XD 351 ESP Auction - Page 2

FTe342 · 04-07-2018, 10:27 PM

I was sure XD Fairmont Ghia with 5.8L was only available as an auto. Look at the gearshift thru the console of the car at auction. Doesn't look right ? Happy to be corrected.

Maybe someone from the ESP club/forum can clarify.
.

sagt · 04-07-2018, 11:05 PM

I have seen the car in person definitely a T and L code esp. All there.

FTe342 · 04-07-2018, 11:12 PM

Is that a T5 box?

FERG_51 · 05-07-2018, 12:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FTe342

I was sure XD Fairmont Ghia with 5.8L was only available as an auto. Look at the gearshift thru the console of the car at auction. Doesn't look right ? Happy to be corrected.

Maybe someone from the ESP club/forum can clarify.
.

Did my apprenticeship on XD's they could be optioned with 4 speed manual. Gear lever looks correct to me, 4 speed single rail. On the other hand All XE 351 ESP's were auto only, there were aprox 200 odd 4 speed manual 302's.

Rob 351 · 05-07-2018, 07:39 AM

178 XE ESP 351’s and all manual I think Ferg with the possible exception of 1.
Iirc there is only about 100 351 manual XD ESP’s making them rarer than the XE 351’s

FTe342 · 05-07-2018, 09:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FERG_51

Did my apprenticeship on XD's they could be optioned with 4 speed manual. Gear lever looks correct to me, 4 speed single rail. On the other hand All XE 351 ESP's were auto only, there were aprox 200 odd 4 speed manual 302's.

Yes XD's were available with 4 speed manual and ESP option was available on all XD models. I have seen a base model GL 6 cyl with ESP option.

My doubt was that the single rail was strong enough to run behind a 351C and whether or not a manual was available in top of the line Fairmont Ghia spec.

I have re-joined the ESP forum and as soon as I have been granted access I will get back here to clarify as we have posters with conflicting info

**Burnout** · 05-07-2018, 10:22 AM

All XE ESP 5.8's were 4 speed single rails, all 278, the 409 4,8's were autos. the 4.1's could be ordered with either.
I had a 5.8 and sitting at lights in Sydney I used to start off in second and then swap to fourth, this meant I kept up with traffic flow, at the time. The rated HP was pretty low, however the torque was more than impressive.

**PepeLePew** · 05-07-2018, 10:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mercury Bullet

Na, my cobra was 1400 odd kilos and it was slightly heavier than the sedan.

Engine pulled 120 something rwkw at 30k km after tune.

Just reminded me, my old ESP pulled 114rwkw in standard form 'tuned' i.e. a bit more advance chucked in. I never told a soul

Mercury Bullet · 05-07-2018, 12:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PepeLePew

Just reminded me, my old ESP pulled 114rwkw in standard form 'tuned' i.e. a bit more advance chucked in. I never told a soul

Ha nostalgia.

Dandy performance told me I had a good one.

Rob 351 · 05-07-2018, 02:23 PM

I copied this from the official ESP site which the administrator Nickd posted.

XD ESP 6: Numbers notknown but believed to be less than 200
XD ESP V8: Numbers notknown but believed to be less than 200

XE ESP: 6 cyl: Numbers unknown but believed to be over 1000 (in Auto & Manual)
XE ESP V8: 4.9lt = 100 Manuals.
XE ESP V8: 4.9lt = 260 Autos...........TOTAL 4.9lt = 360
XE ESP V8: 5.8lt = 178 Manuals....... No 5.8 Factory auto's have been recorded.

XE ESP: AIT Turbo. 15
XE ESP: Garret turbo. 1

Phase 5: Notknown at the moment
Phase 6: Notknown at the moment.

Bossxr8 · 05-07-2018, 06:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FTe342

Yes XD's were available with 4 speed manual and ESP option was available on all XD models. I have seen a base model GL 6 cyl with ESP option.

