Blown crossflow 200

[aussie7mains]

Guys Ive been off the forum for years, found my way back. Ive been fiddling with ford sixes for years, many 250-2vs etc. My latest incantation is a 200ci alloy head crossflow. This I have in a 1965 falcon ute, XP to us Aussies. Its blown with a Sprintex S102 blower, runs on LPG. It runs around 15psi boost on all stock bottom end. Its backed by an Australian made 4 speed and Borg Warner rear axle. I have 4 wheel vented discs etc. Ive been driving it for a couple of years and so far its been reliable. its got tonnes of torque and is fun to drive. I was formaly known as Aussie7mains, and joined the formum back around 2000.

 

[bubba22349]

Welcome back 7mains hope your doing well! It still looks like the original aussie7mains account is likely useable and that there was a visit to the site here on April 18, 2022.

 

[Jmustang_65]

Wow never seen that type of blower before but what do I know. Welcome back

 

[Cool23]

How do you find your LPG fuel? Quality of Auto gas is now crap unless you can get pure Propane.

 

[aussie7mains]

Welcome back 7mains hope your doing well! It still looks like the original aussie7mains account is likely useable and that there was a visit to the site here on April 18, 2022.

Yes i tried to get back in as Aussie7mains, but its so long ago, I couldnt remember the password Id used. Doing well, Ive retired now and moved from Perth.

 

[aussie7mains]

Wow never seen that type of blower before but what do I know. Welcome back

Its a Sprintex, british made parts assembled here in Australia, mine was fitted to a Toyota diesel, I got it second hand about 10 years ago, I was a bit doubtfull on its condition, but it can produce 18psi (highest Ive seen) and may go higher, so it cant be bad. Its a Lysholm twin screw blower. I can get boost off idle, manifold pressure just keeps rising with RPM, its a bit scary on my stock bottom end.

 

[aussie7mains]

How do you find your LPG fuel? Quality of Auto gas is now crap unless you can get pure Propane.

Never an issue, we have have 4 suppliers here in Warragul where I live, I have got fuel from all of them at different times. Ive never noticed any difference. We have plenty of LPG here in Victoria. My ute uses a lot of fuel, 22litres/100km, but since I only pay 96c/l its not worth worrying about. I get no detonation or pinging ever and its runs really smoothly, just like driving a 6litre V8. I was up in NSW a couple of months ago and noticed its a little scarce there, (Bowral/Nowra). My daily driver is a Holden Equinox with the turbo 1.5litre 4 pot, its very good on fuel, but a bit harsh to ride in.

 

[bubba22349]

Yes i tried to get back in as Aussie7mains, but its so long ago, I couldnt remember the password Id used. Doing well, Ive retired now and moved from Perth.

Glad to hear your are doing well! I can also look into helping you get back on again as Aussie7mains, if you would like (through our site IT guy). Glad that your back on the site there are not as many members on the Aussie Ford Sixes forum lately. I would like to hear more about your 65 Falcon UTE and Cross flow combo too when you have the time.

 

[Cool23]

Never an issue, we have have 4 suppliers here in Warragul where I live, I have got fuel from all of them at different times. Ive never noticed any difference. We have plenty of LPG here in Victoria. My ute uses a lot of fuel, 22litres/100km, but since I only pay 96c/l its not worth worrying about. I get no detonation or pinging ever and its runs really smoothly, just like driving a 6litre V8. I was up in NSW a couple of months ago and noticed its a little scarce there, (Bowral/Nowra). My daily driver is a Holden Equinox with the turbo 1.5litre 4 pot, its very good on fuel, but a bit harsh to ride in.

Next time you buy fuel note if the tank is accessible by a semi trailer or a single tanker truck. If a semi it will be Auto Gas and if a smaller tanker truck it will be propane. I find propane is better than Auto Gas as it is a much better refined fuel.

 

[aussie7mains]

Glad to hear your are doing well! I can also look into helping you get back on again as Aussie7mains, if you would like (through our site IT guy). Glad that your back on the site there are not as many members on the Aussie Ford Sixes forum lately. I would like to hear more about your 65 Falcon UTE and Cross flow combo too when you have the time.

Yes I would like to come in as Aussie7mains, I think I joined way back, maybe around 2002? Ive moved state now that I have retired from work in 2014. I am happy to tell you more about the ute, ask away.

 

[aussie7mains]

Next time you buy fuel note if the tank is accessible by a semi trailer or a single tanker truck. If a semi it will be Auto Gas and if a smaller tanker truck it will be propane. I find propane is better than Auto Gas as it is a much better refined fuel.

