Hey Guys,
I've recently made the conversion from Holden to ford and purchased an AU II Fairmont (Auto) with factory IRS & LSD (yay), The car is really clean however i do have concern with the High Km's On the engine.

I do have a MAX Budget of around $15,000 Long term for this car, but as most projects go, as my love increases for this car, im sure i will exceed my planned budget.

Im mainly after a tough streeter, I am mainly looking for bottom end power, I have no need to go over 140kmh although id like to get there as quick as possible.

Engine seems to be running strong, with no signs of leaks or unwanted noises, but due to the amount of K's, should i be doing work to the engine, or should i just replace it and start with alot lower KM engine (under 200,000), Also if i replace would it be worth changing to the VCT Engine.

I know very little about fords and i've been looking into what options i have and what order to get them in, also suggestions of brands would be good too

In order i was looking towards
Suspension
Diff gears 3.71 or 3.9s?
Extractors, Xorst
SS air intake
Cam
Hi Stall, Bigger Trans Cooler, Shift Kit


Also what brands/Specs/Advice can you give me for the above?

do i need to go a 3" Exhaust? Or will a 2.5 be sufficient? I don't want to buy a 2.5" Exhaust then 6 months down the track have to upgrade to a 3", I would like to keep it N/A for now, but i would like the upgrades i do to it to be also effective if i decide to go with a raptor S/C Kit, as i may want to do that later down the track.

Unsure where to go from here besides a good tune.

If i keep the old engine, id like to do a FULL Service as soon as next week, Including Plugs, Leads, Flushing,Injector cleaner, Fuel, Air, oil filters. Auto & Diff service.

Any reccomended brands for the servicing parts?
I was leaning towards K&N Filters, Nulon Street & Track Fully synthetic oil, & Flushes, Iridium Plugs, Not sure on what size leads and brands etc, id like to futureproof as much as possible with the possibility of future forced induction

Sorry for all the questions but i'd rather ask then spend money on s**t i don't need.
Cheers.

P.S, Here's my new girl



Also in the cards is a respray (same colour), Tint, Lowered, Stockies (:

Fairmont with IRS should already have the VCT engine.

With $15 000 I would just upgrade to a BF XR6 or a 2008 -2009 FG There are a number of FG G6s and XR6s for under $15 000 on carsales.

Definitly has IRS, But no VCT Engine, Unless engine has been replaced? No idea, as i said it's a longterm budget.so that's out of the question, and really don't want to take out a loan (:

nice,

these engines run well over 1million kms in taxis
and are known for high kms

if it feels strong and goes well leave it!

make sure it does not burn or leak oil, a compression test will give a good idea as well

if that comes back good,

then full service on the engine

new fluids for coolant/brakes/tranny/diff/power steer etc
unless u have full service history and know when it was last done

then hit up the suspension bushes all round
might as well drop it to XR or lower at the same time
will need a camber kit in the front too
grab some 3.45 gears
set of pacemaker headers and a 2.5" zorst will do the trick
screw the ss off tickford snorkel with k+n airfilter
cam meh no idea

no need for a bigger stall
but bigger tranny cooler is a great idea as well as shift kit


screw going to a ba/fg the AU is awesome

For that sort of budget, you could build a beast! The AU2 is a good base. The AU engine has the larger exhaust valves (like the earlier XR6) and the twin-pot front brakes as standard.

Falcon sixes are only just run in at 200,000kms . Well-maintained, most are still going strong at 330,000kms. Need to check the compression, oil burning, maybe a leak-down test to ensure your basic engine is strong. If your rings or valves are dodgy, a good low-mileage replacement engine may be money better spent.

Changing to the VCT is a lot of expense for minimal gain. I think it limits your cam options too. You can do just as well with the right cam choice and tuning.

If you want to keep your options open to super/turbocharge later, you need to leave the compression alone. You probably don't want to remove the head unless you have to anyway.

Assuming you are staying N/A and leaving the head on, and assuming you want to retain a bit of the Fairmont class, here's some suggestions.

