@@HybridBell no. Come on man. Every Holden owner knows the barra and zf are great, but they just look like taxis with body kits with poor suspension and brakes
“So I shot over there in the Fairlane, I got some time off work to do that” 😂😂😂 In other words, you left your laptop on and left without telling anyone 😂😂 In all seriousness, another top purchase Sean. Manual gearbox = win.
I agree about the mercury silver; my 2003 Fairmont Ghia paint is still very close to mint all these years later - no signs of fading or blemishes anywhere!🙂👍👍
Hi Sean what a brilliant car, everything about it, colour, turbo, manual, interior= 10/10 Did well son & agree completely the manual is a fantastic driving experience, nothing wrong with an auto but the manual engages the driver on another level Are ypu going to serice it yourself?
This was the car that got me into Aussie cars. You sir, you just got a great car and made a really good investment. Can't wait to see more of this beast.
I do think I got lucky with it. Mostly it was the seller being an awesome bloke. So many people were chasing him, but he was still willing to sell it to me and even take a substantial amount off the asking price in the process without me having to throw a lower figure at him. I didn't want to stuff him around, and he didn't want to be stuffed around either.
Turned down a hail damaged BA Turbo with a rolling Turbo shell 3 days ago for 3.5k. I recon I could have had it on the road registered for 5K. Not enough room at my place for 2 cars at the moment though, Spewin.
I love the way you think regarding the way to use the car ..Fed up no end on how the Barra Turbo is used to squeeze every last ounce of power and wring it's neck constantly ..The whole joy of the engine is to give boost for safe and very quick overtaking , for extra power when needed and for making driving more fun in general.. Do that with good maintenance ant the Turbo will see huge service and put a big smile on the face every time you turn the key . I have an FG XR6 non turbo and a sweet as AU ll Futura and they are both a absolute joy to own ..Thanks Sean , your videos are just great to watch ..Love them .
Hey, remember me? I was the bloke who purchased the Ford mobile office table for my AU2. Lovely car mate. My friend bought a BA Mk I 5sp in Phantom new from the factory. Sounds like a great choice EXCEPT he sold his concourse condition E48 Charger for $24,000 to fund the purchase :( A car that would fetch well over $100-200,000 now. I guess nearly every older car enthusiast has a story of a muscle car that they sold for peanuts. Oh, and the ECU would not allow him to fan the clutch and lay rubber. Protecting the driveline, I guess. Anyway, I am so glad that you got a manual one. The turbo Barra is like all other turbo engines in the sense that it responds well to modifications - if that is what you are into. Even as stock, they are fun to drive. My uncle has a later model Tyfoon sedan, and that thing pulls quite hard. It is just a shame that it is an auto. Because the Tyfoon is a large, 4 door sedan, it does not handle as well as the two Nissan 200SX's that I have owned. That is just Physics. As far as prices go, hopefully, it will appreciate in value. Sadly for owners, if this virus drags on, we may see some bargains come up for sale. Time will tell. I am sure that you will enjoy your new purchase-all the best with it.
@@MotoringBoxTV Oh yeah. I have some automotive related illness. I have owned over 40 cars in my 48 years. I have many regrets - like a XA fairmont V8 hardtop, an R/T Charger, a brand new black S15, a mint boosted S14 and a heap more old Fords, Holdens & especially Valiants.
I've always been more of a Euro car guy, but I do find these very appealing. Really show that there was some serious design and engineering talent here in Oz If you want a very affordable big sedan that's a great drive, it's a fine choice. I'm not surprised demand is through the roof. It was fairly obvious that when they stopped building Falcons, it was going to do great things for the value of used ones. Especially the hot ones like this. You keep this in good nick (as I know you will), and I've no doubt that its value in coming years is going to go sky high. Especially being a 6 speed manual. Good luck with it mate. I like your style.
Mal fixed my au 5.0ltr manual pedal box a couple of years ago and did a great job at a good price, he's and expert in this area and specializes in tre-mac and other locally made manuals, definitely the to bloke to see
The t56 magnum wasn't cheap. I think he stung me $13500 all up, no installation. But that box can handle up to 2000hp guaranteed. It's going behind my 4.6L supercharged v8 in an old school xw Ute.
I'm very excited to see the food analogy you use, as you talk us through the falcon range. Such as the XT, SR, XR6, XR6T, XR8 and then the FPV range such as the F6 TYPHOON, GT and lastly the GT-P.
A rare sight to see an original XR6 Turbo! I'm glad your're not gonna mess with it too much because it will hold it value or even better when it is time to sell it.
My first car was a Mercury Silver XR6 BA. It was my dream to own since I grew up watching Supercars. I now own an FG, I love my falcons 😊 Both manual of course!
Nice find, BA Manual XR6 Turbo. They are very rare, shame the car needs work. She will be a great drive once you resolve the issue. The Barra is a fantastic motor.
