For our upcoming Drag Challenge Weekend in Victoria (25-27 March), Harry Haig and his son Corty from the YouTube channel Haulass Garage decided to undertake a cheap-as-chips LS swap on Harry’s HG wagon.

Harry is the reigning champion of our five-day Drag Challenge marathon, which hasn’t been held since 2019 due to COVID. On that occasion, he took home both the outright and Turbosmart Outlaw Blown class wins in his seven-second, turbo big-block HQ sedan, POP666.

But for this shorter Drag Challenge rodeo, the Haulass boys decided to leave the big HQ on ice and give themselves a whole new set of headaches. They’ve opted to give Harry’s 186-powered HG wagon, ‘Florence’, a truly budget LS swap.

The wagon’s 186 found a new home in Corty’s crusty P-plate HG ute, and the boys then took a worn-out LS1 and gave it a quick refresh with some new bearings, gaskets, a trick set of heads and a conversion to good ol’ carby induction.

Harry and Corty set the recent Tuff Mounts Holden Drag Nationals as their deadline to get Florence race-ready, jamming away on the wagon for six straight days to make it to Heathcote Park Raceway for the event.

Not only did they make it, but Harry got the wagon to run pretty deep into the finals in his class, leaving the track with a PB of 12.64@107mph.

Since then, the Haulass duo have installed a set of upgraded mono-leaf springs from Motor Fab, and Harry has been cruising the wagon around rural Victoria, road-tripping to help Ryan Ford build a bonkers blown early Corvette that’ll also be in the lanes at DCW.

The HG has also been treated to some dyno time since Holden Nats, but we’ll have to wait until the boys release that video to find out how much power it made.

Florence is entered in the Kool Wrap 235 Aspirated class at Drag Challenge Weekend, which kicks off in just a couple of days! Racing takes place at Heathcote Park Raceway on Friday and Sunday, with Mildura’s eighth-mile track sandwiched in between on Saturday.

We can’t wait to catch up with the lads at the event, and if you miss out and seeing them in action at the track, you’ll be able to watch all their antics from the weekend’s racing on their Haulass Garage YouTube channel after the event.