My XB Coupe RestoMod

[DaveD_XB]

Hey guy’s, based off a comment someone put up on Facebook expressing concern that the FB page was potentially damaging this forum as folks may not be posting here as much anymore I have put this thread together about my long suffering Coupe & the project that hopefully will take off this year as I plan to have the coupe at Echuca next year. Now, I used to have thousands of pics from over the years of everything that I did.. but due to some failed hard drives & being too lazy to do backups over the years I’ve lost a lot of them…. So the following is what little I have of the pictorial history I have for the old girl, I was working for IBM at the time I bought her & I was travelling all over Australia in my job, so I ended up buying the car out of a small town in the hills of Adelaide in South Australia… this is how she looked when I got her home for the first time









& I got myself a spare shell not long after she was bought as there was nowhere to get a lot of the parts back then…. Not much has changed over the years, as we all know some bits are still made from unobtaintanium & often priced to reflect that…



The main thing that I was looking for a high end GS/GT spec car with all matching numbers mechanicals.. & that’s what I got.. the car had been restored in the late 80’s early 90’s I was told & I don’t think that the engine bay had been cleaned or even looked at since that day… pulling the engine out cleaning that engine bay should have been on the top of my list of things to get done, but I just wanted to drive the car so it wasn’t that high up the to-do list I must admit.



One day when driving her the engine went off note & dropped a cylinder.. dirty plug I assured myself on the drive home… nope… worn lobe off the cam it turned out to be in the end… this was a few weeks out from Echuca 2007 & that meant that rebuilding the engine was out as I didn’t have that much time or money.. so I pulled the engine anyway & figured I’d find another cheap one somewhere, after all it only had to last a weekend.. so an engine was sourced for the pricey sum of one slab of beer… seemed an ok deal to me

Slab engine when I got it



Slab engine after I cleaned it up a bit before fitting it to the Coupe

[DaveD_XB]

I stripped down all the oil, grease & crap from the engine bay & gave it a few coats of new black paint to make it look half decent & cleaned up the extractors with some heat resistant paint





Now when I bought the car the heater hoses on the engine where cut, so instead of heading thru the firewall into the heater core the engine inlet & outlet that feeds the heater core where just joined by a bent hose, as can be seen in the old dirty engine bay pic above… now I knew that this meant that the heater core leaked… & I also knew that the heater core would be a ***** to remove whilst the dash was in place… so I did the only thing I could, at the time the biggest job I’d ever attempted on a car on my own





Whilst the car was clearly not going anywhere for a while I also decided to fix the leaking rear axles.. the bearings where well shot



Then with the help of a mate we dropped the new heart in…





Looked a bit better that the old before shot above I’m sure you’ll agree



Then it was time for a quick cut & polish to put some shine back into the old girl

[DaveD_XB]

For the next few years I simply drove her like I stole her…









Then one day the carb started acting up badly & I’d always felt that the V8 was under carb’d anyway so rather than rebuild the old one I opted to rip it off & replace it with a shiny new Holley 750 Vacuum secondary unit



So off came the old one… I’m now 100% sure but I think it was a Holley 500cfm





An adapter plate was needed to fit this little puppy up but it was a nice simple 10 minute job that ultimately delivered more power & didn’t kill the economy too much whilst doing it

[DaveD_XB]

For the next few years I simply drove her like I stole her…









Then one day the carb started acting up badly & I’d always felt that the V8 was under carb’d anyway so rather than rebuild the old one I opted to rip it off & replace it with a shiny new Holley 750 Vacuum secondary unit



So off came the old one… I’m now 100% sure but I think it was a Holley 500cfm





An adapter plate was needed to fit this little puppy up but it was a nice simple 10 minute job that ultimately delivered more power & didn’t kill the economy too much whilst doing it

[DaveD_XB]

After a long drive one day the car started acting up big time… the carb was running like crap.. on inspection the in line fuel filter was clogged with rust & the needles needed to flushed clean, after flushing the fuel lines the exact same thing happened again… so I figured that the tank itself must have been falling apart… luckily I had a whole spare car so a replacement tank wasn’t far away, I cleaned up the internals of the “new” tank & fitted up… job done.







