X-flow - how reliable/good are they?

[Cleggy the Spyder Man]

soft spot for the cross flow engine as I had one in my striker 20 sumtin years ago

I did I dunno maybe 30k miles in that little thing driving like a hooligan most of the time

mine had cams and a bore to 1700 and it was great great fun car - in many ways I would rather have a cross flow than a pinto (others perhaps won't agree :-)

as others have said it us a great sounding engine

[markcoopers]

X flow is cool and as Martin says a well built one will be cracking. Many good second hand engines around as well. I have had a few over the years, really wanted a BDA though

[fatbaldbloke]

Feck me, the torque of that thing :o

Only 280 lbs ft at 2800 rpm......

[Mid life crisis]

And if you get a good bonus one year, for about 4.5k you can have the engine bored, stroked, cam, forged pistons and all steel internals giving 2044cc and 8000 rpm

[Martyn Vann - Warwickshire AO]

Hi Chris,

As others said, a well built crossflow will give you a lot of fun in such a light car!

Don't forget the pinto though as these cars are also reasonably priced.

BTW I'm in Tamworth, Staffs if you want to drop in but my car is disabled presently!

Martyn

[7sRWild]

I started out with a1.6cvh and just recently replaced it with a1.9cvh, port and polished head and a high lift cam. Twin webers. Lots of oomph for a light weight car. Wonderful noise. Reliable and not to much money to put together.

[cjwood23]

Cheers for the replies guys.

Will have alook round and see whats available.

Any preference/difference between Webbers and Dellorto's on the carbs?

Thanks again

[SootySport]

Not much to choose between them, some say Dellortos hold their tune longer but I am puzzled why as they both work in the same way. Another thing to take into consideration is neither are made any more, only 2nd. hand and refurbed ones are available these days but there again there are plenty of spares available. See the Eurocarb website.

[Meakin]

I will put in my 2p worth on the negative side of the xflow. I went through 2 in rapid succession

The problem as has been said, is getting reliable parts. These engines are getting on now and getting reasonable priced spare parts is now not that easy its always a bit of "ebay gamble" or "ripoff specialist". I was let down by a garage that said they had checked something and it broke 1000 miles later.

I also found that the first engine wasn't very forgiving when something went wrong. I was driving up a steep hill, looks like air got into the oil (foaming?) due to modified sump and next thing I know I'm on the side of the road with a knackered engine. There was no real warning as the oil pressure was low but not scary low. A hot xflow idling oil pressure is about 1bar (15psi) it not having good oil pressure is 0.5bar (7bar) thats not that easy to spot on a gauge at an angle to the driver ie there's not much in it.

I'm installing zetec now as a) I know I can get reliable cheap parts, b) Engine is more obvious when something isn't right. (ie idling oil pressure is 1.5-2bar) Big difference ie if it goes down to 1bar pull over and check but you don't lose the engine.

The sound of the xflow is great, I enjoyed driving it but I was chucking some serious miles on it and it broke without much warning, due to age of parts IMHO.

[SteveD]

i have a very nice xflow car on ebay at the moment

[Pistol Pete]

I hope you've paid your trader's membership Steve

[SteveD]

I hope you've paid your trader's membership Steve

nope , but i will pay what i have when the powers that be tell me ,i have asked the question

[BillyPee]

The crossflow is a great engine with lots of character; don't let the age put you off. There's nothing to choose between Weber and Dellorto as the design is essentially the same.

[Pistol Pete]

Good man, nice to see the oldies (oops meant experienced members of the community) leading by example

[SteveD]

Good man, nice to see the oldies (oops meant experienced members of the community) leading by example

i will do what i have to at the end of the day ,it all supprts the club and im all for that , who want my money then