Exhaust and Carby For Mild 221

[Danielson]

Hi all . I have recently purchased a XW ute withh a mild Bored and balanced 221 with a supposed yella terra head. It has 308 inlet valves 302 springs a mild cam, pacemaker extractors 2 inch exhaust and a 4 speed . It does not have the 2V head with seperate manifold and is using the single barrel stromberg .
Questions?? Would a 2.5 inch exhaust system be a good thing on it (i have one available on an XF I am selling but only for a short time) and what is a good adapter and carby to fit on it. I have a standard 2 barrel weber off an XF if thats any good. Also what sort of initial advance is a good starting point. I also have an XF ditributor that I modified to fit but when all hooked up it did not work?? I hope to convert to LPG in the near future as well.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks .........Danielson

 

[xctasy]

Great to see another classic Falcon operator.

Check with addo on the use of an XE 0 903 064 700 series distributor. XF stuff won't work because of the EST spark unit. Any later distributir fits the post 1965 blocks, but some wiggle around at little because of the drill hole the holds the distributor drive. Cars and dsitrbuters after about 1980 run a 35 thou smaller casting to hold the smaller 0.495" distibutor drive in place.

Most have issues mounting the XE unit, but never ruuning it. There is a box/alloy housing which jutts out which can make it foul the side of the block.

The alloy housing under the plasitc control box can be whacked off, and can be smoothened by a file, and the original shape of the earlier Motorcraft disy can be copied. A nice plate clamp which holds the distributor down can be made up to suit. The use of a smaller M6 or M8 bolt with a small amount of expoxy filled in the orginal 7/16" hole could give a few extra mm's of space.

If there are any problems with the spark control unit getting in the way of the block, an recent post by addo tells you how to fit the common HEC coil and control unit from Familiy 2 Camira/Astra/ Holden engined Nissan Pulsar engines. It gives a lot more space on the smaller distributor.


The control unit can then be mounted like it was in the Commodore VN/VP V8 or Camira... on the spring tower.


That should allow you to wind up the advance to 9 to 12 deg BDTC.

The head could well be something Dyno Dave Benett did back in the 70's, but if you check the casting numbers with the sticky started by Roath, it gives you the casting numbers for XW,XY and XB heads.

One of our guys, 73GreenMachine, has an alloy adaptor which mounts the 34ADM to the earlier Falcon engines. It should fit yours. Have a chat to him. Bolt spacing is 46 by 93, and it mounts to the earlier Stromberg Bendix 1-bbl carb(not 186S or 2V or 302W or 302C 2-bbl).

There is one for old EH to HX Holdens which might fit up, but the bolt spacing diagonal is 75 degrees different. There are three Stromberg 1-bbl bolt patterns. Two Ford ones, one Holden one. You'll have to measure the hole in the log head for size, and tell us if the bolt spacing is about 16 degrees North Nor West as you look at it from the drivers seat.
Have a look at 73GreenMachines pictures, it'll gve you the idea

The ADM 34 fuel pump is supposed to run a low pressure return line, so take it off an XF , its has a similar chassis shape, and the plastic clips can be drilled to fit. You then route back to the tank. An XE/XF (non EFI) station wagon pickup should fit into the XW. ADM 34 carbs are very economical because it has a low pressure fuel system and a carb which can be very lean when it cruising, and nice an rich when going hard. It also doesn't suffer hot fuel handling problems when its 40 deg C in the shade.


The LPG Gas thing is easy. Get a GRA mixer/B2converter, or maybee an Impco 225 and L converter, or perhaps a CA300 and L converter. They all can be mated to the engine if it has an ADM 34 adaptor.


I guess its time we hade more pictures to help show you what all this means. This year maybee!

The final thing is...enjoy yourself, and don't let it get to you. If you don't understand this stuff, just keep on asking stuff. We don't bite ( much!)

 

[addo]

2½ exhaust won't hurt but don't expect major differences.

For the ignition that refused to fire - is it the one with the electronic box on the side of it?



You really are advised to re-shaft it with the 40 thou bigger shaft off a donor distributor. Wiring is simple - red to ignition and positive coil terminal (no resistance wire), black or green to negative coil terminal. Check for a good grounding when the dizzy's installed. Use an aftermarket coil (Bosch HEC 716) if you can't be 100% sure the old unit has never been stored on its side (its cooling oil drains out the vent hole).

Redline make a couple of adaptors for Brand H, but I have not checked which may best suit our sixes. My carb of choice would be a Carter 2-hole off a slant. Simple unit, and probably not too dear. To an extent, that would dictate what type of adaptor I might look for.

Cheers, Adam.

