XF EDDIE

It's alive! And on fire. The dissy was 180 out just like you said and after that she fired up with 40 psi of oil pressure at 1500 rpm. It ran like shit though. I had a look with my timing gun and it was off the marks (I bridged the jumper before checking). The exhaust manifold and pipe were glowing bright orange so I shut it off and loosened the dissy hold down and fired it up again, giving the dissy a twist just tuning it by ear and an immediate improvement. Unfortunately the exhaust manifold caught fire due to the oil that had leaked on it. The temp gauge read normal so I'm hopeful that it didn't overheat but Im gonna let it cool before having another crack at it. Once it's cool I'll put some paint on that timing mark and time it properly, after that she's going on the road!

It doesn't have the start finish line so I just lined it up with cyl 1 using the notch that lines up the cap.

Good news and bad news. Good news I got the essentials together and tried to start it and I got 50 psi of oil pressure, so that makes me hopeful about the condition of my pump and bearings. Bad news is that it won't start. I think I fucked up the timing of the dissy so some advice on the procedure would be appreciated, but all I got was popping out of the throat so I must have fucked something up (to install the distributor I lined up the crank with 10 degrees on the mark and put the distributor so the rotor faced cyl 1 when it was in). Any advice would be appreciated.

Where is the pump wired in? And are you still running a carby, If the pump is hooked in somewhere it shouldnt be it might burn a fuse/fusible link (there are two yellow wires near the battery that go into a plug also a seperate green wire but I'm not sure if that's for the est). Also if you're running a carby I'd hook the mechanical pump back up. With the dissy if you really just need it going, just run a separate keyed wire to the dissy and coil and fuck with the est down the line. Remember ford spent millions inventing this shit and it does its job well.

Just wondering how do you install a timing chain on one of these. I've got rollermaster kit with both gears and a chain and got the old gear off the crank but the new one is a tight fit. Do I just press it on with the harmonic balancer? Or is there a procedure for this.

We've got good news all round, the sludge problem isn't as bad as I thought with a couple of flushes with engine oil while running the pump by hand got everything visibly cleanish (no visible sludge or obstructions but everything is still kinda black). The cam bearings look pretty shitty but no deep scratches in them so I drowned the cam and lifters in assembly lube and put them in and everything is rotating smoothly. I'm still waiting on a timing chain and balancer but after that I'm putting everything back together.

Yeah probably. What can I say I got excited

The el is on the road and very reliable (The lady I bought it from didn't know jack shit about mechanical stuff so she had that thing looked over religiously, like she would stop driving it once it reached the oil change interval untill it had a service) and one of the xh's is roadworthy also. The other xh is in good nick mechanicaly but the trey is gone, if need be I could get a dodgy rwc and a tub liner but it's definitely on the bottom of the list. If I engine swap this thing it's either getting another Crossy or a v8

Safest way to clean it if there's no metal in the filter is to use a higher detergent oil (like a diesel oil) and do 4 or 5 sub 1500km oil changes, it won't make the engine spotless inside but it will clean gradually and shouldn't dislodge anything big enough to cause damage, flushing fresh oil through the engine before firing it up with the new cam won't hurt anything and is a pretty good idea, make sure you use plenty of assembly/ break in lube on the cam and lifters when you install them Just wondering when I do the oil changes do I add an engine oil flush as well?

Inox is the shit! I went at after letting it soak and out came the distributor and the camshaft and yep she's fucked. 3 of the lobes were completely round but the cam bearings and journals looked ok, granted not great but no gouging or scuffing from what I could see. I'm gonna give them a closer inspection before reassembly but all and all things are looking up!

Also would just flushing it with clean engine oil the way I described before be a good thing to do before the new cam?

