Identifying an Alloy Crossflow Head?

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SixFoFalcon

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What are the differences among the alloy heads used on the Crossflow? I used to think they were all the same, but now it seems that there are some differences. There are no date/year codes cast into the head as far as I can tell. How do I know which head (year, application, etc.) I have?
 
There are nine different types. The first were cast HF on the inside of the rocker cover. Then they had date stamps on the front left as viewd from the drivers seat. Then in 1985, they cahnged to a C-series code.

There are three generic types.

Pre EFI, 1980 to 1982. 53 to 56 cc. Cast HF 1, 2,3 inside the rocker cover

XE EFI area head, 1983 to 1985, Both carby and EFI ran the same 53 to 56 cc open chamber head. Cast HF 4 or 5 inside the rocker cover. It had scollups out of the intake ports to fit the injector ports, no mater if it had EFI or a carb.

The C-series heads are also similar to the XE area heads, but they have long reach spark plugs, closed chamber high swirl combustion chambers of about 49 cc. About 1986, they changed to a C2 casting, and then some other casting for the last of the utes made untill 1993.

Basically, I have to pull appart a few more heads to get all the codes together.

Anyone else want to contribute? This post is useless without photos... :eek:
 
Dunno. Haven't ripped my EFI XF Fairmont engine appart yet, but I trust anyone who has been around these engines if thay haven't been head swapped.

Sound like Pete's got it sorted, thanks for that mate!.


Time for a new sticky!


Any of our American guys have HF stamped on there XD Falcon 1981 alloy head engines.
Spyke,
Speedy,
Econoline-64 etc?
Mustang Six (Locost 200 JCX-FLOW)
and mustangsix2 (Mustang XF engine)

There is a past post on this, but I couldn't get any codes on the 81 XD, 82XE. my 1984 XE was HF 5, and had 321 stamped by the manifold water pipes, and something like JG cast on as embossed text on the front true left.

I know for certain Ford changed the parts codes with the XF, and that there were a plethora of changes when the XF came out in October 1984, and again in Ocober 1985 when they went unleaded. C1.C2, E1, E2 sounds right. It's the ealier ones that are of interest (XD, XE, TF Cortina), because they are less common than the very sucessfull 3 year run of XF sedans, wagons, long wheelbase Fairalans and LTD's and then the 9 year run of XF utes.
 
I have 2 heads stamped HF-4..... too bad they are both cracked.
 
You can TIG weld the alloy heads back up, mate! Honda's casting quality is first rate.

Alloy heads are able to be fixed up with good sucess.

Pete PM'd some info.

HF 1 for pre EFI (XD and early XE) So called Alloy Head and Alloy Head II
HF 4 for 84 XE. (injector 'bumps' in the intake port).
C1 Carby pre October 1985
E1 EFI pre October 1985
C2 Carby after October 1985
E2 EFI after October 1985

There may be HF2, 3 and HF 5's around, which is why I said nine castings. Discokin6 has a lot of info on them.

There were three factory pistons used. Approx 15.4 cc on the 3.3, about 22 cc on the 4.1, and then a 27.3 cc item with latter unleaded catalytic converter Falcons. As for head gaskets,they were all stock Monotorque, but the EFI engines always had lower compression than the carb versions.

The compression on the 4.1 carb was always pretty high, about 9.35:1. Then it dropped to about 8.7:1 with the unleaded carby 4.1.

The head cc's are avaliable on the factory Ford shop manauals,. After 1983, Ford stopped publishing lots of extra details, and so did Gregories.


That's where you fine people come in!
 
I will check the casting mark this morning and post later in the day.
David in Dayton, TX USA
 
I havent got this sorted at all. As X said we need everyone else to post.

What i have with me now is three intakes and they have c1,c2 and c3

The c2 intake came off the hf1 head with 83da block and no injector ports.

Im pretty sure my two '85 xfs are 84da with c2 intakes also (high comp. leaded).

I have no idea where the c3 intake cam from, maybe a unleaded engine.

