ando76 4,354 Posted January 29, 2015 with a stock bore, usual .040-.050 deck height, and stock pistons you will not be in the realms of scary - 98 needed compression. I'd shave .040 off it. as to costing - depends which machine shop you take it to. Phone around perhaps. 1 tpak addict reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SLO247 1,713 Posted January 29, 2015 Will do. Thanks. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nath 1,975 Posted May 13, 2015 Such a good thread... Needs a bit of necromancy. Anyone else got any good backyard upgrades? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tpak addict 1,909 Posted May 14, 2015 Love the random I just feel sorry for the elephant Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wagoon 2,429 Posted June 23, 2015 Thought I would bring this thread backup with an update on my crappy wagon. I have just gone through the pain of fitting generic brand extractors and a secondhand exhaust to my wagon (to see my pain go here http://www.ozfalcon.com.au/index.php?/topic/4989-extractor-install-issue-please-help/ ) The details of the exhaust are piece of crap satan made extractor with 2 1/4 inch outlet into 2 1/4 mid section with 1 lukey muffler. I made a reducer so out of the back of the muffler it reduces into the original 2 inch over the diff tail pipe section. So after I got it all sorted I took the car out for a test run. I went back to the farmers driveway for a speed test. 0-160 happened over 400m's earlier than before when I had the standard exhaust on. I also felt a much greater response to part throttle acceleration. The car responds to the push of the accelerator now and I can feel it pulling in any gear at either lower or higher rpm. I still don't have a tacho so I can't say what rpm is best but to be honest it's probably a good thing I don't have the tacho as I drive more by feel and sound. I can say without a shadow of a doubt this change has made a huge difference to the car in both all out performance and part throttle performance. 3 ando76, gerg and SLO247 reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
broken-wheel 659 Posted June 24, 2015 and fuel usage with the stock exhaust which on the XE is the same size as one of the Webber barrels anything past 3500 rpm just changes the noise, no power or torque improves at all the accelerator pedal is just a TONE potentiometer hooked up to your fuel usage 1 slydog reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wagoon 2,429 Posted June 24, 2015 I haven't got a tacho so only go by feel. I change gear when I feel the car nose over which is with single rail, 2.92 diff gears and 185/75/14 tyres. 1-2 gears change is around 60km/h, 2-3 gear change is around 90, 3-4 is around 120ish. All these shift points have changed since installing the exhaust. 1-2 gear change was in less time than before and all other gear changes are about 10km/h higher. All these tests are done on the same flat driveway as I go to the farm a bit so nothing about the testing changes only the car. I haven't bother to calculate the rpm@change cause I don't change that high normally only for the speed run so it is irrelevant to my everyday driving. This speed test I backed off when I got to 160 as I wanted to concentrate on the how much earlier the car reached the speed. The car felt like it had more were as before the exhaust change it was straining to get to 160 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wookie 45 Posted June 28, 2015 chuck a fan belt on top of the air cleaner element and close the lid on it, itll leave a nice gap between for the lid. I bought a XF van on gas and they had done this trick to it pretty cheap. 1 gerg reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
broken-wheel 659 Posted July 10, 2015 So I looked at the Lid thing ... and with a stock engine raising the lid makes no difference to the vacuum it pulls, there is 0 vacuum at 85% throttle in a stock engine so my guess is as long as you got 0 vacuum at 100% throttle there is no restriction between the intake valve and the the atmosphere. If you up the cam and the intake becomes a restriction my guess is that you would get a vacuum reading at full throttle? Yes it might work better at part throttle etc. but at full throttle if you got 0 Vacuum then that's all Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nath 1,975 Posted July 10, 2015 Was that with the rubber seal or without? One thing I did notice when trying to tune my XD ages ago was that it actually did make a difference - was running lean and bogging down and raising the lid made it lean out more and bog worse. So I always thought it did make a difference. 2 slydog and wagoon reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wagoon 2,429 Posted July 10, 2015 With the rubber ring removed on the lid or the lid raised at WOT I think the difference is so small you can't feel it, but Sean/stumper got a result on the flow bench. At part throttle I have absolutely zero doubt that removing the rubber ring made a difference that I could feel, and it was quite a large difference. I have decided today that I am going to get an old iphone and get one of those dyno apps as the iphone apps are the most accurate. I'm mainly doing this so I can judge adjustments on my sedan but I will use it on my wagon as well. Also I am going to be trying the other thing Sean had success with on the flow bench, drilling out the side wall of the aircleaner housing. I now have 3 standard crossflow housing all which are identical so watch this space 4 Nath, Outback Jack, Thom and 1 other reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
broken-wheel 659 Posted July 10, 2015 yeah at WOT won't make a difference because the stock cam is not maxing it but part throttle yes there will be a difference my understanding is that as long as there is zero vacuum at WOT you're fine, now add some duration and lift and things will get interesting 1 Nath reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
slydog 7,873 Posted July 10, 2015 To add to this air cleaner modification debate ATM any ducted air from the front WILL help.Not as noticeable @ slow speeds or on lesser modified cars but they do help. With this in mind a 2nd intake pipe would be on my list of to do's and added on the left side with ducting around the left hand head beside the the rad.There's a bit of room there and will be adding one on the ute in the future. Thinking a commodore style over the top inlet mounted vertically beside the rad and then flexible or ally ducting feeding a custom or off the shelf air box. Obviously my use is a little different but there's merit in the idea and no reason some out of the box thinking can't knock something up cheaply for single carb applications aswell. 2 Nath and Thom reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nath 1,975 Posted July 10, 2015 Something I was wondering - does ducting actually help for a carby application? I experimented with it a little when I first had the car on the road and it seemed to be more restrictive but I could be wrong. Let's say I've lifted the lid on the air cleaner, would the XF style intake ducting even do anything since it's probably sucking more air from the top than the snorkel? And for arguments sake, if the air cleaner was sealed, would the snorkel matter then? I get that the difference is probably negligible it's more the principal I was curious about. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gerg 10,871 Posted July 10, 2015 Any changes to the density of the air will need a change in jetting accordingly. The factory jetting is based on the assumption that you have all the snorkel and stove pipe connected. Go shoving more oxygen in there and you need more fuel to go with it. With Holleys, correct tuning means a difference of two or more jet sizes between summer and winter. 1 slydog reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
broken-wheel 659 Posted July 10, 2015 on the 4bbl holley I had no need to change jets between summer and winter, if the air is more dense you will get stronger vacuum and more fuel gets dragged in, a correctly setup carb will take care of that and altitude correction etc. from what I have seen With the new setup I'm going to be doing an interesting cold air mod which will bring all the cold air you need via a hole in the firewall, the cowl area in front of the windscreen is a high pressure area so i'm going to use an enclosed filter which draws air from the cowl via a hole in the firewall. Much shorter path to cold air as well awesome induction noise read this article a few years back and has merit: http://www.hotrod.com/how-to/engine/1301phr-cowl-induction-cold-air-system/ 1 Mr Polson reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
slydog 7,873 Posted July 10, 2015 Nascar have been doing that since the 70's and after reverse cowl scoops.I doub't many will want to do this mod to the re street car though. Carb fills with water,no more heater alot of fab work but as said in another thread the idea is sound for sure. 1 XPT reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites