is this for the head you ported? seems you have done some research, are you gonna use cleveland valves? i'm thinking about doing something similar for the ef, as it's just the daily. but get someone else to do it at xmas. and drop a v8 in to the ltd as the project. the au xr8 ute looks the good, there's actually someone in auckland that does ba front conversions


i think that's an au ute, but you might like the au front

Hahaha I came across that AU last night, looks pretty sweet!!

Yep, all the valvetrain gear is for the spare head that I'm DIY porting. Valves I'm not 100% sure on. Was planning on just using std size 47mm intake valves, but with a backcut to make them flow better and since I already have a new set of intake valves, I'll most likely use them. Exhaust valves haven't been purchase yet as I'm still sure on. Can't buy 41mm exhaust valves to suit e-series heads anymore (well not in NZ anyway). Was going to just buy a set of std 39mm valves and get them backcut along with a radius put on the outer edge of the valve head to promote better flow around the valve. Other option was to buy some Holden L34 304ci exhaust valves as they are 40.8mm (close enough to 41mm and better than 39mm lol), have the tips turned down to the correct height and have grooves machined into the stems to suit multigroove collets. Would also do the same with the backcut and putting a radius on the outer edge of the valve head.

Just went over to STA Parts and blew $247 on springs and retainers only to get home and find out that the multigroove collets I bought the weekend before don't suit the tapered hole in the Crower retainers. Seems my research wasn't good enough, but with both items being 7 degree and std height, I didn't think there would be an issue until further inspection. Tried the single groove collets I bought for the 351W and they seem to sit in the retainer perfectly and have just noticed now that Crower only does collets with the single groove so I think that probably would have been very handy to know beforehand. Comparing the single groove collets to the multigroove collets, they are much thinner along the taper which is why the multigroove collets wont fit inside the hole. Might have to end up getting the Crow 12700 chromoly retainers and use those with the Crower springs I've got now as the retainers share the same OD and ID. Most importantly the Crow chromonly retainers should suit multigroove collets according to the Crow Cams website. Have just emailed Kiwi Cams down in Palmerston North, hopefully will get a quote sometime during the week for some new retainers





Oh well, we learn from our mistakes. I've just got to learn not to assume things and drop the "she'll be right mate" attitude lol..

I suppose seeing as the single groove collets suit these 87050 retainers, I'll keep them for the 351W and buy another set of springs to go along with them once we get closer to getting that build underway.

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On the way back from the parts place, I went to check out that blue AU XR8 ute. Very nice ute, has extractors and 3" exhaust so it should sound sweet, on closer inspection it had a decent sized aftermarket trans cooler hiding behind the bumper, had an aftermarket stereo setup but the 8g amp power wiring from the battery was some of the dodgiest looking s**t I have ever seen lol. Was pretty keen to find out more about it but the sales guy didn't seem to want to talk to me about it the clueless prick, so I walked out.

Dropped by one of the newer car dealers just up the road from me as my Dad mentioned they had a few Fords there when he walked past yesterday arvo (same car yard he bought his XR6 from back when it was run by the previous dealer). I went there, had a quick look at it and got offered the keys to take it for a spin which I couldn't refuse - too bad the sales guy came with me and also left the car with no petrol so couldn't really give it a good bootful.

2000 AUII XR8 in silver, auto trans, priced at $11,990, 125k on the clock and just entered the yard yesterday. Condition externally wasn't too shabby apart from the lower skirts on the front bar being a bit scraped up along with the usual shopping trolley dings and scratches. Interior wasn't too bad either, just the std cloth material type seats, JL Audio splits up front, Fusion 6x9's in the rear. Told the guy to fire it up and OMG didn't it sound f**k awesome! Instantly knew the car had some engine work, idle seemed to be way too lopey for an AU XR8. Popped the bonnet and the 220 motor had a set of Pacemaker extractors, with what looked to be a 3" exhaust system in stainless steel. Intake piping setup had been redone with 3" stainless bends into a DIY stainless steel sheet metal airbox housing a decent sized K&N pod. Wasn't surprised when the senior sales guy came out and said it had an aftermarket cam in it. Also wasn't surprised when he told me it had 340kw after all the work that had been done, I should have slapped him right then and there

