OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Finding and Swapping Tip & Curb Side Finds A Good Scrounge

G'day MF,
Yep; in my older [97 XH model] Falcon Ute, which uses a little oil [as a Ford 6 should do], Penrite's 'HPR 30 Gas' noticeably reduces oil consumption, compared to Valvoline XLD 20W-50.

In one of my several labrat past lives, I used to run a wear metals oil analysis program, for piston aircraft engines.
So I'd slip used oil samples, taken when I changed the XH's engine oil, through with the aircraft samples as a 'foreigner job'. Really liked the wear metals results/trends I saw with the Penrite!


Only because of those pestilential 'push nut' retainers they use.

On my personal mowers [my everyday is a Masport Maxicatch 550 alloy deck], the first time the wheels come off for lubing of ball wheel bearings, the axles get cross-drilled for split pins and flat washers. Or if axle length is a bit tight, they get the 'aircraft/racebike lockwiring' treatment.

Lockwire only requires a ~1mm diameter hole [it's ~0.8mm diameter stainless steel], so it can be used where there isn't room for a split pin.

Hey Gadge,
even sine of the Chinese mowers are better on that front with simple nylock nuts and a washer in a thinner threaded end.
I wish I could see what this lockwiring looks like. Sounds like an easy solution to the Rover/Masport push ring folly.
There's someone around here with an XH survivor. Very clever of Ford how they disguised that aging XD based ute body shell with the EF nose. It fooled me for quite a while until I looked carefully at the windscreen and doors. That SOHC six is a smoothie. I think they retained the EBII -ED engine on those instead of using the revised EF one or am I mistaken? I'd like to find either the last model with the XF nose or a VR Commodore ute. I understand the Ford can take a pallet where the Commodore of that era can't.

Wce, no trouble at all -except the last shot on top of a shelf. That took five attempts to get the photo hahaha.

In the sedans (from memory) sizing is the reverse - the XD couldn't fit a full size esky (height wise) in the boot, whereas the commodores could.

Both solid cars though

G'day MF,
I'll take some pics of some lockwiring I just did on a UHF CB antenna for the XH.

Yeah, the XH is quite a 'bitser', really.

Front panels are modified EF, to mate up to the XD body shell. But underneath, it's all EL front end - K frame, front suspension and steering, engine.
Ford went to coil pack electronic ignition for the EF, then switched back to distributor + electronic module for the EL and XH!

I'm just about to get a quote to get some rust issues [sills beneath the doors] fixed as a cash job by a local panel works.
I've done a fair few upgrades to this one, and it'll last me quite a while longer, as a backup and dirt road car.

It's a 'Longreach One Tonner' model, 6cyl, 5 spd manual. The manuals aren't real common in this model, and even less so in any later series Falcon Ute.

It's had fitted: an extra rear spring leaf; conventional LSD [not the almost un-fixable 'fluid coupling' LSD's the Longreach Outback models had]; OEM Outback engine sump bash plate and EF type alloy front bar; Impco Dual Fuel with a full width LPG tank in the tray; XR6 instrument cluster [that adds voltage and oil pressure gauges].

I do have a 'Donaldson clone' Outback air cleaner for it too, but I'd have to change to a different LPG system to fit that.

It would cost me multi thousands to upgrade to a later Falcon RTV model [those are factory lifted, and have an electric locking diff] ute, and this one has a driveline that's in very good nick - reco engine head and diff within its last 20,000k's.

The OEM shockers/struts were stuffed when I bought it [@ < 200,000km], so they were replaced by Monroe Gas units - still fine at 350,000k.

That's interesting regards being an EL from the firewall on. So essentially, instead of going to the development cost of a completely new ute body, they just exploited their existing old XF ute architecture to make a ute. They must have figured they could keep using that ageing design for a largely commercial market and get more mileage of of the initial tooling investment all that time ago in 1979. They wouldn't have produced the same volume of utes and panel vans as passenger cars so this was a way to catch up.
Times sure changed with the FG when utes were seen as vehicles for leasure as well as commercial use. Their tray back range would have accounted for many sales also.
All those upgrades are for your own set of benefits customised to you so it's in your best interests to keep it going as long as you economically can. Plus you alone understand appreciate what had been done to the vehicle where a subsequent owner likely won't to the same extent.
It's relative rarity these days could serve to at least help maintain it's value as well as it's uses as a ute.

Lockwiring examples

A couple of recent minor jobs I've done, where lockwiring was indicated.

Securing battery isolator
As the ute is not in regular use, I've fitted a battery isolator [~$10, Jaycar Electronics] to it.
Had to fit it to the +ve terminal, due to space issues.
The clamp type design looked less than secure to me, as this is a 'rough road use' car.

Solution: run a loop of locking wire, through an existing hole in the isolator 'post' side, and twist it up.



Securing CB antenna
This was done with the intention of securing the antenna and base against unscrewing - either from rough road vibration, or casual 'hydraulic individuals'. Hydraulic? The buggers will lift anything they can, given the opportunity.





There are a few tricks to drilling the holes in this situation, which I won't go into just now.
And the twisting is best done using a pair of 'lockwiring pliers', like these ones. Can be had for <$30, via the Bay of Fleas.

