Ownership Verified: Another chick's car: Ford Falcon BA XR6

Cool car!! We have a BA Xr6 Turbo in Silver...the power is just insane in these...even without the turbo! :)
 
With the demise of Ford Australia manufacturing, and the retirement of the Falcon nameplate, I'll be holding onto this car (and my older one) for a very long time.
Wouldn't mind adding a B series F6 Typhoon to the garage either...

Found an old video on my phone tonight, so thought I'd throw it up here before I wipe it from the phone.

Had the "new" exhaust on a few years now though, so it's definitely burnt in.
 
It's been on a while now, but here's the latest addition. Gotta be good for a few extra hp yes? :lol:

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Another chick's car: Ford Falcon BA XR6

^^That post was referring to a Final Gear sticker on the rear window. I don't know where the linked picture went...

Anyhow... some kind of update...

The week before Christmas last year, I was driving home from work and felt something 'crunch' under my left foot. Gear selection still seemed ok, though the clutch pedal suddenly had some free travel it didn't have a moment earlier. Went and read up the workshop manual, had a fiddle under bonnet, and in the footwell, finding nothing untoward. Father didn't seem too bothered by it when I mentioned it. "Just keep an eye on it", he said.

So I've been babying it around for the last couple of months, and not taking it out unless absolutely necessary.

Couple of days ago, I noticed the clutch pedal had more and more free travel, and I wasn't comfortable at all with continuing to drive it, so since the mechanics I work with lacked any interest in having a look, I took it to a friend's workshop for diagnosis.

He tried flushing the fluid, but the minute he touched it, the whole system crapped out, and no fluid was getting through anywhere. Tried pressure bleeding, still nope. Tried clamping off hoses, and still had no pedal at all. So it was stuck in his workshop for the night.
Next day, and he still had no answers for me. Nothing was obviously wrong, but it was completely screwed. Made the executive decision to put a new clutch kit in, regardless. That was a shitload of money I'd rather have not spent, but what can you do? If I could have driven it home, I would have, and it probably would still be in a million pieces at work.

Problem solved!
Clutch plate was still ~50%, even after 12 years and 114,600km.
Slave and master cylinders both worked fine as well. So we still have no idea what went wrong, but I now have my baby back home, and it's working flawlessly again!

It's due for registration in a couple of weeks. Most likely will need a new set of rubber on the rear, which I've been putting off because lazy.

I also modified my headlights and added some LED halo rings last year. Hate on them all you want, but I like them, and I use them as DRL's, as I have a switch on the dash to turn them off for night driving.
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Excuse my poorly placed finger, I didn't realise it was in the way...

Gave it a bath when I got it back, to get the grubby mechanic handprints off it. Will be giving it a proper wash/wax/polish on Sunday I hope. It's overdue.
 
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I like the halo LEDs.
 
Just before heading off to Ireland and Roadtrip+Ringmeet this year, I noticed the car was misfiring under load, so I changed out the spark plugs and cleaned the throttle body to see if that fixed it.
Didn't get a proper chance to test it out prior to leaving, but I found the other day that it was still coughing if I planted my foot.

On the way in to work Friday, I stopped at the auto parts place at the bottom of our driveway and ordered 6 new Delphi ignition coils.
The guys there see me drive in and out multiple times a day, so I get cost price parts from them.

Changed them out last night, which was so easy, the workshop manual I have doesn't even bother to cover it. Hopefully this will finally solve the issue.


Still on the "I'll get to it, eventually" list, is doing something about the front rotors, because they've been warped for as long as I've had the car, but now it's becoming noticeable stopping from lower speeds.
I'm on the side of changing them out for new, possibly slotted ones. Dad is trying to talk me into getting the OEM ones machined flat again.

Also, still in need of new rear boots. Will probably opt for another two Pirelli P1's, same as the fronts.
 
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The guys there see me drive in and out multiple times a day, so I get cost price parts from them.

