New Toys

[wiseman]

Hey All,

If you're like me, you love it when someone starts a thread about things they're doing to their car.

Earlier this year I wrote off my old F6, which I loved. It was the fruit of many months of hard saving and long hours work as well as hours spent on carsales.com.au trying to find the right one.

After I got the payout from insurance, I was in the same situation again, needing to find one to replace it, although nothing ever would. After looking for a few weeks, a mate sent me a link to one with some minor mods done, much like my old one, just this was silver and had a big CAPA cooler.

I drove it round as it was for a little while before my awesome DWF00N plates were reprinted for me, then shortly after that I had the exhaust split over the diff to get the quad tips I always wanted. End result was this:

Its a tad dark, but those tips are awesome I think.

When I bought the car, it already had a pretty extensive car audio setup with a VDO Dayton hooked up with a GPS, DVD player and HiTV HD TV Tuner all controlled through the ICC...with these in the back of the headrests:

Shortly after, I got bored and started investigating how to add a set of subs I had from my old lancer into the equation. End result being line inverters and a nice neat install done by Incar Audio & Security in McGraths Hill:

It was when attending the Crescent Motorsports Dyno Day not long ago that they wouldn't run my car in its current condition because the engine was pinging. I had no idea why and hadn't heard it do it before. I blamed the tune that was on the car and decided it was time I sorted out the X3 flash box I had from my old car. Turns out that had to be sent to SCT to be unlocked. Off that went to Herrod to be sent to SCT.

Anyway, over the next 5 or so weeks, I spent come time accumulating parts for my retune. After inquiring about different cooler kits and speaking with Chris from Rapid Systems on multiple occasions, I joined the crowd over here at fordxr6turbo.com and started looking through the classifieds section.

It was then I stumbled upon the following goodies: Nizpro Stage 2 Intercooler with Nizpro hot side piping and a Rapid Systems UB Intake. I thought these would go well with the Process West Surge tank I had come across on AFF not long before getting the new car. Parts below:

After my parts rocked up, I decided to have another conversation with Chris about setting me up with some cold side piping for me and getting me a wiring loom for the PW Surge tank. He basically explained out everything that had to be done in order to get it on and I was booked in for the next business day. (This past Monday).

So it started with this when it left my house Monday morning:

You can see the top of the CAPA cooler I had above. And below is the engine bay. Just looks like your run of the mill turbo falcon

The guys from Rapid Systems cleaned up my cooler as it was a bit dirty, found a hole somewhere in it and fixed that up brilliantly, recoated it in a nice black as it had stone chips and some rub marks on it from the previous owner, fabricated some custom brackets to mount it up, then went over the whole car with a fine tooth comb and fixed up all sorts of little things. The mechanics there are very picky about the cars and they found a couple of things on my car that needed to be looked at like the rear bearings and hubs. Due to the previous owners lack of attention to shocks and bushings, they needed to be replaced. (Shortly after I bought it I had to do the shocks and diff bushes as well as front lower control arms). Thanks to Pat from Wholesale Suspension for sorting me out with that too.

They even found why my engine was pinging. One of the studs on the dump pipe had snapped, causing a massive exhaust leak. No wonder my exhaust sounded so deep when I was idling after just starting it up. So they also found the dump pipe that was on there wasn't the greatest (modified 3.5" with a 3" intake), so I purchased a 4" X-Force one and they put that on for me. Actually turned out cheaper then fixing up the current one as they would have had to do a fair bit of work to drill out the snapped stud and fix up the housing for it.

So basically, while waiting for the hubs from Ford, the guys set about fabricating the new Rapid Systems V2.0 Offset Piping and Intake Kit to suit Nizpro Intercoolers. See bottom of this post for the different versions.

After removing my crossover, airbox, piping from both sides they went about installing all the new gear. I have to say they did an amazing job everywhere from installing the piping and cooler to fixing up my dodgy wiring jobs with HIDs and Angel eyes. Its all now neatly tucked away behind the headlights.

The end result of all their hard work:

An engine that doesn't ping anymore, a proper dump pipe, a wealth of knowledge gained about my car, less rattles, an awesome set up in regards to the intake, cooler and piping. I also purchased a Plazmaman P1 BOV and they adapted the piping to fit and hid it from general view also.

Pics below:

Realising they couldn't use the boot space (Sorry guys, subs are important), they courteously wrapped all my old gear up in plastic sheeting and put it in the back seat for me. Once I got it home I took it out the back. If anyone is interested in the cooler, let me know. Its been good for 339rwkw in this car and bolts straight up to the standard brackets and piping as far as I know.