First impressions after the test drive.. It rides so damn smooth compared to the EF, I know they are completely different cars but the AU felt so much more refined. Had a few problems such as the throttle seemed to be severely sensitive and the brakes felt quite s**t to be honest, so those would definitely require attention. The sound from the exhaust made up for everything though, sounded so grunty and the cam gave it a wicked idle, so much so that the rear view mirror would vibrate whilst sitting at the lights which I thought was quite cool lol.

I wish I took my camera with me to get some photos and a video clip of when the sales guy revved it out quite hard around the back to try impress me lol. For some reason it didn't feel as torquey as I was expecting (maybe I expected too much?), but it still picked up pretty good. I dropped it down to 2nd gear to take this tight bend and gave it a light squirt coming out of the bend from 2500rpm and although it sounded terrific, it just didn't seem overly exciting, probably should have given it a bit more of the right foot, but the fuel warning light was on ever since we left the car dealer. Was a good feeling to drive a mildly modded V8 as the first V8 I've been behind the wheel of

They did offer me a ballpark of $3500 trade in for the Fairmont though if I was to go that way. No way I'd let them take it though . They haven't yet added the AU into their stock list on their website, but I'll post up the pictures once they advertise it.

Ash, I'm far from disheartened mate . Just the exhaust note and tough idle alone was tempting me to finance the whole 12k for it then save up to fix up the little issues

I'll still look around and see what other examples pop up, would be nice to find an unmolestered AU XR8 and see how well they go in stock form (ideally I'd want a nice stocker to start with)

nice write up mate, always good to read a bit of a story

keen to see the headwork come together, i defintely know headwork makes a difference with the right cam as i found when i sold my 1543b to PIMP_LTD with his worked EB. Still think a T5 conversion or 4.11 diff will make the biggest changes to the car

and re AU XR8: sensitive throttle? hard to tell, if its been worked and isnt tuned right its not going to drive right either..... id prolly stay away from that one. Its fun to start from scratch and watch the improvements

from my experience with my AU 175kw V8......... the 3" zorst made a little difference, then the extractors & cats made a BIG difference. Next up is some MSD coil packs & decent leads and hopefully it should only need a 3.9/4.11 diff to be a decent daily with some poke

i can only imagine the 200kw/220kw XR8's with the same mods & lighter body will be that much better

I'd definitely stay away from that one from the sounds of it.

Clean and original is the way to go. That way nobodies f**k with it.

$3500 is a pretty good trade in on an EF Fairmont, they must be making a fair bit on the AU already!

Lol at 340kw too.

Lol, the V8 bug has hit me like a tonne of bricks - can't stop thinking about the exhaust note this thing had, it honestly had one of the best notes I've ever heard from an injected 302.

The throttle issue was quite weird. It's like the pedal had no 'freeplay' in it whatsoever, so as soon as I touched the accelerator it was like I just gave it a 1/4 throttle stab. I know the throttle in my EF is pretty sensitive but the throttle in the AU put mine to shame lol. I found a similar problem with my Aunty's 2003 Ford Explorer V6, but maybe it's just something I'm not used to


Haha, thanks mate.

I'm keen to see how the headwork goes as well. Was planning to get Wade Cams to do a 1543b grind with a 114LSA for me when I was looking at boosting it and I'll still consider it now as it'll work well in a NA setup too. I've been doing a bit more researching with cam profiles and what all the numbers mean etc, and have come across a few profiles locally from Franklin Cams (same place that did my current cam grind) that could be worth a shot. They have a Stage 5 listed which has .522/.522 lift 278/276 duration which sounds like it'll go alright and have a tough idle

Already bought another cam done by Franklin Cam's but it's mild as well (more lift than my current cam, but less duration) so it would be a waste to chuck a mild cam into a setup that I'd want a bit more out of. It's definitely getting hotter cam, just not sure exactly what it'll be yet

Still have those 3.89:1 gears sitting in the garage somewhere. Just need to pick up a LSD centre so I can start saving to get the diff done. 3.89's with a 2500-2800 stall should make a lot more snappier.

