Few questions (Opinions and experience wanted)

[qwertay]

Hi All,

 

Im off my P's real soon and am looking at all of my options. Ive always wanted to buy a V8 so ive been looking pretty closely at the 5L Miami cars available (GS, GT, XR8) and it seem like manuals are getting pretty hard to find and often carry a price premium.

 

My first question is,

As someone who would cares more about circuit racing, what tranny would people recommend? Reason im asking is, people seem to say that the Manual trans in the falcons is pretty crap and most seem to say go with the ZF as its a great box (I have a G6 50th ZF and I love the thing) the only thing about it is that its kinda crap for track work as it doesnt blip/rev match on the downshifts meaning that 90% of the time you just over slow the car or lock the rears. Is that still the case in the FGX ZF's or is there any way of getting it tuned so that it can or should I just go with the manual and call it a day (Would prefer the auto as its a daily driver). I saw a vid of a ZF GTF on the dyno and it sounded like it was blipping on downshifts when it was slowing. 

 

My Second question is,

for track work, what does everyone prefer (Motor)? Barra or Miami? I see the high horse KW Barras and it seems like they have alot of lag with the larger snails (To be expected) but that would mean (in my mind) that driving out of corners on the track would be harder because when it comes onto boost its just going to brake traction? Am I wrong? Thoughts?

 

Third question,

Whats every ones fav brake kit? Seem like the 4 pot Brembos struggle after a lap or two of hard driving and seeing that most cars have the 4 pots, what does everyone recommend for upgrading? I can see that there are XYZ Racing 6 pot kits on the net but I couldnt really find any good cases of people using them. 

 

Im sure ill think of more things but, this is whats sitting in my mind right now. Any help would be appreciated.

[k31th]

1. The manual is fine for track work if you get a short shift kit and aren't too harsh on the clutch. The ZF is a great box, but needs a good quality tune to fix those problems you mention for track work (and possibly a rebuild depending on power level). With a reasonable amount of aftermarket cooling, the ZF can be just as good if not better than the manual in these heavy cars.

2. Barra is fine for track work with an appropriately turbo and gearing. Supercharged v8 is better for low-end torque and more consistent/linear acceleration so is probably better for track-based traction limited acceleration.

3. 6/4 brembo's are great with appropriately wear-resistant rotors, race-spec pads and race-spec fluid.

 

[Puffwagon]

1) 0 being street only and 10 being circuit only, where do you land? If it's circuit only that you care about then get a manual for reasons.

I think you answered your question anyway as you "prefer the auto as it's a daily driver". I agree with that, gimme an auto any day.

 

2) I prefer the barra cos turbo. Throttle control is needed whether you have a linear power delivery or not. I spose a turbo car is harder to get right but once you know what you're doing it's 2nd nature.

 

3) I don't have one.

 

@nelsonian101 would be the guys whose brain you want to pick.

[bossmang]

hope you got deep pockets if you plan to track a big heavy falcon. id say you need to do more homework too

 

6 pot brakes, pads, fluids, oil cooler, trans cooler (auto), steering cooler etc, brake lines, bushes, suspension, wheels, tyres, if you go manual beefed up clutch etc. if auto will need a build. 

 

plus you want a track car but you also mention as a daily? dailying a track car sucks. 

 

good luck

[Box stock T.]

Best case scenario.

Buy a secondhand track/race car for the track and buy a ZF backed GT or GS or F6 or XR6TURBO or G6et for your daily.

As trent said you can have the best of both worlds but it will cost you the world, and driving every day with race pads will get very annoying. Or even changing everything before heading to the track. Wear thin pretty quickly.

[Puffwagon]

2 minutes ago, Box stock T. said:

Buy a secondhand track/race car for the track

 

I reckon that's a better idea than spending all your money on a daily then flogging the living fark out of it.

[skidxr6t]

with a high hp falcon who needs a race track?

 

accidental skids for life.

[qwertay]

Thanks for the feedback guys.

 

I know its going to cost just short of an arm and a leg but unfortunately I dont have the room for two cars to have around. that's the main reason I want one as a daily that I can track on the off occasion. 

 

I know for tracking that the manuals are the better option but ive managed to find a couple of guys running the ZF on thier circuit cars. Is the ZF trans really that good after a rebuild and tune? Would that ZF put quick times down around the track? I know they are a weapon on the strip but have always questioned its ability on the track as even with some spirited st driving, it just feels clunky and strange when trying to engine brake (at least in my experience but that could have changed in the newer revisions).

 

You mention the fact that throttle control is needed either way and that's fine I know, but surely those higher KW falcons IE 350RWKW or higher have alot of lag on the tracks? Just seems all the vids of them on the dyno show it takes a while for it to come on and then when it does, it REALLY comes on. An issue that you done really have with the miami as the torque is more linear. 

 

Am I overthinking it or wouldnt that make it much harder to get on the gas and put in the better times? I just keep thinking loads of oversteer?

[Puffwagon]

12 minutes ago, qwertay said:

surely those higher KW falcons IE 350RWKW or higher have alot of lag on the tracks?

 

That's still stock turbo territory. You can tune the turbo to come on slower and it hooks up heaps better than just slamming full boost in as soon as you can.

 

I haven't taken my zf equipped car around a track but I imagine that as long as it's kept cool and well fed it will do what it's supposed to.

 

On a recent hills drive I found other things lacking before the transmission.

[bossmang]

the stock xr turbo is perfect for the track.

 

all you can do is test drive all your options. see what you like. we cant tell you on paper lel