xlnt6

Gee, c'mon, the car is a knock-up expo special only, never intended for production, just like the Drift6 was. Atleast they are putting something out there to see. The Force range is a marketers idea about what a good performance car is all about, misguided as it is. It has nothing to do with the expo special which is a brainstorming effort of the engineering department. Give them some credit. Cheers Robin.

Word has it that FPV/Prodrive will have a Turbo Territory Rallye on display at the upcoming FPV Open Day. Couldn't get much in the way of details, but it's mainly cosmetic, as they ran out of time to do much to the mechanicals. I'm guessing a similar concept to the Drift6, but a rally theme instead. Apparently the body has had quite a work over. Guess I'll have to check it out on Sunday !! Cheers Robin.

No. It's a Territory Rallye Version !!! Cheers Robin.

I purchased a BiXenon H4 6000K HID thru CarbonImage, one of the site sponsors. Richie personally delivered it too my door (many thanks !!!!). Well I spent a bit of time doing the install, and took it for a drive tonight and WOW !!! I have been using hi-powered H4s (90W/110W) for a long time as I used to do alot of long distance night driving. Before that I had Phillips CrystalVision bulbs, and after blowing a bulb in two sets within a 9 months period (they cost over $100 a set), I said no more, and went el cheapo hi-powered halogens, which BTW never blew !!! Anyway, now I've always liked the look of HIDs you see on the the luxobarges out there, so I figured it was time. I've attached a few pics of the install. Firstly the kit comes with a loom which requires main battery power and only uses one headlight connection from your existing headlight feed. Now I have a Nizpro kit fitted which changes a few things, so this install may not work on a stock car (???), but most should apply. I pulled out the unbonnet fuse box and fed the HID fuses up thru the bottom and fitted them internal to the factory fuse box. There is even a unused area where they fit nicely and the mounting clip is already there (just cut it down a little). I put labels on the fuse covers to identify them. You can see them in the pics. The main battery feed to the HID kit comes from the main power connection (nut and thru bolt) in the fusebox, which is nice and easy to access. The gnd goes to one of the fusebox mounting bolts. Next was the HID control box, which controls the motor to change the focal length of the HID bulb when going from low to hi beam. I wanted it hidden away. Well I mounted it on the outside of the fusebox between the fusebox and the strut tower (immediately before the coolant bottle). I had to cut one side of the fusebox bracing slightly to fit it in. It's mounted with double sided tape and is almost invisible. You can see it in one of the pics. The wiring passes under the fusebox and under the battery tray to the drivers side HID ballast which is mounted on the inner guard just below the headlight. I used the existing headlight connection to connect to the input of the HID kit at this point (just plug it in, no cutting required). The loom for the passenger side runs under the shroud of the radiator fans to the passenger side headlight area. I mounted the HID ballast on the guard (higher up this time) due to my inlet pipework making the area less assessable. I had to lengthen the factory loom (2 wires) by 30 cms. Finally a few cable ties, and install the HID bulbs (just a swap) and the HID was done. The passenger side headlight connection was unused, so it was cabled tied out of the way. The whole thing can be easily swapped back to stock at any time, as no factory wiring was cut at all. At the same time I changed the hi beam H7s to Phillips Vision plus 4300K including the parker globes. I did this mainly to make them match the colour of the low beams. There are not an exact match, but from on coming traffic they look the same (well you can't really tell cause your retinas are burned out !!!). Street driving it's amazing the difference, and when you hit high beams look out. Great buy and if it was available a few years back I could have saved a couple of hundred on all the globes I've gone thru !!! Cheers Robin.

