Baldies XC Falcon

[Bearded Baldy]

Right so back in 03 or 04 i was working at a @$*den dealership when this old boy turned up to see the painter out the back. Had this mint original looking XC which he parked next to my mk5 cortina wagon.
I waited til he was about to leave, quickly downed tools and ran out for a chat, 2 days later i was 5k poorer but had that falcon.
Turned out it didn't just look original, was one owner and had laid parked in the farmshed for 18 years only started n driven every 6 months to get a wof and another 6 months rego. Only had 160ish km's on the clock. Vinyl roof without a single bubble and a lpg tank in the boot. Perfect!!

[Bearded Baldy]

 

[Bearded Baldy]

Over the next year or two it got lovells springs and gas shocks in the front, big whiteline swaybar and nolathane bushes in a few places.

Pulled motor out and gave it a rebuild not long before my daughter was born. .030 mahle 8 cc pistons, lpg cam from kelford cams, impco model e reg and modified 2 barrel gas carb. Port castings removed and smoothed around valve guides. Head planed and ended up with 50cc chambers
Xe 2 wire distributor and bosch coil.
Copies of pacemaker headers but with tiny primarys(bought for 50bucks) 2 inch exhaust with coby resonator.

[Bearded Baldy]

All Ford Day 2009 ready to roll.

 

[Bearded Baldy]

This lasted a few years until i ended up moving town and working next to the former lpg specialists. Going through their old stock and spares i pieced together a ca300 mixer and snorkel. At around the same time the exhaust got hooked on the hoist at work and suffered a terrible fate. Quick weldup of 2.25 pipe to an old turboflow style muffler and bent to shoot out infront of the rear wheel. That temp fix lasted for another few years haha until the rust started being noticeable under the vinyl roof, at which point i put rego on hold and tore the roof off. Since then have gotten a mortgage and car has sat around, been legal on and off since then, 2013.

[Bearded Baldy]

Roughly xmas 2016 the motor came out again.

I had managed to find a 4speed, so in the interests of going more sporty than cruisy, the old 6 was getting more go fast bits.

Bigger bumpstick, again from kelfords.

CAM LIFT: in 0.325   ex 0.327
NETT VALVE LIFT:in .553   ex .556
ADVERTISED d : in 274   ex 286
DURATION : in 230 ;  ex 236

Over .5 inch of lift with these motors and the steel rockers tend to bind up, so an order to summit got me some roller rockers, studs and guide plates.

Tracked down a company in hawkes bay who do billet flywheels for speedway 4.0l motors. Score.

Fitted ring gear from an xe and drilled the mounting bolts out to 7/16, and it was good to go. 6.5kg instead of 13kg.

[Bearded Baldy]

Cleaned up the ports some more while i was there.

 

Tracked down a center console that was pretty rough, so recovered it in vinyl.

Shifter hole looked pooze so grabbed a piece of alloy plate and polished it up.

[Bearded Baldy]

Have picked up a few bonus spares over the years, a mint rear louvre, fairmont rear seats with armrest, various small chrome bits.

[Bearded Baldy]

Best 'mod' so far.

[Bearded Baldy]

Anyway back on track. Once the cam was dialled in, rocker guides file fitted and beers drunk. It was time to drop the motor in and get to work on the exhaust. 2.5 inch with single muffler, up and over the diff and out in the o.g spot after years of bogandumping out the side.

Tucked up nicely.

[Bearded Baldy]

Scored a 3.45 lsd from a xh ute, cleaned it up, overhauled the calipers and bent up some new hardline.

Been sitting on the bench over a year as i have been neglecting the projects for too long and getting sidetracked with new ones.

Bench was clean when i finished the diff. I swear.

[Bearded Baldy]

Upgraded to a GS dash along the way too.

[Bearded Baldy]

During the 4 speed swap decided i wanted to change to hydraulic clutch too. Problem being that from XC on the 6s had cable clutch.

Good news is that there is a workable way using o.e spec parts.

XB 6 cylinder 3 speed bellhousing. Need to open up the center by approx 4mm, just measure the gearbox front plate, mark the ball and go hard.

Now it sits flat, only 3 of the 4 gearbox-bell bolts line up, bolt it tight, mark where you need the new hole, remove gearbox. Quick drill and tap and you are done.

Will add what release bearing i used here* when i remember.

** part number GSB117 **

Unbolt cover plate on firewall and fit master cylinder. Fit XB slave cylinder.

Remove cable clutch pedal from box and fit hydraulic pedal and clutch/brake shaft from a v8 box (or rarespares etc if cannot find new).

Job done.

[Bearded Baldy]

Current intake of choice is Redline Torker 2 barrel with a 500 Holley on it. Have run a 350 before and it was at its limits with the smaller cam setup. Fuel supply is by a Facet solid state pump mounted by the tank.

This is far far far from optimal with the 500.

So i have decided to go big, have sourced another tank from a later model wagon that appears to be the right mounting. Will need to replace the intank pump with better one i.e walbro, Will make and fit new fuel main and return lines (no return line atm), adjustable regulator up the front to finish it off.

 

I also have a 600cfm vacsec Holley here which would be ideal, but will need either an adaptor or new manifold. If i have to get a new manifold i would rather buy an Aussiespeed one, but that requires an alloyhead swap, which means i need to find the right head option.

[Bearded Baldy]

Found an alloyhead, c2 casting so a bit small on the chamber size but will cc it first and doublecheck.

Pics once i collect.

[Bearded Baldy]

Week off for school holidays, going to try clean up and paint the driveshaft for the 3.45 diff. It is in a very sad state currently.

Pic of it here somewhere......

[Bearded Baldy]

Bit ugly but joints are good and yoke should clean up with some wetndry.

Shit is getting harder to find so grabbed this as soon the diff seller said he had a matching driveshaft, i didn't ask if it was any good just said how much, it was free so yeah mint!

[Bearded Baldy]

Shed has been a mess for 4 years at least. Started as organised clutter then progressed to utter shambles.

Took most of the weekend, and a few hours tonight. But it is nearly ready for car again.

Done one trip to the dump already, have to take some waste oil/dirty fuel containers to work to empty out. And move a few things to the garden shed. Nearly have room for the tv too!

[Bearded Baldy]

Have head. Ports are far better design the ironhead currently fitted.

Will price up options of bigger valves etc before i go too crazy on cleaning up the throats and reshaping chambers.

 

 

also soooooo much lighter.

[Bearded Baldy]

Changed my mind about the shed, want car on the other side so i can still use lathe, grinders etc, and most importantly reach the stereo.

 

So for todays mission i am reorganising the shelves and moving shit from side to side. Another crate of rubbish full already. Still not convinced it is all mine....