Nah, I wouldn't buy this particular AU, wasn't really what I was after. As you said, I'd much prefer to buy a stocker and mod it from scratch so at the very least I'd know what had gone into it.

I was hoping I would have had the car to myself for the test drive with at least a 1/4 tank of petrol, there's a nice stretch of road nearby which would have been good for some real testing.


Yep, I won't be the one buying it, that's for sure! They pushed pretty hard to get me to buy it, offering to speed up a finance application today if I really wanted it. I gave them some BS excuse (so BS that I can't even remember what I came up with) and then walked out. Needless to say, I'm expecting my phone to blow up with numerous missed calls and messages during the week lol..

I thought $3.5k wasn't too bad, I think that is a more respectable value compared to what some of these jokers are selling them for these days. I paid $2.5k for it back in 2008 in reasonably OK condition.

I tried so hard not to LOL when he said '340kw' and 'more power than that new supercharged Boss'. It all started when he said "you know this XR8 is much faster than your Fairmont, it has 225kw at the wheels from standard and that 'rocker' cam adds about 40kw to that alone". I was so amused I couldn't bring myself to ask him how he could honestly say to someone that a set of headers, an exhaust and intake would add another 75kw to that to bring it up to 340kw, let alone ask him what the f**k a 'rocker' cam is - seriously, car salesmen like this guy should just piss off already. The other guy that first approached me was pretty good though as he kind of let the 'car' do the talking.

Today's job - Sound deaden the rear deck/parcel shelf..

Just pulled the carpeted cover off it and I think I've just found the culprit responsible for the epic vibrations when the sound system is turned up. Found a 2mm thick plastic ring/spacer sitting in behind where the seat belt roller mounts to the shelf and it's been shattered into pieces lol. No idea where the hell it came from or what it is for

Still trying to think of a good way to go about deadening the shelf. Have got some 12mm thick MDF spacer rings I made up for the front door midbass woofers which never got used so may use them in the rear for a more solid mount for the rear Eclipse 6" coaxials. Will probably lay down the dynamat first, lay down the rubber jaycar sound barrier stuff followed by a bit of foam before the original carpet goes back one.

Will get pic's up later.

Parcel shelf/rear deck is finished being sound deadened, finally!

This is that weird looking ring/spacer type thing I found shattered on the shelf. Still can't find where it may have come from, all I know is it was sitting right in the valley where the seat belt mounts onto the shelf. These are main remnants of it though..



Ran out of Dynamat after doing 1/2 of the shelf so had to use some very similar imitation stuff to deaden the entire surface. Can't believe how flimsy the sheetmetal shelf is . You can press your hand down from the top without any decent downward pressure and it just flexes. Luckily the Dynamat and the other stuff firmed it right up, still has a bit of flex obviously, but it no longer has that tinny sound when you tap/knock on the metal. Also laid down some of the jaycar sound barrier mat, however it's really not the right stuff to use on sheetmetal that is so 'all over the place' like the parcel shelf is. I tried to glue the stuff down, and although it's very flexible, it has no amount of stretch whatsoever. It's actually probably just laying over the dynamat and squashed down with the carpet over the top now, no amount of glue would hold it to the contours of the shelf.



