aiboart

Lawsy, Can you please comment on the ester technology and start up protection claims made by Castrol for their Magnatec range, specifically the semi-synthetic 10W40? Are the Castol esters in any way special, or do all esters tend to exhibit the behaviors that Castrol trades on in the Magnatec marketing? Regards, aa

I have owned many several red cars, including euro's, Falcons and Holdens. As noted in a previous post, the earlier red paint technology was certainly prone to fade. Your best bet at checking out the current state of the technology would be to ring some major panel shops and ask their opinions. The panel shops need to match paints when they undertake repairs, they will be able to tell you if fading is still an issue with the current red paints. Another alternative is to ring the technical department of someone like Degussa or Merck. These companies manufacture the actual pigments that are used by paint companies such as PPG and Dulux. Regards, aa

Fuel type can make a big difference to consumption. Any 98 octane allows higher advance/boost thereby improving efficiency. This is quite a significant effect in these engines. Also our 98 octanes, all of them AFAIK, are high (energy) density fuels. Furthermore, Shell claim a reduction of engine friction with V-Power, say 1-3%. Other factors in steady speed fuel consumption. tyre type tyre pressures ambient temperatures oils

recent country cruising regional NSW in mid winter (cold) BAT A4 sedan F6 CAI no other mods, factory tune only 98 octane fuel (V-Power) 2 adults 2 kids say 230KG lots of luggage estimate 50+KG 17" factory wheels full size 17" alloy spare in boot aircon always on rear window demister on somtimes headlights always on radio on 2 tyres running 30PSI hot and 2 running 36PSI hot (4 service stations had no working air!) 110kph will bring average indicated consumption of <<9.5l/100km smooth driving and allowing the car to come on boost/advance rather than using wider throttle will bring close to 9l/100km, maybe even lower high speed very cold air flowing over the IC does wonders for the T's if you include lots of smooth overtaking then consumption is still 9.8-9.9l/100km Regards, aa

E-charging is not a mad idea. Some of the big car companies are working on hybrid Turbo and E charging in order to eliminate turbo lag altogether. However, this is neither easy nor simple to accomplish. The big issue is the sheer amount of enegy required to drive an electrically powered blower for even a small IC engine. To give you some idea of scale, a large capacity supercharger can sap some 60kw at full revs, this is roughly the maximum power coming from the electrical drive motor of a hybrid car. Hybrid electrical systems are designed to deliver this type of power. Standard 12V automotive systems are not. So does this mean e-charging will first be seen on a hybrid? Well.... Regards, aa

PBR/Bosch makes the Premo brakes fitted by the Ford Factory. The factory system comes with rubber lines. PBR/Bosch also make an aftermarket version of the Premo kit, that comes with braided lines. PBR/Bosch also sell braided lines as individual components for all four wheels. From memory, the pair of lines for one end of the car is handed whereas the pair for the other end of the car are the same. Again from memory, the lines are somewhat over $100 per corner. The fit, materials, construction and finish is fantastic. Performance. I didn't expect to find much if any difference with the braided lines. They are however very different from the low expansion rubber hoses. The braided lines have created a vast improvement in the actual speed of initial brake force application and in the speed of all braking responses. The brakes though always brilliant are now simply much, much faster in reponding to control inputs and control imput variations, furthermore, the inputs are now faithfully replicated in braking response in exceedingly fine detail. So, all good. The braided lines designed for the actual car are available off the shelf, from PBR/Bosch, the designer and supplier of the actual braking system to Ford. Regards, aa

Hi Steve, the DBA product is much admired. So now, If and when do we se two piece rear rotors for the XR6T? If and when are you moving to affordable ceramics for the XR6T? Regards, aa

