KEET

Hi Folks, Have an FG Mk1, tuned years back quite basically to 292rwkw, also had gearbox tune (both X4). More recently I've made more mods to car and gone to 340rwkw, not too sure whether the X4 mapping is still part of the gearbox set up given that I'm now on a PCMTEC tune. Short story long; thought I was probably OK at 340rwkw without any mods to the ZF. Before the 340rwkw tune went in, I did have the trans fully serviced. Now about 4000km on since the 340 tune, the mid range torque feels much higher, or I shouls say DID feel higher as now some times it feels like the engine is spinning up but that is not being translated through to actual acceleration. I knew very little about auto transmissions until 24hrs ago. Having read up lightly on the ZF, I think: 340rwkw is still possibly problem territory as transmission has 175K on it and the torque is really the rating of interest rather than the rwkw (rwkw are just a good indicator to your peak torque). Shifter does feel/sound a little bit clunky through the gates, not terrible, but noticeable The acceleration (even from rolling) in a number of the gears does not feel as strong as it did when the tune went in. I think I could be outrun by something pretty modest. Bimbles round town ok, perhaps I touch more sluggish off the mark than I can recall in years gone by. There is a bit of a rich sweet smell recently, certainly stronger in the last couple of weeks once I stop up and wait at lights. I know what is coming.......get a transcooler! Thinking the best thing is to first get an initial inspection look at levels, fluid condition and debris. Probably best scenario is that the last place didn't use the best fluid (lifeguard) or have under/overfilled it, or it is leaking. DOES ANYONE KNOW OF A REALLY GOOD ZF 6 place in Sydney? I don't want to default to a rebuild if it is not necessary (consensus seems to be might be OK at this "power") so looking to work out whether only a light inobtrusive repair might actually address it? If I have toasted something within, then thinking there is a mob/individual out of moorebank that do rebuild or rebuild with upgrades; any one used "Deni"? Anyone know of which components (if fluid is not the matter) are chief candidates for letting go first up at these lower modded power levels? Am I possibly wasting my time trying to get a zero modifications ZF deal with this power level? Any thoughts very gratefully received cheers.

Problem solved... Switching through the gear gates when the stereo is usually turned down when you enter reverse. If the button on the shifter is not fully depressed before switching through the gates it seemed to confuse that sensor. Just allowing fractionally more time to press in t the trigger before pulling, no problem.

Any of you good folks had a buzzing/humming when listenign to content from your iphone/ipods via the connection in the centre bin? Mine has started doing this lately. Still turnas down when reversing and no such hum on the radio/CD etc (pity as of course as many of us now running spotify from our phones). On a related note thinking about futureproofin I note apple in Aus not longer selling the 30-pin to lighning adapter. I'm planing to future proof by picking some up when in UK in June, where I have seen them in stock. None of the non apple ones have the right circuitry to keep the proper functionality between the phone and the ICC unless new head unit, we arte stuck needing these. Any one else want one? Cheers, Keith

I owe you on that one K31th, your recommendation was spot on! Much appreciated!

So for the full rebuild (rated 800hp, but only running 575hp) up at about 14K. If it was like for like then I think it could have been done for about 10K but the cam shaft also had damage (possibly down to anti lag use; I'll never know) and I went the billet pump gears and plate as extra options. Peachy timing with the mortgage payment skyrocketing.... Concluding then I think that, unless you're really well sorted $-wise, it probably is best stay away unless you have a built motor. Hopefully down the track and within the lifetime of our dear Barras some kind of alternate set up which has some mechanical safeguards built in will come along. I'd love to see some kind of aftermarket twin scroll turbocharger appear one day such that we can 'have our cake and eat it", I.e. side step stupid lag and still get our 400+ at the wheels.

