JackFrost

Going back a bit, these are a couple of photos rolling into Small Ford Sunday. taken no more than 30 seconds apart, on two different cameras, but makes the colour look completely different. this colour still amazes, but also annoys me with how both good and bad it can look depending on the light its in 🤣 the joys of metallic paint i guess. 
 
*the second pic is more true to the actual colour** 
 

 

 
I finally got the front bumpers back, and they came up fantastic. worth the wait. 
 

 
Now onto some mechanical gremlins. I had been having an issue with the cooling system. not over heating, but in fact running too cold. not getting warm enough to actually open the thermostat, which was a standard 89 degree thermostat. I figured it was because the alloy radiator was so efficient at cooling that yeah meant that I couldn't get her up to temp, and had no heater. 
 
This whole time I had been running just water in the cooling system, not coolant, to try flush the system out as best I can. I figured with this lack of heating issue, id pull the thermostat out and then put some coolant in. 
 

 
This is what came out. its a piece of gasket goo stuck in the thermostat. notice also the colour. that thermostat was brand new with this engine. so it has gone a very rusty brown colour thanks to the water. Pushing on the diaphragm by hand, the thermostat felt a little sticky. didnt want to move smoothly to open or close. 
 
So I ended replacing it with an 82 degree thermostat. not to make it run cooler, but so the thermostat would open earlier and start circulating coolant earlier. with that, and coolant in the system, it has made a difference. it gets up to the correct 88 degrees running temp now, rather than running too cold. 
 
Good Friday, the RSOCV had their annual Good Friday cruise. 
Over 30 cars got involved, and we went out to Warburton, up Mt Donna Buang (some of us more spiritedly than others) then back down and to Yarra Glen Hotel for lunch. 
Having driven the Escort up there previously with the 1300, flat out, and now with the 1660, also flat out, it was a much faster drive up there. I had a mate of mine in his Mini come along, who was behind me on the way up. Although I am not too concerned, he did tell me that it was blowing a bit of blue smoke between gear changes. granted I was pushing it, its the hardest it had been driven, and it was mighty cold up there. but it did it well. I adjusted the suspension up a bit to be stiffer, and boy does it turn well. 
 
On the way home, my buddy in the mini, and me couldnt resist but to see how they compared. its the first time the mini and escort had been out together. the Mini is a 1999 Rover, with a single point injected 1275cc, from Japan. Its since had a Cooper performance kit fitted, which includes a ported head with roller rockers, headers, exhaust, bigger injector, and a few other go fast parts. The Mini weighs 100kg less than the Escort, at 740kg, and with the Cooper engine package produces about 65kw. 
The Escort, a stock 1600 produces 60-65kw. Mine is a 1660, with a cam, weber, etc etc. 
It was a good comparison, the Mini nudged in front basically because i was slow getting into 2nd gear, otherwise equally matched. 
So for such a small engine in the Mini, it goes really well. its pretty quick little thing. 
 
I had to do a weekend run over to work HQ in Footscray, so jumped in the Escort to save the diesel in my daily. it really is such a great improvement over what it used to be in pretty much every aspect. able to sit on the highway comfortably, plenty of grunt to pull away, it just gets very warm in the cabin very easily, which was always the case. 
 

So lets back, and go through the last few weeks worth of work on the car…

I had to add an additional return spring on the throttle, I found it sticking when things got hot. 

 
now for a fun one. I lost all power, and it wouldn’t idle or anything. 
below, the rotor button is at TDC and should be aligned with the black line on the dizzy. Somehow, the dizzy drive cog had managed to jump a tooth. And end up way retarded on the timing. 
the only way this could have happened is if the dizzy wasn’t quite engaged properly. 
thankfully no damage was done, and was fixed by grabbing the clamp off the aftermarket dizzy i had and adapting it to this original unit to hold it in the block better. 
 

 
The final hurdle before installing the carpet was a pesky water leak. 
 
The leak ended up being from where all that old body sealer is. There are 3 panels that all join there. The top and the bottom of the trans tunnel, and then the firewall come floor pan. 
These cars were built terribly from factory, and basically there was about a 10mm gap between the bottom of the trans tunnel and firewall, and had just been filled with body sealer. 
 

 
sealed up with Sika Flex and problem solved. 
 

