FOMOCOHO

I have a set of those as well as, pacemaker 6-2-1's, and other cheap brand headers (actually have about 6 sets all up). If time permits I'll test each design, 6-3-1& 6-2-1 to see what works best. In the end I think the paceys will end up on there, especially when the blower kit arrives.

You need a set of 6-3-1 extractors... they are quite big and would suit a nice warm engine to a T
 

Getting there. Used a lot of old spare steering parts I had from the race car to make it roadworthy. Rotors and pads off the old burnout ute and shocks off the old pvan skid car. Brake master off the race car. Feels good to be using all these parts and means less money spent all up. Win win.
 
Air con lines will be coming off now and going with the condenser off the white donor ute to be flushed.

battery tray area came up reasonable enough. None of this actually gets seen once the battery tray and plastic surrounds are in.
 

 
I have started re-assembling the engine bay, cleaning and painting as I go. I will take some photos tomorrow and upload them. Soon enough the MSC and T5 will be sitting in here. Getting there slowly - like most of my projects.

Should drop in 3 times . As long as some oil is in converter for initial lube , it soon fills itself once running 
 
If you're unsure converter is right in , run a straight edge across and measure depth to mount pads then measure flexpate to block plate 

I put the extractors on today just for a dummy fit,they are 1-3/4 primarys

Don't care about the weight.........LOVE my FMX.

Vacuum leak - Option A
 
Not sure on the details of XF vacuum lines but check for leaks in all. At that age vacuum hoses could be cracked or plastic joiners failing. If there is a leak it can really affect the idle & running of a crossy sometimes. 

EFI have a fuel filter on passenger side under front passenger door or thereabouts

what revs does it idle at? Does it idle smooth or is it rough as guts?
 
When my carb setup used to play up like that it was usually the brass plug/corrector jet on the passengers side of the carb fouled up with crap from somewhere.
 
I'd be checking that first. While you are in the carb area, as dave said check the filter on the fuel in side of the carb. 
 
And also look for split or loose vacuum connections on the carb itself. Always a bother those things.

Option B - if you can't find the leak, remove engine & replace with clevo. 

Option B - if you can't find the leak, remove engine & replace with clevo. 

From factory, XF's only have a filter sock on the end of the tank pickup,
and a tiny gauze sleeve in the carby behind the hard-line inlet fitting.
 
Anything else, is either dealer fitted, or aftermarket.
 
(not sure on EFI crossflows)

Looks pretty right . Just put a meter on the neutral start wires and check continuity in N + P and then for reverse .

Will do... tomorrow.

Same as a ute, panel van and the fairlane/LTD.

I dont want to have a shot at anyone here, it annoys when people are (sometimes) narrow minded, and have a biased opinion about a manufacturer, just because of something they have been told or read. 
 
I rebuilt the front end in my XF wagon roughly 4 years ago, using Nolathane rebuild kit. At the time, the car was a daily driver, and since has done about 100,000km, and the suspension is still nice. its a little hard, but none of it is split. only 1 bush has split and that is a 1 of the 8 sway bar link bushes. 
as for tie rod ends and ball joints, i went through R&E Auto Parts, who sell Road Safe brand. again, not 1 issue with them. even the rubbers are still in good condition, and have no signs of splits, after all this time. Now i know, a few people i have spoken to say Road Safe is shit, and they fall apart etc etc. but i think from my experience, it proves otherwise. I personally would not go to places like Rare Spares for suspension components, but rather stick to what I know have been good, places like Burson's and R&E. 

 

A Rare Spares techie fella Edan, contacted me on FB, and is posting me out some replacement ones.
Can't fault the quick response.
I'll be interested to see how the replacement ones go.
 
He mentioned they were using a different supplier for a while, and that may be the reason.
 
The worst part will be having to undo the tie rod ends again. (and for a third time, if the replacement ones fail.)
 
I did look at using the RareSpares swaybar link kits originally, too
but they looked deadset carbon copies of the Dennis Carpenter ones - right down to the un-common tapered rubber bushes.
(rather than stepped bushes)
 
The Dennis Carpenter ones were $8.00 cheaper, from a mustang repro parts place.

