First published in Street Machine’s Australia’s Toughest Fords #2, 2004

Now this isn’t something you see every day. While there are plenty of modified EA-AU streeters on the road, finding one that has been as comprehensively modified as this example is a rare thing. Blown V8? Check. Tastefully horny styling? You bet. Awesome audio? Got it. Bliss!

ACT resident Vince Bodo chose an EL XR8 not from any deep-seated love for the Blue Oval, but simply because he wanted to be different. “Canberra was full of modified Commodores and WRXs; still is, really,” he says. “By doing up a Ford you really stand out from the pack.”

Friendly sibling rivalry also played a part in the decision-making process. “My older brother is a Holden fan, so I thought it would be cool to have a Ford in the family,” says Vince with a smile.

The attention his car pulls at shows and on the street demonstrates that Ford (and Tickford in particular) was making a damn fine product during the 90s – it’s just that the perception of coolness wasn’t there. Vince knew exactly how to go about rectifying that problem.

Step one was to fix the 4WD-style ride height with a massive drop all round via King springs. The dump job is matched with a set of big-arsed Altstadt 19-inch rims and licorice-strip rubber.

Step two was to delete the XR8’s factory red waist stripe, the rear wing and most of the factory badging for a smooth, clean look that draws attention to the fact that EF-EL XRs had a pretty-darn-nice bodykit on them.

Step three was to put some more ponies in the paddock. A pair of Genie extractors, twin high-flow cats and a three-inch mandrel-bent exhaust got things off to a good start, but Vince needed more to keep those pesky WRXs at bay. The solution: an STA centrifugal supercharger.

The blower set-up is simple, starting with fabricated bracketing and a Gilmer belt drive for the blower. Fresh air is sucked in through a pod filter, boosted by the pump and then routed through an air-to-air intercooler mounted out front in the nose cone. Suitably chilled, the charge makes its way to a Trickflow 72mm throttle body and inlet manifold. A Turbosmart blow-off valve positioned after the ’cooler allows excess boost to be vented to the atmosphere when Vince changes gear.

Keeping sufficient fuel to the fire is critical in any big-horsepower set-up – more so in a boosted application. So in went a beefy Bosch Motorsport fuel pump and a set of SVO injectors. Stopping the factory computer from having a hearty is a Microtech MTX-8 ECU, run in piggyback format to control ignition and fuel.

The internals are worked by Whiplash Performance, with a 5.4-litre stroker kit providing extra cubes, complete with forged pistons. The stock heads were dumped for a pair of Trickflow alloys, which have been further ported for extra flow. Crow supplied a suitable roller cam with more lift and duration.

All that makes for a power figure of 412hp at the rear wheels – more than enough to propel the Falcon at indecent speeds. Visually, the underbonnet area looks sweet, as Vince has painted the intercooler pipework in an appealing bronze hue that contrasts well with the factory duco. The brake calipers copped the same attention to detail.

The extra grunt was certainly too much for the standard clutch, which was flung in favour of a beefy brass-button set-up. Out back, a nine-inch diff conversion takes the pain.

Step four was to ensure that the car’s race pace was well matched by a suitable interior treatment. A tasteful fit-out with race-style Momo buckets, tiller, pedals and gear knob took care of that task, along with a few more subtle touches such as the glovebox-mounted ECU handset and chrome door handles.

The final and most dramatic step was to kit the car out with some kick-arse audio. BDL Car Audio did the deed, crafting a top-sounding and totally individual install, which has scored its share of silverware at the Street Machine Summernats.

The command unit for the audio is an Alpine CVA-1005 retractable screen and a CDA-5735 sound field processor. These two babies control a strong but sweet-sounding collection of goodies. Speaker-wise, the Falcon runs a French-made Focal 16-inch boot-mounted subwoofer and a quartet of splits.

Powering the system is a pair of Alpine V12 amps, aided by a 1-Farad Stinger capacitor. These babies sit in the spare wheel well with a pair of Optima batteries, covered by mesh, which means the rest of the boot remains usable. Stinger Platinum Series cabling and plenty of sound absorber behind the speakers are just two of the small details that make the whole system work like a charm.

Besides his Summernats silverware, Vince has taken home a bunch of trophies from Auto Salon shows and the 2002 Holden vs Ford Show in Sydney. All up, the XR8 is a very well integrated package, topped off by those cheeky YLO 00Z plates. Geez, with blokes like Vince getting around, it’s no wonder Fords are too cool for school again!

Vince Bodo
EL Falcon XR8