HI PSI

Thank you for all for the kind words. It is appreciated. I'll try to keep this as interesting as possible. This build started as a complete restoration. Nothing was to be modified. At all!! As it come off the production line.. No if's, Not but's... To be honest, that theme kinda got a little lost on its journey. This is where to real story begins. Once on the rotisserie, I arranged top get the engine bay and undercarriage soda blasted. Expensive, but money well spent. the prep time saved here is phenomenal. Sunday the car was blasted. Monday, the car was irrigated, washed and dried. Tuesday all blasted areas were primed. Thursday the undercarriage and bay was in colour. wow that sounds so easy sounds so easy, when you say it all in a short sentence. All prep on this car is my own work. My paint guy (Craig) applied the colour. The guy is awesome!!!!

A few members have shown some interest in one of my other projects and Have asked me to post some pics of it's progress. Now, I know that it's not a Ford. But I hope that you appreciate it anyway. Here goes.. I purchased this tired old girl just in December 2019. I'd had during me 20's and unfortunately it was stolen and burnt out. I really loved the car and I decided to bring this old girl back to life.. The car was purchased for Emerald in Queensland. She was really rough, but she was all there. Engine and box were in an unknown condition, so I got it for a reasonable price. Unbeknown to me, some time around three months before Hol-den went to the VP model. Hol-den trialed the VP colour (Alaskan White) on some vehicles. This makes it pretty rare. I had a bit of time off around this time, so I start to strip the old girl. Remember when I said that it was rough.... LOL And I kind of got a bit carried away... It ended up being completely stripped and a rotisserie installed.

I put the old rocker cover on and ran the old girl. It runs nicer with the GTR coils... I can't wait to be the FG cover back and push it to the limit. With any luck, I'll move up a bracket or two. 😄

I don't want to clog up this thread too much. The story isn't finished yet...

Do you want the updates in this thread, or another?

I just thought that I'd drop in and say "hi". I've been a bit busy with the SS and I haven't really done much to the car. I've installed the 52 mm radiator and deleted the header tank. And the rocker cover has been sent for chrome.. That's about it. I had a few spare parts floating around, so I decided to put them to use. I used a FG series one block. It sonic tested the best that I have found - 0.125" was the thinnest section in any bore. The others were very meaty. We offset bored that cylinder , to help keep it as thick as possible. The block has also been surfaced and machined for 14.3 mm head studs. Crank is the same as the current engine. Factory, with nitride and stress relieving. I put some ACL bearings with 360 degree thrusts. A short time later I decided to install a torrington bearing. As I'm unsure as to where or how I might use the engine, I thought it best to cover both bases. Just in case I use it with the 4l80... Same Atomic Phat rods and thick wall gudgeon pins as the last engine. The JE's have had the full coating treatment (Crown and skirt). The mains have the regular main stud, girdle and windage tray. Atomic Heavy duty timing chain kit takes car of the timing gear, with Atomic also supplying an oil pump and lifters. I managed to get a good deal on some parts for the head. This one will be the same spec as my current unit. Unfortunately, there is a bit of a back log on the head porting. I can't see it happening for a few months. 😞 A bit of topic, I found out that these are the same as those used by Spiro back in the day, and I believe that Atomic also use them in their stage 5 heads. They certainly flow a lot of air... Well, that's about it for now. The blower for the SS will be arriving while I'm away at work, So I can't see myself getting anything done on the XR and time soon. It'll be full steam ahead with it. I'll pop back when there is more progress...

The car is now in even more pieces than last time. The new radiator sits a lot further back. I had to remove a lot of material form the fan shroud, so that I could get clearance from the harmonic balancer. I installed the radiator and fan, but need a Speedflow fitting for the new aircon hose. Work kinda stopped there. The VN build is keeping me very busy and has robbed time from the poor old girl. I'll get to it soon...

The hardest thing is finding time to work on them. I'm having a month or two off, so I'm aiming to have the SS finished asap. I'll try to get the XR stuff done on the weekends.. Soon... I pulled the radiator to installed a 52 mm unit. I'm having a lot of problems getting it to fit. There's no room for the thermo fans, so I may have to trim the fans or adjust the bottom radiator mount position. I wonder how many are mine..

I was going to post an update and I thought, fark it...

A stock crank is good to over 1.000 rwhp. I'll prove it....

In had my crank nitrided and stress relieved. Notvquitecat 1000, but we had it up to 830 rwhp and had plug issues.. It'll be good for 1000 rwhp. Np....