Get your breathing right first:
- SS Inductions Big Mouth snorkel (makes noticeable induction noise, so you may want to stick with the quieter AU/BA XR8/XR6T snorkel which will give you almost as much benefit).
- any performance panel filter (K&N, Air Hog, BMC, Kingdragon, Simota, etc); this is not a bottleneck on an N/A engine, so minimal benefit (but more noise) from a pod filter.
- 3-inch airbox exit (see tech docs)
- BA induction tube (or Territory, if you have the room), or a custom 3-inch mandrel-bent
- stock throttle body is fine below 5000rpm, go bigger if you want more top-end
- good headers - Pacemaker PH4480 "Competition" has a good reputation and sound (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbXk7EmbyZA)
- high-flow cat - at 330,000kms it probably needs replacing anyway
- mandrel-bent cat-back exhaust. The consensus is 2.5-inch is plenty if you are staying N/A, but go to 3-inch if you are contemplating adding boost.

The XR6 ECU and 300kpa fuel pressure regulator will probably help at this point.

Your cam choice is critical and depends especially on what your are going to do with the driveline. Many Fordmodders have converted to manual trans, so can tolerate more cam. But if you are sticking with the auto, you don't want to give away too much bottom end. The BTR 4-speed has a really long first gear and stall of about 2100rpm, so launch is marginal at best. A hotter cam will only make this worse. Assuming you are staying with the auto in keeping with the character of the Fairmont:
- modify the stock convertor to a higher stall (2500-2700 rpm); this retains lockup and highway economy, but the engine hits the torque peak faster.
- higher diff ratio: factory XR6 3.45 would make a big difference, and correct speedo gears are readily available. 3.7 would be better, but not sure about availability of speedo correction.
- The factory shift on my AU2 XR6 is about right at full-throttle, but you may want to tighten yours up with an electronic shift kit or adjusting line pressure via a J3 chip.
- At 330,000 I would be surprised if the LSD is still working. Fix this at the same time as getting your ratios sorted. Then refill it with Redline Synthetic 80W140 Gear Oil (already has the additive for LSDs).

With the above driveline mods, a medium-performance cam (a couple steps hotter than XR6) would be quite driveable. You would need a custom J3 chip to make it run right (TI Performance is good). At this stage, some dyno tuning would be a good investment.

This should get you over 200hp/150kw at the treads and a 0-100kmh in the low/mid 6 seconds.

Before you even start, get the basic servicing right:
- fuel injectors replaced or at least cleaned and flow-tested
- coil pack tested, replaced if necessary
- good 8mm+ ignition leads (I like Bosch Motorsport and Champion steel-core)
- good spark plugs: NGK have a good reputation. Iridium don't perform any better, but last a lot longer. Projected-tip plugs (eg, Autolite 985) might give you a couple more kws.
- factory fuel filter
- good oil filter (look for maximum 30-micron "absolute" rating): Ryco, Amsoil, Royal Purple, Donaldson "high efficiency", Ford Racing Performance, etc.
- good synthetic oil: eg, Nulon, Royal Purple, Amsoil. Some highly promoted brands don't necessarily perform as well.
- use good fuel: at least 95 octane - 98 if it's consistently available where you drive - then get your chip tuned to use the extra performance available (more ignition advance).
- clean the throttle body (spray available from Repco, Supercheap, etc) and intake manifold and ports (Subaru sell a proprietary spray that works well for this, I think Threebond do one as well).
- replace your thermostat with a slightly cooler one (84-85C, from memory, rather than 91C) - gives a bit more power and knock-resistance without screwing up the ECU.

Brakes: I love the QFM HPX pads on my AU2, even with stock rotors and calipers. Grooved rotors (eg, DBA, RDA) and braided stainless lines would help too.
Suspension: I haven't touched my XR6 suspension, but there's lots of suspension experience on Fordmods. I love the stock XR6 IRS handling, but better shocks would be very worthwhile.
Tyres: The single most effective investment in your car. The difference in cost between average and excellent performance is only about $100 a tyre. I have 235/45R17 Goodyear GSD3s on both my XR6s and they are fantastic. Goodyear Assymetric 1 or 2 are reported to be even better. Bridgestone Adrenaline and Conti Sport Contact 2 test well; top-of-the-range GT Radial and Maxxis are good value too.

Enough from me. Hope I haven't bored you.

