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Yep battery was stuffed. Got the train into Albury on Sunday where Autobarn had a sale on Aussie Century stuff so score $50 off, lunch at the station and train-ed (15kg) it back. Fortunately the alternator is fine and charging within spec. Some wiring terminals replaced as well. Replaced the battery to Alt. earth cable as it was a bit tight. re. the speedo needle, I've learnt something new. Thanks everyone.

I'm no professor, but, I figure that a thinner wall transfers heat faster, so the thick cylinder absorbs heat and soaks it through the cast iron in the block, not just the water. Maybe.....? Clevo's do run warm, especially in the XD/E/F engine bay. Should be OK with a good radiator and fans with a shroud, not sure what's up with Travis' unit. Interested to learn what the engine builder finds.

Today has been a mix of joy and frustration, which, naturally comes with old cars, especially English cars. Anyone who has been following this thread, knows the entire time ive owned the Escort, ive had a bad steering shudder or wobble at certain speeds. Well, today, after so so long of hunting for it, I have finally got rid of the wobble. It is gone, i can now drive the car at any speed without it teying to shake itself to bits. I can now sit on 100km/h comfortably, and i can push it out to 120+km/h and its smooth It was the wheels as i suspected after i lost some of the stick on wheel weights. I had all four wheels put on the balancer today, and only two of them were out, funnily enough the two of them that were ok were the ones where i had found the weights on the ground and restuck them back on. I had to take the wheels off anyway to check something on the front brakes. Turns out i had the anti rattle shims in upside down, which i had marked last time i had them out, which means they were always in the wrong way and i just put them back wrong. So flipped them around, and the brake rattle and squeal is gone. It was then that i noticed the LHR wheel cylinder has spat the dummy. Fix 2 things break something else right? This weekend coming, the RSOCV are doing the Alpine Tour. 3 days, 950-1000km round trip, on some of the best roads and landscapes victoria has to offer. Up the entrie Great Alpine Way, Omeo, Mt Hotham, Bright etc. so obviously I am trying to get the car ready to survive the trip. I decided to change the spark plugs because i dont think ive done them since fitting the weber carby, and its done a few kms since then. I went to Yesterford to get wheel cylinders and plugs, and they sell Autolite plugs. Got home, gapped and fitted the Autolite plugs, fitted the wheels after sorting the front brakes, started the car up and took it for a drive. It was idling like shit, but figured it maybe due to it being on coldstart. Took it for a drive, made good power, started easier, pulling nicely, BUT, the rough idle only got worse. doing some reading online, apparently Autolite plugs arent great. A lot of people have issues with them, so ill be fitting my old NGKs back in for arguments sake to see if it is just the plugs, and if so, ill buy some new NGKs, for the weekend, amd take my old ones for spares. So again, pressure is on. Essentially only have a day and a half to get it sorted, or ill have to bail on the weekend, which will be shattering given the brakes and steering are smooth as now

your going to have a little bit of fun with the front accessory drive being a vct engine, but you need to use the xh tensioner and ac pump mounts to clear the intake manifold,you will have to use the au alternator you will need to cut the xh plug off the loom and splice the au one in, you can use either the au or xh power steering pump, the heater pipe that runs around the back of the engine to the water pump will need to be swapped out for the xh one, you'll need the xh dipstick and you'll have to figure out a way to mount the throttle cable to the rocker cover, the knock sensor mounting boss needs to be drilled and tapped to suit the xh knock sensor, pull the gear off the stub shaft and put it on your xh dizzy, you can just cut the wires off the cam position sensor but you have to leave it in or you will have an oil leak, the crank angle sensor can be pulled off and turfed, you will have to modify the sump or the k frame as they will want to occupy the same space at the front, it will run fine. what are you planning to do about the vct? I have read you can operate them off an rpm switch but I haven't seen it done so I don't know for sure about that part

short answer no, in late el Ford swapped to the larger main journals and ran the same bearings up to fgx, all au's still drove the oil pump off a stub shaft, they just had a little shaft to replace the dizzy as the cam position sensor was in the timing cover, all au engines can be retrofitted with a dizzy, they didn't change to the crank driven unit until ba

I had one that was .060 over and was the coldest running clevo I've ever had

Falcon speedometers work by receiving a pulsed AC signal from the variable reluctance transducer in the side of the gearbox. (generates a small AC voltage signal of varying frequency) Car batteries act as a large capacitor to absorb AC ripple voltage from the vehicles alternator. If the battery is not functioning correctly, it can't absorb/dampen any errant AC (ripple) voltage created by the Alternator at low revolutions. This AC voltage is induced into the vehicle wiring, causing the Speedo to briefly display a reading. Failing rectifier diodes inside the alternator can also cause issues, especially on modern fuel injected vehicles with VR type Crank Angle sensors, etc. I would check there are no partially shorted diodes in the alternator - this would cause an unwanted drain on the battery.