An XP Falcon, your friend in the shed

Taillight Buckets Repair

Yes, I have them back from anodising. I chose a polished anodised finish, not satin as the originals had. It cost about $60 for the polish and anodise, plus about $20 for the strip on a prior occasion. So, about $80 in external costs for the pair.

Worth noting:
• The polished finish will show up deficiencies really obviously.
• The better your starting piece, the better the final product. The re-anodising emphasises little oxidisation craters and they come back three times the size!.
• The initial strip should get everything off. If it doesn’t, you’ll get a tidemark where the anodising jumps over the old surface layer.
•Even sticky tape or masking tape on the stripped surface will leave a residue that shows up as a defining line when re-anodised.

That said, how can I describe the result? Well, from a metre*, one basically looks out-the-box new. The other looks as though it has had a couple of years of normal treatment/exposure; not weathered but some light marking (it’s the oxidisation pits).

All that’s left with this pair is refitting the electricals and some custom paint detail. Pictures (sans paint) available from Tuesday arvo. Next pair will be satin – curious to see how they go. Regards, Adam.

Air-conditioning for the Falcon

Vintage air. It costs a bomb, but it’s the ants pants of aftermarket retro fitting air con into sedans and hot rods. I looked into it and it was going to cost 2-3 grand www.vintageair.com There is a distributor in Victoria.

Just have to make sure you have all pumps, etc. I can get in Mustang underdash units for around $300, but they are underdash Units only, but engine bay bits should be able to be sourced cheap from a wreckers for the later X series 6cyl Falcons. Deon

Legals around fitting a V8 (VIC)

First up – conversions of an increase in capacity of 10% or less, or increase in power of 10% or less, over the Largest engine offered by the factory for that model (a 200 in your case), are referred to as “owner certified”, and need no documentation. With a wink and a nod, the 221 swap falls into this category.

Beyond that, there exists a formula for calculating the maximum increase in power or capacity as a percentage of the original un-optioned sedan weight. Again note that over about 291in³ requires a collapsible steering column.

Also be aware that a lot of “spills” with re-powered early Falcons are in part due to the extremely slow steering. A rider to all the RTA requirements for conversions is that “…the vehicle should be suitable for subsequent resale to a person of average driving ability…”

You may need to add a windscreen demister, washer bottle, three-point seatbelts in the front and a fan shroud, unless you already have these items. A tail-shaft catcher is plain common sense any time. Brakes must be adequate, but not necessarily discs. Generally, brakes equivalent to the donor’s brakes are considered OK.

Currie Enterprises make a lovely 9″ unit that will bolt right in, but it costs about $2400 without the centre section. D&R Differentials in Sydney, who have done a variety of work for me, say that their 9″ conversion costs a shade over $3K drive in/drive out. A BTR (Borg-Warner) conversion costs about $1900. Proper setting of the pinion preload, mesh and lash are essential to gear life but if observed make an extra strong BTR diff possible.

Turning to the Ford install, the bodies on these cars are fairly weak and light and extra bracing is good. As a minimum, a lower cross-member that ties the engine mounts in, plus a shock tower brace are good practice. Make sure your XM has the torque boxes fitted and in sound condition.

If you can lighten the motor with a set of alloy heads and intake, it’ll handle much better. Depends on the budget, though. Finally be aware that a modified vehicle needs both an engineer’s certificate or conformity (a witnessed copy of which should be carried in the car at all times), and a broker to find an insurance policy for it. Illegal modifications render the driver/owner ultimately liable for any claims arising from accidents or other traffic matters.

This is not something to take lightly; price your insurance before you start any swap, and work with an engineer to ensure the installation is compliant. If this all sounds like hard work, remember the car can be fun in almost any form. Getting there is the good bit – right?

Stud pattern

What sort of cars have the same stud pattern as the XP Falcon?
The 4 stud pattern, is 114.5 mm, PCD. Datsun/ Nissan, Toyota, Sigma, Triumph, beware of the offsets on most Japanese cars though, big negative offsets, the wheels end up right in under the car and look very silly, look at older rear wheel drives. Bluebirds, skylines datto1600, Celica etc, honest John can supply alloy wheel spacers 6mm thick to clear front ball joints if they almost fit.

