EA Falcon has speed limiter??

[EA Bogan]

I have recently taken my EA Falcon S 4 speed auto to around 180km/h at which point it pretty much stopped accelerating. It went quite well up to 180 at which point it trailed off sooo much. It shifted into 4th so maybe that could be the reason ie not enough revs, hence not enough power to beat the drag, or are EAs speed limited to 180? How does one disable the speed limit on the ECU?

[EA2BA]

The EA is not rev or speed limited that I know of, you could swap your ECU for an earlier 3 speed auto ECU and see if it still happnes.

My 3 speed auto had no limits I know of, they may have changed the 4 speed auto ecu, in any event the EA has a seperate trans controller.

[EA2BA]

The 4 speed auto in the EA is essentialy the same one in the ef/el and even the AU at least gear ratio wise, and the AU can do 220+ best I recall.

[EA Bogan]

hmm..im guessing the EA series one with the 3 speed auto has the same ratios as my series two 4 speed minus the overdrive fourth..in that case your cars top speed would be about 180 as mine was near redline at that point..correct me if im wrong or is the old 3 speeders 3rd gear longer than mine? I know for a fact that EF and EL are limited to 180 but they are like 94-98 models so im not sure about mine.

[OED666]

Originally Posted by EA Bogan

I have recently taken my EA Falcon S 4 speed auto to around 180km/h at which point it pretty much stopped accelerating. It went quite well up to 180 at which point it trailed off sooo much. It shifted into 4th so maybe that could be the reason ie not enough revs, hence not enough power to beat the drag, or are EAs speed limited to 180? How does one disable the speed limit on the ECU?

Must be pretty quick if its getting to 180 on the qtr mile... referring to your drag comment. Mate, I hope your car isnt standard and your doing those speeds. Generally a limit for a reason, gearbox or tailshaft letting go.

But i answer your question, EA's and EB's I believe dont have speed limiters. ED onwards do.

EA2BA, because his car is a 4 speed, wont he need to keep the original computer for the auto???

[EA2BA]

The 3 speed auto and 4 speed auto share the same 3 gear ratios, just the 4 speed auto has the overdrive ratio (4th gear).

[DoreSlamR]

You will know when you hit a speed limiter. will scare the bejesus out of you, especially if you're not expecting it..

Of course you were doing 180 on a closed controlled road weren't you?

[EA2BA]

EA2BA, because his car is a 4 speed, wont he need to keep the original computer for the auto???

Nope I ran a 3 speed auto ECU with the 4 speed auto TCU in my EA when I converted it to 4 speed auto and not a problem.

[EA Bogan]

its a completely bog(an) stock standard EA and the location will remain confidential im afraid ;) well it seems the car just cant accelerate due to massive drag @180 odd + low revving 4th gear..thanks for the input anyway tough..

[XR Martin]

Sounds like its a CFi? The extra grunt of the Mpi will give it another 20kmh or so.

[EA Bogan]

yer its a cfi..same power as the xf efi

[Tiapan]

hmm my modded mpfi ea 5 speed used to do 220-230km (off the clock) every single day, the whole 43km trip up to the minesite from my country rental house, if you want faster times work your suspenion (for saftey) and convert to 5 speed and mpfi, or change diff gears if you wanna sacrifice down low

[sprjenkins]

Would love to see an AU do 220kph+ I mean I know it could do it as the CoD is low but it wouldn't be a stock forte. Even if a Forte could do it the cars limited to 180kph because the drive shaft blows up at 190kph due to harmonic vibrations. After you fixed these problems and saying by some miracle it was possible you would need a friggin long road because it takes ages to get from 160kph to 180 kph.

Its like a Porsche Boxster S. Has a top speed of 270kph but it takes (guessing from memoryof the video I saw on youtube) 1 min+ to get there from 200kph

[Creampuff]

No prob with my EB(last car), it went to 200 on dial(if that was correact..who knows!)

[sleekism]

My AU is limited at 190 and has no trouble hitting it practically slams into it.

I think it's only doing a touch over 4000rpm so there is plenty of life left into it.

If the drive shaft is that weak that is sad, the limiter is annoying I kept hitting it when I was trying to overtake a Daihatsu Charade.

It's funny how at that speed the aircon makes a HUGE difference.

[El Venom]

I had my ea 3 speed well over 199km/h. It was a fairmont ghia wagon and the car behind me was saying over 220km/h to keep up with me

[EA2BA]

I think its basically the CFI thats the limit, the MPFI was always a way better setup.

[TUF_302]

My EB did the same thing,would not go over 180 what so ever!!

