Hey everyone, I picked this up the day before yesterday for a trade of my XF ute and a bushbasher XF with a good engine and a 5 speed. My mate that traded it to me had no need/want for it and was green with envy as another one of our mates just bought an XH ute with a few mods that has 199.1 HP at the treads and now he's in pursuit of a fun ute aswell.

It's a 98 model VT (if you don't like the fact it's not a ford, don't post please)

Good points:

GETRAG 5 speed manual from factory
Good paint
17's
New tires
Everything is in good condition, no bumps/rattles etc (it's rattle less than my AU)
GETRAG 5 speed manual from factory

Bad points:

The GETRAG needs to be recoe'd/replaced
Apparently the springs in the back are worn and make it unstable at speeds of 140kmh + (I've had it to 140 and didn't feel anything untoward, private road ofcourse) so is this an honest reason to make a car unstable? It really seems to handle quite well and I couldn't fault it, but maybe I was just lucky.

The getrag makes horrid crunching/spinning noises going into second and all the other gears if you get up it, you can make no noise in any of the gears if you drive like an absolute grandmother. Because I have no idea wtf is wrong with it, I won't be driving it until it's fixed.

My plans are to fix/replace the GETRAG, lower it, put a stereo in it (the old one was taken out), give it a good clean as it's filthy, and sell it to buy something else, VT's aren't my favourite car.

Here are some pics:





So once the gearbox is fixed, I am confident that there is absolutely nothing wrong with the car, it starts first go, has 212xxx km, handles great and has a 5speed. How much do you guys think I could fetch for it? It really is in great condition apart from the gearbox.


OH and it has a new clutch I think I got a good deal.

those getrag boxes are noisy factory. and they run DXIII auto trans oil. and you fill them through the reverse light switch hole. try changing the oil.

Nah man, the box is f**k... You put the clutch in whilst it's in gear and give it a rev and it sounds like it's eating itself. It's not a tight box making a bit of noise, it's like

Drive
Clutch in
Change gear
Let clutch out
CRUNCH/WHIRRING SOUND

Sounds like a mixture of crunching/whirring with a bearing s**t itself in the middle.

The old Getrag box never seemed to be quite as good as the tremec ones...

Can't say I've seen many good second handers for sale either...

Money wise for it? I don't VT's are worth all that much anymore? Are the like 6 grand or something I think I saw a couple on ebay for once... I'd check there for a re-sale value on it...

Cheers,
Tim

ah righto. not just a shagged input shaft bearing?

Well mate, if I got over $900 for it, I'm in front... That's what I was gunna sell my two utes for. I was thinking of fixing it and selling it for 5k.

WILDEB - Not sure mate, I've heard it could be synchro's, spigot bearing, or all of the above. I'm gunna take the box out next weekend and then give it to someone who knows what they are doing.

synchros will be noisy when changing gears. once a gear is selected the sychros aren't used. spigot bearing will be noisy when your foot is on the clutch. not off. the same with the thrust bearing. off the clutch under load will be input shaft bearing. that one bearing gets alot of s**t

It has a horrid noise when your foot is on the clutch and you rev it

It has a horrid noise after you change gears and let your foot off the clutch

It's noisy when you change gears if you aren't driving really gently

So it sounds like all of the above? Lol.

Sold it today for $2,500 as is, no RWC or rego. Made a killing, could never have hoped for that whilst selling the XF.

On the lookout for something else to buy/trade with.