The 5 stud wheels, all the XK/L/M/P commical vechicals were 5 stud, all the way trought from XL to XB are the same with small centre of 1 3/4 inch and it is the hub that positions the wheel and take the strain, not the nuts. From the XC and newer they have a larger centre in rim so which is 2 inch so you need the same size wheel/hub to fit, but the stud pattern is the same. Early Valiant, and early 5 stud sigma share the same stud pattern.
Is it a 200 or 221?

look at the block casting numbers!

This is a series of raised numbers and letters on the block side, ALWAYS with the number “6015″ in the middle of it. It might be something like C6DE 6015 A. First letter is a “C” but it may look like a zero. Next letter: 6 means a 170 or 200, 8 or 9 means a 188 / 221. There is more to this, but I am keeping it simple for the sake of getting an answer.

OK, then to determine if it’s the larger or the smaller possibility take your torch and a spark plug spanner. Remove a spark plug and wing the motor by hand to get that piston up top. If you can see a flat recessed are in the piston, it is the larger capacity. If the piston is totally flat on top, it is the smaller capacity. Adam.

The 221 motor is basically a 170/200 block with about 12mm added to the height, same mounts, same length, same width, all of the accessories hook up as original, (fuel lines wiring, exhaust etc) a 170 /200 fan will bolt up at the front without a spacer, no need to shorten anything, a trans cooler is probably not required but can be used, the original trans cooler in your radiator will do the job, I recommend a 3 core radiator, XP original size. Slight mods to throttle linkages may be required, dead basic once you see it in place. The transmission can be made to bolt up as original in an XP with no modifications if the transmission is from a XR, XT or XW (not XY or later) just fit the extension housing at the rear of the transmission from an XP and hook it up using XP rear cross member and mount. Again if it is the XR, XT, XW box the XP tail shaft will fit. The comments Adam made regarding spacers under the front mounts are relevant, the sump can (but not always) interfere with the steering drag link at full lock, the engine may need to be chocked up 10mm or so the clear this. This is probably the easiest upgrade to do on an early falcon, if you have any mechanical aptitudes and basic tools have a go, the rewards are great, just fit a brake booster to help deal with the extra 20 hp and enjoy, most rego authorities will pass this with out an engineers certificate, as there are no engineering mods and only a very small increase in engine capacity.

Sloppy Steering?

The steering is light and i have no problems with the steering, it is very sloppy and i feel that there has too be something out there that is more responsive. Get the orig one rebuilt? Or can i rebuild it myself?

Sloppy steering ? replacing all ball joints & tie rod ends help, But there is also a screw on the steering box to adjust that should take a lot of movement out (READ this). When I got my car, there was a good five inches of excess play. the mechanic simply got his screwdriver into the engine bay and fixed it within ten seconds. adjust the screw on the steering box, cause there is heaps of excess if it is not already all used.

Got matching numbers?

(Darren) I just went through the heart stopping rig-moral of getting a pink slip where the inspector disputed what was the proper chassis number and the number that’s on the radiator support that didn’t match the numbers on the rego papers, but after a phone call to the RTA all turned out ok, thank god !!!! so what is the number on the radiator support for.

(honest john) The number on the shocktower is the VIN, they matched the engine number on all early falcons, the radiator support stuff basically duplicates what is on the id tag, but these numbers are not unique to your vehicle (an identical spec vehicle may well have been produced on the same date) it would therefore have many of the same numbers, with the exception of the serial prefix and sido numbers. The radiator support is normally a combination of the serial prefix and serial number – eg ‘XMROD139645′ – ‘XMROD’ is the prefix and gives model (XM) and the assembly plant (R), and production year/month (OD) and the serial number is 139645 which is the number off the prod line presumably. These numbers should match the serial prefix and serial number on the ID tag which is either on the radiator support panel or the inner guard depending on the model.

What width types can fit? I have seen coupes with all the following without mini tubs.

Bridgestone 215/65s on CSA Presige 14 x 6½ wheels.
Rubber is a combination of 215/50 and 195/50 Goodyear Eagles

Rims 6×15 and 7×15 Weld Racing, Tyres Bridgestone G Grids 205/60/15 and 225/60/15

Front tyres Michelin 145×15 on CenterLine 15×5, Rear tyres Firestone 12 ½ -inch with CenterLine 15-10
15*7 Superlights and 225/60 and 195/60 rubber.