Flushing the sludge/ metal from the cam & lifters without pulling the sump/ cylinder head to clean out all the oil galleries and oil pump/ pickup will most likely be a death sentence for that engine, you can guarantee you will loosen and flush a large percentage of the gunk in the engine, but that's not the problem, it's what gets left behind that is now free to roam the engine until finds a nice oil gallery or oil pump pick up or oil return to plug up and cut off the oil supply to that area of the engine. Also if metal has been through the engine the oil pump needs to be inspected as the rotors and oil pressure relief need to be inspected for damage and the pump replaced if they are Well shit. This is starting to sound like an expensive spiral. The question is now do I just send it and hope for the best or is it guaranteed to fail? It is worth mentioning I have a pair of xh's and an el on standby if my engine grenades but I don't want to put a new cam and timing chain into an engine that's got a 80% chance of death, I also noticed that the oil thats in it now doesn't look too glittery with no large chunks or shavings so I'm a tad hopeful but with how fucked up this cam is I'm just scared of where all that metal went. Imma crack the oil filter open and post some photos of the material to give you a good idea on what's going on with this engine

Yeah this one had a dead odometer and worn out seat. I wish I got an XF back then too. Even 6 years ago people were basically giving them away. Now mine is considered a "good deal" and I still payed $800 for it plus another $500 in parts and it's still not on the road. Who knows maybe after I finish this cam swap she'll finally come good. Also in regards to all the shit in the engine I'm wondering if I put some kerosene in the sump and used the dissy to run the oil pump if that might clear it out or if that would harm anything? I'll do the same with fresh oil before putting the run in oil in to purge the kero but do you think this could harm the bearings?

Well my original reason for keeping the engine was that it was low kms and ran good. Well now I know that neither are true. Honestly I just want to get this thing driving and with how much of a pain in the ass this thing has been I’m starting to think this engine ain’t worth sinking money into. I had another look and now the cheapest crossflow is $600 and the cheapest cleavo is $1000 and with how hacked up this car is I’m feeling a little less bad about making it not original. I’ve already got the parts now so I’d be wasting money to toss em now but next time I’m taking your advice from the go.

I managed to get a slight gap between the dissy and block so I might go at it some more tomorrow but honestly I’m regretting not taking the engine out. Getting access to the cam was simple enough and I even pulled it out enough to see the first lobe (completely rounded off) but it’s everything else that’s fighting me. With how sludgy the motor is I’m starting to wonder if it’s worth cracking it open and cleaning the shit out of it. The previous owner sure left some details out when it comes to how it was serviced as there is rtv everywhere especially on the timing cover bolts. At this point I’m too far in to pull the engine now so I’m just going to go deeper until I get that cam out. At least after I get the prick of a distributor out I’ll be on to reassembling the motor. What do you all think? Do I just go balls deep and clean out the motor or do I put the cam in, run an engine flush and send it?

It never ends. I’ve gone through two lifter pullers getting them out, fucked my harmonic balancer and now my distributor is seized. I pulled the hold down bolt and no dice, I pried on it with a screwdriver and it just bent the screwdriver. I’ve beat on it twisted it and swore at it. Any other suggestions before I get the oxy out?

Also do I need a kit or just the chain?

So that cheap one would be good or is it worth shelling out the extra coin

Yeah I saw the same one but was iffy about the quality. I'd rather buy once cry once. @SPArKy_Dave any recommendations?

Does this mean I need a timing chain to?

That might be the go. I like the stock look better but would like to squeeze as much as I can out of the Crossy without going too deep into the engine or changing the intake and carby. Also is the throttle cable melting common on these things. The one on there now is melted and the one on my f100 melted as well. If so is there anything I can do to protect the new one?

Yeah Im planning to not go too crazy on exhaust. I dailyed a ba wagon that was running open manifolds after the exhaust fell off and that killed my love of loud cars. At most I'm planning to do 2.5" with a stock sounding muffler but I'm wondering if it's worth upgrading from the cast manifold and 2.25" exhaust to some headers and a 2.5" exhaust

The cam I'm putting is a mid range grind(no clue on specifics) so a bit more then stock and according to the guy I'm getting it off it should have a slightly lumpy exhaust. I gotta get a full exhaust system after the one on it collapsed driving through some grass so I'm wondering if I'm the size upgrade will get any more power. If not I'll just get the new one made in the stock size.

Hey a bit unrelated but do you think a 2.5" exhaust and headers would actually make a difference with the new cam or should I just stick with the stock manifold and size when I rebuild the exhaust?

Any recommendations for break in oil? Asso what do I run after I break in the cam