The GT will get 310kw. XR8 gets the 290kw motor. Most likely true. Final power figures are to be confirmed. Boss engines stays much the same made in Australia as this is the most cost effective way for FPV. The cost of assembly of a Boss in Australia is very cheap. As far as I know, to support the extra power, there were a number of internal changes made. The GT gets a twin throttle body. True !! I asked about oil pump gears on the Boss to the knowledge of the source of this info, the gears remain unchanged. Don't know. The bulge stays as it’s needed to close the bonnet. True. The bad news for Boss lovers no Supercharged GT, the cost is too high. Looked at imports from the States cost still too high. True. There are two test engines at Prodrive, but the cost is too prohibitive. Nearly ten times the cost of the standard Boss !! The Falcon Orion will have a new setup on the front end, the rear end will have a wider track and it’s based on the Territory setup. True. Some half decent shockers absorbers for the FPV cars too. Don't know. For those of you who haven’t read our F6/XR6T Forum. Orion Typhoon will be 300 kw from the factory that’s up 30 kw, the turbo will have some slightly smaller parts inside to reduce the turbo lag. News to me. The turbo cross over pipe is gone; the turbo compressor housing faces up instead of down. True. The pipe out of the housing goes up has like a U turn in it and goes across the front of the car. True. This info came from a very very good source they say some things may slightly change but that’s where things stand as of today. Soon you will see the Orion hitting the roads for testing They are already out there, you just don't know it yet !!!

Ok, here's a suggestion. What I have found with trying to run high boost is that no matter what you command via the Edit to determine the solenoid duty cycle, the boost is being limited by two things. 1. Exhaust flow thru turbine housing. I run a high flow 3540 with internal gate (ported, etc). This is obviously not your problem, so moving on. 2. Leakage thru the OEM boost solenoid. Even though you command the solenoid to be closed, it still leaks (ie passes) boost air thru to the wastegate. The higher the boost the worse the problem. The same occurs at the opposite end of it's working range, ie command it to be fully open. Doing so results in some air flow restriction thru the solenoid valve. The end result is the OEM solenoid doesn't have the controllability required to maintain good boost control over the entire operating (ie boost range) required when a modified turbo system is used. Add an external gate with a totally different spring rate, etc and it's understandable that the results can be somewhat unpredictable. Solution. Here's three suggestions: 1. Use an aftermarket boost controller to control the OEM solenoid. 2. Replace the OEM solenoid with a much better solenoid (ie. similar to what is used in an EBC) and still have it controlled by Edit thru OEM system. 3. Replace the entire boost controller with aftermarket (ie solenoid valve and controller). You could probably try 2. first and see how it goes, to save the $$$ of going the full option 3 solution. Good luck with it and let us all know how it pans out. Cheers Robin.

Hi Ben, I'm a bit perplexed by the outcome of your results, as I would not have though it would make such a dramatic change. Given you have the 61mm wheel and you changed just the comp cover from 0.7 to 0.5 I would have thought the following should occur: 1. Initial boost will spike higher as the same flow is now trying to go thru a smaller discharge area, ie so pressure increases. This means the turbo will "boost" quicker at low RPM and the higher relative boost will result in more average power in the lower RPM range. Also as the gas flow is quicker it may help improve low down torque. At low RPM glas flow is much less than peak, so comp cover flow limitations and exhaust gas flow restrictions are not coming into play. 2. At higher RPM and peak boost, the reduced flow capability of the comp cover will come into play, but so will exhaust flow restrictions and any flow restrictions due to cam/valve duration, etc. But since the exhaust and engine parameters are constant, the change will relate directly to the flow capability of the comp cover, ie you should see slightly more power. This is supported by the garrett website: "Compressor A/R - Compressor performance is comparatively insensitive to changes in A/R. Larger A/R housings are sometimes used to optimize performance of low boost applications, and smaller A/R are used for high boost applications. However, as this influence of A/R on compressor performance is minor, there are not A/R options available for compressor housings." So your result tend to make sense, but it should not be that dramatic. I suspect it may have something to do with the tune. As the engine is operating at a different manifold pressure at the same RPM, it using a different set of fuel/timing map parameters so it could be dramatically different in timing (ie 5 degrees ?? for example). So you may think it is all the same but that difference is influencing the result. Anyway one thing is for sure, you can never tell what the end result is until you try it, and I'm glad you willing to tell us your findings. Keep up the work !!! Cheers Robin.

