gerg

The 300 comes up to the black hole and says "bitch please", and swallows it.

Yeah thanks for that Far Quad, had a feeling it was add shims, not subtract. Makes sense as you're lessening the preload on the spring inside the spool valve as you add shims. A fucking Astra? You poor soul...

They have a rabid following in the states by F-truck owners who like torque and economy. They are a long-stroke, non-crossflow truck engine in 240 and 300 ci with little parts interchangeability with other ford engines. They're a completely different family to the 144/170/188/200/221/250 inlines. You could call them a big-block six I suppose. I think some FE big-block pistons might fit. Even if you can get them to breathe, the long stroke/small bore creates a mechanical limit to rpm thus horsepower. There are some great bits available in the states but because they're a niche market, you pay a lot for what you get. There are tricks to get them going well even with stock bits like EFI exhaust manifolds, using a 240 head on a 300 for more comp, plus aftermarket bits like 4-bbl manifolds and better cams, bigger valves, etc. You'll struggle to get 250 hp out of one even with the right bits but you could tow a whole suburb with it, the torque is supposed to be that awesome. They have legendary reliability, some going for 600,000 miles without dying. People who like them say they're the best engine Ford ever built. I've been fascinated by them for a while now but the only notable one I can remember that went well was a Maverick with a turbo'd one in it. Did 10s from memory. The US maverick was a car about the size of a corty. They sound nice with the right exhaust. Chuggy and real old-school.

There's a common mod that is a piece of piss once you know how. Google Saginaw power steer pump mod. Involves taking the pressure fitting out, removing the spool valve in that port and pulling apart the valve and taking a shim out or putting one in (I can't remember). The shims are just small washers. Fords have exceptionally high assist pressure at around 1400 psi, but dropping below say 1000 can give much better feel.

If that's the case, I'll jump on the next flight up there with a pair of iron 2Vs as carry-aboard luggage. Sounds like a legend!

Obviously the limitations of hitting water sooner meant that this is what you have to work with. Definitely nothing to sneeze at and flow equal to or better than out-of-the-box Edelbrock alloys. That drop off at 0.500 is possibly due to the air coming off the short-turn and instead of curving under, preferring to separate from the wall. It then hits the valve or even the opposite side, which is the shrouded side of the chamber, and becomes turbulence city. So you could say that both issues compound each other. Still not really issues at all when you have such good low-lift flow. This would make a small cam much bigger. I'd be chuffed!

The "lag" is deliberately built into the electronics of the gauge to eliminate the effect of the level rising and falling with the fuel sloshing around. You notice this also just after filling up and the gauge takes half a minute or so to get up to the full mark.

Geez I wasn't far off! Ok exhaust came up a lot more (very impressive) but that means you won't need a split pattern cam like stock heads do.

Curvy or straight cars need different treatments. I say stay close to the factory look, and right for the period, maybe a bit thicker striping but same proportions. Same goes for wheels. A set of globes look tough on anything up to XF but put them on an FG and it's wrong-town. After all, the people that designed them are professionals. The eye likes to see things in 1/3rds, just like in photography and painting. So break up the car into sections and apply the "third rule" and you're off to a good start. Remember... Proportion is everything!

An OHC conversion would make a lot of sense if this was a build for someone experienced and had a lot of bits there already, but this is Nath's first project (I'm assuming) and should be kept as simple as possible. Going OHC means installing EFI pump and lines, electrics from arsehole to breakfast, computers, etc when all you really want is to hit the road in a cool cruiser and enjoy it. A warm crossy might not be up to the performance of a warm OHC but if it puts a smile on your dial, that's all that counts.

That sure looks purrrdy

Just forked out $127 for a sand blasting attachment for my domestic model Karcher washer. I was apprehensive at first but I'm quite chuffed at the result so far (ok it was only half an hour usage). I tested it on a grubby snowflake that had some serious brake dust impregnated into it. I tried soap, hydrochloric acid and caustic soda and it just laughed at all of them. Mechanical means was the only option left to resurrect this set of classic rims. Here are some visuals: Back side: First, some good points: - unexpectedly good performance on alloy casting - relatively clean compared to air blasting - it's as portable as your pressure washer is. - if doing small jobs, it's much more cost effective than outlaying for a massive air sandblasting rig. - water keeps things cool. Ok some bad points: - a lot of money for basically a venturi attachment to a Karcher tip with a bit of cheap nylon hose to suck sand. - the hose coils up and pulls the suction tip out of the bucket - you get wet... A lot. - you'll go through quite a bit of sand: count on a 10 litre bucket for each wheel. I'll post some end-product pics when done.

200 is a more realistic number for a crossy but that's just the thing... It's a number. What you often forget is the torque made while getting there. Crossys are all about torque and a warm crossy will be equal to or better than a stock V8. To put 200 hp into perspective, that's about 150 kW. That is the same as a stock VL turbo, which at the time was the quickest Aussie car you could buy. Geared properly, 200 hp in a light XD body will put you in the high 14s.

Just a generic one called "Super Gold". Mind you it wasn't cheap. It actually oxidized very quickly to a dull bronze even after clear coating so next time I'll use the right one and make sure it's an automotive type paint.

I used an XF motor in my Corty, no probs at all. Just an engine number change and visual inspection of all the appropriate bits and it was all good. As long as you don't have big Holleys hanging off it or anything obvious like that, you'll be fine. Another example: my XE has an XB block in it. I just used the air cleaner from an XD and made sure it looked factory and they didn't even batt an eyelid. They didn't even see the dirty big Holley on top!

If you're not stuck on black for a colour, what about orange/red? I reckon the stripe should follow the crease line down the car instead of try and fight with it.

Those figures for the crossy are what you'd expect, if a little thirsty around town. 500 out on the open road is awesome for any engine, wouldn't complain about that at all. Sounds like you've got that one cracking.

Awesome. You might find a few folks on here who would be interested in this conversion, if only for the fact that stock senders don't like modern fuels.

If you drop the base idle does it drop too low in drive?

Do they need to be anything special or just high grade?

Cheers mate don't hold your breath. I think Clevo heads are 22 kg each from memory

Sounds like a good excuse to move up there.... Only if your shop has aircon and a nice lounge

So your local machine shop is still a bunch of goofballs just in a different way to what you first thought.

Hey you never know... It might be somehow worth a few hp

Cheers Ando that doesn't sound that bad actually. A pair of 2vs would be less than 50 kg.