An auto box has in fact two transmissions operating in series. The first transmission is a infinitely variable liquid transmission, the torque convertor. The second transmission is composed of conventional planetary gears. The engine feeds into the torque convertor transmission, which in turn feeds into the planetary gear transmission, which then feeds it into the diff and CV's etc. Power has rectangular 'shape'. On one side of the rectangle is revs, on the other side is torque and the area of the rectangle is power. The purpose of any transmissions, whether liquid or solid (gears), is to keep the area of the rectangle as constant as possible whilst changing the shape of the rectangle. Changing the shape of the rectangle is equivalent to changing the ratio. That's the theory. In reality however, due to frictional losses, the power rectangle always shrinks in area whenever the transmission changes it shape (changes the drive ratio). So conventional gears convert revs into torque by virtue of its geometry. (In overdrive they convert torque into revs) A torque convertor behaves exactly the same way, it changes revs into torque. The torque convertor does this by altering fluid flow geometry within the torque convertor. Conventional gears have fixed ratios, they will always alter the the power rectangle the same way. If you want to vary the ratio you need to change gear, hence you have gears 1, 2, 3, 4... etc. A torque convertor, a liquid transmission has a trick; it can seamlessly and continuously change (gear) ratio form infinity (at idle) to some maximum value say 80kph. A torque convertor will allow your engine can stay at say exactly 1,800RPM whilst the car accelerates from 0kph to say 80kph. The thing to note here is that the torque convertor is not a just a fluid coupling, it is not just slipping whilst the engine is at 1800 revs. The torque convertor is actually converting the high revs to high torque at the launch just as if the car was in some exceedingly low gear. After launch and during acceleration the torque convertor is changing the drive ratio in a constant manner just as, if instead of having 6 gears you had thousands of gears. The proof that the convertor is in fact converting revs to torque is why a XR6T Auto stalled up to 1800 RPM will jump off the line and accelerate at a constant rate - a fluid coupling would just slip and generate heat. A car engine operate in conditions of continually varying speed and continually varying load; an infinitely variable transmission is exceedingly valuable in these circumstances. Having an infinity of ratios continuously changing is much better than having 4,5,6,7 or even 8 gears and having to change between then, even if using a DSG. So if a torque convertor is a infinite ratio transmission and an infinite ration transmission is so valuable, why do we even bother with gears? There are a few simple answers, 1/ the torque convertor when converting high revs in to high torque waste more energy than the equivalent gear ratio. This is because fluid flow geometry is exceedingly more complex than gear geometry.The wasted energy goes into heating up the auto torque convertor fluid. To use the analogy above, the power rectangle shrinks more for a specific torque convertor ratio than it does for the equivalent gear ratio. If you do a lot of converting, say stalled at the line, you are pumping a lot of heat into the auto fluid... 2/ torque convertors whilst having an infinite ratio (they can operate with the car at 0kph) still have a limited operating range - they can only handle a certain gap between the input shaft speed and the output shaft speed (the so called stall point). This limited range is why auto boxes have gears in addition to the torque convertor, there is simply not enough range in a reasonably efficient torque convertor to cover all road speeds in a modern car. 3/ the wider the range of the toque convertor, the bigger the stall, the more inefficient it gets. This is essentially due to the fact that the internal friction is a function of the internal fluid speeds. The modern trend is to have smaller and smaller conversion rations (stall points) with more gears in the box. So, if you fit a wider range torque convertor, I.e. a higher stall convertor, you will be fitting a unit that has a wider range between the speeds of the input shaft and the output shaft. 1/ The wider range will allow your engine to rev higher when the car is stationary, thereby generating more torque at the rear wheels at launch (the convertor converts the extra revs into extra torque). As the internal fluid in the convertor will be moving faster there will be more internal friction at high and hence more transmission loss. 2/ The wider range will also mean that in general you will be driving around at any given road speeds with more engine speed. This will translate to more torque at the wheels, but it will also mean that your engine will be using more fuel. Hope that helps Regards, aa

The 'normal' service schedule is in the owners handbook. The handbook furthermore specifies increased service frequency in 'severe operating conditions'... which the handbook implies is day to day driving in city traffic... My opinion FWIW at 40K km change Oil Oil Filter Coolant (use highest concentration of Ford OEM coolant as specified in handbook) Brake fluid (Dot 4+/Super Dot 4) Auto Transmission LSD fluid include Ford' stipulated additives Fuel Filter Pollen Filter Tighten Retighten Turbo Bolts (as per handbook) Retighten Chassis and suspension bolts Heat shields Inspect and Advise Brake wear yada yada Regards, AA

Zap, sorry to hear of your problems. Reason would suggest that the dealership would be on the phone twice a day to resolve the issue. History suggests that you are in for a world of obfuscation, inaction, and deceit from the dealership with respect to warranty repairs. You know the drill. I am surprised you went for it again. Sure the cars are great, brilliant, but the dealship warranty response makes owning the brand a non viable proposition. Three weeks ago my lease expired and I vacillated about leasing a new F6 with the 6/4 Brembo combo. On the one hand there was the brilliance of the design and the fact that I get a new car - at no additional cost. On the other hand was the past history of the so called warranty response of the dealership, and the unresolved major problem that I had to endure every time I drove the car. You know the nonsense too well. Based on previous dealership warranty responses I decided against the F6 6/4. Clearly from your experience I had a close call. Good luck. Regards, aa