Feedback is very positive. Being an immigrant myself I grew up light european cars of the 80s,90s and 2000s, all of which came from that era where cars were that bit more communicative and lighter. I would have previously rated the factory handling of the FG XR6 Turbo as poor to fair; very nicely optimised for cruising and for long sweeping bends, but really not at all set up for tighter turning and situations where the road camber is not in your favour. I definitely identified with RAB's write up on the vagueness around the stock set up (see his write up on replacing with shockworks). Not wanting anything more than the mildest of lowering I went to rear 68SL and front 40SL. Many providers don't sell the 40SL for the FG generation XR6 Turbo, but it does fit. The overall stiffer rate in the later part of the travel is far better than stock in terms of general feel, under braking and in all types of cornering entry and exit. The initial spring rate is perfectly suited to smoothing out the uneven surfaces and light to moderate imperfections. Possibly the initial spring rate is just the right compromise to load up the outside wheel a little but with much improved roll control and no messy rebound. The lowering of the front is imperceptible, aesthetically I wouldn't mind seeing it a bit lower, but then speed bumps and driveway entries are a pain so I'm happy as is. The rear is down slightly which give the car a flatter stance, where in stock the rear seems to sit slightly higher. Obviously I went this route as I was already running with Koni reds. What the 2023 cost is for these springs plus koni reds relative to the shockworks full kit, I don't know, but in combination if shockworks isn't going to bust your budget, then may push the boat out and get the best of the best. For the cost of these springs (450ish) to complement my exsitig Koni's I'm very happy. Get on a tight twisty road I'm still going to get smoked by a XR5T, let alone a modern ST or RS focus. However, if you're not all about little mountain roads, and lets be honest that is not common place here in eastern Aus, then these are really good option. I'm kicking myself for having not done this years ago. If a e90 335i msport or megane 265 is 10/10, then I'd say the car is now a 6.5 having previously been a 4.5. These particular springs in my view have not taken anything away from ride comfort. Not sure if the various ones that drop the height even moreso would be as livable for me in my cantankerous forties. Cheers.

Thank you Puffwagon, very useful to know this.

Thanks K31TH. Always grateful for your insights and have gone ahead with the springs. I see you did something similar and have to say your BA looks great with the dropped ride height and those new wheels. I also had some conflicting advice from differing folk at Kings. I’m sure both options they talked about would suffice. I would love it if their catalogue provided a bit more by way of tech specs for those of us not just solely looking for an aesthetic change. I’ll throw some further feedback in to this post after clocking up some ks to cover what I’ve done and weather appreciable improvement.

Hey Folks. I've had Koni Red shocks in since 2016 set to medium, they did improve the damping I think. I am still looking for a way to tighten the handling up. Of course shockworks is the go to, but it is a lot of coin. Wondering if those who have tired Kings, springing that only very slightly drops the car have actually felt any appreciable improvement in the handling? Standard springs in my view are somewhat lacking in terms of nose dive, roll, and plantedness of the rear end. I'm not really wanting to drop the ride height but willing to lose a small amount of height to get a more planted set up. Grateful if anyone that has tried these could share their experience. Cheers.

Tried quite a few, at hte moment I think best bang for buck is the Goodyear Eagle Assymetric 5. You'll get them for a good deal less than PS4 or continentals and I reckon you'd really have to be on the limit to genuinely appreciate the difference. By the time you're up in the top 5 rated they are all quite similar IMHO. Aty that point its time to look at other mechanical factors around the suspension and diff to find further betterment.

That is full beam, and what the photos don't give away is that the part of the driveway the car is sat on slopes away so the car is actually quite nose up in the pictures. Think of Mark Webber's 1999 Mercedes GT CLR. To be fair though I'm not convinced that the faceting of the mirrors behind the globes is as good (geometrically) as it was in the OEM headlight unit.

Quick update on this then now the motor is out and under rebuild. One bent rod, two pistons not holding pressure, and sigificant scoring to the camshaft. Muchas regret! I guess just hoping that the "built" spec I've gone to willl give me good future reliability if 575hp crank (as prior to the failure under anti lag) and 800hp rating to the build. I think gaz097 is probably wise in saying built motor is the advice for running this type of anti lag (fuel timing based). I daresay as time goes by there might be a more mechanically sympathetic system that surfaces that isn't just as random (throwing out unburnt fuel past the cylinders) in how it works (looking at HJTRBO comment). Wouldn't it be nice if some parallel communities (2JZ, RB26 etc) were getting across this to help us keep up with the flighty modern B58s and lamda II 3.3 T-GDi (both of which I have had the brief pleasure of driving). Any one any idea whether the PCMTEC anti lag is a standard software patch (for want of a better word) or is it a tool within the system that the tuner uses and the tuner codes in the parameters bespoke to judgment? Will let you all know the full dollar damage when I pick her up in a couple of weeks.