Doesn't look like a crack to me.  For the price of a sump gasket you can whip it out and check.  It may just be that someone dragged it across the bench or dropped something on it - or foreign body damage thru the intake as Ryan has said.
 
You have to remember that most people treat these things as taxi motors and don't give them the respect of love they deserve.

A resonator before the main is what manufacturers use to kill the drone but placement is very important. It's really hard to get right. I have 2 x BA Falcon resonators about a foot after the collector and about 2 feet before the main ones. It drones between 1700 and 2000 and fitting a crossover didn't cure it. It could be fixed by maybe going up in pipe size between the resonators and mufflers (which slows down the flow) but only when I get a chance..
 
Droning can also be a result of a certain volume inside the cabin that resonates like a giant subwoofer enclosure at certain frequencies (rpm). This and the fact that dumping under the car is a sure-fire way of turning it into a giant boom box. The floorpan vibrates from the pulses under the car and becomes a big speaker.
 
Mine is a wagon so has no buffer zone (ie boot) to cancel some of the sound out. Sedans are obviously better but dumping under the back seat has the sound source closer to the cabin and will create sort of the same problem as a wagon or hatch.

When I changed the stereo in my '82 XE Fairmont Ghia I didn't want to cut or chop anything as it is an original JG32 car with factory manual, which are hard to find these days.
 
Even though this was done along time ago, I had the foresight to understand it may be more valuable as original, the door cards were really good with no holes and the original Pioneer radio/tape-deck was also in good condition.
 
So I sourced pioneer 4" speakers that were chunky enough to handle the new deck output but fit in the front speaker slots. I also found a set of grills that already had broken slats from my old XD and cut & fitted the speakers and kept the original grills and speakers in a box for safe keeping.
 

 
No damage done. They were beefy top of the line 4" 2-way but will be the weak link so had to be replaced once. The second set should last longer since I appreciate my hearing now. 
 
The rears sourced were 6" Pioneer 3-way, again as beefy as I could get that would just bolt into the original headrests, no cut & shut.
Hence my doors and door cards have no holes at all.
 


 
Bit of a shampoo and they should look like new.
 
Next was the deck. Back when I did this the car was a daily and top-of-the-line pioneer still had a tape-deck... and they were so chunky you didn't need a power amp. Thing weighs a ton! It was back in  the QR days before the removable front thing which was so impractical since it weighed a ton. Also has 6-stack in boot so had all bases covered. Just no bluetooth back then. But it still looks period enough with the car and can play cassettes!
 
So I sourced another escutcheon from the wreckers and modified that & spot welded the cage in. The front panel was available new from Fords at the time. The old deck was removed and put in a box for safe-keeping.
 
 
New deck fitted...

 
Cradle without deck...

 
As far as cassette decks go this one is the most advanced, even searches a tape but that will wear the heads, so best to just FF>>.
Radio has superfringe too & BSM for country/interstate travel. It just goes off for a radio tape/deck era machine & has full remote & CD stacker for more modern stuff.
 

 
All the wiring was done with XE Ford connectors with easy access. The whole escutcheon can be removed in a couple of minutes with no swearing or cursing. It would not take long to unplug & remove this one & replace the original, that was the idea maybe for car shows or whatever.
 

 
The original Pioneer stereo in storage...
 
 

 
So there you go dAVE, no originality upset and reversal in extra quick time! 

When I changed the stereo in my '82 XE Fairmont Ghia I didn't want to cut or chop anything as it is an original JG32 car with factory manual, which are hard to find these days.
 
Even though this was done along time ago, I had the foresight to understand it may be more valuable as original, the door cards were really good with no holes and the original Pioneer radio/tape-deck was also in good condition.
 
So I sourced pioneer 4" speakers that were chunky enough to handle the new deck output but fit in the front speaker slots. I also found a set of grills that already had broken slats from my old XD and cut & fitted the speakers and kept the original grills and speakers in a box for safe keeping.
 

