Boingk

A bloke not too far from me has two XE wagons for sale. One is neat but has a bit of rust, the other is average exterior but quite solid. Asking 1500 the pair, getting them to you would be the killer.

Yeah don't get me started on the conversion at the moment. I'm going to run a Procomp 'Eliminator' which is their stab at a Performer RPM AirGap. Still $280 delivered, but apparently get within 10hp of the Eddy casting.

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Ford-SB-260-289-302-Windsor-Eliminator-Intake-Manifold-Satin/372403843878?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649

Looking good mate!

I wouldn't worry too much about the right gaskets for the heads, if your luck is anything like mine they'll be a less-than-stellar fit anyway.

Give some Permatex 'Ultra Grey' a go, its bloody great at oil and water seals and hasn't failed me yet - hell the whole sump of my crossflow is sealed with it as I had a tube starting to turn. Doesn't leak a damn drop!

Keep up the good stuff - boingk

Good stuff mate, looking nice.

What thickness gaskets?

Good article on the build with Weiand Action+ and Holley for a 35hp gain, but not sure on the Procomps, I'm in the middle of this for my 302 Windsor. They just have too many poor reviews to justify the price. Bad valve seats, porosity, and valve issues sem to be the main dramas. I've also heard of poor valve guides and even bad machining, quite "nothing on these heads was straight or round".

3 minutes ago, gerg said:

That sounds like something around the "stage 2" mark in the old days when they used to use those terms. Sounds a little like mine at the moment: 208/208 @0.050, 110 lobe sep, made for midrange. Or maybe yours was slightly more than that, like a 214/214, as mine doesn't lope even on a little 302

It was a 219@50 / 505 lift, so probably a "Stage 3" or "3/4 Race Cam" by standards of days gone by. Here's the soundbite, shared before on page 2.

Agreed on all above. Throw a 4-barrel at it, likely a 750cfm Holley, sort the ignition and go from there.

I used an Elgin E-907-P camshaft in my last Clevo 351, it was only a cheap unit from the states but was a nice runner in a mildly modified engine. Very torquey everywhere and lovely idle lope. Much better midrange and topend than stock, too. It'd be a really good, civil daily driver with a bit of a temper when you put your foot down.

 - boingk

If you got the 400 at .030 over and chucked a cheap set of valve-relief pistons in it (assuming 8cc dish equivalent) the thing would be about 11.3 to 1 compression if you used 302C closed chamber heads. 

1 hour ago, Slow250XC said:

So in theory i can fit my xc backing plates and drums to an xh housing if i take the calipers off and pop the axles?

Should be able to, yeah. If the assembly for the XH diff looks anything like this, with a rectangular pattern on the end, then you should be set. You can check it easily enough by measuring anyway.

See the flange on the outside of the axle bearing? It bolts through the drum housing and into the flange on the end of the diff.

I've done this in a rush job to get on the road for Drag Challenge. Worked a treat for over 3000km and is still fine. I used the same "solid-disc flat-flange" on my XF ute. It was also a 3.27 LSD unit as it happens.

Use a 1 1/16" (IIRC) socket on the pinion bolt of your current diff and this will release the flange. Now install the flange to your new diff and you will be able to retain the stock-type tailshaft with its uni-joint simply held in by straps and bolts. I used my stock tailshaft no problems using this method.

The handbrake cable fit just fine (I converted the discs back to drums) and by keeping the drums I didn't have to worry about the brake lines, either. Note that the drums may be rotated 90 degrees to stock fitment so the cable pulls upward and not forward. This actually helped me as my stock cables were very stretched and this arrangement took up enough slack to give me a properly working handbrake. You beauty!

This is a good swap as you'll gain a better rear ratio for performance and also 28 spline versus (likely) 25 spline axles. 

I'd advise fitting a new pinion seal while you're in there as mine ended up leaking a bit after the flange change.

Cheers - boingk

The rear cover for the housing, as well as the ends where the axles insert.

Welcome aboard mate. Have you got photos?

For reference most diffs of this era, in anything, are M75/78 diffs from Borg Warner. The main difference will be width and suspension mounting points.

If its from anything within about 5 years either way you'll be fine.

Alternatively, you can simply remove the centre section from you new diff and replace the welded one with that.

I run two cork gaskets on my EFI cast cover and only had to clearance the inside of the throttle cable cutout just a tiny bit, literally a few passes with an angle grinder. All the rest of the rockers were fine. The camshaft I'm running is 550 lift. Yours is 510 lift and 215@50 duration so you should be fine.

Hi mate, the seals float with the valve stems. These ones will look like little rubber collars with metal band keeping them on the stem, yeah?

If they're still present and not cracked then they should be fine.

You can also use standard umbrella type seals, they come in a topend gasket kit for about 60 bucks total.

Wow @gerg looks like you caught that in the nick of time. Good work on figuring out the shims, that'll definitely set you up nicely. 

For the aircraft, it was a Gardan Minicab built in 1969 and powered by a 1940 model Continental A65-8; an air-cooled 170ci flat four for non aircraftians. It had twin Bendix magnetos and no starter, so I had to hand prop it. Because it was a low winger I stood in front of the prop. Generally started second or third flip, stupidly satisfying!

5 hours ago, gerg said:

I did everything I could to make this cam live, I'm done worrying about oils. After the 3rd cam in 75000 ks, I'm going to bite the bullet and go full roller. On a daily driver.... Yep!

