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Step 15 Wheel back on. All up it took me around 1.5 hours for one side at a time - it would have been far less had I done them both together as I spent a lot of time collecting various tools from the shed and bringing them into the driveway where I was conducting this operation! I used genuine Ford parts from Jefferson Ford. Bearings were $112 each from memory. Road noise is significantly reduced - it's actually quiet now! If there are any questions, please let me know, otherwise it's a pretty straight forward exercise that went relatively smoothly. Cheers, Nick

This week, I had the Escort in with a detailer to add the "final touch" to the body work. It has had a 2 stage paint correction and decontamination, then ceramic coating. I expected it come up good, but it came out better than I could have ever imagined. I was speechless when Simo from Bez Detailing sent me the photos. I dont know what else to say other than wow

Well time for an update. I was having ignition issues again, with a random misfire under load. I replaced the points in the dizzy, which helped but didn’t get rid of it. So I bit the bullet and bought an electronic ignition module to convert the Lucas points dizzy to electronic. Install was easy but wiring it (properly this time) into the car was a bit of work, and the car is definitely running better. - Lets start with the wiring. It turned out that the Escort is a resisted ignition system, so at the coil it only gets 9v. Much less than the 12v the electronic ignition required. It also turned out that the GT40 coil I was running was a 12v coil, not a resistor type. So, i did some trickery with the ignition. Ive installed a 12v relay which takes a feed direct from the battery, and used the resister wire (9v) to turn the relay on and off. The relay is then supplying the coil, and im powering the dizzy off the coil. Has it got more power? Not really. But, it has better power delivery right across the rev range, and is more linear. Funny thing is, I still have not replaced plugs, leads or air cleaner. Bursons sold me the wrong plugs twice, and thats as far as i got. I have finally got the 13” steelies on. The car looks completely different now. They didn’t come out as dark as I wanted. They are a bit grey, but they are metallic. I installed new, longer studs. Funny enough, they were off the shelf from Autobarn, 10mm longer. The spline was just 0.2mm larger, and pressed into the hubs fine. Spacers are on, and it all clears. They fill the guards nicely. The two rusty wheels were a bit too pitted for the powder coating to fill, so up close they are a bit bumpy. anyway, the pics can do the talking

This is a trial thread, as many X series owners also have modern fords. and info is starting to be harder to come across. What i'd like to do here, is begin a useful reference to certain common issues with links to other forum topics or Facebook groups or YouTube etc. As a new owner of an AU, i found it quite difficult to find easy to follow steps on things without a lot of time googling and searching. such as, how to remove a headliner so it can be either dropped off at a trimmer, replaced with a second hand one or retrimmed yourself. this post is locked, and i'll start a suggestion box thread next.

Notes: There is absolutely no need to dismantle the steering box unless oil leaks are occurring . After removal, rotate from lock to lock until ALL the oil is expelled to prevent fluid friction affecting the adjustments . Removing preloads 1. Remove allen key plug #5 and undo the output shaft adjuster 2-3 turns anti-clockwise. 2. Loosen the locknut and undo the input shaft bearing adjuster #26 by 1/2 to 1 turns anti-clockwise. 3. Loosen the locknut and undo the power steering piston adjuster #10 by 1/2 to 1 turns . Now you are ready to make the three adjustments Note: The aim is to create some binding and friction as the input shaft passes through the straight ahead position from each side. But this friction should only be created by the final adjustment made on the output shaft. This helps the car to maintain a straight line course and prevents the steering from wandering . 1. The three adjustments are to be made while the steering is turned about a 1/4 turn away from the straight ahead position . This is because the steering box is designed to have freeplay when the steering wheel is turned away from the central position . 2. The steering box must be removed from the car to make the adjustments because the first two adjustments are critical and must not bring about any friction as the steering box passes through the straight ahead position . You will not feel the friction with enough sensitivity if you are turning the steering wheel with the box installed. This must be done by feeling with your hand as you rotate the input shaft one quarter turn either side of the straight ahead position (with the flexible coupling fitted ). 3. The three adjustments are the input shaft (the shaft connected to the steering wheel ), the power steering piston, and finally the output shaft (the shaft connected to the pitman arm) 4. The adjustments are made in the order mentioned directly above in point three. 5. The adjustments are made in this order because only the third and final adjustment made on the output shaft should introduce any friction as the input shaft passes through the straight ahead position 6. The input shaft adjustment is made the exact same way a wheel bearing is adjusted . ie. Tighten/preload the bearing adjustment nut and then back off slightly ensuring no friction is felt as the input shaft is turned after adjustment . 7. The power steering piston is adjusted clockwise until friction occurs as the box passes through the centre position . The adjustment must be made with the box turned 1/4 turn off centre in either direction . Then back it off until the friction is completely removed. But only just removed . 8. Finally, tighten the output shaft adjuster until a little bit of binding occurs as the box passes through the centre position . Make the adjustment whilst the box is turned 1/4 turn off-centre. You should be able to turn the box through the centre position using your hand to rotate the flexible coupling. It shouldn't be easy to turn through the centre position . And it shouldn't be hard to turn through the centre position . Find the middle ground .

