Hey guys,
Long time; no thread.

Anyway, Im looking at pissing off my POS Honda, and buying a proper vehicle.
I've been looking at BA XR6Ts on carsales, and all are pretty affordable for me at the moment, but was wondering if there are any common problems with them that are to looked for when purchasing.

Common issues Ive come across/heard of for the B Series are Diff mounts, centre bearings, plastic seat trims and the bonnet release handle snapping.

Anything else that forced induction introduces into the mix?
I see a lot of BA XR6Ts on carsales etc, with 130k on them, wondering if something magically happens at the range?

Thanks guys.

not sure on other issues, but when my mate bought his xr6t, it didnt feel that flash boost wise, after a bit or reading on the net, found out u have to clean/lubricate the boost solenoid in behind the battery. after that went a s**t harder

Id be looking at the ba s2 or bf
Dont get a 5 spd man pedal or 4 spd s**t in a turbo.
Id be checking engine differences like ba s1 I am told they only got low comp pistons but ba s2 got rods and pistons?
Things like that need to be researched. Pull the air pipe off the turbo
And check for shaft play. The diffs in the b series do bearings. Also check the rear centre bush
If its buggered you can damage the rear diff hat from too much play

And dont expect interior to stay in 1 piece for long.

Yeah, seats ted to shed their plastic surrounds.

The only problems I have with my BA is the need to constantly having to adjust the handbrake cable.
Other than that whatever model you buy will have its little issues. Mk1 etc.
Honestly my BA has had no issues with broken trims, seats , radiators , auto etc.
I suppose finding a good one is hit and miss.
Find a good BA and you will be fine.

having just got one myself.. I have noticed a few things.

1. My 4spd is dying.. the rear output shaft has loads of slop and it burns though extension housing seals and bushes.. I dont' care because I'm looking for a t56 conversion for it. The turbos seem to thrash the BTR boxes.
2. hood lining.. I had to buy a new one as my old one was sagging.. I dyed my new one black and love it now, but if you don't want to go to the effort....... I noticed that the hood lining is much worse on cars owned by smokers.
3. Key barrel. make sure it is still spring loaded.. they can be fixed if they don't (either by replacing the steering column or doing some custom work) but better if they don't need it.
4. rear bush you already know about.. a b**ch to change if you need to.. apparently much easier if you cut a big hole where your spare wheel goes. (saw that tip on fordforums I think)
5. BA's are up over 10 years old now potentially.. any car that old will have some issues.. but I think the motors of the BA onwards falcons are the most bullet proof they have ever been. I know a guy who wrecks AU onwards falcons and he throws lots of engines out because he can't sell them.
6. The handbrake is rubbish.. they need constant tightning and half the time you have to pull the wheel off to do it properly. I need to do mine again as I've no handbrake at all now.

IF you can stretch the budget, get a BF with a T56 6 speed manual or a ZF 6 speed auto.. much better than the T5 manual or BTR auto of the BA series.. BF xr6T has bigger brakes too I believe.

I didn't notice anything about the interior other than the drink holder and the hood lining. my seats have all their plastics and the car is otherwise perfect inside. I fixed my drink holder by filing off the plastic connector tabs and sticking a small neodynium magnet under it. and a tiny bit of metal to the inside of the lid.. I actually prefer my method to the factory method as it has a nice click feel to it now and will never break again as it has no flimsy plastic parts or moving parts. (or you can just pick up a BF one that doesn't have the lid, but they don't look as nice IMHO.

good luck,


PS, there is an upside.. cheap parts compared to your honda. I just picked up two DBA front disks from supercheap for 59 bucks each... lets see you do that with the honda. find someone in your area who buys falcons from the insurance auctions and sells them off as parts.. these guys are worth their weight in gold.

Perfect response!
But my budget is what is it (>13k) and Im limited to the BA unfortunately, otherwise Id aim at an FG... and all I can see myself owning in that price range is the 4sp BTR. But its always an option to convert to the T5/56.
And yeah, Honda parts are stupid; sourcing them from inside Australia is near impossible...

Thanks a tonne mate, I'll be sure to start posting up when I grab another Falcon.

Cheers

Have fun mate. I love my ba... And if the btr dies... Who cares? There are loads of them around and they are cheap. . Besides, this is fordmods, its not like its going to stay stock anyway. I just discovered that the intercooler in my BA is out of a typhoon... Put that with the modded turbo I found last month and I'm wondering how modified my car used to be. All part of the fun!

BF II XR6T

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Ford-Falcon- ... 20d9083eb7

Yeah I saw that one, but it's unregistered.
Id rather just jump in and drive

Yeah Im looking forward to either buying something with all the mods, or modding it myself, either way it'll be a good experience.
I don't care too much about crazy power, just something that'll scare my misses that little bit. Enough to make her not want to drive it.. lol

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Ford-Falcon- ... 20d9083eb7
Being from a dealer it will have some form of warranty. Photos make it look schmick. Negotiate hard, you may end up with a bargain.

There's a white BA turbs on Gumtree in castle hill atm with about 400HP for 13K...

Geeze man.. that is a tidy car with fairly low KM.

I'd get that at the drop of a hat if I didn't already have the BA. (but I only paid 7k for the BA)

Taking a car over the pits is a very easy thing in a car like that... check that your lights and heater work and that nothing is leaking and off you go. one day and a hundred and fifty bucks and you have a awesome car you can sell for more once it's registered.

I've gotten old EF and EL's over the pits on the first try so doing a BF would almost be a pleasure by comparison.