FTO AUSTRALIA

Greetings all.

New here, and hoping to be a FTO owner soon.
Still on the look-out for an under 100k GPX Manual/Auto.

Been reading through all the common issues, etc, but still wanting it.

A normal car really seems boring.
Current car-> Mirage which is a write-off due to Perth's recent hail storm.

Cheers

There is a yellow one on car sales with less than 100K on it I think. There are probably more than that actually. Here are a few of the car sales sites:

http://www.completefto.com.au/CompleteFTO.asp?hid=254

And welcome to the club

Hey mate welcome

welcome

Thank you for the link, dstocks!!

It was a pain looking online on the usual websites, and I missed out on some of the other places mentioned there.

Will go and look into them.

Yellow might be out, even red. gf cannot stand those....

Got the car now!

Fair bit of work to do though.... roof rust / wheel alignment / some leaky stuff in engine bay... hopefully not too major.

Welcome to the club man!

All ftos have problems just search the forums you will pretty much find everything you need to know, if not just ask

Wttc mate -

post up your prblems and someone on here will know how to fix for sure.
Congrats on your buy and post some pics up bro!

Thank you all!

Got a much better idea of what's wrong now.

Forum and members are helping a ton, thanks

Notable issues known so far:
1> All 4 engine mounts need replacement ASAP
2> Starter motor issue, seems to start on N, not P... so its probably dying.(not too sure about the start on N part.. need to try a few more times over the week.)
3> oil and water leaks, need to be isolated, once engine is cleaned of all current residues.
4> 1 wheel slightly damaged, but mght upgrade to 17inchers... not important yet, but might be the most expensive.
5> Voltmeter fluctuates, when indicators are on, etc, but battery seems charged, so might not be an alternator issue. Will have to do the disconnect negative terminal on battery while car is running test.
6> Roof rust... hmm.. will have to wait for now.
7> A lot of wind noise, while at 90-100km... not too sure why. Windows are closed fully.

If you are getting wind noise the doors might not be closed properly, move the hooks on the door frame that the door locks on to inwards and tighten the screws up as hard as you can.

WTTC

Supplanter wrote:If you are getting wind noise the doors might not be closed properly, move the hooks on the door frame that the door locks on to inwards and tighten the screws up as hard as you can.

Not too sure which parts, but will ask a mate who understands car stuff much more than me.
Thanks for the tip!

i had a bit of wind noise before... i took out the rubber water lining that goes across the top of the driver side window and i repositioned it and glued it back into place.... i think there was a gap where air could be let inside the cabin, did this and stopped all the wind noises.

J wrote:i had a bit of wind noise before... i took out the rubber water lining that goes across the top of the driver side window and i repositioned it and glued it back into place.... i think there was a gap where air could be let inside the cabin, did this and stopped all the wind noises.

Will look into this too.

WTTC ... Hope you enjoy the ride..

yotka wrote:Thank you all!

Got a much better idea of what's wrong now.

Forum and members are helping a ton, thanks

Notable issues known so far:
1> All 4 engine mounts need replacement ASAP
2> Starter motor issue, seems to start on N, not P... so its probably dying.(not too sure about the start on N part.. need to try a few more times over the week.)
3> oil and water leaks, need to be isolated, once engine is cleaned of all current residues.
4> 1 wheel slightly damaged, but mght upgrade to 17inchers... not important yet, but might be the most expensive.
5> Voltmeter fluctuates, when indicators are on, etc, but battery seems charged, so might not be an alternator issue. Will have to do the disconnect negative terminal on battery while car is running test.
6> Roof rust... hmm.. will have to wait for now.
7> A lot of wind noise, while at 90-100km... not too sure why. Windows are closed fully.

Went to bob jane t-mart recently. They had some nice 17 inch rims at 190 each. Quite cheap IMO. You could consider them. 17in tyres were ard 120 each I think? Which mechanic are you sending your car to? Are they good with FTOs? I need to fix my suspension soon...

*snipped*

yotka wrote:Thank you all!

Got a much better idea of what's wrong now.

