What defines a ‘sleeper’ is always up for debate, but we’d argue that anyone would be hard-pressed to deny the sleepy credentials of Andrew Brown’s 885rwhp BF XT Falcon.

First published in the December 2024 issue of Street Machine

“I always loved that back in the day you could order a VR/VS Commodore in base spec with the HSV V8 if you wanted; same for a VX Executive with an LS1 and six-speed – and you’d never know,” says Andrew. “That’s where I got inspiration to do this, and XR6 Turbos have been done a million times, so this was a cool and different way of doing a fast Barra.”

Andrew scanned the classifieds for a clean mule for his project, eventually landing on this BF XT at a car dealer around three years ago. “I drove it from the dealer in Torquay straight to my dad’s house, where we started pulling it apart,” he says. “I sent the engine off to the first builder, but it sat there for seven months. So, after waiting that long, I went and grabbed the untouched engine and headed straight for Maxx Performance.”

Based in Dandenong in Melbourne’s south-east, Maxx Performance is one of the city’s leading Barra specialists. “They were great, especially Lindsay Moon,” Andrew says of the Maxx crew. “I wanted 1000hp at the crank, so they built it for me based on that.”

The matching-numbers aspo BF Barra was renovated using Spool Drag Pro I-beam rods, CP pistons, and an Atomic billet sprocket for the factory crank. The original oil pump copped a billet gears upgrade, and the standard head uses Kelford 218-B camshafts.

For forced induction, a 6boost exhaust manifold feeds expelled gas to a Garrett G42-1450 turbo, and a Plazmaman intercooler and inlet manifold then sends it back into the Barra at a peak of 30psi.

Once the engine was built, Andrew took it to his old man’s place to fit back into the BF. “I tried to do as much as I could; the build is half the fun for me,” he says. “We did the XR8 subframe swap there, fitted the engine, put manifolds on and anything else I could do. That’s where Maxx was super-helpful again. I’d send them messages asking what parts to buy, and they were always there to answer my questions.”

Once it was all back together, the Falcon was taken to Maxx for final fitment, fabrication and a tune from Zane Heath. On 30psi, the combo pushed out 885hp to the hubs through the Paul Rogers-built Turbo 400. A Haltech Elite PRO Plug-in ECU is the brains of the operation, flex-fuel-tuned for all those horses on E85. Factoring in drivetrain loss, it’s pretty much bang-on Andrew’s goal of 1000hp at the crank.

“It’s only been completed for a few weeks, but I’ve been driving it to the gym and stuff; you can cruise it if you want,” Andrew says. “In saying that, even on low boost, which is 560hp, anything over 20 per cent throttle will just start frying the tyres, so it’s an animal when you want it to be!”

Once he’s comfortable with the fresh build, Andrew plans to hit the strip and run some numbers. “I’ve got some slicks for it, so the goal is to run 10s to start off and then hopefully get into the nines if we can,” he says. “People have told me it’d be a perfect Drag Challenge car, so maybe we’ll look into that once I’ve got some seat time.”

ANDREW BROWN
2007 BFII FORD FALCON XT

THANKS
My dad Frank; my partner Jess; Dee; Paul Rogers Performance Transmissions; Sharp Exhaust; Lindsay Moon and the crew at Maxx Performance.

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