Panko

Well the car is back on its wheels and rolling again. 
Its nice to look under the car and everything is clean instead of being caked in over 40 years of dirt 🤢
 

 

 
 
I had a go at fitting the new front corner bumpers. they are brand new reproduction bumpers and brackets. 
 
The side brackets are a bit off, and as confirmed by Mark, they will need to be adjusted in a vice, test fitted, rinse and repeat until happy with the result 😕 
 

 

Well the car is back on its wheels and rolling again. 
Its nice to look under the car and everything is clean instead of being caked in over 40 years of dirt 🤢
 

 

 
 
I had a go at fitting the new front corner bumpers. they are brand new reproduction bumpers and brackets. 
 
The side brackets are a bit off, and as confirmed by Mark, they will need to be adjusted in a vice, test fitted, rinse and repeat until happy with the result 😕 
 

 

Those old-school jack stands, are cool. 😎

As I keep saying, progress is very slow. However both leaf springs are finally in. 
 
going to pull the handbrake bar off tonight and the brake lines on the diff to clean them up, and maybe bolt the diff in tonight also. Should be on its wheels by the weekend
 

As I keep saying, progress is very slow. However both leaf springs are finally in. 
 
going to pull the handbrake bar off tonight and the brake lines on the diff to clean them up, and maybe bolt the diff in tonight also. Should be on its wheels by the weekend
 

Progress has been slow but it is happening. 
 
all the rear suspension parts have been painted with VHT High temp roll cage and subframe black, it finishes almost like powder coating rather than paint. 
 

 
Fitted up the freshly coated leaf springs, new bushes, new shackles, new nylock nuts. 
 

 
tried the new sandwich pads, and uh oh, there is an issue. 
 

 
the new pads do not have big enough pin to do the same. it barely makes it flush with the top plate (see above picture) 
the original pads have a tall enough rubber centring pin to poke through the top plate, with a steel collar around the rubber pin, to locate the springs into the diff. 
 

 

 
even with the steel collar, the new pad does NOT provide anything to centre on, relying on as little as a mm to keep centre. not safe. 
 

 

 
So from here I went to my brother's house, and we got our heads together and designed and cut on his CNC a new guide pin. 
 

 

 

 
so the new pin is cut out of solid plastic. 
 
we have machine the pad out from 14mm ID to 18mm ID. 
The new pin slips inside the new 18mm ID of the pad. 
The new pin has a hollow with a 14mm ID to slip over the steel pin in the middle of the leaf spring.
The top of the new pin is 23 or 24mm, the right size to locate in the diff. 

This is prototype 1, unfortunately we didn't hollow out the under side deep enough, so the steel pin in the middle of the spring bottoms out before the pad and pins can sit down properly. 
 
 

Progress has been slow but it is happening. 
 
all the rear suspension parts have been painted with VHT High temp roll cage and subframe black, it finishes almost like powder coating rather than paint. 
 

 
Fitted up the freshly coated leaf springs, new bushes, new shackles, new nylock nuts. 
 

 
tried the new sandwich pads, and uh oh, there is an issue. 
 

 
the new pads do not have big enough pin to do the same. it barely makes it flush with the top plate (see above picture) 
the original pads have a tall enough rubber centring pin to poke through the top plate, with a steel collar around the rubber pin, to locate the springs into the diff. 
 

 

 
even with the steel collar, the new pad does NOT provide anything to centre on, relying on as little as a mm to keep centre. not safe. 
 

 

 
So from here I went to my brother's house, and we got our heads together and designed and cut on his CNC a new guide pin. 
 

 

 

 
so the new pin is cut out of solid plastic. 
 
we have machine the pad out from 14mm ID to 18mm ID. 
The new pin slips inside the new 18mm ID of the pad. 
The new pin has a hollow with a 14mm ID to slip over the steel pin in the middle of the leaf spring.
The top of the new pin is 23 or 24mm, the right size to locate in the diff. 

This is prototype 1, unfortunately we didn't hollow out the under side deep enough, so the steel pin in the middle of the spring bottoms out before the pad and pins can sit down properly. 
 
 

I pulled the rear suspension out of the car, to find some very very crispy crush tubes inside the rear spring eye bushes, so the point i had to belt them out with a hammer and punch. 
 