Making a BOSS 302?

Here’s a brief tech rundown of the small tweaks fitting Clevo heads to the Windsor block:

http://www.mustangandfords.com/techarticles/30220/index1.html

The manifolds to suit may be found locally, but overseas is sometimes the way to go. Sacramento Mustang -just one example – have a couple listed (they also itemise the other stuff): http://www.sacramento-mustang.com/sm/catalog/engcleavor.pdf

To do a Crossflow (XC and Later) conversion into an XP falcon:

• remove the original fan and run a thermo fan on the outside of the radiator as there is not room for the belt driven fan.
• Fitment of a heavy duty radiator as the original radiator is slightly small and may have cooling problems.
• You can use original XP engine mounts although a spacer will need to be used to raise the engine approx 5mm, otherwise the engine sump will foul the sway-bar and steering arm. You can raise the mounts with anything from 3/8″ marine ply packers with a hole through the middle, to metal spacers – or look for the dual height mounts off an XT or XW.
• If using a borg warner 35 auto trans, you will need to cut the mounting bracket off of the trans and mount the trans using the original XP trans mount with a u-bolt securing the trans to the mount.
• The tail shaft will need to be shortened and mated to the later XA-XF tail shaft with the XP rear uni joint to go into the original diff. This can be done for a cost of 150-250 dollars from somewhere like Hardy Spicer.

I would recommend a brake upgrade to disc brakes on the front at least and a booster mounted remotely under the front guard.

Having performed this conversion, I must say that there is plenty of torque coming from the motor and wheel spin is a problem. The car would be great solely as a burnout car. If you wanted a more pleasant daily driver use diff gears of less than 3:1 as the original gears are much to short at 3.5:1.

Another note on this from Honest John.

BEFORE, you start consult an automotive engineer, this conversion requires an engineers certificate in NSW, the 250 swap requires exactly the same mods as a v8 with the exception of a collapsible steering column, It is reasonably straight forward to do, minor clearance problems at the sump to stabilizer, sump to drag link, fan to radiator, radiator size, flywheel stud pattern, carb, linkages in some instances, exhaust diameter, toque converter front spigot diameter, all fixable but if you a paying a mechanic an hourly rate, you wont like the bill, just roughly the engineer will require seat belts in all seating positions, with engineered mountings, 2 speed heater demister, 2 speed wiper/washers, 5 stud wheel pattern on all wheels, power assisted disc brakes (some insist on ventilated discs) etc etc. Like I said check with an engineer BEFORE you get into a big pile of dough to fit a cheap engine, you may be better to find another 200 or rebuild yours . Or if going to the trouble, fit the last generation cross-flow not the 250 “tractor engine” and get some value for money on the engineers certificate. my opinion only, but I’ve had all of the 6cyl options in one form or another over the past 25 years, if you are going to the trouble you may as well get the latest, electronic ignition alloy head unleaded, performance/ economy engine in there, they are dirt cheap (XF Falcon). HONEST JOHN

Brendan talking about clearance:

I have a 250 fitted to an XM , and it’s sure not that tight around the bell-housing , but it is damn close to the cross-member , maybe 5mm clearance .

How close is the front of the engine to the radiator ? With no fan or fan spacer , I have about 25 mm or so .

What happens if you drop the rear of the engine down , does that help the clearance ?. Maybe your gearbox crossmember isn’t right .

Old fashioned steering columns kill!

If you have seen the show on the Discovery channel you too will get a collapsible steering column, one can be used for later model Ford like the XE Falcon. This steering column can be matched to a XY steering box. To make it fit one of the mounting holes on the steering box has to be moved, by filling the old hole and drilling a new one. The pitman arm has also needs to be reset to the right angle to preserve the original steering characteristics. The steering knuckles on the spindles will matches up to the original steering knuckle position. No changes are needed to fit this.

