I do believe all XY 4X4 were 250 with red rocker cover just like the XA 302 V8 and I believe you are correct on the rest of what you say it was.

The F100 250 log motor got a blue rocker cover of what I remember of my dads 1976 one and it performed real well and the F100 302 auto's were truly gutless slugs with silver rocker covers like you see that the V8 XD-E got.

I thought that the 2V 250 was early in the XY they had a orange rocker cover.

The low compression 250 log motor got a lighter red rocker cover like the 351 V2 and the 200 got the blue, there must be some difference in the colour of the 200 engine and the F100 250 blue engine I don't know what colour the 200 low comp was, maybe a darker or a lighter blue, the Transit had the low comp 200.

Getting back to the XY 4x4 ute, don't you think it strange that both the engine & trans codes on the ID plate do not match what is actually fitted to them ?

Were these cars fully built on the normal Ford assembly line or was the 4WD drivetrain fitted post-production ?

Dr Terry

The XY 4X4 was built on a Jeep chassis and the front diff was to weak for the big 250ci torque so that held them back a year, maybe they were going to use the 200ci to save the front diff if they could not get the bigger type diff.

The CJ 5 and long WB CJ6 Jeep got the option of the big Falcon 6 cyl from 1961 with the 144ci and them the 170ci and then 188ci and they use B/W diffs.

Back in the 1960-9 CJ Jeeps they ran B/W rear they say as they only had 4 cyl and the 144 to 188 Ford 6, they may of got the 200 later, but using the XY 4X4 at the time broke the front one.
I think they are as you say in the XY 4X4.

The Aussie built jeeps were built from 1958 to 1968 that I know of and they could be optioned up if you had the balls up, to what they called a 'combat 6' where you got the huge power full Ford 6 cyl
just remember back in the day that Land Rover only had that crappy 4 cyl and people would toss them for a Holden 6 or Ford 200 6 cyl in the 70's and they would brake axles and diffs.

The front diff at the time first tested XY 4X4 was not a Dana 44 but must of been just what came with the Jeep chassis at the time, as the XY body was dropped on to such a chassis that was powered by nothing more that a 144 to 188 falcon engine and that was the high powered job of the Jeep at the time, I am not sure that the big 200 was an option in the CJ jeep but 144 170 and 188 was.

So the extra weight of the XT 4X4 with the high torque of the big 250 was too much for the original Jeep front diff and Ford had to order a bigger diff and that took a year before they got them diffs here in Australia.
So it held up the production of the XY 4X4 for 12 months. and they gave the falcon 4x4 all away because the XA ute body was not strong enough.

Maybe it was the unions back in them days that caused the delays down at the docks (they were real total morons back in them days), as when the Holden Overlander first came about the dude building them had a hell of a time the getting diffs and housings imported.

I remember back in the 70's on Fraser Island being driven back by a mad man in a Jeep,(it was fun) with what he said was a Ford XR 200 engine in it but it was a bigger type of Jeep then the CJ, a 230 Jeep I think they are called but they are called that many things and the Land Rovers mainly all had 186 in them one bloke even had a 202, I don't think that any more power was needed trying to hang on to something like that sure was fast.

A mates old man had a 6 cyl Land Rover engine puled down and it surprised me to see that this engine had one intake valve in the head and a exhaust valve in the block and that the piston top had a huge lump wave on it.

The Landrovers certainly did break rear axles, I don't recall hearing of too many fronts though. They changed to a Dana diff for SeriesIII though, it was a UK made Dana 60 I think. Still kept the same front diff though if I remember correctly.

Arthur Haywood had all his drivelines landed around 1974-5. It was vehicle compliance that held him up. My HZ cab-chassis Overlander was build mid 1978, and its axles were from that original stuff landed here in 1974. The axles were both date coded 1974.