I have been told by many people that the open chamber E2 injected head is the best but im thinking my xd/xe alloy head would be best for carb.

Are all XF unleaded closed chamber high swirl?

Pete[/b]
 
OK,
When I received this engine the head had been removed. I don't know if it is the matching head for the block. The manifold was bolted to the head, therefore I feel it is correct for this head.
Here is all the numbers I can find on my block, head and manifold.
Block:
casting left hand side 76DA 6015 CA
stamp right hand side JG 23UJ 41 536C
Head:
casting inside valve cover HF-1
stamping on front HEB 083 23508
Manifold:
casting back runner 82DA 9425 AB
casting code C-1 no injector port bosses

Hope this helps sort things out a bit. It looks like the more info we collect the more confusing it gets.
David in Dayton, TX
 
Addendum to previous post.
Looking at the code breaker info in the other posts, this is what I think I have. Please correct if you see an error.
Block is a:
J-Aus
G-Geelong ,JG possibly a Kiwi code?
23-Falcon/500/GL
U-78
J-May
Head is a:
Alloy carburetted pre efi design change
Maniflod:
same as head
Carburetor tag # 82 DA TA

It would appear by the numbers that the head and block did not come from the same donor vehicle. Anyone agree, disagree?

Execute, Did you get my follow up email about additional parts required for my engine completion?

David in Dayton, TX USA
 
Yes, it does seem they're not factory matched. That would have been an iron head to start with. From memory the difference is you need to install a couple of SBF style aligning tubular dowels. Maybe that's been taken care of?

BTW, JG is the most common prefix from everything I've seen. 23 is/was a common car.
 
Howdy Dave. Affirmative on the email. I've got the right distributor and carb kit for you, Dave.


Don't worry about the missmatch. Nothing is insurmountable. With Fords, you can do anything, and get away with it. Ford HATE spending money, and never make changes which limit the retrofitting of blocks and heads form the smae engie families. Which is why all of us, if in America or Aussie or Kiwiland or Argentina, we all can use common parts.

A run down on what you have.

The block you have is the first X-flow from 1976.

The head is 1980 to 1982 XD or XE. Carb is first of the two barrel, so that makes it XE Alloy Head II. Don't worry about the locating ring s Ford ran on two of the head bolts. They exist to stop the head shifting and fretting in service, and are a saftey first policy. They are quite hard to intall unless you have a cutting tool. Exactly the same as the ones uesd in the 351 Cleveland/ Modified and 400.


The ignition system you need is either the stock Bosch built but Motorcraft braned item from the Alloy Head XD or XE (It's called Duraspark by Ford Australia service book). That may not fit unless I have the plate ground down so it can be centred to the correct timing. The earlier block has no rebate because it was designed in the pre electronic ignition era. The bigger V8's got electronic ignition in 1976, but the sixes didn't see it until mid 1980.

The other option is the early points type 1976 to 1980 XC-XD ignition, also made by Bosch Australia but packaged as a Motorcraft. It has a common breakerless conversion which I have in my XD Falcon engine with its 1978 78 DA 6015 block.

There were some extra (very minor) changes to the x-flow blocks in 1978 and again in 1980, 1982, 1984, 1985, and 1987 mainly to deal with the changes in main seals, locating tangs for the alloy head in 1980, and then the bigger electronic ignition boss. Nothing really major.

I'll check out the shaft diameter. It did change over the years, but again, nothing major that can't be fixed with ease.

Everyone check your numbers. Good information will give you a good engine.
 
The early 1980 to 1982 heads (HF1) found on XD 1/2 and early XE's before EFI. With the later XF valves. This according to an early artical I found in Street Machine, 1990.

The later heads are renown for detonation problems, but it is mostly related to an eggressive spark advance and the high swirl chambers. Remember, despite being 5 to 10% heavier than the XD and XE, the XF was about 10% better on fuel mileage than the earlier ones. And they were heaps better than the XC by about 10%.

