Panko

Ok so I have driven the car today, for about an hour, on all different road types. Freeway, residential and some more back/ruralish C roads. Conclusion? The car is as good as I think I can get it. Is it 100% gone? yes and no. - Yes because it does go away and its perfectly smooth - No because it will randomly come back and go away again. now its not as severe I don't think. This was on a perfectly groomed freeway, where I guess any imperfections I feel because the road surface is so smooth. How does the car drive? Really good. The steering feels good, direct and responsive. The brake shudder is 99% gone now. The car corners really nicely now. So now that I have done all of this work, I have a few conclusions. On a perfectly groomed freeway, i feel the smallest of imperfections, because the front end is so tight now. The shake, not as bad, does come and go on the perfectly smooth freeway, and is very noticeable because there is no rough or uneven surface giving me feedback through the wheel. so whats causing this? out of round wheels and/or tyres moving in and out of phase of balance? It appears to get a little upset after hitting a bump...so bump steering setting it off? weird... On some back roads, in this case for Melbourne people. I drove out along Lysterfield Road, onto Wellington Rd up to Clematis. Sitting on 100km/h for part of that, and it didn't seem to give me any shake that was not from the rougher rural road surface. So I am seeing a fair bit of bump steer it seems. Not surprising given the geometry in the front end. From Clematis I turned left and drove across to Belgrave and down to Ferntree Gully. lots of twisty roads to try it out, and yep it felt great, no shake while cornering when the steering is under load, precise and direct feel to it. So oddly, the car seems much happier and seems to handle being on a rougher surface rather than a smooth freeway environment. Next day I have off, I will head off for the day, and spend a solid day driving it somewhere and see how it goes on a longer trip, see in what environments I can or can not fault it. The last thing I want to test, but not today, is putting the wide 13" steelies that are currently on the back, on the front, and see how, if at all, the car is affected by a change of wheels. the 13s on the back are the straightest two 13s i have, and the 15s on the front are the straightest pair of wheels out of the whole lot. the 13s on the back are the ones I always had on the front when I was running all the 13s. So I would like to go back to trying them and see how the car goes then. now previously I had said that when I finally sort this out, I will make a decision on what wheels I am keeping on the car, and fit new tyres. This leaves me with a conundrum. I love the look of the 13x6" Lotus Cortina wheels. But, none of them are perfectly straight, and 1 of them has been modified to have a different offset. So Im not sure I want to keep trying to get them fixed and running true when it may no longer be possible. I can replace them with reproduction ones. I'd be looking at, in round terms about $1000AUD landed. then tyres on top, which would be something decent. nice and grippy. Some Yokohamas or Toyos etc. Or; I go back to running the 13x6" RS 4 spoke Alloys. I also like them a lot, but they don't look as aggressive or "racy" as the steelies. The alloys need restoring. Quoted $300 a wheel to be rolled, painted, diamond cut. so $1200 plus tyres. Or I can also replace them with a brand new set of reproductions, at the same price as getting the originals restored. The 15s are not really going to ever stay on the car. I had the idea of putting some nice sticky track tyres on them and use them for the rare time i would take the car to a track day, but yeah not worth having them sitting doing nothing really. So its between the 13s, and I really don't know what to do.

Yep so that alignment spec was given to me by Warren Heath. Based in Colac, he specialises in engine building and vehicle setup. He said to me something that most aligners do wrong, is run toe in or zero toe. Toe in gives more stability for everyday driving, but running negative camber, you should always run slight toe out to counteract the camber when cornering. Given I had the wobble getting worse while cornering, and now it seems almost dead smooth, starts to make sense. Warren’s way of explaining it was this; ” OK. For a start, you CANNOT run any toe in at all. Wheel alignment people toe in to compensate for negative camber, it's the wrong thing to do. If you think about a push bike, when you lean to one side you have to push the handle bars the opposite way to get the bike to steer straight whilst leaning. Exactly the same principle applies with a car. You need to toe out with negative camber to get it to steer nicely. Some wheel alignment guys will argue otherwise but it is 100% correct. To rectify it for a start without complicating you with checking possible geometry and bump steer issues (that's a bit more complicated and probably discussion for another time) would get another alignment done. If you can try and give it a little more caster (3.5-4 deg), but if you can't leave it at 3. Set your toe to 1.5-2mm TOTAL TOE OUT. Then drive that around and see how it feels. Will it scrub the insides of the tyres? yes a little. Just give them regular rotations. Mine has almost 4 degrees negative camber and is still pretty good with tyre wear.” So i have worked off his advice, and in the short drive i did tonight, it has improved greatly. Warren was pretty confident it would. Stating if it doesn’t help, he would take the car on himself for a couple of weeks to check geometry etc. so ill keep you posted when I get to drive it properly in a few days