So tomorrow 8:30am I am off to Crescent Motorsports in Liverpool to get one of Joes awesome tunes done. Chris and Joe were in communication the entire time the work was being done to my car so Joe knew what was coming and could start preparing for the weekend. Joes great relationship with Herrod Motorsports was also highlighted to me when I rang them to organise the shipping of my X3 to Joe instead of my home address when I mentioned Crescent Chris said "Oh Joe, know him very well, great bloke and a very smart tuner". So I am looking forward to tomorrow. I will post up the results and a video for those interested. (Dont act like you're not)

Some of you might be asking about cost, and I don't like spending bucket loads of money to get the results I want. The cost of all the parts I purchased, from Rapid and guys from fordxr6turbo.com was about 2k. The majority of that was the cooler and intake.

But the quality of the work was what impressed me the most. Looking through the engine bay they have done a really great job, and the level of knowledge and relationships they have with vendors is second to none. I will definitely be going back for more when the time comes.

Also, for those who are interested in the style of kit I have received from Rapid Systems, here are the details:

Name: Rapid V2.0 Offset and Piping Kit

Contents: Nizpro cooler (supplied by me), Rapid systems UB Pod intake and Rapid Systems custom cold side polished piping

Other variants of this kit are:

1.0 - Just the cold side piping to your cooler

3.0 - Cold side piping and 4 Inch intake as well as a battery relocation kit

4.0 - Same as 3.0, but with a Plazmaman Plenum.

Any enquiries, contact Chris from Rapid Systems:

chris@rapidsystems.com.au or catch him on 0403 981 831

[wiseman]

Hey Guys,

Also, here are some more pics from the workshop when they were putting the kit together. It really shows how much pride they put in their work.

Car at the shop

Front on view

Looking at the cold side piping

Closer look at the BOV adaptor on the piping. I really like where it is, because its nice and tucked away, but when spooling the turbo up, you get a nice induction noise from the right hand side, then when you let off the throttle you get a couple of chops from the turbo and then a nice easy pssshhhh from the left.

To be honest, if I had known the Plazmaman ones made that noise first off, I would never have gone a Turbo Smart in my old car.

And finally, here is the kit Chris supplied for me:

Dave

[davidald]

Mate I think you have gone about the whole thing the wrong way. I suggest you swap cars with me (completely stock BA XR6T) and start again. I am prepared to drive yours as it is.

[MiKa]

I love reading posts like this too...

I just sorta went through the same upgrade.. Nizzy stage 2 cooler aswell, but I also added there battery relocate and air intake. I contacted Chris about piping from the cooler to throttle body also, but he seemed busy so I went with Plazmaman.

Def keep us posted for results.. What other mods does it have?

[senna_T]

Nice work dave, she's got all the right bits now

[Dillz]

Quality thread mate!

Subscribed.

[wiseman]

Mate I think you have gone about the whole thing the wrong way. I suggest you swap cars with me (completely stock BA XR6T) and start again. I am prepared to drive yours as it is.

Haha good call mate.

I have both cameras on charge and am itching to get down to Joe.

And yeah, Chris is a busy guy as there is always something going on at the shop, but Im glad I went with him on this. He was very quick to get me in too.

He and the guys were more then accommodating with everything on my car.

The mods list (as it stood before this week) was:

Engine

Ford Motorsports 42lb injectors

Custom twin 2.5" exhaust with twin hi flow cats and a mild steel modified 3.5" dump pipe

Big CAPA Cooler

Herrod in tank fuel pump

Upgraded wastegate/actuator

BMC air filter

Custom tune by C&V Performance

Handling

Kings Springs SSL all round

Bilstein shocks

Selby front and rear sway bars

Whiteline diff bushes (sides and centre)

Whiteline front lower control arm bushes

All of that barring the shocks and bushes was done before I bought the car.

[wiseman]

Nice work dave, she's got all the right bits now

Thanks Pat, once its tuned I'll bring it round and show you. Think I'm off Monday actually.

[wiseman]

OK so with a conservative tune the car made 345rwkw on 14psi.

On the next few runs we had some problems:

1. Tyres were not gripping even when deflating to 25psi to bag them up a little

2. It seems I have a boost leak, as after that run the boost wouldn't hold and it started struggling to get up to 9psi.

When we took it out for a run on the street afterwards, you could hear the air being sucked in, but also rushing out from somewhere on the right hand side. So my homework for this week is to tighten the manifold studs and heat sheilding, take it for a run and see what it does. If the boost holds then I found the problem and we can finish the tune, failing that, I will drop it back to Joe and he can have a look at it on my day off.

I will post up the sheet later.

Dave

[wiseman]

This is the 14PSI tune done initially.

The rest to come this weekend.