UK Ford V4

Does anyone have any experience with the Ford V4 used in in the German Taunus, late sixties UK Zodiac/Zephyr, and Saab 95/96?

I think they are the same engine in 1.5 and 2.0 liter versions. Correct?

Any hop-up potential? Parts availability?
What transmissions were used - automatic and standard?

Thanks for any light you can shed.

 

they are a pile of poo. not particulaly reliable, drink petrol and produce no real power. If you have on in a car either change it now or wait till it dies then change it. It's only worth sticking with if you are restoring a car (like you would!!) and you ask about tuning, speed parts will either be cheap (as no one wants them) or really expensive due to rarity and the washer counters looking to do "historic racing" if you want a cheap 4 pot go for a pinto or even a zetec if you are feeling a bit more high tech.
post the question on www.nsra.org.uk for more info


Paul

 

I had one in a English Ford Transit Van.
The Engine was out of a Consul GT, if I remember right.
It was about a 1.7, had a little bigger cam, higher compression,and a dual throat Weber.
( It would out run the later Transits that came with 2.0 Pinto Engines )

They Raced, and Ralley'd Saabs and they made all kinds of Go Faster Goodies for them.

Like a Intake for 2 DCOE Webers... (but those were already too rare to find one when I did the Transit)

I'm not a fan of this Engine.
The Exhaust ports on each head were siamesed, and it had a fiber Cam Gear that would strip its teeth....

The Original Mustang Concept Car ( the little Mid Engined one with the Lotus Wobbly Web Wheels ) had one of these Engines too.

 

Like this?


http://www.saabklubben.com/arkiv/96/9607.jpg

Try this link and look at the "technical pages", 90 hp engine kit.
http://www.motorsportsweden.com/indux.htm

 

Yep...

 

I love the way Brits tend to understate their feelings...
Thanx for the input. I actually have spent some time on nsra web site already. Great stuff there.

 

They're shat. End of.

 

OOOOH, YES. BABY!
Thanks for the link, Kopperhead and for your coments Metalshapes.

That's what I love about this forum - so many people with one foot firmly planted in trad rods and customs and the other foot god-only-knows wherelse.

I knew that the Saabs won tons of rallies in the sixties with Eric Carlson and Pat Moss, so I figured they could be made to run like stink. Although many of those wins were with the older two-strokers, some were with the V4.

 

Believe it or not some of the older "stand up" type fork lifts used those. I can't remember which ones though.

 

The technical name for the V4 was "boatanchor"..lol.The only thing going for them was their size.You could fit one in a matchbox,but unfortunately couldn`t light up the tyres!(I know,krap joke)

 

Ha! First "hot rod" I got to drive (around '78-ish) was a Mk2 Cortina with jacked-up rear, front spoiler, sidepipes and a V4 - outstanding performance compared to my 1300 ****** ;-)

Luckily I have no photos of it (happily, it wasn't mine!).

 

A right nasty engine (and I'm a Ford man!). I had a Corsair with the two-litre version and it was, frankly, vile.

 

Yeah, but the 2000E Gearbox was nice...


So what are you building Rot'n?

I think that a V4 to V6 ( English & German Ford )swap is pretty easy.

But maybe the Brit Hot Rodders can tell you more about that...

 

Not going to praise the old V4 but the Zephyr Zodiac & the Corsair V4's were a different animal to the other as used in the Saab, the Brit one was a short version of the Es*** V6 & the other was a short verion the German Cologne V6 as found in all later Brit Fords from about '78 onwards.

Tuning parts were rare even for the Es*** V6, although cams were available from varied companies & only one i can remember that spe******ed in all out tuning was Swaymar Engineering. I do rember Chevy rockers could be used for a better ratio, & another company called Janspeed made some six port heads for the cologne V6.

Other than that its all a blur from the past! ;-)

Kev.

 

Metalshape's correct about that gearbox.......

 

Rot n
what car you got the V4 in??

 

An interesting fact is that the Ford 1700-2000cc (used an SAAB´s as well) have strong connections with the Ford 289/302 and was developed in the USA for the Corsair (a project that then was taken over by Ford of England). I dont know how many of the parts that do interchange. Thats at least what I´ve read...

 

I did not know that...