 

[Danielson]

Thanks for the info guys. From what I have seen only the series 2 XFs (unleaded) used the EST, the early ones without the catalytic converter seem to use the same dizzy as an XE with just the 2 wires although the curves may differ. Mine seems to fit snuggly into the 221 and now that I have moddified the base I can secure it o.k. Is the difference in the actual gear or the shaft at the bottom as I did not think to measure it. It is the same as the one in the pic thanks addo and I wired just like that but ran out of time to investigate it properly.

I currently have an XF series 2 with a Reconditioned series 1 motor in it. I recently had 2 do the valves and decided to fit the series 2 head 2 it as it has closed chambers and bigger inlet valves than the earlier model. I also used the standard cam from the series 2 motor and it sure makes a big difference. I also have extractors and a 2.5 inch ex system on it. Anyway that ones for sale and what I would like to be able to do is get the 221 to go as good as the crosflow and have similar mileage or am I wasting time.. :
Once again Thanks for the answers so far and I look forward to more.
Regards Danielson

 

[addo]

The gear is OK, just the pilot at the tip of the shaft is smaller on your donor unit. There's no vertical restraint for a sleeve, so I can't suggest this approach.

 

[Danielson]

After checking through these forums, I would like to fit the my XF weber to the 221.
It seems logical that to enlarge the intake in the head is going to be benificial but I do not want really take the head off nor do I have the time.
If I thoroughly block the ports with rags and use a vacuum to remove all the swarf do you think I could get away with the porting on the inlet without removing the head : ? I know it sounds risky but time is an issue at the moment. If I just fit the weber with a redline adapter and no other mods will I notice much difference ?
I am looking to try and keep it economical but to still have fun when I sink the boot in.
Lastly is there much to be gained in performance and economy by the fittment of the electronic XE XF distributor, I have not done anymore with it until I get a spare standard unit to take the shaft from. What other economical mods cxan be done ???? if there is such a thing...
Thank for a great forum and help so far
Regards Daniel.......

 

[addo]

The other thing you can do for swarf resistance is to pop the welsh plugs front and rear of the log. That enables you to pack it even harder, and as long as you then pull the rags out the centre hole, everything will be swept along. I'd "sweep" it with a strong mechanic's magnet, too.

Even if that were too much trouble, try blending and finessing an adaptor. It will only show a deficit at the point where flow is limited, which is probably not where you're mostly going to have the pedal.

There will be a few snags, such as getting full and even throttle movement but they're par for your course.

 

[Danielson]

Thanks Adam, I had not thought of removing the welsh plugs . As for the dizzy do they make much difference or is it more of a low maintence issue ? I have 2 of trhe XE early XF distributors if anyone needs one I also have 1 XE fuel injected motor and an XF Unleaded motor with 3 speed auto should anyone want them or parts of them ..
Regards Daniel

 

[addo]

You should get more economy with the electronic distributor. It will take a good lot of driving to pay for the fancy new coil, though.

It gives a nice instant start, 50 thou plug gaps, and if hooked to manifold vacuum, a good twitch corresponding to the loud pedal. I'm not one for this "points are more reliable" caper. We place far more trust in far more fallible things everyday (like cars coming in the other direction ).

 

[Danielson]

Got that electronic system working today, it turned out to be a faulty coil. I am running the points coil at the moment until I get a new electronic one. Is likely to fry ? :x
I have not had the distributor shafts changed but had a sleeve made that fits into the bottom of the distributor to give the shaft better support. After looking at the shafts it appeares there is very little load on them and I figured this should suffice for the time being.. After a quick drive I cannot notice any power gain but perhaps the new coil may help. I have set initial timing to 10 degrees BTDC.
Cheers Daniel

 

[73GreenMachine]

I am in the process of doing the exact same distributer mod at the moment. I am using the pre crossflow gear and sleeving from the bottom of the drive shaft between the gear and the shaft and holding it on with the original pin. A possible reason why you have no real performance increase at the moment is that the advance map may not suit your engine and its mods. I tried 2 advance maps of theelectronic distributer for the 200 and 250 on my worked 200 when it existed and there was a HUGE difference in the way the motor ran. Get it recurved and then you will feel the power.

 

[Danielson]

I will have to look into the recurve more as its hard to see exactly what you get, and I imagine that by having the whole car and a dyno the results would be the best. I have advanced it to initial timing of 18 degrees BTDC and it runs better.
I was reading on some other posts here (in the US) to set initial timing to max manifold vacuum so I hooked up a vacuum guage and the more I advanced it the higher the reading got up to 22 inches HG which was at about 22 Deg BTDC. I backed it off to 20 inches HG and 18 BTDC. There is no detonation and it runs good but it does seem like a lot of advance...
Cheers Dan
.
P.S Thats a good approach to making the shaft bigger and holding it in place but its going to be a very thin sleeve. I looked into doing very similar and the machinist said he would have to make the shaft about 1mm smaller so that the sleeve would be thick enough. Good Luck ..