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I agree re the thermostat, I've always run the stock versions for the reasons you both mention. He was very animated re the coolant ratio (he spoke about inhibitor and water soluble oil and their effects too). His take is that too high a ratio (ie above 20%) created shaling in the motor. I've bought a couple of caps from Autopro and Repco recently and they give you a 13lb one by default... I suspect that by using a lower temp thermo and a lower pressure cap, the stresses on the cooling system would be lower, but the impacts on system performance would need to be taken into account to see if it's worth doing. No point running cooler if the thing ends up running too rich to compensate. He identified the radiator as the original Denso by pointing out a number of things that made it one; the number and location of the vertical straps, and the marking/stampings on the header tanks. He actually pointed out the differences between mine and a Natrad/Adrad one (vertical straps and rods and associated nuts, markings). He wasn't impressed with the design of any of them; both the inlets and outlets fail relatively early due to what he called thermo shock from the thermostat opening. He's been doing this for excess of 40 years, so I have no reason to doubt him. But he is known locally as a bit of a sideways thinker... Anyway, just some info from an old school guy with some strong ideas and thoughts that people can take or leave.

I had some good luck with a cheap eBay special radiator, daily drove with it for a couple of years and it's still fine now even after sitting for a few more. For the fuel issue - mine always had a problem pulling fuel from a dry line, I guess it can't suck air through. The times I've had to start it after sitting for ages I've always had to pour some fuel into the soft line between the rail and pump to prime it first.

Thats great mate, sounds like you got a good deal on your radiator. Ive not had a chance to put a spanner to the ford yet what a couple weeks ive had hey. Should hopefully have some news soon though.

Just picked the radiator up from the shop. He had a number of other higher priority stuff to do , so mine took a little longer to do. Turns out that the radiator is the original unit, Denso style. It was in pretty good condition and all he needed to do was clean it our (in a pickle bath) and sweat (solder) a few of the cores; one at the top outlet (a known problem with these radiators caused by thermo shock when the thermostat opes and closes) and the bottom outlet, and give it a new coat of paint. Cost was $250 (normally $350, but as I've have a few radiators done with him and he enjoyed chatting about old fords, he gave me a discount!) . He mentioned that a replacement radiator is going for around $800. I didn't ask for the cost of a re-core, but would expect it to be between $250 to $800... He recommended; - put an 82 degree thermostat in it (as I will be running air con), - use a 13lb cap, and - use coolant at 20% concentration.

I just dropped the radiator out of the ZK at my radiator shop to have it checked out. He's old school and one of the last guys in the region that can still do brazing work. Initial look revealed that the core may need some work. I'll report back with what he did and the cost next Wednesday.

At around $1,200.00 for a brand new copper/brass x-series radiator... your one is infinitely rebuildable. Think like Grandad's axe - end tanks can be un-soldered and the core cleaned out, (re-cored if needed) many times over. Much MUCH cheaper than $1.2k.

yeah it's not unusual.. BUT. @Nato of Falcons from that VISUAL, you may find the radiator is fine, just reverse flush it, and see if you can see water flowing through the tubes (alloy radiators are cheap at least).. what you will likely find, or find out soon. is the welsh plugs are on their way out.(there's one behind the inlet manifold also ON the manifold)and one behind the flywheel. and. the biggest risk in my opinion, is the water pump if it's got the steel fan type (genuine ford had a cast iron impeller that would last longer than the seal at least) anyway, the fan blades can rust away. AND, the other risk is rusted bolts in the block from the water pump. all good learning stuff. not fun for new players. but. the XF is THE BEST CAR FOR LEARNING.. one of the easiest things to work on this side of a gemini.

Absolutely wouldn't be replacing the radiator because of this. Tanks off and clean at worst, unless the radiator is actually fubar

Stay positive, that looks dirty but I wouldn't throw out a working radiator because of that. I'd definitely give the whole system a flush and get new hoses though. It sounds like you may need new fuel line and new coolant hoses, pretty normal maintenance things. Another member on these forums got a fuel pump rebuild kit from Auto Surplus in Victoria, and they posted a pic of their cleaned and rebuilt fuel pump back in 2021. You may be heading in a similar direction if your pump isn't working perfectly. Sent from my SM-F936B using Tapatalk

Huston... we have a problem... At this rate all the bolt ons and the radiator & Fuel pump are going to have to be scratched and new ones done. I like learning and experiencing this engine but damn ive opened up a can of worms on this one fella's.

Jeez it could be pushing it, but if i keep cracking away at it, maybe. the issue is the money i still have to spend on parts and exhaust. i have about $2k still to spend, maybe a little more, to get everything i need to finish it off. - radiator - alternator - starter motor - exhaust made - ceramic coating for headers - sound deadening - amp and sub for the stereo thats about it. hoping to have it running in a couple of weeks

I have a 1985 xf with a mild 351 clevo in it which continues to over heat. I have a chinese 3 core alloy radiator which I bought off ebay for 200bucks, a Spal 15inch thermo. It use to when cruising sit around 100degrees so I changed the thermostat now sit around 80degrees cruising but once I get stuck in traffic it creeps back up to 100 and sits and then just continues to climb even when I cruise again. I don't have a shroud on the thermo fan is it worth me getting on made up? Or am I better off upgrading the radiator? and if so can anyone recommend a good brand or any other advice on the matter.