I had a plan to make a cutout in the centre of the parcel shelf carpet (right above where the 8" factory premo sound woofer mounts) and fit an aeroport in that position to vent a bit more bass from the sub's into the cabin. Had a think about it and decided against it in the end. I've noticed that when the bass hits when volume is up a bit, the rear speakers would distort, not that noticeable from up front in the drivers seat with the front stage drowning it out, but in the back it just sounded terrible. So I went out left out the rear Eclipse coaxial speakers, and fitted some Response Precision speaker grills there to cover the holes instead. So basically it has 2x 6" diameter holes venting the bass back into the cabin. Haven't really tested out how much of a difference this venting has made to sub bass output, but on 1/4 volume, the bass seems to be a bit more pronounced and gives it a sort of 'ported enclosure' type feel to the bass (try folding the back seats down and you get the same effect)



I may fit some 4" coaxials in the lower rear doors just for a bit more sound for back seat passengers as I tend to have some now and then.

Finally got around to fitting up the 30mm Whiteline front swaybar today, pretty damn happy about it too, it works very well!

Was in the middle of doing it last weekend until I noticed the Polytuff bushes I was supplied from one place who told me they suit original brackets were completely wrong. Also noticed my rear swaybar mount and link bushes were quite stuffed and would need replacing. Ended up going out to a better suspension mob by the name of Autolign and getting the right stuff to get the job done. Walked out with some 30mm d-bushes for the front swaybar, 22mm d-bushes for the rear swaybar and some swaybar link bushes for the rear also.



Trial fitting the bushes on the bar to make sure they fit ok, then ready for greasing and installing.


The Fairmont looked quite good from this angle tucking the wheel, haha


All bolted up!


It's pretty amazing how much of a difference the extra 3mm in swaybar diameter up front makes to the feel of the car. Only just did a few quick laps of the block, putting it through a few good tight-ish sweeping turns and it felt awesome, the turn-in is much better and the front end just sits so much flatter. There still is some amount of roll but a new decent set of struts will lessen that even more considering my current struts are a bit f**k... Tomorrow's job is to jack up the rear and swap the old rubber swaybar mount and link bushes out for the Nolathane items.

While I was at Autolign, I was told there was a special on swaybar's and I could get a Whiteline 24mm rear swaybar for $250 down from $310(trade price) - lol, was pretty bloody keen to get him to order it for me, but there's so much other s**t that needs doing first..

The condition of the Pedders GSR's up front has deteriorated pretty quickly in the last couple of months so they will be getting replaced a little sooner than expected. Currently looking at some KYB Excel-G's which I have come across for a good price and should work okay till I can afford some Bilstein's or possibly Koni's, whenever that may be. Will need some Superlow springs with these struts though as I won't have the same ride height using the Pedders low spring with a different strut so I'll be on the hunt for some Dobinson superlow coils to do the job. Can get the KYB's shortened for about $50 a pop through Autolign if need be so it's all good.

Not much more progress with the head, bit too busy trying to sort out the more important stuff needing attention at the moment. Have made a few changes to the original plans but I won't go into that until I've finalized my decisions and get closer to getting everything done.

The Fairmont should also be getting tinted windows fairly soon, already been paid for, just need to book a Saturday morning to take it to CarFolie which is on the other side of Auckland, to get it done. All I can say is it's about f**k time!

Have also started thinking about changing the steering wheel since the leather on my XR wheel is starting to show it's age a little. I wanted something with a nice feel to it, but something that still had the 'Ford' look about it, so I bought a BA XR6 leather wheel a couple of weeks ago in mint condition for $22.50 off Trade Me lol.


Wasn't the original plan, but i jumped online at the right time to score it cheap. Just need to buy a hornpad/airbag cover and then try adapt the EF/EL airbag into the BA/BF cover and hope for the best haha. Apparently it's been done before with no issues apart from a slightly longer distance between the wheel and the indicator and wiper stalks, but I'd like to think it should be a nice upgrade. The b-series XR leather wheel has a nice split normal/perforated leather style and a very slight gripped shape to it at the 10 and 2 positions unlike the std e-series leather wheels which are just plain old boring. Anyways, I will update on this once I put that mod in motion

Slowly starting to get over the V8 craze I was on as of late. That AU XR8 I test drove got sold pretty quick, noticed it was no longer on the yard 2 days after taking it for a spin - the dealer didn't even get time to advertise it on their own website lol. To whoever the new owner is, I guess the sound was too good to let pass, jeez it sounded awesome!

