JR.

Sorry to drag this up after so long, but I don't have much of a chance to read the forums at present and just saw this thread. The car has done about 3000km since the suspension was fitted and on the whole the experience has been positive. When you look at the ride height of my car, there is still thread left in the height adjustments at both ends. The back can come down another 10-15mm, the front has well over an inch of thread left on the coilover - if anyone would want to go that low on our speed hump infested roads. As for ride quality, it has suffered. Daily driving around town driving has found the back to be quite a bit harsher than standard - the rear shocks need to be softened off a bit more I think - it's still a bit too hard for my own day to day driving tastes. On the other hand, a round trip to Dubbo was a glorious experience with the new settings making country road cornering a test of my own nerve and not the T's handling limits. Also, the car picked up a meaningful time around Wakefield with the new set-up, and launches extremely well the few times we've been out to WSID with it to test some power mods you'll be seeing in future issues of the mag. One thing I noticed at Powercruise last weekend was that while the coil-overs and sway bars help it hold on longer before the back end steps out, when it does it tends to be a bit more sudden than what I was used to prior - It caught me out in Turn 2 the first time I tried to step it out on purpose when it broke loose quite a bit harder than I was expecting - maybe this is just because you're physically going a lot faster. So after a bit of reflection I can stand by what I said in the mag - it's probably a bit too hardcore for a lot of conditions, but if you're prepared for some of the ride quality compromises you get going to a true performace set-up, then it would be money well spent (and I haven't even started fiddling with the shock settings yet). Cheers JR

It's the Roman Autotek Raptor - built by the Hillier brothers - and in reality is powered by a Turbo 6 motor. The stomping great blower was a prop stuck on the bonnet for the Tooheys ads.

Muzzzzza, If you contact Mark at AWC he'll sell you one. The mould has been finished and parts ready for sale for a little while now, the July on sale date was initially mooted merely as we were trying to do a bit of real world durability testing, but the parts are ready to go. My apologies for the info on the website being slightly out of date. There are no screw holes, this version is attached with velcro. We're currently using 4 velcro dots, but velcro strips would do the same thing. I have had a painted one fitted for the past 3 weeks (so any large movement will scratch the surface of the paint) and the velcro seems to be more than up for the job once you seat it properly. I've detected no movement or slippage. The reason there are no holes for screw attachments as per the SSInductions one is that when MArk and I spoke about it, I was leery of the warranty issue in specifically removing the hot leaded bolts that secure the computer - one of the few areas all Ford dealers seem really prickly about. Also, as mentioned higher up in this thread, I thought it would be good to be able to remove the cover when you were about to take the car in for service to avoid stupid dealer comments about heat etc...

Had Hankook tyres on the previous car in a 17" 40 series size. Wear was better (36,000km when sold, still with half tread) and grip seemed as good as the Dunlops. That 36,000km also included 3 track days - 2 at Wakefield, and one at Queensland Raceway. JamieXR6 has the 18" Falkens on his T and hates them with a passion - say's they're the worst tyres he's every owned, but I have no personal experience with the brand. My 18" SP9000's are due for replacement right now afer 43,000km, and best quotes I've gotten in Sydney are in the $550-$560 region. Jax tyres quoted me $256 each for the same size Hankook K104 - the tyre that came equal 1st with the Falken in their performance tyre test last year, the same test that the Dunlop SP9000 came 8th in... The Dunlops are supposed to be the premium tyre in the range, but twice the price for an 8th place finish versus half the price for equal 1st makes you wonder...

Ford seem to have a number of Territory designators registered besides TX, TS & Ghia, but I don't think any of them are for an FPV product, rather just for future variants or special editions or just red herrings. they are; Territory TR Territory MTX Territory R5 Territory R3 that's according to a search of the Australian government trademark site anyway...

Geoff Polites as much as said the 270kw FPV Turbo Territory would happen next year before when he spoke to the car club down in Melbourne for the FPV weekend back in February. But as much as Hurricane sounds like a fantastic name, it's been registered for a limited edition Courier 4x4 ute that was on display at the Brisbane Motor Show (and may be on sale or be sold out already).

Genebaby painted his own as far as I know

Yes, I have a dark metallic grey pinstipe in the car bumpers. Cost $6 a roll from supercheap auto while we were down in Melbourne for the FPV weekend. Came up looking a million bucks considering we were half drunk when I layed it into the bumpers. Also, it matches better with the carbon than a chrome stripe would.

Apologies for the grainy quality of this pic - I'm not really sure why it's gone this way compared to how they normally come out. This is the closest to a full rear view I have. Not sure quite what you mean by "is it too big for the flair kit" - makes me automatically think SLR5000 when I hear the word flare (showing my age there) - but I think it intergrates well with the rest of the XR if that's what you mean. Going back to the Motor Show version of the wing gives it that look the Ford designers originally intended, and has - I feel - made the wing actually look taller. jep - This is NOT an Bogan special product. It's made by AWC (which is basically the carbon fibre division of Fibresports at Taren Point). To each his own, but I wouldn't touch Bogan special with a ten foot pole.

another shot...

Thanks for the referral to the site Miyagi. Much appreciated. I've actually just (yesterday) replaced that wing with a new one that mimics the original SMS display cars - minus the centre leg. AWC can do you the wing either with or without the centre leg - which ever you'd prefer. They're also around $900 cheaper than the genuine FPV wing!

You are of course entitled to that opinon. As the owner, I prefer think of it as "different"

That sounds like a good price to me! In Sydney, I had real trouble finding a set when I got mine as they were both new and in real demand. Ended up ringing DBA direct and they found a set for me at Coventry Auto Parts at Blacktown - the down side was I paid $157 each. The REAL shock was getting a new set of BA front pads from Ford (Bendix pads weren't released at the time). Peter Warren spares charged me $196 for front only pads. I nearly fell over in shock (Thank God I don't have the performance brakes!)!!!