In my XP Wagon the steering column is out of an ED Falcon (1994).I was going to run an XD column but thought I’d try an ED type. It’s mated to a shortened commodore rack and pinion via a Torana link (from Castlemaine Rod Shop). A bit of fiddling around is involved- swapping steering uni joints around, bending the mount to the firewall and getting the mount under the dash right, but overall not to hard and now it has fully adjustable steering and wipers, high beam, etc at your fingertips. Hope this helps. PS.. I also put in an XD wiring loom, making wiring connections a bit easier.

Engine Terminology and other questions

Just to clear up a few points , 2V and 4V in regard to early Ford Cleveland V8′s does indeed mean Venturi ( as in 2 barrel or 4 barrel carb )
• A 4V engine came with a 4 barrel carb , and large port (4V) heads .
• A 2V engine came with a 2 barrel carb , and small port (2V) heads .

This got a bit muddy in later engines that had small port heads and a 4 barrel carb !.

• 2V and 4v terminology relating to OHC engines can indeed mean 2 valve or 4 valve .
The “BBL” relating to carbies means “barrels” as in Venturi’s. Not sure why there are 2 “B”‘s used though , anyone ?.

What T-bar set up should I be looking at for a B/W 35 auto?

It depends on what is around, it sounds as though a TC Cortina unit will do the job, they had borg warner 35 auto’s it is a totally self contained unit, does not require a console to work, position it where you can reach it mount it securely, make sure your seat still moves forward, make the linkage, fill any holes. The TC cortina 4 cyl auto bench seat model has a longer handle on the tbar with a slight bend back, a bit easier to reach with the bench seat, your challenge, finding one, most had buckets.

Try earlybird spares at Thomastown, ask for Danny tell him I sent you, he knows early falcons, tell him what your up to, he may have something there. I’m not a big fan of the cable shifters, to modern, too big, too expensive, cables wear too quickly, cost lots too. honest john.

Spanner in the works John. I went down to the local wreckers a pulled a T-bar out of a TC. Trouble is the auto shaft comes out of the L/H side of a Cortina whilst mine comes out of the R/H side of my tranny. I still bought the T-bar. Only have 50mm between the top of the transmission and the hump in my floor, not much room to work in.

I plan to try and bend up, cut and weld some sort of bracket to try and come out to the right and somehow try and get it to the shaft.Every Cortina I looked at had the shaft out the left.

How can I sound proof the Falcon?

To do this properly there are many layers to bring together the sound proofing similar to a modern car.

The first layer is to stop the high frequency noise, this is proof-coat (Stone-guard) which goes on the underside of the car, and all over the wheel arches. The best for this is the professional tar-based, paint on. Then the same again on the inside of the car, under the carpet, then a layer of tar-based matting or a layer of weighted vinyl. On top of this goes the underfelt, which is either a horse hair or tri-fleck. Then on top goes the carpet proper.

The same treatment is for the firewall with possibly the addition of fibreglass insulation.

Lastly the under-bonnet insulation should be either put back in, or replaced as this keeps the noise down too.

Why do the XP’s normal get Windsor V8s?

From what can be seen this is just simplicity, it is an easier fit for a small block Windsor to fit in engine bay without chopping the shock struts etc to show horn in a larger 351 Windsor or Cleveland of other engine, you can make it fit, but gezzz it is tight, see here a 351 Windsor. The Windsor small block (302 and 289 and older) is a narrower width then the Cleveland (or Windsor 351) see the dimensions here.

HQ stub axles & callipers & the Ford rotors

Been there. I had serious issues with the CRS kit. There is an inherent problem (so I found out later from engineers) of the Ford rotor fouling the HQ calliper & calliper bolt heads. I have also heard reports that the stub axles can snap in a V8 conversion but I cannot confirm this.

The reason for the spacer is to prevent (supposedly) the fouling of the rotor by moving it further out along the axle. The wheel bearing inside the rotor is pressed up hard against the spacer which in turn is pressed hard against the stub axle. This may give some credence to the axle snapping reports b/c the rotor is further along the axle creating different stresses not designed for.

I became so frustrated that I ended up using XW stub axles & lower front springs. I’m not a big wrap for the CRS XP lowering kit.

Just a sidelight, the latest mods to my XP 302W Coupe is the RRS power steering system.

