Ford Falcon BA-FG OEM Upgrade

baboon · 11-08-2013, 10:27 PM

Hello Brett, I have a BA wagon and would like to retain the standard ride height
front and rear. Would these dampers be ok to use with the factory BA XT wagon
coils and leaf springs?

Also I am planning to replace the rubber bushes in the front upper/lower control
arms (which I think are still original from '02) with superpro polyurethane bushes.
Would you advise against this, or should I stick with the genuine rubber bushes
from Ford? Also are you aware of any problems with the factory front lower control
arm bush at all?

Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

Shockworks · 17-08-2013, 01:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by baboon

Hello Brett, I have a BA wagon and would like to retain the standard ride height
front and rear. Would these dampers be ok to use with the factory BA XT wagon
coils and leaf springs?

Also I am planning to replace the rubber bushes in the front upper/lower control
arms (which I think are still original from '02) with superpro polyurethane bushes.
Would you advise against this, or should I stick with the genuine rubber bushes
from Ford? Also are you aware of any problems with the factory front lower control
arm bush at all?

Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

Firstly, let me apologize for the late reply as we are just flat out with tuning and deliveries at the moment.
The front of the wagon can use our adjustable dampers with no issue but the rear adjustable damper is 20mm shorter in the open length which I am sure will be fine but just not the full articulation of the factory unit. The compressed length is the same so should be no problem for the wagon. We have not done a proper tune on the wagon with the damping forces tuned for the ute, so if you are in Melbourne we could do a tune on the wagon for free if you are keen.
I would stick to the factory bushes for the front. I have tested the superpro bushes but had intermittent problems with squeaks especially after rain but may have been just an issue with the install or car. Impact harshness can be effected with the stiffer bushes as well.

Cheers
Brett

Best Regards
Brett

MattSAU2XR8 · 04-03-2014, 07:54 PM

Hey guys,

I’m considering buying a set of these for my G6E Ecoboost, given the following:
- From my point of view the main reason for upgrading is to be to get rid of floatiness and body roll which is pretty bad at the moment,
- I don’t really want to lower it too much since it is already scraping on driveways at the front, although having an adjustable front spring seat seems likely to take care of this anyway,
- I don’t really want it to be quite as stiff (in compression at least) as a stock XR6 since a few people have said these are a bit rough and noisy on bad road surfaces, and XR6’s seem to get rattly after the first 100 kkms. Also I think this would spoil the character of the car a bit since the main benefit of this car is comfort.
- I might want to put a slightly stiffer spring in the front to improve turn in, if you agree it’s a good idea, and this would require me to be able to work out what the existing spring rate is so that I can find one that is just a little stiffer, apparently it’s supposed to be 13 % stiffer than an XT front spring, where the rears are supposed to be 40 % stiffer, and all four are supposed to ride about 15 mm lower,
- I’d be hoping you could advise on approximate initial positioning for the front spring seat so I can have it close to correct when I assemble it.

Is it possible you can tell me:
- What is the standard FG XT front and rear spring rate, I can chase up a suitable spring from there on,
- What spring rates are these shocks designed to work best with, i.e. XT, XR6, other,
- What is the highest working height these shocks are suitable for, i.e. will G6E height of 15 mm below the XT model be OK,
- If I put these shocks in an FG XR6 would the ride be harder, softer, or the same, aside from going around corners better.

Regards,

Matt

Shockworks · 05-03-2014, 11:13 AM

Hi Matt,

We have just fitted a set of the OE dampers to a car and I had forgotten how much comfort we where able to achieve even though the handling and diagonal pitch is so much better. you answers below under your questions.

Is it possible you can tell me:
- What is the standard FG XT front and rear spring rate, I can chase up a suitable spring from there on,

i am really not sure what the XT rates are for front and rear but we developed the OE dampers using the XR springs.
- What spring rates are these shocks designed to work best with, i.e. XT, XR6, other,
The XR6 is what we tuned on but have also tested on the XR8 with big gains on the refinement of the impacts and handling.
- What is the highest working height these shocks are suitable for, i.e. will G6E height of 15 mm below the XT model be OK,
The dampers carry over all the factory damper travel which is better for very rough roads. 15mm down is no problem with the OE kit.
- If I put these shocks in an FG XR6 would the ride be harder, softer, or the same, aside from going around corners better.
I think you will find the ride to be more controlled with less harshness on the big impacts. Smaller continuous ripples or imperfections in the road surface are again more rounded and the body control is much more solid without quick vertical accelerations in the seat. The rear is also much flatter which helps the turn in and mid corner balance.

We spent a lot of time developing the OE damper kit ride and handling and many customers are quite surprised we can get much closer to better ride and handling then the factory tune.

I hope this helps mate!!

Cheers
Brett

Struggo · 09-03-2014, 01:12 PM

Hi Shockworks,

I'm looking at upgrading my G6ET also.

Currently sitting on standard springs and shocks (10,000km to date), I'm looking for an improvement in handling, lowering the car is not a priority as its already a challenge avoiding scrapes, which probably more to do with the soft OE damper rate than ride height.

When you are free could you kindly advise the following,

Will I need to change my current OE springs?
Will the damper upgrade offering a stiffer ride like that of an XR6 which I owed previously?
Do you have affiliates in Sydney?

Cheers

Shockworks · 11-03-2014, 11:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Struggo

Hi Shockworks,

I'm looking at upgrading my G6ET also.

Currently sitting on standard springs and shocks (10,000km to date), I'm looking for an improvement in handling, lowering the car is not a priority as its already a challenge avoiding scrapes, which probably more to do with the soft OE damper rate than ride height.

When you are free could you kindly advise the following,

Will I need to change my current OE springs?
Will the damper upgrade offering a stiffer ride like that of an XR6 which I owed previously?
Do you have affiliates in Sydney?

Cheers

Hi Struggo,
I think from memory the G6 spring rates could be a little softer than the XR rates but the dampers will still make quite an improvement over the factory units for handling. The ride will be a little firmer with impacts but found the G6 dampers to suffer with some decay or aftershake and felt underdamped. You should expect a cleaner feeling on rough roads and single impacts. The factory damper tune also made the rear feel a but lazy with changes of direction so we have done a lot of work on this. Compared to the XR6 though, I think they would have a similar feel in compression but with much better control.
You can have the dampers fitted at Eastcoast suspensions up in Sydney as they have a great team and know there stuff. Really good for wheel alignments as well!!

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask!!

Cheers
Brett

MattSAU2XR8 · 18-03-2014, 12:40 PM

Just a thought. Might be worth advertising these on ebay as well. Plenty of Bilsteins, Konis, Monroes, Tiens on offer there (the opposition) and they are getting much better exposure than you guys even though you seem to have an equal or superior product. Hope you don't mind the suggestion. Matt

Struggo · 27-03-2014, 07:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shockworks

Hi Struggo,
I think from memory the G6 spring rates could be a little softer than the XR rates but the dampers will still make quite an improvement over the factory units for handling. The ride will be a little firmer with impacts but found the G6 dampers to suffer with some decay or aftershake and felt underdamped. You should expect a cleaner feeling on rough roads and single impacts. The factory damper tune also made the rear feel a but lazy with changes of direction so we have done a lot of work on this. Compared to the XR6 though, I think they would have a similar feel in compression but with much better control.
You can have the dampers fitted at Eastcoast suspensions up in Sydney as they have a great team and know there stuff. Really good for wheel alignments as well!!

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask!!

Cheers
Brett

Sorry for the late reply Brett. Thanks for the feedback its appreciated.

I will be going down this path in the near future, I'll keep you posted.