m in just 10.06 seconds and we believe them. Jump on the six-piston Brembo brakes with 365mm rotors and you'd better be ready for nearly 2Gs of deceleration as the Potenza RE-01R tyres chirp and struggle to absorb the forces. The fade-resistant brakes are phenomenal. The beefier torque down low permits instant acceleration in any gear and makes pottering around town far less stressful than the base R34, even in 6th gear at 2000rpm. The steering is pinpoint, direct and feels ideally weighted for such a car. Incorporating a fully reinforced chassis, this GT-R also gets specially tuned, race-spec Sachs dampers, costing $8000 a corner and delivering a ride quality unheard of in a car of this spec. Depending on where you wish to drive your Z-tune, you can either have it delivered with stock Potenza high-performance road tyres or track-ready semi-slicks. Inside, the leather and Alacantara-covered seats are comfortable but could do with more side support for quick cornering. A 320kmh speedo and titanium gear knob hint at what the Z-tune is capable of on the track. The Skyline R34 has been resurrected for its swansong performance and what a way to go out: flat out around a race track. The upcoming 2007 model GT-R is also expected to house a 360kW-plus twin turbocharged 3.2-litre V6. --------------------- GT-R's are fast, but are completely diffrent cars, and are no longer new.

I've been hanging around LS1/Ford forums for years getting the info on these cars. I've come to the opinion, by a lowish Km 2nd hand car, and do almost all the work yourself. Holdens and Fords always seem to have problems new. By the time they are 2 or 3 years old, most of the bugs are out, fixes are known and theres about another 3 or 4 great years of ownership with minimal hassels. Plus you get to test drive the actual car your buying and look over it in detail. If you guys are hoping going german means sunshine and flowers think again. Mercs are recently the most unreliable car on the roads, BMW have had a few share of problems (inc Nikasil engines that basically involved BMW swapping hundreads of 4.0L V8 engines out).. Audi proberly builds the most solid cars, but they have other flaws (expensive, not as involving, rather bland, FWD or AWD only, slow).. If you want that save a few grand and buy japanese..

They replaced Phantom with that!!?? While bright colours are all fine and dandy, I don't know if selling a colour that looks like hot pink in bright sunlight is such a good idea. Can you imagine if someone choose it off a dark showroom on a rainy day and goes to pick it up and sees a bright pink car? Good on ford for trying brave new colours, however, not really sold on this one.. Maybe it will grow on you though..

Theres a reason why there won't be a GTHO.. There isn't a suitable engine that Ford makes, for it. Ford could definately use a better flagship than the GT or GT-P (or typhoon).. Maybe something with two simeased I6's to make a 8.0L V12.. Yes, that would be most suitable (make the handling acceptable, people follow power)..

You can apply accoustic sheeting to the boot (get one of those fairmont boot coverings and hide it under that) and change the tyres to something quieter.. Also try applying accoustic tiles or sheeting to the parcel shelf. I think much of the road noise in a falcon comes from that back area. Tyre noise is a horrible thing.. My brother had a LS400, and put performance tyres on the back, and jesus, its completely hidously noisey. Sounded like the dif had gone, whiney etc. And that's a top of the line lexus with awesome sound proofing. Tar spray will only really help wind noise etc.. tyre noise is a much stronger noise..

Oh please the Copperhead and Orion thing is the first thing we knew about the future falcons. Has to be the worse kept secret in the world.

The falcon is apparently going to be a updated in October/November.. - Luxury models (GHIA,FAIRLANE,LTD), and some sport models (FPV's) get the 6 speed auto (atleast on the 5.4). - Minor cosmetic update (new alloys, new colours, possibly some new grills maybe even some new bumpers) - Equipment rejig - Some models will get a bigger make over than others. (fairlane G220 perhaps to be replaced with something else) - Territory will also get the 6 speed in the Terry Ghia (RWD/AWD) but that will happen 2006 Think EF => EL upgrade. This more major update will keep ford in the game until 2007..

Castle Hill Ford had a stack of turbos, they were saying 10 or 15 sedans, 2nd hand all were between $33-$35k.. While demo cars may have been flogged, its not like buying privately or at a auction is going to not get you a non-flogged car. Atleast with a demo you know its proberly been supervised flogging, and atleast well serviced. These are performance cars, there is a idea going around that flogging them from day 1 is the best way to break them in for maxium power.

