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Hi All Looking for advice here around the best way to tackle this. I recently purchased an 87 XF 5 speed manual with carby. I have also picked up an AU fairlaine 5.0l windsor efi with ecu, Harness, fuse box, and engine components and want to slot this in. Ide like to keep it manual. Below are my thoughts on this: 1) Engine mounts - will use the xd/xe base plates and engine mounts for Cleveland. So im sweet there 2) Headers - pacemakers for gt40p heads suit XB to XF - link 3) Gearbox - looking for a xr8 Manual gearbox / flywheel and bell housing from an eb-au - I assume any will do. 4) diff - looking for an el diff from xr6 or xr8 - 3.49 ratio. I’ve seen I’ll need to put larger bushes on the lower control arms, and also will need to do something with the handbrake cable plus the brake line 5) tailshaft - assume my xf tailshaft will fit - just need to change the yoke on the diff. 6) fuel tank - how different is the carby tank to the efi - do I need to track down and efi tank or is it easy to convert the tank? Also are the existing hoses ok? 7) ECU - should I just ditch the stock ecu and move to like a Holley terminator or should I still use it and consider a J3 performance chip? 8. Wiring/harness - Can I track down a DIY guide or anything similar to assist with the conversion in the xf. I have noticed that the rod shop offer a retro wiring look - is this worth looking into? 9. Radiator - going to use a 3 core radiator(from xd-xf) and I’m sure I’ll find some radiator hoses to suit. Also I’m sure you can find someone with thermos as well to suit this radiator- so not too stressed about this. Thanks again guys I know this has been done before - so looking for lessons learnt - and best way to handle this. Happy to share my findings as I got to help others doing the same.

Going back a bit, these are a couple of photos rolling into Small Ford Sunday. taken no more than 30 seconds apart, on two different cameras, but makes the colour look completely different. this colour still amazes, but also annoys me with how both good and bad it can look depending on the light its in the joys of metallic paint i guess. *the second pic is more true to the actual colour** I finally got the front bumpers back, and they came up fantastic. worth the wait. Now onto some mechanical gremlins. I had been having an issue with the cooling system. not over heating, but in fact running too cold. not getting warm enough to actually open the thermostat, which was a standard 89 degree thermostat. I figured it was because the alloy radiator was so efficient at cooling that yeah meant that I couldn't get her up to temp, and had no heater. This whole time I had been running just water in the cooling system, not coolant, to try flush the system out as best I can. I figured with this lack of heating issue, id pull the thermostat out and then put some coolant in. This is what came out. its a piece of gasket goo stuck in the thermostat. notice also the colour. that thermostat was brand new with this engine. so it has gone a very rusty brown colour thanks to the water. Pushing on the diaphragm by hand, the thermostat felt a little sticky. didnt want to move smoothly to open or close. So I ended replacing it with an 82 degree thermostat. not to make it run cooler, but so the thermostat would open earlier and start circulating coolant earlier. with that, and coolant in the system, it has made a difference. it gets up to the correct 88 degrees running temp now, rather than running too cold. Good Friday, the RSOCV had their annual Good Friday cruise. Over 30 cars got involved, and we went out to Warburton, up Mt Donna Buang (some of us more spiritedly than others) then back down and to Yarra Glen Hotel for lunch. Having driven the Escort up there previously with the 1300, flat out, and now with the 1660, also flat out, it was a much faster drive up there. I had a mate of mine in his Mini come along, who was behind me on the way up. Although I am not too concerned, he did tell me that it was blowing a bit of blue smoke between gear changes. granted I was pushing it, its the hardest it had been driven, and it was mighty cold up there. but it did it well. I adjusted the suspension up a bit to be stiffer, and boy does it turn well. On the way home, my buddy in the mini, and me couldnt resist but to see how they compared. its the first time the mini and escort had been out together. the Mini is a 1999 Rover, with a single point injected 1275cc, from Japan. Its since had a Cooper performance kit fitted, which includes a ported head with roller rockers, headers, exhaust, bigger injector, and a few other go fast parts. The Mini weighs 100kg less than the Escort, at 740kg, and with the Cooper engine package produces about 65kw. The Escort, a stock 1600 produces 60-65kw. Mine is a 1660, with a cam, weber, etc etc. It was a good comparison, the Mini nudged in front basically because i was slow getting into 2nd gear, otherwise equally matched. So for such a small engine in the Mini, it goes really well. its pretty quick little thing. I had to do a weekend run over to work HQ in Footscray, so jumped in the Escort to save the diesel in my daily. it really is such a great improvement over what it used to be in pretty much every aspect. able to sit on the highway comfortably, plenty of grunt to pull away, it just gets very warm in the cabin very easily, which was always the case.

