Goods look tops mate! How much did you get that snorkel for if you don't mind me asking?

Aren't couriers just lovely! What firm was it? I have noticed that Courier Post have been getting worse and worse at handling stuff.

Hey now that you work at a CNC shop, feel like porting some heads?

Damn straight


Tell me about it mate!! I guess it's safe to say that Fastway couriers suck big time and I hate them with a passion!! I rang them as soon as I received the package and told them it's missing one part and they told me to contact the sender to confirm that she sent it all together (which she did). Fastway repackaged it at the Akld depot with everything that was left in the original package so basically they have not seen the camshaft to their knowledge - so the bloody thing could be anywhere between Hamilton and Auckland right now.

So they told me that a claim has to be lodged with them, but only the sender can lodge the claim so I pretty much couldn't wait to hang up right at that point as I knew it would be a complete waste of my time. The sender is taking it up with them even though I told her not to worry. Way i see it, Fastway will see that the camshaft is a secondhand part and since you can't exactly buy them off-the-shelf and their value is a bit unknown combined with the fact it was a private sale, I reckon there is very low chance of getting something back off them. At the very most I could probably get my $15 courier fee back for a completely s**t service but who knows how long that would take

Speaking of Wade Cams, I got in contact with Chris last week - with my future plans of forced induction (which has changed slightly... ) he's won me over with the Wade 1543b profile, so thats another thing to start saving for. Also contacted Geoff at Snort Performance a few weeks back and he's won me over with a few deals too


Thanks mate

Scored the snorkel and the adjustable cam gear (plus the cam which was lost) for $36 plus post . Gotta love Trade Me auctions . Wasn't gonna use the snorkel originally, but after seeing it, I don't think I can't let go of it lol, will come in handy if I ever own an e-series XR8 in the future thats for sure. Fastway Courier were the bastards responsible for the loss of the cam. It was bad enough that the damaged the package in transit and had it sitting in their depot for over 3 days. I think if I never contacted them to see what was going on, I'd never receive a thing. Then they had to hand it off to this idiot driver who was supposed to deliver it on Thursday afternoon, which changed to Friday morning, and then Friday afternoon, only to have him deliver it today just after 12pm when he told me it would be here first thing in the morning - hows that for some absolute s**t service . First time I have had an issue with a courier company, just so happens this is the first time I have ever had experience with Fastway too.

Hahaha mate, I wish I knew how to set up a machine to CNC port heads, I'd have my spare head done months ago . I'm only an operator there so I only know the basics, but some of the stuff you can do on these machines is amazing!! They are usually pretty busy, especially round this time of year getting closer to Christmas, but was gonna try see if they would help me out with machining a few things up for me, was thinking some billet alloy oil caps and stuff but we'll have to see how it goes

The XR6 looks much better on the Reflex wheels; nice job. It's a shame about the missing Cam. Fastway are notoriously useless.

You know if that tickford snorkle needs a home.....

Hey let me know how you get on with Snort, I'm still following a forced induction path, only need 1 stinking crank gear to assemble engine now, just no idea where to get one =\

love the 9mm eagle leads....... bit of blue in the bay should look nice. The leads held up well had showed zero resistance after 4 years, until i broke the metal clip from one lead

regarding the home-made vernier gear........... throw it in the bin imo

Thanks mate, yeah looks heaps better than the wheels it had before. Only thing letting it down is the current ride height, apart from that, the Reflex's suit the XR well.


Will do mate. Been thinking about forced induction quite a bit over the past few weeks so I can work towards getting the car setup around that. I have done a stack of reading, mostly over on BoostedFalcon, and after seeing all those turbo builds on there, my future plans have changed. I was kidding myself to believe that I would be happy with a supercharged 6 with about 200kw at the wheels, I'd eventually get over it quick smart and want more . When I contacted Snort, Geoff said they can do a turbo log manifold, GT3582 turbo, 3" stainless dump pipe, 50mm ext wastegate and 2" screamer for $1850 - which is an option I'd be plain old stupid to not consider


That's good to hear then, I always thought the Eagle leads were pretty top quality. The leads I got were the AU1 leads and they are heaps shorter than the EF leads so I can run them directly over the rocker cover instead of running them all towards the rear.

Lol about the vernier. I'll throw it on and see how well it works, seems to hold it's position quite well when it's tightened though so it should be fine. Nonetheless, I will be ordering a new one through either Crow Cams or the local cam place over here when the new head, cam etc goes on.

With regards to the turbo side of things why don't you look into a XR6T conversion? I think you have the skills, attention to detail and patience to pull it off.

I think it's a better option than trying to modify an E series engine and gearbox to suit a turbo. It also gives you reliability from day one which is vital when you only have one car.