Castlemaine Rod Shop rack and pinion conversion

I was involved in trying to sort out 2 of these conversions a couple of years ago, one actually made it to the road (unfortunately), the other the owner unloaded the kit and went back to a steering box after spending at least $1000 in custom made column, universals, and linking shafts they are most definitely not a bolt in conversion, many issues with adapting steering column to rack, expensive double acting universal universal joints, custom steering shafts, movement of the rack in the car once installed (Dangerous) i wouldn’t fit one of these to my billy cart even if it could be made to work properly, check back into this thread on this web site i recall this was discussed at length at some stage probably a year ago.

The cut and re-spline of the original box, using a later column (xw or later) is probably the simplest and most engineering sound, adapting the xm-xp pitman arm to the later steering box is possible but discussion with an engineer here, led to his decision that there is not enough metal left after the hole is opened up, remembering that it is being tightened onto a tapered spline, the methods of opening up the hole and enlarging the spline are also many and varied, from heating and driving an old steering box shaft into the hole (lethal, can make the original forging brittle) to actually putting the pitman arm in a shaper and machining a new set of splines to suit the larger diameter steering shaft, I was quoted at least $500 to $1000 to set the machine up then about $200 each after that, the engineer still didn’t like this due to the lack of metal left afterwards as mentioned at the start of this post, I’ve also seen these hand filed too, same problem, it appears what we need is a new scratch made pitman arm, with additional metal around the steering box end to allow for the bigger shaft diameter, any machinists, metallurgists out there looking for a project?

With the number of engineers out there requiring the collapsible column for 302 v8 conversions now there appears to be a market for this stuff. The RRS rack and pinion is a great conversion, fits , works great but costs, it was designed to do this job not adapted from something else. Honest John

How can I drop the suspension of the Falcon (easily)?

There are several options here, first from The Castlemaine Rodshop you can buy some drop axles for the front, or you can have others modified, including the common as muck HQ Holden spindles, these have to be modified, professionally but are a cheaper option, albeit not a easy. This also means you can have standard Holden HQ disc rotors and callipers fitted to these spindles.

On the back you can have the springs reset at Lovell or AVO Shocks or many other places, this will give you about an inch. Or if you are really after a drop in the bum, you can have the spring eyelets reversed so that are below, not above the spring centre and this will give you about two inches.

What about diff options for a Falcon?

Most people go for the old faithful ford 9′ for good reason, you can get custom centre from 1 to 5 ratios, you can have Slip, Limited Slip and Detroit lockers! If you are getting one go for the early Compact (8in.) – 1962-1964 and Tank Fairlane (9in.) – 1959-1961 and there are some that are short enough to bolt straight in, but they are getting rare.

The 9′ from the later sixties Fairlanes and GTs have a much wider housing and are too wide for the XP.

If however you are not going for the all out ball tearing performance, many people have put in a 8’3/4 and even the 8′ Ford diffs successfully. Lastly there is the Centura diff that can be put in, this is right width and will take a small V8, also it shares the Ford bolt pattern, but it means moving the mount points for the suspension so it is a bit of work, as the Centura had a four-link setup and the Falcon leaves.

There is also the option of the Ford Commercial diff which has five stud bolt patter, heavy duty axles, bearings and brakes, but only a 4.11 ratio, where as 3.5:1 is better, with 3.25:1 better still.

Disc brakes, how and why?

When you put a V8 under the hood you are required by law to upgrade the brakes, there are some excellent after market brakes and boosters, such as this set in Louie’s XP, but if you are a bit short on cash, then you can get them from a XR-XY Falcon ( or XA-XF requires a tapper sleeve for the tie-rod-ends) and the are ‘almost’ and easy fit… But seek help if you have never done this before, it would be a shame to test the brakes first time at 100kmh…

Fitting a dual circuit system brake system, including a new master cylinder, the brake booster valve and all brake lines is also a good idea to help slow you down, a PBR VH44 brake booster will work a charm and has been used by a few people. The instructions are at the Falcon Car Club of WA.

Also the CRS have a conversion kit and go to a brake specialist as there is some machining to do – done, good feed back – after a hard installation.

You Get more exotic, such as HQ discs after doing so more machining – rear and cheap if you have some mates in the game.

