George C

I have had the 234 and 244 cam. I know what you mean about the 234 cam as it has good torque characteristics. The 244 cam will work fine if everything is in order. An ignition upgrade does also add back torque at low revs. I run a MBE 3D ignition system and with the 244 cam I have more low down torque than previously with the 234. I have also used an A6 cam which is a long duration cam and gives similar power to the 244 but if I were you I would stick with the 244 and consider an ignition upgrade. You also need to make sure cam timing and everything else is OK.

The best upgrade is to make the car handle and get rid of the understeer. So really good shocks plus propper setting up. A decent set of tyres will then add to this and make the car much faster around a track. The car will also be faster in a straight line as you will be braking later and exiting corners with greater speed. Tyres alone will make the car considerably quicker but wont really change the driving characteristics. They will expose the weaknesses in the standard chasiss set up and the car may not be that rewarding to drive. The next problem will be the seat as with lots of grip you need to be held in place. After that power improvements etc etc will add to the package but get the handling sorted first. Also think about future uprades so you dont have to do things twice. Driver training all depends upon your experience etc and you are the best person to judge this.

It could be oil or it may well be fuel. It can be difficult to tell. I had this issue on number 2 cylinder and worried about a possible engine problem. Resolved by servicing Webbers. I would start by checking and resetting the Webbers and then check the plugs after a good fast test run of about 10 miles.

Had the same problem. Everything on the car was perfect with no play in steering or suspension joints etc etc etc. Could not find the problem then by chance removed a track rod end and found it to be stiff which is undetectable when in place. Changed both track rod ends (not expensive) and all was well.

My car had Spax adjustable which were fine on road and track so at low cost you can simply replace with new. Adjustables are best and early cars need the front dampers set harder than the rears. I uprated to AVO alloy bodied shocks (from Freestyle Motorsport with springs) which are a mid price option but work very well and are an improvement on the Spax, they are much more compliant. If you are changing spec it would be better to the front and the back. The AVOs needed a minor easy mod (filing) to gain clearance from the bottom wishbone. Springs dont really wear out. It would be useful to find out if you have the early soft springs or uprated ones as the later cars have (60 to 80% stiffer). If you have the early soft springs these are fine and a few more clicks on the dampers helps control everything. The stiffer springs give a more modern feel but nothing wrong with the older set up and with dampers stiffened they work well.

Yes, I agree that does sound fantastic but then again its bottom half XFlow and top half Cosworth!

A curved ball - The best sound will come from a bike engine and if you have a live axle car the Fireblade option would be fantastic and not too expensive. I went in convoy with a LCC rocket (with Yamaha 1100cc engine) a couple of weeks ago and the sound from that thing was truly amazing.

Many of the good engine builders can help you. I used Scholar as they are close to me in Suffolk, they have been building XFlows with easily as much racing success any anyboby else and I like the people - old school racers. Ask for Alan. If your budget is getting tight make sure you spend the money on the important bits first - crank, rods, pistons etc and worry about mapped ignition etc later. Plead poverty and use some second hand parts (I have some good forged pistons spare and I know Scholar have loads of second hand Webber 45s - So that could be £ 600 saved so far). You could base the engine around the Formula Ford steel crank (saved a further £ 900) with nice set of Arrow steel rods. Scholar have some of the original camshaft blanks from when they were first produced and have had them ground to 254 profile - these are far better than any new cams which seem to fail for some reason. They also have loads of second had bits lying around from many years in the business. My previous engine was a Roger King 155bhp spec which was also very good but I don't think Roger is building engines any more. If you want to have a look at my engine etc you are more than welcome.

