First published in the September 2004 issue of Street Machine

The BA XR6 Turbo has become a cult car in a short time and the FPV Typhoon version is even cooler, with more grunt, big brakes and killer looks. Ford Australia passed on the chance to go turbo back in the 1980s, but it’s hard to imagine it could have built anything as cool as Dave Busuttil’s XF turbo!

Dave’s no stranger to tough XFs — we featured his first unit back in November 2000. “That car wasn’t quite as intense as this one; it was a draw-through carby set-up. But I always regretted selling it.”

Not one to dwell on what might have been, Dave found a sad example for $500 and began again.

He had a fair picture of what he wanted to achieve this time — a beast with tough looks and plenty of grunt — but he also wanted it to handle, stop hard and have an unbreakable driveline.

The motor was the first cab off the rank. With much-appreciated help from his boss, Martyn Lynch at MK Automotive, Dave and the boys assembled an engine capable of hanging together under plenty of power and boost.

Factory 250ci rods are matchstick-thin and are known to bend under the pressure of 400-odd horses. With this in mind, a common, cheap, but extremely effective modification is the use of Hemi 265 rods, shorter in length and requiring a custom piston.

Dave had no intention of using anything but an injected set-up second time around. Peter Kacurov at Rank Rotary was responsible for tuning the car. A Wolf, 3D Version 4, ECU works in harmony with six Rochester 1000cc injectors, rated at around 200hp each.

“The engine has done more than 200 dyno pulls in testing and tuning and it’s still going strong thanks to countless hours of tuning from Pete,” says Dave.

The turbocharger selected was a T66, commonly used in high-power rotary applications. Broken down, this is a Garrett-based T04E thrust-bearing turbo with a 66mm HKS front wheel. It forces up to 24psi boost into the 4.1-litre donk, enough to crank out a cool 564 rear-wheel ponies on MK’s chassis dyno. A rebuilt, four-speed, Top Loader swaps cogs, but the clutch has so far been a sore point in the driveline.

“She’s a six-puck ceramic button and still a single plate. It’s been out of the car a few times now,” says Dave.

So what was it that enticed him to opt for the illuminating green finish?

“I remember seeing a similar bright green at a car show once. I then tried to match it and came across this mix from House of Kolor — it’s called Lime Time.” The panels were painted off the car to ensure there are no masking lines. A keen eye may notice the ‘Powered by Ford’ welded into the bulkhead.

A definite talking point is the set of 20-inch Intense Billets. “I started with 17s, then 18s, but I fell in love with the Intense Billets. I was offered a really good deal through a mate of a mate so I thought ‘what the hell’ and bought a set,” Dave shrugs. Measuring 20×8½-inches, these might appear to be a tricky fit, but that was far from the case.

Look beneath the black-painted undercarriage, and two-pack silver suspension components with dropped spindles set the tone.

“The front stub-axles are three inches lower. They’re WB Holden based. The front end now has full travel even at this ride height. We custom-made the rear control arms from box tubing. Not only does it look trick, it’s stronger than what was originally under there,” Dave explains. The brakes are also to suit WB stubs, with a custom bolt-on kit incorporating 330mm drilled blanks and twin spot AUII/BA PBR calipers.

“The only things I’ve paid labour for over the entire build are the trimming of the seats and the green paint,” he adds. Everything else, from re-sewing the centre console to custom fibreglassing the rear parcel shelf, adapting late-model Commodore door trims, and sand-blasting the blue oval emblem into the rear quarter windows, Dave is responsible for.

Finished in charcoal and beige velour and suede, it’s a clean, luxurious look with strong finishing touches.
Dave adds: “The dash was looking a bit second-hand so I purchased a brand new XH one. It wasn’t too much work and makes the interior a little more modern I reckon.”

For many people, the drag strip is the one place where you can cast doubts aside and find out how well hard work has paid off. Dave has taken his work to the black top for a bit of fun and frustration.

“I ran it a couple of times at Calder a while back. First time it kept spitting power-steering belts. Fixed that problem and the next time it ran 11.60@122mph first pass — before the clutch gave in. Frustrating, but that’s racing I guess. I was happy to run an 11, but it’s definitely got a bit more top-end speed left. With the bigger brakes and all, I’d have to convert it back to standard to fit the front runners now. The gearbox isn’t really suited to racing either. We thought about building an auto for it but I’d prefer to keep it manual. The car was really built more as a show and dyno type car — it’s won a trophy at every show I have ever entered it in,” says Dave.

Recent trial and error in power development has given mixed results but Dave doesn’t seem worried for now.

“I tested out a custom 6.9-litre inlet plenum over the stock 2.5-litre chamber. Peak power was up 20hp, but the drive-ability just wasn’t the same so I switched it back. I could keep on modifying the car. I’m thinking about maybe tweaking the turbo side of things with a new extractor manifold along with a turbo upgrade but for the moment I really just want to drive and enjoy the car —after all, that’s what I built it for.”

Dave Busuttil
1986 Ford XF Falcon

Thanks
Martyn Lynch at MK Automotive, Peter Kacurov at Rank Rotary, Andrew at Andrew’s Automotive
Restorations, Paul at Protorque Automotive, Daniel at Pazzo Towing, Roy at Roy’s Windscreens, Also many thanks to Mum, Dad and friends, my girlfriend Tanya for support with everything. Special thanks to Jim, the two Georges, Steve, Anthony and Rob (MK Boyz).