Well you can take it or leave it, but this is the info I have on some of the visual and mechanical changes on the Orion. It's about 100kgs heavier than the current XR model, which bring it still under the VE. The front headlights are similar to the current BFII with a flatter bottom to the lens. Can't tell the front and rear bars cause the CP build car doesn't have any yet. Front lower suspension arms are now alloy, same brake options as current, ie 4 pot and 6 pot brembos. Inlet tract is revised and a new plenum had be made which helps remove much of the long inlet tract. Engine power on the F6 is 290-300kW 600nm (exact figure not yet set), Boss engine is 310-320 kW 600nm. The F6 gets higher flowing fuel injectors (greens) and a higher flowing fuel pump, the Boss gets revised head, different exhaust, cam profile, higher comp, injectors all to try and make up the extra 30 kW or so, the F6 just gets more boost and the fuel to support it. Turbo is unchanged. Interior is revised, but the build is not finalised yet. A larger?? ICC screen which sits higher up the centre of the dash and the vents are now below it. There is no more gauge cluster as the boost/oil, etc gauges are now in the main cluster to reduce costs. Boss starter button is now down where the tissue box used to be and it has a stop button as well now (go figure ???). Body can't be seen cause it has masking panels glued to the panels, but the rear tail lights are now thinner (al la VE HSV) and the mirrors have the blinkers in them. Headlights are not HID. There's more, but I've forgotten as much as I can remember. Sorry no pics... cameras and mobile phones are forbidden. Cheers Robin.

Hi Jeff, Great work as always. How does the depth of the pod housings compare to the FPV pods ? What I have found is that some gauges are a bit long for the FPV pods (especially mechanical gauges that have rear fittings etc). Yours looks longer .... BTW that's the gauge pods I'm talking about Also why haven't you posted this in your section, I've been looking in there for updates and have stumbled across it in here !!! Cheers Robin.

Hi Pete, my original diff, while it did have a bit of backlash, didn't cause me any grief, not like I've heard others complaining about. The new diff is the same. You still get driveline clunk on take-up especially noticeable on decel at low speed. The Gearset is still a Dana set - I think ...... (they are available thru most diff shops that build / reco diffs and I've seen them advertised in a few of the mags). Yes, it was just a matter of changing the crown and pinion and having the diff shop set-up the clearances. I also took the opportunity to have the LSD tighten alittle which has helped with straight line traction and hasn't effected cornering (as far as I can tell without being on a track). Beside that nothing else has changed. Except acceleration of course !!! Good to hear. What can Mal do to fix this problem permanently ??? As I understand a blueprint job will only address it for a while, before the noise comes back ??? Mine does it, and started doing it within 3k-5k from being brand new. Cheersin. Rob

Thanks Brian, don't know about going into business, I only started it 6 months ago !!! I made it out of material / parts that I already had (except the stainless wool), so I don't know how much it would end up costing to produce, probably way too much. So you coming down for the FPV day at all ??? I'm still gathering the bits needed, so don't know the timing as such. I'm just wondering what the dealer will say when I explain that I want to reprogram the BEM to suit DZCC, but not to reload the ECU/edit mapping. It's out of warranty, so I don't really care, but I don't want them to F.... it up. Cheers Robin.

True, and I planned to do the diff and turbo in a similar timeframe for that reason. Actually ended up with 3-4months in between, and when it finally happened, it just showed that a bigger turbo upgrade really needs to be done in conjunction with a diff change in order to get the same lower RPM seat of the pants urge as with the OEM turbo. Don't know about the cost of parts, I was given the bits and had then built into a spare 3.45 LSD by TransDiff in Thomastown for $200. The biggest cost is the fitting, as it's quite labour intensive, about 4 hours, allow $400-$500 to do the swap. Cheers Robin.

Well, I've been driving around with 4.11 diff gears for over three months now and every day I kick myself for not doing it earlier. If cdm is still out there, I conceed your views as I now am a "believer" !! Especially after the bigger turbo which made the boost response a bit lazier, the 4.11 recovers that low down urge nicely. I have a T56 6 speed. That provides a taller overall top gear than the 5 speed. For driving around town and freeway driving I can't recommend it enough. I guess I'm changing gears a bit more than before, but mainly by shifting up to 6th, whereas 6th wasn't really possible til 110km. Now 100km is about 2100rpm, and the ratio works out the same as a 5 speed in 5th with 3.45 diff. Fuel economy hasn't really changed either as the top gear is still tall enough to return good economy. BTW I had originally a 3.45 ratio then tried a temporary 3.7 ratio and finally 4.11. Cheers Robin.