Now unlike my old tank this one was unmolested which meant that it had the original vent holes not welded over… this sent me on a mission to track down the very fragile venting system that these cars had to keep the fumes out of the car



Much to my shock I actually managed to track down the part.. I was so happy when I found it in a pick-a-part scrap yard & was only charged 2 bucks for it.. happy days

[DaveD_XB]

Fast forward now to 2010 & I walked into the garage one day & whilst looking at the original numbers matching V8 on a stand in the corner I decided that I should strip it down & have it checked over for a nice big HP rebuild..



So I made some space in the garage, broke out the tools & cued the montage music…. Set to breaking it down..



Now if your playing along at home first start with a buggered old V8, next step should be to find someone who knows what they are doing. I skipped that step



Drained the block of all the old crap oil



Remove the rocker covers & discover that Australian spiders will live anywhere… remove the spiders (remembering that most of them can kill you)



Remove the intake manifold...





You don’t have to remove the rockers from the heads obviously, but I had a whole day to kill so everything was coming apart

[DaveD_XB]

Undo the head bolts, this was a good excuse to break out the toys



Lift off the head







With the other head off, flip the engine upside down





Remove the oil sump, now you can see the oil pick up pump, the crank shaft & where the rods connect the pistons to the crank

[DaveD_XB]

Now to extract a piston, remove the end cap being careful not to damage the cap, the bearing or the crank









Now line the crank up so that the piston & rod are aiming straight out the cylinder… then tap the piston out being very careful not to touch the bore walls of the cylinder



Once the Piston & the rings are past the lip of the cylinder simply pull out





One down, 7 to go…

[DaveD_XB]

Now undo & remove the main caps..



Next I pulled the cam timing chain & the flex plate off, the crank is now free to be lifted out





& yes it’s bloody heavy in case you’re wondering



Next was to remove the cam gears



Almost done now…



Gently slide the cam out being careful not to damage any of the lobes… mind you mine was stuffed to start with so no need for me to be so careful



& now your done.. the block is ready to be acid dipped & checked over, only the frost plugs left to punch out

[DaveD_XB]

Decided on some artsy shots before throwing everything bar the block in the recycle bin









Now only a matter of weeks after I’d done the above I made the decision to move back to Ireland a few years… so the XB went to a mate to baby sit & the block here went to another mates shed to sit in wait for me to return with a build plan… despite me leaving my mate the keys & giving him free reign to drive the old girl as much as he wanted she eventually ended up in storage when he moved & could no longer garage her… so this is how she sat like the ark of the covenant for nearly two years



Now fast forward again to the end of 2012 & I was now back in Australia & looking to finally get around to showing the old girl the love she deserves… so off I went down to Hobart to collect her from the storage shed she’d been sleeping in.. brought her back to Melbourne

[DaveD_XB]

Now fast forward to May 2014 & I’ve finally decided to get up off my **** & do something with this car.. I have always had a plan for this car for as long as I’ve owned it & it’s a simple one..

Fix the body of rust & re-spray (I’ve decided to keep the colour)
Mild HP engine build (including beefed up drive train to suit)
Upgraded suspension, brakes & wheels to help her handle
Freshen up the interior, I have a Landau interior & I might use the rear seats & centre console from that.. still not decided fully..

I’ve now started to tick things off this list… first to be done was the engine..

I took my old matching numbers engine to be checked over for a Mild HP rebuild… but when checked it was never going to be able to give me what I wanted which was 500HP … so given my love for new shiny things… I opted to buy a new Dart block out of the USA… I went for a Windsor block design with a 9.2 deck height & 4.125” bore giving 427ci

The new 427ci Block



The new crank shaft



The new Cam… specs as follows.. 254/260@50 650/660 lift



The new Cam installed..





The new gear set

[DaveD_XB]

A little more Engine porn for ya…. The block fully finished & all buttoned up now… painted in Ford racking Blue, there was a big push from some to paint it black, but I really like Ford blue & I’m paying so I win..



The custom carb is also finished now…





the heads are finished, all valves & springs set..



