Ford Australia changed the bellhousing bolt spacing of all six cylinder engines, that's the bad news. You cant just bolt up any US tranny, but for manuals, there shouldn't be much difference at the input shaft/gearbox interface. What you can get is the cross flow engines with manual bells which fit:-
1.the Borg Warner three-speed ( like Plymouth Vailants used),
2.The Borg Warner SR 4 ( which we called the single rail over here).
3.The BW T5 ( rather rare and expensive )
4.The Toploader 4-speed (Very rare! Only available on pre 1973 pre XB non-cross flows, and you have to swap them over to fit a cross flow). I think Jack used this type of bell on his EFI Cross flow Mustang.
5. The Australian C4 was an option on these engines, but mostly they had Borg Warner(BW) 35 3-speed autos, which are Vovo 144/164/244/264 types. Very closely related to the BW 55 and 65's found in 6 cylinder BMW's and Jags before 1985. This was a very small, light and efficient transmission, but set up of the kickdown cable is critical to the long life of this box. A C4 is much stronger, and American made, not a locally built box.
For you own advice, I'll tell you want you don't need.
You don't want a cast iron headed 1976 4.1 with a BW 35. (Power rating was 123 hp net). That engine was 51 ponds heavier than the Alloy head. It only had a Bendix one barrel carb...the Weber ADM 2 barrel never arrived until mid 1982, two years after the Honda cast alloy head arrived.
You don't want a post 1982 XE engine as it won't have a C4 automatic. (These were rated at 140 hp net for the first year, and then derated to 131 hp the next, even though it was the same engine!). The later post 1985 XF engines had there Weber ADM linked to an electronic module, and are difficult to set up if thats not included. They also have detonation prone combustion chambers, and thats not what you want when these engine run 9.35 to 9.65: 1 comprssion ratios. Leaded fuel was 97 RON in Australia, which is about equal to your 93 RON/MON rating Premium. The leaded fuel version were rated at 131 hp. These pass US 1973 emissions
Post 1986 XF engines were unleaded, and had lower compression to run a fuel equal to your regular 87 RON/MON fuel (Our 91 RON). Problem is , all post 1986 unleaded engines had either BW 35 variants of the automatic, or the rare BW T5 or BW single rail (SR4 ). These engines lost 2/3 rds of a horsepower under unleaded fuel. They pass US 1975 emissions with a 2 way catalyst.
My suggestion is to look for a C4 equiped 1980 to 1982 XD Falcon Alloy Head 4.1 or TF Cortina Alloy Head 4.1, and specify that it must have a C4. Altough that engine came with a 1 barrel Bendix, you can replace it with a 1982-85 XE Weber ADM 34/34 carb, manifold, air cleaner and rekitted fuel pump with a return line. That will bolt right on, and will give you excellent economy and performance. The only issue is making the kickdown lever work with this carb. Because of this, I'd consider using a #2300 350 Holley on a Holley/Weber #2305 or 5200 series apator. It's hard to beat the ADM manifold. It flows well and is vastly better than any earlier manifold.
Hope this helps you locate the right engine. Hate to overload you with facts, but info is power!