[mcflux]

Originally Posted by sprjenkins

Even if a Forte could do it the cars limited to 180kph because the drive shaft blows up at 190kph due to harmonic vibrations.

Harmonic = at a certain frequency. Depending on the diff ratio, the harmonic point will be reached at a certain speed, and then passed

My old 3.27 diff ratio: 175-190 would be the harmonic area, then it'd smoothe out again all the way to top speed. I did NOT like the feel of the tailshaft vibrating so in the instances where I did drive the car at speed, I would be sure to stay below 180.

My current 4.11 ratio: Harmonic area is reached at 140ish. Which kinda sucks when overtaking three trucks or so. Or on the 1/4 when I hit it before the finish line (and then go back thru it as the car slows down again).

It doesn't get worse and worse the higher you go, unless you reached the next harmonic stage in tailshaft rotation speed.

[Ringo]

You've got bigger nuts that I have to take an EA to those speeds.....there is no margin for error or correction....

[T_Terror]

No it dosnt have a limiter.

Get a MPFI conversion done for chaep and you can hit past 200,but yes, i find that wind resistance starts to really come into play around 180kmh.

BTW I think the tailshaft vibration problem is a bit of an exageration, ive had an XF, an EA an AU and a BA falcon past 180 and didnt feel/hear any undue vibrations.
I know someone who regularly runs those speeds and hasnt had any failures either.

Just do it!

[gozza]

Originally Posted by OED666

Must be pretty quick if its getting to 180 on the qtr mile... referring to your drag comment.

Not Drag Strip Man - Drag of the car - Resistance

[OED666]

Originally Posted by T_Terror

Just do it!

Until it goes bang...
Get some NAAWWWSSSS, and see if it goes faster.

I agree with Ghia5L on the tailshaft vibrations. I also have 4.11 diff gears and it used to worry me going down the qtr. A 2 piece tailshaft fixed that.

gozza - now i understand... :P

[normxb]

I can't speak for Falcons when & where the "Harmonic Vibration" comes into the tail shaft, because I've never had a Falcon anywhere near those speeds , but it is not exaggerated ,(even Brockie had a tail shaft bend once due to this problem ) , it happens in many "mechanical devices" . In guitars when you are playing loud and 2 instruments get to a certain pitch , you will get "Harmonic Vibration" between them ,although better known in musical terms as "Ringing in Sympathy" . (just using as an example)

Back to Topic

Holden RED motors (179 -202) have a similar thing , It's been a long time ago , but I think it was somewhere around 6,250 RPM . If you held the motor at those rev's , you could guarantee blowing either No 1 or No 6 Rod , it would "kick a leg" out the side of the block . but if you were under or over those rev's , the motor would hold together . The actual engine vibrates end to end , that's why it was alway's No 1 or 6 .. I have my 192 Red Lined at 8,000 rev's , the same as the 186 that was in it previously , but would always stay away from 6,250 if possible . When the 186 let go , it was No 1 (I've still got it in the shed as a trophy) and the Big End is just a mass of cracks, I was told by a race mechanic , that the main cause was it had been too close to the rev range for too long .

If anyone would have studied this problem , Ghia5L would have , believe me .

Norm

[mcflux]

Originally Posted by normxb

If anyone would have studied this problem , Ghia5L would have , believe me .

Shhhhhhhh! Don't tell them about my Nobel prize :P

I should add that wherever the next harmonic frequency rpm is reached with a falcon tailshaft, something else in the driveline would've let go loooooooooong before that rpm is reached, regardless of driveline gearing.

OED I want your tailshafts dammit! and your timeslip

[EA Bogan]

my mechanic told me the mpefi conversion would be worth more than the car iteself is so it would be pointless apparenty..also the EA might get replaced by an ED Ghia soon..pending inspection today..

[xtremerus]

Why are the higher performance XR turbos and V8 series not limited, when they are basically the same setups with regards to the tailshafts??

[1FLYRYD]

i've had my ea up to 200 and climbing still had plenty of revs to spare just has a standard t5 with 3.23 diff gears altho it does have an au block still running the standard 3.9mpi auto ecu (soon to be ed xr6 man ecu) didn't feel ne harmonics either apparently the ea tail shafts where steel not alloy so i think they are safer, neways i just put it down to a clapped out auto cfi (no offence)

[eb_razy]

I've been told that Eb onwards had limiters, with EB having 180 kph.

[samftr]

xr tailshafts are alloy and thicker/stronger. they fitted those also to lighten the drivetrains weight ;)