 
Rear carpet went in. 
 

 
Next was the sub install. 
my brother CNC cut an adapter so I didn’t have to do any cutting to the car. Obviously i enjoy listening to the engine and exhaust, but on longer drives its nice just to be able to listen to tunes 

 

 

 
and the finished product
 

 

 
From there seats went in. 
 
What I didn’t take photos of was the sound deadening. With the offcuts I filled the void under the backseat base to keep temps and noise down from the exhaust, the muffler is directly under the passenger side rear seat. The floor has a pressed recess in it to house the muffler
 

 
Im wrapped with how well the front seats suit the rest of the interior
 

 

 
Now onto the last push on Friday last week. 
 
Left is the original condition of the sill trims. And right was finished to the best i could do with what i had. 
that is a drill mounted 75mm sanding pad with wet and dry 500 grit then 1200 grit and hand polished with metal polish. 
Then to finish then off, 12mm wide black pin stripe from SCA. 
 


 
Without the trims, it looks a little bare. 
 

 
With them on. 
It just finishes the car off
 

 

 
Then there was the gear lever swap. Pretty straightforward, but notice now, in neutral, the gear lever is already just between the seats. In 2nd and 4th, it comes right back over the handbrake lever 🤣 it has a super long throw, but is quite nice. 
 

 
First proper wash in a long time, and with the 15s back on. 
 
one of the things that will need doing to finish the car is a professional polish and ceramic coating, to really make the metallic paint pop. 
 

 
First drive and photos after wash and being mostly finished
 


 

 
Monday I sat down and wired up the amp and stereo. Nice little compact amp hidden away under the passenger seat. 

 
 
Its the little touches that make the difference. 
I got a brand new moulded boot carpet from Knox Auto Carpets. Fantastic service. Went in, they made it there and then. Waited 15 minutes while they pressed the shape and did the stitching. 

 

 
 
That is basically where I am up to with the car. The front seats are out again at the moment (for the last time) while i spray the rail adapters black. They will be back in today. 
Then, the interior is 100% finished. 

Ok I should probably update you all. 
 
its a month since my last update and well, the car is very close to finished, with only relatively minor things needed to finish it off. 
 
I only have the photos on my phone, so i will get to them in a seperate post, but I'll give you the run down. 
 
The interior is all back in, including the new mass sound deadener/carpet underlay, which made a massive difference to cabin noise. 
 
The brand new reproduction inner sill trims/carpet trims are in. 
 
I was under pressure from the RSOCV guys about getting the car "finished", or at the very least ready for display at Small Ford Sunday 2024, which happened Sunday just gone. So I had a lot of work ahead of me, with less than 4 weeks (since my last update) so get the car sorted. 
 
Needless to say, i made it. I had the car at SFS24, running and driving under its own power. 
 
Although it made it to SFS, the stereo wasn't wired up, thats not a big deal, but as of Friday morning the car nearly didn't make it. As of Friday morning, the car was not drivable. I was shattered. 
The car was having gearbox issues, which scared the crap out of me, given Rod and I had modified the gearbox, I was terrified something with the gearbox went wrong, but it was the aftermarket short shifter. 🤔
How? well i wouldn't have believed it, if I didn't read it on a number of UK based forums, that some cheaper or lesser quality short shifters randomly fail, causing issues with being able to select 1st gear. In my case, I could not engage 1st gear at all, and it was crunching into 5th 😑
The fix, was to refit the standard shifter, and sure enough, problem solved. 
 
Friday, 2 days out from SFS, i still had a few things to sort out. 
- Fix the gearbox issue
- finish polishing the outer sill trims, replace black stripe, and fit back on the car (pop riveted on) 
- and change the wheels to something presentable. the 13" 4 spokes are nice, but the black paint is flaking again, so need a pro resto job. so the car is back to running on the 15s. 
 