Awesome video mate. Love the manual gearbox. I have had the same conversation with some of my mates about auto vs manual. Manual, for me just makes them drivers cars. Nothing like the feeling of moving through the gears and making the decision for yourself. I currently have a manual FG F6 and wouldn't have it any other way. Love the B series man, looking forward to the next video.
Yup exactly right! The autos are faster, but what do you do... you just sit there and floor it. Nothing wrong with the ZF's, they're amazing automatics - just not something I was interested in.
100 percent man. Hats off to the ZF gearbox, they are superb gearboxes, but autos in general just bore me. Give me a clutch and a mechanical click of gears any day. 👌
Ford smashed a home run with the BA model. And for the record, anybody can drive an automatic car fast. Very few can do it in a manual. Not to mention there are far more things you can do with a manual transmission. Malwood is where I got my hurst short throw shifter for my VE SSv. Can vouch for them they are great!
Congratulations Mate on such a fine example! Love your passion for your new car ! You are a perfect custodian of Aussie Barra history! They will be worth a lot in the not too distant future!
another good reason for the harsh plastics is that they last longer then leathers and fabrics. Also certain colours on the falcons were really difficult to colour match after crashes. Great video! looking foreword to seeing this car more
I like the BA as well. We had a BA mk ll wagon that we towed our caravan with. It was a great effort less towing vehicle with heaps of room for our whole family. I like how the BA XR6 has that pissed off looking face. Its a “get out of the way” look. Yours is in great untouched nik.
Good to see you got a fairly straight example that hasn't been messed around with. Don't know much about them so look forward to your future videos. Be careful with that clutch, I burnt one out on a manual turbo car. It was starting to slip like yours and I ignored it for too long and was left stuck at the side of the road. Avoid flooring it in high gears that puts the most amount of wear on it ... trust me I speak from experience ...
I just got a xr8 boss 260 6 speed manual after owning v8 commodores all my life... and I have to say, I absolutely love my falcon. 1 of the best Aussie cars I've owned
@@MotoringBoxTV mine was 225rwkw first run with just a growler intake, pacemaker extractors and high flow cats and twin 2.5inch straight exhaust. Now after tune, running 250.3rwkw
Looks like you have picked yourself up a great car and at a bargain price. Well done! I am a BF II owner with the zf6. Although my car is lightly modified, i have done many things to keep a higher level of refinement within the car. Things such a sound proofing the cabin and boot, full fpv leather interior and all touch points replaced with new or close to new condition. I have also replaced just about every bush, mount, joint, arm that can be replaced along with oem rated shocks and heavy duty stock height springs. Do yourself a solid and get the car up on the hoist and do a full inspection. You will be surprised at how well these cars still drive even with busted or worn out parts... Then they get better and better when said parts are renewed. Subscribed for future updates!
Well done mate! Very clean & you can tell it’s been well looked after. I have a ‘04 BA XR8 and can see why the MKII is really the bees knees of the Falcons. Things to look out for on the next service - CV joints, sway bars, diff bushes and the one every owner has dealt with - the centre bearing. I’ve had to replace the lot on mine at around 120,000kms. One upgrade I would definitely recommend is the F6 / Typhoon / GT Brembo & PBR brake kit. They’re factory, so it’s an easy fit. Trust me - you won’t look back! If you ever come down to Syd would love a cruise & a coffee :)
Subscribed. I've watched a few videos and like where your channel is going mate! Keep up the good work. Great car and I'm keen to see the engine detailing video!
Thanks for showing the car before you got stuck into it. Will be good to follow the journey. 6 speed manual makes the car way more attractive IMHO. Looks like car has been garaged. Low kms. too. It has gone to the right person.
Having been a Ford fan, I really enjoy watching the details of this car! I am, however, a proud Holden CalaisV owner, and I feel a lot more at home in the Commy.
Oh and the manual/auto debate - the ZFs are known for lunching themselves unless you put a trans cooler in, which probably costs as much as a new uprated clutch for yours, so it's horses for courses really.
Start saving for a diff or two. Drove one as a company car for years and loved it but shit did a lot of weird things go wrong before it even got to 100,000 clicks.
So nice to see one of these that isn't rooted, and it's manual! We had one of the very last BF XR6s as a rental car quite a few years ago, even in NA form they pull like a train. The turbo must be so much better.
Just noticing the yanks are going nuts for our barra turbo. Truly one of the world's great 6 cylinder engine. It was actually codenamed Seagull when being developed because it would shit on anything that got in its way. Quirky fact..
When it comes to under the bonnet, I just go off what Scotty Kilmer and me old man say; "It doesn't hurt anything if it's a little dirty." Well, looks like you'll finally chop me FG XR6 with one of your cars now. Sweet ride mate.