Guys, I feel dumb as a post right now so im sorry if this is the dumbest question you get on here. Moto means to motor and Rad means to Radiator... So the thermostat goes this way yeah? Please and thank you as always. This one has really got me sweating.

Ignore the 'MotoRad' wording... that's just the brand name of thermostat, which Tridon re-box's from India. The spring part, goes into the cyl head. The dome shape, faces the radiator as-per @deankxf's helpful picture. What I would recommend though, is test the new thermostat in a pot of boiling water first, using a thermometer to check it opens/closes correctly. I never quite trust aftermarket parts these days - especially suspension components (see @deankxf).

i don't have any pics handy, but we fitted an EF radiator and fans to an XG of My mates' last year, this was done by using approximately 50mm square tube to space up the bottom, mounting XF lower mounts to that (for the radiator to sit on, 2 wide rubber pads unlike the XF radiator uses 2 different size end tanks) and the top mounts as i modded on My XE. this was due to fitting an EF EL engine to it (easier to find than another EA EB ED XG engine these days)

thanks @deankxf In relation to XG radiator - mounting it I think I can solve - I can get top and bottom mounts, so provided the xf and xd radiator support and holes are in the same spot - this radiator should slot straight in. But.. I take your point the lower radiator outlet compared to the AU /EF will be a problem - 45mm for XG vs 38 for EF/EL and AU. I do like this options as it feels cleaner to mount and I know you can tweak the fans onto this radiator from what I have read. I already have the ef radiator so let me have a muck around with it on the weekend and check where it’s getting caught and check the approach you followed.

this is a quote from Ant's wagon thread with LS2 or LS3? engine Just thinking about this. The car now has a ve radiator and fans and when it was tuned I asked Phonsey to drop the temp at which the ecu turns the fans on as it always ran a bit hot with the falcon fans and radiator. It cools itself brilliantly now. The temp guage gets to 3/4, the fans kick in and within 20 seconds they pull the temp back to 1/4 so it's never really hot. posts mentioning radiator in his thread are here (changed from modified use XD radiator when changing the intake setup to an over the radiator "OTR" setup. http://www.ozfalcon.com.au/index.php?/search/&q=radiator&type=forums_topic&item=37

My XE had the XE Air con condensor installed with that radiator, i would expect an XF one to be in the same spot(identical radiator hole to XE) XG uses a completely different bottom radiator mount setup, i also questioned people regarding this when i did the conversion. (i got an XG radiator to try prove them wrong, and an AU one .. didn't fit.) the EF one will fit if you cut a slot for the side pipe(fill hose) XG and EA EB ED have bigger size lower radiator hose outlets .. the EA EB ED are the same size as EF EL otherwise, XG narrower but possibly deeper, maybe the lower hose hit the cross member the caster rods mount to? i can't remember. XG is different by far to XD XE XF though in the lower radiator mount area. i think Ants used a commodore radiator and fan ? in his XD wagon with LS2 engine. i'll see if i can find the post, it was a neat fit

Thanks @deankxf I already have an EF radiator - with air con - it won’t fit. Those radiators are too wide (approx. 70mm wider than XG) need something narrower. The top and bottom holes is the same for e series / au Windsor from what I can see. I would have thought that the XG would fit nicely - given it has a the same front end as an XF. The positioning of the hoses with a narrower radiator and the hose sizes was the only thing I was worried about. From what I can see from pictures the XG has different size top and bottom, where Windsor looks the same top and bottom, I assumed I could get some hoses to manage this. Your photo is questioning me on this but, when I try slot it in the radiator is hitting against the air con canister and pipes.

