I have just been down in Perth and had a look at some AU 3, XR 8s., 2 at Centre Ford in the city and and 1 at McInerney Ford out at Morley.
Need some help though.Are all AU3 220 kw. Different heads on these or what? Were any AU2 the same motor.
I noticed two of the vehicles have a Tickford plate on the inner drivers side mudgaurd stating what enhancements were fitted. Is this like a SVO or a build sheet was in days gone? There is a VGC one for sale here in Darwin as well. No tag on the inner gaurd though.
They all have a rocker cover badge stating 220 and built by "blah blah". Are any of these builders more reputable than others. $30 to 40k seems to be the going rate . These vehicles seem to be good value for money and the I am guessing it would not be too hard to get the foll potential out of these windsors. Where can I find this info.

As far as I can tell the info below is correct, but if anyone can enlighten more please do.

XR's,
Au 2 were the 200kw engine.
Au 3 were 220.
The 220's and the last of the 200kw's were built by tickford.

T series,
All engines were built by Tickford.


On Ford Forums there is a thread running about the tickford engines, who the builders were, how many k's they have on them and how they are going. My engine is built by a gent by the name of H. Bandula. Many of the reports on FF from owners of engines built by him show he built a good engine.

As for extracting more out of them, the options are endless depending on how much you want to spend.

the plate you refer to on the rh shock tower showns and tickford options fitted to the vehicle ie momo steering wheel, momo gear knob, body kit, gas conversion (yes we have wrecked a factory xr8 with tickford gas) brakes ect.

series 1 was 185 Kws series 2 was 200Kws and Series 3 was 220Kws. So yeah your correct.

And yeah the I.D plate is just a genuine enhancement plate.

Mine says Body kit and 17 inch Alloys.

In melbourne you can get them for a bit less then $30,000 but thats along way from Darwin.

Thanks for the reply. Also when was the change over from series 2 to 3. Now without looking at the compliance, is there an obvios "jewellery" type difference? As far as I can tell these too look fukn similar. Seen some six cylinder jobs withe sereies 3 on the boot - I think. I am on night shift so have 12 hours to try and find this out but help is appreciated.
Regards

differnt rear bar and sideskirts are standard on the au3
thats about it.

AU2 2001 june came the 220 kw , with the cast iron head, larger throttle body (70mm ), matched port inlet manifold and a revised camshaft.

if you plug the details (vin/sido) into myford.com.au it may tell you some more...

I dearly wanted an AUIII XR8, and that is what I was shopping for. I had about $30k to spend, then I stumbled upon my AUI XR8, with all the mods I wanted to do, and plenty that I could never afford.
I ended up getting it for $22k, in immaculate condition and practically ready for circuit racing.
An old saying a rich property investor once told me:
"The deal of a lifetime, comes along once a week!"
I'm stoked.
Keep looking dude, and you are sure to find an awesome AU !