Well that never happened, lol.. Why?

Because I ended up playing the waiting game and scored a new Selby/Signature 24mm rear swaybar with matching urethane mount d-bushes off Trade Me for $140 . I'm looking at maybe doing a few little track days every now and then with a couple of mates down at Pukekohe raceway seeing as they have open testing days every few weekends. With that in mind, it would be a lot better to put an uprated swaybar in the rear instead of just re-bushing the original rear swaybar like what I had originally planned to do. Went to pick up the new swaybar today from Stocks suspension, and put it in when I got home - perfect fit!



I really need to get up under the car one weekend and give everything a nice clean, and a coat of paint/underseal, looks so s**t with all the surface-rusted parts..

Haven't taken it for a drive yet, but it should be hugging turns quite well now.

Found out that the place I picked the swaybar up off is the NZ distributor for Koni and specialise in rebuilding/reconditioning of Koni shocks so they will definitely come in handy with my latest score on Trade Me which should be coming in next week hopefully - some Koni red's for the front They are 2nd hand, but for the price I couldn't pass them up even if they are stuffed and need rebuilding

Hopefully in a few weeks time I'll also have some new slotted brake rotors and decent pads ready to bolt on up front

awesome, good to see your still plugging away with the EF, with attention to detail

the new swaybar, is it supposed to be thicker than stock?..... cause they look the same thickness from the pics anyway

and im not too sure about track days....... it would be a quick way to kill a good eseries !!

Thanks mate . Yeah still spending a few $$ here and there on the old EF, dead $$ as my old man likes to call it hahaha

The new swaybar is thicker than stock, only 2mm difference though, 24mm vs the 22mm standard one. I see what you mean by the pictures though, I had my doubts when I went to pick it up, but I took my vernier caliper with me to double check and it is indeed 2mm larger. Apparently 24mm is the largest size for the rear off the shelf, same goes for Whiteline according to their catalogues. The actual difference in the way it has been bent to shape is a little different though but not entirely sure if that would add any extra rigidity to the bar itself.

Definitely noticed the improvement in driving with the rear swaybar upgrade though

Just took it for a fairly decent spin around all the back roads around where I work and pushed it quite hard into side streets/around round abouts. 7.30pm in an industrial area is like a ghost town so is good for testing s**t out

Seems the rear swaybar upgrade has made much more of a difference in terms of cornering stability compared to the front swaybar upgrade (however this could be due to the front struts being quite rooted). It actually handles surprisingly well for a largish sedan now, so it makes things much more fun. Also the entire car seems to be a lot more stable driving in a straight line now, which is a little odd as I've heard stories of stiffer swaybars altering straight line driving for the worse.

As for track days, I probably won't go very often (realistically I'd be lucky to go once a month seeing as it's a $90 entry fee) and I definitely won't be pushing the car to it's limits either since it is my daily driver. For the most part, it's just for a bit of fun and to keep it legal hahaha. With the BTR and steel driveshaft fitted I'm very reluctant to take the thing up past 160km/h, hearing all those horror stories of rear extension housings failing and what-not is enough to keep my clear of the speed limiter.

Obviously my main concern is the BTR though. Gotta get it taken in for a new filter and fluid flush pretty soon and probably get the rear extension bush and seal replaced for peace of mind too..

I'm sure you will be able to have some fun on the track without pushing it too hard. I think the auto and brakes will be the limiting factor there, like most cars really.

I always enjoy your updates, I see you have been busy. Not many people are persevering with the E-Series these days, its nice to see you are still going with yours! Not many people pay that sort of attention to detail either. Its looking great too. Its nice to have a change of wheels occasionally, freshens things up.

I'm keen to see how you go with the BA wheel. How does it compare in size to the EF wheel?

I've got the v8 itch coming again too. Probably buy another 5.0 quite soon, I'll be moving the NL on. Its a nice car but really not doing it for me! I'd like to move back into a SWB too, I'd like something a bit more agile and less excessive.

