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Ford Xf Fairmont Ghia (Papou) - Rebuild/Help

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Hi all, 

 

i have ripped the motor out of my ghia! I’m looking to rebuild the engine and wanting to know a basic list of parts ect, I will be doing this rebuild myself so any tips aswell would be great, wanting a mild cam where I can run everything the way it is now or with minor adjustments. Does anyone know a mild cam bit lumpy that is an upgrade from the stock cam? Also what are the basics I’m going to need to purchase, I know it’s better to pull it down to inspect what needs to be done.. the car is an EFI aswell as I know there is a difference in cams between the carby and Efi. As I said any info would be greatly appreciated! 

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the only info i can suggest is the computer won't tolerate much difference in a cam,  make sure you tell the cam mob it is EFi, 

 

they go good when they work properly . 

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23 minutes ago, PapouGhia said:

Do they know any cams that would work well as an upgrade with the stock computer? 

 

from memory crow cams had ONE only that was suitable.  i have no idea on the other brands. 

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I'm gathering something around 205 at 50, 112 lobe sep, less than 0.5" lift. Something with bugger-all overlap and decent mid-range.

 

Something like the 771 grind.

 

Stock compression was 8.9:1 or something lame like that. For some reason, EFIs had less than carby. Maybe the better VE of the manifolding caused pinging on the bad fuel back then? Either way, throw the pistons in the bin and start again. Before doing that, measure deck height, note the difference to the new pistons, then determine required block decking to get to your target CR. With a mild cam and stock ignition curve, I'd keep it around 9.5:1

 

 

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Here ya go:


14771: very mild, towing cam. Great mid-range but runs out of puff by 4500
https://www.crowcams.com.au/ShopbyProduct/tabid/92/ProdID/15325/CatID/317/14771__FALCON_HIGH_TORQUE_CAM.aspx

14776: bit more poke, should still work with the EFI
https://www.crowcams.com.au/ShopbyProduct/tabid/92/ProdID/15327/CatID/317/14776__FALCON_CROSSFLOW_MILD_CAM.aspx

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If I go for the crow cam, what size pushrods should I go for standards or go larger? Any other upgrades I would need to run this cam? Or just freshen everything up and run it? Just wanting to clean the engine up and get abit of tone to it for a mean cruiser. Anyone got links or anything showing them running any cams would like to see and compare. 

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If I go for the crow cam, what size pushrods should I go for standards or go larger? Any other upgrades I would need to run this cam? Or just freshen everything up and run it? Just wanting to clean the engine up and get abit of tone to it for a mean cruiser. Anyone got links or anything showing them running any cams would like to see and compare. 

I have a baby clevo so different animal, but if you're after a streetable cam with a slightly lopey idle, most cam companies make "hotrod" or "thumpr" cams for v8s that sound mean but work with mostly stock gear. Unfortunately though, nobody does these on for the pushrod 6..

 

This is as close as you'll get to a "thumpr" style cam without needing an expensive custom grind.

 

https://www.crowcams.com.au/ShopbyProduct/tabid/92/ProdID/15317/CatID/317/141550S__FALCON_250_XD_CAM.aspx

 

This one might be what you're after. It's like a 686 grind but for some reason, the part number ends with an "S", denoting a speedway cam.

Basically, it's a mild lift, moderate duration profile ground on a narrow LSA, meaning more valve overlap and punchier mid-range. It will drop off in power very sharply as RPMs rise.

 

If trying to keep required mods to a minimum, i'd still get upgraded valve springs. The originals are barely adequate for a stocker, and would be over 30 years old at that. With that cam, retainers will be OK if not going stupid on valve spring pressure and rpm. Pushrods will be fine if you don't take too much off the head or deck.

 

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15 hours ago, gerg said:

This is as close as you'll get to a "thumpr" style cam without needing an expensive custom grind.

the stock EFi system wont like a lumpy cam from what i heard when i was considering it for mine.. (My dyno bloke at the time was trying to get me to fit VN Efi because he had the software to tune it, but i went straight gas instead because it was already dual fuel)

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I haven't played with the old EEC4 vane meter injection other than adjusting the mixture screw on the air meter.

But from what I do understand, if any system could compensate for a cam, it would be this one, as it doesn't rely solely on factory preset MAP/RPM tables, rather it measures the air going in and the computer injects the corresponding amount of fuel. If a cam makes the engine breathe differently, the fuel curve would be compensated for (to whatever extent) by the vane meter.

