Lunchietey

Finally found some decent front door trims. Seems taxis have gobbled up most of the beige interiors! Only $30 the pair haha(Falcons are so cheap for parts, both of my other cars would be $300+ per door!)

Yeah. Guess I'll have to find more actuators. Overdue pics as promised, not much to look at from outside, low light flatters the crappy paint haha. Close up of BFii brakes with RDA rotors and QFM pads and ricey blue calipers Drivers side rear quarter had a 20*25cm dent and deep scratch with cracked tail light from the missus backing the FJ into it. Took interior trim out and bashed it out best I could. Almost can't see it in this pic but you can definitely see it in real life.

Stupid door locks. Both rear doors not locking even AFTER replacing the internals with a kit. At least the grinding noise is gone...NFI why they dont work, they SOUND ok now... Getting really itchy to get this done, just 1.5k of tax bill left and I can probably get started.

Grr phone is making replies stupid... No exciting pics, just a white BA wagon lowered on snowflakes with dark glass and 322mm front rotors(front and rear slotted with blue calipers) I'll grab a better pic tomorrow

@jrmr project is temporarily on hold. Got a fat tax bill and then took the family on holidays and then there was Christmas haha. Had some other issues with the wagon which took away some of my enthusiasm (mechanical issue and the wife backed my 4wd into it...in about the only place not easily repairable...rear quarter panel and tail light) Its got a dent/scrape about 30cm long which I bashed out and polished so it's not TOO noticeable. The TPS failed so I replaced it with a new genuine one and it drives great again. Did the brake conversion and also had the inlet manifold gasket go which has been changed. Overall car drives pretty well now so I'm getting close to wanting to get the spanners out. Might still be a couple of months out but still happening

I have a fairly comprehensive tool kit. Apart from lots of grazes I didn't have too much trouble with almost any of them. The #6 bottom bolt wasn't really all that hard. I used a combination of a 1/4 socket with a small extension to crack it and then a ratchet spanner for the rest. I have multiple extensions with doubles of some short sizes to be able to make a socket extension of just about any length and angle. As well as thumb wrenches etc and ratchet spanners blah blah blah. No cheap sh*t either makes a big difference. Not comfortable for most bolts and my hands have seen better days but not all that bad. I AM a little concerned it will be hard to put back together though hahaha. This bloody Perth weather is halting progress until mid week though. Been 20-35mm of rain a day for 4 days straight and 100k gusts. Yes I sprayed to confirm. It was only a minor problem before which didn't seem to show up EXCEPT for the slightly rough idle. A quick spray around showed nothing. Only symptom I could find was the rear plug being a bit darker so I incorrectly assumed it was a fuel issue. Once a bigger piece of gasket let go and it ran like sh*t, the spray technique picked it up easily. Once I started pulling the intake etc apart, I just thought F**K IT! May as well just start doing the conversion now. Pretty easy to do oil lines, replace heater pipe with turbo heater pipe (with the water offtake) and also the oil switch tee etc with the manifold off. Would be a bit stupid to mess around with it and then probably have to take it off again anyway! Oh well she won't be running for a few weeks now haha. I do appreciate all of the suggestions by the way

So this suddenly got worse. Idle fuel consumption went up to 2.5-3l HR and idle got really bad. Also came with a rushing air sound. Seems after all the head scratching, it looks like the rather common cylinder 1 inlet manifold gasket leak. Grabbed a gasket today and will try and get it done tomorrow

All plugs look about the same, EXCEPT rear plug has a slightly darker look to it. Seems a common issue on BAs is dirty injectors from dirt in the fuel rail collecting at the rear most injectors and in the reg. Seeing as injectors and reg are being replaced soon anyway for boost, might just leave it as is until the injectors and reg are changed and give it a flush at the time. Apart from a sh*tty idle it drives well.

