FTO AUSTRALIA

Yep, make it your own.

Nice work i like the new wheels. Should def keep it spoilerless. :p

Thanks mate, def keeping it spoilerless. I didn't see anything I liked on it anyways. Did you see the fog lights I put in? Probably my favourite upgrade to date.

Gonna keep it pink?

Nah, it's already looking red again. Looking into a vinyl wrap now

So.... I replaced the front sway bar bushes today using a guide I found on this forum. Dropped subframe, squeezed my hands in and replaced as described.
The "how to" guide said it took around an hour but it took me close to 4 hours... not so easy. This had to be the most fiddly job I've done on any car I've ever owned. I'm not sure if it was because it has been converted from Auto to Manual but the subframe barely dropped down at all. I had to pry it down, but I got the job done I guess.

Has anyone else had this problem?

Did you undo the crossmember bolts? They hold it up too

And I done it without dropping it twice now, it's not hard with a tiny socket set and unijoints

Yeah I made sure I removed the bolts, triple checked when things weren't moving very far. I ended up using my smallest socket set bits I could find, just didn't have unijoints for it so was a bit tight, but much easier than throwing a spanner at it.
Think I'll be getting some unijoints now though. Won't be doing that the hard way again.

Ah okay, yeah I couldn't get matts one to drop down much either but just managed to get it done haha

Passenger side is easy as with battery tray out though if you don't have abs you can go from above...

I relocated the battery a few weeks ago and could reach from the top easy like you say, but the tight space put the socket on an angle until I found a smaller one that did the job. I think drivers side took me about an hour, passenger side about 1.5 hours. Just remembered I had dinner in the middle there somewhere so timings aren't exactly accurate... meh

Passenger side took me 10mins once the battery tray was out and drivers side took me 30mins once the wheel was off but yeah I had flexi joints and loooooooong extensions for the drivers side

Dang, really annoyed it took me so long lol.

Just realised I haven't been posting any of my work on here at all. I've done heaps to the car over the last few months.
Passenger side mirror almost hit the road when the factory glue let go so repaired that, and the wiring was stuffed so fixed it at the same time, now both side mirrors are fully functional.

Started weight stripping so had interior out, turfed any wiring not in use, removed an amp, the sub, body deadener and anything else I could strip out. Removed just over 60kg so far. Looking at changing the exhaust (which I just finished securing as the rear twin system was swinging like a monkey in a tree) back to a single light weight system.

Relocated battery, still in engine bay, but moved to change intake pipe path. (I'll take a photo of this later, but the 90 degree bend at the throttle is gone )
Modified intake, port and polished throttle body, intake manifold and plenum (think I used 4 cans of WD40 haha). Re-adjusted TPS, idle etc. Now she starts smooth, idle is back to factory instead of 1100rpm, throttle response is nuts, MIVEC note is awesome and hits heaps harder.

Think I posted my work on the front bar with fog lights and parkers in another thread so I might grab that info later but I did that a few months back too, as well as the relay for the fog light switch.

My car is my mistress!

Had an annoying issue with a vibration when backing off that felt like it was going to shake the steering wheel loose in my hands. I jacked up the front expecting to find something really bad but all I could find was a really small movement in the front left outer tie rod end.

Both sides were pretty worn so I replaced them both. She's smooth and feels like new now. Only thing was I didn't realise how hard it would be for Repco to find the right part. Are FTO bits getting harder to find, or has it always been this way??

Should of just ebayd the tie rod ends.
And yep Volvo front shocks
Kyb shock Part numbers; Front L: 334154 Front R: 334155 Rears: 341140 worth every penny!

I looked them up on ebay but Repco don't stock the same brands listed on the web. I wanted the parts on the spot so had to wait.

You got in before I edited my post haha. Just found dstocks listing of parts and found my answer but cheers for the confirmation. I need to replace them soon, not much life left in them at all. Always used KYB

Any more updates mate???

I miss my beast

Me in 1 year's time ^