These ideas are complex to explain with words. They are however exceedingly easy to explain in pictures, specifically by depicting the tune as a line drawing of the torque curve... this will take you about 0.25 sec, tops. The torque curve is a picture of how your car outputs power. As the value of the torque curve at any instant is a measure of the force going into your driveline, it also equates to a snapshot of your cars acceleration at any moment (at any rpm), in a specific gear. Whether or not it is technically possible to realize your desired tune with your specific set of of modifications is a matter for discussion between you and your tuner. Of course the dyno plots will reveal the actual torque curve achieved. As you are not going to change the rpm range of your engine, how 'hard' the tune is on your driveline (and engine) is shown by the height of the torque curve at any instant. For example 900Nm of toque at 2500 rpm is exactly the same power as 450Nm at 6000rpm. 900Nm is theoretically enough to munch any XR6T auto box. 450Nm is not. The gold standard for drivability, refinement, pace in the real work and gentleness on the driveline is a flat torque curve, a torque plateau. Max power is achieved by making your torque curve as high as you dare, and pushing it as far up the rev range as possible. Maximum 'kick in the back' is achieved by making the torque curve as steep as possible (this can be placed anywhere in the rev range). Not only will this put a huge push into your back, that push is going do its best to break your tyres' contact patch.. and your driveline. Regards, aa

The DBA5000's are a great disc. With factry pads, my experience is that the life of the DBA5000's is essentially the same as the factory discs. Regards, aa

Any DI? ... and what is EPAS? Regards, aa

No, rigid roof is gone as is the soft top and replaced by the sexy as hard roof convertible. Very fun and very hevy. I6 TT motor and $120K. The rigid roof version is the 135i I6 TT motor and $75K. Regards aa

AutoSpeed Issue: 247 Section: Special Features 15 September, 2003 The XR6 Turbo According to Ford - Part One --extract of part one--- We talk to one of the key men behind Ford Australia's Falcon XR6 Turbo... Interview by Michael Knowling and Julian Edgar, Pix by Julian Edgar The background of Ford Australia's Gordon Barfield: "I've been in Ford for over thirty years. My most recent experience from about 1995 is time with Tickford, or FPV as it is now, as the program manager and planner; so I've been involved in all the XR products all the way from EL, GTs and T-series. I was involved in getting the turbo engine and the 4-valve V8 up and running - it was my involvement really that made it all happen. Issue: 248 Section: Special Features 22 September, 2003 The XR6 Turbo According to Ford - Part Two ---extract of part two--- Tell us about the activity of the knock sensor and how the engine management system uses its input. "Well, the knock sensor is active on all of our engines - it's optimising to where you want to be. I don't think it's active above 4000 rpm, though and for details on how much timing is removed I'd have to talk to the calibration engineer. All of those sort of details I'd really need to confirm with him." Is it likely that the engine will make more power on 98RON fuel than normal fuel (about 96RON)? "It is conceivable but, again, I'd need to confirm. "We run AFRs quite rich at full load in order to cool valves, pistons and the like. When you look at fuelling versus torque graph, you can - if the curve is flat - over-fuel to a degree without losing performance." When Ford Australia releases a power curve for the XR6Turbo, is it a power sweep or stepped power outputs plotted together? "When we plot a power curve the engine is held at each rpm interval - it's not a sweep. The curve is derived from a stabilised output all the way through the revs." .... Autospeed XR6T genesis Part Part 1 Autospeed XR6T genesis Part 2 Autospeed XR6T genesis Part 3 Regards, aa

Mate, take the guys details and make a no fault claim on your insurance. Let the big insurance company with lots money and lawyers chase the guy. Make a statutory declaration. If it comes to court phone records may show where the clown was at the time of the incident. (A mobile phone photo would have been good...) If you need help profiling the paint on your car give me a call. I can put you in touch with the right people. Hopefully the fool tries to mislead the court and gets caught out. Regards, aa

Suggestions for your option collection. The road to instant and near instant option nirvana listed herewith. Aux (MP3) cable - Possibly the most bang for your buck wrt option. Buy a $30 MP3 player and enjoy. Ford BA iPod connector - As above but with a pre amp, much better sound and the only option for low output devices such as iPod. The metallic door sill panels - these are self adhesive metallic plates, pure decoration, yet quite nice and brighten up the cabin and <$25 from Ford. You can get the XR, Ford and FPV types. The XR version is perhaps the cleanest design. The FPV sports wheel - OK not a cheap option but frequently available new aftermarket. Its sounds stupid that a wheel could evoke so much lust but it does and it all makes more sense when you drive the thing. It is just sex. Loved by all XR6T pilots and also by wive's and girlfriends (WAG's), this is a factory option, which you can have a fitted new for less than half the factory price. (not instant but quick to fit) Fog light guards, just buy these or pay later. Head light guards, no where near as necessary as the fog light guards but available. The boot net, the second biggest bang for your buck next to the Aux cable. Stupidly useful and loved by all especially female XR6T pilots and WAGs. Stops tools, LPG bottles, chiller boxes and shopping flying around the boot. The boot liner thing, a chemical weapon grade boot liner that is indispensible for anyone who uses their car to haul beach gear, fishing gear, gardening materials or pool chemicals. Also cuts down on NVH. $120 The F6 2nd CAI, it does something good. I have it. $70 The pollen filter $30 - enjoy atmospheric refinement in stop start traffic and stop eating diesel soot... not that you should do much of that in an XR6T... Regards, aa

