Thinking of buying an AU XR8

[DioMac]

G'day all,

Just to introduce myself, my name is Dion and I live in WA. I was looking at buying myself a HR Holden or a HT Brougham (blasphemy on these boards?) but I was thinking that if I was gonna spend so much on an old car, why not buy a much newer one? Since I don't like the Holden shape of the late 90's eaerly 2000's I thought I might see if I could get an AU series XR8 sedan or a ute for around $10K and wanted to ask for some pointers and things to look out for.

I've seen these for sale on the auto trader which I though were not too bad



http://www.autotrader.com.au/iteminf...ubs_Used+Cars_

http://www.autotrader.com.au/iteminf...ubs_Used+Cars_


Not knowing alot about fords and AU's in particular and bearing in mind that $10K really only gets me into the first series AU bracket. I thought I would ask to see if there were any particular quirks or potential nasties that I can expect in the future.


Sorry for the long post.

DioMac

[StealthAu]

As far as running gear goes there is bugger all of a difference between the series 1 to 3. Biggest draw back the series 1 AU's (all models) had were the brakes. Also depending on how the previous owner treated it, you may also have diff and trans issues.

[BLACKAUXR8]

Get a series 2... You can pick them up for decent prices now. You'll save money in the long run with a series 2

[Werd.]

Series one brakes are rubbish.
v8 with crap brakes is stupid.

[DioMac]

Duly noted.

Are manuals difficult to come by? Also is there much hassle with LPG gas conversions and is there much of a power loss?

Not that I'm too worried about speed. I'm more about cruising in a neat and schmick looking car than getting extra KW's outta the engine

--Edit, Check out the second link I posted if possible. I'd like something along the lines of that.

[JC]

Originally Posted by Werd.

Series one brakes are rubbish.
v8 with crap brakes is stupid.

Why is that? I find your statement to be ignorant. AU1 brakes are not that bad; but they could be better. If you drive to the limitations of the car (in this case, brakes), then you will be right. If you want to do track work on the street, then yes, the AU1 brakes will not be very effective after 4 or 5 hard stops in quick succession - but who drives like that? And if you do, why? Who are you trying to kill?

And what does having a V8 under the hood have to do with how well a car brakes? All cars accelerate, and all cars decelerate. The engine controls the first, the brakes the second. So what does the engine type have to do with the second, or the brake type have to do with the first?

What brakes you have will certainly affect how you drive the car - ie late braking if you have great brakes or braking sooner to compensate for less effective brakes. Just ask the guys that have Brembos - they know that the first few stops are more like "try to stops", but after that, once the brakes get heat into them, there's not much that will pull a car up better than a Brembo. But I'll bet they don't try a full hard stop on their first or second brake application; because they know they won't work well. They will only rely on the stopping power once the Brakes have come up to temp. AU1 brakes are much the same as Brembos then - except they don't get any better after the first stop, and no amount of temp is going to make them brake any better, lol. But if you drive to the limitation of the brakes, then you should not need to use other cars to do the braking for you - pretty sure there's at least one AU1 in the country with no front damage, just to prove that these cars can be driven effectivley even with the puny brakes.

Also, if you can wield a spanner, it should cost no more than about $500 or so to upgrade your front brakes (and suspension) from AU1 to AU2 spec. A worthwhile mod - and not because you are looking at a V8, but because the AU2 twin spot callipers are about twice as good as the AU1 single pot callipers.

[JC]

Originally Posted by DioMac

Duly noted.

Are manuals difficult to come by? Also is there much hassle with LPG gas conversions and is there much of a power loss?

Not that I'm too worried about speed. I'm more about cruising in a neat and schmick looking car than getting extra KW's outta the engine

I had an AU1 XR8 on mixer ring gas conversion (Landi Renso) and lost a total of 6rwkw - not that you'd notice that (it was 144 on petrol, 138 on gas - if you reckon you can feel that small difference, then your bum-o-meter is better than mine).

[Mr Cube]

Originally Posted by JC

pretty sure there's at least one AU1 in the country with no front damage,

Yeah I have one of those... ;)

[DioMac]

Thanks for the replies guys.

The other thing that interested me was the fitting of aftermarket bonnet bulges. I think it gives the AU XR8 a bit of "something" in the front that I think it lacks. Are these expensive to buy anf fit?

[aye you]

depends on how much work u do yourself

[BLACKAUXR8]

depends if you want a real one or a fibre glass one? Then do you want a fibre glass bulge on your bonnet or do you want a complete fibre glass bonnet?

[DioMac]

Well I've seen a company on this forum who make aftermarket parts for falcons and I saw on thier website that they had fibre glass bonnets with the bulge.

Just wondering if anyone actually had one as I think it give the AU something in the front.


I hope to buy an AU XR8 in the next few months so I'm trying to get as much info as I can on them.

[RUKIDN]

I love the AU xr8s (series 3 look the best imo) you wouldnt regret buying one i know i didnt! With all my mods aside, standard id still love it. If you can pick up a clean good cond. one then it should keep you quite happy!
There are quite few 5spd xr's out there problem being if its the colour car you want, i orginally wanted a 5spd xr8 in black and many werent poping up i tell ya but if colour isnt a major concern then you should be right!
Check out carsales i always found quite few nice xr's on there.

[aye you]

you do not THINK about buying an AU XR8, you DO

[RUKIDN]

Originally Posted by aye you

you do not THINK about buying an AU XR8, you DO

:hihi: well said!