Congrats on your car, a very nice and clean car. I agree on the manual transmission... they're a lot of fun!! A proud owner of a fg falcon xr6 turbo 6sp manual!👍
Before you do anything remove and clean out the factory turbo oil feed line. Inside the oil fitting connected to the block under the intake manifold there is a small filter inside held in by a circlip that clogs up. This starves the turbo and cooks the bearings, also worth cleaning the banjo type fitting at the turbo itself. Definitely worth looking into and getting done
@@MotoringBoxTV Good idea, car is very nice by the way. I've had a few personally and own one now, definitely going to become a classic. I'd definitely keep this one lol all the best and look forward to more videos on this
I’ve always loved the BA/BF XR6/8 Thinking back to when they first came out it was a significant improvement on looks though I don’t find the AU to be as bad now as I did back in the day. Both my brother’s have owned a BA XR6 and I really enjoyed driving their XR6s when ever I got the chance.
I have the same car and colour 6 speed manual XR8. Copped nothing but trolls when I listed it on Facebook running the car down and telling me it was only worth 3 to 4K. Very good lowish Km examples like mine everyone wants but won’t pay a fair price for. I decided to keep it now as I’m not giving it away. I spent over $8k rebuilding the driveline/diff/bushes etc and it drives like new. A very good car if you find a nice well looked after one.
Mal Wood has always been the go to for gearbox stuff in the falcon and commodore scenes. I have used a few extreme clutches with good result too. I believe that it may be a good idea to replace the concentric slave cylinder with a high quality unit while youre in there too.
@@MotoringBoxTV Thank's and as for the steering wheel, it should be a matt finish not shinny Try some Bowden's own leather cleaner and protection, Use a brush but little pressure. 👌
Big Ford fan and Inline Six fanboy. Have heard that Ford didn't spend as much on developing the car as they should have and early BA Turbos had issues. If it were my car I would follow your lead and keep it reliable but would go against the drag crowd and try and get it to handle...Maybe Shockworks would sponsor you? Then Michelin PS4 or Continental Contacts Sport 6s tyres. Being a MK2 245 KW/48O NM should be plenty of power:) Car looks great - with a machine polish it will look even better.
I had the mal wood option 3+ with the mal wool short shift and remote bleeder. It felt good and drove good, but five weeks later to the day, the arp flywheel bolts mal used broke and you could hear them floating around in the bellhousing. Mal fixed her up straight away. 3 months later the clutch was toast, kept slipping and couldn’t hold the power. Another trip from the sunny coast to Warwick and $1000 later she was good to go. If I had my time again I’d go the npc twin plate, still an ace clutch (mal wood option 5) but closer to home.
Hey mate, just a heads up a friend told me about with those car's infotainment system. When you take the screen out with all the circuit boards and such, make sure you align it EXACTLY in line with how it came out and triple check the alignment when inserting the screen and such back in. I was told that because of the location of the ECU, problems with the alignment can cause the car to not start.
Apparently you have to treat them very carefully, and keep them upright? As apparently laying them down or putting them upsidedown can damage the LCD? Sounds a bit scary.
Great video as always mate! Mercury Silver isn't one of the best colours. It IS the best colour period! Rear diff bushes, rose joints, lower control arms / ball joints.... they all fail eventually. Rear diff bushes faster if you flog it. Cover up your alternator when you degrease engine. They don't like oil. Also the plastic cover on top of the engine WILL let water in and shorten your coils / Plugs. Hit up Bowdens own 3 way decontamination product as well. Polish that colour out and it really pops!! Awesome video as always. Really looking forward to the updates!
Excellent to see a Manual Transmission. Here in New Zealand they basically don't exist. If you want a manual falcon, be prepared to double the price (or more) of the automatic version. Id be happy to daily a Manual XR6 AU or even an EL/EF, but people are asking 10,000 NZD for them, while the same thing in Automatic goes for 3,000. It makes it very hard to justify such a purchase.
I was offered a blue 2005 XR6 5 sp manual for $1000 here in Australia. It needed it's interior fixed and had some rust here and there and well as hail damage. It still looked good and drove perfect.
You'll love the mighty Barra!! I had an xr6t motor and running gear out of a ute in a wagon, it was such a sleeper and an absolute rocket!! These motors are pretty cheap to get significant power out of. In saying that, once you get the clutch sorted, you'll be happy as a pig in shit anyway. Enjoy the new rig mate, I'm stoked for you :)
I had a Lightning Strike BA XR6 with the black stripes as my first car. What're you onto now? I couldn't leave the B series and upgraded to my beloved 6sp BF, still in Lightning Strike ;)
The BA and BF have aged so well, but the prices reflect that now. I want a BF XR8 manual pretty badly, but for what I'm after it would be a $18k car or there abouts. I've currently got a 1998 EL XR8 Tickford that I plan to hold onto, those are going up pretty quickly at the moment too.