 
 
Ive been putting some decent kms on the car, driving back and forth to my folks place to reassemble the car in stages. the fuel consumption is the best it has ever been in the time ive owned the car, returning 9.8L/100km on the first tank i recorded. It will definitely go lower on the open road, and when I stop using so much throttle 🤣
 
with the new carpet underlay in, the Recaro seats, and the 5 speed, the car is comfortable, and really nice to drive basically anywhere. i can sit on the freeway and cruise in it at 100km/h no worries. its not noisy, it feels tight, its not working too hard, and it doesn't get hot. 
 
So, whats left to do? 
 
- I need to add headlight film to protect the lights
- look at the thermostat/cooling system. its not building temp. i suspect the thermostat is stuck open. 
- Stereo is all wired up, and sounds great
- Front seat rail adapters have been painted today, so tomorrow the front seats can go back in for the last time, 
- waiting on front bumpers to come back from chrome platers. 
 
Other than those few things, the car is mostly done. interior is complete, once the front seats go back in. 
 
exterior is 95% there. 
 
 
So on that note I am just going to leave these two pics below as teasers. In my next update I will add more pics and details of what I went through the last few weeks. there was definitely some challenges. 
 
The top pic is the first drive around the block with the stock shifter back in the gearbox, and the 15" wheels back on. as you can see its a bit later in the day, so it was my only chance to test things out before SFS. 
 
The second pic, is a bit like a proud dad moment, driving the Escort into Small Ford Sunday to display the car. first time I have been in over 3 years, and in my own car again, was a such a great feeling. and the number of people who came to me and wanted to talk to me about the car, because they had heard its story, and what it had been through, was a little overwhelming. 
 

 

I had the day off work today, so spent the day on the Escort, and it just got better and better as the day went on  
 
I started the day by getting the 1600 bottom end back together. 
 

 

 
Once that was done, I dropped the flywheel off to be machined ready for the new clutch. 
 
Then spent the afternoon with Rod working on the gearbox. 
We nearly finished making up the jig to weld the shifter in its new location. 
 
We have basically set this jig up so that this conversion can be done with or without the need of the entire gearbox, but rather just the extension housing and shifter rod. 
 

 
Now, for the moment we have all been waiting for (or at least i have ).....
 
IT'S IN COLOUR! 
 

 

 

 

 
I haven't seen the car yet in the flesh. these are just photos that Mark has sent me. 
 
The front still needs to be blacked out behind the grill. 

Top work.

more progress on the car. Back panel is in, but not welded. just getting things all setup before being welded in. 
 

 
more little imperfections being sorted out.
 

 
factory creases from panel and body joins being smoothed. 
 

 
tonight after hours, we made a start on the underside of the car. got most of it done and prepped. (this was after only a short amount of time) 
Awaiting a conclusion as to how far Mark wants me to take the underside. Or rather, how far I think I should go with the underside of the car. given we got so much of it cleaned and back to bare metal tonight, id imagine another solid day and it will be ready to go underneath. 
 

picked up the trailer last night, and dropped the car off today. 
 
 

 

 

OK, just thought I would put this up for people who were looking at replacing the head gasket on their 4L SOHC motor.
 
There are a few different head gaskets available for the 4L.
From left to right are....
(Left) Endurotec Composite head gasket with silicon embossed seals.
(Centre) Permaseal Composite head gasket.
(Right) Permaseal AU style Multi Layer Steel head gasket with Viton coating.

 
The 4L SOHC motor from EA-EL come from the factory with a Composite style head gasket.

This has steel fire rings around the bore holes and a steel inner layer sandwiched between 2 composite layers.
 
This can also have silicon sealing rings to help with sealing water jackets , oil galleys etc as with this Endurotec Composite head gasket....

 
The 4L SOHC motor in the AU came from the factory with a Multi Layer Steel (MLS) style head gasket.
This is an aftermarket Permaseal AU style MLS head gasket.....

This is usually 3-5 layers of stainless steel with embossing around all the ports and a rubber/viton layer to help with sealing.
 
Now it is common practice for people to replace the older style factory Composite head gaskets on EA-EL with the AU style Multi Layer Steel (MLS) head gaskets.
This will increase compression on the EA-EL motors as the gasket is thinner and can increase head gasket life and strength for boosted applications.
 