Can't argue there mate.

Most Pentrite oils I use tend to boast 1200ppm+ ZDDP levels, which seems decent in my book. I particularly like their HPR30, a 20W-60 weight mineral oil. It might sound antiquated but I ran it in my fully instrumented, Continental-engined aircraft and it was a winner. Didn't discolour, didn't break down with heat, didn't lose oil pressure on hot climbs or hot idle, and allowed me to use full throttle judiciously. Nothing else I tried even came close. And this was with an extended oil drain interval, too!

Hope the roller conversion goes well!

 - boingk  

For the guys wiping lobes, are you running an oil with plenty of zinc?

I like diesel oils as they tend to have a stack, and most Penrite blends tend to have upper-limit amounts. 

 - boingk

Hi mate, I'd recommend a nice mild street cam for most applications, something about 205 to 215 duration @.050" and 450 to 500 lift. I had a similar part in my Cleveland and it was a hoot, very linear and nice to drive. Something like the 14776 or 14892 from Crow Cams. Descriptions tend to go something like "Great midrange performance, suit mild street engine," with and rpm range about 1500 to 4500 or so.

If you're after something to work with stock EFI you're going to be limited. The duration, lobe centres and overlap tend to want to stay the same, you can increase lift a bit but will be limited by the other parameters. The 14221 does indeed looks to fit most of the criteria as its on the same 109 deg lobe sep angle and has very similar overall durations (270 vs 260), with only mildly extended duration @.050 (205 vs 197), whilst lift is improved nicely (470+ vs 439).

If you're dead set on retaining everything original the EFI will limit you, consider an EFI box... or even going back to a good aftermarket carby.

 - boingk

Yeah they're stupid low ratios in 5th and 6th (.76 and .50 I think) but its a new box from a written off car for $500. Can't argue with the price. I already have a 3.55 diff set to go in so shouln't be too bad in the bottom 5 gears.

I'll look and see if they mate to a T5 bellhousing.

Cheers!

Hey gents, quick question...

...will an XR6 6-speed manual box fit up to an XF with a crossflow 6cyl?

I have the option to buy one locally for cheap so figured it may be worth it.

Yep, they sound good alright. This was my Effy:

Depends on what sort of power you want. Not legal on the street, but if its bolt-on powerfor the strip you want you won't get much better bang for the buck. Look at Nitrous Express's ML1000 'Mainline' kit, its a billet plate injection system rated for 250hp out of the box, and comes with smaller jets as well. It comes with most things for a basic working setup but you'll want a full-throttle activation switch and arming solenoid, plus a master arming flip-switch in the cabin.

 - boingk

At those prices I'd be getting an older block hot tanked and machined. Hell, I put 302C heads on my 351C in an F350 and with a mild cam and 4bbl it went like hell!

A big part of the reason they got killed was the looming 1976 emissions standard for US and in particular California which is notoriously strict. Part of the design of a Clevo is that it has inefficient low velocity ports and in open-chamber style produces poor power with mediocre emissions... albeit better than the closed chamber heads. Add to this its oddly low 1st piston ring, causing a thin ring of hard-to-ignite vapour mix, and you've got an emissions disaster by any standard.

Also, the contemporaneously popular style of emissions regulations were not easily integrated into the Cleveland castings. These tended to be things like exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) and air-injection into the exhaust ports to encourage thorough burning of any remaining unignited mixture being expelled. With a short production run slated mainly for performance options and larger luxury cars, the Cleveland was replaced by the Windsor in most applications and quietly killed off.

Another aspect to this was management. Apparently the head of development at the time the Cleveland went into production was somewhat of a mover 'n' shaker, and was an influencing factor in getting the project not only off the ground, but into production cars. As with many things, this quickly changed with new management, plus the aforementioned emissions standards and the Arab Emirates fuel crisis in 1972 inspiring a move away from larger capacity engines.

Shame, they were pretty much the LS motor of their day, they just couldn't be efficiently adapted to meet regulations. 

 - boingk

11 hours ago, FORD_MAN said:

Don't be overly worried about how driveable with that size of cam(235-241)

Thanks mate, that's reassuring and timely as I was actually looking at something similar to use as a daily with the motor currently in the ute. I'll have a read of your thread for reference.

I guess the things going in my favour are that the ute is currently (and will remain) manual, and I'm investing time to set it up properly re valvetrain, diff ratio, etc. Realistically I suppose I can probably run a lot more cam than I am looking at.

Rule number 1 with the bullet for this is to keep it reliable and practical as a daily driver. I live in the middle of nowhere and can't afford a breakdown due to something I can't remedy on the roadside with basic tools. I tend to have a 'breakdown bucket' at all times, literally a plastic bucket with spanners, screwdrivers, shifters and vice grips, wire, zipties and duct tape, a spare fuel pump and spark plugs, plus fuel filter, JB weld and extra oil. If I can't fix what happened with that then I guess its put the broken bit in the bucket and hitch a ride time.

Cheers all, and Merry Christmas!

Bingo. And there's no use having eleventy billion horsepower if it all comes in at once at 8,000rpm. You want area under the curve as slydog says above. I'd take a nicely set up mild 400-500hp street engine any day over a peaky 800-1000hp unit. If you can put your foot down and get a wall of instant torque shunting you forward you will shit all over the guy with a peaky engine who has to shift, spool up/rev up and finally start launching.