Hi guys, Does anyone know of a decent supplier of new radiators for XFs? My XF, EFi crossflow radiator has carked it, so looking for a replacement. TIA

Mods to radiator when putting in 250 2v in a xm falcon

Question. I have an alloy radiator which will be going into a TF cortina. Intercooler infront of it. The rad is a 2 core. I'll be running a thermo and electric water pump. Currently the radiator is just in 1 end tank flow across and out the other. Will this be sufficient or should I make some dividers in the end tanks so that the water has to make 2 trips across the core before exiting out?

Yep, the exhaust valve is cracked. Needed to find my valve spring compressor, to be sure. Thought the valve just had a scratch on on the base, to go along with all the other damage, but, I cut up an old ring spanner and used a C-clamp, necessity is the mother an all that......... Valve is cactus......... But, on a good note, one of the sump pan bolts that was snapped off flush, has been persuaded to part company with the block. Good ole left handed drill bits.... Numbers are starting to add up, now. Full gasket set, mains, big ends, welshies, exhaust valve, rings, paint...... not sure its worth the effort. This was just a boredom project while I was babysitting the Corona virus, not sure the 170 is worth $300-400 to anyone. I thought I might have to stick it in the Hardtop (rego red tape in SA.......don't get me started) but She'll be V8 swapped anyways. Still would need to check the trans, diff, find some misc bolts, starter motor, radiator etc..... Prob think better when I'm back on the REAL Corona's......

You can mix and match the heads, but they did have different combustion chambers and valves for the different size engines, you couldn't put a 200 head on a 144 without notching the tops of the bore to clear if you were running a big cam etc, but when you get to xy-xb 200 and 250 they are slightly different animal to the earlier engines, they are both the same bore as each other and a taller deck height than the 144-221 engines, the xy-xb engines were all hydraulic cam and no adjustable rockers, all 144 and 170 up to xp were solid cam with adjustable rockers, most xp 200's were hydraulic cam but I have heard of the odd one having a solid cam, I'm not certain on the xr to xw engines as I haven't had much to do with them, xr still had 170 and 200 as engine options both were supposed to be hydraulic cam engines xt and xw the 170 grew to 188 cubes and the 200 grew to 221 these were the last engines that had the short water pump and they are the only true bolt in upgrade to an early falcon that doesn't require an engineer certificate, the xy and later engines (including crossflow) have a longer water pump and require the radiator to be moved forward, a deeper sump either requiring the engine to be spaced up or use xr/xt engine mounts that lift the engine so it doesn't hit the drag link on full lock, with the 200/250 xy-xb engines you can't use early falcon specific headers and the taller deck height makes the collector hit the floor, sorry i went on a bit of a tangent there

Hi guys, I am in the process of installing a 302 Windsor motor (out of a Xw) in my Xe falcon and am unsure of what radiator and radiator hoses i will need for this setup. I have been looking at aftermarket radiators but don't want to fork out cash to find out that it doesn't suite the 302 Windsor. Looking at a PWR radiator at the moment. Any help would be appreciated.

been a long time since Me or BGDAV rego'd a 1984 XE with clevo.. but back then this was the gist of it.. fit rear discs.. V8 springs, all V8 pollution gear to be present (or appear so, depending on mechanic... club rego is easier apparently because Vic roads don't need to see it) pass the noise limit of whatever 1984 is (got a feeling it changed in 1985 ish so shouldn't be too hard) that's about it.. (basically all V8 components must be used .. sway bar may be another but we didn't need to change them) didn't need an engineers back then due to the XE being a V8 option in Victoria.. (even though 1984 didn't have the V8) when i did My EFi6 to Carb V8 it was a mild almost stock 351, i used the same fuel line. you'd probably have to check if it's suitable for what the engine is built for if it needs upgrading. back in those days, carby fuel tanks were easy to find, so i just fitted a carby tank. .these days i'd just bypass the fuel pump in the cradle with some hose that reaches the bottom or fit a lift pump in there if it needed a surge tank(not sure if there's a good in tank carby fuel pump? but the EFI one has way too much pressure to use on a carby) wiring wise, i used a 6cyl carby engine bay loom. but you only need a few wires and unwrapping the EFI loom will probably reach everywhere the V8 stuff is(for Mine the 6cyl carby loom reached stock V8 coil, alt, etc and i only extended the air con wire) for NSW, you'd be better off chatting to your mechanic/rego mob first.. could need engineers, but it should still be simple. other stuff to note. if you get a carby throttle cable set up that pulls from the rear, a 6cyl carby accelerator cable works.. (efi one is the shortest from memory) the V8 cable is super long as it loops around near the dizzy to pull from the front on a thermoquad. 6cyl wide 2 core radiator can work if your engine runs cool, it was on the absolute limit with air con on with mine back in the day. a 3 core copper radiator is DEAR... Alloy ones seem to be the choice lately. power steering if you have it will likely need a longer hose or adaptor.. depending on pump, sometimes the 6cyl one can fit. v8 auto will need a different shifter or mods to the 6cyl one (shift from the other side of the box) used to be easier to buy a V8 fairlane donor car and swap it all over in a weekend back in the day, but they are extinct.. i'd suggest gathering up ALL your parts before starting to convert. and check in here see if anyone can think of what's missing.

