Thats not a stupid idea. CMS do drive in drive out conversion for about $5500 (i think) if you supply the engine. Engines can be had cheap, or hit the salvage auctions and pick up a complete BA/BF for under $1000 including a tow truck truck home.
Last time I was at the auctions, a rear ended BF with 140 000km went for $500. (check my BA build thread and see what you can get for very little money)
Then add in some pacemakers and an off the shelf exhaust with a tune and you'll miles ahead in power and have a smoother more economical car.

Plus off your donor car, use the BA/BF front calipers with larger discs - good brake upgrade as well.

takes a look at your thread to see what money is needed for a BA XR wreck

ok now

here are my thoughts on "mods"

just get a basic cam , full exhaust including high flow cat, and be done with it all can be had for under $600-800 and hey thats only a month of saving up

she should have plenty of power stock just stick some 15/40 oil due to the km's but as said these can last a long time

does she leak any fluids ?

oh and cheeked out your youtube video , just go all out with a double din DVD player etc spend a grand or 2 on audio if you must

No noticeable leaks.. but then again im not exactly anything close to mechanicly minded, There's not oil pissing out all over my driveway or the engine bay though.

Secondly, yeah im Upgrading to 2x Kicker 15" Solobaric L7's & DVD Head unit

I almost agree with everything until you lost me at "worth something" at the end... don't ever expect to pour coin into a car and get it back, that's what banks are for. The key is being happy with it without spending a small mortgage on it.

Don't be fooled by newer cars either, I'm selling my BF mont to keep my AU xr6 vct ute.... sure I know which engine I would rather, the twin cam, but I know which car was built better,more reliable and has already lasted longer with harder treatment.... The au was and still is a good unit. BA's were worse than EA's and BF's are still only the ED's of the B series.... not to say you can't make a good car out of them but they weigh twice as much also.

Thats why the twin cam conversion makes so much sense. Particularly if it can work with vct off AU pcm. BA was only single vct with locked gears. could do the same, or just disable vct and run verniers.

speaking of killing VCT on a BA engine

i wonder if we could get a DOHC to sound like this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWzgaQe1 ... re=related

worth something as in, the R8 worth maybe 10k in 3 years as opposed to a modified & butchered AU worth $0

LOL my missus civic is looking scared.


I'd still rather drive a boosted au.

Example a: my mate owning a vtss ute and having the number plate light fall out 2 weeks after driving it out of the show room to be told "that's a common problem" and lol it does happen alot more than I thought.

Example b: said mate upgrading to a whatever poofter spec ute comes with oversized brakes, a 6 litre, 6 speed and giant rims. No spare though, and no option, only a tube of tyre fill as a repair kit, that's heaps handy in Australia....

I'm just biased as I think new cars are mass produced piles of shyte engineered by school kids designed to last little after warranty. Apparently I'm getting old.

nah your not getting old its been happening alot and lot more

its surprising the AU's hold up so much abuse / km and still run i don't think any B series can hold up to as much abuse as an AU , ive been there done that and the BA s**t a trans and diff plus front brakes and a whole lot of other stuff all under 120K km on the clock

while the AU just kept going with 260K on the clock and a very hard life

mate I can shadow your exact story, the bf had all the mentioned problems by 120,000kms and has been absolutely babied, I loved that car, and it's turned out to be the last ford for me. My au, I know has been driven hard (at the least) since day dot. towed massive loads that were far over-rated most the way across oz without so much as a tranny cooler and no decent services after warranty. at 270,000 the only problem I have is lifters, which every ford six twin cam or not has troubles with because ford just can't combine hydraulics & longevity, it's just not their thing. If they were smart they would go back to solid or step up to variable hydraulic with controlled valving and obsolete the dodgey vct setup.

Moot point now though, I was tossing up throwing a twin cam in mine but if they're going to stop making them next year then there will probably be more au parts floating around than b series making them cheaper to work on.

finally someone has been through what i have

thing was the BA was not mine and me and my "best mate" didn't have any respect for it at all it was pretty much a set two or 3 sets 17s a week diff hasn't gone yet though thats what the owner says who has no idea

but the thing is the old AU i had was in police chases the lot ( previous owner had it stolen and cops couldn't catch it) bought from a salvage auction

only time will tell with these BA motors etc , we are lucky this is not AFF they would be going of there nut there all B series lovers

BA are still less problematic then EF/Ls were.
When I started in this trade the AU was current, the BA wasn't even in the media yet.

Falcons came along way from EA to get to the EL and the AU although getting a bad rap due to styling was and still is the best built Falcon of the lot.

From what I've seen the BA is still a better build mechanically then the EL. It's on par with the AU if you put the diff mount problems and diff failures to one side.
The engines are tough, it's very hard to sell a BA/F engine. and the only reason you can sell AU engines is because people back fit them to the E series.

I've seen BA taxis with 600 000 - 700 000km on the original diff, all be it with a new mounts.
The autos still do just as many KM as the AU if you service them properly.

I think part of the problem with these cars is Ford pushing the service intervals out so far and in the case of the Auto, calling it sealed for life. These cars don't get serviced often enough and all these problems go on un-repaired for so long that they cause further damage.

In order to keep service costs down, a lot of workshops won't change diff oil, wont recommend auto services, won't periodically flush cooling systems, brake and clutch fluid or power steering fluids because they are too scared people won't like the price and get scared off and go to an other workshop.

Then you get places like Ultratune etc that do cheap fixed price services, news flash, they won't do the work if they are not making money, In order to make money at those prices there is stuff they are not doing and they are using cheap s**t parts and fluids. Doesn't go hand in hand trouble free motoring. There is a reason a BA costs over $220 to service in my workshop, and it's not profit margins. Stuff gets done right in my workshop, If you don't like the price I will not hesitate to recommend you find a different mechanic.

Bought Penrite HPR-10 oil fully synthetic with extra zinc or something? 10-50.

Apparently, when you give your car a hard time the oil consistancy changes giving your engine more protection, whether or not this is true, im unsure, but i'll give it a go.

Oil $56

Also bought Bosch motorsport Leads $110.

K&N Reusable Hi flow panel filter $85
K&N Oil Filter $35 Wrench on wrench off style.
Bosch Fuel Filter $25

Still to buy,

Diff Oil, Suggested brands? and what rating? i have no idea of the diff oils or where to buy them.
Gearbox Oil?
Brake fluid?
P/S Fluid
Spark plugs, I Have found an Autolite spark plug dealer locally, but im unsure which model # they use in the JMM Dev packages, anyone got any idea on what the model number is on the ones that give those few extra kW