DEFINITELY not mounts, can hear the doof doof doof of the miss from the exhaust. Couldn't easily see a vacuum leak(but that doesn't mean much) as all hoses etc look in vgc. Could be intake manifold leak but that doesn't explain the rich running. Pulling coils right now

Well I have been at work the last few nights and have driven my other cars so took the wagon to Woolies tonight. Missing like a bitch now and even cruising at 55kmhr I can feel it. Hmm guess tomorrow I will be pulling coils (an probably plugs) to see if I can suss it out. Strange because the plugs/coils(genuine ford coils and NGK plugs) have only been in for maybe 1 or two tanks of 98 and it is getting worse again like before I did the plugs coils BUT it was the other way around before. Used to idle fine but miss under load. Will report back tomorrow after pulling all of the plugs/coils. Will thoroughly clean the coil connectors etc while I'm there. I don't think it's the mounts but will get the missus to give it a rev in D on the driveway to torque the motor up and check. It's a very rythmic miss, to me it definitely feels like one(or more) cylinders misses consistently at low revs and very light throttle now. I'm hoping it's something stupid like one of the little rubbers under the coil cover fell out without me noticing and the coil has moved a touch or something.

Oh and it doesn't misfire at any time except at lowest idle. Any increase in revs at all or any load or rpm it's perfectly smooth.

No haven't confirmed which cylinder. All plugs and coils are new. When initially fitted 1000km ago they were all perfect, no misfiring at all but it has slowly gotten worse. Will pull them all as soon as I get time(bloody nightshifts :( )

No ideas?

About to turbo my ba wagon but making sure everything is sweet before I do it. Have replaced plugs and coils with genuine, is on about the 6th tank of 98 with 2 bottles of injector cleaner so far, new filters all around etc. New TPS, new O2 sensor also fitted. Car runs great at all times EXCEPT at a stop in drive with AC on when it idles right down between the AC kicking in and out. Gets a DEFINITE and constant miss on one cylinder. No miss at any other time and pulls hard to redline. Also throws a P0172 rich code. The miss is very steady so definitely one cylinder. Thud thud thud.... You get the idea. Where to next?!

For anyone who wonders if Fairmont, Fairlane and G220 fogs(well not fogs, just 'cornering lights) will fit a standard xt grille... Yes they fit, same grille for the type in the first pic, snap/cut the end vents out and they fit in.

Will look f##king stupid if used in place of stock sized 235/45/17 Have a look at the comparison attached...(and yes I saw the date of this post but HAD to reply lol)

Ah crap, sorry didn't see it. Actually really didn't think many people would ask that about a wagon haha

Hi. DEFINITELY getting ahead of myself but am amassing a lot of parts for my wagon project and as we know some things take longer than others. So... What's a good setup for the back arches of a BA wagon for 1/4 mile stuff. Car will be turbo etc soon but don't want to ruin my 18's. I live right near a drag strip so will probably go fairly often in season. Was thinking of using a 17" rim but offset and tyre size is open. Just looking for a nice set of fat sticky tyres for the back. Have 18" snowflakes on 245s now with heaps of room by the looks.

Ah! Yes it's hard to stay hidden in a small world! Haven't had the diff fitted yet, but thanks for all your help and info as well Matt Yes will send a PM probably today, don't care about driving, would be a bit stupid to think there are ford tuners in every suburb haha. I like driving anyway which is why I have 3 totally different cars lol. Wagon has been lowered since I picked the diff up, drives so much better and is way less boaty. Coils and plugs were changed just after and the engine is smoooooth as now and no more rich code so seems quite healthy and probably ready for boost. Am driving to Joondalup this morning to pick up extra oil/water lines and I believe he has the steel water pipes from an XR6T so I can have factory water feed. Will be using an earls oil feed. Might do the back brakes this arvo if I have time(slotted discs) and front BF turbo brakes (also slotted and qfm pads)when I have a bit more time. Still need to pre paint the disc hubs so they stay nice and maybe paint the calipers black. Wonder if caliper paint would do a respectable job after I clean up the turbo crossover pipe with a wire brush. Can't see why it wouldn't? Working on these is so much easier than my RX8 haha and way easier than my FJ which needs a step ladder!