The EA to EL(XH same) radiator is a better fit than XG. The ef el.have same size outlet top and bottom. Not sure what size the Windsor has. I have a pic of my xe with el radiator and Thermos with 1uz engine but not sure if you will even have space. I'll see if I can find it if we get power back on after the storms..still no power here eastern suburbs melb from memory you can set the bottom mounts to fit the radiator (like an XF) and the top i cut the EF mounting tabs off and modified the top XF mounts with a bracket (cut the mounting part off the hook part and sat the radidiator in and made a plate for between and welded. ) i can't remember why you can't use the top mounts, but i have seen them used with mods to the car. you need to cut a piece out of the side support near headlight mounts for the header tank /fill port neck to clear.

On another note - has anyone fitted an XG radiator with EF/EL Thermo fans onto a Windsor EFI motor? I’m planning to get the xg bottom and top mounts and thinking this will bolt straight in. EF radiator fans will need to modified to fit onto the radiator slightly. Hoses should also pretty much line up (I think) Just wanted to see if this has been done before or should I just use an XD-XF radiator and modify the thermo fans to that?

Well I did it. I had an aim to get the Escort out and driving by NYE, during my week off work. It is not without its teething issues, but all i can say is, wow. The 1660 with 5 speed drives incredible. the power and torque delivery is really nice and mostly linear. Obviously im comparing to a tired 1300 that was in there. Giving the car a run onto the freeway, it gets there to 100km/h quicker than it ever has, and with still 2 more gears to go. The engine has good torque right throughout the rev range, so much so that at 60km/h it will still pull in 5th gear, which is about 2000rpm. at 70km/h, 2100rpm, it will pull up hill in 5th comfortably. At 100km/h, its sitting on 3100rpm in 5th, and cruises just nicely. Steering The new 2.9 ratio steering rack is fantastic. im super happy i did it. the little extra weight at low speeds is so worth it for how much better the car drives now. going round corners, going round roundabouts, it is better in every way. Brakes They still need time to bed in properly, but they pull up really good. can't wait to have them bedded in properly. Radiator is doing a dam good job. i haven't seen it climb to half (normal) temp at all. its keeping the temp perfect. even on the freeway at prolonged higher revs, no problem. Now for the BAD As you will see in a photo of the dash below, the oil pressure is leading low, way too low. 20psi. and it does not move. I managed to find a record i took from when I started the engine for the first time about 18 months ago, where I had hooked up my oil pressure gauge. at the time it was holding a solid 38psi. so now why does it only hold 20psi? Potentially one of two things; 1 - the relief valve on the oil pump is stuck open and is not allowing it to build oil pressure, or 2 - the oil pressure is fine, and the sender for the gauge is faulty. Fuelling - The car obviously needs a tune. it drives great, but does have a bit of hesitation at certain RPM and part throttle positions. at WOT, its fine just pulls. I also feel like im missing the last 1000-1500rpm in the engine. winding it up onto the freeway, going through the gears, as soon as it hits 5000rpm, the sound changes, the engine gets louder and more "rattly"? This adds to the concern of the low oil pressure, that perhaps that i can't use the top end of the RPM due to low oil pressure. at the moment this is not too much of a concern because it will be rarely driven up there. Ignition - Obviously as you saw in a previous post, I blew my electronic distributor up, so I went back to running the Lucas points ignition setup. it works, but I will be replacing it with something more substantial to keep up with the demands of the larger capacity engine and cam. Enjoy the few pics below. I still have a bit of work ahead of me, but I am loving having it driving, and to be honest, it is dangerous how quickly it gets up to speed. i could definitely get myself into trouble

somehow missed last weeks update, radiator looks much better in black, you've been doing very well to get all the little things sorted and back on the car, well done indeed! good luck on the first drive, make sure the simple things are done prior (i've driven off with radiator hoses loose, and loose wheel nuts etc before after a long time project. )

