bluey1

Hey guys, trying to replace the drivers side mirror on a bf xr6. checked the workshop manual and it says to "Remove interior triangular trim panel to access rear of mirror assembly." Doesn't really mention how to do it though. Is the triangular panel part of the whole door panel or is there a way of removing it without having to remove the whole door panel? cheers.

hey gr8xr just out of interest what battery is the old one you're ripping out? I just replaced mine yesterday with a Century 57EF which is not the ultra hi performance one but even still it has 550 CCA whereas the one I ripped out was a 450CCA Mercury (stock battery? - what was yours?)

hey guys sorry to hijack this thread but didn't want to create a new post over a relatively small issue. 'downgraded' my globes today from HIDs back to halogens (crystal vision 4300K) after one of the ballasts gave way. turns out it had been loose for a while and rattled itself to death. I think the majority of the south eastern suburbs will rejoice at the news though as they were bloody bright and light gets scattered all over the place. my question is for all those who use the crystal visions, did the grey paint at the tip of the bulbs peel off for you guys too? I bought them off Ebay for 40 buks and within minutes of use the grey paint is flaking off. not a major problem as I don't think it'll affect the light but just a pain as I don't want grey flakes sitting around in my headlights but at the same time no pain is greater than having to take out the air box and battery again just to peel off some paint. easier just to vent my frustration at the seller with some negative feedback. while I'm at it. anyone know what brand the stock batteries are? replaced a mercury one today which, if its stock which I think it is, would mean its lasted over 5 years. the century one I replaced it with from super cheap lasted all of 5 minutes before the car wouldn't start and it failed the racv test coming up with shorted cells. plus one to super cheap. anyone know where I can get a mercury one as my google searches have been fruitless..

Thanks for the reply guys! Called Race Brakes the other day and I think im gona get a set of slotted dba 4000 (298mm for the non premium pack BF apparently) and their own RB24 pads, as ive yet to hear someone complain about the dbas and ive heard the RB24s are great and produce very little dust. Since everyone complains the Bendix and Ferrodo make even more dust than the stock pads and my stock pads cover my wheels only a few brakes after a wash I was a little hesitant . Plus these are aussie made and almost half the price! My only hesitation still is like I said, when I mentioned slotted rotors to my dealer he mentioned they cant machine them so when it comes time for a pad change according to him id have to change discs as well otherwise the new pads dont have a new surface to bond or bed or whatever you call it with. But since almost everyone here does this upgrade from what ive read im guessing theres no real mystery and there must be a way round it. Maybe if I use the exact same pads they have the same compounds etc and isnt a problem or something. I guess ill found out in time. If anyone has the slotted rotors and has done a pad change if you could shed some light id really appreciate it!

so its that time of the year again and my latest service revealed apparently there is not much right with the car. along with a 'noisy' idler pulley, cracked belt and a leaking high pressure power steering hose, it turns out my pads have about 500-1000k's left in them and the rotors are way too thin. so rather than let them charge me 500 buks for it I thought id do it myself and maybe do a bit of an upgrade. my first question is how often to discs need to be changed as the car only has 98,000 on it? I had a look around and it seems everyone uses rda or pbr discs. I had a look on ebay and there are ventilated disc and pad kits as cheap as 120. im guessing these would be the same size as stock though (is it 298mm? for bf). my next set of questions are myth-busting and physics related - the ventilation only helps for cooling yes? and the stock discs are solid? for any upgrade in braking performance I would have to either get larger discs or a stronger caliper? I guess in a nutshell what im after is your opinions, what would you guys do? will a set of say standard size rda rotors and pads make any difference to braking? and are larger rotors a lot more hassle to install, as im guessing youd also have to purchase an adapter to move the calipers or something? the car has the standard 17inch bf wheels like the bionic xr in the forum letterhead thing. also I was planning on installing it myself since you can find everything on the internet these days and I was under the impression that as long as I use the same disc size its a fairly straight forward swap. or am I mistaken? sorry for all the questions guys, any opinions would be appreciated.

I have a similar problem but mines NA. First happened fresh after a service. took it for a wash..turned it on..2 seconds later the revs dropped and whole car started shuddering like the engine was about to die so I just turned it off. Ever since, every 10th start or so, it doesnt start up properly. you turn the key and it sort of struggles for a bit, revs drop, car shakes and you can hear some popping in the exhaust. Been told by a guy at work he once had the same problem in this t and all it needed was some head/carbon cleaner which apparently you spray into the TB. Im gona give it a shot this week hopefully. But the whole thing where it only happens when you put it into D or R sounds like ANOTHER one of my problems . This is one is entirely my fault lol. Put in the custom DIY intake of the ford forums but the way it ended up it sits a bit high. So when you close the bonnet it touches it (but not the engine). Then when you put it into D the whole engine moves up (as it does in every auto car I believe due to the load and brakes being pressed) and just touches the intake and so it rattles against the engine and bonnet. As soon as I stop pressing the brakes and drive off it stops. Cant remember what the mods were you said you did but is there something you added in that's sticking up too high our of the engine bay? Then again your vibrations sound alot more violent if its shaking the whole car so it must be something big (ie the engine lol) so maybe it could be the mounts as people have said. Either way good luck wiht it!

sweet. cant believe after all these months my auto headlights are working again! thanks again Paradoxx!