Forum and members are helping a ton, thanks

Notable issues known so far:
1> All 4 engine mounts need replacement ASAP
2> Starter motor issue, seems to start on N, not P... so its probably dying.(not too sure about the start on N part.. need to try a few more times over the week.)
3> oil and water leaks, need to be isolated, once engine is cleaned of all current residues.
4> 1 wheel slightly damaged, but mght upgrade to 17inchers... not important yet, but might be the most expensive.
5> Voltmeter fluctuates, when indicators are on, etc, but battery seems charged, so might not be an alternator issue. Will have to do the disconnect negative terminal on battery while car is running test.
6> Roof rust... hmm.. will have to wait for now.
7> A lot of wind noise, while at 90-100km... not too sure why. Windows are closed fully.

WTTC mate

1, if you gunna bother changing engine mounts, bring the whole engine out and replace all hoses, water pump, drive belts and cambelt etc... basically anything that may need doing in the future. Also give the transmission a service too while it's out.

2, Mine has been doing that for years and still is lol, mine has gotten to the point where I need to rapidly turn the key to make it engage. Replaced it already once as well and the new one did it too.

3, as for number 1, do it all at the same time.

4, second hand FTO wheels go for about $50 with a standard 16" tyre around here, your mileage may vary. I am using Legnum VR4 alloys atm.

5, that's pretty standard on both of the FTO's I have had, as long as it is pushing over 13 volts at idle without any other drain you should be fine.

6, roof rust should be your #1 priority imo.

7, could be the rubber seals being weathered and cracked.

I wanted to do the whole works too, but was advised to only replace what's needed.
I am getting confused by all the different parts and part numbers too...

Unless you have a coprehensive parts list, where to buy and how much?
Have read about the Drayco timing belt kit amongst others, but being a noob, I will make mistakes.

I did see an engine recondition kit for sale, which was just sold recently, which is said to have cost $1500?

Yeap, overall, still pretty confused about things... information overload.

Roof rust is important... but it will help, if I can drive the car confidently first though.
Its currently being banned from anymore movement.... till I can get the engine mounts.

FTEvolution wrote:

yotka wrote:Thank you all!

Got a much better idea of what's wrong now.

Forum and members are helping a ton, thanks

Notable issues known so far:
1> All 4 engine mounts need replacement ASAP
2> Starter motor issue, seems to start on N, not P... so its probably dying.(not too sure about the start on N part.. need to try a few more times over the week.)
3> oil and water leaks, need to be isolated, once engine is cleaned of all current residues.
4> 1 wheel slightly damaged, but mght upgrade to 17inchers... not important yet, but might be the most expensive.
5> Voltmeter fluctuates, when indicators are on, etc, but battery seems charged, so might not be an alternator issue. Will have to do the disconnect negative terminal on battery while car is running test.
6> Roof rust... hmm.. will have to wait for now.
7> A lot of wind noise, while at 90-100km... not too sure why. Windows are closed fully.

WTTC mate

1, if you gunna bother changing engine mounts, bring the whole engine out and replace all hoses, water pump, drive belts and cambelt etc... basically anything that may need doing in the future. Also give the transmission a service too while it's out.

2, Mine has been doing that for years and still is lol, mine has gotten to the point where I need to rapidly turn the key to make it engage. Replaced it already once as well and the new one did it too.

3, as for number 1, do it all at the same time.

4, second hand FTO wheels go for about $50 with a standard 16" tyre around here, your mileage may vary. I am using Legnum VR4 alloys atm.

5, that's pretty standard on both of the FTO's I have had, as long as it is pushing over 13 volts at idle without any other drain you should be fine.

6, roof rust should be your #1 priority imo.

7, could be the rubber seals being weathered and cracked.

No need to remove engine to do mounts just do crossmember ones first then do side mounts after using a jack to hold weight one side at a time.

Car should start in both n and p starter is common issue easy fix too (20min job)

Degrease engine to discover where leaks are but once again no need to remove motor even for timing belt (bastard of a job but still faster to do on car than removing motor to do it)

wheels are cheap enough its good rubber that costs more easy fix

the rest is explained well by others