Nu Finish Sealant (orange bottle Woolworths, K-Mart, Coles, Supercheap...) - low cost, quick and easy to apply, true new car finish and amazingly durable. I have been using this product for decades and the ability to preserve paint in at least as new condition with only one or two applications per year is uncanny. Some may say that there are higher sheen products available and no doubt there are; however ease of application, durability and the ability to retain an new car finish outweighs the value of show car aesthetics. Meguires Gold Class Leather Cleaner Conditioner (not the spray can version). Bullet proof durability and as new condition for leather and vinyl surfaces. Produces a nice high class low sheen finish. - also... preserves the finish of sealing rubbers... and the matt black painted trim on the outside of the 'B' pillar. (use sparingly and wiped down with a dry rag after application.) MGuires (aerosol) Tyre Spray. This does nothing to preserve your car. It does however look amazing and who can resist that bubblegum smell?? The results are worth a minute of your time. Regards, aa

From John Mellor's Go Auto News March 4, 2009 No. 472 Ford Australia in talks over export program for Geelong-built inline-six By IAN PORTER FORD’S engine operations at Geelong, which late last year were saved by government intervention and the injection of $21 million, could soon receive a shot in the arm from other car-makers wanting to buy the straight-six engine. Ford is also increasingly confi dent that the fi nancially troubled supplier of its fourspeed automatic transmission for Falcon and Territory – Drivetrain Systems International (DSI) – will survive, with receivers getting enquiries from up to 18 parties interested in investing in the Albury-based operation. Speaking to GoAuto on the sidelines of the Melbourne International Motor Show, Ford Australia president Marin Burela said the Geelong-made inline-six (I6) engine was secure for the medium-term, and that the outlook for the operation had been strengthened by approaches from manufacturers who wanted to use the engine. “We are getting all sorts of interest from different sectors on whether or not we would be prepared to sell them some engines, for different applications,” he said. “They want to know would we be willing to sell them some I6 engines. “That’s a different angle on the Geelong engine plant story.” Mr Burela would not say which companies were making the enquiries or what sort of vehicle they would be used in. “There are different groups around the world. I don’t want to talk volumes.” The Ford chief said negotiations were in the early stages, but there was strong interest – “it’s really encouraging”. He said that even without any export orders, the engine would “probably” be kept in service until 2015 or 2016, although a decision will be made earlier than that. “When we get to 2012 we will look at it again and we will then understand where the emissions standards are heading. Then we’ll make some decisions on whether we can continue to upgrade the technology or make a change (to an imported V6).” .... Regards, aa

OK here are some suggestions 1- / BA serie FPV F6, GT, etc standard brakes (also known as Ford Premium and PBR aftermarket) This is seriously well sorted powerful and light weight brake package. It is the Factory system. It consists of new calipers front only slotted discs new pads (braided lines - aftermarket version only) 1.2/ A step up in heat tolerance and heat pumping capacity is to forgo the PBR discs and buy DBA discs DBA 5000 front slotted (only). This is a 2 piece disc, lighter, better heat performance, cheaper to replace, the best there is short of ceramic. DBA 4000 rear slotted (only) one piece disc 1.3/ Whilst the PBR pads are frankly amazing there are alternatives. Ferodo Formula - more temperature linear than the PBR's - less impressive but possibly better Ferodo DS2500 - more temperature sensitive, somewhat like the PBR's, not sure to what extent - higher ultimate grip 2. PBR also make some impressive brakes that will fit the XR6 Turbo. At least one of the former members had a set fitted to his XR6T. IIRC these were, 6 pot with an individual pad per pot on the front 4 pot with an individual pad per pot on the back. Big discs, two piece front. Possibly ZR-06 series brakes Option 1 is all you will ever need, under any conditions, unless your car is a modded monster. Adding the DBA 5000 series discs really puts the braking system capacity way out in the stratosphere Option 2 is simply overkill and so too much weight and moment from iron discs and calipers... and really, totally cool... see if you can find some affordable ceramic discs and for it Regards, aa

