I've got a series 3 Ute with this conversion, but it's been done a bit rough!!
I just use the old girl around our property where she leads a peaceful life carrying wood for the fire, spraying the firebreak, etc. So the quality of the conversion is not that important to me as she's not used on the road and is in fact un-licensed. Probably does 50Km per year now!
The problems I've found with the conversion on mine are:
1) Engine vibration - caused by the engine mounts which have had to be re-located and not done too well. Easily fixed, but give the motor a few revs out of gear and make sure the one your looking at is ok.
2) No Handbrake - removed completely from mine, so watch out for that! Although the C4 obviously has a "Park" position, but I'm not sure how legal it is with no handbrake drum, not to mention buggering up hill starts off-road.
3) Dodgy welding where the gearbox cross member has been cut off and then re-welded about 6" further back to accomodate the C4.
4) I was under my car the other day and started to look at the propshafts and can only assume (after a quick look) that the front and rear props have been swapped. I could be wrong, but that's what it looks like has been done, as the front prop would not be long enough due to the relocation of the gearbox / transfer box rearward. Similarly, the rear prop would be too long after this conversion. Make sure the props on the one you're looking at aren't too short and at the limit of their extension on the splines.
5) My car was a Rover 6 cyl originally and therefore has the Land Rover 6 cly bulkhead, even so the Ford motor is pretty long and actually touches the bulkhead at the back on mine, this led to some creative grinder work by the guy that did the job and a "domed hatch" being riveted into it. Now quite frankly this has buggered up the structural integrity of the bulkhead and if I wanted to put the car back on the road I would have to address this with the welder.
6) Have a look at the oil filter, it will probably be very close to the nearside engine mount, so a quite small filter (in depth) will probably be fitted, not a problem but I reckon these need changing fairly regularly as they are a third of the depth of the filter fitted if the engine was under the hood of a Falcon.
Thats about it for my observations, but bear in mind that the exhaust will have had to be replaced / modified, fuel lines, throttle linkages and cable, so check these all out and ensure there's nothing dangerous lurking under the bonnet.
Don't forget that the car will have had to have been Engineered and have a plaque to that effect mounted somewhere..., oh yeah, did I mention mine doesn't have that either!
On the plus side, you get a great motor that is bombproof, loads of torque, reliable and spare parts everywhere, you can get a secondhand motor for $150 !!
The C4 is reliable and as far as I know pretty bombproof as well. Mine starts everytime even after 3 months of standing, it's a great motor and the C4 makes driving around easy - even my missus likes driving the old girl, but does complain about the lack of power stearing! LOL
Hope this helps.
Jon
Originally Posted by D3Jon
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