Mr Polson

I've had mine in and working for a few years now. I ended up getting my head unit and amp overhauled by a guy in Melbourne for very reasonable price. In the end I was under the impression the amp provides power to the head unit, no power goes directly to the head unit from the dash wiring. Sent from my Pixel 7 Pro using Tapatalk

Rare Spares would probably do them Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

Not long after I bought my mother an AU I got the gearbox serviced. Apparently the oil that came out was like old diesel engine oil. Mechanic was amazed it drove as well as it did. Got about another 40,000 from it before the trans died (350,000 all up). Put a second hand box in with low 100,000kms, filled with Penrite ATF FS and it's been fine for the 50,000kms or so it's done since.

Difference in head gaskets for comparison. Notes on them say suit alloy head Or suit cast head

The 42 in the chassis number means it was built as a van. Could the revs be wrong? I use regos to look cars up for work and quite often they're incorrect, just from one error when the vehicle is initially registered

Aerials actually work best when at the centre of a flat plain - middle of the roof is ideal. It somewhat bounces the signal off the roof of the car. Don't be caught out with physically larger meaning better range, with CB it almost all comes down to the dB rating. Pretty sure Repco has a sale on UHF this weekend too [emoji6] but not 100% if it includes aerials

Sump off in car (XF) - yes. Sump REMOVED from car - no. I tried with XF once. Could get the sump off the engine. Couldn't get the sump out. Managed to get the oil pickup & pump off and out. Still couldn't get sump out. Even with engine lifted as high as I was willing with hoses, wiring and gearbox attached. Could possibly be doable if away bar was removed.

There a few units now that don't actually need the unit anywhere visible - the display and info and buttons are all on the mic. But these tend to be at the higher end of the market. GME is probably the best brand, but Oricom and Uniden are also decent. When it comes to aerials - taller doesn't mean better reception. Go by the db rating. Lower db has circular reception, higher db it becomes more oval. So for hilly mountainous terrain you want around the 4 to 6 db. Long flat open terrain you want 6 or higher. You can get magnetic base aerials, that might be best for you in terms of easy removal/storage? Downside is having to run a cord each time. With the bullbar, I'd be inclined to run a extension cord from the CB to the front. Then have the aerial on a pipe clamp type bracket, which would allow fairly easy removal when not using.

Don't use Bosch. Modern Bosch parts are shit quality, made cheap, and have enormous failure rates. They are nowhere near the company they used to be. With thermostat, if not on gas check it's the correct "foot" type one - these block the bypass when the engine gets to temp. I think DT18F is the part number off the top of my head.

Correct, the floors are quite different. I have an XF wagon and a late XF ute, when you look at one to the other it's quite different in lots of little ways. I think from about where the accelerator pedal mounts all the way down to the rear firewall was different, because Ford were producing the EA/EB at the same time as the XF utes and vans they made parts similar where possible.

They were a hardline pipe from pump to carb. You will NOT be able to get a rebuild kit from Repco, but fair chance they'll have a complete pump. Even if you could get a rebuild kit it would be x2 or x3 the price of the new pump.

My first thought was, he got another Escort?

Do NOT use second hand head bolts in a 4.0L They are Torque to Yield, when you tighten them they are literally tightened until they are at stretching point. Rule of thumb is any head bolt that is tightened to a degree setting instead of nM/ft lb should be replaced. Most gasket manufacturers recommend new head bolts when replacing a head gasket regardless as well.

The metal pipes are not easily obtained from auto parts stores. Normally they end up being genuine or online. The header tanks/coolant bottle are pretty regular on the shelf items.

Far from it. Xflow top hose goes to driver's side, lower hose to passenger. 4.0 OHC are opposite way around. Plus there's the extra hose on an XG radiator for the expansion tank inlet

Originality of the car, simplicity, personal preference, ease of parts, are a few that spring to mind. I love my Barra swapped LandCruiser but I'd never put one in my XF wagon.

I do recall a customer not long ago with a Barra turbo XE and they used a VL or similar radiator now that it's mentioned.

I've been asked for soluble oil before and had no luck finding a supplier. But most Repcos keep this on the shelf. I personally run Penrite corrosion inhibitor in my XFs with no issues.

Well there you go, good to know. Weird how they changed things from model to model. Change the hell out of how the radiator sits on the bottom, but use the same crank bearings for 50 years

I think EF/EL fans on a XG radiator is the way to go? Or just aftermarket fans. Xflow radiator will have the hose inlet/outlet on the wrong sides. XG radiators are rare I believe but might bolt straight into XF (I'm pretty sure) and have the hoses in the right spots, and the outlet for the overflow bottle.

You may be interested in this then https://www.rodshop.com.au/air-conditioning-delete-kit-barra-xr6-engines

Do you have power steering and/or AC?

Definitely, get the pedal and the plug with as much wiring as you can

Pretty much all the engine wiring except the alternator and starter connects to the ECU with two big plugs. Once undone all the wiring comes with the engine. The ECU is riveted to the shock tower and is a giant pain to drill out. Then you'll want to cut the wires from the ECU as far back near the firewall as possible.

They annoyingly changed oil filters for BF onwards, Z516 instead of Z9. Guess they thought they should finally use a metric threaded filter.