We’ve bolted the heads to the block now & fitted the electric water pump… I decided that since I plan on using a 4 core Aluminium radiator with twin electric thermo fans for this engine that there was no point in using an old style mechanical pump that would be a lot heaver & would steal HP



We dummied up the high rise manifold, carb & rocker covers so that I could get some measurement to work out if this will all fit under the bonnet of the XB with the stock bonnet or if I would need to fit a Cobra style bonnet scope to make this work, I have a spare bonnet with a shaker hole cut in it anyway, so I’ll do both bonnets for the car & then make a choice when it’s together…. if I use a drop base air cleaner it should all fit under the stock bonnet…..

[DaveD_XB]

More random pics of shiny bits





Here is the finished product on the dyno…





This is a brief clip of the engine when the cam was being run in…

http://s1005.photobucket.com/user/gr...2d739.mp4.html

This was the first power run… due to the expletive used by the dyno guy at the end.. this one may be NSFW

http://s1005.photobucket.com/user/gr...09b89.mp4.html

So where did we end up on the first power pull…. 665.9HP…. oh & as the dyno room is on a hill I’m claiming the .1HP too as an atmospheric variance… so I’m calling that 666HP & we had 582ftlb’s of torque… that’s 789NM in the new money I think… & whilst racers like big HP numbers… as we all know HP is just how fast you hit the wall, torque is how far you move it… in heavy Muscle cars a bit of Torque is what you want…



Now my builder reckoned that there is another 20-30HP in the tune & Carb changes… we managed to get max of 691HP out of it on the dyno & he reckons that if I swap the cam for something with a more aggressive lift lobe then we’ll be well into the 700HP range… I’ve told him, that if I get bored with it being 666HP+ on the mild tune… I’ll let him know… I went out with a trailer & picked up my new engine & it’s now sitting in my garage as a constant reminder for me to get my finger out & get cracking on getting the XB ready for it..

[DaveD_XB]

I also have the custom Carb on my bench, correctly jetted for my build now





I’ll be running an ICE ignition system on this engine… no more crappy points for me…







You can programme in different advance curves & such on this unit



I also have a nice set of tuned length 4:1 extractors, these are the actual ones that we got the dyno results with



These are also set up with AFR bungs welded in so I can run sensors to fully understand what happening with the air/fuel tune of this engine

[DaveD_XB]

One of the lessons I learned with the project I’ve been working on the last 18 months is to not just rush in & rip parts of the car before you fully understand exactly what you’re replacing & what parts you have vs need to get… so I’ve started to go through some of my boxes of bits that I have laying around… I have a heap in storage at a mates place including a 2nd XB coupe rolling shell, a spare bonnets, doors, a boot lids, 3 interiors not including the Landau one, like most of us have & god knows what else..

Anyway I was looking at the dash in the XB now & it’s been butchered over the years… someone has just painted the headlight & wiper switches with thick black paint & whilst they work they look crap..





The radio slot has been cut larger to allow for the poor fitment of a modern radio



The gauge lenses are all badly smoked now..



& the ashtray is fine when closed… but shouldn’t really be opened at all…

[DaveD_XB]

I do have a very good condition clock..



It’s supposed to go on the right hand side between the light switch & the vent.. but I might see if I can replace the ashtray with the clock instead..



I have a really nicely restored dash surround for the car now



The lenses are all clear & the paint work is real nice & crisp



I also have a set of New Old Stock switches, here is the headlight switch.. couldn’t find the box with the wiper one.. but I have it somewhere..



Something’s I’m not putting back to stock.. so I ordered myself a new B&M Stealth shifter for the auto box.. I saw one in a car the other week & I just had to have one..





Now to start on the list of bits I don’t have… uprated gearbox, driveshaft & Diff.. new suspension, brakes & wheels… must order all the bits over the next few weeks..

[lilmattie]

Nice story. I'm enjoying it so far! Thanks for sharing!

[Uncle Tone]

Oh, I'm subscribing to this one for sure!!

[XT3VCruiser]

Sweet project

Mild engine??? 666 hp is far from mild.

[DaveD_XB]

Well 666 is on the engine dyno.. So it'll be well sub 600 at the wheels once the drivetrain sucks up its bit I imagine...