Now if you are rebuilding an engine and have had the head and block faces machined, it's a no brainer.
Switch to the AU style Multi Layer Steel head gasket.
Just make sure you mention to the machinists you want the faces of the head and block to suit, as the MLS head gaskets require a much smoother surface on both faces for correct sealing.
Usually 15Ra-50Ra (up to MAX of 70Ra)
Blocking the surfaces may not even be enough to get a smooth enough surface.
 
Also try to avoid any sealants, install dry.
The coating on the MLS needs to be able to seal by itself and expand and contract with the steel it is bonded to.
 
But what happens if your not able to machine both surfaces?
 
What happens if the head is machined but not the block?
 
What if you have fire ring marks or corrosion marks/low spots?
 
Chances are you won't be able to get the required finish to run an MLS head gasket and get it to seal properly without machining the head and block to suit.
MLS gaskets are less forgiving of surface imperfections.
 
 
This is a block that needed a head gasket replacing. It has been block sanded already, but as you can see, there are still imperfections in the surface.


These include Fire ring marks and Corrosion marks.

The block is super smooth but has imperfections.
 
But not to fear.....
 
While machining of the block and head would be the ideal thing to do for a perfect finish, it's not always possible.
 
I suggest at LEAST the head should be machined.......

And the block then block sanded with fine wet and dry, a lubricant and alternating between 45 degrees one way, then 45 degrees the opposite way with a Large sanding block.


 
Composite head gaskets are a lot more forgiving than Multi Layered Steel head gaskets when it comes to surface finish.
They can better seal imperfections in the mating surfaces.
They require 30Ra-110Ra, which is a much rougher and wider range.
 
Composite head gaskets with silicon sealing rings can give help with dodgy water port sealing.
This doesn't mean you can just slap them in. Good surface preparation is still required.
 
Composite head gaskets can also hold boost up to about 20psi, so don't worry too much about using them on most N/A applications.
 
Better to have a head gasket that seals properly and works than a fancy one that can't because of imperfect mating surfaces.
 
This is what happens to an MLS head gasket if installed on too rough a finish.....



That was a Permaseal MLS-R head gasket, less than 500km old.
Installed by a 'mechanic'.
 
Also if installing a Permaseal MLS-R head gasket to an EA-EL motor, check the rivet on the rear of the gasket doesn't foul and get stuck between the head and block.....



The permaseal MLS-R has rather large rivets, the one on the rear will foul. The permaseal MLS has smaller rivets but I would still check the clearance.
Just a couple of things to keep in mind if deciding to go the MLS route.
 
 I could install another MLS head gasket but chances are it would fail again due to surface roughness.
 
My Composite head gasket lasted 300,000km from the factory before it failed, so if installed properly it will last.
I will leave the MLS until everything is machined properly to suit it on the next rebuild......
 
 
Happy Head Gasketing!
 
Outback Jack.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Nothing much happening with the Escort. 
 
I tried to fire it up and take for a short drive last week, and the shitty misfire was back. last time i diagnosed it as the vacuum advance on the dizzy. so have been running with that disconnected and blanked off. 
 
this time, i spent about 2 hours, checking plugs, dizzy cap, pulling the top of the carby off and making sure there was no shit in the fuel bowl. It was getting low on fuel, so i figured if i could limp it to the servo id put a tank of fresh fuel in it. so i did. it had about 5L left in the tank. put a fresh tank in, left the servo and got a few minutes down the road, and it was good and happy to go. for some reason it seems very sensitive to either stale fuel, or there is something in the bottom of the tank that is contaminating the fuel when it gets too low. 
 
Anyway, on the weekend I went to my girlfriend's place for the weekend, which we are allowed to do under the Melbourne Metro lockdowns, so I took the opportunity to drive the Escort for a decent run rather than just around local streets. 
I know i keep saying it, but boy this old 1300 is getting tired 😕 How long before it goes bye bye? Who knows. 
 