Yes. Would love to have a chat about tuning and getting it all right the first time! Would like to have it FINISHED(boost and tuned) within around 8 weeks. Got a pile of boxes here already, LSD, brakes, sensors, fuel pump, etc to do first before the actual turbo work starts. Will be trying to get everything sorted so it only needs one tune. Car itself has already had new wheels (tyres are new) coils, plugs, TPS, filters, full new suspension, new roof lining, new lights, tint, big Trans cooler and BTR serviced and lots of small fixes in the 2 weeks I've had it. Not going to try to get by with small injectors or anything stupid haha

What I don't understand is how a boost controller stops spiking? If a wastegate can't open fast enough to stop the spike, how does something BLOCKING the wastegate reference help it open faster? According to just about everything I can find, an electronic controller is actually RESPONSIBLE for boost spiking so having a wastegate only should minimise is and boost should come on slowly and progressively according to boost controller manufacturers? I think a restrictive (stock) XR6T exhaust a NO boost controller should be fine now I've spent half the day reading up on it As far as tuning, there are 2 on my list. A local tuner(Kwinana performance) or Extreme Ford Tuning although they haven't exactly been helpful and seem rather full of themselves. Initially they were good but after 2 emails asking to confirm a few things before I trailer the car 60km to them they just can't be added replying to questions that would ensure they could tune the car without wasting their time.

Cheers, just want it clean and simple So what would cause the boost spike Mr Wiggum? And how does an electronic controller stop that vs a gate only? As far as I was aware an EBOOST can only prevent a wastegate opening, not open it up any faster? Or is it the Turbo smart IWG that causes a spike? Oh I should mention the turbo has the flapper mod already. What (else) can I do to prevent the spike? Was hoping the OEM exhaust would keep the spikes down a bit(from what I read most people only get it AFTER going high flow?) I'm fine with a bit of extra lag, a bit of boost creep and also the drop at the top as I'm boosting for torque (pulling power, highway kickdown)

Ok. So I have the car, the turbo set up and lots of bits to go on(big pile of boxes much to the other half's amusement....) Now I'm getting to some more technical choices. I have REALISTIC expectations for this wagon and won't be going down the "I need 700atw" path. I aim to run 7-8 psi or so using stock XR6T gear on the NA motor with a TUNED Na ecu. Will now be using stock XR6T exhaust inc cat with last section custom into a single 3". My next "issue" is deciding on a reliable way to control boost and factoring in that it is a BTR NA drivetrain(oh and I have a 3.23 LSD about to go in) Am I crazy to run ONLY a wastegate? Specifically the Turbo smart IWG with 7 psi(maybe 8 psi )preset? My reasoning is that firstly I don't need an Eboost on the dash(stealthy) Secondly the lazier boost coming on a bit slower may actually HELP the gearbox out and also the likely drop in upper boost from the stock XR6T cat restriction will limit total horsepower. Counteract that with the higher compression should mean a reasonably torquey and slightly lazy setup? I'm mainly looking for 2500-5000 torque and stock below that. It also significantly simplifies the setup and the Turbo smart IWG is adjustable if I want more and I can still add an EBOOST later. Thoughts? Here's a pic of the Wagon just because (it's dirty and has lots more to do)

Significant drop in temp. This was after a fairly long drive of all mixed driving. Noice

Hi. Just looking for OEM-ish ways to spruce up the wagon a bit WITHOUT resorting to the super original xr front end or reducing front clearance when combined with SL springs(and reset rears) I have seen the BA Fairmont (and Fairlane looks the same) with the factory fog/corner lights and like what they do to the look of the front. The XT lower grille looks very similar with little black grilles where the lights would be. Has anyone fitted Fairlane fogs in these locations or swapped just the grille insert? I can of course keep a look out for a Fairlane bumper in white but these aren't particularly common! If the lower grille is in fact the same size etc and the little end bits can come out that would be awesome. Cheers ownerreview-2004-ford-fairmont-ghia.webp