Iron Crank and Rods - Can be modified at reasonable cost and can give great bhp. With mods you are limited to around 7500rpm although some people push it higher. The crank and rods will be the limiting factor and are right on the edge of what they can do so reliability is a concern. You can build a very good engine around the original modified crank and rods but the they will be the limiting factor. Steel Crank and Rods - £ 1500 for the crank and £ 500 to £800 for the rods. But it doesnt stop there because you then carry on through everything else in the engine. Result - £ 5k+, you now have a proper racing engine, more or less bullet proof reliability, smooth running, you can use the 7500 revs now with no worries at all and the engine will be safe to 8500 (or more) if all the other components are up to the job. Power will be determined by the cam you choose and you will have a really exciting engine. In reality with a XFlow the power is produced across the rev range and tends to tail off at the top end so you dont tend to be bouncing of the rev limiter unless you go for a much wilder cam. I stuck with the 244 cam as it gives great mid range torque which makes the car very quick on the road. A 254 or 264 cam would give more power but at the expense of the mid range which might be OK on a track but less so on the road. With the 254 or 264 cam you will be in the 190bhp range I imagine but the valve gear will now be really stressed and hence the high maintenance. One other thing on revs. 2nd gear is really fast, 3rd gear a bit less and so on. If you have higher revs you stay in the fun gears for longer. So a 20bhp deficit to a Zetec for example is made up easily by still being in the lower gear. You have say 180bhp in 2nd at 80+mph with the high revs, the other guy in the lower rev limited car changed into third well before and is down the rev range with say 150bhp and a harder ratio to pull. The less powerful car is faster and thats why XFlows can still hold their own (until they go bang)! The XFlow route is interesting and you probably do this if you have some emotional attachment to the car for some reason. It is also nice to create something really special. The Zetek route is technically superior with the benefit of a modern deign etc and so you would have to say better but maybe not so involving.

I went down the illogical route and went as far as I could with my XFlow (and spent far too much money - my choice). I wanted to keep my car original and I quite like the Xflow having raced Xflows in my Caterham and Formula Fords. The Crossflow in general actually has a great heritage having powered many of the well known racing drivers at some point in Formula Ford. Also in the Formula Ford world it has recently made a bit of a comeback in recent years and they are now producing new blocks, cranks etc. The difference in lap time is minimal with Zetec FFord's. I suspect some of this is down to the Zetec being top heavy. Scholar built me an all steel XFlow with narrow journals, long rods, short forged pistons, 1760cc, 244cam (for drivability), Roger King big valve head with further porting, Webber 45s, MBE ignition, dry sump. Around 175bhp on the dyno with a really beefy flat torque curve. Limited to 8300revs. On the road it is amazingly torquey, revs well, sounds fantastic and above all is exciting to drive. With new methods of building and setting up engines it doesnt leak oil at all and will tick over happily at 1000 revs and has more pull at low revs than the Alfa (with high tech engine) I drive every day. Technically the Zetek is a better and is an easier way to get more power and reliability, it depends on what you are after.

The new Formula Ford crank is a steel (cast, I think) version to the original standard design. It was introduced to put an end to Formulat Ford cranks needing to be crack tested every 1000 miles and often needing to be replaced. The Formula Ford rules were changed to allow the steel crank. This steel version is much stonger so will be more reliable and can also be reved much higher. They are good value at £ 500 to £ 600. The billet steel crank is the next step from there and is to a different design. These are stronger again, have better counter weighting, better lubrication and there are lots of other detailed options. Safe to over 8500 revs but everything else in the engine would need to be to a similar standard. But £ 1500ish just for the crank. If you are looking for higher revs with reliability it is worth it and the FF version is good value.

Cambridge Motorsport do some nice ones - lighter, less inertia etc, not silly money. I am thinking of one as a winter upgrade. I have one of their lightweight starters which has proved to be very good and they have offered a good service.

The biggest difference comes from having good dampers (something like AVO or Nitron), correct springs and good tyres. If you get this right with the car carefully set up and all in perfect order then you have 98% or more of the performance of the later set up. Wide track and the later top links look nice and will help a very small amount but is not at all essential. The original set up still works suprisingly well but must be correctly set up.

If you have one of the older racks (as I have on 87 car) then the cycle wings will catch on the side skins on full lock. I have left it as it is and just take care but you could make and fit rack stops.

Your chosen engine builder will be able to supply you with a 3D ignition. If the engine is run in on the dyno you can also get a bespoke 'map' created for your engine and the carbs set up to suit - no need for rolling road sessions later and you have a nicely run in and set up engine from day one. The 3D will enable the ignition timing to be infinatly variable as the timing of the spark can be completely different depending on revs, throttle opening and possibly temperature. The variables on a distributer are much less and tend to be optimised for higher revs. Fitting is really easy (I hate electrics and managed it). The engine builder I use (Scholar) sold me an MBE system which works well and the software they use can be accessed easily (unlike the Webber system).

