The AU Falcon Introduction:

Straight Six:

Despite looking remarkably similar to the EL Falcon six it replaced, the AU version barely shared a single component refining the genre to entirely new levels of economy and smoothness, finally giving Ford an answer to the more economical (than the EL that is) 'Ecotech' V6 first introduced in the VS Commodore and carried over to the subsequent VT & VX. Not content to just equal the Commodore, the AU trumped it in more areas than should be legally possible (or is it that the Commodore motor is just that far behind?)

With changes ensuring the new motor used 5% less fuel than the outgoing one, importantly is was a much sweeter revver with a much greater willingness to go all the way to the 5500rpm redline than ever before. Technology wise, the AU Falcon streaked ahead with the introduction of Variable Cam Timing to the XR6 (VCT models only) and Fairmont Ghia giving similar levels of performance to the Commodore's supercharged V6 without the associated premium unleaded requirement. All AU six cylinder motor's also received Ford's 'Fail Safe Cooling' protecting the motor in the case of overheating or coolant loss - also giving a much more accurate and quicker method of measuring engine temperature changes.

But the single most important change was made in the form of a new two-piece cylinder head gasket and much stronger head bolts - all translating to a significant improvement in head gasket performance compared to previous models - traditionally a major Falcon failing. Reliability wise, keen modifiers should take note that all that extra smoothness also brought with it a bottom end able to handle far more punishment than ever before - a factor that would hold many a Commodore V6 owner back when it came to maintaining reliability while searching for huge power gains. For the full in detail changes relating to the AU Falcon six cylinder, please refer to our AU History/Tech pages.

The AU Falcon 6 cylinder retained the previous model's bore vs. stroke arrangement ensuring continued levels of effortless motoring and towing while maintaining excellent fuel economy standards - an area where the Commodore suffered once the going got tough. Compared to the V6, Ford's inline version shouted 'technology, technology, technology' finally combining this with the reliability expected from a late model fuel injected six. Performance wise, the AU caused significant embarrassment to Holden with the AU beating the early VT to 100km/h by more than a second - needless to say GM did not sit still for long tickling the Commodore's computer and this anomaly was not seen again until much later on.

Vee Eight:

Disappointingly the AU Falcon stuck with the ancient push rod Windsor 5.0 litre V8 - all the more disappointing for those of us expecting the 5.4 litre or 4.6 litre DOHC & Quad Cam V8s being produced and sold in the United States. While Ford kept insisting the Falcon's engine bay was too narrow for the fitment of such an engine, the stupidity of the argument was that here they had the ideal opportunity to widen the engine bay to cope - with the AU receiving entirely new inner front guards and suspension towers as part of it's development anyway.

Those familiar with AU history should be saying '300 plus' by now - referring to the still born Falcon Coupe that appeared on the Ford stand at the Melbourne Motor Show in 2001 complete with supercharged 4.6 litre Quad Cam V8 and a claimed 310kW - finally settling the argument as to whether the engine would fit. It would seem 'too big to fit' had actually been 'too big to fit under normal Ford assembly processes'. In today's modern world of robotics it amazes that this was not able to be overcome with the relatively small volumes involved - especially working in the industry and seeing what can be done with a little lateral thinking.

Instead the standard V8 would take a move from the EL's low 165kW (low for a 5.0 litre V8 that is) to a much more respectable 175kW of power and 395Nm of torque more than matching GM's 5.0 litre V8 equivalent. The XR8 V8 however continued the EL 2's 185kW of power and 412Nm of torque which when combined with a much more favorable diff ratio left both the SS's 179kW and HSV option 195kW V8's well behind in the acceleration stakes.

With the replacement of the old Holden motor with the newer Chevrolet 5.7 litre Gen III, the face of Aussie performance cars changed forever - with the Commodore moving to 220kW from Executive to SS, with 250kW in the base HSV's and a monstrous 300kW in the $90K GTS. By comparison Ford's late offering of the 200kW and 220kW motors in the TE50 and TS50 respectively seemed almost like a joke and very few were sold - despite having power figures equal to or in excess of the EB & EL GT's.

The Chevrolet Gen III as an engine was not only lighter and more powerful, but also managed to use a fair chunk less fuel - although reliability was never a strong point early in the piece with oil pumps and split bores receiving more than their fare share of attention. That's not to say the Windsor got away unscathed - as testified to by the incredibly thick stud girdle fitted to the later T3 (AU3 T-series) bearing caps. Thanks to the over zealous bean counters and weight reduction engineers in the US, the standard 5.0 litre block had became way too thin to support high levels of horse power and was given the flick by V8 Supercar teams in preference to Ford's SVO specified block complete with the necessary rigidity and bore thickness.

LPG (Liquid Petroleum Gas):

The Tickford designed & fitted LPG system was further refined for AU making the difference between it and petrol almost undetectable for the driver, with torque being remarkably similar and power only suffering slightly at higher RPM. The EECV PCM (Powertrain Control Module) now controlled all LPG functions allowing adaptive learning to occur to cater for all driving conditions. For Forte & Futura, DTE functions (Distance To Empty) were now possible as were instant/average fuel consumption figures on the Fairmont message display center, as was instant fuel guage recognition when switching between fuels.

Tickford fitted LPG was not available on VCT equipped vehicles (XR6 VCT & Fairmont Ghia), manual equipped vehicles or V8's. Unfortunately inclusion of the LPG option also meant the disabling of the fail safe cooling function due to it's need to be able to turn the fuel off to individual cylinders. LPG diagnostics were now also possible with the use of a NGS 'New Generation Star' tester. The Tickford LPG units tended to be a little more fussy when it came to fuel contamination than were the after market units sold by Parnell and commonly fitted by Ford Dealers - how ever the Tickford unit presented a small power advantage as well as being hooked up to the DTE figures on the dash.

(Back to the AU1 Intro INDEX.)

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