Talk me out of buying a TE50.

[Sturmovik]

Chuck some good heads on it and it will make an easy 320kw (probably closer to 350kw)

Yes they run 13s stock, I saw a stock auto run 13.9 at Calder years ago. The owner could only manage 14.1 and a yank tourist got in and cracked off three 13.9s in a row

The manual is atleast a few tenths quicker.

[Madhatr]

better heads? i thought the GT40 heads were fairly well sorted? ive seen people have issues with the double valve spring setup though, not so much in that they are weak, but the rates vary a little and it has lead to some leaking. Alternate set of aftermarket springs fixes the problem though. Im going to line up a couple of test drives tomorrow for my day off on tuesday, drive a few cars in the range, even a 540i and see what happens

[ironhorse]

i like 'em.But more for the X factor though. I have driven a mates T series with an "adaptive" auto ( just seemed like a regular slushbox ?) they are not brilliant cars .Imo the praise from local mags was ,as usual, moot,tainted.They are coming off a low base . the chassis /brakes /drivetrains of most AU falcons are awful ,so better awful isn't a validation. T series are held in high regard by the Ford faithful i've found ,so future values will hold imo, but it's more image than substance.For eg the hand built motors were borne from a necessity not a pursuit of perfection .250kw was unobtainable otherwise for Tickford without all the gear ,and blueprinting etc.By that late stage most of the Windsor blocks Ford had stockpiled were years old surplus which were becoming more unreliable and tempremental . Rusty cylinder bores are common in AUs.Slapping on brembos is always good too ,but the standard braking infrastructure in AUs is ,shithouse.So brembos dont maketh a Ferrari.See what i mean ,A for effort but the T- series never was and never will be the sum of it's parts.

[Sturmovik]

For about the same price you could get this.

500hp, 6 speed AU XR8

http://www.fordforums.com.au/showthread.php?t=98460

[Madhatr]

Yeah, i was reading about that earlier tonight. Looks pretty good, cept for the rear tail lights

[ironhorse]

For about the same price you could get this.

500hp, 6 speed AU XR8

http://www.fordforums.com.au/showthread.php?t=98460

Now your talking .Looks better too ,the XR front works well on AU .

[Peter...]

A lot of people reckon that the Falcons took a step backwards in steering feel and chassis from AU to BA. From that POV alone, I reckon I'd buy one of these 5.6 litre AU's. Supposedly they had better IRS too, and the fact that its gotta be a bit unique compared to the billions of BA XR's you see these days must be a compelling argument.

[dog poo]

but then you could buy something japanese for 2/3 the price and it would be alot better ;D

[MoparGus]

How different were the Series 3 AU XR8 stroker motors to these things ?
The S3 had a " hand built " tickford stroker with the name of the tickford engine builder engraved on a rocker cover . I can remember a SHITLOAD of these engines being replaced under warranty when they were new . we'd have a couple a week going through our parts dept .
They apparently got real hot , and filled the sumps with coolant real quick.
Our techs were not to pull the engines down , but to strip all external components off , fit a new crate motor under warranty, and send the rooted one back.

Im thinking they were built by the same folks but the TE donk was probably tweaked a bit more . did they have the same probs ?

[Sturmovik]

Series 3 XR8 didnt get stroker motors, if you want to make stories up atleast get your facts straight first

[08ESE]

s3 xr8 had the 220kw engine that was NOT hand built and stamped.

only the 5.6L stroker was hand built for the tickfords.

[ironhorse]

no mopargus is correct . ALL xr8 motors were hand assembled from AU2 onward .The 200 and 220kw motors all had a name plaque etc.Its the same engine.Tickford built the engines for the T series tickfords ,sold stuff all so then Ford aus reamed the very few that did buy one by then throwing the engines into standard XR8s.A heap of these motors were rebuilt ,hand assembled yes but not by Mick Webb! It was more a dodgy non automated production line. Only the T3 (AU series3) were fitted with the 250kw 5.6 stroker though.Of course these buyers were then also reamed as the BA XR8 was released with 260kw standard ,and FPV moved to the 290kw.

[SirGoat]

my only issue would be resale, BAs are already getting dirt cheap and you pick up xr6t and xr8 for allot less than that. Wait until the orion comes out next year and people/fleets start dumping BFs on the market and the BA will be getting resale that a mitsubishi owner could relate to ... why do i talk about BAs and not AUs well AUs already have horrible resale compaired to the BA wait until you see main stream BAs that cheap and the AU will be worth sims money. Then even though the TE50 may be a brilliant AU i dont think people will pay 4-5x what the xr8s will be worth.

Umm thats my long winded way of saying i actually have a soft spot for AU but running + petrol + insurance is the smallest "cost" you get from owning them IMO.

[Madhatr]

How different were the Series 3 AU XR8 stroker motors to these things ?
The S3 had a " hand built " tickford stroker with the name of the tickford engine builder engraved on a rocker cover . I can remember a SHITLOAD of these engines being replaced under warranty when they were new . we'd have a couple a week going through our parts dept .
They apparently got real hot , and filled the sumps with coolant real quick.
Our techs were not to pull the engines down , but to strip all external components off , fit a new crate motor under warranty, and send the rooted one back.

Im thinking they were built by the same folks but the TE donk was probably tweaked a bit more . did they have the same probs ?

I was at ford for 3 years and we didnt have one replaced, and that was at probably the largest dealership in the area, dont forget they are iron blocks and heads so they will handle a little more heat than the alloy headed 5L. The 5L motors dont have the same hardware internally, no girdle, no billet rods, acl pistons or yellaterra rockers, they ran alloy heads (replaced with cast iron ones later in the S2 run), different cam, smaller throttle body and different intake, they arent balanced and blueprinted like the strokers either. And you dont get the tremec gearbox, brembo brakes or koni suspension package on anything but the S3, the differences alone is worth 10k in parts.

[MoparGus]

Series 3 XR8 didnt get stroker motors, if you want to make stories up atleast get your facts straight first

If I was gunna make anything up itd be about the size of cock mate.

Ok so after a little googling it appears I was wrong re strokers in XR8's.

Thanx Ironhorse it seems you are on the money

An important 220 kW XR8 upgrade was then announced in June 2001 as an AU Series II running change. This coincided with the switch from the alloy heads for the 220 kW engine in the T-Series to the locally re-engineered cast iron heads which were combined with a larger throttle body, matched port inlet manifold and a revised camshaft. This new engine was a hand-assembled Tickford item. Sideskirts and body colour exterior mirrors were now standard.

Engine
AUII XR8 220kW: Windsor 5-litre V8, OHV, electronic multi-point fuel injection, 9.4:1 compression, reworked Explorer GT40P cast iron crossflow heads, roller rockers, special camshaft, cold air intake, low restriction twin exhaust system, 70 mm throttle body, oil cooler, match-ported inlet manifolds,upgraded fuel pressure regulator, 220 kW@5250rpm, 435Nm@4,000rpm.

Shit Quoted from ere

Ok back on Topic

the TE50 is the best AU by far , I too am surprised that they are still getting 30k. surely that will be 15k in a couple of years though.
They sound awesome too . one thing the gen3 doesnt have is a great sound.

TE50 specs ere