Need Advice (Car Swap)

[kawasakirider]

Hey everyone, my mate is keen to swap his 96 XH ute for my 2001 S2 AU sedan. My AU has around 250xxx, his ute has a genuine 165xxx.

His ute has 199.1HP at the rear wheels and it's the fastest car I've ever driven (still a P plater). Plus I'd say it would be worth a bit more than my AU. It has some weird issues that no one has been able to get to the bottom of, though.

He has been honest with me about them, and here they are, just quoting from a text message.

Well it's been snapping clutch cables at the very end where it goes into the bellhousing plate, it's done 3 in the last 12 months, they're $105 each. The passenger door has a closing problem. There's always a lot of heat coming from the gearbox and have no idea why, the flywheel comes loose every time you do a decent burnout although never when drifted (even on limiter) and the locker gets annoying when you drive around carparks and arking, but if none of the above bothers you, it's fine. Plus aircon needs regassing.

So to summarise the issues they are:

Snapping Cables *NOT* where it goes through the firewall, down near the bellhouing.

The door has an issue closing (not heaps fussed about that one)

The flywheel is coming loose under a lot of load. This has been an ongoing issue with the car and it's had a mechanic stumped. They had considered tack welding the bolts to the studs, but he just put it back together and has been taking it easy since. They had an idea that the crank MAY be out of balance, causing the flywheel bolts to come off with vibration, any idea if this could be correct?

Transmission heat

The locker is annoying when driving.

Anyone know what may be causing the heat from the trans, the clutch cable issue or the flywheel issue?

Here is the list of mods:

Shaved head

Cam (not sure on size)

Pod

Extractors

Exhaust

Spool

Heavy duty single plate clutch

Lowered 4 inches around

1 leaf removed to soften it up for drag launches, (I believe it ran a 13 second pass)

It's got a "chip" for the ECU "but it's locked to you can't play with it" I didn't think ECU Chips existed, lol.

Here are some pics:

Would you guys be interested in trading in my position? I am also a dirt bike rider, and having a ute again would be very handy for me. I haven't been able to take my bike anywhere since I had my old ute.

[ctjet]

dont do swaps with mates, it'll end in tears

doesnt matter how good the deal is

[Miguelone]

Has anyone actually checked out the gearbox itself? Snapping clutch cables, flywheel issues etc. Could be he's just rough as guts on the clutch or could be an issue with the gearbox itself. Either way you should take it to a specialist and investigate further.

Alternatively

dont do swaps with mates, it'll end in tears

doesnt matter how good the deal is

[kawasakirider]

dont do swaps with mates, it'll end in tears

doesnt matter how good the deal is

Same deal as don't go into business with mates. I've done car swaps with him before. It's all good.

[kawasakirider]

Has anyone actually checked out the gearbox itself? Snapping clutch cables, flywheel issues etc. Could be he's just rough as guts on the clutch or could be an issue with the gearbox itself. Either way you should take it to a specialist and investigate further.

Alternatively

A mechanic has had a look at it and it has got him stumped. The only thing that he could come up with, was that the crank is out of balance and the resulting vibrations are causing the issue. The guy drives rough, but no rougher than any other 5 speed falcadore owner, and not rough enough that I wouldn't want the car because it was thrashed too much.

[kawasakirider]

Anyone else got any ideas? This car hasn't snapped anything for the last 8+ months, but I want to be sure before I take the plunge. People on the ford forums say it's all good, just wanting an unbiased opinion, because I know a lot of you are ford haters, hahaha.

[GTR-N1]

Complete this old adage...

"When in doubt, d***"

So I'd be taking the Ford to another mechanic if I were you. You've already exhausted the knowledge of one.

Your friendship has nothing to do with how this Ford is going to pan out. So if you buy this car now with all it's 'question marks', you're taking a 'shot in the dark'!

There have been TT/ACA stories before albeit in the 90s, about 'lemon' cars; and there have always been Fords amongst them including prime movers. My brother-in-law is a Ford man with a Mondeo, G6Eturbo, XR6 & Focus Ghia in his family. 3 of the 4 have had intermittent problems, but it's interesting to watch how he still persists and not consider anything else.

Personally, you wouldn't have started this thread unless there were doubts; and several posts further on, you still have them.

Put it this way: if your body still ails you after seeing a Dr, would you seek a 2nd opinion? Preferably a specialist? Know a Ford specialist? You know: the one who's lost his hair?

GL

[kawasakirider]

Thanks for the advice mate. I DO have doubts, it's just that the car hasn't had any problems since power cruise last year, and on the last reassembly, they seem to have gotten it right. I'm no guru, but I know my way around a falcon. It's just that being away from home for uni, I don't feel like/have the time or space to drop the box out should I need to do some work.

I get my opens in December and I really want an import. A bunch of job opportunities have gone balls up so it doesn't look like it will happen

[mad082]

well technically speaking, the car isn't P plate legal because it has engine mods.

that aside, by the sounds of it, the car has had the arse rapped out of it harder than $2 hooker having a 2 for 1 sale. it may have less kms than your car, but it has had a very hard life. it won't be long before something goes wrong.

[adamskill]

just dont do the swap. its that simple

[GTR-N1]

...harder than $2 hooker having a 2 for 1 sale.

geez....

does that really happen?

[Silvia GTR]

dont do swaps with mates, it'll end in tears

doesnt matter how good the deal is

[Isola]

The question I don't see asked in here yet is:

Have you ever had any problems with your AU?

AU Foulcoons were pretty much bullet-proof. If it's not playing up on you, don't swap it for a car that has a good chance of playing up on you.

[ARTZ]

my mate had a XE falcon with a worked 351, it too had passenger door closing problems..

the problem came not long after he chained the engine down to the chassis rails because it kept snappin engine mounts...

Plenty of room on the drivers door though