How long do you think you can hold off buying one? Are you keen on an AU or what?

Hey Slo, thanks for the kind words mate

Yep, the standard e-series brakes will also come in effect with track days. I'm only going for slotted rotors (most likely DBA's) and some decent pads so not expecting it to pull up that good in track conditions, but even upgrading it to that, it would have to out-perform my current front brakes by 150%, lol. I honestly cannot stress enough how s**t they are even for just normal day to day use, the Bendix CT pads are complete s**t and the rotors are warped to buggery. Had a few short runs on the motorway the other day against a lightly modded R32 GTS-T and trying to slow down from 140-150km/h back to 100km/h was enough to give your arms a workout with the amount of vibration felt through the steering wheel. So, brakes are fairly high on the to-do list.

I'm also keen to see how things turn out with the BA wheel. It doesn't look too much different in terms of size compared to the EF-AU wheels, maybe a touch chunkier in diameter and a bit bulkier where the airbag/horn pad is fitted but I like the feel of the wheel compared to XR one I have right now. Still trying to suss out how I'm going to go about the airbag though, was thinking of mounting the EF airbag inside the BA casing, but then I don't really want to fiddle with the airbag system too much as I have no idea what effect it will have on deployment and sensitivity and all that stuff. I'll have to buy a BA/BF airbag/hornpad first and go from there, still not even sure about mounting the horn buttons/switches behind the cover as the BA wheel has nowhere to mount the buttons

Seems I've gone the opposite way now, lol. A month or so ago I was so keen on a AU V8, but now that phase has just died off completely, probably because with my lack of spare $$ and my plans of keeping the EF as well, it was a bit unrealistic to start with. Still would love an AU XR8 no doubt, but just don't have the urge I had before. As usual, my plans have changed so I probably won't buy myself an 8 for a very long time..

The plan for now is to try get the suspension, brakes and then top end of the engine (head + cam) in the Fairmont sorted by the end of this year (fingers crossed) and then leave it as is for a while. Next year, I want to start buying parts for the 351W motor sitting in the garage and give Dad a hand getting it together so we can get that project underway. We figured, if we don't start working on it, it'll sit there in pieces for longer and longer and parts will start rusting away. First thing that'll get done is the heads, so I've donated my Crower springs and retainers to it which are a good fit so that's a start I guess, haha. I'll update on that front once we get stuck into it

Shame to hear you'll be moving the NL on, it really is a mint example. Still going to get back into an e-series V8? Or step up to AU or possibly even B-series?

No worries mate.

Ah, the E-Series brakes.....What sort are in there now? I know exactly what you mean with the warping, I had the same thing on my white EF. I've also found that the Bendix pads were absolute crap.

I did the fronts on our AU recently. Its a Series 1 so the pads are the same. I used QFM HPX pads, only $90 off ebay. I also used RDA slotted rotors. Previously it had PBR standard (warped) rotors and Valvoline (!?) pads.

It only sees normal driving as a family car, but the difference is night and day. The feel is much better, they are quiet, they bite very nicely and there is very little dust compared to previously. I reckon it only cost just over $200 all up too! I'm absolutely wrapt. The E-Series rotors are more expensive obviously, the AU uses the slip on rotors....Hopefully that helps?

I really can't see a simple solution with the airbag other than to disable it completely. Then you still need to do the cruise controls. Perhaps re-dying your existing wheel would be a good solution? Then sell the BA one on Ebay, at least you will get your money back

Check this out: http://www.leatherique.com/steering-wheels.html

I wish my V8 craving was as easy to quash. Every 10 minutes when I hear one rumble past It comes flooding back.

Will just be going another E-Series probably. We really have much better things to spend money on these days. I wouldn't mind an EB2/ED Ghia for something different, but the main criteria is 5.0 and sunroof, and clean.

Don't worry too much about the NL, its not as good as it looks in the photos. Rural roads have stone chipped the front, and it has the usual scratches and marks.... Its not mint at all.