El Andrew

Yeah good point - I was assuming brackets were with the calipers but worth making sure

Finally finished this one off on the weekend - had been waiting until I needed to dump the coolant anyway before removing the heat exchanger from the cooling system. 1. Remove one of the coolant lines from the heat exchanger and allow the coolant to drain (remove the bung from the radiator too if you are planning on a full coolant change) 2. Remove the second coolant line 3. Unbolt the heat exchanger from the side of the engine and throw it in the bin. 4. Remove the short hose that runs from the heat exchanger to the block. At the block end, there's a 90 degree plastic fitting with one of those connections where you push the hose further on, push the side tabs in, then pull back. It is a bit of a pain - you can unplug the smaller starter motor wire to get some more access for your fingers. 5. Once you have this length of hose removed, pry open the oetiker clamp holding the hose to the plastic fitting 6. Re-using a hose clamp, connect the other coolant line to the plastic fitting, and refit to the side of the block. So basically you have removed the heat exchanger and the short piece of hose. 7. Refill with coolant

Piece of cake - the mounting locations are all the same between BA, BF and FG. Try and grab the hoses with the brakes too as your current ones may not suit.

Haha good work! I should probably clean and oil my filter too. This time last year we were driving in 4 degrees! I did an oil change, flushed the coolant, decommissioned the ZF heat exchanger, fitted braided brake lines, flushed the brake fluid, fitted a dash cam. Just need to wash it now!

The BTR 4 speeds did that, but not the ZF. So would be possible to buy a BF radiator with a trans cooler in it (to suit models with the BTR), which makes it confusing! If you bought one with transmission ports in it, just leave them disconnected.

They have a heat exchanger that runs coolant through it, but is a separate component to the radiator. Sits off the side of the engine under the starter motor. Follow the lines off the transmission to find it. As luck would have it, here is a picture I took of mine on Friday, where it belongs! (I did an external cooler a while back, and finally unplumbed the heat exchanger from the cooling system as I was doing a coolant flush,)

I got an aftermarket FG bar through a Ford wrecker here. Having had both the factory one and the aftermarket one on and off a few times, I honestly can't see any quality or fitment differences. Was about $300.

ZF doesn't have a cooler in the radiator

Might be stupid, but is there any reason why I couldn't have the engine running when bleeding brakes to get some power assistance? Would need the assistant to go slow on the pedal and would need to keep a close eye on the reservoir. Flushing the fluid and fitting braided lines on the weekend and would reduce the time and effort required by a helper.

Anyone ever find an answer to this one for an FG? I got some paint flake off the rocker cover when the engine was steam cleaned after fitting new seals and wouldn't mind touching it up a bit. I might also buy a rocker cover and paint or powder coat it properly so it is ready to go next time the rocker cover comes off.

I was thinking if you get an aftermarket brake kit (as opposed to one that was a factory option) you may need to get it engineered. If you are in a serious accident you don't want the insurance company examining your non approved brakes. If the brakes are ADR compliant they will likely be easier to engineer. They're just my thoughts - might not be the case!

Site says they can send you something to print to check wheel clearance. ADR issues a concern maybe?

Oh no! Happy to room up if that eliminates accommodation costs. But understand there is fuel and food on top of that!

Has it been scanned for fault codes?

No problems - wasnt suggesting they were doing anything wrong. But yes, saying who your tuner is can be an invitation for people to have a go! Hopefully you'll be sorted for next week and can just tell us then [emoji16]

Where are you getting tuned?

Good stuff Gaz! I need a coolant flush, oil change and brake fluid flush before the trip. Was all set to do it last weekend but ended up with bad bronchitis and fluid on one of my lungs! Will sort the thing out nicely this weekend instead [emoji106]

There were some details about it in this which sounded nice

If it comes from something different, you will need the tune/strategy that matches your car flashed into the replacement ECU. If the replacement ECU comes from a different fuel/engine/trans combo, it won't run your car without having that done first.

Yep! It just went to Ford to get the timing cover seal etc done. When it does occasionally go to a mechanic, it is always spotless to hopefully encourage them to treat it nice!

Yeah nah - no Club FG aspirations here

Needs moar badge delete, windscreen banner, aftermarket front bar and eBay headlights

Carpark shot [emoji16]

When I pulled my BA motor, I just did those two bolts connecting the dump to the cat pipe and lifted the engine out with the turbo and dump still attached. Then you can tackle the dump once the thing is out. A BA will obviously be a straight drop in. Just grab the ignition barrel, drivers door lock and glovebox lock so that everything works with your electronics. Grab the body control module off the back of the ICC too as that is paired to your ECU and ignition combo. Or just grab the whole ICC. I had an EL XR6 and a BA Turbo concurrently. I sold the EL and then ended up buying an FG and parting out the BA. With hindsight, space and time I would have kept the EL and put the BA motor in it as a side project. The EL will be much more work but a great end result. You'll have to go through all of the engineering etc so won't be a small exercise but has been plenty of times. I have a vague recollection that you can upgrade an EL to AU3 front hubs and uprights which allows BA brakes to be fitted - might be worth researching because then you could keep the brakes which will help get it certified. If you want a car reasonably quickly go the BA!

Wow, that was some read!