Panko

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. 
 

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. 
 
 

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. 

Glad it seems to be getting somewhere finally

this has more to do with the rounded tyre edge to My understanding (vaguely remember it being explained in the motorcycle license ) 
 
pretty interested in this escort problem though, after an annoying vibration for so long, i'd take the tyre wear anyway (assuming it's not doing heaps of km, wear might not be a concern)

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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

Tyres make a huge difference. I took the Globe mags off the XB, and stuck the stockies back on, and couldn't believe the noise/vibration. New boots all round, and Wow!  so smooth.
 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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.