 
No damage done. They were beefy top of the line 4" 2-way but will be the weak link so had to be replaced once. The second set should last longer since I appreciate my hearing now. 
 
The rears sourced were 6" Pioneer 3-way, again as beefy as I could get that would just bolt into the original headrests, no cut & shut.
Hence my doors and door cards have no holes at all.
 


 
Bit of a shampoo and they should look like new.
 
Next was the deck. Back when I did this the car was a daily and top-of-the-line pioneer still had a tape-deck... and they were so chunky you didn't need a power amp. Thing weighs a ton! It was back in  the QR days before the removable front thing which was so impractical since it weighed a ton. Also has 6-stack in boot so had all bases covered. Just no bluetooth back then. But it still looks period enough with the car and can play cassettes!
 
So I sourced another escutcheon from the wreckers and modified that & spot welded the cage in. The front panel was available new from Fords at the time. The old deck was removed and put in a box for safe-keeping.
 
 
New deck fitted...

 
Cradle without deck...

 
As far as cassette decks go this one is the most advanced, even searches a tape but that will wear the heads, so best to just FF>>.
Radio has superfringe too & BSM for country/interstate travel. It just goes off for a radio tape/deck era machine & has full remote & CD stacker for more modern stuff.
 

 
All the wiring was done with XE Ford connectors with easy access. The whole escutcheon can be removed in a couple of minutes with no swearing or cursing. It would not take long to unplug & remove this one & replace the original, that was the idea maybe for car shows or whatever.
 

 
The original Pioneer stereo in storage...
 
 

 
So there you go dAVE, no originality upset and reversal in extra quick time! 

When I changed the stereo in my '82 XE Fairmont Ghia I didn't want to cut or chop anything as it is an original JG32 car with factory manual, which are hard to find these days.
 
Even though this was done along time ago, I had the foresight to understand it may be more valuable as original, the door cards were really good with no holes and the original Pioneer radio/tape-deck was also in good condition.
 
So I sourced pioneer 4" speakers that were chunky enough to handle the new deck output but fit in the front speaker slots. I also found a set of grills that already had broken slats from my old XD and cut & fitted the speakers and kept the original grills and speakers in a box for safe keeping.
 

 
No damage done. They were beefy top of the line 4" 2-way but will be the weak link so had to be replaced once. The second set should last longer since I appreciate my hearing now. 
 
The rears sourced were 6" Pioneer 3-way, again as beefy as I could get that would just bolt into the original headrests, no cut & shut.
Hence my doors and door cards have no holes at all.
 


 
Bit of a shampoo and they should look like new.
 
Next was the deck. Back when I did this the car was a daily and top-of-the-line pioneer still had a tape-deck... and they were so chunky you didn't need a power amp. Thing weighs a ton! It was back in  the QR days before the removable front thing which was so impractical since it weighed a ton. Also has 6-stack in boot so had all bases covered. Just no bluetooth back then. But it still looks period enough with the car and can play cassettes!
 
So I sourced another escutcheon from the wreckers and modified that & spot welded the cage in. The front panel was available new from Fords at the time. The old deck was removed and put in a box for safe-keeping.
 
 
New deck fitted...

 
Cradle without deck...

 
As far as cassette decks go this one is the most advanced, even searches a tape but that will wear the heads, so best to just FF>>.
Radio has superfringe too & BSM for country/interstate travel. It just goes off for a radio tape/deck era machine & has full remote & CD stacker for more modern stuff.
 

 
All the wiring was done with XE Ford connectors with easy access. The whole escutcheon can be removed in a couple of minutes with no swearing or cursing. It would not take long to unplug & remove this one & replace the original, that was the idea maybe for car shows or whatever.
 

 
The original Pioneer stereo in storage...
 
 

 
So there you go dAVE, no originality upset and reversal in extra quick time! 

When I changed the stereo in my '82 XE Fairmont Ghia I didn't want to cut or chop anything as it is an original JG32 car with factory manual, which are hard to find these days.
 
Even though this was done along time ago, I had the foresight to understand it may be more valuable as original, the door cards were really good with no holes and the original Pioneer radio/tape-deck was also in good condition.
 
