What shal we do with this $2000

[Anonymous]

Hi guys,
My mate has a TD cortina with a Stock 250 Xflow, extractors and a 3 inch exhaust! He has about $2000 - $2500 to spend on engine Mods. What do you guys recomend he do? How does he spend this cash and get the most power for his Money? :checks:
Cheers

PHoeNiX_

z: :UK: :USA:

 

[xctasy]

Some of the late TD's (Tecnical Disaster?) ran an ADR 27a cross-flow. I guess thats a post July 1976 car. My old Mk111 Cortina was a Pommy TD. The coke bottle styling had many admirers, especialy in Azure Blue like my old 2000cc hump. Took my carb out of it and gave it to a friend to put in his Hilman Hunter. The Cortina was my first 350 cfm Holley conversion!

My No. 1 pick is Nitrous oxide.

How quick is he at dis-arming the solenoids if Mad Max flaggs him down?

Cops are the issue for this mod, but done right with a < than 100 hp boost, its got to be the bargin!


My No.2 pick is conver to alloy head (save 23 kg over the front end), an upgrade to EFI (it does fit) and a dyno-tune. 180 hp easy with this, and no chip mods...unleaded computer systems are best. With EEC upgrade, more like 200 hp with a 280 degree cam with less than 215 50 thou duration. Starting to glide past 3K dough barrier!

My Balclutha friend Richard runs a 250 XE EFI engine in his TE with 5-speed Hi-Lux gearbox on single rail bell housing and Sunbird cross member and 2.92:1 gears. It's a weapon!, and hes had it for a long, long time.

But there aint much else to do in the SouthIsalnd except enjoy your car. Adveture tourisim is much more expensive!!!!

 

[addo]

For $2K, you could buy a few EAs. LOL.

Reco'd 85 alloy head with port and polish, 4 barrel manifold, Holley carb, JP timing set, antipump lifters and a nice "hot street" cam from Ron and Ray.

I'd say roller rockers, but Jeff won't let me.

Cheers, Adam.

 

[xctasy]

Is Jeff off his (Roller) rocker?

That's sad. I'm sure they would do a good job, but I blew his bucks on laughing gas

 

[Anonymous]

I'm gonna go against the grain here, and suggest LPG and a nice, big turbo!

 

[Anonymous]

WEll, were goin for natural asperation first then well see what happens with the turbo. No NOS yet either, its a wagon and a NOS bottel would be quiet easily spotted in the back by anyone weather its cops or just some punks lookin to stral cars ect.

Were lookin at more less obvious mods to start with, I was thinking EFI, CAM and some sort of cold air intake.

Whats the best Cam for maximum power and drivability? (and if possible still 1/2 ok fule economy) This is a street car so we dont want it blurbing and jumping from side to side on idel at the lights. Id perfer Crow (coz my missus can get em cheeper than normal through her work)

A guy on ford forums has offered an alloy EFI Xflow head, how much do u guys think its worth? And where would i go about getting all the other stuff, loom, computer, injectors ect?

Change over Yella Terra Head and a set of roller rocker were on the cards aswell coz the missus works for Yella Terra But i dont think they make the rocker anymore

 

[addo]

If your wife works for Yella Terra... Let me know when you're sick of her, LOL. I think they still make Clevo roller rockers in a lot of forms, from the Platinum series through to Street Terra. Clevo is what they are, just 4 less than a bent eight.

The "602" or "776" grinds on a crossflow billet are your best bet. One is a little hotter than the other, but both fit with only new springs/retainers required too (no machining). Not sure how they go on an EFI donk.

Pay no more than $150 for the head and manifold/TB if possible; you can pull an EFI motor yourself for less than $200 in Sydney. Be wary of a used, worked up head with no flow figures. I'm not saying don't buy, just tread cautiously.

Disguise a nitrous bottle as a fire extinguisher. There are plenty of Wormald bottles wearing NOS stickers; why not go the other way? Good for a surprise.

Regards, Adam.

 

[Anonymous]

i wouldnt spend the money going EFi, it would chew up a bit of your money imho... not really worth it. a well tuned holley / weber does a pretty decent job.

cam - headwork - maybe some on suspension ?

 

[Anonymous]

Hmmm.... NOS desguised as a fire extinguisher sounds like a good idea to me. Perhaps ill have that 1 for the v8

The conversion to EFI shouldnt cost too much if i can get hold of and EFI XE or XF wreck. Then again, its not my car and I doubt my mate could do it himself.

Getting a Cam is a must i think. Im not too keen on headwork. Porting a pollishing has never really done much for my cars in the past. Dont get me wrong it works ok but it costs too much and theres too much effort involved for such a small power increase! We could just buy a Yella Terra head but even with an insider its pretty expensive.

Anyone got a good idea for a cold air intake setup on the xflow. I was thinking about cutting a hole in the bonnet and goin the "shaker" style bonnet scoop and airfilter setup. Or is there and easier way?

What about gear boxes. 3 speed = shithouse!! Is there any 5 speed manuals that will bolt straight in?? I hate the 4 speed boxes, i have one in my XE spac. It used to be ok but age kicked in and we had to replace it. The BW box we put in is a piece of crap! The ratios are up shit creek! 4000 rmp in first = 15kph??? The old box was more like 50 kph is 1st, 90 in second 130 in 3rd and 170 in 4th!

Thanks

PHoeNiX_

 

[xctasy]

Option 1: The 5-speed Hi-Lux gear box can be bolted up, but one of the bolts runs close to daylighting out of the 4-speed single rail bell housing. And you have to tap the others. The you have to fit a 9.5 inch clutch that suits the Toyota spline, or chance using the Toyota clutch pack. The Landcruiser clutch is too big to fit . The throw out bearing must clear the input shaft correctly.

Option 2: The aftermarket bell housing for the better W-series Supra gearboxes (they were used in the 300 hp VB-VK Commodore 253 Challenge is the capper...big bucks, but though as!) Over a 1000 ping in that, I'm sure!!!!

Addo is on the money cam wise. If you doing it, get a great cam, pay a big price. It's the heart beat raiser to a normally latent engine. I've got a very low lift Heatseaker form the early 1990's, which has about the same total duration as a stock cam, but comes off the ramps faster and has a t more lift earlier in its opening and later in its closing. It is about 256 degrees or so , with something like only 438 thou lift, I think. Your better off going slightly NATO with the cam (ie bigger). 250 is lots of cubes, and a light car, no problems with having to fit a hi-stall converter. Don't go over 220 degrees of open cam when the cam is over 50 thou open because it will hurt driveablity too much. Mine is only 200 or so degrees at 50 thou lift. But a cam supplier will sort you out!!!

And a note on polishing heads from David Vizard and Keith Duckworth (Cosworth DFV 3000 Formula One engine designer)....DON'T! Polishing heads on the intake and chamber lowers the level of suspended petrol vapour, and screws up mixture. Drops in power of up to 5% have been known at full throttle. Specific fuel consumption drops of over 10% are not uncommon. On the exhast side, polish as much as you like, it never hurts!

Cams which raise lift but hold duration to the lower limits (260-280 deg total or 200-220 at 50 thou lift) are the best on the street, and the stock cross-flow head really responds to extra lift. Anything done without a calibrated, Superflow tested cfm flow rate showing big increses from the stock head is a waste of money. You could end up with less flow!!!

And I'm into LPG too. Best idea is adding a couple of pounds of hospital or comerical grade nitrous to a 70 litre gas tank via the vent, but thats a Safety and Health issue, and you never heard it from me!