My doubt was that the single rail was strong enough to run behind a 351C and whether or not a manual was available in top of the line Fairmont Ghia spec.

I have re-joined the ESP forum and as soon as I have been granted access I will get back here to clarify as we have posters with conflicting info

Going off the sales brouchures i have from the time, the xd esp was originally based on gl. Later on it was ghia. There must have been 2 runs of them cause the first brouchure is gl. The later one is ghia.

I don’t think buyers had a choice between them at the time each version was on sale.

Paul Knowles · 05-07-2018, 08:08 PM

As far as the single rail gear boxes in the 351’s were concerned, I discovered after overhauling one, that they had a larger diameter layshaft and first gear was also taller. My father received one of the last XE 351 manual pursuit cars when he was a high patrol cop on the central coast. He really loved that car and come home from work one day telling me how he had pulled 220km/h on the F3 chasing some bikes down. On a side note, the commodores would only pull 160 to 180 and they had to buy 20 litre drums of Castrol GTX to top the oil up every shift. I’ll try to attach a photo of a Uniroyal XD Tyre I have on a stock rim in case some body is searching for spare for their ex-chaser.image.jpg

4vxc · 05-07-2018, 10:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 290GTP

Yeah XD 5.8 manuals were running 15.8 second quarters, so they were the fastest Falcon since the 4V XB GT.

Flip the air cleaner lid upside down, extractors & dual exhausts would see low 15s or high 14s pretty easily, if you knew how to drive.

They were fast for their time.

the XC and XD 351's were no slower than the latter XB gt's thats a myth based on din kw ratings.
I took my rock stock XC GXL 351 auto single exhaust to Castlereagh drags in 1980 and it ran consistent 15.8 @90mph
few months latter with the good old Lukey dual exhaust and 10 timing with air cleaner lid upside down it ran 15.2 @92mph, it weighed 1730kg
lack of timing and restive air cleaner really held them back

km's look like they could be genuine to me, they aged quickly

**PridenJoy** · 06-07-2018, 12:13 PM

Yes as above, all factory 351 XE ESPs were manual with a single rail four speed. And as the numbers posted by Rob above show the rarest is the 302 manual, also four speed single rail.

Not sure about the XDs but the kicker about the XE ESP at the time that made it superior to the Brock Commodore of the the same era was not the power or how much quicker it was, it was the handling. As widely known the XE ESP got Bilstein Shockers but they also got Nolathane everything from factory and the sway bars were thicker (and red). They're still great handling cars to this day for a 35 year old dinosaur. GT that never was and i guess more and more people are realising this hence the prices they're fetching of late.

FERG_51 · 06-07-2018, 06:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rob 351

178 XE ESP 351’s and all manual I think Ferg with the possible exception of 1.
Iirc there is only about 100 351 manual XD ESP’s making them rarer than the XE 351’s

Whoops got that round the wrong way, must have had a brain fade there.

FTe342 · 06-07-2018, 08:12 PM

This car has now gone past $47k with a few hours still to go at ebay auction

**Beastie** · 06-07-2018, 08:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FTe342

This car has now gone past $47k with a few hours still to go at ebay auction

And the reserve has been met

Rob 351 · 07-07-2018, 08:50 AM

$48,200 was the last I saw on the XD.
Who would have thought that an XD would bring that sought of money as you probably would have bought this car for low 20's just a few short years ago...

GASWAGON · 07-07-2018, 09:35 AM

As I said around 50K is about right for a good clean matching numbers original like this one that just sold

Especially with 351 and Manual.

ESP

'European Sports Pack' was'nt it meant to mean???

stock1991 · 09-07-2018, 09:16 PM

yes European sports pack. Really surprised at the 149kw because I remember them as a beast. There has to be some power to weight advantage or maybe it's the same as my mind remembers me. The older I get the better I was

mike_nofx · 09-07-2018, 11:01 PM

The ad has disappeared?