"I have a great Mechanic"........unitl there is a problem

About a decade ago, i came to the conclusion that i do not trust mechanics. My old falcon spent one week a month at the Ford dealership being repaired, and then something else would break that should have been obvious for them last time the car was in the shop.

So when i bought my current falcon it was new, i was giving it to a local mechanic that was honest and easy to get along with. however i had a rough idle problem that he could not diagnose, and it went back to the ford dealer as they had the computers, they could resolve the issue. They took my money, did injector clean, plugs, leads, oils. I asked the question "what did the computer say?, did it bring up the fault?" The service manager said "no, it was all clear" "but it was the injectors, the problem is gone" so great, here is the better part of a thousand dollars for all the mechanical work, drive it home, seems ok, in the morning, the problem is back

So when i called the back to say, the problem is still there the response i received was "thats common in the sports model, they all do that" Take my money, not fix my problem and then tell me there is no problem

So i hated my car, the rough idle, i couldnt sell it becuase i owed too much money on it. So my love for it was wiped away, until i was told from my mate some 7 years later that his work mates one didnt have that problem. At this point, cheap OBD scanners were availiable, bought one, plugged it in, found a cam sensor fault, replace the sensor, the car is like new !!!

Why is it that my honest mechanic and the ford dealership didn't pick this up? Laziness? perhaps with my honest mechanic, but at Ford, i am guessing, they put into the machine possible faults "injector clean" and the apprentice did an injector clean, rather than someone troubleshooting the problem. They have KPI's to meet and just want to pump them out quickly.

My mother had been paying for mechanics to service her Nissan TIIDA, and they would do the plugs/filters etc. 300,000kms later the car is sluggish and not running properly. A new mechanic pluged in the tool,  and found the coil packs were faulty. So he started to pull it apart only to find that the original nissan plugs were still in the car, burn out and that had cooked the cables around the coils. She had been charged for plugs at least 4 times, and they were not done, that could be becuase the entire intake needed to be removed to replace the plugs and it was a big job. However, that laziness and charging for something not done, is what cost her alot more money

My friend knows my view on mechanics, and he crapped on about how good his mechanic was, and how he takes care of locals, and checks tyre pressures on the spare tyres as well and he does everything but cook you a baked dinner. I said, "well, i am glad you have found a good one, but you can save some money (as money was tight for them), do these things yourself" no, i was told how great he was. UNTIL - his brake fluid boiled going through the city, had to make an emergency stop at a mechanic with his car loaded up with the kids, only to find the brake fluid was old and dirty, and suggested it had never been replaced. I dont know if he was charged, but charged or not. His great mechanic inability to check these things meant that his family were on the side of the road for a basic thing.

I just heard last weekend an apprentice was caught with a coffee filter pouring old oil back into a car filtering the gunk.

Now, you might have a genuine great mechanic, or you might have been lucky to have no problems with your car. But everyones Mechanic is wonderful until it is exposed that they have not done the simplest of maintenance which has caused unecessary problems.

If you have a great mechanic, please recommend them, If you have a mechanic who has done a poor job, or you have been caught out, TELL EVERYONE.

We need to get mechanics to stand by their work. If they do a good thorough service and checks, you shouldn't have problems. Maybe there should be service tabs, that are on all resovoirs, so you can look and see when it was last replaced, and you mechanic can see this too.

Or you can do what i do, replace these items myself. I know then that it is done, and i have not paid money to a mechanic in the hope he has done it.

Cheers

Mike

FTF Club - V8 Supercars Show n Shine

Ok, what a great day, and a horrible day all at the same time
.
So it all started meeting near the track at 6am..........ish pending how you set your alarm. We were handed our tickets and car stickers to allow us inside the circuit. Brett brought the trailer with him, which ended up being a blessing in the end.

Brett rounding up the troop's

Step aside, we are VIP's

After we arrived into our area and started setting the cars, it was chaos behind us cars going every which way trying to park in the right spot. I am surprised there wasnt any bumps given the slippery surface from all the rain.

Great spot for the cars

The the Marquee set up, and the BBQ and gear all out of the tent, we started doing the touches to our car, wiping off the morning dew, giving the car a qick spray polish from mothers, and swapping my number plate for a club plate.