Having done this conversion recently some traps for new players: XG, XH and XF are all different in terms of radiators. Sizing mounting points are all different. XG rad mounts do bolt through the rad support into the XF mount holes. The bottom rad support is miles different. XG radiators do not have provision for the ubiquitous Eseries overflow bottle. I went and put an EF radiator in mine, had to make custom mounts top and bottom. Had to space out and modify the receiver dryer to sit forward a bit more and chop quite a bit of steel on the support panel to make it fit. The E-series radiator is just that much wider. It also has to be balanced against the location of the coolant overflow bottle too, which on my car was helped by relocating the battery. Because mine is mounted forward a bit the au hose was just simply chopped down. XG mount plates and regular XF/EA/ED engine mounts are all you need to make it physically fit. Yes, it will be a bit tight in terms of spacing around the alternator but it will be fine. Balancer will clear an XF front crossmember too. Regular e series top hose and XG bottom hose. Be prepared to trim them a little depending on the radiator you use. For air con - crib the fittings TX valve, pipes etc from an XG. Cut the hoses and mount to an AU metal mount on the compressor. Wiring - largely standard ford colour scheme runs across the XF to AU. I hid quite a bit of it and ran it back inside the car, across the dash. Engine loom will largely be easy, but you will need to interface Red switched power feed (ignition switch) Yellow Black Keep Alive Memory (constant 12V) HEGO switched relay - Au's run a 4 wire hego - so sensor 12V, and two grounds run back to the ECU. 12V relay for the heater comes in from the main loom Speedo - white wire will need to feed back to the computer Red black reverse switch back to the main loom (this is the 8 wire plug that normally carries speedo, rpm, oil etc) RPM (pink blue) Air con - Run the blue wire from the dash around to the opposite side of the car. The two wires that run to the low pressure switch need to be connected to the XG TX valve assembly (or you can run the xf stuff with custom piping). A seperate aircon wire will need to go to the ECU for ac demand. Fan relay controllers. Starter relay - its really complex so I bypassed it and ran the starter wire through to the Au ecu loom. Au's run the starter wire through the transmission neutral start switch, smart lock, then the ecu which signals the starter relay. So in effect the ecu doesn't make this call now the motor is switched on in the standard way. If you run the EF hose pipe assembly you will need to modify to fit around the strut tower. This was made easier for me as I drilled and tapped the strut brace (Castlemaine rod shop brought) to assist. Get the rod ship lower stabiliser bar, life is just so much easier than cutting and shutting sumps. If you can get the au bell housing do it, its not strictly necessary but I managed to find one, to mount the xf t5 on the back of. (so its got a lower first than a e series t5). Headers will land in a slightly different spot but e series stuff will help you out in a pinch Power steering lines - XG is metric and XF imperial on the fittings. You will have to swap fittings to adapt to a e series power steering pump. I used XG hoses and fittings, and swapped the xf fitting onto the pipe.

Far from it. Xflow top hose goes to driver's side, lower hose to passenger. 4.0 OHC are opposite way around. Plus there's the extra hose on an XG radiator for the expansion tank inlet

XF and XG should be the same radiator, as it's the same front end. E series are the rounded front end that came out later on the xh, so you will probably find they are the interchangeable ones for straight bolt in. Sent from my motorola edge 20 pro using Tapatalk

Yep I downloaded all of the CRS videos and will watch them over the weekend. I just watched a Forrest Fabrications video detailing his budget Barra swap into his XF ute. It was good, lots of tips there as well. If I can avoid having to notch the rails to fit a radiator, that would be great!

I do recall a customer not long ago with a Barra turbo XE and they used a VL or similar radiator now that it's mentioned.

I think the old Castrol or Nulon inhibitor is pretty close, it's not an anti-freeze/boil as such but does the trick for corrosion protection. If running an 82 or 87 thermostat with a decently high pressure radiator cap, I think that's enough headroom to not worry about boiling it in a hurry. Running 30% glycol only increases the boiling point by 5 degrees or so, not really much to worry about on a grand scale. Biggest issue in modern times is electrolysis with alloy radiators, especially the eBay ones with questionable metallurgy in them. It's a must to earth them off to the chassis to avoid stray currents, etc. Sent from my CPH2197 using Tapatalk