Stevemack

if you have the dash out, you've done most of the heavy lifting. From what i remember, you have to go to the engine side and undo the nuts that hold the studs for the heater box/air con/fan assembly to the firewall. The whole box should then slide off the firewall in the cabin.

lol gerg.. now that you mentioned that, you gotta somehow find some pics for us all to have a laugh at

The sandwich plate option is by far the easiest, might go down that path and see what happens, thanks everyone

no need for E85 for that power.
if you are planning a full build, this is my suggestion.
 
351, 20 thou overbore
6" rods, forged pistons to suit, 10.5:1 comp
alloy heads (AFD 2v will best the best bang for buck) with matching intake
roller rockers etc
mild hyd cam (lunati 62503 will be suffice for 450ish hp/420ish ftlbs, though there is plenty of other options)
balanced bottom end
700cfm carby, may as well order a pro systems etc to suit and save on the tuning costs later on
 
ignition an XD/E elec dizzy will do, just get it graphed to suit motor,  and then if you want a rev limiter get a control box...
very simple, very easy, very reliable. nothing high tech, not really much to go wrong either.
 
if you really want E-85, alloy heads, 12.5:1 compression and same combo, will be extremely responsive to drive, really torquey, but be prepared for obvious extra fuel burn and difficulty finding fuel at times.

I now see why I look stupid
I should have added the link.
 
It was stupid of me, my bad

Sandwich plate is fine i reckon.  I run one from there and works great. 
In response to ILIED, a track car runs at near max revs most of the time it's out on track, an oil temp problem can destroy bearings, rings etc, even though the water temp can still be within reason.  If you can keep an eye on it, why would'nt you want to monitor it, expensive fail if you didn't.

Was it just 1 drop?
If so i wouldn't loose sleep.
 
Could have been condensation build up from inside the car and there is nothing wrong with your
window seal at all?
 
Could be something more sinister and have rust under the seal and the H2o  is getting in?
 
Get a mate to jump in the back seat and you stick the water hose in that area and see if you can see whats going on.

Put the hose in the plenum only and check if water appears, if not then it's probably the windscreen seal.

as long as you flog it down the track for me i wont lie im a shit kent driver haha

man if your happy go for it ,I say good job ,rip them tyres lol

I have done all these swaps and here is what i learned.  You can put the AU in BUT you will need to chop the front of the sump off and reweld it to slope like the tin one does.  OR cut and shut the front of the K frame to fit the Alooy sump in, you can't change sumps as the main journals are cross bolted through the side of the sump.
If you want the best of both worlds you need a EL hybrid block (1998) serial number cast in the side is VR2A, these are essentially an AU lower engine with the crank girdle but without the cross bolted bearing caps.  They also have a lightweight crank.  Then use an EF/L head, better flowing.  The XG manifold and injectors etc and the XH belt tensioner and A/C bracket and run the serp belt.  Leave the XG ECU.  You can put some Bosch blue top injectors in it, a cam regrind and a chip and bingo, good horsepower.  Shouldn't be telling you this cos those blocks are already hard to find!
I run this setup in my race car and it's got heaps of snot! 
So in short an EF/L is the best option for you IMO.

I have done all these swaps and here is what i learned.  You can put the AU in BUT you will need to chop the front of the sump off and reweld it to slope like the tin one does.  OR cut and shut the front of the K frame to fit the Alooy sump in, you can't change sumps as the main journals are cross bolted through the side of the sump.
If you want the best of both worlds you need a EL hybrid block (1998) serial number cast in the side is VR2A, these are essentially an AU lower engine with the crank girdle but without the cross bolted bearing caps.  They also have a lightweight crank.  Then use an EF/L head, better flowing.  The XG manifold and injectors etc and the XH belt tensioner and A/C bracket and run the serp belt.  Leave the XG ECU.  You can put some Bosch blue top injectors in it, a cam regrind and a chip and bingo, good horsepower.  Shouldn't be telling you this cos those blocks are already hard to find!
I run this setup in my race car and it's got heaps of snot! 
So in short an EF/L is the best option for you IMO.

Any E-series
 
 
You can make this switch. The engines are fundamentally the same design. I have done a number of these conversions and there are many options.
 
An easy one is using an EF/EL engine - keeping the serpentine belt arrangement but using the log manifold from your XG. This is essentially an XH Falcon set-up. You get the benefits of the simpler, self-tensioning serpentine belt arrangement but you must ditch the clutch fan in favour of EF/EL thermofans. The fans can be controlled with a Davies Craig thermoswitch (from Supercheap ~$50) and a portion of the EL thermofan harness is handy ready made alternative to figuring out the wiring for yourself. This obviates the need to source another ECU (which would normally control the thermofans). You can use your old ECU and mods to the XG engine harness are not required. You will need an XH belt tensioner instead of the EF/EL one the engine comes with as this is designed to suit the log manifold. Use the bolt on accessories that typically come with the engine. You should get an XH airbox to make that end of things look nice. I have this conversion in my EB Falcon and it works a treat and doesn't require a stack of brains or hard work.
 