Great spot for the club near the big screen and the starting grid

Once it was all set up, i went for a quick walk through the paddock, bought some merchandise, met some drivers, the came back to the car show area and our clubs spot to watch the racing. Got to look at the nissan "nismo" engine

Couple of SR20's would pull a premium 1 week before race wars, but this would be an SR50 then, priceless !!!

The sun was out, it was cool, but it was still nice enough in the morning.

I was having a pretty good day until i was coming back from the bathroom and saw an older guy and his mates pointing and laughing at the tree sap damage. Made me both angry and upset, angry because i have the attitude, i don't care what condition your car is in, you love it, and it is a work in progress, and upset because he was laughing at my car, and damage that was out of my control.

When i came back to our club area Warren said, "its a ford, your in a club, who cares" well said Wazza

Spot one Wazza, its a ford, i love it !!!

Then the v8 racing started, and the rain was horrible, lots and lots of rain. We were all freezing cold and saturated. Thanks to Brett for organizing the trailer, otherwise we would not have had shade and some respite from the rain.

Poor grid girls

Rolling up to the grid

It was an enjoyable day with the club members, it is a great club, and very inviting people, i would recommend if anyone was thinking about it, do it, join a club, lots of fun events, and you have and excuse to get out and about with your pride and joy

Wet, Cold, Great time still

The  FTF line up

Once all the racing was over, packing up was pretty easy, many hands make light work.

I decided not to go to the sunday racing, as my wife has not been well, and i should help her at home with the kids, and i am still drying out from Saturday

One thing that i really learn't from this weekend is the bonnet needs to be sorted OR i need to give the engine a mega mega detail and keep the bonnet up.

I think until this is finished i will probably not participate in "car shows" but perhaps if the cars are on display at an event, thats ok, but not a dedicated car show.

Still had an awesome time, will spend some more TLC on her, and get her prepared for another show

Cheers

Mike

2 more photos below

Touring car masters rolling start, JB's mustang was fast

Ford driver Chaz Mostert drove his arse off to a well deserved podium in the rain

First Show n Shine

Ok, so tomorrow is my first show and shine. And it is at eastern creek as part of the V8 supercar round.

I am quite nervous as to what people will say about the car, she has alot of imperfections, many things that need to be repaired.

I have given it the best job i can given the time and family commitments. So tomorrow will either be fun, or i will end up put off showing the car ever again

Only god can judge me, but the judges will judge my car. :)

I still think it is a nice car all clean

Front of the car is still my favorite bit

So i will get plenty of photos

Cheers

Mike

Coolant Flush

Ok, Just a quick one, no photos

After working on the motor, i found the coolant discouloured, so a radiator flush was in order. It pelted down with rain, i was saturated as the water puddled under the car, flushing the system itself was pretty easy.

the biggest gripe was the "quick release" heater hose to flush the system. What a joke, it is not easy to undo with your hand, and there is not enough space with pliers. That took the most time.

Now the system is flushed, the engine doesnt seem to have any oil leaks. I am probably going to need to do a full overhaul with thermostat, hoses, radiator and whilst i am there i will change the auto trans filter.

big job that will definatley wait for a free weekend and with sunshine

Mike

Oil Leak !!! Bugger

So, i come home from the wonderful road trip, i noticed my oil pressure was up and down, so figured i should check it out. popped the bonnet, sure enough, there is a leak from the front of the motor, and a nice pool of oil all over the motor and now my driveway.

This only happened after the long trip, after a quick drive to and from work, and the engine hasn't really warmed up, it doesn't tend to leak.

I went onto the forums to search any information about oil leaks, and sure enough, there was many many hits about the chain tensioner coming loose. So i decided to start with stripping all the belts and pulleys, and sure enough, the oil leak starts at the tensioner bolt, and sure enough, the bolt appears to be moving easily.

Covers, radiator fans,Belt tensioner, Drive belt all gone

Tonnes of bolts on the power steering brackets, yep, they need 2???

Pump moved to sit on top of the headers, to give more space to work

I believe this is the only oil source leak, from the tensioner bolt

So i gave it some degreasing the motor, i gave her a pressure wash, followed by the compressed air just in case water got into any electrics.

After the engine bay has been hit with some degreaser,

 I left it overnight to dry as it was getting dark, In the morning i noticed some more oil, but i think that was residue from the previous wash that ran down overnight., gave it another quick hose.