I got the driver's side doors finished I needed to make a bracket for the overflow bottle. the engine bay is getting pretty tight, so trying to find a spot for it is a bit of a challenge. I wanted to keep it as simple as possible. Below is what I came up with. It has a "U" shape in the bottom for the bottle to sit in, and it bolts to an existing Horn bolt. Neither the bracket or bottle touch the body of the car anywhere, except for where the bracket is bolted in at the top. And to hold the bottle still, i used a velcro strap. simple. Painted the radiator black and reinstalled. Im much happier with it being painted black, really suits the car. I got the chance to paint the battery clamp today, so for the first time since its been off the road, the battery is clamped back in the car properly. I've come to the realisation that, the car is very close to being able to be driven on its proper maiden drive. So, while I have this week off work, I am actually planning to have the car out for its maiden drive by New Years Eve on Sunday. To make it legal to drive, i have to do the following; - rear rego plate - rear view mirror - wiper arms - driver's seat belt. the things i WANT to get done before i drive it, to stop double handling; - dash wiring tidy up - install centre dash panel, which includes my gauges and choke cable and wiper switch I will be over the moon if I can take it for a drive beyond the end of my street, by the end of this weekend Watch this space.

I got the extractors back from the ceramic coaters. They come up awesome. I ordered a new radiator from eBay. 2 core alloy, equivalent size to the Cortina copper one that i got that leaked. Fitted perfect other than 1 little mod. Its actually a little tighter fit than the Cortina radiator. It looks alright, but I have decided to spray it black, so it takes less attention away from the engine. Passenger doors are finished. New bailey channels, rust protected. I just mucked up the positioning of the rear door handle. It should be at roughly 2 o'clock, not 6 o'clock like i put it Next thing to do will be the driver's side doors. they are rust protected, just need to fit the new bailey channel, then fit the door cards.

