Best way to spend a grand?? - Ford Forums - Mustang Forum, Ford Trucks, Ford Focus and Ford Cars

DansEdgli · 12-21-2002, 16:09

Whats the best way to spend $1000 on my car to make it go faster? And where should i take it around the ringwood, croydon area?
Its an 85 XF 250 crossflow carby with a 4 speed manual. It already has a 2.5 inch exhaust and extractors.
Please dont tell me to upgrade cars. I like the XF. Oh and i cant put an 8 in or turbo it for a bit more money because of insurance reasons but i wish i could.

Thanks guys.
Dan

ChuBBz · 12-21-2002, 16:55

What diff you running?
Get a 3.7:1 LSD. =D

Martin · 12-21-2002, 17:37

You could probably do a 5speed and shorter diff conversion for $1k if you know where to look.

carazy · 12-21-2002, 17:54

with a grand I'd go cam shaft, second hand carbis and a an exhaust.
Thats only if you do the work your self. Other wise go an exhaust system and get the carbi jetted. It's an 85 xf so you've got the double barrel webber and a jetting kit should make a noticable differance.
make sure you get extractors as well.
They will make a fair bit of differance because your car would still be leaded and as such doesn't have a cat

ebxr8240 · 12-21-2002, 19:23

AS above::: Consider good head job does wanders along with good springs and rocker geometry...Think different ratio roller rockers to give you more lift,so you don't have to go to the trouble of changing cam other wise r/r are a wast of time with low -er revs ???More lift with r/r works in V8's why not six's ???
Slight compression increase...

carazy · 12-21-2002, 20:00

yep can't agree more those old XF motors don't need much done to them to make them go.
If you have an exhaust system already then go the head work and carbi treatment.

DansEdgli · 12-21-2002, 20:47

I already have extractors, 2.5 inch exhaust and hi flow muffler.

Sounds like ill go a cam and headwork then carby and new intake manifold. If im happy with the improvement ill change to a 5 speed and throw in a 3.45 or 3.23 LSD.

Any ideas who i can take my car to? in the south eastern suburbs of melbourne?

I wont have time to mess around trying to put in a new camshaft just to stuff it up. Im working flat out for the next 2 months and ive got dads car until his knee reco has healed so ill pay someone to do it.

How much power increase would i be looking at from headwork, cam and new carby with exhaust and extractors over stock-- Ballpark figures??

Thanks heaps guys.
Dan

Rollin · 12-21-2002, 21:06

i dont know about actual kW output increase, but it will be noticable - i went to willowbank drags on wed night with a guy from work, he has a '80 (or therabouts) cortina, 4 speed manual, open 3.25 diff and a 250 crossflow

it has a holley 465 carby and a torker intake manifold, full head porting and a 'towing' cam, double valve springs, stock rockers and pushrods, with 14 degrees of timing running on optimax.

the engine used to be running LPG in his dads wagon for the last 4 years, so it isnt a spring chicken.

with no tuning whatsoever it did a 14.88 second quarter at 149km/h

he only got one decent run (the previous two he accidentally did with 5 degreees advance, then with 0 degrees advance because he was adjusting the dizy the wrong way - silly - and did a 15.8 then a 16 flat...) so with some practice, an LSD and a bit of tuning a 14.5 easy will be the go! then a proper cam (for hp, not lb/ft) will go lower....

your car might not be as fast as it is heavier, but if it all gets tuned right it will give a lot of cars a damn good run!

just make sure the mods compliement each other - no good getting a massive race cam and roller rockers of you only do a very mild port on the head - port the head as much as possible, then get a cam to suit the airflow the head shop can achieve, and then get an intake manifold and carby to suit that.

and make sure you take it down the strip after you know how to drive it, and tell us all how you did - im betting you will do lots better than i did

DansEdgli · 12-21-2002, 21:16

Awesome Rollin.
Thanks for the advice. That was a great post. Muchly appreciated!
My mates uncle owns a head work shop so ill take it there and get him to spruce it up a little. Ill find out if he can do the other stuff as well.

If i get the head work done first how much should i spend and what should i ask for?

Rollin · 12-23-2002, 04:05

well how hard do you want to rev it? if its a stock bottom end i would go about 5000 or 5500rpm - the more you want to rev the bigger the holes have to be, and the more time it takes to dig them out

if your mates uncle owns a head shop will you get cheap labour? i hope you do for you sake (and the sake of fords'image everywhere!) just tell them you want to get the best possible airflow to suit whatever rpm you choose.

i think ford made about a million different head shapes for the '80s I6 and some are better than others, try to find a XF or so EFI head at the wreckers if you can get it cheap, i think they have a small combustion chamber so you get more compression. but if you cant get it for like $100 then dont bother.

if you do get another head then you can still drive your car while the head shop is working the other one and getting parts, and then sell your old head for whatever you can get for it.

i dont know about $$$ but i think you can get the head done, with cam, intake and bigger carby and dyno tuning for a grand, i dont think you will have change for roller rockers, im pretty sure the head has to be machined for them, so tell them you are using the stock rockers and pushrods when you get the cam.

also tell them to set it up for unleaded (LRP is absolutely shithouse!) or optimax if you dont mind the extra $$$ each week.

check out the trading post for cheap stuff, sometimes there are second hand cams and nice holly carbs and/or intake manifolds in there, you should be able to save a fair bit of $$$ if you can get one, its hard to damage an intake manifold so they are pretty safe to get second hand.