Thanks for the info there Ed...etc. I'm normally up in QLD twice a year for a couple of weeks anyway, so I'll get in touch with Steve when I'm a bit closer to my next trip North. One other question relating to a post you made after mine... Here in Sydney I've spoken to a couple of exhaust shops who told me Pacemaker don't yet have a set of headers available for the BA. Yet obviously you have a set fitted. Is this another case of a development piece, or are they just brand new to the market and the Sydney guys don't have their catalogues updated yet? Now to move off topic for a sec to answer your question about my engine bay, the colour coded parts were done in three parts in the lead up to the Sydney All Ford Day. Most of it was just getting all the parts to my local panel beater and having them sprayed. I bought new parts for most, as I have an idea for a more complex version of the paint scheme that I'll use the original pieces for now I've swapped them. I picked out the writing on the rocker cover by hand using a chrome silver paint pen I got at a hobby store (it was made by Tamiya IIRC). The airbox was a custom job made by a friend. As you may have seen if you looked at the pics on my site, it's made from fibreglass and carbon fibre (yes, it's real carbon) as a 'cover' that can be fitted over the airbox lid. It's completely removable for when the car goes in to be serviced (so it doesn't get scratched as they remove the air filter element), yet when on the car covers all the unsightly ribs around the edges of a standard airbox lid giving it a much cleaner look for shows. The XR6 badge in the carbon recess on the airbox lid is the standard badge off the side skirt.

Hello ED...etc. I don't post much here (those who read all the forums around will know I mostly post at that OTHER forum), but I do watch what's going on and it's good to see that someone is finally starting to develop the N/A. As an N/A owner myself, it's interesting to see you getting roughly 175rwkw with the SSS, as one of the guys from the Newcastle branch of the FPV-Tickford club got 147rwkw in a standard SSS N/A XR6 at the club dyno day on Scott's Dyno last Saturday. I certainly wouldn't be complaining about a near 30kw improvement at the rear wheels from what I'm presuming is just a full exhaust sytem and a piggyback chip? I realise this was done as a development car to test the viability of the package, but presuming it's all okay, will this be something we'll be able to get here in Sydney (and other states for that matter), or will it be only from Steve at Redcliffe D&P ????

Machined by the dealer at 8000km, now with 15170km on the clock the shudder is back worse than ever... DBA slotted front rotors go on the car next Saturday.

I'm sorry for the short notice, but I most likely can't make it. I've been trying for 10 days to get a mate around to do my Mum's brakes. He was coming this arvo, but our yard is flooded with the water. :( Now I need to go to his place tomorrow to do them, and I can't put them off, as they're quite dangerous in this weather. We're planning to start on the car at 9am, so if I get finished early enough I may make it to the end of the cruise, but I didn't want to not say anything in case we get held up and I'm a total no show... I hope the weather clears up and everyone has a better day than I'm likely to have working on a Korean POS. :tears: Cheers Jason

Looking at the back of the Caprice, it leads me to believe that Expensive Daewoo may be in some sort of financial strife... First they buy their Late model camira tail lights from excess Mitsubishi Magna stock, and now they get their Statesman/Caprice tail lights from excess AU Fairlane stock!!! :lol: I don't know what Mike Simcoe is doing now, but it's obviously not watching his design staff!

Got a flat on the driver's rear 18" SP9000 Friday on the way to Bathurst. I also didn't get the spare alloy - my fault, I forgot to tick that box - but luckily it only required a $18 repair, not a new $450 tyre! It was quite a shock to see that 80km/h label on the spare - I knew it was a 16" steelie, but just presumed it was standard wheel/tyre off an XT. I wonder what chance I've got of going back to the dealer at this stage of the game and getting that fifth 18" alloy wheel and tyre - I'm guessing it'll cost slightly more than the $380 you pay when ordering new.

When I took my car in at 8000km to get the front disks machined they told me my BEM (alarm version) needed replacing. I hadn't had any of the problems with the auto down windows when unlocking or such, but I had had a few instances of the alarm going off on its own and not being able to turn it off and it was just driving me nuts. So it took another trip back to the dealer to get it replaced, and everything seemed fine until last week (now at 13300km) as I was leaving work and the alarm tripped itself again - exactly the same as with original BEM! I'll need them to check it at the 15000km service again - little things like this are so annoying.

While it looks quite bad, you'll probably find those gouges are quite easy to repair due to their location on the outer edge of the rim - plenty of area to work with and lots of space between the spoke to get the machines in to refinish the wheel once it's done. On the tyre issue, I have been told by one of the service guys at my dealership that when directional tyres are used, the spare is always mounted for the LEFT side of the car, as statisticly speaking, the left front is the tyre most likely to go flat. Don't know if that's true, but it sounds plausible.

Looks like that rules out an easy swap! This one will have to go to the bottom of the list. Now to find out how hard it is to swap the handbrake lever over with the Ghia item Thanks for the replies gents

As the owner of a N/A XR6, one of the small but frustrating things missing from my car (despite the brochures originally saying it was included ) is the rear seat armrest with twin cupholders as in the Futura/Fairmont/Ghia. Can someone tell me if this is like rear power windows - present on the XR6T but missing from the N/A, or is it not in any XR? I was hoping if it's standard in the Turbo I could just go down to the dealer and order a seatback in the correct Plexis trim, otherwise I'll need to look into the logisitics of getting a Futura/Fairmont seatback rebolstered and retrimmed... :(

The dark blue Fairmont Ghia in the Falcon brochure and promo photos they released is in Blue Pearl Hope this helps