All the suppliers round here are supplied by semi. The LPG sold in most parts of the world is a mixture of propane, butane and iso butane, the spec generally used is a US one HD5. the mixture varyies during the year due to the boiling point of the two fuels Propane is -42c and butane is -1, so when its cold they mix more propane to get the vapour pressure higher so the fuel will come out of the tank. Propane has a higher octane rating, but butane has a higher heating value. Most LPG in Australia is derived from "stripping plants" where natural gas has its constituant parts separated by boiling point, then mixed to meet whatever spec is contracted. I worked for Alintagas in WA on the gas pipeline so Im familular with natural gas etc. I also worked before retirement for Westport, a Canadian company doing CNG and LNG conversions of diesel engines, we had an engineering centre in Perth. We did some very interesting work, I used to hold and LPG CNG LNG fitters license but have given it up.

 

[Cool23]

I can tell you here in Castlemaine I make sure I buy from a location where a Semi trailer delivery can not access. The place I buy my LPG also sells bottled gas - propane. I know from experience propane is better than the mix you have just confirmed some of the bigger fuel suppliers sell.
I have also been involved with Diesel LPG installations and like so many are finding LPG is not popular as it used to be. Even as a cleaner fuel.

 

[bubba22349]

Yes I would like to come in as Aussie7mains, I think I joined way back, maybe around 2002? Ive moved state now that I have retired from work in 2014. I am happy to tell you more about the ute, ask away.

Hi 7mains, okay I am going to work on getting that taken care of for you so can use your old Aussie7mains again, it might take a little while but I pretty sure it can be fixed.

I have had several of the 1964 and 65 US Falcon Ranchero's over the years as well as a 1958 Ranchero for many years, I really like their size. I am curious about the differences there might be between them and the UTE's some of it I can see in the body panels? On your Cross Flow is that a head swap onto a 200 six block?

 

[aussie7mains]

I can tell you here in Castlemaine I make sure I buy from a location where a Semi trailer delivery can not access. The place I buy my LPG also sells bottled gas - propane. I know from experience propane is better than the mix you have just confirmed some of the bigger fuel suppliers sell.
I have also been involved with Diesel LPG installations and like so many are finding LPG is not popular as it used to be. Even as a cleaner fuel.

The "bottled" mix is different to autogas, but Im not sure what the difference is, it might have more butane, to get the heating value up, again it would probably vary depend on time of year, bottle LPG is nearly always vapour withdrawl and does not require high vapour pressure. The engines I was working with were diesels converted to spark ignition and fuel injection, Westport makes their own injectors and ECU, we did engines for Mercedes busses, Deutz, GAZ, TATA Weichei and others. Westport mainly does CNG engines for Cummins. I am a strong advocate for LPG and feel its such a pity that the federal government dropped its subsidy for conversions, its about the only Australian derived motor fuel. It certainly works well for me.

 

[aussie7mains]

Hi 7mains, okay I am going to work on getting that taken care of for you so can use your old Aussie7mains again, it might take a little while but I pretty sure it can be fixed.

I have had several of the 1964 and 65 US Falcon Ranchero's over the years as well as a 1958 Ranchero for many years, I really like their size. I am curious about the differences there might be between them and the UTE's some of it I can see in the body panels? On your Cross Flow is that a head swap onto a 200 six block?

Our utes are different to yours in the tray area, it was felt that a shorter rear overhang would better suit our 'Spoon drains". Also due to costs Ford decided to use the sedan floor pan, so we have 4 door sedan front doors, the rear floor pan is exactly the same as the sedan, with a tray floor fitted above it. Mine has the 111inch wheelbase. Ive done a tonne of work suspension brake wise, its got 4 wheel discs, LSD rear end, the front suspension has the "shelby drop" and the lower control arm pivot points moved outboard to reduce the bump steer in these cars. The engine is our Australian made crossflow six, this was a follow on from the older LOG head which was discontinued in 76. The block is shared between the 200 and 250ci, only the crank and rods are different, the 200 has 6.27 long rods with the 3.13 stroke, unlike your 200s. This block is different to the precrossflow block in that the head surface is wider to allow for the canted valve arrangement of the crossflow head. there getting a bit old now and good ones are becoming hard to find. Every body loves the Barra now, its a shit hot thing and very cheap, they never blow up and last forever so there is tonnes of good ones around. The crossflow heads came out in 76 as cast iron and weighed a tonne, but in 79 or so the alloy version came out, with better porting and thermal properties, I run the bigger valve EFI version of these heads. The 3.3l(200ci) was rated at 88kw118bhp(DIN) with a small weber carb, so not too bad for a stocker. The heads have a nice intake and exhaust port and are around the airflow of a good 250-2v head. I run a 4 speed BW box, its a locally made trans, similar ratios to a wide ratio toploader, they are not as tough as toploader, but shift better and heaps cheaper. They were used in lots of Australian cars up to the 351gt.