Well well well, some good news. Today I finally got around to setting up to do the front end alignment on the Escort. I remeasured the caster 3 or 4 times per side before making any adjustments. its hard to get it dead accurate on the driveway because of any slope or fall. so the camber tool has to be calibrated to the driveway using a spirit level. I ended up not changing anything with the caster or camber because i was getting readings slightly different to my last post, but they were reading the same each side now. ** when i was looking into info on doing the alignment, I read on a forum that at the end of the day it doesn't matter which (of a few) methods you use, as long as the end result gives the same answer side to side** So according to today's dimensions, I have ended up with around 3.75 degrees positive caster both sides. around 1.5 degree negative camber. once I locked in those figures, I set up the string light for toe. which is very fiddly getting that exactly right but once its set up its very easy to measure toe angle. I dialled in roughly 2mm of toe out as recommended to me. Once all set, I took it for a drive for about 20 minutes. no freeway driving, so nowhere I can (legally) do 100km/h. but I did give it a run right up to 100km/h a couple of times (where i felt i could get away with it) and so far, the issue seems to be mostly sorted. even cornering at that speed, no wobble, or very little, and cruising at 80km/h, its gone. i wont get a chance to drive it on a freeway for a few days, and take it for a proper drive, but its looking pretty good at this stage. The alignment is now dialled in to the nearest degree, and i think thats what it needed. just a really precise alignment done purely by hand, not machine.

Should be easy to do. Back in the day, Dick Johnson used the "SVO" name plate to build two XF SVO falcons. They were naturally aspirated, fuel injected crossflows, and produced around 150kw (200hp) that is not bad with basic technology and early injection tuning. 250hp should be easy with today's technology, cams, machining etc etc. I don't think you're asking too much, but perhaps trying to overcomplicate it by wanting to run E series manifolds. Dick Johnson also teamed up with HKS to build turbo crossflow falcons, which ran HKS piggyback ECUs. they were good for 159kw in unleaded form. I have one those turbo kits for my car, and as far as i am concerned, with a modern Haltech ECU, better cam and things like roller rockers etc. I believe ill achieve way more than its original 159kw using the same turbo kit.

if you are set on using an e series log manifold for BBM manifold, what I would consider is this. with today's CNC technology, it might be viable to have an adapter plate made that adapts from crossflow bolt pattern to E series bolt pattern. could be cut out of billet alloy. But honestly, i don't think it is worth it. if you are not looking to chase insane HP and squeeze every last bit out of the engine, stick to the stock EFi intake.

oh yeah i know they do. But this issue has been consistent across 3 sets of wheels and different tyres. i will be replacing tyres when i settle on the set of wheels ill run long term, but yeah changing tyres/wheel combo has not really made difference to the issue.

That I can’t answer. Ive only ever run the EL injection on a stock engine. it should handle it fine, its just a matter of tuning the J3 chip to suit. not sure about the pumps. Im sure there would be a way around having to run an in tank pump. But i also can’t give an answer to that.

factory EFi crossflows run both internal and external pumps. internal being a low pressure lift pump that feeds the high pressure pump to the engine. Yes there the EB style log manifold has been done before. something to note is, on your XG, how hard the distributor is to get to with the log manifold...keep that in mind. again if you were going for outright performance, a log manifold will always be better, but the factory manifolds are fine. as per my previous comments, there are turbocharged crossflows running the stock intake manifold making insane power.

yep J3 from Ti Performance. 100% XG/EB wiring harness will be the same, and seeing as you would be retrofitting the wiring, that would be the perfect time to make the changes to the ECU plug to match the EL wiring. Im not sure which fuel tanks fit XB sedans. but i do know wagon tanks are the same from maybe XB, right up to EL, as in they will fit and bolt in the same, but outlets and fuel senders are different. In the case of an XF wagon tank (same for carby or EFi) the sender and fuel pump are completely separated. so the fuel pump/pick up comes from the passenger side of the tank, and the fuel sender is on top underneath the spare wheel holder. I would look for a fuel tank that fits that run seperate pump and sender units, to make the fuel gauge work easier.

The tyres are old. all of them need replacing. but the 15s on the front at the moment have not been on the car for a couples years. been in storage, so no flat spots. Regardless of whether the wheels/tyres are the issue, once i have this mostly sorted, I will be replacing whichever set of tyres for the wheels i decide to keep on the car. I don't believe its tyres. Since my last post, I have dialled in the caster and camber, although it is not 100% yet. Currently the settings are; Castor: LHF: 4.8 degrees + (have not adjusted) RHF: 4.2 degrees + (up from 2.5 degrees+) Camber: LHF: 1.5 degrees - RHF: 1.5 degrees - **these are not super accurate as I am using a basic bubble degree tool to measure** Since dialling in the castor and camber, the steering has gotten lighter. I have only driven around the immediate block, as the toe angle is still yet to be set.