Rather than buying a gasket kit (as i dont need all the parts) i put a thread seal on the tensioner bolt, and bolted her back together.

Not a great photo, but sealant on the big bolt, about to go on the smaller bolt (a special tool would be handy right now) - Also i put a towel underneath to catch any oil as it has been cleaned already

We will see what happens if it comes with leaks in the future, it might need a whole tensioner cover replaced, if it does, that's not a problem, i will take a fair amount of time, but the kit replaces everything

Adjustable Torque wrench, Get one, great so you don't over tighten the bolts on the motor and damage the block

I did notice a few things which are frustrating, but that is part of owning a car that is getting older
- radiator coolant is all brown, i will do a compression test, but i will replace the radiator and hoses
- rust of the door sills, it is only a small amount, not a big deal, so i will probably give that rust repair a go myself as it is not in the middle of a visible panel.

All back together, whilst parts were off i gave them some tyre shine

So, the car might leak again, but, it hasn't cost me anything so far, just my time, which it was worth it as i learn't more about the bolts and components of my car.

Cheers

Mike

Winton Road Trip - What a weekend

ROAD TRIP !!!

This weekend gone has been an incredible weekend to tick something off the bucket list. My best mate and i decided that we were going to head to Winton Raceway in country Victoria to watch some classic car racing in what was advertised as "a festival of speed"

To me, the road trip was going to be just as much fun !!!
Friday - I drove down to My mates house (he lives in Canberra 3 hours south of Sydney) It was great to get the old girl out on the open road, crank up some tunes, and rumble down the highway.

The view from the drivers seat on the Hume

Stopping for a quick Photo at Lake George

2 really funny things i noticed on my way to canberra. 1. I had a silver corolla right on my arse when i was overtaking a truck. Weaving for me to get out of the way. The occupants of the car would have been in their 70's LOL 2. People are driving to the snow, just becuase you are driving to the snow, you dont need to wear your snow jacket and beanies when driving and the temperatures are about 16 degrees outside.

So i arrived at my mates house, grabbed some pizza and an early night.

Saturday - Freezing cold morning Ice was all over the car when we stopped and Gundagai for some breakfast we got some cool photos. On the way through to Winton we stopped at Albury, as Brad Jones Racing are based there. We didn't know what to expect, hopeful they had a shop front to buy some merchandise..........but no, it was a shed with a white sign.

For a while when we arrived at Winton Raceway we had to pinch ourselves. We were at a classic Australian circuit that we had been watching on TV for over 20 years. The vendor stalls were great, the Marshalling was not so tough as we managed to not only get into pit lane, but lean over the side of pit wall and take photos of V8 supercars at over 180kph.

After spending a few hours at the track we moved on to Kyabram to spend the night catching up with my old school friend and sinking the booze.

Ice on the grill after a few hours driving

Brad Jones Racing - I hoped for more :(

WE ARE AT WINTON !!!

The original winton start finish line

Same model as my car - In V8 supercar spec - My favorite racecar growing up

Nascar driver Marcos Ambrose's old AU V8 Supercar

Yep - No catch fencing, no waiver forms, get on the wall and get some photos !!!

 Sunday - Sunday we drove back to the track, we watched some incredible racing with awesome racing cars. It was cold, and there was a light shower, but the cars and the track lived up to the expectation.
We decided to pick a spot, set up our chairs, kick back and enjoy the sights and sounds of all the cars, talk about our own cars and the changes in motorsport since we started going to the race tracks when we started driving some 16 years ago

DJR - EL Falcon V8 Supercar........YUMM

Ford Tickford Racing V8 supercar

Me (left) and my mate trev taking a selfie. Great mate.

Old Skool Ford Falcon off the track (i think he knew we wanted a photo)

Driving back to Canberra after the racing. The sky and moon were great colors and company

Monday - Up early, left canberra to get back home. easy drive back home. I stopped at Goulburn for Maccas it was nice and cold, but the sun and view was great

Sad to be on the way home

So at the end of the weekend the Falcon had done 1800kms, 3 and a half tanks, 10 litres per 100km, We had a great time seeing classic cars of all shapes and capacities fighting eachother. Incredible to see that a powerful motor is not always going to give you a win. We plan to do a trip to another classic circut, hopefully soon.