Thanks guys, appreciate your thoughts and for that matter your sympathies! I guess I presented to the tuner as someone who knew what they wanted so (benefit of the doubt) there might well have been the assumption that I was more learned on these things than I actually am. Tuner in question is very well respected in terms of conduct, outcomes and troubleshooting (incl by members on here) so I don't think any mal-practice or mal-intent. Indeed there was already 170K on the engine, of which 60K was running a light degree of boost modification via injectors and SCT module. I think possible there was a weakness in there but arguably unlucky to have popped one of the world strongest factory blocks from running only a 3576, and more recently upgraded to a 3576GTX compressor wheel. I did Crack a smile at the Mr Garrison reference! Quite by chance (honestly I'm not desperate to actually have anti-lag it was a bit of a stumble-on) I did see that independent motorsports are offering a turbosmart anti-lag valve (going about it a different way entirely). However they are saying "for motorsports" query road legal? and for us there is no 6 cylinder outlet option (ironically I only have 4 cylinders to service at the moment....). I daresay there would need to be some pretty whizzy controller module such that this would properly integrate. https://www.independentmotorsports.com.au/turbosmart-anti-lag-valve-alv This engine timing type antilag still leaves me personally a bit uneasy noting on the car I need to daily drive!

With an FG Mk1 have wanted for some time to clean up the front end with a headlight presentation; modernising, moving on from the dull glow of the standard light parker globe look. With my original headlights showing that micropitting and beginnings of hazing on the outer polycarbonate, I decided to change the units over and got for replacement H7 and H4 "globes" in LED form. Ordered these units with integrated halo: https://www.ozeparts.com.au/1027314.html?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIpKrvtfSG_AIVWCUrCh3n3gnsEAQYBCABEgJeefD_BwE Quality I would say is NOT quite on par with OEM, but not bad. There are various H4 and H7 led globes out there. I just went with Stedi as they specifically said their globes are ADR compliant. Possibly many of the other are too but don't say as such. Stedi are quite pricey, but are aligned to the other top of the market phillips and osram. Overall, the look is improved, but I would say that the Halos are nowhere near as bright as those that get retrofitted, they are a single white LED that bounces the light round a faceted plastic ring. Looks good at night but in daylight it is nearly imperceptible, where you see other OEM highlights on late model cars and the day time running lights are very bright and apparent in the day time. As a low cost option, not bad and much less costly than the custom halo insertion route, but was a bit disappointing. The H4 and H7s (and fogs for that matter) from Stedi are very well made and as they have cooling rings they don't need the ballast of the alternate HiD systems, essentially a plug and play option. They are good but I would say the throw and the evenness of the light is not as good that of a decent high-spec standard glob like "nightbreaker". Trouble I have had with these higher brightness "whiter" globes is the same as many of you they only last about 1yr. Put in a less bright redder more like a 4500 kelvin and it goes way longer. As my driving is 98% urban, I'm happy with it, but if I lived out in more open countryside I might have preferred the much cleaner throw of light from the standard high power bulbs. I think on the Mk2 with the projector housing probably fixes this up although, in imho, I think the headlight on the mk1 is nicer look.

Hi Folks, Just putting a flag up to let everyone know to be careful in the set up and use of Anti-lag now I see this is starting to become popular. I spent a fair bit on a refresh of much of my mechanicals and went with a two tunes (PCMTEC) at 320 and 350 RWKW. Both tunes great and the various mechanical updates shone through with a much improved powerband; car felt really strong; tuner did a great job. Unfortunately, having used the the anti-lag a couple of times only in the first couple of days post-tune car sounded a bit lumpier, I put this down to probably my ears not being used to the after market turbo back exhaust being somewhat louder than stock. In hindsight, it was very likely the loss of one cylinder. A week or so later I tried the anti-lag again. This time large bang having blown the hose the joins in to the throttle elbow. Cleaned and reconnected, engine now sounding as lumpy as a top fuel car at idle. Yep, I had now turned my lovely I6 in to an I4..... So now I'm due in in Jan to "build" the engine for a tidy sum. One comment I have had is that it will be worth putting a boost gauge in to understand when the boost has built up. I don't really know just how such a damaging over pressure occurred and whether there should be some secondary safety release above a certain pressure as part of the build, however I urge anyone thinking of adding anti-lag to get a boost gauge and discuss and consider carefully before going ahead and to consider the addition of boost gauge as part of the mods. Only myself to blame! But not too happy given I used the anti lag probably no more than 5-6 times before I was the unhappy owner of an I4. Despite "building" as part of the forward process, I'm interested if anyone has any thoughts on how to safeguard by design; even now planning to build to a much higher rating, I'll still be very hesitant to pull that paddle again.. Yes I know it sounds obnoxious!