Hi guys

Well my beloved Ford EF Fairmont has been running pretty badly of late, changed a few things and a few things I couldnt do myself so it was time to take it to the mechanic. Nice guy and is a friend of a friend so I feel comfortable with him going through the car top to bottom.

Went to pick the car up and got the news I was dreading, apart from a few things such as, intake pipe needs replacing, new leads need to be put on, having a weak spark, need to replace the heater tap hoses and came back with the spark plugs badly corroded, which of course is due to the dam head gasket needing to be replaced. Not what I wanted to hear. Now im in a situation where I'm a student and not working much at all.

What do you guys think. Should I go down the path of getting say a EL tickford engine and getting that installed? Do you guys think that would be like getting a new car again ? ( instead of going down the path and going through the process of buying another E series ) Or should I cut my loses and get another E series and take my extractors, wheels and the trim off mine and put it on the new.

Id love to get a second hand Tickford motor but I just dont know what to do, where to look and how much I would be looking at.

Cheers guys

No your car will be the same s**t box with a different old engine in it.

bit harsh mate, about 50% of cars on this forum would be sh*t boxes with different engines by your standards, inc people that have done AU-BA conversions....

Either way you do it Daniel000, it isnt gonna be cheap. but i wouldnt get another E series, you could end up with alot worse

Ah well boys, was expecting a couple of a**'s, you get em all the time but nothing can annoy me more right now. What can ya do ay?

Like you said EFNA, I don't think I will go down the path of getting another E series, Its not going to be worth taking the risk. I love these cars but man I have pumped a bit of dough into it and I dont want to see it go, already done a gasket 4 years back and yeah as you can expect with these models I have the wheels, exhaust + extractors, lowered and the tint.

Also, will I hit any problems with installing a EL tickford motor into my EF ?

Its just hard, cause i dont know where to go from here, it a bit of a snag looking online for an engine.

It is funny though, when i bought the car years back, the bloke had put tickford badges on it where they normally go. Kinda ironic if I do end up putting a tickford engine in it.

NO BULL s**t,TELL IT AS IT IS,no icing or sugar coating.but either way it costs $$$$$$$

few things

1) How many Km on your engine?

2) Tickford Motor is only the head, cam and ecu, not that special. No offence ment to any XR6 owners E series and AU.

3) If your motor has OK compression and is not too long in the tooth (huge KM) it may be worth getting another head or take yours off, get it skimmed and checked etc, and fit an AU head gasket and reinstall the head. While you have the head off get your injectors cleaned and change any heater hoses etc.

4) if you are going to change the motor, due to High KM or low compression, get an AU motor and install that. More chance of getting a lower K Motor and they are a bit smoother than the E series.
,
5) Intake pipe? whats wrong with it? Get a replacement from the wreckers if it is damaged.

6) Leads? nothing unusual about having to replace them, they don't last forever.

7) Heater Hoses? Same thing, they get old and need replacing, while you are doing that, change the heater tap as well, not that expensive and will save you grief later.

8) Corroded plugs? Get a compression test done and see what the results are. Were all plugs corroded or just one or two?

9) Mechanic? Friend of a Friend mmmmmmmmmmmm........... . How well do you know him yourself? If you don't know him, he doesn't know you so he is not going to do you any favours. You will just be income to him.

10) Keep your car if you are happy with it. You know it and have already put work into it. If it's not worth keeping, replace it and go with the new car.

have to agree Paul,can see enough to type so much.

Thanks for your reply. My engine has 290,800 on it.
With the AU motor, I'm looking into that. But I do not know if i would be able to find anyone that would be able to do the modifications necessary to fit the motor in ( modifying the sump )
The heater hoses, leads and intake pipe is all OK to be changed, I'm not concerned at all that I need to change these. This was expected before I took it into the shop. As for the spark plugs, all were pretty rusted and corroded.

Ok, couple more things,

1) Have you been loosing coolant? If not you don't have a head leak. If yes, then get a compression test done and get yoour cooling system check at a Radiator joint, they can also check to see if you have exhaust gases in your coolant. Another check is, look at your exhaust when you start up in the morning, does it blow out heaps of water and vapour, remember it is winter so there will be some vapour there on start up. Does it blow vapour when warmed up? Another is remove your radiator cap and warm the car up till the thermostat opens, look into the header tank and see if you have any small bubbles coming through the coolant.

2) If all the plugs were rusted and corroded, I doubt that your headgasket is leaking into all the cylinders. How long ago werre the plugs changed/cleaned?

3) My EF has 342,000 km on her and she is still going strong, few oil leaks but still going well, apart from a bloody leaking water pump, but that will be fixed this weekend. So 290,000 is Ok as long as she has been looked after.

Well I'm loosing coolant and I only changed my spark plugs less than 2 months ago. And a compression test was completed and he found low compression on all cylinders. I have noticed on some days that the car is blowing a bit of smoke too.

Also with the rad cap, even when the car is cool there is pressure in there.

I really appreciate the concern SWC and I do wish I had a strong motor like yours, but I think i have done a head gasket.

OK, if you have low compression on all pots, what was the readings? Could be that the bottom end is ok and the headgasket ifs totalled letting in coolant as well as oil. Head could be warped, valve stem seals gone. If you have the time, which you may not, I would pop the head and check the pots and see how it all looks. Is the motor noisy at all, does it lack power?

My motor is Ok, just been reg service etc. but will be replaced with a special in the not too distant future, in my case that could be a year or so . Hope it all works out.

yeah what he said was, you could go down the path of doing the head, but I may find that once its opened I could find that it may not be worth it as there may be more issues with the amount of water that seems to have been let in. The car is running pretty bad as well.

Thanks mate, I think il go down the path of getting a EL tickford motor. But I have done a quick read and even this motor isnt a simple swap? Is it difficult for a motor mechanic to put a EL into the EF? Or am I looking at more than say, $400 for an install ?

just put the ef ignition on and find a ef xr6 ecu and fuel regulator and should be ok

hope it helps

how much you willing to spend on this? Cheap AU's can be had, or another E series thats been looked after and maintained- that way you can use yours for spares.

turf the engine no offence mate but she sounds f**k hows the body?