Just a thought. It used to be that hotter cams more or less allways created drivability problems. These days with 3D ignition systems you can go further with the cam and still have excellent torque low down. Its still best to be conservative with the cam but you can push it a bit further than before.

Try Merlin Motorsport, they sell the various bits and pieces and are very helpful.

98 Octane is fine. I am not too fussy these days and just use super unleaded 97 and up on very high compression, 1760cc etc etc XFlow and no problems. If I were to venture out on a track I woul use best Shell.

Its worth checking the propshaft which may require a refurb - mine did after 11,000 miles of which 1000miles were racing. Its very difficult to check if its OK whilst in the car (unless its completely shot) and I only noticed mine was wearing when I removed the engine and could move it around a bit. As the propshaft is removed from the back of the car and you will have the suspension off the car it makes sense. But to do this the diff and fuel tank needs to come out which is hassle. The diff is probably fine but for a small sum you could get this checked and fit new bearings and seals. I got SPC to do mine and they lightened the crown wheel at the same time. At least that way you know its all fine for many years to come and overall not that expensive but quite a few hours work.

Could be fuel vaporising due to the hot weather / hot under bonnet temperature. I have Matsubi (spelling??) fuel pump on my Xflow with filter king and last weekend it went a bit mad in the hot weather and when restarting after a hard drive. Once the car had cooled down overnight all was well and back to normal and no problem this weekend.

My experience with a similar engine with a 3d ignition is that the final map doesnt make that much difference. In my case due to electrical problems I ran the engine with a 'safe' map on a temporary ECU for a few miles and then fitted the correct ECU and bespoke map later. It will all depend on the actual map you actually have I suppose. As you say there is a good torque improvement at low revs with these systems which whilst better takes the peakiness away.

The cast steel crank is an excellent way to more or less guarantee reliability and is cost effective and allows more revs. The standard crank is good for 7000 or 7500 revs depending on the work done to it to imporive it - turftriding etc but at these revs you are on its limits whereas with the steel version you should be able to forget about it. You can use standard rods with the cast steel ctrank and the rods can be improved by polishing, ARP bolts etc. The next step is steel rods and then H section etc. The forged steel crank is the next step and is more expensive but more or less bullet proof. Some of the smaller capacity crossflows reved to silly high figures but a 1700 will end up back in the workshop very quickly with anything like those revs. Its good to have peace of mind and the extra revs and power with steel really make the car fly as you will for example still be acceletarting hard in second gear instead of more slowly in 3rd with an intoxicating sound. You wont worry about the rods or crank breaking either during your exploits - I have experienced this first hand in Formula Ford on exit of fast corner, close to crash barriers - not good - dont want that to happen again! Trouble is because you have been thrashing it, you still end up rebuilding every now and then, but thats the fun and you can then dream up how to make it better again. And during the rebuilds you will be able to see all of those things that you wasted your money on in previous winters! If the car is driven sensibly with the standard modified components it will though last for many miles / years. The Roger King 155bhp spec is a good example of this.

Chris I didn't write my post very clearly! Scholar's tel no is 01449 767 711. They did the sonic testing and build and they are based in Mendlesham, Suffolk. George

Chris Scholar in Mendlesham, Suffolk sonic tested the block and said this was essential for 1760cc.

The main advantage are that you can use a shorter pisiton which will be lighter with less friction and there are less sideways forces on the piston. As with all these mods the advantage is relatively small but if you add them all up then you get good a measurable improvement. You probably wouldnt notice the difference by itself. My X Flow was upgraded last year and was fitted longer rods etc with narrow main bearing journals and a steel crank etc. Rods and crank from Arrow. The block was sonic tested and then bored to 1760cc with shorter forged pistons. Kept the 244 cam. Upgraded from Webber 40s to 45s, MBE ignition. So its basically bullet proof, has amazing torque and gave 170bhp+ on the dyno with better driveability than in all the specs (many) it has been in before. Only downside is the cost. There was a supply issue with the shorter pistons and Scholar who built my engine machined them from something from Cosworth.