I bought this off a mate a while ago it was running at the time but in need of a clutch cable, new ignition few other bits and pieces and a massive birthday/ overhaul.
Some might have seen it before on here its Southys old car which was sold then i bought it about a year and half later.
Got it going and cleaned up as best i could, put in a EF XR6 interior and few other bits and pieces then realised its probably going to be more trouble than its worth to get re-registered and drive around when you can hardly get away with a slightly modified car these days anyway.
Next came the idea of putting some semi slicks on it and having a go at a fun/ muck around day down at Haunted hills and that's i think where i got the sudden rush of wanting to do them more.
Its had a fair amount of work done now to get it running as good as id like and handle a bit better than just lowered with wheels and tryes ill add the pics as i start to take some more but my first proper track day is next weekend down at phillip island so im hoping after a tune during the week it'll be ready to go.



After a wash and polish




First brake Upgrade before Haunted hills, DBA slotted and dimpled rotors with penrite high temp fliud and bendix pads. It auctually worked really well for a basic upgrade and would be perfect on the street if on a budget but after 2 laps or some high speed heavy braking id say you'll encounter some brake fade on the next application.


Next i started looking at the suspension and trying to tighten it up a bit more, its got SL springs at the moment with pedders shocks which was already on the car it seems to do alright for the time being but was just a bit twitchy under mid corner load so got some heavy duty whiteline swaybars to go underneath it which made a noticeable difference already from just driving to and from getting new tyres and alignment done.
Also put in the camber adjustors and are now running about 3 deg on the front.






Next on the cards was to upgrade the brakes again i didnt want to test the friendship of the standard size at the end of philly main straight so bought the Ultra Performance Components (UPC) upgrade kit off ebay for a lot cheaper than their retail price... stoked!
As you can see there is a fairly noticeable difference between the two caliper sizes alone!






Next thing on the cards was trying to make the car as light as possible, ive ripped out a ton of s**t including every last piece of sound proofing behind the dash which was probably the worst job of all so far...
Then i found a set of seats i was happy with so that i could dummy them up and take it down to get the roll-cage measured up etc.
More pics to come later...

Looking good so far really do like the choice of brakes. Maybe a stupid question but why rip out all the sound proofing?

Thanks basically want it to be as light as I can possibly make it without going to the next level it's only ever going to see track instead of everyday driving so I don't mind the engine noise for the time I'm in it plus if anything is about to go pear shaped up front at least might hear it a bit easier beforehand..

that brake kit keep it E series offset? And what wheel size minimum?

This looks like a fun project! Should upgrade the brake lines to braided as well when you get the chance, will help firm it all up. I assume you will be upgrading the shocks to something better?

Nah it did bring it out a bit and you will need 17" minimum which just clears.
Depending on how much tyre profile you have and how wide/ big your wheels are you might be able to make it fit, I was still able to get orig 17" x 8.5 wide EL gt rims under there, but you will have to at least roll the guards and even then it still might be tight? I rolled the guards and put 3 deg of camber on it for the track and they fit perfect.
Mine are only 17" rims and the caliper just clears but I had to take off the lead balance weights on inside lip of rim and get them moved over to the middle so they didn't foul on the top of the caliper.

damn. I want an upgrade that keeps it E series offset AND can run the original 16" wheels on my SVO

So First track day went well and car went pretty good considering last minute rush, just a few little things to sort out now before look at another one but the main concern i had was after about 5-6 laps the temp was up a bit higher than normal so i had to keep coming in and let it cool down again..
I tried moving the number plate to the side and cutting a decent hole in the front bumper to help get some more air flow through it but it only made a difference of an extra lap or 2 and it was getting hot again.
It seems that the intercooler mounted in front is covering about 80% of the radiator and i was wondering if any air that does then pass through and onto the radiator will be hot already?
I had the original radiator pulled apart unblocked and new side tanks put on as well as a new head gasket and the head crack tested which showed no problems.
also spaced the bonnet up off the guards a bit with washers between the bonnet and hinges and also removed the rubber strip from under the rear of bonnet/ top of firewall area to try and remove as much heat from engine bay as possible but im almost out of ideas apart from the actual radiator is not sufficient anymore or i need even better air flow in/ out of engine bay?
suggestions appreciated If anyone has any idea or had similar problem before


Head going back on wednesday night just in time for the weekend!




Turn 12 onto main straight:



Turn 1:



Turn 1:

Cebco 330mm with knock on weights on the back of the wheel. I had them on my NC and DL wheels just cleared.

cheers Brett. i'll check them out

Some more pics:

Mint project bro. Looking 2 pull off something similar on my 97 XR6 but keep her streetable. Where did u start after the exhaust / intake etc?

Cheers mate basically I bought the car with turbo setup already on it from being road registered so was just a matter of stripping the car from anything not required, but to keep it registered you would have to just look at taking out the back seats spare wheel and anything else that is easy to remove and replace once finished at track.
Currently I'm looking at some bilstein shocks and trying better the suspension which will hopefully help it corner a bit easier. Also got a wolf V550 ecu to get it properly tuned
And hopefully squeeze a bit more power out of it.
Sway bars definitely worth their weight and if you were looking at some light track use I'd be investing in some of them to start with, as well as some decent brake pads and fluid at least to minimize the chance of any brake fade.

Choice ! Thanks bro. Would b mean if you could take a few in car vids boosting on that beast haha. All the best. FORDS ALL THE DAYS

How did the brakes hold up?
Seen the kit on ebay but slightly hesitant on buying as it changes the track width on the front