RAP1D

No point trying to get 350wkws from an entry level intercooler... the crossover and airbox are still a restriction, though there are poeple that have tuned hard with this stuff and got close to the power, but there's also loads of blown motors as results. If you do all the mods right, you'll end up with a safe 330-340 and wont have to worry about breaking the motor in the race to find a few extra kws. 320wkws is fairly affordable and easy to do, 350 is starting to push the dollars right up, so decide on what power you really want... being a BA you need to keep the power down to sub 350 in reality. At the end of the day, you can buy all the right gear or the wrong gear, but the tune is going to make or break the end result.

That size is the biggest that will fit under the battery tray without any metal cutting (other than the trimming to clear the filter). If you happy to go carving up the car, then a bigger pipe could be made to fit... we've done a custom 3.5inch intake through there, but dollar for dollar its easier to swap out the battery and run a 4inch and airbox.

Yeah the teflon braided hose is "said" to be the stuff to use... I used it on my twin 044/surgy in the boot but theres still some light smells on 98... cant smell anything with E85, so you know what my answer is LOL

Nice work mate, huge job but your well into it We are doing a similar project, FG into ED, should be fun times.

I use an AEM gauge kit in the G6, it's very accurate with the sensor mounted at the end if the dump pipe. Pretty simple to setup, but you do need to have an extra o2 bung welded into the dump pipe for the sensor. Some info here... http://www.aemelectronics.com/faq.php?cID=3

Caltex is fine, been using it and United for awhile now, no issues. Dont drive it like that, going from petrol to effy requires a full tune, not just a touch up... but in saying that Ive flash the stock tune into mine with 80s and E85 and it started and ran fairly safely with ok AFRs. I would recommend to anyone using E85 from various servos to spend $300 and fit a wide band 02 sensor / gauge, that way IF there is a variation in fuels you'll be able to see the AFRs change in cabin, and roughthly alter the tune via the xcal3 hand controller to suit... cheap insurance.

Very nice mate

Looks like alot of guys have the wrong ideas here. First up any BA to FG bottom end will make 450kw, alot of great tuners / workshops have proven this over the last 7 years. We all know there's loads of busted BA and BF motors, with the common weak point, or shall we say common break point, being a rod, usually near the end of the block. I could write a book on what the various causes for this breakage are, but there's little point in doing that, as it would all be just full of opinions rather than tested fact. But, there are some areas that have been addressed on the FG that back up alot of my and other poeple that I feel are at the pointy end of the xr6t comunities theories. Anyone can just jam on a suitable sized (for 450kw) turbo, smash in 20odd psi, get the fuel and timing somewhere near ok, and stand back and let her rip. If all the boxs are ticked it'll make the power on the Dyno and won't rattle it's head off... All happy day yeah? Or did the motor let go befor it even saw 300kw? Did it rattle it's way from 2500rpm and finally give in at 5000 where the load was just too much? Did it have way too much timing, corrections turned to low, not enough fuel, poor fuel quality, poor fuel pick up, too much heat, poor fuel distribution through the rail, poor injector set up, varying head temps, varying gas presures in exhaust manifold, varying gas temps in runners, dirty eng oil, hot engine oil, oil that has lost it's original properties???? All of these factors play a bigger role in engine reliabillity that just the con rods, alot can be avoided at tuning, the rest avoided at build time. FG motors are not mirracle motors, as a complete unit, operating in an FG car with FG accesories and software, they can be made reliable at the 400kw level, but they are still being pushed beyond their design limits, I know the motor in my G6 is pushed totally beyond what it was designed for, and as a result, everytime I nail it at 20 or 25 or 30psi, I hold me breath and wait for the bang! 50000 kays at 400-500wkws has certainly given the engine a hard time, its still runs as my daily driver, and has been super reliable, but in reality it's in no way what I would consider "reliable". If your simple putting an Fg bottom end in a ba or bf so you can punch 450 all day, everyday and usuing all the ba manifolds, PCM ect it will be no more reliable than it was when new. To get reliabilty more on your side, and I'm not saying making it reliable, just more so than how it is, use these parts... Stock FG or well made exhaust manifold, eg 6boost dual entry fuel rail with adjustable reg, modded stock works high volume fuel pump/ surgetank injectors atleast 30% more flow than you need, eg 80s a very good intercooler & intake system that flows ALOT a very high flowing exhaust system- 3.5 or more correctly built propper valve springs, correctly rated for 25psi and a sh*t hot tuner, there's a handfull of them around the country, seek them out, be nice to them, do what they tell you and pay what they ask... Don't haggle or be a tightarse. We all know of the idiots that pestered and anoyed one of our comunities finest tuners... Where did that get them? Do all that and you'll be as close as you can get to a "reliable" 450, but just don't drive around thinking it's fully reliable... Get it built if you want that. Stay safe guys!

