corsechris Posted March 5, 2019 Posted March 5, 2019 The Xflow was from the era of engine rebuilds every 30k (if you were very lucky). Ours was at about 24k when we took it out and put the Zetec in. It was still going well, but was definitely showing signs of wear. Quote
Thrustyjust Posted March 5, 2019 Posted March 5, 2019 30 minutes ago, corsechris said: The Xflow was from the era of engine rebuilds every 30k (if you were very lucky). Ours was at about 24k when we took it out and put the Zetec in. It was still going well, but was definitely showing signs of wear. Even my mother blew hers in a Mk2 escort and was about 35k miles old. She didnt know what happened as she couldnt see for smoke out the back Luckily there are better longevity components available now but they are being stressed with standard power being about 75 bhp for a 1600 , to put a large percentage more through it will always lessen its life, but its in relation to how many miles a Westie does too. 1 Quote
Qwertyseiw Posted March 5, 2019 Posted March 5, 2019 The history file with our 1700 xflow shows a major engine failure/rebuild at 12k. It’s done 4K since. We only use it on track. It doesn’t use or loose any fluids and drives perfect. If or when it eventually faulters we will put a Zetec in it. Quote
DamperMan Posted March 6, 2019 Posted March 6, 2019 Modern oils, better filters, better machining and ballencing at rebuild time has helped the longevity of even old design engines. There was plenty of mk1 xr2’s with the Kent doing over 100k... 1 Quote
corsechris Posted March 6, 2019 Posted March 6, 2019 To be fair, the internals were designed with a 100k target. Many moons ago I was dubbing an open university program on material science and for a change found the content interesting - it was about the conrod design and manufacturing process at Ford and how it was value engineered to achieve the target. Doubling the power output is always going to give it a hard isn’t it! 1 Quote
AlexSB Posted March 6, 2019 Author Posted March 6, 2019 Thanks for your continued thoughts, guys. The seller is checking the receipts from the rebuild to see what pistons etc were installed. Quote
jimthedrummer Posted March 6, 2019 Posted March 6, 2019 Apart from a V8, you will not get a better noise............ 2 1 Quote
AlexSB Posted March 8, 2019 Author Posted March 8, 2019 I'm just going to resurrect the conversation for a couple of last questions... The seller has been very forthcoming and (hopefully) honest about the car. One thing he mentioned is that it has a gel battery, which operates on a lower voltage and therefore can labour a bit to start the engine when cold. Once it's warm it starts fine, apparently. Does this sound reasonable/credible? He's sent me photos of all of the receipts for the rebuild. Obviously quite a bit spent on it. However, the four pistons only cost £120 together. I assume this means they will be cast, rather than forged. Should this put me off? I'm still slightly nervous that an engine with only 1,000 miles on it will have to do another 400 or so on the day it gets me home! Quote
corsechris Posted March 8, 2019 Posted March 8, 2019 Starting the Xflow was always something of an event on ours. High compression (11:1), reasonably big static advance, old school starter and Weber’s required a certain technique. IIRC, it used to be harder to start when hot?? did have a small Odyssey AGM battery on it for a while, but the very low capacity (17Ah) did let us down once or twice. 1 Quote
Qwertyseiw Posted March 8, 2019 Posted March 8, 2019 Same here, an event also! Ours has a small race battery, of unknown vintage, so sometimes dies before it will fully fire up and needs a jump. But starts easy with jump or when warm. The key is to get right procedure to prime the carbs. Easier if there is 2 of you and one person manually chokes the carbs. I’m guessing if I bought a new battery it would start easier every time. 1 Quote
corsechris Posted March 8, 2019 Posted March 8, 2019 It’s much easier to start a Xflow if you grew up driving cars back when the Xflow was actually fitted to most Fords these modern new fangled things that just start when you turn the key or press a button.....it’ll never catch on. winter starting was always particularly entertaining. I used to carry a blowtorch so I could whip the plugs out, heat them up then put them back in hot. Worked every time. Oh, happy days..... Quote
Thrustyjust Posted March 8, 2019 Posted March 8, 2019 I never really had issues starting my crossflow. A decent starter motor AND solenoid and decent quality cables and used to start after 3 pumps of the throttle after the pump ticks had slowed, although the use of the a luminition kit and good coil helped. That was with a high compression high spec engine. It does take a certain knack to get it going and a few moments of angry carbs popping and squeaking before settling down which is pretty normal with carbs and not using choke . 1 Quote
jimthedrummer Posted March 8, 2019 Posted March 8, 2019 I think they all vary. Mine seems to benefit from letting the pump run for 1 - 2 minutes after the 3-4 throttle prime pumps on a cold winter start. Hot starting seems to be a lottery...... Quote
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