Early heads flow just as well. Ford went to the bigger XF valves to make up for the restricted flow ramp the XF heads had. The engineers did there homework, and found that the High Swirl Combustion was a great way of reducing emissions, gaining mid range torque, and much better economy. Ford US was doing the same thing with the Falcopn 200 based HSC 2.3 and HSC 2.5 engines and also the 1986 5.0 HO EFI.

Although you undo the economy a little, if you put XF valves in an XD or XE head, then you have much more air flow and very reasonable performance. Just don't try and run it with the later XF ignition.

Everything with Ford Alloy Head II X-flows in the 1985 to 1993 era is closely matched to the induction, gearing and ignition and fuel used. Change one of the ingredients, you can have problems. It's a little like computers. They are upward compatiable, but not downwards compatable. Adding the later ignition to an earlier Falcon Six without the later head and knock sensor, or adding the later automatic and gearing to a formerly manual XE will create terriable detonation and pinking problems.

Back to the numb3ers...
 
3cf8a24b.jpg



http://photobucket.com/albums/c87/fordmuscle/?action=view&current=3cf8a24b.jpg

Will be cleaned up soon!
 
MonotorqueHeadGasketImprint.jpg



Proof that it is orginal shape...the Monotorque label from the factory head gasket. Many XD to XF Alloy head Falcons have never had there heads lifted!
 
I was wondering what that was X! The exhaust valves are pretty corroded and water galleries are pretty darn good. Must have had proper coolant most its life.

Notice the two large locating 'things' you were talking about.

Have a look at the pics in my photobucket i setup today guys.

Pete
 
HF5 does exist as i saw one today at a swap meet. Has injector notches and and open chamber head just like my HF1.

Pete
 
Cool. My memory is rapidly waning on my old XE Falcons head. I removed in it 1997, and it was the standard head which some utter nong had sandpapered backand reapplied the stock Monotorque gasket and torqued back up. After a radiator leak, it blew a head gasket, and ignited number 5 chamber so bad, it melted the metal around the valve insert, and yet the valve was still in place. It was rewelded, remachined, and was still on the car when it was sold in 2003.

(That's why I say the alloy head is a good bit of kit!)

It had notches, what is in fact a closed chamber head like all X-flows ran. The C1, C2 and E1, E2 are kidney shaped heads, still closed chamber.

There has not ever been an open chamber Ford X-flow head, as they are all copies of the old 302 Clevleand "Quench" heads, with chambers downsized for the smaller valves and narrower cylinder bores. The open chamber 351 C heads were entirely round, all the early X-flow heads have a quench zone on each side, which stops them being an open chamber design.Best way to describe it is that all pre 1985 heads are more open chambered than the later ones.

The head on my old XE was not the later kidney one, and was in fact an HF 5 closed chamber head. Just like one of the engines in my garage. Top is a picture of the old iron 1977 XC iron one, bottom is a 1984 HF 5 alloy head.

1004DtOXEFalconAlloyHeadIIHF5Hondacastcrossflowh.jpg



The intakes for HF 1, HF4, HF 5, and C1 or C2 heads can be any type of C1, C2, C3 casting, but the best are the two barrel ones like this..

1021DtO82DA9245intkaemanifold.jpg


After market ones like this one for Alloy heads and Holley 2300 carbs are common

Item4000NewImage3.jpg



The iron head x-flow won't fit the later intake, so you often find ones around like this

Item4000NewImage4.jpg


In normal form ,the iron head x-flow and the first alloy head with the 1-bbl carb looks like this

DSC02849.jpg


The later alloy heads had a different mounting face, like this

80to82XDAlloyhead1bblwith2-bblHolle.jpg



The chamber cc's went from 53 cc down to 49 ccs from 1976 XC to the last 1993 XF.

Above, the XF EFI head, below, the earlier HF 4 carb head. Note the difference in chamber shape . Both are closed chamber heads, but the carb head is more closed

heads_small.jpg



The earlier carb HF 4 head is like this

headmod1_small.jpg
 
Non-caustic oven cleaner, mate. Get those pieces of kit nice and presentable. ;)
 
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