XC Allan Moffat Special

[Philthy]

Here's my new money-pit...yes it's a ford, but its the good kind

XC Falcon 500 Allan Moffat Special
YEAR: 1977
ENGINE: 302 Cleveland
TRANSMISSION: 4sp Manual
ODOMETER: 279xxx k's







My grandpa bought the car brand new in 1977, and drove it daily. Last rego was in 93, and last time it was started was around 97-98.
Now that Grandpa has passed on, the family was clearing out some old cars and someone made an offer on this one. I couldn't let it go, so matched the offer and I'll be fixing it up slowly as I find the cash.

Sorry I don't have more pics, but as the car is almost 5 hours away I was more worried about trying to get it running than taking photos.

A bit of history...There were 500 AMS's built, in red, white or yellow. All came with a 302C and manual or auto box. They had 4 wheel disc brakes, 9" diff, LSD, twin exhaust, GT bonnet and paint, driving lights, 12-slot rims and a couple other bits here and there added to the standard falcon 500.

The car...is in reasonable condition considering it hasn't been touched in 10+ years. Paint is far from perfect, but its alright if you stand back. The body is pretty straight apart from the bonnet, which looks like it has blown open at some point, and the chrome bumper has a couple dents.
Interior is almost perfect apart from a bit of wear on the drivers door trim and the carpet in the footwell.
Engine wise, once we got it started it ran fine. It even idled quite smoothly. The video was taken when we had it running for about 30 seconds beforehand.
There is the usual deterioration from sitting for so long. A lot of seals and hoses will need replacing, but it doesn't look like anything major so far.


The plan...you might be able to see in the video what a mess the engine bay is. It has had aftermarket gas and aircon put on at some stage and there are wires and hoses all over the place. All that is coming out, warm up the 302, and dress up the engine bay a little.
Keeping it fairly original, I want to get it resprayed the original colour, maybe add some decent brakes, fat rear tyres (on 12-slotters if I can find some 10" ones).
Basically, I love the look of it how it sits. It just needs a bit of love to get looking brand new again.

I don't have the shed room at the moment, so I'll be making a few trips out when I have time, and hopefully I'll be able to drive it down to Melbourne around January-February when I have a better shed.
Looks like it might be slow going until then though.

First things on the to-do list, new clutch and brake master cylinder seals, tyres, fuel and radiator hoses. Then it might be drivable, and I'll find a whole new set of problems

[Morton]

Ooooh I like. I look forward to seeing this come together Good on you for buying it out and restoring it. Estimated time frame on the journey?

I love the colour, and you can't beat an old XC hehe, the auto store I work for actually delivers to Alan Moffat would you know. Lovely bloke, very well mannered. He's surrounded by Porches these days ^_^

[Philthy]

It could take a while. I didn't really have the money spare to buy it in the first place, but decided it was worth doing it tight for a little while.

I'll try and have it mechanically fine and drivable by february so I can get it down here and actually spend more than a day at a time on it, then start dressing it up bit by bit from there

[emir3008]

you can pay me back for the boot if you let me see this beast in person

[Philthy]

you can pay me back for the boot if you let me see this beast in person

Sure thing, just don't hold your breath

[ari666]

well im not an uber huge XC fan, but you gotta appreciate a good car when you see one just so long as you dont turn it into the maltese falcon, everything will be okay.

[Philthy]

well im not an uber huge XC fan, but you gotta appreciate a good car when you see one just so long as you dont turn it into the maltese falcon, everything will be okay.

If I'm honest I have to say I prefer the XA/XB's, but this is the car that got me hooked on them as a kid, and it has massive family history to go with it, including being my parents wedding car. I don't think I could bring myself to do anything over the top with it. A nice neaten up will keep me very happy

[HamaTime™]

Good pickup philth

Can't wait to see the progress!!!

[Trayner]

looks good man , cant wait till its gets all rolling round the roads and that

[ari666]

A nice neaten up will keep me very happy

that makes me very happy its even better that it has some history and you are keeping it alive good work reviving her, cant wait to see progress

[calais24/7]

Thats nice man, im not much of a ford fan but i will be constantly checking this thread for updates

[Philthy]

Bought the first bits for it today. Radiator & fuel hoses and a fuel filter. Getting the brake and clutch master cylinders by the end of the week, then wheels next week. Maybe I'll be able to get it drivable when I go down next weekend. Big maybe though.

And I do say drivable, not drive-well-able, not drive-legal-able, but I might get it backed out of the shed to see if everything moves like it should.

I also discovered how few imperial tools I own.

[bogan_vk]

nice pickup,not a ford fan either but gotta apreciate a classic like this..

[ari666]

I also discovered how few imperial tools I own.

oh how i know that pain! and not only that, trying to remember retarded sizes, "hey bro, pass me that 16/45ths would ya?... actually no, its might be a 12/324ths"

and metric spanners just dont cut it i still find myself walking back and forth to the spanner set cos i chose the wrong size.

god damn imperial.

[Philthy]

oh how i know that pain! and not only that, trying to remember retarded sizes, "hey bro, pass me that 16/45ths would ya?... actually no, its might be a 12/324ths"

and metric spanners just dont cut it i still find myself walking back and forth to the spanner set cos i chose the wrong size.

god damn imperial.

I shouldn't have to do maths when I want to undo a bolt. At least I know with metric a 5 is smaller than a 9. I have to stop and think to even figure out if a 9/16" is bigger or smaller than a 5/8". Let alone trying to figure out how big that is compared to the bolt. This may take some getting used to

[383 hatch]

Ahhh you young whipper snappers....Imperial is easy to work out (in fact i don't even need to work it out).

Nice project by the way.