Congratulations. The XR6 is a fine car. We kind of know that here, you know. So as for modifications, here goes... Use high quality 98 octane fuel. Buy the best general purpose-sport road tires available, not the best tires you can afford... wait for it... Sell the 20" rims, ideally fit some lightweight 17" factory sized rims, if not go back to stock factory 17" rims. Lightweights will pull some 60kg dead weight out of the car in comparison to the 20" rims. Now without 20" rims you can afford good 17" tyres. The reduction of mass and wheel radius in moving from 20" rims to 17" lightweights will translate to an effective mass reduction exceeding 120kg, probably nearer 150kg. Now you are effectively about 8% lighter - you are 8% faster in a straight line... at full throttle, part throttle, hot, cold, high altitude, sea level, good fuel, crap fuel... you are 8% faster always... So you don't need to mod your engine.... the on road the improvement in your car's performance is actually way more than 8%, because your suspension is lighter and can keep the wheels in contact with the road... and, your brakes are no longer' attempting to disperse an additional 8% of kinetic energy stored in the 20" flywheels. So since you don't need to mod your engine anymore, (you are 8% faster) you can ideally fit the PBR brake upgrade that FPV used in the BA series. Better brakes are always better... If you don't go for the PBR upgrade at the very least fit DBA 4000 discs (front only) and a high performance pad, say Ferodo Formula (also known as Ferodo TS 2000). Now dump your factory shocks, they are worn out, fit Bilstein shocks, the yellow and blue units. You do not need sway bars, you do not need 6 way shock adjustments, rheology control units etc You will not believe the difference that a high quality shock will make to the car. Now that you have dumped the shocks, undump the car. You need compliance in the suspension, compliance is good because compliance is grip. Furthermore the shocks need suspension travel to do their stuff. That's kind of it....back to normal spec, but swapping the low quality rubber for the best rubber the low quality shocks for the best shocks the ultra heavy flywheel 20" lead lined rims (or lower quality 14kg factory alloys) for lightweight high quality 17"'s or stock wheels the low quality factory discs and pads for high quality discs and pads. It is now faster in straight line and in the real world. It is smoother, quieter, more refined. It stops better. It responds to control inputs with more temporal and physical fidelity. It uses less fuel (well it can), grips better in the wet and dry. What about cams you say? By all means, join Cams. Enjoy your car. Regards, aa

It is a factory fit component. It is very common in asian countries; standard in the high end Japanese cruisers since the dawn of the 1990's. Regards, aa

Leather when shown some respect will survive and look new after even decades of day to day use in a closed roof car. There is a great variation in leathers used in car applications, but I understand all are anti UV treated. Your driver's seat bolsters may crack 10 years from now, or not if left untreated; however if you treat the driver's seat at reasonable intervals with one of the recognized leather products I think even that will last in neigh on new condition indefinitely. The thing that will get to the leather is sweat, salt, Coke, sand, coffee etc. Provided you are not in the habit of driving around without a shirt or jumping into the car when covered in salt and sand from the beach you will be fine. A leather steering wheel is obviously subject to a lot of direct skin contact, even then though, if these items are treated with leather products, say weekly, they will last an exceedingly long time… provided you’re not of the white knuckle brigade. Enjoy and periodically condition your leather; there is no need for seat covers. Regards, aa

Doc, there is a scene in a 1960's movie called '321' starring James Cagney, where the KGB tortures a suspect by playing him American pop music. 'She wore an itsy bitsy tinie winie yellow polka dot bikini....' The KGB's suspect is a young bolshie communist firebrand who despises the West; he has however been set up by Cagney to appear to be an American sympathizers. On hearing the pop music he writhes and screams in agony. 'No, no, no...' The movie was comedy, a farce. The scene was a joke. Now according to the article we are to believe that torture consists of being played rock music, and, the American national anthem at 0630? Don't all military bases play the national anthem at 0630? I do not think that the personnel consider this torture. I could be wrong. Furthmore in Muslim states the call to prayer is broadcast over the city five times a day from the minarets. I do not think that the citizens of those states consider that torture. Isn't American service people playing American rock music a feature of most American overseas bases? Actually I recall it is a feature of operations in remote areas in general. AFAIK torture consists of pulling people apart while they are alive, burning out their eyes, or acts of that ilk. It does not mean being played the national anthem, or zz top. YMMV Regards, aa

I'm in provided that the kit works, looks professional and is easy to fit. Safety is worth paying for. Regards, aa