This was the oil pressure at idle after getting home again on Monday. 
 
about 5psi. Interestingly i havent seen the factory warning light come on yet, on the dash, and it does work. Id imagine just must come on at 0psi. 
 
even under load, at 100km/h and at running temp, it doesn't quite get to 30psi oil pressure 😬
 

 
at least it looks pretty after its wash before going back under its car cover    
 

 

Pretty sure it's on the shelf at all Repcos. If not all, definitely the vast majority.

https://www.repco.com.au/en/oils-fluids/greases-lubricants/lubricants/crc-heavy-film-soft-seal-300g/p/A7681836

Buy some Soft-Seal from your local industrial suppliers, or even Repco/Bursons may stock it?
The stuff I bought, is made by CRC.
 
It's basically a non-drying wax/grease substance, in a spray can - designed specifically for rust protection, of metal machinery parts in storage.
 

 

Nah pretty much nailed it Bear. Myself.... I would loosely assemble it, coating everything in a mix of grease and canola oil, thin it down with turps and spray it on everything with a cheap pump pack from Bunnings. The turps evaporates, leaving behind the oily/greasy film. Assembling it keeps the bits protected inside, away from outside air. I had a virgin 4MA crank go completely rusty just sitting on the shed floor wrapped in an old oily shirt. It's so bad it will need a 0.010 cleanup minimum. I also had a shiny, freshly reco'd crossflow alloy head go completely fucked just sitting in my shed wrapped in the plastic it came in. I think my dog might have pissed on that but you get the gist of it.

Engine parts rust bloody easily.

Sent from my CPH1920 using Tapatalk

If you're talking a year before touching anything, then grease the SHIT out of everything. Get your hands dirty, smear it all over the bores, wind the engine over and repeat. Same as with the head, block face, valves, rods, pushrods, bolts and any part that is machined/shiny. WD40 is crap, don't bother, as after winter all your metal will be rusty. 
 
This means that when you come to rebuild, you will need to wash everything down REALLY well, with thinners or Acetone, to remove all residue. But that's all part of learning, being able to touch, feel, handle all the mechanicals. 
 
Just my 12 cents worth. Others may disagree, but Such Is Life.  😁

As a COVID project I got this Crossflow engine from a bloke that wanted to do an LS conversion for a ZL Fairlane to a skid car. Win-Win as he got some cash and I saved what looked like a good engine from scrap or getting blown-up.
 
Disclaimer here, this is the first engine I have ever done anything with beyond changing the oil, spark plugs and coolant so I'm not going to pretend I know anything.
 
The aim was to try and learn something new while tearing it down and confirm it was a decent engine for when I can get a shed built and relocate the XF S-Pack from over the border. The XF should be an 84DA block with OEM carby & intake (if it is still all original). The new engine will be an insurance policy as the plan will be to keep the XF as original as possible although reading through the posts here it looks like the 86DA & HF-7 head are improvements. I did forget to ask for the ECU.
 
The dismantle went well and the only casualties were the water pump and ISC Valve. Removing the fan without the four bolts that secure the pulley was fun but I got there in the end. Internals looked pretty clean so I'm hoping that the majority of its life it was driven like a Fairlane not a skid car.
 
The local shop where I get my Family Truckster serviced inspected the block and heads and said they are sound and good for a future rebuild if required. They got the pistons (0.040) off the rods for me and gave the sump, exhaust manifold and rocker cover a clean-up but left the block and head as is.
 
Everything is home now and the block is back on the engine stand so my plan was to put the following components back together so that I can seal everything up on the stand and stop it deteriorating or anything getting lost / damaged:
Sump Block Crank Cam Head Rocker Cover Timing Cover Exhaust Manifold Injector Rail Intake Manifold an Plenum Thermostat and Water Pump  
The following parts are now wrapped up and stored away in containers:
Rods Flywheel Valves / Springs / Rockers / Pushrods / Tappets Distributor Oil Pump and pick-up Timing Chain and Sprocket Power Steering Alternator  
I'm chasing any advice I can get but the things that came to mind first were:
Should I be putting all these components back together or keeping them apart, With new gaskets would I bolt it together at a bit less than full torque given I'm just storing not running, and Will a light coat of oil on the internals be enough or should I use assembly lube or grease if it is going to sit for a couple of years ahead of being stripped again for rebuild.  
Thanks