 

 
It turns out the front eye bushes and the shackle to chassis bushes are original Ford bushes still!  
 

 
I found part of the original part number on the leaf springs, and then after pressure washing them, i revealed the rest of the part number. 
Im considering stencilling it back on once ive finished doing them up, just to add to the "original" look of the car   
 

 
this is what happens to a free, unknown condition diff is used after being unused for many years 😬
 
LH axle seal has let go. In the future I will be fitting an "english" (mk2) axle, which look like a mini 9" diff. they are a lot stronger and have LSD centres available for them. I can't afford to budget for that conversion right now, so ill just keep an eye on this leak for now, or maybe repair this to keep me going. 
 

 
 

I pulled the rear suspension out of the car, to find some very very crispy crush tubes inside the rear spring eye bushes, so the point i had to belt them out with a hammer and punch. 
 

 

 
It turns out the front eye bushes and the shackle to chassis bushes are original Ford bushes still!  
 

 
I found part of the original part number on the leaf springs, and then after pressure washing them, i revealed the rest of the part number. 
Im considering stencilling it back on once ive finished doing them up, just to add to the "original" look of the car   
 

 
this is what happens to a free, unknown condition diff is used after being unused for many years 😬
 
LH axle seal has let go. In the future I will be fitting an "english" (mk2) axle, which look like a mini 9" diff. they are a lot stronger and have LSD centres available for them. I can't afford to budget for that conversion right now, so ill just keep an eye on this leak for now, or maybe repair this to keep me going. 
 

 
 

I pulled the rear suspension out of the car, to find some very very crispy crush tubes inside the rear spring eye bushes, so the point i had to belt them out with a hammer and punch. 
 

 

 
It turns out the front eye bushes and the shackle to chassis bushes are original Ford bushes still!  
 

 
I found part of the original part number on the leaf springs, and then after pressure washing them, i revealed the rest of the part number. 
Im considering stencilling it back on once ive finished doing them up, just to add to the "original" look of the car   
 

 
this is what happens to a free, unknown condition diff is used after being unused for many years 😬
 
LH axle seal has let go. In the future I will be fitting an "english" (mk2) axle, which look like a mini 9" diff. they are a lot stronger and have LSD centres available for them. I can't afford to budget for that conversion right now, so ill just keep an eye on this leak for now, or maybe repair this to keep me going. 
 

 
 

I pulled the rear suspension out of the car, to find some very very crispy crush tubes inside the rear spring eye bushes, so the point i had to belt them out with a hammer and punch. 
 

 

 
It turns out the front eye bushes and the shackle to chassis bushes are original Ford bushes still!  
 

 
I found part of the original part number on the leaf springs, and then after pressure washing them, i revealed the rest of the part number. 
Im considering stencilling it back on once ive finished doing them up, just to add to the "original" look of the car   
 

 
this is what happens to a free, unknown condition diff is used after being unused for many years 😬
 
LH axle seal has let go. In the future I will be fitting an "english" (mk2) axle, which look like a mini 9" diff. they are a lot stronger and have LSD centres available for them. I can't afford to budget for that conversion right now, so ill just keep an eye on this leak for now, or maybe repair this to keep me going. 
 

 
 

the car is now up on stands ready to rip the rear end out. 
 

 
I wont remove the diff this time, just give it a clean. 
i will remove all the handbrake setup to give it a clean and get rid of 47 years of grime. 
 

 
I decided it was too late to do the rear suspension, so instead i fitted the freshly chromed rear bar, with all brand new mounting hardware. 
 

 

 
Now you may have noticed the boot lid is missing. 
unfortunately it is back at Mark’s shop being done all over again. 
There was a small amount of damage to it, after it had been painted, that had happened in the shop. So its been returned to Marks to be stripped down and repaired and painted again. 

the car is now up on stands ready to rip the rear end out. 
 

 
I wont remove the diff this time, just give it a clean. 
i will remove all the handbrake setup to give it a clean and get rid of 47 years of grime. 
 

 
I decided it was too late to do the rear suspension, so instead i fitted the freshly chromed rear bar, with all brand new mounting hardware. 
 

 

 
Now you may have noticed the boot lid is missing. 
unfortunately it is back at Mark’s shop being done all over again. 
There was a small amount of damage to it, after it had been painted, that had happened in the shop. So its been returned to Marks to be stripped down and repaired and painted again. 

the car is now up on stands ready to rip the rear end out. 
 