Another awesome video! So keen to see more vidoes on the XR6T I myself own a BA ute and love it. I had to do a clutch on it. I couldn't recommends Xtreme clutches more. Get the complete clutch kit from them, that includes a lightweight flywheel *massive improvement* spigot bearing, thrust bearing, new bolts and more. Love your vidoes
G'day Sean, the gritty paint should just require a good going over with the claybar, although one thing about clay from your previous detail video, try to run the clay back and forth. Not in circles. The reason for this is because as the clay picks up crap from the paintwork, as you drag it along it has the potential to marr the finish from as all those little particles in the clay are pushed back against the paintwork causing little swirl marks. Scratches in a straight line are nowhere near as visible as swirl marks. Might not seem like much but with paint like that in such great condition otherwise it's every little thing to keep her looking her best! Then again even if you did marr the finish from an aggressive claybar rubbing session, a bit of Meguiar's ultimate compound is your best option for really removing all those imperfections and then just top with a favourite wax to keep that shine sealed. Either way mate great video and I'll be looking forward to seeing more on the silver beast!
Yup I tried the clay on a small patch of the roof, it did the trick so looking forward to going over the rest of the car. You'll be pleased to know I have since adopted the straight line approach since that last video!
Sean have you seen how much these cars are listed for now under 2years later, you bought at the right time, my estimation is that it now could sell for 4 times your indicated purchase price range.......envy here !
Also check around the boot lid gas struts the bottom end attached to the body can some times rust where it is mounted. I've seen a few have a bad rust problem on the drivers side. I can't remember if it was only the BA series 1 or 2 or if it was the BF series 1. The AU had inside of the rear doors rust behind the door card between the 2 pieces of glass.
Once upon a time I actually didn't mind watching his content.... but... putting double the amount of power through a stock drivetrain. What does he expect will happen? It's not the car's fault. Not to mention the power steering fire... As good as the stock 6spd zf's are, there's always a limit for everything.
Bought an F6 Typhoon brand new in 05, Merc Silver is what i chose still love that on a BA. Have a black BA XR6t now in auto, and prefer the way it drives vs the manual F6. Nice car
Super cool! I just picked one of these up a couple of months ago, factory turbo manual sunroof for 7k. I'm interested to see what mods you do, I've just done matinence on mine and bought some new wheels, its bone stock otherwise, its the most reliable and comfortable car I've owned so far though and I'm loving it!
The reason one of the center caps on your wheel was glued on is because the plastic gets brittle over time, and they need to be removed to put the wheels on the balance machine. So the last person to balance would have broken the clips and just glued it back on instead of telling the owner.
@@MotoringBoxTV I had this happen when I was doing my apprenticeship, no matter how careful you are taking them off they just some times shatter. I was told to just glue it back on.
@@MotoringBoxTV yeah they make a nice snap sound when they click into place. To get them out you usually give them a bit of a knock from the backside with something like a screwdriver handle or similar (something that isn't too hard) and you have to catch them with your other hand or they can go flying.
It's crazy how clean this thing is, I really wanted a ba xr6t but they were all flogged out and in crap condition so I went for a Na FG for now till I can afford the car I want
Definitely recommend waiting until you find the right car at the price you can afford. Half of me wanted to find a knackered example for cheap so it'd give me plenty of things to work on and fix the car up. But the knackered XR6T's aren't anywhere near as cheap as you'd want them to be. Which is crazy!
@@MotoringBoxTV I can't agree more mate at the moment my FG falcon is a great daily it has the impressive zf6 auto and it a very quiet and comfortable car. I'm not sure if your familiar with the little gold turbocharged corollas that Toyota dropped on us in 2001 but I recently sold that to get my falcon and that was a good bit of fun especially for the fact that only 110 were released and only in Australia.
What a great find mate. I actually wanted an xr6 but was lucky to get the 2002 fairmont ghia. That manual is a real treat and would have loved to have got a manual version of my car. But next time I'm after a car I'll def get one of them. The ghia I bought shares a lot in common with that one the front end is less rounded and looks more like the xr6 its a shame you have to replace the clutch mate. After having to replace one on a honda it was one of the most expensive things I've had to fix on our manual. If opportunity presents itself again I'll def consider upgrading to a 6 speed manual xr6. With that car modernizing the head unit would be a breeze and would suit the car well as it did in my honda. 02 ghia though that's another story ;)
The manual in the turbo models drive great in standard form. With a bit of boost you really notice the lack of throttle response. Then an auto would have been better. Even though it’s slower, I really enjoyed my stock 6 speed manual turbo.
If the gauges are harnest through the ICC, get a lecky to look at it. I tried installing an after market stereo through my BA and I managed to completely shut car down.