I've done a similar conversion - EL engine with XG electricals employing thermofans, BBM and EL ECU but this is a little more involved. Simple mods are required to the engine harness and wires must be added to the ECU harness to get the BBM and thermofans to work off the ECU (not at all difficult really) . The cheapest/easiest option though is as initially outlined.
 
I haven't done one - but the AU conversion probably requires more work than the E-series conversions. For what gain? The engine is a better design in many respects - but will you really notice the difference? The donks are cheaper than EF/EL ones generally...for some reason and plenty of low -kay ones can still be had...so the cost/benefit thing is something you need to weigh up..

We are doing an el xr6 motor into the xg ute I just did up for the shop ute atm.
Much easier than  the au engine,just change the timing case from the el one to the xg one then everything off the xg engine will fit the el  engine (wiring,manifolds etc),and the el engine will drop straight in.
 
There are better conversions,but on a car where cost and time is an issue (like our work ute) the el engine is the best bolt straight in option imo,that's why I'm going that way.

Including axle bearings and seals, you're probably looking at $180 just in parts. Add a diff hat gasket plus machining the cones, and $550 sounds quite reasonable. Some mobs up here in Sydney want $650 for a "checked and cleaned" centre (supply only) with bearings installed.

Info from the old Autospeed article - Awakening the Aussie Ford Six -
 
 
Cylinder Head
As a generalisation, the flow capacity of the Ford cylinder head gradually improved with each model. The exceptions to this are the ED (which appears to use the same head as the EBII) and the AU (which use relatively small ports).
Jim says the EA head should be avoided - "there are weaknesses in the casting, design faults and flow problems." The EB was slightly improved and the EBII was better again.
 
The EF/EL head uses nice large ports and runners and improved combustion chamber design. Be aware, however, some ELs were released with hybrid engines using an AU-spec small-port head.
By far, the best head is that fitted to the EF/early EL. "The EF head makes good power in standard form and, when you decide to go further, they’re easier to port," says Jim.
 
Valve sizes went unchanged except the EF XR6 and AU received 2mm larger exhaust valves. Inlet valve size cannot be increased due to space limitations. Regardless, Jim says there’s no gain in fitting bigger valves unless the engine is already modified in a big way.
 
 
http://www.autospeed.com/cms/A_2233/article.html
http://www.autospeed.com/cms/A_2236/article.html

Thanks mate, yeah I'm keen on all this sort of stuff, being a bit of a tight arse I like to see if I can get good results by modifying stock items LOL.
I too hang my head when I flow more modern castings and they make the older stuff piss hahahaha especially when comparing the different engines in the speedway classes, like street stock you have crossflows v ecotec, the ecotec heads and manifold flow around 180cfm stock were the crossflow is 138cfm stock so we have to try and squeeze power out of every little thing. This is why I'm trying to convince the local crossflow racers to swap to Tony's manifold if they want to keep up.

yep. easy as piss, just back off the engine mounts a bit so you can lift the motor a touch, i've done it without doing that, but its much harder.
 
oil pump just get a good brand standard volume, and you'll probably find your pickup is blocked a bit too.

i did a twin GRA setup on an XF last year, absolutely awesome gear, very easy to tune.
ran a mild 351 (bout 320-350hp), and got the GRA adapter to holley 4150 pattern, that engine performs faultlessly, mainly because it has been tuned and setup properly, surprisingly has run on straight gas since the motor was brand new too with 0 issues.
i'll see if i saved any pics of it.

I have just removed a gas research throttle body setup off mine, great system, just for the price of gas i could get better power off petrol, probably cost less too.

I've heard of engines burning a particular type of oil that they didn't like. Change brand of oil and it doesn't burn a drop. Sounds queer but I'm not bullshitting.

Put a mini spool in it!! 

toyota box = custom speedo, custom cross member, custon bell housing, custom clutch, custom tailshaft.. insert $500 for every "custom" word used.
 
T5 = single rail V8 parts used= cheapest for a stock clevo.
 
if a 2.92 or 2.77 diff is used, i'd stay with a single rail anyway = cheaper(or leave it auto)

Go liquid gas injection if you want something different but it will cost $$$ to set up. If its gonna be a daily then go normal petrol.
 
If you dont care about the cost of fuel, have a bit of moeny to cover the cost of new lines, pump, filter, carb and are not going to use it as a daily. E85 could be viable. In of itself wont offer huge power gains though.

E85 will require a fair bit of stuffing around. E85 eats normal o'rings etc so you would have to replace everything rubber in the system with E85 compatible stuff.  Unless it's LPG only forget it. Stick with old 91 unless you have some mods in mind.