Thanks guys !! Next on the agenda..... taking a page out of Allan's book. Dual Zone Climate Control. Always liked the look of the it and it wasn't an option back when I first got the car. Cheers Robin.

Seen a few bolt "snaps", but never a failure of the rear cover itself. Once it snaps it is difficult to remove and requires centre drilling and using a screw extractor. Also cause they are loctited in, some heat help breakdown the loctite. I just welded a bolt to the bit left in and the heat of welding overcame the loctite and out it came. Reused the cover and all OK. If a "new product" was on the cards it may be worthwhile it it provided fluting for heat dissapation and ports in/out for and external cooler ??? Just suggestions. Worthwhile on heavy track use cars.... There must be a better bolt option. I'm not sure what grade bolt the OEM one is, but a military grade or ARP style grade 13+ bolt could be a very easy to use upgrade option. Obviously the sheer stresses are just too much for the OEM jobbie... Oh BTW, the BA and BF covers are different as well, so you have two consider two versions, but you guys probably already knew that !!! Catch you later.... BTW the Option 3 keeps powering on !! Cheers Robin.

Pete, That port has a pipe that is Teed to the rear PCV valve via a seperate in-line one way valve and also to the fuel vapour purge from the tank via a solenoid controlled by the ECU. If it was disconnected from the PCV valve it must have been sucking air into the plenum after the throttle body. So if it has been like that for awhile, it may have been tuned when it was last in at Nizpro like that ??? They could have adjusted it to compensate for the leak and so when you re-connected it, the car could be starving for idle air (hence low and rough idle). If the idle drops sufficiently and is erratic the oil light may come on, but I would have though it would clear again once idle recovers ? ie much the same as during cranking, the oil pressure isn't up yet. So if you disconnect the hose and start it again does the oil light still stay on ? Try disconnecting the battery for 30mins and see if it clears, maybe the error associated with the oil light latch may need to be "reset". Either way when trying this, if you run the engine for 20sec and the light hasn't gone out, shut the engine down immmediately. It would seem odd that you have oil pressure (external gauge ???) and the oil light is on. Robin.

I have for a while now been designing and making an oil seperator for my T in the garage and finally I have completed it. This one is different from the standard ebay type product, as mine is custom designed to suit the Nizpro kit that I have fitted. It sits in the well between the rocker cover and the plenum and is made completely from stainless steel and I've given it the once over with the polisher. It's actually two completely seperate oil seperators, the rear chamber is about 3/4 of the volume and takes the oil fumes from the rear PCV in the head and passes it thru a baffle pipe (internal in the chamber), thru stainless steel wool (I used the course S.S dish scourer which cost about $1 for two pieces from Kmart), then out via an interal 90 degree bend thru a one way valve and into the plenum. The front chamber gets oil/air from the forward breather. This chamber is about 1/4 of the volume and uses the same internal material. It connects to a custom front pipe which routes it's way around the rocker cover and connects to the air intake just after the filter. Both chambers have dipsticks to check for oil level, as can be seen in the pics. You can see the dipstick screw (allen key head) for each chamber on the top of the chambers. Also the front pipe and rear pipe are removable via the fittings, so the seperator can be easily removed for emptying (there are two drain sump screws in the bottom side of each chamber). I made this system as two seperate chambers, as it allows the seperator to work correctly under both vacuum and positive pressure scenarios. A single catch can cannot do this. The ones on ebay are really only suitable for NA applications, not turbo. 1. Engine manifold under vacuum. During this time, air is drawn from the air filter thru the front chamber and into the front engine breather. Oily air leaves the rear breather (via PCV) and is drawn thru the oil seperator and into the plenum, which is under vacuum. Oil is captured in the rear chamber. Air is circulated thru the engine. 2. Engine manifold under boost. During this time two things can happen depending on the relative pressure in the plenum and the rocker cover/sump. a. At boost you would think the one way valve would stop any air passing from the rear outlet to the plenum chamber. And that is the case for some of the time. At a constant boost level and due to elevated RPM (and hence trashing of oil), oily air is forced at low pressure out the front breather, thru the seperator and it is consumed via the inlet to the turbo back into the engine. ie the flow is reversed from scenario 1. above. That is why in the stock system you get some oil residue in the inlet piping to the turbo. b. Under high boost when you change gear, the throttle slams shut when you get off the throttle. This causes the plenum to suddenly become a large vacuum and there is a high relative pressure in the rocker/sump which means there is a large quantity of oily air forced thru the rear chamber and into the plenum. With the single oil catch can system you see on ebay, many guys connect both the front and rear breather to the can. Depending on how you hooked it up two things can happen. 1. If you hook up both inlet and outlet to the can and don't connect the plenum at all, you actually don't get any circulation of air thru the rocker. So who cares. Well oil gets contaminents from combustion which get "boiled off" and these need to be purged to maintain good oil properties. Sure the oil filter removes some, but water and low weight hydrocarbons need to be removed thru vapour circulation. 2. If you hook up as above with manifold vacuum (ie oil can between the rear outlet and the PCV valve), you do get circulation but under boost the positive rocker pressure oil/air vapour can't go anywhere (ie it normally goes back to the inlet on the filter to the turbo). So what ??? Well the positive crank case pressure is working against the underside of the pistons and is actually reducing your HP. Sure it will be small, but real none the less. If the engine has alot of blow-by the pressure will be significant and in the worse case your can may rupture and cause an engine fire !! Most cans are not designed for any significant level of positive pressure. Catch cans with air filters are not legal. All air from the crank case/rocker must be ingested by the engine to meet modern ADRs. Cheers Robin.