A few things to come from the weekend that i want to look at
- Thermostat/thermometer, the engine never properly warmed up (even in the middle of the day)
- Oil pressure went up a few times when we on cruise control, the Revs did not change, wonder why that would happen
- accessories, moving the additional cigarette plugs into the centre consol to keep the interior clear of wires when plugging in Ipods and phone charges

I will upload a link to all the racing photos soon

Cheers

Mike

Ford V Holden

In Australia we have the Ford V Holden (Chevy) battle which has always had its major battles at Mt Panorama in Bathurst country NSW

The racing theory is V8 Falcon vs V8 Commodoore. This racing format has been going since the 60's and Australians love it. Anyone could go to the showroom, buy the car, and go racing, with the theory "what wins on sunday sells on monday". This all started to fall apart when there was Fuel Crisis and the bigger v8's were not selling, so Ford dropped the V8 from its lineup.

With category changes the Ford Sierra Cosworth Turbo came into the mix, and of course the mighty Nissan skyline GT-R. These cars put shame to the local car manufacturing, smaller turbo motors, faster, more reliable, good on fuel and AWD weapons. These were a fast car, but the drivers of the day Richards, Skaife, Fury made them into bullets with constant development with Nismo.

The Australian public did not like this, the historical Ford V Holden battle was under threat. So a new 5liter V8 category called V8 Supercars was created. The series has been great, and there has been close racing. But the problem is, because this race series has alot of emphasis on parity, not much of what they do ends up on a road car. Rather than building a better car, they look at why you are going faster and restrict or give you the same parts. This form of racing is no good to the car market

This because obvious to me in a production car race at Eastern creek, at the end of a long straight the 5litre Ford was at full noise, sitting right behind it waiting to pass was a Mazda 6 MPS and a mazda 3 MPS. I worry that the newer muscle cars have soo much time put into the power figure under the bonnet, and less time on getting the power down, creating a balanced car that can use that power.

I believe the Ford V Holden battle is dead, and as a motor racing fan and a Ford fan we need to embrace production car racing, I will happily watch E class with Hyundai i20, Mazda 2, Toyota Yaris, Ford Fiesta, Holden Barina. As they are the cars you can buy off the shelf and they will prove that you dont need a big motor to be quick, car handling, and weight and gearing helps that too

If the fans follow the production classes, the manufacturer money will come, and we will end up with not just powerful cars, but lighter more reliable as well.

It will mean that my 6cyl, your 8 cyl or 4cyl car will have an element of race pedigree.

Note - Allan Moffat went from racing Ford Falcons to Mazda RX7 rotaries. He asked Mazda of Japan if he could possibly get a spare engine, to which the gave him 6 !!! They were serious about racing, and they helped the team develop the car. This is not to say that Holden and Ford did not do the same. But this racing development with a production based car is what is missing from our showrooms.

A bodykit and a ECU flash tune does not equal development. Throw in adjustable coilovers, Polyurethane bushes, better Diffs, bigger injectors, bigger intake. I am sure it will cost more to buy one, but the badge on the car that says "FPV" or "HSV" will actually mean something.

I love my 6Cyl, it has destroyed V8s of its day because it is lighter, proving that you dont need the bigger motor to be fast

Cheers

Mike

Tickford Parts - $$$

Ok, So if you don't know much about the Ford Falcon, there was a performance arm from 1992 - 2003 called "Tickford". Tickford was like AMG to Mercedes or HSV to Holden. As i am looking at restoring/repairing the car i am faced with the issue, Original, or Modified. The costs of Tickford specific parts are becoming harder to find and more expensive by the day.

The first example is a little sticker that sits on the auto shifter consol. This sticker says "Adaptive shift" I was in a bidding war on ebay for one of these, i stopped bidding at $170 dollars, and it went up to over 250 bucks !! for a damn sticker !!. I ended up getting lucky, a guy sold the whole surround for 50 bucks, and it had the sticker still with the unit. the poor bloke didn't really know what he had.

Sticker in question

Further to this, the standard CD player in the car i removed years ago for an aftermarket stereo. I have since thought about putting one back in, and getting an aftermarket head unit in the glove box (going for the stealth look) So the original CD player was destroyed in a flood at my mothers house. Back to ebay, 350 bucks starting price for the XR6 CD player !!!