I actually read every single word you posted, and apreciate your effort in the post, the LSD Seems to be working fine (Hasnt singled on me yet ), although i've only done 5 or so 5-10 second tread tearers on it, Any suggestions for upgraded coil packs or injectors when i replace them? or just stick with stock? figured i mays well upgrade those while replacing rather then just replacing then replacing in the future.., Also, there would be no Loss in performance upgrading to oversized leads would there? it would just be a waste of money? If so i'll get 9 or 10mm leads and that way im future proofed till my next service atleast.

Fairmont ghias had the vct engine. Regular fairmonts got the normal engine. Also IRS was an option in the regular fairmonts but standard in the ghias. My brother has a live axle AU fairmont and its a very smooth ride.

Glad I could help.

If your LSD is working fine, your 'mont has probably not been abused - maybe a bit of a find. Replacing the fluid with Redline Synthetic will help keep it working for you - especially as it sounds like its life is about to get a bit harder .

Yeah, I always upgrade when I replace, if a sensible upgrade is available.

The factory coilpack is fine, and I believe is the only one available for it. I understand they are reasonably cheap on Ebay anyway. I did read somewhere that there are high performance coilpacks from the US (made for the Mustang V6?) that can be adapted to the Falcon as they use the same basic ECU (EECV). But that's probably overkill, as there are some very powerful boosted Falcons running just fine on the factory coilpack.

The AU injectors are the 4-hole type, so are very good. With the XR6 fuel pressure regulator and ECU, they flow more than enough for even an extreme N/A build. I have actually just bought a set to upgrade my EF (which has the 1-hole injector). The critical thing is for all 6 injectors to flow within a few percent of each other (thus, the flow testing). Otherwise, best case is you are giving away performance. You have only one oxygen sensor, so the ECU will target an average AFR, but some cylinders will be rich (lost power) and some will be lean (lost power), and it will knock more easily (with less ignition advance). Worst case is five cylinders will be slightly rich and one cylinder way lean, eventually destroying the one piston.

Any performance 8mm ignition lead set should be more than enough on an N/A engine running petrol. Boosted and LPG engines are harder to ignite and more sensitive to borderline leads. Going bigger probably won't hurt, but cost more and won't help either. Plus, I have heard of quality problems (eg, ends coming off) with some brands of 10mm. I have had good results with the Bosch Motorsport leads (and they are a lovely blue colour ) and they come with a 3-year guarantee.

Paying rego this wednesday, and next week comes ordered in ALOT of servicing parts aswell as thermostat and a few others thanks to you!, cheers for the help and check out my build thread to if you'd like to keep up to date with what i do to her, will be spending around $300 a week on average on her (not a great deal, but enough to keep things interesting, & is as far as my budget will allow)

Also, Another question, Sorry if this seems stupid, If i upgrade to the XR6 ECU, is there a specific one i should be looking for? Im on ebay at the moment & I see one that's for the VCT engine, & One orther
"Ford Falcon AU 2 6cyl Tickford XR6 Auto ECU Computer in good working order. Catch code is 12VC. This ECU will not work in the vehicles fitted with Tickford VCT engine"

Does it make a difference which one i buy, is there any preference? Cheers.

VCT ECU is different to Standard...so the XR6 ECU you quoted is fine.

In saying that, the ECU won't make any difference unless you have the Tickford bits in the engine (Camshaft and I believe fuel regulator). So upgrading just the ECU won't give you much more.

Id be doing the fuel regulator as suggested above at the same time, im overly excited to start the process now >.<

My suggestion is to consider dropping in a BA DOHC engine.

Then you will have a much better base to work off and factory turbo options for the engine as well.

There is a fair bit of work involved, and if you get a workshop to do it could eat up half of your budget, but the rewards are well worth the effort.

Cheers
BenJ

just stop right now, just stop.

your gonna invest a couple hundred a week in this AU to turn it into a 15k modded beast. Go out and finance a VXII Clubsport R8 for the same coin and end up with a better car with better everything, and will still be worth something when your finished having fun

And not be able to drive it untill im off my P's, Cops down here are pretty retarded, hence keeping it NA till im off my P's then strapping on the raptor, There not completely stupid though, somehow don't think i could get away with driving a clubby around.