Many thanks !!!

Hi, Anyone know what the difference is between a leather upper seatcover for a airbag equipped car vs a non airbag equipped car. I know there will be a tag saying airbag fitted, but beside that will a airbag type upper seatcover fit over a standard seat ? I though maybe with an airbag the seatcover maybe bigger or have some "bump" where the airbag is ?? Cheers Robin.

Allan, Fantastic effort, I love reading your techo mad posts. So the car is now almost completely a BF ?? What's next ... I don't think there is much more you can do !!! Maybe 4WD..... Cheers Robin.

Congrats Brian, so have you told Simon yet !!! It's a nice Xmas present to yourself. So what are the future plans for it, I'm sure you've thought it through already..... So how's the beast going. BTW I love the 4.11s, should have done it months ago. Cheers Robin.

I was able to get a few T56s for a few guys on the forum in Vic for $3k, 2nd hand. If you can get one under $4k 2nd hand your doing well. Cheers Robin.

Good luck with it all Allan. There is atleast two variations of the Auto, a standard torque rated auto and a hi-torque variation used in the BF FPV and Turbo Territory. Do you know which type you have ?? Cheers Robin.

Hi All, As stated I have an Option 3 from Mal. It's been in the car for over 12 months, and must say that it is an excellent choice for my application. I don't do drags, it's a street car and I've done some track work as well, (but that was at a lower power level around 380-390 rwkW). I've had as much as 440 rwkW going thru it, but I didn't do clutch dumps, as I didn't want to spit out CVs, etc. In general around town street tune I run around 360 rwkW, and I haven't had any problems. Pedal feel is excellent, streetability as good as factory. Now that said, I like to give it a blat every now and again, standing sub3000 rpm side steps, etc and all has been good, result is just two black lines and another 2000km removed from the life of my $$$ yokos. I figure I've probably done 15000km-20000km on the clutch. With any organic material based clutch if you slip it (ie for a high RPM lauch) and heat the material it's bound to slip and eventually fail. If your looking to do that on a regular basis then get the Option 4 or higher. That said I know the FPV twin plate is also an excellent clutch, but again it can and will slip if abused. I've tried a different cIutch as well (an earlier twin plate - not from Mal), and from what I have seen the Option 3 from Mal and the FPV twin plate are the only two high HP street based clutches worth considering. I have an FPV twin plate as well, but from personal experience with the Option 3, I can't find any justification to fit it. Maybe one day things will change, or eventually the Option 3 will just wear out, but I must say I'd have to give some serious thought about using anything else before going past the Option 3. Cheers Robin.

Put me down for the cruise and lunch (2 people). See you then. Cheers Robin.