An Acquisition

CarMichael Angelo

my rearend will smell so minty fresh,
15 Year Member
Nov 29, 1999
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Birmingham, al
Strange how most hobbies go. Follow me on this now.

Just think of anything that could be considered a hobby. It always involves money.
It doesn't matter whether it's golf, cars, or stamp collecting,....you pay to play.

Along those same lines, Where else but w/i a hobby does the opportunity to spend that money to buy the Big Bad Bertha driver,...or a new set of AFR 225's, or that 1865 lincoln one cent stamp,....excite? To me, THAT is the addiction.......gotta have it, gotta have it, gotta have it! It's an itch that needs scratching

I don't know about you guys, but I've been tryin to scratch an itch for a few weeks now. It's in a hard to reach place,..and required a little finesse to actually hit the spot.

My "itch" is called a crossflow head. And I've been tryin to get one since I learned about the thing:
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For those of you NOT familiar w/ what you're looking at,..it's basically a 351c head for my banger. Ford Australia made these things back in the early 70's, and they came stock on the Aussie inline version of my motor. As opposed to my cast iron stock head,..the differences are obvious:

Aluminum.
Pedestal rockers 1.73 rockers,..(as opposed shaft mounted 1.5's on mine)
Induction on driver side,..exhaust on passenger side.
Canted valves.

The rarity of the head, and the fact that they are all in Australia had me kinda giving up....they typically go for between 250-300 USD over there, and it was gonna cost big dollars to get it here ( at least the purchase price, probably more)

But On the Fordsix forum,..I state that I want one, and ole dude steps up.......in Oklahoma. He says I can have it for what he paid for it (250.00) plus shipping.

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I've committed to the guy,...I'm hoping he doesn't get cold feet.

It's not all gravy. There is still a few "hurdles" to jump before I can make it work:

The Aussie block is wider on the pushrod side of the engine,...consequently I have to widen my block w/ a steel bar that is bolted, and epoxied on the side to allow me room to enlarge the stock pushrod passages to accomodat the goofy looking angled pushrods. The process has been well documented on Fordsix forum,..so it ain't like I'm coming up w/ a bunch of crazy sh it all on my own (this time).

The firing order is different. The U.S. engine grouped #3, and #4 exhaust valves together. I still have to get the cam for the Aussie block in order to straighten that out. As you can see from the chamber shots,..the valves are all turned almost perpendicular to an inline configuration, but they are all in the same order front to back. Good thing is:..It'll fit my engine,..bad things is: I gotta buy one from Australia.

I was gonna buy a cam for the current combo anyway,..Having to come from Australia,..I cant imagine that it'll cost more than 200.00 to get it here,...I've got an email into one of the cam grinders over there,.. they should see it in a few more hours when it becomes 9 AM Wednesday morning in Sydney.

I'm still making my intake and exhaust manifolds just as I was planning on for the other head,....but the fact that the intake is completely away from the exhaust is a huge benefit,...and super easy to fab because of it.

Now,..I just gotta get the confirmation email from Oklahoma dude w/ my shipping charges.
 
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Cool, seems like a lot if work but hobbies are fun. I've spent plenty of hobby hours perfecting what I like so more power to ya bud :nice: and hope you're able to snag all the parts you need. I always love different, ...other than wall to wall stickers in the engine bay :drool:
 
You have to admire those Aussies- beautiful women, fast cars with the steering wheel on the wrong side and the most poisonous sakes on the planet. Choose the way you want to die, and they can accommodate you with one of the three above categories...
 
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What are the two firing orders? 1-5-3-6-2-4 is the one I am familiar with. You may want to get in touch with JRC technologies or Jones Cams. Mike Jones may have a source or a cam, he is in NC.

Scott
 
What are the two firing orders? 1-5-3-6-2-4 is the one I am familiar with. You may want to get in touch with JRC technologies or Jones Cams. Mike Jones may have a source or a cam, he is in NC.

Scott
Thanks,..it's not the firing order (I stand cor,..ccc,...coreccc,...corrected) It's the relationship of the opening of the valves w/i the firing order on the cam.

(The intake and exhaust valve lobes on the U.S. cam on numbers 3, & 4 would need to switch places in order for the head to work) They still need to be opening/closing when the piston is in the right place,...the valves openings just need to switch.
 
I cant believe those are not more valuable then that? I mean you could not redo the current head for that price. In one of the other threads you mentioned them going for like 400 in AU. So good deal man, that will save what 40lbs off the nose?
 
Goes to the obsolescence of the engine it will sit on. Inline six's are just not common enough to make even a cool assed head like that one valuable. The Aussies have moved on since that head,..there is a dohc version out currently that renders this ole pushrod head dinosaur status.
 
Will we have to call you Mad Mike now with that Aussie based hotrod? Oh wait,,,,, we do. How ironic.

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