well its been a month since the last update Whats happened in the last month? I looked into getting the radiator repaired. It will need a complete re-core, which was going to set me back over $600, thanks to the cost of copper at the moment. I just can't quite justify that at the moment, especially after paying $250 for the unit originally. One day I will get it done, but at the moment I think im just going to keep that aside. In the meantime, many of the guys from the RSOCV, rave about the cheap eBay alloy radiators. so at this stage I am probably going to take a punt on one, and see how it goes. for about $200 delivered, i could get a few years out of 3 of them before i have spent the some coin on re-coring the copper unit, which given its age could very easily spring a leak elsewhere in 12 months time. For now, I have the original 1300 radiator in place, just to keep me going, so i can start and move the car around. Its a little smaller than the upgrade behind it I fitted the original front seat for now just so i can move it around. Got it out of the shed, around into the driveway to wash the 12 months worth of "barn" dust off it, ready to go in for the exhaust Grill back in, number plate on the front, and it looks finished at the front. well it basically is, but i do need to remove the grill to do one more task that i forgot about. Next, it was ready for the exhaust. This was a fair challenge getting the trailer down the driveway. I decided to load the car onto the trailer the night before it was going in for the exhaust, because the shop doing the job for me was about 45 minutes drive from home, and they wanted the car by 8am. The trailer track width was wider than my driveway, so ran down the grass both sides, and bulldozed some of the bushes down the LH side with the mud guards The Escort on the trailer, fits under my carport comfortably, so once the trailer was loaded i backed her up under the carport to keep it out of the rain. *race tape on to protect my headlights from any rocks coming off my tyres on my Land Rover* The exhaust shop who did the job absolutely nailed it. Exhaust Fix in Lillydale if any Melbourne people are looking for a good exhaust shop. His freshly restored XD ESP maybe a known car, "RAREXD" is its plates. Mick did a 2" system from the headers back to a high flow muffler right before the diff, with a flange upon my request before the diff, to a resonator in the tail pipe. The flange is there in case I want to make it a little louder, he will make up a straight pipe at the back for me. The workmanship is spot on, and it sounds perfect. Has the perfect little raspy crack to it while not being too loud. I can not wait to drive it properly on the street to hear it. Preparing it for cavity wax and rust protection, Ive been trying to wash out what ever is left of the years of dirt built up in the cavities that are hard to get into. after all this time, its incredible how much shit is still coming out of the sills and chassis rails. Ive been having a bit of trouble getting the car in and out of the shed, because of the step down, onto grass/dirt before the laneway. I bought a pair of gutter ramps, but needed to extend these due to clearance underneath. At the moment this is the solution i have, some timber blocks to help reduce the angle of the drop. and so far its been easier to drive it in rather than back it in, due to traction issues on the grass at the bottom of the ramps. nearly impossible to reverse in Its a work in progress as I come up with a new idea to help. Replaced the dash lights with some low output LEDs. including all the warning lights. the photo makes the dash look really bright, but its not. that is at full brightness (mine has a dimmer being a 1975 model) The Oil pressure and Alternator charge light (Amber and Red lights at the bottom) are insanely bright now with the LEDs directly behind them. But I am not mad about that, because if i lose oil pressure, I want to bloody know about it The upper dash is now all back together. I just have to tidy up the wiring under the dash so i can install the centre dash panel back in, which will also give me my choke cable back. Today I picked up my new kenwood amplifier and 8" sub for the car. I previously was running an amp and sub from a BA falcon with premium sound, because the sub fits in the parcel shelf of the Escort with no mods, but they didn't cut it over the engine noise. So I am fitted new Kenwood stuff. The amp goes under the passenger seat, and will power the front door speakers as well as the sub in the parcel shelf. I just have to setup the front door speaker wiring to take signal from an amp instead of the head unit, then tidy the rest of the wiring up and tuck it away, and then the dash will be finished. So the car is getting close to being done, but whats left? Once the wiring and dash it back together, i still have to finish cleaning, rust converting surface rust in any cavity i can get into, and cavity waxing, the inside of the doors, the sills and anywhere else that may be appropriate. I have some of the original shitty sound deadening up behind the dash I still have to get out. then its clean the floors, install new sound deadening, carpet, seats, and door cards. At that point, the car will be complete, but not finished. I still have to find the jets for the carby which have gone MIA, and jet the carby for a 1600 again, at present its set for the 1300. I still have to mount the rear number plate. Replace the interior light Replace the number plate light Put clear protective film on the headlights Order, and fit new radiator that will keep the engine cool. (and paint it black. they alloy ones all come polished ) I still have to remove the headers and get them ceramic coated And, the last biggish one, is i have to get the dizzy regraphed.

Well I have the radiator out of the car again, pressure tested, and found the leak. The strange part is, that after a few minutes of being under pressure with the pressure tester on, it stopped leaking, and began to hold constant pressure. So I will pressure test again and go from there. I think unfortunately it will need to be recored. In other news, I have the car booked in for its exhaust to be made in a couple weeks. And I also have all the exterior lighting working, and the boot interior light. The restored and LED retrofitted reverse lights should hopefully be more than bright enough. The NOS H4 Hella headlights are in and working well. I fitted the globes that came with them, still brand new in their boxes. Old Philips 55/60w globes, that are god knows how old, but new in box. Wonder how long they’ll last. Boot light is working also.

