[TW]Fox;10474025 said:
Not quite, no. The 2.0 is the best handling as it's marginally lighter up front.
that's offset by the considerably better shocks / arbs etc.....so unless you uprate them it's very similar handling wise, maybe even marginally better on the 2.5 (the engine isnt as heavy as you'd expect). Remember i moved from one to the other
One thing you might come across whilst looking is a strnage sound called "moosing", really loud foghorn type sound.....not an issue they all do it to some extent....its just a pipe resonating, and it's a £2 fix from B&Q (15mm pipe end with a 5.5mm hole drilled in it slipped into a vaccuum pipe)
the water pump is the big one, and its the housing that can be a problem too but mainly the water pump.
IMRC is a 4 bolt fix and you'll pick up a working IMRC from an owners group for £25-30. Way to test this, is once the car is warm, boot it. If it stops picking up above 4k ish, it's not working.....the car is a high revver, peak power is at over 6k rpm when the IMRC works.
big end failure is a common fault on them due to the Sump not being baffled, but only if you dont keep COMPLETELY on top of the oil....most people over fill slightly to compensate for the issue.
Basically, if the oil isnt on FULL or slightly over, on hard long sweeping right handers the oil surges to one side of the engine, starving one or more of the pistons of oil, causing friction and eventually engine failure....happened to me, but as long as you keep on top of the oil religiously you'll be fine
Alternators are also an issue, they fail like clockwork at around 90k miles....but it's a reasonably cheap fix, £100 for a refurb, £200 for a remanufactured one + around £100 labour depending who does it. You can tell this by the battery light coming on at high revs.
Right insurance. If you go for a Ghia X, it's cheap as chips and imo you should....it's got a far better interior, and if you either get one with RSAP or retrofit it and are going to sort the suspension out anyway, you'll gain NO benefit by getting an st24. ST200s are about double the money, and you can get all the bits to uprate your engine to an st200's for about £600 (i'm nearly done now
) At 18 when the car was stock it was £1800 a year TPFT in a bad postcode with 1 years NCB.
This is my 2.5l v6 Ghia X.....and i'm hoping itll brake 200bhp on saturday
I'm gonna feel like a prune if i dont now
Mods from standard:
visual:ST200 alloys, 40mm drop on koni adjustable shocks and springs, detango,
performance: SVT lower and upper inlet manifolds, SVT throttle body, K&N 57i cone filter, dual exit powerflow exhaust with decat, mk3 ST220 300mm brakes, goodridge braided hoses.
Interior:
Tom.
![[TW]Fox](/data/man-of-honor/2009.png){kind=avatar}
lets see ehh.
