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.



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.

I reckon the flywheel problem will be someone has used auto flex plate bolts and no loctite on them.
Loctite is always required with flywheel bolts and proper manual bolts are longer then auto ones. People say it doesnt matter but it does.
Send the diff with the locker down to me and I will send you my LSD in exchange.
I would definatley be doingthe swap. Utes are where its at.

If I end up doing the trade I'll get in contact with you about the diff. Why would you want a spool in exchange for an LSD, though?

I know lots of red loctite was used, not from talking to him tonight, just from talking to him in the past. The flex plate bolts have never been mentioned.

Thanks for the advice mate. This thing pulls like a freight train compared to everything else I've ever driven, lol.

Haha the snapping of clutch cables is a prick, ive snapped 2 of them they have both been at the very end where they connect to the fork, i think the fork itself rubs against the wires in the cable cutting strand by strand until the rest of the cable cant handle the pressure and snaps. next time it snaps im going to put some plastic or something around the fork so it doesnt rub against the cable.

my T5 runs fairly warm aswell you can feel the warm air coming up around the gearstick through the gear boot.

and for the diff i'd say just get an auto Lokka instead

I thought you were talking about a proper lokka.
If it is a spooled diff nah definately not interested in one of them.

When I did my manual conversion on my Eb Ghia I used the proper bolts for the manual flywheel, those that bolt it to the crank. I didn't loctite them, I just did them up to the specified torque & had no issues since.

Maybe the incorrect bolts were used or not done up tight enough?

Cheers

ToranaGuy

i dont see the point in buying someone elses problem, if its fitted with a locker and snaps clutch cables well it sounds like hes flogged it, then again what sort of person buys a manual falcon to drive to church on a sunday ?

Clutch cable doesn't even touch the flywheel.
If the bolts were wrong or loose, you bloody know about it. (Just drive a Hemi 245).

Anything that UN-balanced would be thrown out the side if it were to be 'vibrating' the clutch lever to wreck cables.


The problem is more likely to be:

Clutch fork. bent or worn pivots.
HD Clutch, more excessive load on the fork in which the cable has to pull.
Over tensioned cable, where the cable is pulling far more than it should.
Cheap Cables and or lubricated with WD40.
Incorrectly fitted and or too greater bends.

It may be a locker mate, I will find out for you if I get it. It could be a detroit locker for all I know, all I know is that it's locked.



The vibrations weren't the suspicions of the clutch cable breaking. The bolts on the flywheel coming undone are what the mechanic thinks may be a result of the vibrations.

What would the car feel like to drive if the flywheel was loose? Would the clutch feel like it was engaging/disengaging on its own accord?



The locker was in it when he bought it, and he does drive it hard, but no harder than I would drive it.

When I did my manual conversion on my Eb Ghia I used the proper bolts for the manual flywheel, those that bolt it to the crank. I didn't loctite them, I just did them up to the specified torque & had no issues since.

Maybe the incorrect bolts were used or not done up tight enough?

Cheers

ToranaGuy

I can't be sure if the correct bolts were used, but I do know they were done up to the right torque specs, and loctite was used. Thanks mate.


Cheers mate, I haven't been too worried about the heat, it's just the other niggling issues.

He is going to let me borrow the ute for a day or two in the coming month to see if I like it. Anyone know of a decent place I could take it to in S/E QLD (Brissy, Goldy, etc) or is there anyone from that area on here who knows their s**t that wouldn't mind having a quick look/drive of it to tell me if they can see any issues?

id be taking the XH mate. My old ute was a 98 XH tonner, mind you i turned it into a BNS ute but even stock standard the thing had some balls, i drive an 09 VE SV6 ute now and would quite happily go back to the XH

I'm sure there are a few of us in SE QLD with half an idea. What area are you in?