Ford X-flow Head and Weber DCOE Restoration

[RudolfD2]

In remembrance.

The Ford 1600 X-Flow head and DCOE carbs to be restored to pristine condition.

[Spiceman]

Subscribed

[Jakoos]

Please tell us more?

[Beesblaas]

Now you’re talking. That is what I used to do in my spare time. I love these engines.

[ghouwens]

Wow! Now that brings back memories.

My dad had a friend in Empangeni that had a workshop in the mid '70s. It was at that stage cheaper to replace the motors than spend time repairing them. He had 7 of these 1600 Kent engines under his one workbench.

I was in standard 7 at the time, and asked uncle Pat if he didn't want to sell me one of the buggered engines. He said, not a problem, R50. That settled, I asked my dad to come and collect me from school the following day with the Land Cruiser.

When we arrived to load the motor, I paid uncle Pat, selected a motor and got his hand-langer to load it for me. We were about to leave when uncle Pat asked, "Aren't you loading the others?" He was charging me R50 for all 7 motors!

Complete gasket set, new ring, new bearings, new seals and paint cost me the princely sum of R53.70/motor.

Made some decent pocket money out of those motors. They are super nice if they are all balanced properly and the flywheels are shaved down a little.

[RudolfD2]

The original car the head and came came out of was a Ford Anglia pre X-flow motor.
The car even had original thin cylinder dampers working through a lever.
This was even before MacPherson struts came out. It was later changed to MacPherson.
That said. A 1600 cc X-flow motor was added with a single carb (Weber) plus the mandatory stuff like branches and cams.
The DCOE conversion was the done but never ran evenly at idle. for a small town car (Pietersburg) this did not work out well and single carb was replaced.
Anglia was also painted Green. I was told it is some scheme of Ford Racing green.
Sadly I could not get my hands on the Anglia because per "Will" all cars should be sold at a auction.
A good friend of my uncle might have been the actual buyer as he collected cars.

This was around 40 odd years ago.

[RudolfD2]

I might even have parts of the original foam filters that fitted around each set of DCOE's. Backing plate and mesh.

[Henris]

I have just been through an exercise on v6 Essex heads.

Those heads never sealed the oil through the valve guides very well. That kept them lubricated.
We also have non lead petrol.

In my case, we fitted new valves and the guides were shot in 1500km

Just fitted Toyota guides and valves and stem seals. Engine has just done about 100km. So just give me a week or two to get that milage up to about 500km and I will get back to you.

What am I saying.
That built in guide needs proper lubrication and that is what the modern fuel doesn't supply.
I fitted Nissan stem seals on the original guides, like we did 30yrs ago, and that destroyed the guides and made the valve seats fall out.

So do the homework.

[Spiceman]

I have just been through an exercise on v6 Essex heads.

Those heads never sealed the oil through the valve guides very well. That kept them lubricated.
We also have non lead petrol.

In my case, we fitted new valves and the guides were shot in 1500km

Just fitted Toyota guides and valves and stem seals. Engine has just done about 100km. So just give me a week or two to get that milage up to about 500km and I will get back to you.

What am I saying.
That built in guide needs proper lubrication and that is what the modern fuel doesn't supply.
I fitted Nissan stem seals on the original guides, like we did 30yrs ago, and that destroyed the guides and made the valve seats fall out.

So do the homework.

I know that was an issue when SA changed over to unleaded petrol although I never heard about a solution to that. How are the modern petrol engines surviving?

[RoelfleRoux]

The original car the head and came came out of was a Ford Anglia pre X-flow motor.
The car even had original thin cylinder dampers working through a lever.
This was even before MacPherson struts came out. It was later changed to MacPherson.
That said. A 1600 cc X-flow motor was added with a single carb (Weber) plus the mandatory stuff like branches and cams.
The DCOE conversion was the done but never ran evenly at idle. for a small town car (Pietersburg) this did not work out well and single carb was replaced.
Anglia was also painted Green. I was told it is some scheme of Ford Racing green.
Sadly I could not get my hands on the Anglia because per "Will" all cars should be sold at a auction.
A good friend of my uncle might have been the actual buyer as he collected cars.

This was around 40 odd years ago.

My mid 60s Austin 1100 was a similar colour (maybe a bit more dull) and I was told it is called British Racing Green.
I loved those 1600 x-flow motors and they were used in any and all conversions. Then the 2L BDA came along and became my new love.

[RudolfD2]

My mid 60s Austin 1100 was a similar colour (maybe a bit more dull) and I was told it is called British Racing Green.
I loved those 1600 x-flow motors and they were used in any and all conversions. Then the 2L BDA came along and became my new love.

That is them colour. "British Racing Green"

Thanks

[JohnnoK]

I know that was an issue when SA changed over to unleaded petrol although I never heard about a solution to that. How are the modern petrol engines surviving?

As a rule of thumb, an engine with an aluminium head should handle lead free fuel in standard form because the seat inserts would be the correct grade steel, while a cast head would use the parent metal for the seats, and cast iron doesn't work with lead free, leading to seat regression.