Hey crew,

This has been in the planning for quite some time now, but i have only just run into some spare cash to actually do this.

I have just purchased the engine a couple of days ago, the donor car was a 2004 BA Falcon XT and had only done 22,000 km's! I snapped that up for $1500 but the catch was that it did not have the power steering pump and alternator. But that's all sorted, i have new genuine units on the way, they should be here in the next couple of days. The engine did come complete though with wiring harness, electronic throttle and all associated sensors etc.

As for running the show, i'm in the final processes of researching EMS ECU's and have found them to be quite cost effective and have some great features like VCT phasing and high mapping resolutions.

Coupling the engine to the gearbox has been taken care of by using an AU bellhousing, i should still be able to run my EL starter motor as well. I'm also wondering if my air conditioning compressor will bolt up to the BA block, but thats not hugely important at the moment. Engine mounts look to be exactly the same.

As for getting the engine to fit in the engine bay, i'm tossing up wheather to modify the front crossmember, or hack the front of the sump off the engine. I'm leaning to modifying the sump as i don't want the front of the car to become structually unsound (or more illegal than it will be when i get this engine in haha).

But as for all that, that's about as far i have gotten untill i get everything i need together to get this engine bolted in. I'm going to give Hyperdrive in Perth a bell to see if they can sort me out with wiring and ECU side of things.

So....let the games begin! Wish me luck, i might need it haha.

Here's a couple of pictures of my new engine:

Last edited by fordman351 on Wed Jan 13, 2010 10:27 pm, edited 51 times in total.

Looks like you do a bit of woodworking...............lol

mate she's missing the huffer on the side!

Haha, nah that's the old mans toys. I'm restricted to the area between the router and the front of my car lol.

As for the turbski's, that will happen a short while down the line.

Just hope you don't get any wood dust in your donk & stuff..........lol

Nah, it's not dusty considering, plus everything is covered up when i finish working.

Try and get the stock ECU running. That would be good to see.

Mine is at home now and it starts and runs but Ive got electrical issues holding it back now. Im in the middle of changing all of my factory looms to fix it.

It needs more tuning once the electrics are good again.

Nah, there's no way i'm going to try and get the stock ECU to run the engine, plus the engine in my car at the moment runs a distributor, the twincam has coil on plug, i'd imagine that would be one major headache to get to work properly and safely. i want to utilise the VCT feature as well.

Not too later down the line i'll have installed a turbo, so having the EMS will be ideal for me.

hey matt, you are a lucky f**k.. cos you dont have to worry about bonent clearance issues.. cos you can cut the hole in the bonnet, and the bulge will already hide it

I wasnt suggesting to use the EL computer. Try and use the standard BA one.

ill be watching this build mate good luck with it all

yea im watching too gunna learn alot from this

No worries guys, i'll try and get in as much detail as possible, but if there's anything you want to know, just ask.

So basically, to fit the engine up into an EF-EL you need to do three things. 1) Cut a hole in the bonnet, 2) Fit an AU or BA bellhousing, 3) Modify the crossmember or sump. Everything else will literally bolt up. Engine mounts are in the same position, transmission mounts are the same regardless.

The only other things you will need are a BA alternator and power steering pump, but if you're getting a complete engine, obviously, you won't have any hassles there.

And i'll confirm one thing that gets raised a fair bit, the BA manifolds ARE DIFFERENT to the SOHC engines. The ports on the BA head are an oval shape, not round like the SOHC.

Which brings to mind, i'll have to cut the flange off my extractors and have a BA flange welded on in it's place...

very intresting mate, im lookin at doing this into a XF, only thing thats gonan give me a headache will be the ECU, post up which one you pick if you wouldn't mind

What saught of time frame are you looking at? Like a week or ongoing?

Aranthi, i'm in contact with EMS to see if the 6806 will suit the project, i'm pretty keen on that one, so if EMS say it will work with my combination, i'll be going with that.

As for a time when this is going to be finished, i want the car off the road as little as possible, so i'm just gathering bits together now so i can throw it all in at once. Also will be depending on when i sell my bike. Could be next week, could be next month.

Any ECU that will work with the 36-1 crank sensor will work. The only thing that would hold an ECU back is if you wanted cam control.

Atomic are releasing verneir cam gears next month if you didnt want to pursue the DVCT route. If you do then I was quoted $6500 for a motec install. The autronic needs you to remove 3 of the cam teeth to work with the sensors which isnt that much of a drama.

Early last year Autronic was going to release a version of their ECU which would work with the stock sensors but I dont think it ever got done.

What bike are you selling?????

hey buddy nice project i see happening here... im also currently doing the conversion. see my thread on boosted falcon in my sig

heres a few tips and things that i can think of

see if an EA-ED subframe will fit on the chassis as the el subframe is different to the eb one, and the eb one is alot easier to modify. you cant cut out too much of the sump because the oil pump is right at the front on the ba engine.

ill post pics up later on 2nite of the subframe

im using my eb engine mounts.

as for computers im running an ems 8860. as dan said before there is no cheapish ecu that can control the dvct. im in contact with ems and at ford hq trying to get some info on the cams so i can send it to ems and see if they can get it too work.

whats your plans on transmission. the el trans wont hold up for too long if your going to be running some serious power im running the tremec 5 speeds out of the ba mk2 turbos. just gotta sort out the hydrolic clutch.

umm and now i forgot what i was going to say...

so anyway ill put some pics up 2night and show you what i mean with subframes etc.

wow theres going to be a few dohc eseries soon... now i dont feel as special. im still cooler than you losers with your sohc haha lulz

also thought of a few other things

ditch the drive by wire throttle body, and get a standard cable type. dan and i are both using an xf throttle body's and brackets and an ea-ed cable.

and with the aircon. im going to try and use an el compressor bolted onto the ba engine, but if worse comes to worse just use the ba one and get some lines made up. not really that hard


pics of my eb subframe
this pic shows how far the k frame was moved forward for sump clearance


i also had some spacer plates made up, hopefully to try and eliminate bonnet clearance issues


the plates fitted to the frame