AFF Technical Resources - Content im following that. guessing the security bits can be bought at supercheap? or do you have to buy them from ford? also I had a peep through the hole on the side of the steering column at the stalk and the wires all appeared to be fine and closely packed but I guess theres only one way to be certain. I still dont understand how it would cause the lights to go of while you indicate and then come back on again though. shouldnt it be fine until it rubs through the wire completely and it cuts and goes off permanently?

was just about to post asking if anyone knew which fuses I should look at cos im having the exact same problem when I saw this lol. first started last year with the auto headlights..every time I turned left or right lights would go and come back on when I finished or vice versa. now yesterday, pulling into the service station, indicated left and click all instrumentation lighting went off, for good this time. Been looking for an excuse to rip apart a part of the car, good fun..until I have to put it back together again. bit scared with the airbag though..when you put it back is there a special way you have to fold it/put it in again or something? dont know anything about them..

Anyone know how to remove/install new bulbs in the front map lights?

I had it done a year back. it wont make it drone or be too noisy during a trip. it just gives a bit more a burble off the line but cruising you will hardly notice a difference..

Ive done upper and lower snorkels, k&n panel and centre muffler out and get around 8/100 on the freeway. although I dont understand why though, I wouldve thought the more air you get into the engine the more fuel youd use to keep up the air fuel ratios. only mods I can understand bettering economy are better flowing exhausts and underdrives cos they reduce load on the engine, and tune cos stock tune runs unnecessarily rich.

this sounds easy enough but what to do if all your screws are f*cked? I really hate these cheapy plastic screws that's used everywhere and dont actually unscrew when you twist them... normally I twist while sticking a blade in and pulling the screw up so that it actually unscrews..managed to get one out like that but the rest just wont budge :(

Yes very interested, I wanna change my globes over to HIDs. Have you made this video yet?

Hey Agent what did you use to get the headlights apart? oven or hairdryer and what kind of temps did you get them up to? the only reason I ask is I failed pretty massively with tinting my rears cos I was scared of heating them too much. Also, are you still running these installs? where abouts are you and is it still 450? cheers.

ok so I just gave the car a full wash yesterday and hand scrubbed of every last little piece of black dirt and paint off of wankers who dont watch when they open theur doors in car parks.. yesterday I first rinsed it with high pressure then washed it with some turtle wax cleaning cloth using armourall car shampoo and working from the top down rinsing the cloth in a separate bucket everytime and working in sections. didnt get a chance to wax it yesterday so am bout to go do so now. my questions are: -first of all have I done anything wrong/what should I do instead/more? and also if I wax it will I need to do something extra to make sure the wax is gone before I clean it next time? -what is the difference between wax and polish and what does the clay bar do? -when people talk about cut etc is that using a product to effectively take away some of the clear coat and reduce swirls? -is there any other way to reduce swirls/improve paint look of the car without taking away clear coat? -can I use a buffing machine to just go over the wax and give the car a shine? pretty much just any info on getting the car looking great and how to best take care of it would be greatly appreciated..ive been looking over some forums but everyone says something different. all im after is a method to give it a good clean and make you need to look real close to see any imperfections, cos at the moment..you dont need to look real hard lol..thanks guys.

I could be way off cos ive never tried it but I thought you could code the key all yourself. just buy the key, look in the cars books its got it in there somewhere I remember reading over it. you put in the original turn it to I then off then II or something like that then the doors lock and unlock and then you do the same to the new key and presto. when I first read it I was blown away it sounded too easy and cool to be true and sounded more like some prank lol but its in the books so...

Well Brett did the tinting on my Bionic BF NA on friday and im VERY happy with the result. Initially I was a bit sketchy as he does it faarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrking cheap and I was left wondering what was wrong with it. Simple answer is...nothing. Just a top bloke who has set up his own thing and I wish him all the best. As for the tint, I went thinking id get the 35s and left with the 20s after he showed me some photos. I gota say, im glad he did. It looks pretty dark from the outside and contrasts really well with the blue. I was scared I might regret the decision at night backing out of my incredibly dark and narrow driveway but to my shock, its not that hard to see out of at all. Its awesome, nice and dark form the outside, and still very much livable with from the inside. Dont know what the 35s wouldve looked like but I cant say im not very satisfied with the 20s. Cheers Brett.

Can this night shade stuff be removed at all? I tried this today and I must admit it was a massive failure. Geting the lens off was impossible without craking bits off. when it finally came off with a bit off force and it came time to spray the first coat, it streaked a fair bit which I stupidly tried to correct only to make it worse. if I go dark enough will the streaky-ness disappear or is it better to just remove it all and start again? assuming it can be removed...

that's exactly the same as me. Mid 13's with pretty much all city driving and that's with fairly nanna-ish driving. If I was to thrash it, 15-16 easy. Freeway driving though is a bliss, 8l/100km. Brings tears of joy to my eyes.

While on the topic...for those who don't know, apparently you can get off a speeding fine if it is less than 10km/h over the limit and you havn't had any offenses over the past 2 years. Sure made my day when I found out. Just search victoria police in google and go to the speeding or something section and look under official warning or pardon or something along the lines.

I thought you lost grip if you inflated them too much? Isnt that why dragsters sometimes have flatter rear tires? My impression was that the more you fill them the slower they wear, ride will be harsher, therell be slightly less grip and you will 'bounce' around more on rough roads. Although if they are under inflated too much then apparently the load all goes to the side walls of the tyre as the centre of the tyre flexes and has less contact with the road. I usually have fronts around 34 and rears 36, that way I get a comfy/grippy ride up front and a looser tail for when the mood strikes. No reason for those numbers, just a compromise between the really low figures the manufactures state and the high figures some people state. My guess is the manufacturers figures are lower so they can cash in on quicker wear. However, im not willing to go any higher in case its not just a money making scheme and the tyres are actually engineered to perform at these pressures... My two cents.

Got my kit today, thanks Pat! Stupid question, when installing the Helligkeit HIDs which way does the little silver metal piece that surrounds the bulb need to face? My guess is down to stop light reflecting off the lower part of the reflectors and glaring oncoming drivers?

Please do! And please do post up some pics!