G'day MF,
The change to the 'cab chassis' design occurred with the successor model to the XH, the AU series.
This was a first for FoMoCo Aust; all previous Falcon Utes had been 'stylesides', with monocoque bodywork.

The change to cab chassis also meant the demise of the monocoque Ford panel van.

G'day Gadge,
thanks for showing me the various uses for locking wire. Is there a special place to get the wire?
It looks like a bit of an art form.
Could you show how you used it on your Masport when you explain the drilling?

Regards FoMoCo's cab chassis the regular styled rear tray was under the same chassis as the one tonner tray back? It appears that way from observing. Ford were very smart to develop that as it was a hit for Ford. No wonder Ford stuck with the cab chassis variant but didn't develop a wagon variant of the FG series.
They wanted to get more mileage of their tooling and development cost of the cab chassis and there were far more private sales to be made.

I never liked Ford because so much of the bracketry looked like it had been made in somebodys back shed but they were very clever using the same chassis and internal body mounts so that various body panels could be fitted

Norm, there's a reason Ford rhymes with double edged sword!!

G'day MF,
It's available from industrial suppliers like Blackwoods, bearing supplies joints, aviation trade suppliers etc.

My motorbike mech always has it on hand, as he does occasional racebike work; so I just 'put the bite' on him for a few metres when I run short - that lasts me for years.
Not much to see there, move right along!

On a more serious note though, it's just a matter of drilling a through hole, through the centre of the axle's end, at an appropriate distance from the outer end.
The 'tricky holes' are those that have to be drilled tangentially, as in the antenna example.

Just so.
The cab chassis design is both stronger, and more flexible in terms of bodywork options, than the monocoque one.

Hey Gadge,
didn't Double Edged Sword Motor Company have corrosion issues at the back of the cab where the chassis starts? Yes they did.
Have you got any more details?

I have seen some trade customised bodies replete with tool chests and cabinets in all combinations.
The Ford is certainly more car like in feel compared to the Japanese sourced offerings. I find the basic Toyota Hiluxes I've driven, both manual and auto to be quite enjoyable to drive precisely because of their utilitarian charm.

G'day MF,
Yes, I'm led to believe that is a known issue.

Will know if my ute is affected by this one before week's end, as I'm taking it over to my panelbeater to get a thorough 'cash basis repair/refurb estimate'. Then to run the numbers...

Hiluxes, particularly the late IFS ones, are very car-like to drive. Custom bodies for trade users are one of the standout 'selling points' of a cab chassis design, BTW.

Not like my old trayback FJ45 Landcruiser, that I bought back in 1984 - that was definitely a truck!

It did earn the accolade of 'deceptively quick' though, from a mechanic mate who was something of a petrolhead, but was mainly interested in Euro 'rally cars'.

Deceptively quick for a Landcruiser, you ask ?

Well, that was after I pretty much had an engine swap forced on me [turned out that the head on the original 2F 6 cyl petrol donk was cracked], and one thing led to another - which 'may' have led to me becoming just a little carried away...

But every bloke deserves one 'young man's folly' vehicle, I reckon.

So it ended up getting a transplant of a fully reco '4-bolt block' 350 Chev engine, mated up to a recoed GM Turbo-Hydramatic 400 auto [with soft shift kit installed as part of the reco], mated up to the original Toyota transfer case...

That setup was actually significantly lighter in weight, than the Tojo 4.2L 6cyl + cast iron bellhousing + 4spd manual box.
And it was incredible just how well it all worked...

Hi Gadge,
Now that is a Mans Mans Truck, I'm guessing that would be a life keeper

G'day Norm,
Well, sort of.

The trayback body won't be going back on the road, as the chassis on that has 'issues' from past repair work, before I owned it.
I had to let the rego lapse a few years back now; and it'd never pass a roadworthy to current Vic standards.

So when I can physically manage it, I'll borrow an engine crane and pull the engine and trans/transfer out as a unit, and park that in my garage - where the vehicle is currently located. A bike will have to go, to make room for that, and I've earmarked one of the four current shed denizens, a solo K2 Honda 750 Four.

The rest of the 45 can go off to the local 4WD wreckers, as there's nothing very special about any of it. Standard diffs, prop shafts etc. Well maintained and in decent nick, though. I'll just keep the 'zorst, as that's a custom bent setup, naturally.

I'm selling off my kit of Landcruiser front end 'Special Service Tools', via another forum I frequent; as even if I set this driveline up in another vehicle [maybe a 45/47 Series Cruiser Troop Carrier], I won't be doing any of the heavy service work myself. Beyond re-packing wheel bearings, at any rate.

Bit of a shame that Gadge but I guess if you save the good bits for later it can go into a good truck again. I'm pretty much past that sort of heavy mods myself these days but some years back I thrived on it. I'm not really up with the K2 Hondas but some of those early Hondas pull big money these days. I only played with the F Supersports first of the DOHC motors 79/83 because they were cheap, reliable and nobody wanted them. I still have the one I rode to work daily but I haven't had it out of the shed for nearly 4 years now.

It's good to see motorbike men who thoroughly appreciate Victas.