Made a quick copy/paste thread for u, @XF EDDIE Read here - EF-EL and XH clusters are all interchangable. Mid series clusters - Fairmont, Police and XR - (with volt/oil) just need an oil pressure sensor fitted. They're essentially plug and play. (note - low coolant light will likely be illuminated, unless you fit a coolant level sensor, or a jumper wire) The odometer dimming is only affected if u fit a Fairmont instrument cluster to a GLi. (Fairmont clusters, need a resistor soldered onto the cluster circuit board) XR and Police clusters, are not affected. Fairmont dash light dimming is done by the BEM (incl, smartlock, central locking, interior light time-out, wipers etc). Low series vehicles have a two stage dimming switch - dull, bright and interior light on - not controlled by the BEM. Fairmont dimmer lever, is a momentary action - hold the lever and the dash lights progressively dim down, then back to bright. Low series BEM's timeout the interior light like a switch, Mid series BEMs, fade the interior light to off. Odometer reading is stored in an EEPROM chip in the cluster This chip can be de-soldered and swapped between gauge clusters, to retain the original reading. The odometer backlight globe is a 1.2w grain-of-wheat globe, in a small plastic holder I'm not sure if the odometer backlight globe wattage differs between low and mid series clusters, but I tried a 2w globe once and it was noticeably over-lit, so changed it for a 1.2w.

No, do not use oil flush it will cause the same problems dumping kerosene in the sump would, the goal is to clean the engine gently and slowly, anything that rapidly speeds that process up is what causes problems, the only safe way to clean an engine fast is to dissemble it

Welcome to 2025 with a good suggestion Dean. We have sections for F-Trucks, Cortina and Escort so I think it is a good idea to expand into the E- Series and AU. The three Falcons my father drove in his lifetime were XD, EA and AU so I have a bias towards those three generations which aren’t always well received. It does hurt every time I see an AU getting tuned into a budget skidder.

With that valve missing , the guy clearly has no idea what he is doing. What else was done to valvebody? Makes me want to question if pressure reg valve is fitted right or what else he might of F___ked up

Oh now that valve missing is a hug issue. How the hell did someone rebuild and leave that out? Just WOW !!!!! With that missing it's a wonder it's not slipping. As to oil level , be sure to verify the stick is correct. Run sting alongside tube and see where the "full" level is exactly

Slight vacuum leak at intake manifold? (metal expands, opens leak, etc) Is the warmed up idle, smooth/rough etc? Or IAC valve letting extra air past throttle body.

usually a vacuum leak causes high idle, but it wouldn't usually setting down when warm if so. if it doesn't run rough, it's likely issue would be throttle body area, idle air control valve perhaps. (i'm no expert on these "new cars" though) hopefully @SPArKy_Dave or someone else has time to give you some better suggestions.

Definitely never seen that before,well spotted.

Will pull the starter out on the weekend and check for play, yeah it sounds even worse in person. I've been dealing with it, but now it's just embarrsing when people are watching your car and your taking 10 minutes to start :) Yep, I think I got two spots where they are munted and when the mechanic had a looked he said overall the teeth had all been worn bad. So will check for play to start but will probably pull the engine out to replace flexplate, I have to change the rear main seal also :( I have 12 degrees I think set on timing. Balancer is brand new, as the old one tore the outer ring from the inner hub on the dyno (Great fun) Will need to make another post to show how it was done, but I'm one of those idiots who would die for the crossy and spent a bunch of money converting it to EFI and running a Haltech ECU with all the bells and whistles so I've been testing this with injectors off and on and problem is the same. I have thought maybe the starter is damaged and then getting heat soaked sitting there and making the problem worse.

I have also today picked up two more original cortina steelies that match the front (different slots around the outside of the centres) and are in better condition than the rears. In due time i will get them blasted and coated to match the front two, and then ill put one of the current rears in the boot as a matched spare

I couldn't believe it when I went to bolt it in,trims were in such good condition, then painted them and don't fit,another x file.

i showed a mate of mine this, and he responded with Basically if the XG has XF roof lining and interior light seatbelt same as XF, or if it has XH roof lining and E series interior light, will have different seatbelt location

I've put a couple of hundred au head gaskets on e series falcons (always good to source au spec bolts too), I've always had the head skimmed and just cleaned the block really well with scrapers and an oil stone, as long as the block is flat it will hold up for more than a couple of 100,000ks, its funny most ea to ed head gasket failures I've seen were caused the head gasket failing or corrosion in the head, 7 out of 10 ef/el failures were a broken bolt on cylinder 2 or 5, usually exhaust side

My brother didn't do anything but check for straightness, replace one valve and clean the sufaces with a wire brush and send it.. 100,000 ish kms no issue on the gasket, but the car was basically worn out, so was given to a mate to run into the ground.

Yeah, bolt kits should be same from XA/XB etc, seat rail has a small "cup" over the square head of the bolt to stop it from turning. I always dab a weld on there as I hardly ever remove seat rails once they're in. As Dave said, they get cleaned up by dirt, speedbumps, tree roots and cats etc...

as sprky dave said there is a dimple in the door and 32mm

Thats the ticket. I got it in and timed even with that tiny friggin timing mark and she runs so smooth. I'll drop a video here for you all

It's alive! And on fire. The dissy was 180 out just like you said and after that she fired up with 40 psi of oil pressure at 1500 rpm. It ran like shit though. I had a look with my timing gun and it was off the marks (I bridged the jumper before checking). The exhaust manifold and pipe were glowing bright orange so I shut it off and loosened the dissy hold down and fired it up again, giving the dissy a twist just tuning it by ear and an immediate improvement. Unfortunately the exhaust manifold caught fire due to the oil that had leaked on it. The temp gauge read normal so I'm hopeful that it didn't overheat but Im gonna let it cool before having another crack at it. Once it's cool I'll put some paint on that timing mark and time it properly, after that she's going on the road!

The back cross member & X support structure seems the main support. Stopped myself from cutting into it yesterday,turned to custard they're pretty hard to replace over in NZ

Xe and xf stock exhaust centre section is supposed to be 2 inch for all models, with carby engines having a 1.75inch tail pipes and efi crossflows having a 2 inch tail pipe, 2.25 works really well for stock to mild crossflows if you want a little bit of noise without it getting annoying