FUNNY! because that style of toe plates are very cheap and very available on the market. there are even some like that, that are designed to bolt to the hub in place of the wheel. it means the car must be on axle stands on the suspension so the geometry is correct before doing toe. but those plates do exist.

Ok a lot to unpack here. As Dean mentioned above, yes I have done a full EL ECU with J3 conversion into my factory EFi XF Ghia wagon with a 5 speed box. It is not worth using a J3 in the XF ECU. it would plug in, whether it does anything to the ECU im not sure. I know back in the day you could run a Moates Quarterhorse in the factory ECU to tune them. The EL ECU is a much faster processor than the XF and early E series ECUs. You need a J3 in the EL ECU so it doesn't look for smartlock etc. The cost of the whole conversion is relatively inexpensive. The pin out from XF to EL is identical apart from 1 pin, which needs to be moved. You need to install an oxygen sensor. the pin the signal wire for the oxygen sensor in the EL ECU is an unused pin in the XF wiring, so you can add a new pin in the right spot. You need to run a MAP sensor and IAT sensor. these sensors align with the pins in the XF wiring for VAF and VAT (vane air flow and vane air temp) (one of these two is the single pin that must be moved in the wiring harness) You must use an E series ISC valve and remote mount it and pipe it to the engine to the same fittings as the factory ISC valve. The solenoids operate on a different duty cycle, and the EL ECU will do weird shit to the XF unit, and the car will not idle properly, and hold RPM when you don't want it to. Above is the hardest things. The pros; - Faster throttle response. and I mean basically zero lag from the moment you touch the throttle. - Higher rev range. the engine WILL rev happier and better. - Power and Torque increase. - My engine is original and has 350,000km on it. its tired and low on compression, but doing this conversion made significant improvements to the car engine performance. As Dean said above, I did return the car back to stock, because I was having major running issues, and i got sick of not being able to drive the car. after fault finding for weeks, the issue ended up being nothing to do with the EL ECU conversion, but it was the coolant temp sensor that had failed. I never went back to the EL ECU to try it again since replacing the temp sensor, and have no geared up to go to Haltech for my when my fresh crossflow goes in. Going to Haltech is not a cheap exercise. the ECU itself is thousands of $$$, then I had a patch harness made by a pro, so the haltech will be plug and play with the factory wiring, another $500-$600, then there is the wideband oxy sensor and controller (Haltech proprietary) another $500+ then tuning on top. im still yet to purchase the wide band oxy and controller. If you are just looking for a way to improve a freshly warmed up crossflow and leave it at that, go the EL ECU conversion. if you know you're way around a computer and have any idea about fuel mapping, buy the tuning interface and tune the J3 yourself. finding a tuner to work on the J3 now is getting pretty hard. If you want a big horsepower fine tuned engine, go to Haltech, but be ready to spend $$$. As for the manifolds, they will flow. They will take boost and flow quite well. they run a massive throttle body, so much so that XF throttle bodies are an upgrade for VL Turbo commodores on the RB30s. As Dean mentioned, the long runners are great for low down torque. my Ghia wagon pulls like a freight train, even with stock injection and the high kms, it hauls really good. is it fast? god no. does it rev? god no. its done and dusted by 4000rpm. but with the tall gearing, at 4000rpm in 3rd gear, im pulling well over 100km/h. Do the manifolds limit power and RPM? maybe and maybe. however there are EFI turbo crossflows out there, that were making 290rwkw 10-15 years ago, with less sophisticated aftermarket ECUs. using the stock intake manifolds. Again as Dean said above, valve springs are the biggest issue with RPM. My new crossflow for my car runs a mid range cam from crow cams. its rev range is up to 5500-6000rpm. for this reason, the head on the new engine has heavy valve springs and roller rockets. I plan to make that thing rev, while keeping it turn key reliable with fuel injection, driven by haltech. E2 heads are indeed the best factory crossflow head. they are the unleaded EFi heads, so XF. I hope this all helps. if you decide to go down the EL ECU conversion, I can give you loads of info, and photos from my conversion.

I haven’t measured them on a dial indicator but yes of the 12 wheels (3 full sets) i have for the car, all of them are visibly not dead straight. I picked out the best two, one of which is near perfect then had them balanced properly. It has not changed how violent the shudder is at highway speeds. hence im looking at the alignment again. If you haven’t followed the build, the car is very adjustable in the front. With caster and camber tops, adjustable sway bar, and adjustable shocks all round. it will also come and go when cornering at speed, which to me suggests the toe angle or akermans angle is getting messed up under certain conditions. If this does not solve the issue, or get it to a bearable point, ill consider new hubs, but i have also priced up a full set of new reproduction wheels. Both the 13x6 lotus steels, and the RS 4 spokes. A new set of the RS 4 spokes landed is similar to getting my original Ford RS4s fully restored. Being alloy, they are easier to repair than the steel wheels.

