Jiminy Kriket

Hey guys, just want to pick your brains again.

The wifes AU wagon has recently developed the issue where the ac will stop cooling intermittently. I can get it to start cooling again by switching the AC button off then back on.

With the ac on, you can see the clutch engages and disengages without issue.  

What i am wondering is what sensor/relay issues should i be looking for? Still cools very well when it is running, but the clutch seems to disengage for no reason i can see.

Any advice would help. thanks

The old man's XW was factory front bench, with the compliance plate saying it was a 6 seater. All he had to do to get the front centre seat belt in was to double up the bolt tags on the existing bolts that already affixed the other belts to the floor. If you look at how the rear belts are done, that's how he did the fronts. I think he may have gotten a pair of centre bolts from the rear of another car to get the should length right.

Oops, just read "latch mechanism"... Yep they are a bastard. From memory mine consisted of a lot of swearing and some bleeding knuckles.

Again, from memory, you had to rotate the mechanism inside the door cavity to get the right angle to pull the rod off. Hopefully someone will chime in with some pics.

To get the rear door handle disconnected, you have to undo both screws and remove the handle with the rod still attached. Once out then you have enough room to get the rod out. It's tricky the first time you go one but they do get easier.

Got an XE wagon borg warner diff under my xy. Looks like it was made to go there. Everything lines up and bolted straight in.

As for ratios, my xw had a 3.23 gear set from the factory. That was a 3 speed column shift version. If your was auto from the factory,

you should have a 2.77 or 2.92 depending on which engine it was fitted with. My XY came with 2.92 standard, but it had a 302 windsor motor standard.

With the intake threads, they are 5/16" UNC standard. When they strip they just happen to clean up to the tapping size for 3/8 UNC (same thread as the exhaust bolts), which is what i ended tapping 3 of those threads to after some dodgy mechanic had a go at my first crossy head.

Drilled the hole in the manifold to 10mm and wound the 3/8 tap straight into the threaded hole and job done. Just be sure to get all the ally chips out of the rocker area.

Thanks tpak, will have to remember that if i ever have to change his over.

Just for future reference, ECU swap in a BA isn't as simple as plugging it in like the older models.

Could you expand on this a bit, just in case i need to get the old man outta the shit agin.

Update time. Got it solved. Number 5 ignition coil silicon boot was damaged causing it to arc from the spring inside to the cylinder head. EEK.

You see that little grey dot. That there is the problem.

Looking closer at the dot you see this...

Little bastard thing had me looking everywhere for the issue. New plugs and coils and it's purring like a kitten even from dead cold. Beautiful. Thanks for the suggestions as to what it may have been.

keep the x series injector body as it has the correct angle of installation for the injectors to meet the recess cut into the head intake ports. You also need to space and angle the manifold slightly otherwise it will not clear the distributor and the rocker cover, especially if u have to raise the rocker if you're running big lift.

the intake runners are also 40 mm on the e series manifold so you can use x series injector body to taper from 40 mm to 34 millimetre for the head.

 

 

http://www.xfalcon.com/forums/index.php?/topic/34335-e-series-broadband-manifold-onto-efi250-crossy-walk-through/

Thanks for that. That explains why i couldn't find you build on this forum, coz it's not here. 

Thanks for taking the time to write it all up and explain why every thing was done the way it was done. Very helpful.

Oh well, more work to do. 

Bolt holes are nowhere near lining up. The crossy stuff is vertical and the bbm has them at about 45 degrees to the port.

As for spacer material, it was going to be aluminium or if the engineering plastic rep comes through work before i get the adaptor made i was going to hassle him for some product recommendations.

I was going to have studs hanging out of the plate to bolt the bbm to and use countersunk bolts to bolt the plate to the head. But as yet, still not gotten that far. Maybe in the next weekend or 2.

the BBM would be better

 

i suppose someone else is going to say it eventually.. why not run the whole EL motor? 

EL motor was toast in the donor vehicle, and i'm happy with the mechanical condition of the crossy. My sister had a "mechanic" change the timing chain on her el and he butchered the job. Bent all the intake valves. So she got another vehicle as an engine donor and i got paid in the left overs for swapping the motors for her.

I had reason to look at the port spacing difference between the two engine recently.  They are not as far out as you would think.  My advice - get the 1st section of the xf efi setup and the complete broadband.  put them together on the bench.  sit down with a Great Northern Lager (or your favourite tipple) and work out a plan to make it happen. 

 

After your second drink you should have a plan well and truly sorted.  There is a heap of advice on how to trigger the bbm by vacuum switches from other cars (barina comes to mind).  The bbm will work way better than the bunch of bananas.

The ports look really close. Rather than use the first section of the XF EFI manifold i was going to make an adapter plate. Got the machines and the experience to do it, so i can't see why that bit won't work.

