FTO AUSTRALIA

there are several GX for sale in chch and there vas a GPvR for sale on lincoln road last week. and only that 1 red turbo FTO thats in MSPORT

Picked her up and drived her home today. So happy!

I cant wait to get out clean up, fix her up and do a few things.

Need some touch up paint and peeling lights equipment.

Headunit and new speakers too. Strut braces are hard to find.

StraydoG wrote:Picked her up and drived her home today. So happy!

I cant wait to get out clean up, fix her up and do a few things.

Need some touch up paint and peeling lights equipment.

Headunit and new speakers too. Strut braces are hard to find.

good man! welcome to the dark side!

pics!

Yay! The dark side.... Wait a minunte... Eh??

Only picture I have is the one on the last page sorry. No digi cam.

I started cleaning the interior today but after looking at the outside. Does anyone have an idea on how much it cost to repaint a car? Need to find out my options before going ahead.

Second is strut braces, where can I grab em? No luck so far. Since its an FF car do you really only need the front strut? I dont understand the use of a rear strut unless someone knows.

Hey man, Welcome!

I'd definately go for strut braces... Tightens up the ride a treat! Kempy's in Auckland is the best bet. http://www.kempys.co.nz They're quick and friendly.

Probably in the 3grand+ area for a respray I think? Haven't had a quote for a while...

Oh yeah, when i first got mine I went for a drive without my back brace... Have to say does make a difference on those corners. Can't really explain it - the back just feels, 'sloppy' i guess.

Don't be afraid to do your headlights - blitzed mine couple of days ago by hand... took couple of hours, but well worth it. They come up a treat! 1200grain,2000grain, T-cut, Polish.

Heya Grue...

Thats interesting. Being an FF car I thought it would not really help much. Thanks for the link up, Im new at this whole game so I wasnt sure where to start.

Respray will be out of the question if it costs so much, but I thought it may.

I cleaned up the interior today. Ripped of the sh*tty seat covers, vaccumed, cleaned the glass and polished up the dash, door panels etc. Beautiful.

Excuse my ignorance but what is T-Cut? Is there any particular polish recommended thats somewhat easy to get my hands on? Sorry the questions again.

T-Cut is just a brand of mild cutting-paste. There's a few slightly different ways to do it going around at the mo... there's a guide in the DIY section on this forum. They only used one product called ScratchX and used a power drill to apply... I found that by hand, 2 products was easier; a cutting paste, then the fine polish.

It's only for plastic so i ended up just using what i had left over in the shed: After the 2 grades of paper, cutting paste followed by a cheap scratch/swirl removing wax was what i used. Don't think it really matters, so long as you keep going finer you can't really mess it up too badly. Even heard someone using brass polish brings it up nice!

Drop us a pm if u have any trouble

Drop us some pics when you've got her looking nice... always good to see someone else's baby!

You just polished with a rag or something?

I was struggling to find insurance as under 25 with this car. Ended up getting third party from NAC for $290 a year till someone found out that Westpac offers third party fire & theft. Finally! Theft somewhat scared me, didnt want to drive her everywhere.

Start feeding my baby 95. Only gave my Mirage 91. Will book her in to be serviced and tuned up in a day or two since theAA inspection recommended a new air filter and oil change. Is it true if she was running on 91 previously the car needs to be tuned for 95?

Thanks again, Im learning a lot from these boards!

Polishing towel or rag will be fine.

As for tuning, the ECU in the FTO's are pretty intelegent, they'll learn your way of driving, and compensate for what fuel you're using over time - Quicker way is to disconnect the battery for half hour or so, she'll reset, and start learning again. If you do this though, be patient while she's learning - your revs might be a bit wacky, gear changes, stalling at lights etc.

I use 95 fuel... but only cos there's no one selling 98 within 200kms of me!

Hopefully Ill get onto the light job this week...

Im taking her into AA for a service/tune up this morning

EDIT: Fuel and air filter changed. 3 new rear spark plugs...
fbiperformance have strut braces listed for FTO, yay!

I brought Scratch X... Went to the hardware stores around here and cant find better than 1200 grit. Then couldnt find a backing disk. Im starting to get annoyed since I want to get this sorted but for everything Im trying to do at the moment I keep running into dead ends.

Awww... didn't supercheap have 2000grit or backing disks? It isn't soooo bad doing it by hand You'll get there.

Anyway. a quick Hi from the United Arab Emerates. Lots of Jags, Porches, Ferarri, Astons... but not seen any FTO's yet.

Whatcha doing over at United Arab Emerates? o_O

OK. Disk, wool & sandpaper finally sorted out.

No luck with struts, been a few places with no sucess.

Im just using a strut brace that was listed for a late model lancer - bolted up fine if that helps.

As for headlights. I just buffed them back with 1200 grit (wet) last time then used some repo cutting compound polish (somewhere around $10 from repco) and they come up a treat. Used a little polishing extention for a drill from Bunnings.

Over here for a couple of training courses for work... with a week off in between Worse things to be paid for i surpose!

Smart arse Grue, haha

JayME - So far what Ive found has not fit. It seems theres not much room between the engine and bonnet. When people say Lancer model struts, do they just bolt on either side and go across the engine or are they the type that bolt on either side and connect under the middle of the windscreen?

I sanded down the lights yesterday and polished today. f**king aye! The drill I was using is trash, haha. It ran out of power after polishing each light for 3-4 minutes each. Im recharging now to make sure shes perfect.

Odd question but did most of your mates hate on the FTO? Almost everyone I knew told me not to get it. Get a Honda is the main answer but F that. Ive loved this car for years and wanted one. Screw what they want!

I got told this tonight...

"FTO's are asian womans cars"

People always hate on certain cars, it's just one of those things. If you are happy with it then so be it. I love my car and I would never just settle for and buy a family shoebox with a hot engine (evo or vr4), they are just so plain imho.

Besides, I have a thing for asian women, so if they like my car, so be it

Just had my windows tinted... Its kick ass! Not giving up on struts though. Anyone around import stock parts? I dont mind stock struts. Gotta talk to a friend too, he knows more places.

Every white guy has a thing for asian girls

<<Complete digression of topic alert>>

I work in a Casino with 650 odd people. I would estimate ~380 of them are female. 250 of them would be 20-35, and at least 70% of them are asian. I truly am in heaven every day. Don't think I could ever go back to working in a male dominated industry, I like being surrounded by hot women too much. It is a lot of temptation though.