So I sourced pioneer 4" speakers that were chunky enough to handle the new deck output but fit in the front speaker slots. I also found a set of grills that already had broken slats from my old XD and cut & fitted the speakers and kept the original grills and speakers in a box for safe keeping.
 

 
No damage done. They were beefy top of the line 4" 2-way but will be the weak link so had to be replaced once. The second set should last longer since I appreciate my hearing now. 
 
The rears sourced were 6" Pioneer 3-way, again as beefy as I could get that would just bolt into the original headrests, no cut & shut.
Hence my doors and door cards have no holes at all.
 


 
Bit of a shampoo and they should look like new.
 
Next was the deck. Back when I did this the car was a daily and top-of-the-line pioneer still had a tape-deck... and they were so chunky you didn't need a power amp. Thing weighs a ton! It was back in  the QR days before the removable front thing which was so impractical since it weighed a ton. Also has 6-stack in boot so had all bases covered. Just no bluetooth back then. But it still looks period enough with the car and can play cassettes!
 
So I sourced another escutcheon from the wreckers and modified that & spot welded the cage in. The front panel was available new from Fords at the time. The old deck was removed and put in a box for safe-keeping.
 
 
New deck fitted...

 
Cradle without deck...

 
As far as cassette decks go this one is the most advanced, even searches a tape but that will wear the heads, so best to just FF>>.
Radio has superfringe too & BSM for country/interstate travel. It just goes off for a radio tape/deck era machine & has full remote & CD stacker for more modern stuff.
 

 
All the wiring was done with XE Ford connectors with easy access. The whole escutcheon can be removed in a couple of minutes with no swearing or cursing. It would not take long to unplug & remove this one & replace the original, that was the idea maybe for car shows or whatever.
 

 
The original Pioneer stereo in storage...
 
 

 
So there you go dAVE, no originality upset and reversal in extra quick time! 

When I changed the stereo in my '82 XE Fairmont Ghia I didn't want to cut or chop anything as it is an original JG32 car with factory manual, which are hard to find these days.
 
Even though this was done along time ago, I had the foresight to understand it may be more valuable as original, the door cards were really good with no holes and the original Pioneer radio/tape-deck was also in good condition.
 
So I sourced pioneer 4" speakers that were chunky enough to handle the new deck output but fit in the front speaker slots. I also found a set of grills that already had broken slats from my old XD and cut & fitted the speakers and kept the original grills and speakers in a box for safe keeping.
 

 
No damage done. They were beefy top of the line 4" 2-way but will be the weak link so had to be replaced once. The second set should last longer since I appreciate my hearing now. 
 
The rears sourced were 6" Pioneer 3-way, again as beefy as I could get that would just bolt into the original headrests, no cut & shut.
Hence my doors and door cards have no holes at all.
 


 
Bit of a shampoo and they should look like new.
 
Next was the deck. Back when I did this the car was a daily and top-of-the-line pioneer still had a tape-deck... and they were so chunky you didn't need a power amp. Thing weighs a ton! It was back in  the QR days before the removable front thing which was so impractical since it weighed a ton. Also has 6-stack in boot so had all bases covered. Just no bluetooth back then. But it still looks period enough with the car and can play cassettes!
 
So I sourced another escutcheon from the wreckers and modified that & spot welded the cage in. The front panel was available new from Fords at the time. The old deck was removed and put in a box for safe-keeping.
 
 
New deck fitted...

 
Cradle without deck...

 
As far as cassette decks go this one is the most advanced, even searches a tape but that will wear the heads, so best to just FF>>.
Radio has superfringe too & BSM for country/interstate travel. It just goes off for a radio tape/deck era machine & has full remote & CD stacker for more modern stuff.
 

 
All the wiring was done with XE Ford connectors with easy access. The whole escutcheon can be removed in a couple of minutes with no swearing or cursing. It would not take long to unplug & remove this one & replace the original, that was the idea maybe for car shows or whatever.
 

 
The original Pioneer stereo in storage...
 
 

 
So there you go dAVE, no originality upset and reversal in extra quick time!