benjam

I changed mine last weekend and the new adapter fitting and washers were slightly different from my old one. I ordered the part #s previously mentioned here. The difference was that my old washers have a black hard inner material reducing the inner diameter of them and fit my old adapter ok. But my old washers did not fit the new adapter. The new adapter has an extra thick diameter nearest to the hex part, just for the new washers. So lucky I ordered the new washers which are like the ones at the start of this topic. Here's a pic of my old adapter and washers from my Dec 02 BA. Cheers. Ben

My Chinese girlfriend saw me reading this thread and laughed at the QQ saying it just has a metal coat and nothing structural underneath. (unlike her!) These cars aren't allowed on the freeways in Shanghai apparantly, must be something to do with engine capacity. Check out this crash test of the QQ. Very scary if these things come to Oz. Worth about USD$7500. http://paultan.org/archives/2006/02/18/chery-qq-crash-test/ Ben

I've got my Dec '02 BA mk1 up to a lazy 58,600kms. :banghead: It's quality that counts not quantity! Great to see people still enjoying these cars at higher kms. Ben

I managed to have the Oil Temp warning light and chime come on a few times at my last track day at Wakefield on a 25 C day. It forced the ignition timing part of traction control on until it cooled down again and scared the crap out of me the first time! This was on a stock like tune too. In the end I was doing 3 lap sprints with 1 lap cooldowns, not fun. Deninitely need an oil cooler. For me this kicked in at 225 F on my guage, maybe it reads lower cause the sender is at the sump plug, but it's all relative to what I'm used to. Now that the weather has become warmer I've noticed the temp can get up to 210 F on my guage just from peak hour driving in afternoon traffic with aircon. Just at the beginning of Oct, I spoke to one of the guys on the phone at NiZpro who said they were developing an oil cooler kit for the T including all the bits and instructions on fitment etc, though they weren't planning to use a sandwich plate with thermostat. I would source one myself if need be though. Hope they finish it soon! If any other sponser can produce a kit, please do. Oil pressure is usually 25 psi at idle for me though has been 20-25 when super hot like the above moments. Cheers. Ben

It was reasonably cold on the Saturday for those pics and I could feel the goosebumps. :oohwoah: Ben

Well, I've been and gone to the Sandown 500 on the weekend, and gotta say it was very good indeed. It was great to see Lowndes win over the championship leading Toll HSV team! :oohwoah: Got to meet Rick Kelly and Garth Tander during a private garage tour. Just couldn't bring myself to put the boot in, wouldn't have gone down well, they were there as just part of their job and it really struck me as how bloody young Rick is. Got a signed team shirt by them both, so good eBay investment for the future if they win the championship. Got to poke my head around the cars too and ask questions etc. Also got to see the Britek and Vodaphone garages but didn't meet the drivers there, bugger! The track is awesome, it's the first time I've been there, but access was restricted on the Fri/Sat to the main straight. The best posi was actually outside the gate on the hill near the main road. But Sunday we camped on the back straight which was great to see the speed of the cars, much better than the main straight grandstand. I ended up taking my best mate which was good since he is a pro photographer. I'll post some action pics from him later, but here is the result of one of the missions we set ourselves on the Saturday. Mission accomplished! Here are some pics from my little digicam. Pic of the dash and steering wheel of one of the Toll HSV cars Garth Tander's car with my mate Cameron on the left Pic of the tool storage and a few screens including weather radar internet page. All the major teams have a huge truck full of people managing all the real time analysis. Pic of the Vodaphone 888 car (Lowndes) during practice on Friday. Yes I suck at action pics. Inside the cockpit of one of the Britek/Fujitsu cars. Inside the boot of one of the Britek/Fujitsu cars. No room for a 12" sub here! Pic of my mate's Cannon 1d camera thingymajig and one of the pics he was considering deleting! He got some great shots. I'll post some when he sends to me. Cheers, Ben.

I wash my microfibre clothes in one of those little mesh washing bags. Can get them from supermarkets etc. Basically protects them a little and keeps lint off them too. Ben

I remember the Unichip can do launch control and flat shifting same as this Gizzmo device. I looked into it ages ago when I had a 4 banger hot hatch. I wonder if anyone here had these features on their T when Unichips were all the rage before the edit?? Ben

Same position for me too. I forget it's there until I hear the beeps. Ben

Is this cheating??? Ben

How did you go with making that adaptor, any pics? My pressure ends up at 25 psi at idle over a wide temp range. 180 deg F in stop start traffic. Temp is less cruising on the highway ~140 F. Temp is more when giving the car a work out ~200 F. On a track day after a session my pressure went down to 20 psi at idle, but didn't have temp gauge then. Ben

I really don't like the idea that the Police can take DNA on an arrest for a reason non related to the charge. Fair enough if a person is convicted then I believe taking DNA is a good idea. It all comes down to being presumed innocent before being proved guilty. I believe the same should happen for taking fingerprints also. But forget about the govt using DNA against people, how will the lawmakers provide enough room for reasonable doubt to be established if say your friend/partner/family member/neighbour/workmate etc obtains your DNA sample and uses that against you? DNA cannot be seen as the all knowing eye of circumstantial evidence. I work in IT and a few employers have my biometrics (just fingerprint) for various accesses. I wonder also when the day will come that a sample of my DNA will be required. I'm no Jerome, that's for sure. Ben