I haven’t found where its coming from. the next step will be to remove the radiator and pressure test it again to try in point the leak. It must be a decent leak, because its leaking without any pressure in the system. Literally filled it with water, came back a few minutes later and water everywhere

Woo! radiator leak accessible? might be an easy repair for a radiator shop. got to love it when it starts easy and runs smooth

IT RUNS! Thats right, it fired up first go, but did have trouble getting fuel to it to keep it running. *see video below* The video below is as I cranked it the first time. Now for the bad news... The radiator has a major leak. It was fine when I pressure tested it, but I wonder if the pressure test caused a week join to open up

Update time Reassembling the the heater box, the last thing i had to do was fit the tiny little circlips that hold the main flap shaft in. Well I snapped the second one, and didn't have another. So I went through my R/C stuff, and ive got loads of body clips. so I mangled one and used it to replace the circlip So here is the heater box finished. All new foam. Im pretty sure this thing will work better than it ever has I didn't bother to paint the top lid, because as far as im concerned, now with the new seal once its back in the car it shouldn't leak, shouldn't continue to gather surface rust. plus its not seen. Next up, the radiator I pressure tested, and painted the bigger radiator, and got it installed this afternoon. looks right at home in there. its definitely big. Ive removed the grill again to do a list of things up front. I need to install the other headlight, and wire both of them up, paint and install the horn, and fit the front number plate. I use nut and bolt through the front panel, and once the grill is in, I can't install the number plate.

Next on the agenda; The dreaded heater box. This thing was filthy. 48 years worth of dust, leaves, and rotting foam. The core has been replaced, so thats a good sign. I have pressure tested the core and it seems ok, but I am going to do it again today. im not convinced i tested it properly. Also, someone had used what looks like windscreen sealer to reinstall the lid when it was apart previously when in actual fact, its meant to be foam to seal it. I have bought all new high density foam, not the open cell shit that rots away, and am currently in the process of resealing it and assembling the heater box. I got a little stuck with this lever for the main vent flap. its pressed onto a spline. I couldn't get the internals of the heater matrix out until that lever, and its flap were removed. Of all things, a $19 tap handle remover from Bunnings worked perfectly at getting that lever off After I got the internals out of the box, the rest of the mess from 48 years of crap was revealed ** This is where I am currently up to. The heater box is the last thing I need to do to make the car 100% water tight. I also have another radiator for it, second hand but pressure tested ok. its also larger. technically from a Cortina, but they are the same as what was used in Mexicos. So i has a larger top tank, and larger cores. Once the radiator is in, technically I could run the engine. And with the brakes all up and working, when I book it in for the exhaust to be done, it will be great to be able to drive it on and off the trailer instead of winching it. In between all this major stuff, I have done a lot of little things that I haven't really documented. Ive replaced all the door seals now, rebuilt all the latches on the doors, mirrors are on etc. so from the outside she looks almost complete. As you would have seen in above photos from inside the car, the wiring is still a mess. its a job I am not looking forward to doing. the inside of the car is another project in itself, to do it to the level I'd find acceptable. There is wiring to sort out, small bits of surface rust, lots of cleaning to do in cavities that aren't easily accessible. I need to clean all these out so I can then cavity wax them and keep them safe from future rust. I need to tidy up the wiring, install sound deadening before the carpet goes in, and order and install the new amp and wiring for the stereo, because as much as i love the sound of the weber and the exhaust, on longer drives I need decent music. I want to say its not that far off, but it is. My expected finish timeline keeps getting further and further away, so for now I am going to say that if I can drive it out my shed under its own steam, for its first test drive by christmas, it will be the best christmas present ever. It will also mark 3 years since it was written off.

So, today I decided to try a trick I learned from a guy who used to do my radiators years ago. I put my radiator tester on with an extension on the header tank and filled it completely with water after I warmed up the engine. I started the engine and sure enough, bubbles formed in the top of the tube. Dad and the Bro are visiting on Sunday, so we will do a complete compression test and check the valvetrain, but I'm pretty sure it has a leaking head gasket in #1 and possibly into #2. The bubbles and the fact that it won't build pressure in the cooling system point to that logical conclusion. If that is the case, the engine will come out to repair it, go back in to be tested and if that cures the problem, it's going up for sale and the 302 and 5 speed from the XR8 are going in.

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.