As soon as you add boost to your existing motor you will be amazed at how many little issues just pop up.

The thought has crossed my mind, but the prices that wreckers want for a XR6T engine are pretty extreme which is a put off. One wrecker down in Hamilton i think, wanted close to $4k just for the complete motor, no box, no ECU etc. I know theres a wrecker up here in Auckland who have an XR6 turbo motor but not sure on the price; they are also selling a second hand XR6T cylinder head with the std cams, springs etc for $1400 so I can almost imagine the cost of a complete motor going by that . I've never done an engine conversion before so if I did go that way, it would take me quite a while, but it would also be a huge learning curve. It would be cool to have a DOHC turbo under the hood of the EF though

With the stock motor though, if i run low boost (say ~8psi) with a safe tune, I reckon it could work out alright for a while. I'd probably want only around 200-220kw ATW initially just to get a feel for things and see how the car behaves. The obvious weakness would be the stock BTR which would definitely require a massive oil cooler and a proper shiftkit to cope with the extra power. Up the boost a bit more and then I'll probably need to start thinking about a new bottom end and probably strengthening the BTR internals. Add's up being costly, but thats the price you pay for more power

That's kind of my point, all those little associated costs really do stack up and are only apparent after adding boost. Most of the guys that have a reliable set up with ok output figures have thrown 5 - 10k at there cars.

I think you would have to buy a complete damaged car from some where like turners to make a XR6t conversion worth while but it could be done for an ok price.

My XE falcon has a very mild set up running about 6 psi, that still cost about 3K to do. Everything was brought at trade prices and my brother did all the fab work and fitting. We are still finding little issues with the car that need attention.

Good luck Nathan; it will be interesting to see what you conjure up.

I know exactly what you mean mate, costs will stack up fast for sure, I just have to make sure I'm prepared for that.... and make sure I have another car to use as a daily when something does BOOM

I agree with ya on that though, best option if doing a XR6T convo would be the buy a completed damaged car. Just recently, there was a BFII F6 typhoon that was damaged being auctioned off at turners, ended up going for $15,200.. bloody wish I had the money for it - it took a fairly decent hit from the rear but insurance wrote it off as soon as it was quoted $35k to repair .


Thanks bud, I'm gonna need a hell of a lot of good luck with it

Got a bit of work done on the Fairmont today..

- Eagle leads fitted - only managed to skin one knuckle this time but my forearms took a beating
- Blue Samco silicon hoses fitted
- Dipstick and washer bottle cap sprayed in duplicolor silver
- Ditched the old red anodized CPC oil cap and replaced it with a smoothed out original plastic oil cap, sprayed in duplicolor silver also

Don't mind the raging pod


Seems to run a little bit smoother now, the old ford leads would have been there from 2008 when I first replaced them due to chronic misfiring. Didn't get time to do the oil and filter change, so might get around to that after work tomorrow. It's sitting on 229,906kms right now . Also have to put the airbox back in tomorrow and clean the rest of the engine bay up, do the powersteering oil cap in matching silver and possibly do the battery filler caps in silver to since that yellow is an epic disappointment.

While I was under the car today, I noticed a little issue with the extractors. When I wrapped them, I did them all the way to the flange that bolts up the exhaust. So about 30cm back from where the flange bolts to the exhaust, must have bottomed out (on a speed bump probably) and cut straight through the wrap right where it has caught - it's basically falling right off the pipes . Might end up removing all the wrap, getting the pipes chemically stripped back to metal and spraying them in hi-temp silver/aluminium

How did I miss this!?

Looks great. Its a shame about the heatwrap, I love the way it looks.

Its good fun playing around in the bay though.

engine bay looks killer

make sure you wear a dust mask when removing that wrap..... i cant beleive i let myself breathe that s**t in when i done the headers on my EF

spray them with water first..........

Thanks bud . Definitely is good fun trying different things in the engine bay, I spend a lot of my time doing just that


Thanks mate . Will do!! I have memories of how much of a royal b**ch it was when I wrapped them at first... My hands where itchy for a few days after because of all the little fibres that end up everywhere.. Took forever for the wrap to dry once it was applied, ended up fitting it to the car and running the engine and creating the mother of all steam shows in the carport, good times

Popped out to the local speed parts place today at lunch and got some blue vacuum tubing to redo the vacuum hoses to match, so that's all the blue silicon done for now. Saw they were selling 3" mandrel bent polished intercooler/intake piping for $25 per bend so might grab a few different bends and work on a better looking intake without the POS EL rubber joiners and put a bit of thought into the intercooler piping placement if things go to plan and it does get turbo'd.

Here here.