It wouldn't supprise me. Aussie's generally hate lag. Hell, the media bags the big chev V8's for a laggy style power delivery. It wouldn't be suprised if with higher boosts (in fpv and XR turbos) it introduces more lag. It would also make the FPV seem much more diffrent than the XR6T. Regular Twin turbos is all about reducing mass and therefore reducing lag. While the current turbo could provide 600HP in a aftermarket situation, I don't think Ford would be interested in it. It would wear quicker and be fairly laggy. With twins they could choose smaller turbos that would spool up quicker and provide less lag yet higher boost. I think eventually FPV will fit a diffrent turbo better suited to their particular application.

I belive to hook anything up to the ICC it basically needs a VGA out connection. Some DVD players do have a VGA out (though fairly rare), Some Digital set top boxes also have VGA out. Im thinking personally I might just rig up a really small PC with a Digital/Analog TV card and a DVD drive. Proberly cheaper than just getting a DVD player, more flexable too. Could also run MPEG4's and MP3's with visualisations, do some emails etc..

Given that Ford thinks very little needs to be changed. Very little. Some slight restyling, a new auto box in late 2005 etc. If we are lucky.

I don't think the HSV are any lighter than a typhoon. As I recall the HSV GTS was well into the 1700 + range. 4 days now... Its painful.

Turbo engines: Ford XR6 Turbo 322Hp and 331 ft-lb (@ 2000 rpm) FPV Typhoon F6 363Hp and 406 ft-lb (@ 2000 rpm) There are other falcons too ranging from the basic six cylinder XT (244Hp 4.0L inline six DOHC twin VCT 24 valve), the LPG version of this engine, then the 5.4L SOHC (300Hp) V8, the basic 5.4L DOHC engine (348hp) and the top of the line FPV 5.4L DOHC V8 (389 Hp). Generally the XR6 Turbo runs low 14's for the quarter. Some cars have dipped into the 13's though, stock. They are easy and cheap to modify for a lot more power. Short answer: They are Right hand drive and are made in Australia only for Australia and New Zealand. Long answer: Ford HQ doesn't want to let the secret out that the Australia division has been on the ball while they have generally dropped the ball. The previous CEO of Ford Australia did provide Falcon for evaluation by Ford US executives, but they quickly turned down the offer. No. Atleast not in the short term (in the next 5 years). They would only be sold in the US if they could produce them there. At the moment that doesn't appear likely. Ford US will instead make the 500, Crown Victoria and the Taurus for US customers. It appears there is some aspects of the falcon which may show up in future vechicals sold in the USA.

Oh, in converted $'s about $67,792.49. But then again, it cost about that much when it had the 4 speed auto, so I don't think that much of the sticker price is made up of the six speed. Plus its a US vechical, which means you can proberly get it on 0% financing and knock $5,000 off the price to get the real street price. Your right, its outragous, how can a such a cheap truck get such a fantastic gearbox! Of course if it was sold here, you would have to convert it to RHD, then apply aussie profit margins, hedge your currency, handle training of staff and inventory of parts, it would proberly cost $150,000+ aud. Navigator runs the same 5.4L SOHC 24 valve V8 as would Fairmont Ghia, Fairlane G220 and LTD. Oh look at those Oz cars even cost simular money, plus OZ cars have much, much fatter margins on them. Plus Fairmont Ghia, Fairlane G220 and LTD are certainly cars that need a massive boost right now, as they are langishing right down the very bottom of the sales charts. Funny how in the USA, they can afford to put the transmission in a $50-60k aud SUV, but we can't afford to place the same drive train into a top of the line $70 or $80k car/SUV. Is it still being tested? Gee, they must be pretty slow, Ford struck the deal with ZF what, ~5 years ago (jags have had it for a while now), it was then that Ford OZ knew exactly what type of gearbox it was going to get. The exact same powertrain is now in the Navigator. Hell Ford managed to develop it for the Navigator (AWD and RWD) in a fairly short space of time during the last Navigator facelift (hey it even got IRS!). What needs to be tested? The 5.4 with the trans is already a production reality! Surely its a simple matter of running test miles in a falcon and signing off on the deal. All engine calibration has already been done, year(s) ago. I don't buy this talk of its still in development. Its in development because Ford doesn't see a need to give it to us yet. It will be in "development" right up and past when it goes into production. But maybe your right, from what I hear the 6 speed manual is still in "development" and Ford is having problems and issues.

Thing is Ford in the US is *ALREADY* using the 6 speed auto in some vechicals. They are already buying it from ZF. For the Navigator. So its all bullshiet. I belive Ford could stick the ZF 6 speed in the Fairmont Ghia, Fairlane, LTD, Territory Ghia, GT-P and Typhoon, as a cost option if it wished, today. It wouldn't be rushed, it wouldn't cost alot either. Instead we have to make do with a fairly cruddy 4 speed when everyone has a 5 speed, or be forced to offer cars with *NO* automatic.