My dad's XF had a bit of a cam in it (specs unknown) but I do remember a very slight lope at idle. It went very well too, shocked a few 5.0 commo drivers out there.



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I haven't played with the old EEC4 vane meter injection other than adjusting the mixture screw on the air meter.

But from what I do understand, if any system could compensate for a cam, it would be this one, as it doesn't rely solely on factory preset MAP/RPM tables, rather it measures the air going in and the computer injects the corresponding amount of fuel. If a cam makes the engine breathe differently, the fuel curve would be compensated for (to whatever extent) by the vane meter.

My dad's XF had a bit of a cam in it (specs unknown) but I do remember a very slight lope at idle. It went very well too, shocked a few 5.0 commo drivers out there.



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I may be completely wrong, but I've always thought one reason the XF/EEC4 wouldn't like a cam may be partially to do with lack of vacuum?

Don't you tend to lose vacuum with a bigger cam, depending on specs?
As we all know, the EEC4 engines are particularly vacuum dependant, no loose dipstick or poor oil cap seal.

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The vacuum problem is because the engine itself is vacuum-sealed. So if you have a vacuum leak anywhere on the engine, you get a lean-out because the engine is getting air by means other than through the air flow meter.

A lumpy cam, while it may well upset the factory tune, will still have the AFM metering whatever air it needs. Just like on a carby car, it might need some idle speed adjustment and richeing up a tad via the air bypass screw, maybe even a tweak to the vane spring or advance/retard the contact arm.

If you think of this early EEC4/Bosch L-jetronic system the same way as you would an SU carby, you'll see that no matter what cam is in it, the vane (or piston in the SU) will open only as far as the air demands it to. Then fuel is injected accordingly. It doesn't care about vacuum, only how much air is flowing through it.

The fact that the engine is vacuum-sealed is a separate issue.

The only problem I could see is if the vacuum is that low that the fuel pressure regulator goes to the high setting (thinking there's load). That would richen it up somewhat.

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Cheers for the info guys! Appreciate the help! So do you reckon the crow cams would be my best bet? Also ignition systems stay with the original? Any aftermarket available? Cheers! 

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Hey mate all solid advice here. Agree with Greg, definitely do valve springs seems to be the general consensus.

My cam is a little bigger and I’ve gotten away with standard rockers and standard pushrods without a problem turning to 5000rpm. So if you’re going for a little upgrade using standard efi then I can’t imagine you would need anything more than new valve springs.

Also don’t forget the crow dizzy gear as well as well when going aftermarket cam!

Btw love the username


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Ahaha if you saw photos of my ghia mate. Monza red ghia,Louvours,visor,headlight protectors,bonnet protector,door stoppers,fluffy seat covers absolute papou spec car 😂 so what cam are you running all wit crow gear? 

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Ahaha if you saw photos of my ghia mate. Monza red ghia,Louvours,visor,headlight protectors,bonnet protector,door stoppers,fluffy seat covers absolute papou spec car so what cam are you running all wit crow gear? 


Hahaha that’s mad chuck us some photos if you like! The dizzy gear you need for aftermarket cams in crossflow is the Crow DG2.

I’m running a Crow 14892 which is 214@0.05” and .510” lift on a 112 lobe

You in Sydney area by any chance ?


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Can’t seem to get photos to upload on the pc, I’ll give crow a call on Monday morning and they should surely know what gear I’ll need to go with what cam ect, just want the lumpyiest cam I can go without ecu failure. How does your sound? 

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All good, it’s for a slight lope to it; doesn’t really have that rough sound to it, entry level chop if we can call it that hahaha. Considering what others are saying regarding the limits on the stock ecu, I don’t think you’ll be getting too much lope either on idle unfortunately...


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Today was a productive day! Stripped more of the engine bay out, airconditioning,power steering and cleaned as much of the wiring up. Nearly ready for paint and as soon as it goes there the fun begins on the motor as I’ll have the space in my single garage to lay everything on a clean work bench... you gotta day the xfs are like 4wd without the engines in them 😂 hopefully by next week I’ll have the list of parts I need for the rebuild and off I go to order them in one hit! 

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Camtech do a 201 deg at 50thou cam that will work (CT142 509). Will be a strong cam with standard 2.77 or 2.92 gears, especially at highway speed. Probably aim at 9.5:1 compression and use good fuel. I always pick Camtech over Crow, but that is just me.

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