Benny_C

thanks NA_TURBO. So if I was to have to get a trans built anyway and can get a ZF cheap enough it shouldn't matter too much as to what donor car it comes from out of the NA or turbo? I have found a NA wreck close by that I can get everything from for around a grand.

I am looking at doing an engine swap into an older vehicle that came out with no electronics (pre 80s), don't want to say what for now but there is heaps of room to fit it in. My target power figure is 700 wheel hp, E85, auto, previously I have owned a 350rwkw BAII F6 ute so love these engines but my knowledge is a bit out of date and doesn't extend beyond BAs and easy performance gains. Having spoken to a few local tuning companies and some people I saw at a roll racing event I have a few questions I'd love some help with and rather than post every thing in each forum area it is easier to do one post and hope I get the help I need. My questions are: 1. For the conversion I will need donor engine, trans, loom, ecu, pedal box, OBD2 port and I guess all associated parts running off the engine. Will run aftermarket turbo and high mount manifold, cooler, fueling system and a haltech dash more than likely. There is always plenty of options to buy NA engines or a written off vehicle, and seeing as I will need to do rods, pistons, valve springs, studs and bolts, does it matter if I buy a NA motor and build that, or do the turbo ones have more strengthening, differences to consider? I would more than likely be looking at an FG engine and use a standard turbo intake manifold, tuning with an Xcal which a tuner told me is no dramas. I spoke to someone who had all the running gear from a turbo bolted on a gas motor with stronger rods and he said it loved it, and it was moving on the track. Another car I saw made 1000+wheel hp with the standard FG intake manifold. 2. I have conflicting information about the ZF box and its capabilities. Some say fine, some say not at all and look at a TH400, some say fine but build the clutch packs, tune it and have a decent converter installed, some say an aftermarket box will throw codes and stuff without the computer for the trans. Are all ZFs the same (NA, turbo, V8?) An answer or link to a thread with more info would be great. 3. Column shifting a ZF. Utilising a falcon ute column shift set up is this a simple matter of bolting an attachment on the ZF box and getting the column shift set up right on my car, or is it a lot more complicated or use different box/parts than normal? Is there an easier or better option I should look at? Would like to drive in D most of the time with the ability to bang through gears similar to a B&M setup for racing events because cool and bench seat. 4. From what I've looked at using online calculators I will need 1500cc injectors for this figure, 80% duty max and E85. Are siemens deka still a good option? I had them on my F6 and was happy with them, I have 0 experience with E85 been a long time since I've looked at anything to do with that side of things. Any other fuelling considerations that radically differ from 98? 5. This one is for the people who've done similar swaps, am I overlooking anything obvious or otherwise that could throw a spanner in the works? Anything that caught you out or glaringly obvious things I've missed? Obviously there's a lot more to the build than what I've asked here but I have a fair bit of other info, these are the parts of the build that have me stumped at this early stage. Bit to go on and as you can read it doesn't all apply to one thread. Thanks in advance if you got this far, and even more so if you've got some info or advice for me. Cheers, Ben.

Ive had some really bad experiences with the Achilles ATR sports that were on the front of my ute, they were 245/30/20s. I need new tyres and don't want to use these again, does anyone know of any other brands, preferably something good, that will fit on and are load rated >93? Im having trouble getting something to either clear the struts or have the right load rating, the only ones that came up in my search were a dunlop sport maxx gt and besides being in Canada they were $570 a corner. If it comes down to me having to stretch on some slightly narrower tyres I'd rather do that than run Achilles again. Can anyone help?

Well there goes another $500 for a retune I guess. Ah well at least its an easy fix. Thanks for the help.

Hi all, I recently snapped the hemisphere in my standard BA II F6 diff and had a truetrac put in, there was a bit of an issue with the crown and pinion so they replaced the standard gear set (3.73?) with some 4.10s. Couple of questions, will the new ratio have affected my speedo reading? Im running 20s on it so I know it'll be out anyway but unsure if this will change it more? And something a little weird, my cruise control won't stay on in 5th gear, every other gear it works but as soon as I hit either set button it flashes on on the dash then its gone straight away, stayed on for a little bit as I went up a hill but went back to dropping out as soon as it hit the flats again. Thanks Ben.

Dont know if anyones still interested but I have 275/30/20 atr sport 1s on the rear of my ute and they arent too bad, hold up to 350rwkw but the front I think 245/30/20 scared the utter sh*t out of me when I saw my car on a hoist, all the inside wall had splits and cracks nearly half way round the tyre deep enough that I could jam a finger into, it was just the internal wall holding them together. And I'm pretty onto checking my tyre pressures and that so it wasn't from being run low. Had them on the car about 8 months. Took the ute back to the tyre shop and they rang achilles, achilles came to the party and sent out 2 new art sport 2s. Haven't been too bad but I've been checking on them a lot.

Yeah its on the core not the manifold, sounds like its going to get expensive fast. Is it a bolt that should have loctite or the like applied? Kinda ticks me off a bit if its something that would have to be removed to put on the new actuator and has worked loose. Can you tell me the size of the bolt I need to replace it with? I tried calling ford spares and the guy had no idea what I was talking about.

Hey guys, Yesterday I noticed an exhaust leak kinda noise and a drop in power, turns out a bolt was missing from the rear housing on the turbo. If you look at it from the front of the car it is on the top left front face of the rear housing and is where the actuator bracket bolts on by the looks of things. Got 2 questions, is this a common thing to have happen? I had a bigger actuator put on about 6 months ago so just wondering if they maybe weren't tightened? And any idea of the bolt I need to replace it, can someone tell me the size, thread and depth of the bolt and is it something I can get from sprint or will I have to go to a specialist? Thanks, Ben.

there seems to be heaps more wiring and plugs coming off that ebay one, mine only has one plug at the end of the wires. Ill fiddle with mine for the rest of the night but if I don't make any progress any chance you'd be able to sort one out for me bionic? Im in adelaide. Its pretty embarrassing starting a nice car by messing round under the dash first

haha well there you go, proves that old point of its not what but who you know. have you ever dismantled one of the buttons? I have it out the car but can't get the rear of the plug out of the button part

where did you get that price from? when I rang my local ford dealer they wanted $417, I laughed and told them to where to stick that button

I just unplugged it to test it was that, ill have a go at pulling it out and cleaning it in a while, if I don't have to spend the coin id rather not.

it was the button, thanks heaps for your help mate, legend. Now to remove it and try clean it up

thanks ill give it a try, I just got back from a mates where we swapped most of his relays for mine and nothing changed, also now nothing comes back on eventually and I noticed my wipers don't work, lucky I covered the windscreen in rain-x. Ill have to have a look in the light tomorrow, any idea where exactly it is under the dash?

Is there a fuse further up the chain that controls the windows, lighter, fan/aircon? Or any way I can try to work out whats going on using my xcal3? I tried loading a different tune then my normal one but nothing changed

I tried jiggling the button and pressing it a bunch of times to see if it did anything or 'popped out' if it was stuck on, no change :/ Its just super frustrating as theres been nothing to really set it off. Got a membership with ford forums pending so hopefully they're fast and I can get a wiring diagram, being reasonably mechanically minded and working on electrical equipment all day is usually a benefit but when it comes to electronics I'm like a chimp with a stick

Unfortunately no good. Undid the terminals and cleaned them with a wire brush, and while there was a bit of corrosion on them, when I put them back on all clean the problem is still there. Rang ford service and the bloke there seems to think it may be the ignition but its not loose or rattly at all, I'm sceptical to send it to them and pay an arm and a leg.

might be a good excuse for some new terminals cheers guys

In the last week theres been a few times when starting my ute the lighter has no power, windows won't wind up, the radio is off but is able to be turned back on and none of the fan, aircon, or associated buttons work and nothing comes up on the display. If I turn it off and try to turn it back on it gets to though 'ignition' point on the key but will crank the car over without pushing the start button. Turning off and on again doesn't fix it but after about 10-15 minutes of driving it all clicks back to normal again, then if I turn it off I can use the button to start it again and everything works fine, all the displays work which should rule out it being a fuse? Had the car tuned about 4 weeks ago don't know if that's of any relevance but no problems from then until now.

thanks I was thinking around $700 but I might whack a bit more on them I guess

Ive just upgraded to a set of 20s on my ute and want to sell the standard rims, rims and tyres are ok, one wheel has a few scratches. Just wondering what sort of coin these go for? Saw one set on ebay for $1500 which seemed a bit steep, can't seem to find any info.

No I paid $470 for it, seems someone has already messaged him too so this might make getting my money back even more fun, said he's not out to rip people off just thought he found an easy way to make 50 bucks, which fair enough if it worked but for those of us who've done our research still leaves us in the lurch

I purchased a SCT Xcal 3 off gumtree last week, had it rock up on my door this arvo and the guy who sold me his unit has just ordered one straight off an american ebay site and set the postage details to me. Now I have a useless american unit and when I sms'd him and questioned him about it he denied it, the sales receipt from ebay had his seller name which strangely matched the name on his bank account, When I put this to him he fessed up. His ad is still up on gumtree http://www.gumtree.c...sed-/1002402981 He says he will refund me but its a massive headf**k and I'm sceptical. Please no one else fall for this trick.

a quick search on google gave me this answer: for commercial vehicles with a GVM of over 2.7T and pre-dating ADR 37/01, which was progressively implemented in the late 1990s. In ADR 37, 37/00 and 37/01, there are 2 different sets of emission limits. One set is for cars and commercials with a GVM under 2.7T, the other is for commercials over 2.7T GVM. In practice, the emission limits were such that the more lenient limits were able to be achieved without needing cat convertors. The limits for >2.7T vehicles in ADR 37/01 are more strict than the limits for cars in ADR 37/00, so the later ones all run cats. The new euro emission rules are even worse. so from what I can gather without going into the ADR docs is that having no cat was the case in pre late 90s commercial vehicles. Still might give the mods section of SA roads a call tomorrow and find out for certain.