Monkey Business - Bf Tornado

[raised by monkeys]

I sold my AUII XR8 5spd ute. I liked the V8 and handling of the AU, however, I found myself wanting more power without building a stroker and having my car off the road for a long time, whilst maintaining some originality. This plus the car proving to be a bit of a lemon and seemed to have lived a hard life before me I cut my ties. Being carless for about 3 months and having just my work car to commute to work and home, I paid off some small debt and after some research I decided I wanted an F6 ute. I knew I could have some decent power with going overboard with mods, plenty of parts, need a ute to suit my lifestyle (dogs at beach, surfboard, kayaking, camping, don't want kids) plus being desirable in terms of resale.

I originally looked at an FG F6 ute and salary sacrificing, but then decided it wouldn't leave much room for a mod budget, you know, priorities. So I looked at BF's and come across one in QLD with 65000kms, completely stock, one owner, 6spd manual but requiring some TLC - but I did pick it up for a bargain knowing the market. I know the ZF's are a bit quicker, but I like the control of manuals, plus the AP racing clutches make them an easy car to drive.

So anyways, since finding, buying and transporting the car (SHOUTOUT to Brendan - stazza_brandan, for looking at it in the flesh for me) I picked it up in Adelaide, had it inspected, registered it and dropped it straight off to Heinrich Performance and Tuning.

On on first inspection - definitely requires TLC. Off the top of my head, respray the bodykit inc. front bar, cut polish some scratches and some imperfections, repaint the centre console, replace sun damaged steering wheel, theres a crack in the drivers door where the arms rests - obviously the cars never been sun protected, theres a crack in the plastic of the drivers seat, replace high pressure power steering hose and repair surface rust under brake booster and needing a good service. The car drove well, boost came on smooth and there was no pulling in the steering.

How it looked when I picked it up














Getting transported


Work done at Heinrichs Performance and Tuning

- replace centre bearing
- new EBC red pads and DBA dimpled and slotted discs
- major service
- full exhaust inc. 3" high flow 100 cell cat and 2 x high flow mufflers and 4" turbo dump
- siemens 60lb injectors
- walbro fuel pump
- one off mild tune - made 325rwkw according to the mechanic (they havent forwarded me on the dyno read out yet)

Then the car went off to paint at ExtensiveR estorations, Lonsdale

- repaired and repainted side skirts, front lip and tailgate

- resprayed centre console
- repaired surface rust from master cylinder leak
- buff over the car

Car appears to running well, however, when I picked up the car from the paint shop, they said the car come in (from the mechanics) with the engine warning light. This is distirbing considering I asked heinrichs to done over and above what was necessary to ensure it was running 100%. Heinrichs didnt really seem interested in talking to me over the phone when I was calling just to check in. Not the best customer service imo (there was some other small issues but nothing worth whining about here) especially since I made it clear that I had chosen them in particular and had to fly to adelaide to pick up my car, but their workmanship seems quite good. Car feels so much better. The exhaust sounds great idling and good song when powering on, the brakes, although bedding in are fantastic.

There does appear to be a fast paced ticking noise (possibly noisey lifter??) and experiencing issues with boost in higher gears (possibly heat soak issues with stock cooler?? Or sensors??). It might be worth mentioning that all the work was done then it was put on the dyno, so they probably flogged it for the tune then dropped it off to the paint shop. I'll hopefully get my car to a local mechanic this week for the scan tool. I want to get it to the panel beaters to touch up my front bumper underside and polish the face of the wheels. Ive got a new steering wheel and scuff plates on their way. Also want to replace the sun damaged door vinyls and gove the whole car a good detail. Also keen to get some shockworks suspension in soon. Stock suspension seems so... floaty

But overall happy with it. I love the colour. Excited to see what happens. Loving the boost especially on those cool nights.
But, guess who this d******d is that had the car an hour and went down a steep sloping driveway and scratched the underside of the front bar already... yup, this guy.




Future plans include upgrade front cooler, heavy duty valve springs, front coil overs and adjustable rear dampers/reset leafs, remove the clear from the wheels and polish the wheel faces, replace the steering wheel (have a new one on the way) and driver side door vinyl trim as the previous owner never UV protected the car by the looks of it, shampoo seats and good detail inside and out. that's all I can think of for now.

[FiftyOne]

Some of those photos make me sad. Build #?

[stubbietubbie]

Yeouch. That car had a rough, unloved life before you got your mitts on it. Hope the rest of the resto works out okay.

I'm considering paint retouch/repairs/resprays/re...something else myself. What're the ball park costs for what you had done?

[discostig]

Some of those photos make me sad. Build #?

I'll bet ya any money it's 0021

...and that there's a leaf under the shifter surround.