Seriously? That's one hell of a discount just for being a neighbor.
 
Seriously? That's one hell of a discount just for being a neighbor.
Indeed. It's not often I need things from them though. I once walked in to grab a pair of brake light bulbs, and walked out about 30 seconds later with a box of 10 - which they refused payment for.

The boys wave at me when I pass by, but apparently until Friday afternoon, when I had to send Dad to collect the coils for me - as I was running late, they had no idea that I was his daughter - and they deal with him quite often.

If there coils don't fix it, might check fuel pressure under boost. It might be falling off allowing the car to go lean.

I'll have to test it out tomorrow on the way to work, but if this hasn't fixed it, I won't be happy.
May also need to invest in a OBDII code reader.
 
I mended it!!!
Sini now runs nice and smooth, no misfiring, no hesitation.
Shift down, floor it, and it pushes you back in your seat again <3
 
J
Still on the "I'll get to it, eventually" list, is doing something about the front rotors, because they've been warped for as long as I've had the car, but now it's becoming noticeable stopping from lower speeds.
I'm on the side of changing them out for new, possibly slotted ones. Dad is trying to talk me into getting the OEM ones machined flat again.

Don't let your dad talk you into getting them 'turned'. Cutting off metal from the discs just leaves less to dissipate heat, which means that the machined ones will warp even faster than the original ones did. I've never been sold on slotted rotors for the street, but I also doubt that they 'hurt' anything. Trust your instincts!

BTW - add me to the list of people who like your car!

SL
 
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Still on the "I'll get to it, eventually" list, is doing something about the front rotors, because they've been warped for as long as I've had the car, but now it's becoming noticeable stopping from lower speeds.
I'm on the side of changing them out for new, possibly slotted ones. Dad is trying to talk me into getting the OEM ones machined flat again.

Slotted Discs don't do anything that stock disks don't do. Get drilled discs if you want better cooling performance, the slotted ones are just for looks.
 
Good info! Thanks guys, I'm still doing some research on the discs (only had the last 11 years to do it), but I faff about a bit.
 
I've got slotted and drilled rotors on both the wagon and mustang. Only difference is you lose a little bit of the initial bite when braking and when you brake hard, you feel a growling or grinding feeling. Other than that, no change outside of the fact that you no longer feel brake fade when the traffic light changes a bit earlier than expected. :)
 
Slotted Discs don't do anything that stock disks don't do. Get drilled discs if you want better cooling performance, the slotted ones are just for looks.

It's completely the opposite. Most drilled rotors are the normal vented brake rotors drilled though (like Zimmermanns - I'm still waiting for the day, when adrians will grenade :ninja: ), to make them look cooler and to charge a premium. For actual high quality drilled rotors you'll need heat treated steel rotors (hochgekohlt) for more stability. The backdraft of those is that those usually cost 3 x times more then normal ventilated discs. Also brake pads wear off faster, because crap keeps collecting in those holes plugging them (which also loses the "cooling" advantage) and the high tensile steel is more abbrasive to the brake pad material. Most slotted discs also lose on the first meters on inital brake bite. Oh yeah and they can easily crack after several heat cycles on the "track".

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My advise is avoid drilled rotors if possible, unless you change your brake setup to Brembo/Wilwood etc. Performance setup for race track use. But those cost easily triple diggits ;) :D
Though moust long distance race cars (LMP) use slotted discs ;) :D
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If you want to upgrade brake disks get quality slotted disc. These can actually help when there is debris/water on the brake disks.

A video with science to back up my statements
 
This is why I've been avoiding doing anything about it for 11 years...

Finally managed to change my headlight globe/bulb, which I noticed was out the other night coming home from a concert.
Neither Dad nor I could get the wires to unplug from the fitting, no matter what we tried. I know you have to push in the tabs from both sides, but it wasn't working for me. Took it to work and one of the guys, who used to be a panel beater had a go. Popped out on the second try for him. After that I had it changed and all back together in about 5 minutes.
 
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