 

[Cool23]

The "bottled" mix is different to autogas, but Im not sure what the difference is, it might have more butane, to get the heating value up, again it would probably vary depend on time of year, bottle LPG is nearly always vapour withdrawl and does not require high vapour pressure. The engines I was working with were diesels converted to spark ignition and fuel injection, Westport makes their own injectors and ECU, we did engines for Mercedes busses, Deutz, GAZ, TATA Weichei and others. Westport mainly does CNG engines for Cummins. I am a strong advocate for LPG and feel its such a pity that the federal government dropped its subsidy for conversions, its about the only Australian derived motor fuel. It certainly works well for me.

Oh I hear you. LPG was a great fuel. I say 'was' as I know very well how the LPG Automotive industry stalled when the Aust Fed Govt pulled the pin on subsidy. A clean fuel with a good octane rating and often better than petrol ratings. My inline six International Truck has been on LPG for years as duel fuel petrol and LPG. I also had my F4 with a Cummins 6BT running with the LPG assist until the company that built the system went out of business.

Oh and to the US members of this forum yes BBQ fuel is what us Aussies are talking about.

When my Interenational went onto LPG the fuel was about 0.35 cents a litre.

 

[aussie7mains]

Oh I hear you. LPG was a great fuel. I say 'was' as I know very well how the LPG Automotive industry stalled when the Aust Fed Govt pulled the pin on subsidy. A clean fuel with a good octane rating and often better than petrol ratings. My inline six International Truck has been on LPG for years as duel fuel petrol and LPG. I also had my F4 with a Cummins 6BT running with the LPG assist until the company that built the system went out of business.

Oh and to the US members of this forum yes BBQ fuel is what us Aussies are talking about.

When my Interenational went onto LPG the fuel was about 0.35 cents a litre.

My first LPG car was a bogus boss 302 powered cobra kit car, i built this in 87 through to 89, went really well, I used all Impco gear on that one. Then I did a v12 jag for a mate of mine. I did a couple of falcons and then my current rig. Perth never had LPG that cheap. I also worked on a fleet of taxis, all LPG, some got up to 900,000km, I cant remember ever doing an engine, we did quite a few transmissions, the BTR 90s would go about 350,000km before overhaul, but a few went over 500,000, mind you they were pretty loose by then. My current ute runs GRA stuff for dedicated gas, I used the "scuba" style tank under the back of the tray where the spare wheel used to be, its about 65litres which is OK for me. I never had any dealings with the LPG over diesel, not a good idea to my mind, CR of a diesel is too high for LPG. The CNG engines i did work on were mostly 12:1 and that was with up to 30psi boost. You need an EGR system to work with boost that high, 15psi is fine. We had a 12 litre Deutz v6 which produced over 380bhp and 1500nm torque, and could do it all day. Those old Inter sixes were bloody big heavy things, when I worked at the PMG were had heaps of them, even the 282, that had twin exhausts and carbs? Petrol engines in trucks were the go at the time, the cheap diesel Japanese trucks killed all of them. Castlemaine is a nice town, Ive been over there a few times since I moved, out to Maldon and areas around there. We want to do the silo trail next year.

 

[Cool23]

I like the idea of the Scuba tank. They fit in so well. The idea of LPG with Diesel burne the fuel cleaner. As I stated our Govt put an end to that. I was getting realy good performance with the Diesel LPG. The tank from that went under my International so I have twoo big tanks plus the standard C1300 petrol tank.

Castlemaine & Maldon do get very Tourist orientated. The Silo trail now will (can) take you all over Victoria.

 

[aussie7mains]

I like the idea of the Scuba tank. They fit in so well. The idea of LPG with Diesel burne the fuel cleaner. As I stated our Govt put an end to that. I was getting realy good performance with the Diesel LPG. The tank from that went under my International so I have twoo big tanks plus the standard C1300 petrol tank.

Castlemaine & Maldon do get very Tourist orientated. The Silo trail now will (can) take you all over Victoria.

I had to modify the scuba tank mountings and make brackets to fit the ute, all got approved, had to have a shield underneath it, and I had a bit of a time getting the 2 1/2 exhaust past it with heat shields etc, but it all worked out well in the end. As LPG in diesel, basically your using up the "excess air" that the diesel cycle has, it wont improve the combustion process at all, it will of course increase the amount of fuel in the chamber and therefore give higher cylinder pressure and heat, QED more torque. If not done right you get potential trouble, but diesels have such high duty components you can usually get away with it. No silos over here in Gippsland, but we dont grow any cereal crops over here, just cattle sheep and spuds, plus the biggest greenhouse in Australia

 

[Cool23]

We all know our Govt put an end to LPG with Diesel. They put an end to it with the rebate. The fuel miles per gallon or kilometers per lite was very good with the 6BT Cummins. It just sipped the LPG. I forget now what I was getting but I was very impressed compared to just running Diesel.

When you do plan to check out the Silo art make sure you come by Castlemaine. We have had a wet winter and as yet still waiting for Summer. I have a heater going in December of all things.

It would be great to see some photos of you XP.