Hi All,

I just picked up a 98 XH XR8 on Wednesday evening.

It's my first Ford since 1999, back then my first was an ED XR6.

The XH XR8 has just clicked over 150,000 ams, its green in colour, fairly stock except for the items listed below. I intend on using it as promotional tool for my small business.

The BAD:

It runs on 19" FG F6 shadow rims that are horrible, I feel every little bump on the road. I'd be interested in trading these in for some Tickford 17"s. Tyres are 90% so if you know anyone who wants to trade let me know.
The steering arms and bushes are worn, these are being replaced on Monday. The speedo, RPM, fuel gauge, temp, oil etc are not working but the lights for the dash are... I can only just see the kilometres on the dash but obviously something is array. Any suggestion on where to take this to be fixed near Freo would be appreciated.
It is very sluggish off the line and I'm guessing this is an air intake issue. I'm looking at a cold air intake from an AU XR8 and maybe a K&N pod filter. It has extractors and a 3" system down to 2.5".

The GOOD:

The body is perfect, interior is clean and original. Front suspension has been upgraded recently and apart from the arms and bushes it goes well.
It's an original XH XR8 and I understand these are rare.
It sounds purrrfect, not too loud or droney.
It was parked up for a few years and has only done 13,000 kms in the last 8 years.
I learnt to drive in an old XE station wagon so driving the XH takes me back to the early 90's.

Any tips or feedback would be appreciated and taken onboard.

Thanks,

Chris

I've had my XH for about 6 years now and I love it. It's only a 6 cylinder but as a daily driver it's been super reliable and lots of fun to work on over the years. I can fix most things and parts are still usually on the shelf at the shops.

I have the Roh RT 17" wheels which I reckon look good, as do the EL GT wheels. The RTs come up a fair bit on Gumtree etc and are normally around $400-500 for a set. The EL GT originals are very expensive and even the copies are rare. Many of the copies are described as original, but the widths are half an inch different (I think). The RT wheels I have work well in the sense that there is a fair bit of tyre choice and they don't rub anywhere unless you get wider front tyres. Initially, my tyres caught the inside of the guards but I got slightly narrower ones and it did the trick. The old ones only caught the guards when I went through a dip in the road with speed (say going over a bridge on a country road above 80kmh). Not using 245s was the go.

As for your instrument cluster, it is not hard to get it off (they are all Philips head screws) and check the wiring harnesses at the back. There are two harnesses and one may be loose. If you can only just see the odometer then the little wedge globe has blown and can be replaced easily. The other illumination ones are soldered into the plastic housing and are a bit harder to replace.

The sluggishness may be an intake issue but may also be timing. I am not sure with the V8s, but I know that the Ford workshop manual is pretty vague about the proper process for setting the engine timing in the 6 cylinder engines. I have had multiple mechanics set the timing wrong (because they did not wait for the self test to finish, after which the TDC mark changes position significantly). However, the Ford manual doesn't do a good job at explaining the process so I can understand the confusion. It can also take a long time for the self test process to finish if there are a lot of error codes to run through.

I understand (mainly from reading posts here) that there isn't much difference between a pod filter and a good panel filter. I have always used panel filters and never felt the need to change to a pod.

The XH is a pain for parts too, largely because some are XH specific but many are also E and other X series, particularly EF and EL. If you go to a wreckers and ask for an XH part they probably won't have one out of an XH, but many of the E series parts are the same and are easy to find. The XH is made from a whole range of Ford series parts and learning which parts can be sourced from which series Falcon is a process worth documenting so you know for later.

If you want some XH inspiration check out this epic thread
http://www.fordmods.com/the-garage-f53/xhii-xr8-ute-build-ftr-008-the-full-length-story-t97065.html?hilit=xhII%20full

There aren't too many XHs in decent condition any more. Mine is nothing amazing but it still generates some nice feedback and turns a few heads here and there. Enjoy yours!

First off, good choice in a ute , and secondly, this thread is useless without pictures!!! haha, looking to find myself, 8cyl preferred but will convert a 6cyl if needed...

Sure a BA/FG ute would be nicer has some say, but these have a unique thing apart them.

The lack of pictures is noted but I can't wrk out how to upload.... This one is now up for sale, there is an add and pics on gumtree if you're interested.