[Verynice]

What a beast philth. My old man had an XB in the 90s, a nice blue one, he never should have sold it

And yeah imperial is a mindf###, takes a super long time of usuing them to get used to whats what.

[Reaper]

I shouldn't have to do maths when I want to undo a bolt. At least I know with metric a 5 is smaller than a 9. I have to stop and think to even figure out if a 9/16" is bigger or smaller than a 5/8". Let alone trying to figure out how big that is compared to the bolt. This may take some getting used to

Philthy: You do not deserve to have such a car. Best you give it to me before you do any more to it

Reaper

(ps - Moffat and John Goss specials are two hidden gems of Australian motor history)

[Philthy]

Philthy: You do not deserve to have such a car. Best you give it to me before you do any more to it

Reaper

(ps - Moffat and John Goss specials are two hidden gems of Australian motor history)

Ahhh you young whipper snappers....Imperial is easy to work out (in fact i don't even need to work it out).

Nice project by the way.

You are both just jealous.

EDIT: There is a John Goss special on this page too http://www.aus-ford-uk.co.uk/html/more_specials.html that I found when reading up on the AMS's.
If you are into old GT's at all, that page has everything you have ever needed to know. It just takes about a week to read through

What a beast philth. My old man had an XB in the 90s, a nice blue one, he never should have sold it

And yeah imperial is a mindf###, takes a super long time of usuing them to get used to whats what.

Grandpa sold his monaro (not sure what model) to buy this. He always wished he had hung onto it though. I guess thats why he ended up with so many cars lying around after that

[Philthy]

Right, I have 4 days off for the Melbourne Cup, so I'm putting off the trip down until then.
I have the brake and clutch cylinders, fuel & rad hoses, oil & fuel filters, chasing up wheels/tyres, and obviously all the associated fluids...what else might I need to take down with me. The major problems I saw last time are taken care of, but is it worth taking down wheel bearings or anything like that just in case?
At the moment I'm crossing my fingers as far as brakes go, but they looked alright when I was there. No idea if I'll run into trouble with the gearbox being left with no clutch fluid for however long.

The spark plugs, leads and dizzy are all going to need replacing at some point, but they can all wait until I get it down here and start the serious work.

This long-distance project thing is already shitting me up the wall

[ari666]

this is going for a long trip to its new home right? i would say that overheating would be my biggest concern. then brakes, then tuning.

200 cans of carby cleaner, for brakes carby and anything else that needs to move without lube. WD40 for everything else.
upper and lower rad hoses (you mentioned you had them, but this is MY list ) heater hoses
wiper/washer tube, for wipers and in case some of your vac lines are perished
fuel hose
oil and filter
brake fluid, pads and stop squeel
i personally would do dizzy cap/rotor button and spark plugs, but thats just me. poor plugs can help overheating, so i would take that out of the equation. plus id make sure that carby is squirting everything where is should be squirting and nowhere that it shouldnt. wouldnt want a fire from a leaky gasket.


im willing to bet that all that stuff will be unnecessary. itll prolly drive like a dream (unless it was stuffed before it was parked up)

[Philthy]

this is going for a long trip to its new home right? i would say that overheating would be my biggest concern. then brakes, then tuning.

200 cans of carby cleaner, for brakes carby and anything else that needs to move without lube. WD40 for everything else.
upper and lower rad hoses (you mentioned you had them, but this is MY list ) heater hoses
wiper/washer tube, for wipers and in case some of your vac lines are perished
fuel hose
oil and filter
brake fluid, pads and stop squeel
i personally would do dizzy cap/rotor button and spark plugs, but thats just me. poor plugs can help overheating, so i would take that out of the equation. plus id make sure that carby is squirting everything where is should be squirting and nowhere that it shouldnt. wouldnt want a fire from a leaky gasket.


im willing to bet that all that stuff will be unnecessary. itll prolly drive like a dream (unless it was stuffed before it was parked up)

For starters it has to get 30k's to its temporary in-between home, then 4.5 hours to its proper home when I find it one.
Washer hoses are on the ebay watch list, brake fluid is on the shopping list, and pads looked alright, but I'll find out on its very short test drive out of the shed Cup weekend.
Dizzy cap looks a little worn, but it is nowhere near desperately needing replacing just yet. I'll cross my fingers and leave it in until I start the fun engine work. Spark plugs looked like they had been replaced shortly before being put away.
Carby jets looked to be working fine, but I'm no expert on these old ways. Once we got out the garden hose and clamps we got the leaky fuel hoses taken care of as well, but I have those ready to replace properly now.

I'm a little worried about keeping it cool as well. The radiator was bone dry when I got to it, but it seemed to flush water through clear enough. Might grab a new thermo for it just to be safe

I think the main concern will be the wiring of all things. All the wires for the gas system were run randomly across the engine bay, and most insulation cracked away as soon as we touched it. There are a few temp fixes here and there that I need to fix up properly as well. I'll be replacing all the corroded shitty wires before trying to get too far in it. God knows how well its all fused

EDIT: Oh yeah, a good clean is on the cards as well. Right at the end of the video in the first post you see where I spotted smoke coming from under the car. Turned out a heap of grass and crap had ended up between the extractors and body at some point. Don't need any more of those surprises

[ari666]

so this was on gas? how long before you rip all that crap out?

[Philthy]

so this was on gas? how long before you rip all that crap out?

Yeah, dual fuel. And an aftermarket aircon messing up my engine bay. Both will be coming out as soon as I get it to Melbourne. So January or February. Only the essentials getting done before then. Besides, the aircon might be handy for the drive (hopefully) down here.
I'll get some photos next time I'm there, but it really is a mess under that bonnet.

[YZ250]

Look forward to following your rebuild mate.

Just a thought why not Tow it on a Trailer back to Melb, will be cheaper than if it breaks down on the journey and you have to get it towed.