Yeah that's what I also thought, but I didn't think any body kits were available for the territory? Oh forgot to add that it had a small rear spoiler on the roof too. Ben

I happened to see one of these FPV TT yesterday in Sydney just before the Harbour Tunnel going south. Only saw from behind and unfortunately not enough time to take a pic. It's a little different from what the current Motor magazine portrays, not as aggressive, but looks pretty good. The rear badging on the LHS has the Territory badge as usual with chrome FPV badge underneath. On the RHS there was a GHIA badge. There was no F6 badge at all and no turbo badge. Also there were more chrome FPV badges on the sides down low behind the rear doors. The rear bar is beefier and extends right from the rear guard bulges. In the centre of the rear bar the usual FPV grey coloured insert, didn't look like there was mesh but I could be wrong. The one I saw was in white. I'm assuming it was a final production car, just had normal NSW plates. Either some Ford exec driving or perhaps some lucky journo got their hands on for testing. Ben

They're actually the same size in length, just thinner at the ends instead of rounded like the standard ones. They are shaped like an arrow head a little. Got them on eBay and the seller has adaptors to suit a few makes. Painted them myself though I wasn't perfect, another thing on my list to take care of one day! Ben

Haha good calls Yeah the hubs show up bad with the flash. They're relatively new too from PBR but the rear disc surface is not used close to the centre. I guess that's why Ford use those dust shields! One day I'll get around to painting them black. The mirrors are after market also, another DIY project I did. Here's a better pic. Ben

Here's my Venom T with the black style. They are the first type that came out so slightly different indicator setup to the ones above. I reckon the ones above look better actually. Originally I had problems fitting and returned a set and then found another seller that modified them to fit better. I believe with the newer style above the fitting issues would be solved by now, at least that's what I was told. They look much better than the crappy pic! Cheers.

Thanks, yeah it seems alot of oil temp senders are that shape with metal extending from the thread like that. My oil pressure one ends at the thread, but has a big chamber, kinda looks like an old bicycle bell. Oh I knew you would ask how much, probably not the most expensive sump plug ever, but $100 must be close for a Ford. Can't really argue with the quality and speed at which he made it for me though. Ben

Not sure if that was already done, as the copper washer is already fixed to the plug and also extends about 0.5mm beyond the metal of the plug. It's not just sitting in place, it's made to be integrated to together is as best as I can describe. I think I'd have a very hard time trying to pry it off, so it's there to stay. As far as I'm aware the whole plug ready to use, well at least that's what I wanted so I'll give it a go and monitor for leaks. Ben

Amazing, got a call early this morning from Crawford who finished my sump plug! Had a good yarn again with him, he does all sorts of things for people, including engine parts for a couple of old 1985 season F1 Ferraris that someone bought. They are from during the turbo days of F1 and they put out ~700hp and run 3.5 bar boost. Anyway he is an interesting character to say the least and did a fantastic job for me even though it's such a small thing. Check out the pics. From top to bottom, standard sump plug, new custom plug and oil temp sender. He even put a nice copper collar around the edge going to the block to avoid leaks. Here's one with the sender screwed in to the new plug. The hex for the new plug is 15mm just like the original. View from external thread looking back shows the hole going straight through to allow oil to get to the sender. Very happy, now just have to put it all together on the weekend. Ben

Thanks Adrian, should look good. I rang a few places today and found a local retired guy with a heap of machinery in his garage that does one off jobs etc. Well I'm going to go down the sump plug route, I've commissioned him to make a new plug from scratch for me. With the original plug being 12mm x 1.75 there was only going to be 0.9mm of metal left on each side of it after drilling out. So the new plug will basically have a longer hex part to accomodate the bulk of the sender and a smaller diameter hole going through the plug for the oil to get in there. I'll take a pic when it's all finished as well. Ben

haha and get him to sign it too. Nah I'm not that cruel, well at least when I'm on my best behaviour, I'll give the guy a fair go.

Thanks for the replies guys. Wish I was back in high school metalwork class, oh the projects I could have done by now! Russ that setup looks like what I need, glad it can be done. Adrian, how's the depth for the 1/8" threads compared with the length of your oil temp sender? I have an autometer sender and it is too long or the brass hex rod of the current t-piece is not big enough in diameter. Looks good the pic you made up, please post a pic of the real thing! Cheers. Ben

Thanks. Yep I'll have to get myself a nice new FPV jacket or jumper or something. Already looking! Hmmm yeah I thought that last option would be popular, haha. I can't help thinking now more than ever that Lowndes should have won the 06 season!

Got a curious letter in the mail last night from Motor magazine. They've been kind enough to draw me from their recent subscription competition as the winner of an "Ultimate V8 Supercar Race Experience". Can't bloody believe it to say the truth, lucky I was sitting down when I opened the letter! Here's what it is. - Trip for 2 to either Sandown or Eastern Creek - Pick up from the airport by the '06 drivers' champion Rick Kelly - Personal tour of the V8 pits - VIP passes for the race - Return airfares for 2 and 2 nights accommodation - Signed race apparel and a special Sonax car care kit The missus is keen to come, all there is to choose is whether to go to Eastern Creek or Sandown. As we live in Sydney already it's a clear choice, We'll be going to Sandown in September hopefully. The letter says I'll be contacted within 28 days by the supplier to organise everything. Geez still can't believe it, am I dreaming? My commiserations to all my fellow Motor mag subscribers! Ben