Yeah ive been through all that. the 15s on the front now have centering rings. The others don’t need rings

Almost a year since anything has been posted in here. wowsers. A lot has happened in that time, to both the car and life. Lets start with the life stuff. My partner and I moved house in December, into our first (purchased) house together. After seeing the summer through, we very quickly decided to make some improvements to the carport that the Escort and my Ghia live in. My dad and i designed, ordered materials and built twin sliding barn doors to seal the front of the carport off. We also bought enough material to later build a (roughly) 10m x 2.8m "lean to" carport down the side of our house over the extension of our driveway. Started by replacing the front two timber posts with 90x90mm steel, and adding a 3rd 90x90 post out over to the side with two 100x50 beams to mount the sliding door tracks to *the reason for the extra post and rail extension, if you hadn't already figured it out, is so the doors can be opened all the way to the side so the carport can be completely open, or each door can be pushed to either side of the carport as they run behind each other in any direction.** The door frames. made up out of 30x30 steel tube. I am pretty happy with the result, considering I had never welded before, and these were done all by me And the finished product The job is not 100% finished. We still need to order and install flashing across the top to stop water coming in but also to hide the steel beam and tracks running across the top. I also added spouting to the rear of the carport to stop water from just running straight onto the slab. In the last pic, where my Discovery is parked, is where the extra carport will is to be built. from the front corner of the house, back 10m. Now onto the car stuff The car has sadly been on and off the road with suspension/geometry issues all year. Majority of my logbook entries have been test drives, or driving it to have work done on it. very few logbook entries have been driving the car to actually enjoy it. Essentially the issue started with a stuck brake pad on the left front brake. i pulled the brakes apart, serviced the pins pads etc, and got them going good. the stuck pad resulted in a warped disc. Ever since that started, the issue with steering wobble has been worse than ever. *lets go back here for a moment. for as long as i have owned the car it has had a bit of a steering wobble at speeds usually between 80 and 100km/h. i had been able to tune it out mostly with alignment and wheel balancing*** The steering wobble coming back again, has lead me down this rabbit warren all year trying to fix it. I found what seemed to be an issue with the new steering rack, so I had the out and pulled apart on the bench. I put a post up on the escort groups asking about this, and i had a few people contact me saying they had just fitted the same steering rack and all of a sudden have the same issue. with a bit of mucking about, and testing, and shimming of the rack I was convinced that wasn't the issue. Reinstalled it, went and had the alignment done. the car drove OK, but i was not happy with the way the alignment had been set, nor the fact the issue was still there. I went back and got the front wheels balanced statically, and it got worse. i started looking at suspension bushes. A common issue with the escorts is not having radius arms, yet relying on the sway bar to tie the front end together, means that when the donut bushes for the sway bar to pass through the lower control arms wear out, it can cause all sorts of issues. So, i order Whiteline bushes for the entire front end, installed them. it fixed 1 issue i didn't realise i had, a suspension knock in the front end from one of the LCA pivot bushes being worn out, and knocking on the crush tubes on some bumps, and it also improved how the car cornered drastically. Steering response and direction was much better. did it fix the issue? NO I then started looking at wheels. I had a couple of spare wide steelies sitting there, so had them re-rolled, and balanced dynamically (weights fitted to the outside). Did THAT fix the issue? NOOO *but it got a little better* From there, I have spun up all 3 full sets of wheels i have for the car by putting them on the rear, with the back on axle stands and letting it idle over in 4th gear. I numbered all the wheels and took notes on how good or bad they were. From there, I picked out the best 2, had them balanced dynamically again, and have them on the front. Fixed? NOOOOOOO *but the issue is there now from only 90km/h and upwards. by this point, the alignment is all over the shop because I had played around with it to see if I could induce, or reduce it with alignment. I am now at a point that the only things that I have NOT done, is alignment again, and hubs. So yesterday I purchased a set of turn plates to do the alignment at home, and I am gearing up to do a string line alignment at home, so i can really dial the front end in. I recently also saw a post on FB about someone losing a hub during a his climb on a Mk1 Cortina. It failed, shearing off and causing a fair bit of damage. It came to light with some testing, that the original cast iron hubs had evidence of cracking behind the mounting face in which the wheels mount to. So, if my alignment does not fix it, or improve it enough to be bearable to drive on the highway, I may look at replacing the hubs with brand new billet alloy hubs.