Another example 250 bucks for an EL XR6 Tickford left handed indicator !!

The moral of this story is if you have tickford parts, or you know someone who has some old parts in the shed, Hold on to them, or sell them on ebay, they have some value.

Its crazy to think that i would get less than 1500 bucks for my car to trade in. but i can probably get around 3 grand stripping the tickford parts and selling/giving the rest to a wrecker.

So the question i have, do i look for all original tickford parts to sink into this car to keep it original? or do i do aftermarket parts / lowered  etc

Cheers

Mike

Scan Tool - 1st thing you must buy

Ok,

So i know there are some cars out there that dont work with scan tools, but if you have from 1998 falcon onwards, it will have an OBD2 connection. Now it is not meant to work properly with the OBD protocols but fortunatley some Boffins have created FORScan which uses the tools to speak its language.

See below photo of the one i bought

I would highly recommend this as the first thing anyone would buy. I had a rough idle for many, many years. Ford Dealers took my money to troubleshoot this, and so did local mechanics and they could not resolve the issue. In the end i was told the rough idle is common with a VCT. I accepted this information until 7 years later my friend was in a VCT and it was smooth. at that point i bought a scan tool off ebay for 15 bucks, spent a hot summers day getting it to work and then i nearly fell over when i found a fault code for a Cam Angle Sensor.

I cleared the fault codes, started the car again, *knock**knock* "CAM ANGLE SENSOR" instantly, the fault code was there.

I bought the part from ebay for 70 bucks, so less than 100 bucks i fixed the problem myself. Ford had taken well over a thousand dollars in testing and diagnosis............and they didnt even bother to scan the cars computer.

The other bonus of this, is if you are having a hard time working out a problem. Run this tool first, it might find your problem. I see it all the time, someone pop up on a forum asking for help with a problem. "definatley leads", "spark plug gap", "vacuum leak", "Fuel filter" Now i know that people on forums are trying to help, and some people are speaking from experience. But the costs to test these theories, it is alot cheaper to buy the tool, and let the car tell you what problems it has first.

The amount of problems i had trying to diagnose my rough idle, and the heartache, i wish i had the tool back in the day. I have a few times offered forum members with problems to come over and plug the car in.

At this moment i have a fault code referring to the coil pack, it is not bothering me too much, so i will keep driving it until i notice problems.

Best bang for buck tool you can own

Cheers

Having a Go !!!

Ok, So i have been driving my trusty falcon for 11 years now !!! Considering i was always known for turning cars over quickly, i have owned this car more than people have owned houses !!!
The car is an AU XR6 VCT Sedan in Auto - A few things to mention. I wanted a Manual, but i have since turned around and actually prefer an Auto (maybe it is the old age) The AU was never the prettiest looking falcon and alot of Die hard Ford fans dislike the model. Personally, i love the model.

Now she is getting older, it is becoming easier to have a go at fixing things myself. The costs to pay a mechanic to fix these things starts to cost more money than the car is worth. However, with my trusty gregorys manual, i have taken on tasks that i never thought i would be able to do and know more about my car now than i ever thought i would.

A thank you for my "have a go" attitude has to go to my former brother in-law who showed me how to do an oil change and to Marty and Moog from Mightycarmods.com. They have an attitude that regardless of what car you have, get in there and have a go.

So far i have changed filters, solenoid valves, cam sensors, oxygen sensors (learning to solder at the same time) and of course, car stereo's.

Coming up in the list of things i want to do
- Steering rack
- Suspension Bushes
- Auto Trans and Diff Service
- Braided Brake lines
- overhaul the single pot calipers
- flush the coolant and replace the thermostat
- Install a stealth Stereo with a TV for the kids at car shows
- Fix the paint damage due to tree sap

My First event with the car club is Eastern Creek V8 Supercars "show n Shine" She is not the prettiest, she has her issues, but she is mine, I am proud of her. and I will learn things along the way.

So if you have a car- Regardless of what it is, Love your car, be proud to show it off, and dont be afraid to have a go.

Few things to mention - I dont have much money to spend on mods, so if i do things, it will be with costs in mind, plus i am not a mechanic, so i may make mistakes, but that is all in the name of learning and fun.

Cheers
Mike