There were plenty of six-pots on the pad at Springmount Raceway for Northern Nats this year, but one that really caught our eye was Ray Khan’s TEQUILA. If you’re a fan of the Holden six, you might want to look away now, because this HJ rocks Ford SOHC power! Ray had a great weekend blazing rubber, so we had a chat with him about his wild choice of burnout machine.

First published in the October 2026 issue of Street Machine

It’s a pretty unconventional set-up, mate! How did you land on a Ford motor in an HJ Holden ute?

It’s a funny story, really. I’m 27 years old now, but I got the car as a Christmas present when I was 19. Mum said I had to build something proper for doing this stuff instead of ruining my daily driver, and my bread and butter is playing with AU Falcons, so I already had a lot of this stuff lying around. It wasn’t about being controversial – I’m into the thing for bugger-all. But I will admit, there was some tequila consumed in the idea of the thing – hence the name.

Tell us a bit about the engine – how come it’s carburetted?

It’s a stock AU bottom end, with an EF Tickford head I had lying around that we stuck a huge Crow Cams camshaft into. As for the carby, the old man is a bit of a guru on them, so we took an EA 3.9 single-point manifold and welded on a flange to suit the Holley carb. The trackside tuneability means I would never go back. We’re just doing it from the hip with no wideband or anything, and so far, it’s been faultless.

What about the rest of the driveline?

The diff is a BorgWarner from a Falcon wagon, and we found the 3.45:1 gears work best. I tried two Trimatic gearboxes and couldn’t get the tyres off, so now it has a T5 manual. It uses a Mustang rear housing, which is shorter to put it in a better position. One of my biggest spends was on a TI Performance 700Nm clutch kit. It’s been one of the best things I’ve done for the car; I can dump at 3000rpm in third gear and it just takes it!

Was it a difficult conversion?

Honestly, it was a pain in the arse! It still isn’t straight in there, but it’s in. We had to chop up the crossmember a fair bit, but it works, which is all it needs to do. A lot of the older boys aren’t stoked on the swap; you get a few sideways comments when the bonnet’s up, but as I always say, just rev it and use it! Doesn’t matter what it is.

Being a manual, how does it drive on the pad?

Some old boys gave me some advice once: pick your top gear and stay in it! So, we start in third and stay there – no messing around losing momentum changing gears. Having the clutch is handy, because you can cut all the driveline momentum instantly if you need to get you out of trouble – drop the clutch and gas her up to go again!

And you finished on the podium in the Development Class at Northern Nats! 

I was shocked! We were in the middle of loading up the car when we got the call, so we stopped midway and rushed over. It was phenomenal; I had no expectations at all from the weekend, so I was speechless when they were calling out for TEQUILA to get back to the pad for the presentation.