Unfortunately, I am not... I'm pretty much just doing a restoration to this one, as it's the only way to maintain value and collectability.. I am considering a Whipple though... I purchased a new present for the turbo and add another to the collection... Current collection, to date...

It's a little messy on the l/h side at the moment. As the rocker cover hasn't had the weld on fittings installed. The vacuum lines are a little messed up also, as I had to remove the reg and such, to fab a new reg bracket. This will delete the old pcm bracket that it is mounted to. I still have a lot to do, a lot of it make some carbon fiber parts. The car hasn't received any attention for many months as any spare time I have had, has been required elsewhere... So, I have decided to come clean. I have be unfaithful... It all started when I purchased this last Christmas. In the last few months, it has progressed somewhat. All at the expense of progress of the above...

Like a hot chick walking through a shopping center, with no shoes on...

Thanks guys. Seldom get comments on my thread. Can't work out why... I gets a bit lonely talking to yourself... Anyway....... Update. I haven't been happy with the current remote steering reservoir for some time. I also need to fix some issues, so I decided to kill two birds with one stone. Literally.. The other is for the header delete.. It will be mounted on the l/h chassis, in front of the catch can.

Coils are wired and the car starts and runs a lot better. I fixed the exhaust leak that we had at the turbo/dump pipe v band. I decided to change the exhaust housing to a 1.15 while I was at it. I also fitted the new billet thermostat housing and removed the header tank. It really opened up a lot of space... Only a fuel line leak to fix and she'll be ready to hit the dyno again...

Dummied up, ready for wiring... It was supposed to happen today, but my wiring guy/tuner had issues with a car he was dynoing.. Next week it is... I found that the mating the spring in the boot and the coil was questionable, due to the spring seating lower in the silicon. The coil is long enough to reach the spring, but you can't ensure that it is correctly seated. I stretched the spring with some pointy nosed pliers until it was flush with top of the silicon, so that I could seat it into the coil before it engages the silicon. Also be aware that the silicon will separate from the coil when removing and the pill will fall into the spark plug valley under the coil bracket... The silicon is a snug fit into the bracket and takes some effort to remove..

I finally got sick of the car sitting there, doing nothing.. Primarily, this is my fault. As I really couldn't be bothered (and don't have time (new project)) to redesign and manufacture new coil bracket mounts. All in order to make plug reading and change out easier. In order to rectify the issue, I have purchased a R35 coil kit from Platinum Racing Products. It should arrive early next week. Given that I modified the Nizpro cover for the cdi coils, I will manufacture a Carbon fiber coil cover to replace the metal unit. I'll also be completing the header tank removal and the installation of the Hammond thermostat housing. This should neaten the bay even more. I'll post some pics when I can..

Is that the one that was developed in W.A?

What caps did people use? Time to get the car going again...

I made some space. You should now be able to message me.

I'd consider selling my spare short engine for 8.5k. It's pretty much a 998 spec short with a Torrington set up. That would give you a lot of room for head work and have a better engine...

Apologies for the lateness of my reply. I have been busy with another project and I haven't checked the thread for some time. Normally people read the thread and don't reply. Lol The building of the car was actually quite quick, but I lost interest there for a while. And I have a tendency to get it finished and then change/upgrade the car. This combined with a group of quality professionals that are booked out for months at a time, has resulted in the car laying idle for extended periods. Past mistakes with builds have taught me to do a job right and do it once. And that a poor man pays twice, due to cutting corners and quality standards. Good work takes time.. My tail shaft was built by Mal wood. It was more expensive than most, but the quality is outstanding. As for the half shafts, I ordered them directly form "The Driveline Shop" in the States. I believe that Diff Technics are an Australian supplier for the 1400 hp items. Back when I purchased the (Years ago) the were around 3k for a pair. Given the current exchange rate, I'd hate to think what they may be worth now... But, give Diff Technics a call and request a quote.. Keep in mind that BA/BF shafts are different to FG. I just found these on Ebay ($3,690) Look like they've gone up in price... - https://www.ebay.com/itm/BA-BF-Falcon-Upgraded-CV-Axle-Shafts-1400HP-Rated/383408523781?hash=item5944edca05:g:jb0AAOSw~w5eN5U~ Cheers

How do the plug and play compare to the Haltech stand alone ecu?

Currently on 733 rwhp with a manual. I can't fault the and I'm glad that I have them..