 
I wont remove the diff this time, just give it a clean. 
i will remove all the handbrake setup to give it a clean and get rid of 47 years of grime. 
 

 
I decided it was too late to do the rear suspension, so instead i fitted the freshly chromed rear bar, with all brand new mounting hardware. 
 

 

 
Now you may have noticed the boot lid is missing. 
unfortunately it is back at Mark’s shop being done all over again. 
There was a small amount of damage to it, after it had been painted, that had happened in the shop. So its been returned to Marks to be stripped down and repaired and painted again. 

Not much progress yet. 
I just took delivery of my new tools, so i can start making some good progress on the car. 
 
I got the rear lights all fitted up. 
 
Next step is rip out all the rear suspension and rebuild that. once the diff is back in the car, then I can start on the front of the car. 
 

Not much progress yet. 
I just took delivery of my new tools, so i can start making some good progress on the car. 
 
I got the rear lights all fitted up. 
 
Next step is rip out all the rear suspension and rebuild that. once the diff is back in the car, then I can start on the front of the car. 
 

Not much progress yet. 
I just took delivery of my new tools, so i can start making some good progress on the car. 
 
I got the rear lights all fitted up. 
 
Next step is rip out all the rear suspension and rebuild that. once the diff is back in the car, then I can start on the front of the car. 
 

Sofa king good

Well i don't bloody believe it, I think I have found the issue. 
 
In diagnostics mode I kept getting error code 21, which is ECT out of range. So tonight I disconnected the ECT plug, and bridged the pins in the plug with a jump wire, and the car fired up and ran straight away, and ran smooth. throttle was plenty responsive, etc. It obviously ran extremely rich still because the ECU had no idea what temp the engine was at. 
 
I have ordered a new ECT sensor which ill have tomorrow morning and hopefully have the car running good tomorrow. 
 
This sensor failing over time, might be the reason I have never really gotten the ISC valve working with the EL computer on my conversion. It may also explain why more recently ive had an issue with the EL computer making the engine run super rich, have no power and not being able to idle, when it had been running for about 20-30 minutes. possibly because the failing sensor would start giving a false reading at a certain temperature making the EL ECU freak out. then once it was passed that temp range, come good again...
 
Are EL and XF ECT sensors different? as in different resistance, therefore the computers looking for different resistance to make an accurate reading? Maybe the EL ECU is what killed my sensor if it is in fact looking for a different resistance? 
 
I will post here if the car is running properly again with the new sensor tomorrow.  

I know. My dad and I had the same discussion on the phone about how 1 sensor would immobilise the car. 
knowing that, I will be keeping a jump wire in the car so jump the plug again if there is a failure again. 
 
I am going to try the EL ECU again, but first sign of it playing up, I will revert back. 
 
I did have a thought that maybe my ignition timing is out, causing the lack of power. Perhaps not advancing enough 

Well the car is running again. 
 
ECT sensor replaced, and first flick of the key it started. 
 
drives really well again in completely stock form, however i now have it losing power with wide open throttle. 
 
im guessing the AFM is adjusted incorrectly. Yes in the process of trying to get it to run, i tried adjusting AFR screw in the top of the vane meter. I just dont know which way it is out. 

I know. My dad and I had the same discussion on the phone about how 1 sensor would immobilise the car. 
knowing that, I will be keeping a jump wire in the car so jump the plug again if there is a failure again. 
 
I am going to try the EL ECU again, but first sign of it playing up, I will revert back. 
 
I did have a thought that maybe my ignition timing is out, causing the lack of power. Perhaps not advancing enough 

wow! what a shitful idea if you are in the middle of nowhere and sensor fails. 
would you try fit the EL gear again now, assuming that could have been the issue with it?
or stick with the old stuff due to working again

Well the car is running again. 
 
ECT sensor replaced, and first flick of the key it started. 
 
drives really well again in completely stock form, however i now have it losing power with wide open throttle. 
 
im guessing the AFM is adjusted incorrectly. Yes in the process of trying to get it to run, i tried adjusting AFR screw in the top of the vane meter. I just dont know which way it is out. 

awesome thanks. 
 
well in that case, im quite excited that this has hopefully fixed the problem...
 
ill keep you all posted