So does it have the same Bellhouse bolt Pattern as the 289/302 or the 221/260?

How about the English and German V6 engines? Did they have the same pattern?

I know at least some of the V4's and V6's were the same...

 

at the end of the day they are still a steaming pile of horse poo!! no matter what they are in.

 

Used to rally and ice race a SAAB 96 with the V4. Fellow round here played with heads and made manifolds for holly webber 2bbls so you could tune the mixture for the better breathing and high comp heads, dual exhaust went over the roof. SAAB used a column shifted 4 speed. The best thing to do with was to swap in a 2.6 V6 from a (US MArket) Mercury Capri, so the bell housing was compatable.
I was under the impression that the origial usage for the v4 was industrial, fork lifts, compressors, welders, stationary pumps etc. and of course vessel progress deterent systems.

Was a bolt in after moving the radiator to the front side of the mount.

 

Yup, heavy underpowered SHAT actually!

 

Answer: nothing...yet.

Owing to family financial and health issues, I have been without an old car for awhile. But I have been saving up in a mad money account. And the old-car-itch is coming back bad, as it always does.

Having owned mostly American iron ('55 Cad, '58 Chevy Belair, '63 Ford Galaxie) I though I would try a furrin' job for a change. Something smaller, 4 cylinder, and different, but still customizable. I guess I have been inspired by KoppaK's weird weekend posts!

I am looking for something out-of-fashion (read:cheaper) which is OK as I prefer the unusual. I will wait for the good deal, rather than jump on the first thing that comes along. I know what I can do, and what I must farm out, so I know what to expect financially: three times whatever is in the budget!

Growing up, we had mostly American iron, but along the way we also had a Ford Anglia (Pop) delivery, an Austin A40 Devon, and 1955 Sunbeam Talbot Roadster (anyone seeing a pattern develop?).

I had a line on a 1957 MG Magnette (see my posts from 2 weeks ago) that was going to be almost free for the hauling. At the last minute the owner put it on eBay and it went to $1800. Probably worth it, too, but not to me.

I have been also looking for an Austin Counties car or similar. Located parts nearby, but no car yet.

Then yesterday I was on a road trip and made a detour which took me past an old garage that was surrounded by...Saabs. Never, in my life, have I been interested in Saabs, except maybe the ones that won the Monte Carlo Rally in the sixties. Well there were a couple of Saab 96s and a really nice Saab 95 Wagon... with a V4. Hence, the questions.

There is not a whole lot of room in the engine bay, and V6 swaps have been done, but make the car nose-heavy - at least according to the Internet research I have done so far.

I'd probably rather have a trad-Brit sort of vehicle, but the Saab could make an interesting Kustom. After all, the styling (weird as it is) goes back to the late forties.

Thanks again to all who have put in their thoughts, I appreciate it.

 

Hmmm I've always thought a Saab would make a cool Kustom, there was one and I'm sure I've got some pics somewhere...later.

 

Here are two.
The red one I found on the Internet somewhere. The grille looks off-center, but I think it's just the angle.
The blue one I whipped up in PhotoSuite.

 

I have two 1968 SAAB 95 wagons and several extra V4s. Both in need of some attention, someday I'll put them back on the road. They drive like a much larger car and a lot of fun...........OLDBEET

 

It's a pile of ****, stay way.

There is a price to be paid for being different.

 

Couldn't find photos but found it in an old mag,

 

YES! I dig it. Look at the faces on the two kids in the car. That says it all.

 

Nads,
If you mean the price to pay is having a mechanical challenge, that's what hot rodding is all about.

But if you mean that lots of folks won't like the result, well, it won't be the first time I swam upstream. I like cars built in the fifties custom mold, but prefer unique designs. Customizing is art to me, and I like to go my own way.

When I bought my 1958 Chevy twenty-some years ago, EVERYONE said it it was the ugliest car Chevy ever built. Didn't I really want a '57? Why was I taking the chrome off the hood and trunk? It had a 348 - that was a truck motor, an on and on. I just smiled and kept on my course.

One day I was pulling the car out of a muffler shop and and old guy stared at the car as if he had seen a ghost and I swear his eyes started to mist up. When he told me it was just what he had dreamed of since he was young, I knew I had hit the mark.

To each his own!