Superroo have a mounting kit from the XW to mount the VH44 in a XP. Rear spears have the VH40l for sale for $400 bux. If you don’t have one, try it first without as it is reportedly OK without a booster. When it comes time, pop it under the guard.

As for the rear, get a diff with them already is the easy way, otherwise it is harder to get a kit and you are going to have to get some machining done.

XP Falcon Brake Facts: XP 4 stud are 9″ there are 4 different types of drum depending on the application; disc, drum, and wagon (drums all round), wagon (disc drum combo) width varies. And actuation method and wheel cylinder diameter varies between all 4.

Ute van police and taxi got 5 stud 10″ drums, very similar to XR and later, but not the same.

The rear wheel cylinders were specifically left and right, they had angled brake pipe inlets, not unlike the front drums, most have been changed to XR and later, quite often with incorrect bore size, they were originally 7/8″ bore.

VH40 and VH44 boosters are available with about 7 different pressure ratings to suit many applications from about 700psi to 1700 psi be careful to use the low pressure ones on drum all round applications, otherwise its instant lock up, mostly its personal taste if you like some feel in your pedal don’t overboost!

Locked up brakes are no good to anybody!!! brake balance front to rear is also important, it can be achieved in many ways, increase /decrease rear shoe area, larger or smaller bore rear wheel cylinders, adjustable proportioning valves, twin master cylinder with a balance bar to the pedal
(most race cars use this) is infinitely adjustable, or if you must twin boosters of different sizes and pressures (expensive to get right unless you have all options at hand) also lining materials can be varied too, I’ve probably created more questions, than answers here, but you know “think outside the square”!! Thanks to Honest John.

Putting in XF Stubs? There are a couple of options open to you. If you don’t want to use solid rotors, you can use XW stubs & rotors. The benefits are that the rotors are ventilated, negligible bump steer & can bolt on the XF callipers. or If you use XF stubs, rotors & callipers, a company in Brookvale, Sydney called RRS have a bump steer elimination kit for
around $350. I have installed their power steering rack on my XP Coupe & it works brilliantly but costs around $2200.

Using XF stub axles on an XM/XP is that the geometry is wrong, but not by much. From memory, the tie rod bolts higher onto the stub axle instead of being horizontal. The suspension would also have to be lowered as the more the suspension travel, the greater the bump steer (if any) using the XF stubs. This was also the case with my original stup, the XW stub axles, only the bump steer was less. I have heard many people say that the XD/E/F stubs work ok for them. I’ve tried them all. Horses for courses.

The spindles will fit straight in, barring the tie rod ends. You’ll need to either sleeve your XR ones, or change to XW-up Pitman/idler/drag link set. There’s not a lot of metalwork to fit the XF power box – give it some thought. The utes were punched out right to ’97 (XH) or so; a lot of factory parts support still for that front end.

As to the booster bolt-up; you may need an XY or XW bracket under the dash, but only maybe. Quite possibly you can drill the four holes to mount, in a convenient fashion with your existing. Make a little template and it’s straightforward.

Speaking personally, I have gained a fairly low opinion of the owner of Fordforums over time, and the conspicuous site censorship coupled with commercial aspects, has caused me to “vote
with my feet”.

Shame you haven’t got $5K or whatever (probably double, landed) it is for a nice Cobra IRS clip. High on my wishlist!

How do you get the bastard window winders off?

The door & window winder handles are held on by a wire clip under the handle, many Aussie cars used the same method in the 60s & 70s inc Holdens. You can buy a removal tool from almost anywhere for a few dollars. See the copy of the page from the workshop manual covering handle removal.

Is there a performance drop for running LPG verses petrol?

No, not if your engine builder knows what he is doing, the LPG is about 105 octane where pump Super/PULP is about 95, and Shell Optimax is about 98+. So if the engine has the right internal, ie different rings etc as there is no petrol to wash away the oil, then you can get a 11:1 compression without to much trouble – but…. you need to have hardened values (or a ULP engine), and you must keep the intake temperature low or it will ping. On a petrol motor you are limited even on PULP/Optimax to about 10:1. Now imaging if you had 7:1 and a whole lot of forced induction!