[Bearman]

Great thread Dave. Was great to catch up with you and your coupe at Caribbean.

Looking forward to the finished project!!

Cheers.

[cs123]

Nice engine. Did Simon build that for you?

[DaveD_XB]

Yeah mate, Simon built that one

[GTB 351]

Wow! Can't wait to check it out at Echuca.

[DaveD_XB]

Well, this project has just kicked off now as I’ve just ordered the following for the car & they should be here in a few weeks so I now need to pull my finger out & start stripping the car down to allow me to fit them…. So what goodies have I ordered, lets see…

For the rear I’ll be ripping out the old leaf spring setup & installing:

RRS 3 link rear end setup
35 spline axles
Watts linkage frame assembly
Coil over shocks
Trailing arms
Torque arm
315mm slotted rotors
Mini 6 piston calipers

The front end will be getting:

Coil over struts
RRS knuckle Spindles
330mm slotted rotors
6 piston calipers
RRS reinforced lower control arms
RRS Power rack & pinion kit
RRS high performance steering pump
RRS Strut rod adjuster kit
RRS tie rod adjuster kit
Shock tower notching kit (will give an extra 5” space per side)
Shock tower strut brace kit

This should keep me busy for most of the winter in the skunk works garage, Now to go on the hunt for some 17’ wheels that I like to fit over the brakes that I have just bought…

[bionic2006xr6t]

What did the new engine combo set you back mate if you don't mind me asking?

Cheers Ryan

[DaveD_XB]

Originally Posted by bionic2006xr6t

What did the new engine combo set you back mate if you don't mind me asking?

Cheers Ryan

I started with a budget of $12k for the engine but Like any car project mate I spent more than I'd planned day one, but then that's because I didn't skimp on a single item.. Whenever a choice of parts to use came up I chose the best & well you pay for that..

[daytona1965]

DaveD,

I think I have seen 17" Simmons floating around, new production or

somrthing like that.........

Great thread, you will certainly need to add a stally to your auto....


Rohan

[DaveD_XB]

I was looking at some 17” Simmons for this car, but I just couldn’t get over how expensive they seem to be, prices I got from some places where $2500 for a set & whilst I do like the look of some of them…. That is twice what I just paid for a set of 17” Magnums for my Challenger from YearOne (not known for being a cheap company) delivered… & I think the Magnums look so much better than the Simmons do..

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Right now, this is the wheel that I’m leaning towards in 17”… I just love how they looked on Eleanor in the movie remake & at US$355 a wheel they are heaps cheaper than the Simmons & I’d say I’m less likely to see someone else with the same wheels too

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[DaveD_XB]

Just thought I’d give a bit of an update for this thread… the old girl is off at the panel beaters now getting some much deserved TLC & I’m busy making lists of all the bits I need & ordering parts… hopefully when she’s painted & back in my garage I’ll have 90% of the bits needed.

I ordered my new wheels about 2 weeks ago & there is an 8 week lead time on them plus shipping, so it will be a while before they turn up now.. they are Repo’s of the Ford GT-40 & AC Cobra wheels, as shown above… I’ve always loved them & ever since I decided many many years ago not to make a Mad Max replica out of this car these have been the wheels I wanted to put on her.. I have a set of 17x8 for the fronts & 17x10.5 for the rears coming

Now with my Challenger getting a healthy 7mpg & having nowhere near as much HP as this build I figured that the stock fuel tank will not really be conducive to long drives.. so I bought a 36 gallon or 140 liter tank (depending where you’re from), it will bolt into the stock tank hole in the boot & drop down nicely.



It take the standard fuel sender & has AN fittings for larger fuel lines



It’s hard to get a good shot of the insides, but it has internal baffling & a swirl pot integrated also..



My car never had a center console in it when I got her, I did get one in another XB that I bought for spares, but that one was so badly damaged it wasn’t worth even trying to fix up… so a new one was bought so I’ll have somewhere to store my crap whilst driving… shame I’ll probably have to cut this one a bit to make it fit over the aftermarket shifter I’m installing





Another thing that I’ve decided to replace are all the rear light lenses as the Aussie sun has not been kind to them..