First published in Street Machine’s Australia’s Toughest Fords #3, 2005

The age-old solution to the problem of finding power? Rip out the existing donk and then shoehorn in the biggest and baddest power maker in the range. Shelby did it, Chevy did it, and now South Oz workshop CAPA has done it, removing the asthmatic 182kW heart of the award-winning Territory and stuffing in a 400kW blown quad-cam Boss.

The whole CAPA conversion is a fairly natural progression. After all, AMG has its heavy-hitting E55-engined Benz off-roader, BMW the classy X5 bristling with V8 power, and Porsche the ‘Toorak Tractor’ twin-turbo Cayenne. Ford, though, was slow off the mark, ticking neither the Boss nor turbo options when it came to building the Territory, instead relegating it to the ranks of the repmobiles with the same grunt as a stock Falcon, all the while carrying more flab.

“I really don’t know what prompted us to build the V8 Territory,” says CAPA boss Tony Rullo.

“I just saw one at the motor show and figured that a tricked-up SUV would make a better showcase for our supercharger, engine and tuning products than a run-of-the-mill sedan. That decision made, we ordered up the base-model two-wheel-drive car and waited for it to come from the factory.”

These guys don’t muck around when it comes to screwing a car together. Not a wheel was turned once the Territory was delivered. It was straight onto the hoist and out with the spanners as the CAPA mechanics set about removing the standard Barra 182 straight six and automatic transmission, wrapping them in plastic to see duty another day. But powering the Territory with a Boss V8 isn’t the simple swap you might have thought it would be.

“When we first considered the project, it was all fairly straightforward,” Rullo says. “Having a Falcon-style engine bay meant that the V8 would fit without any drama, or so we thought.” But it turned out that getting the V8 into the Territory engine bay was no easy feat, requiring a host of parts from the V8 car to make the whole conversion happen.

“After exploring all of the possibilities, there is only one way you can convert the Territory to V8,” Tony says, “and that’s by having a complete XR8 on hand to dismantle and take parts from as required.” Every single engine bay clip and accessory is different between the six and eight, as well as significant components such as the steering and front crossmember. If you’re considering doing this type of conversion yourself, you need an XR8 front cut at a minimum.

About the only part of the Territory driveline that can be left ‘as is’ would be the differential, and that’s provided you don’t mind ‘one wheeling’ everywhere. Tony took the clever path and fitted the XR8 limited slip diff with the 3.73 gears from the Territory and then set the correct gearshift and speedo parameters in the XR8 computer using his CAPA Flash Tuner software.

If you have ever driven a stock Territory, you would know that the factory suspension is a tad on the ‘plush’ side, and that a massive iron-block engine equipped with six pounds of supercharged goodness will push the coils to their limit. CAPA upgraded them to the XR8 heavy-duty suspension, which gives acceptable handling with decent ride quality. Still, you get the overriding feeling that you’re perched on top of a big, heavy car after only a quick drive.

Jeez, does this thing lift its skirts and go, though! Even after an initial squirt you realise that the blown V8 Territory has a bag of mumbo. It starts to come on low in the rev range at 2000rpm (extending the stock XR8 converter slightly due to the weight of the Territory), pulls hard through 3000rpm, and then goes berko all the way to the factory 6000rpm redline, or until you grab another slot from the Sequential Sport Shift auto box.

The time cards from a day’s testing at Heathcote Raceway tell the story. In stock form a Territory is lucky to crack a 16-second pass, so imagine our amazement when the Heathcote timing system pumped out a genuine 13.05sec pass at near on 114mph. That places the CAPA Territory well in front of the Porsche Cayenne Turbo, X5 and AMG competition. In fact, very few, if any, of these big-buck Germans would even see which way the Territory went in a straight-up side-by-side shootout.

If the thought of owning some Boss muscle stuffed under the bonnet of a Territory appeals, you’re in luck, because CAPA is considering manufacturing a limited run of V8 Territorys, complete with supercharger system, and all of the necessary engineering and emissions compliance to make them road legal. Don’t expect the CAPA product to be a bargain basement offering, though. Take into account basically having to substitute a whole XR8 drive-line, fit the blower and then upgrade the brakes and suspension, and it’s obvious there won’t be a whole lot of change out of $85K.

Still, if your thing is to have the tyre-frying pleasure of 400kW underfoot, while feeling smug in the knowledge that the rival German tanks are slower yet cost at least $60K more, then drop CAPA a line at www.capa.com.au and put your name down on the ever-growing list.

CAPA Terror-tory