Yeah mine is mounted off the turbine housing... This isn't for everyone though, breaking out the 2 inch hole saw and cutting into an expensive turbine housing takes a bit if know how, plus it's a twin scroll housing so took alot of die grinding to get it all smooth inside, especially the divider. A simple steam pipe bend welded to the housing then a length of stainless pipe, a couple of slight bends, mounts the wastegate next to the sump, then more stainless bends of very slight angles and into the dump just befor the cat. I'll look for some pics when I'm back, also done this on a few BAs as budget systems which worked very well.

Your kind of on the right path mate. I'm assuming your ok with fabrication at this level, if not get a pro onto... Leaks in the welds will drive you nuts if you don't get it all done spot on. But yeah, the wgate has to come off the manifold ( or exhaust housing ), usual a 45 or 50mm gate is the minimum size, 38 is usually too small, then it needs to plumb back into the exhaust just befor the cat. You'll needs pipe bends, flanges , gaskets ect ect a well set up external gate will give awesome boost control, good luck with it.

What turbo you using? Is Rob tuning it?? If so 450 will be fine with e85 and a bigger than stock turbo & 20psi e85 will be one of the main factors of it holding together, as will robs awesome tuning. With the right turbo you won't need any aggressive tuning to make 450, but if your a douche and think you can hit 450 from a stocker or modded stocker, then yeah, it'll have to be a very aggressive tune to make the number, prob make it ok but putting alot of stress on a factory motor... As awesome as e85 is, you still have the mechanical limitations of a factory built motor to contend with.

Give it a good flush and see how it goes... if theres glazing then it'll be time for a build up. Mines holding 1310nm, 458kw but started to slip in 3rd when I pushed more boost/power (26psi up from 21psi) Power delivery on changes seems to cause them to slip, being that mine has a much larger turbo it doesnt have such a huge power level under 3000, so is alot nicer on the auto. Tuning has alot to do with them too.

that's a tuff looking ute, any pics from behind?

In regards to the "ZF tuning", what is it that you guys want to tune/change in the box?? You can already raise the stall, firm the shifts... what else do you want to change? The box is an awesome piece of work and pretty much perfect from factory.

The stock sub amp isnt too bad... I have a JL 12 running off it and works well

I'm not sure about BA BF but FG has some tables that let you manipulate fuel from each injector in a sense, though its not like you would for all 6 as per normal, and doesn't read like anything that would suggest it can, if that makes sense... but to make best use of the features you'd want to run EGT sensors on each runner, monitored with a stand alone system, which are widely available.

Yep, IF people know how to do it, its the way to go

Yeah that would be a good time to do it mate.

They fill out the guards on FG ute pretty well, but dam heavy!

I was talking to our courier, he's got the whole van done, said it was cheaper than paint... I was poking at it and it seems pretty tuff. I'm thinking of doing the roof gloss black, like the M3/AMG boys do.

154 far out! must have been interesting pulling it up

Fgs are alot more sensitively set-up than the BA BFs were, there is more mapping tables dedicated to reducing timing (power) all can be altered by flash tuning but they will pull back timing very fast in stock tune... a lower octane batch of fuel is enough for it to pull timing and keep it down, as its a slight boost spike on a cold night, or a good flog on a summers day raising eng oil temp. I spose ford doesnt want any warranty issues, or less anyway, so have implemented so very serious ways to stock the car from working outside the stock settings, which is good in a way, as the old days of modding a stock car turned into broken motors ect, FGs just go limp mode or retard. There's also some major timing changes for emmisions, so any changes to the cat will pull timing and reduce power, but on a standard car the cat shouldnt be an issue until its done a decent amount of kays. These are all things we've found from tuning my g6et, and other customers FGs, but could be different with other cars, as there seems to be alot of differences between FGs, they rarely come out with the exact same results from the same mods ect, so takes a different approach to tuning them.

Very nice! Makes my silver one look boring lol

I ran an 11.8 in mine a few weeks back, 123mph, wasnt a full run as I was just practicing 60s so backed of mid track somewhere., definately on its way to a good number.

If you have no luck mate, we can do one for you. That plastic section was the first thing to go when I desinged the FG piping for the V1 and V2 kits, but being 3inch it wont fit up with your piping unless you mod it. If you drop by the shop one day/night we can make one up to suit.