I'm using the EL ECU, so triggering the bbm won't be an issue. I've got the complete donor car so all the valves are here, i just need to figure out how to make them work.

I'm very glad to know I'm not the only one that calls the XE/F EFI intake runners bananas haha

I've only ever known them as a bunch of bananas manifold. The name seems to describe them perfectly.

Hey guys. Next project on my list involves making an el injection system work on my crossy. 

Just wondering which intake would be better to run, the standard XF bunch of banannas or the EL BBM?

Modification isn't going to be a problem, it's sort of my job, more interested in which one is going to suit a daily driven car more.

This will be my first venture into diy injection as well, so more stupid questions are going to come along.

Haven't tried that one yet broken wheel, will tell the old man to give it a go. 

Thanks for the advice jack. The scan tool is an odb2 unit, bought it just because the old man got this car.

I'll go have a look at the wreckers and see how much they want for an ecu.

The bell housing you got off me nath will accept the single rail straight onto the back of it. I modified the nose cone of the t5 gearbox to fit the standard single rail bell.

So, if you are planning on going to the drags and have an hour or so spare you could drop the t5 and bolt up a single rail just for the weekend use.

Same drive shaft as well, so no issues there. Just bolt the box up and go playing, then when you need the overdrive to make the work commute easier, bung the t5 back in.

Should've mentioned, i've got an Autel autolink ODB scanner and it shows no codes. That threw me.

This thing kicks and bucks around like a fool and the pcm doesn't throw any errors.

As for "goosing" the throttle, i assume you mean moving the throttle blade to make the tangs engage properly on the tps.

Please correct me if i'm mistaken. 

Thanks for the pointer.

I've looked everywhere i can think of, and everything i find i have ruled out.

The story so far is my dad's 03 BA XT has this issue when it is physically cold outside the engine on FIRST start up in the morning will not idle smooth, i.e. it stumbles and miss fires like it's a shot coil or a sensor issue. But it smooths out within 5 minutes of running, whether it's mobile or stationary. 

So, we have tried the hot water trick on the ecu, reseated all plugs onto the coils, sensors and joiners, we even went to the effort to retighten the manifold bolts. So far it has had no result.

The only way i've had the car reproduce the issue was to unplug the tps and plug it back in. So, we tried some freeze spray on the tps, air intake temp sender, coolant temp sender and the throttle stepper motor.

Once this issue sorts itself out on first start up, it's gone for the rest of the day. To the point where i can start it at 7 in the morning let it sort it's issue out it will be fine. I can even leave it for the rest of the day and try to start it at midnight on the same day and it'll idle fine right off the bat. But come the next morning and it wont idle until it sorts itself out again.

This is doing my head in and i havn't been able to find a fix as yet. So i come to the brains trust and see what they have to suggest.

Found this site a while back, you could try it to simplify things.

http://www.wallaceracing.com/cr_test2.php

The distributor that came with that block is a stock XF TFI distributor. Should work straight up with your MSD unit. Was all in good working order before i stripped the car.

Yeah, i thought the same when i first heard that manufacturers were using 410/20 stainless. That amount of chrome just makes any alloy brittle when hot. But they must have their reasons.

As far as why people want stainless exhausts, i think they believe that the mild exhaust is going to rot out on the quicker than stainless. But then i thought they aluminised the outside of exhaust tube to stop the corrosion issues..? I dunno. I just patch up whatever the car comes with when i buy it.

Personally i just buy the aluminised stuff and run it. Not had a problem yet.

I believe the grade used on factory systems is magnetic. It would also be of a grade that isn't too hard on stamping tools and dies from a production point of view.

The grade used in most exhaust systems is 410/420 (can't remember which one off the top of my head), and as has been mentioned before it has a slightly lower chrome content so it corrodes on the surface. The flip side of having lower chrome is less stresses from forming, i.e. bending and rolling for the muffler housings, and the corroded layer actually stops any further corrosion from forming. Both 410 and 420 stainless are magnetic as well.

For those who like a bit of light metallurgical reading...

http://www.interlloy.com.au/our-products/stainless-steel/410-martensitic-stainless-steel-bar/

http://www.interlloy.com.au/our-products/stainless-steel/420-martensitic-stainless-steel-bar/

I replaced my pitman arm about a month ago, and can honestly say i saw nothing wrong with the roadsafe pitman arm i put in. Nice and firm, appears to be a really neat forging and the spline in the arm put the steering only a spline out on the steering wheel. So i have no problem with it, took the 1/4" of play out of the arm that was on it.

Yeah, just gently pry the flange away from the firewall, the slip joint has more than enough movement in it to do that.

EA box is bog stock, only opened to fix leaks to my knowledge.

I've been thinking about how to fix this for years. thanks for the guide on what to look for gerg