Edited 10/11/14 08:10 AM by -Stever-

[raised by monkeys]

Yeah pretty unloved. Was a little banged underneath but all good now. The panel beating come in at $2600. Theres a bit of a process for painting genuine FPV bodykits due to the polyeurathane, but thr panel shop was pretty confident it was done 100% and happy with the work. Pretty happy with the body and paint. Theres a few little marks but pretty good overall.

[PTR_NITRO_FG]

Nice score mate....let us know how the dba xs go....

I have some rears coming in that im considering getting matching fronts for...but heard they make grinding noise..like my current rdas are doing (apparently all crossed drilled/slotted do it)...but I was hoping since dba has more slots/holes (and cause its smaller and more even) -was hoping it would at least be less noiser than the sh*tty rda.

Did I mention I hate RDA now? Lol

Blue cars are the best right

Will look forward to more as she progresses!

I'll bet ya any money it's 0021

...and that there's a leaf under the shifter surround.

+1

Classic!

[raised by monkeys]

Thanks mate.

The EBC reds are a tough Teflon pad for performance and especially while bedding in are going to make a bit of noise, but they bite really well.
Didn't end up using the DBA's. When I spoke the mechanic they said in terms of costing they felt the DBA's were well overpriced compared to other products on the market, I did specifically ask for DBA though. The discs are drilled and dimpled. Most disc manufacturers have moved from slotted as they cut up brake pads too much. I presume the dimples achieve the same result more efficiently creating by bedding into the pad when brake pressure is applied, without cutting them. I have used DBA gold rotors in the past and they were great but chewed up many pads.

Part of my gripe with Heinrich's as they didn't provide details of the actual products used on the car inc. brand or part numbers, nor give me receipts for parts. I still don't know what model walbro pump was used, brand or part # for the discs or the mufflers or the oil either. Although I must say that whatever parts they have used on the car are working great and ultimately impressed with how much better the car is.

[barnz]

Id have to agree DBA's are overpriced but they are much better than the RDA's. Particularly when it comes to quality control on things like run out.

The EBC reds and rda's will be good on the street just dont beat them to hard.

[PTR_NITRO_FG]

Thanks mate.

The EBC reds are a tough Teflon pad for performance and especially while bedding in are going to make a bit of noise, but they bite really well.

Didn't end up using the DBA's.

Oh? I thought you said "new EBC red pads and DBA dimpled and slotted discs" in your first post so assumed you had these:

That's what I have coming soon....so still deciding whether to get the same set to match fronts....or maybe just go with T3's and have a mix matched looking set of rotors

So you have these RDA's like me?

See I'm not sure if I have a random batch (or whether the RDA's hate my pad choice) - but I get a grinding type noise, heard mainly 70kmh+ and its super loud when next to cement walls/ tunnels on freeway. I heard 2 other dudes from the other forum have had the same experience with RDA's yet a couple on here haven't, so could just be a dodgy set of rotors or they just don't like the pads I have ATM (they are Bremtec brand which I got through Matt @ Race Brakes Sydney) - but the only other dude locally who has the same pads as me, is using DBA's so nothing to compare to really...

Matt suggested swapping rotors from left to right cause sometimes it can make a difference (somehow?)....but figure if that doesn't work...I should try a new set of pads and then if that doesn't work then I will try DBAs.

So does yours happen to make the same type of noise?

P.S. that's kinda BS that Heinrich doesn't want to give you part numbers? WTF is that about.....you paid for the service...therefore should be entitled to know what the fark he has put into your car!!! lol

You should get on to that pronto; before he completely forgets what he installed (if he hasn't already)....cause yeah...I've heard of tuners not releasing the part names and stuff in their "packages" (so the customer doesn't just go out and buy it themselves to try and save a couple pennies) - but once you've paid for the goods....he should supply brand name and part numbers FFS! Getting all agro and its not even my car

P.P.S. quite surprised you haven't needed to replace stock cooler? I would have thought easily heatsoaked and power loss? I guess coming into summer; if it does happen, you'll notice it soon enough! and sorry for clogging up your thread with my ramblings

[raised by monkeys]

I basically copied and pasted a timeline of posts from AFF to here. Original plans were to fit DBA then Heinrichs said they were overpriced and aren't fans of using slotted and cross drilled, and were looking at another option which was not much more than half the cost of the DBA but he couldn't remember what they were. I did request that they not to use RDA when they suggested them. Without the receipt for parts or until they tell me what they used I don'tknow what they are without pulling them off.

Re: noise, id suggest itd be pads. Id suggest using T3's. Theyre the popular choice and what Matt at RBS recommends all the time on AFF