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

Buying a pre-built car certainly has its advantages, but it has its traps for young players as well. More times then we care to remember, we’ve heard tales of guys destroying newly bought cars on the drive home when temptation got the better of them.

Fortunately for Mark Smith, he didn’t destroy the car when he bought it, but he did break the diff, or, more precisely, the axle the day he bought the car.

He was working out the new shifter, a Hurst ¼ Stick, when he messed up the shift and ended up accidentally bumping the trans back a gear instead of going up the gear. The ’box held, and the tailshaft held, but the splines on the standard 28-spline axle sheared right off. Oops!

It just meant he had to make the car stronger. So out came the old axles and centre and in went a new 31-spline mini-spool and a pair of billet 31-spline axles.

You may think it’s overkill, but when this XD Falcon is capable of running 12.1 at 109mph on street rubber, it’s a good idea to have strong running gear. Not bad figures, considering the beefy XD body, pump fuel and Mickey Thompson street rubber.

Mark didn’t build the citrous-coloured XD and he’s happy to admit it. Four years ago he bought it from a guy who previously had a 6/71 blown Cleveland hanging out of the hood, but the previous owner decided to hang on to the engine.

That was fine with Mark, who thought the blown motor was a little too ostentatious for his liking; he preferred to have an engine that stayed mostly under bonnet level. When selling a car from which you’ve decided to keep the ‘good’ engine, it would be easy to just fit any old motor, but to his credit the previous owner fitted the engine that is still in the car today.

Capable of punting the big XD down the quarter in just 12.1sec, it’s no slouch and it has served Mark well over the last four years. The bottom end consists of ACL pistons fitted to shotpeened rods, which hang off a 4MAB crank. Ported 2V heads with 4V valves and Isky valve springs flow all the air that the Holley 750 and Weiand X-celerator can supply, and a Crane solid cam decides when and where everything happens.

Believe it or not, Mark hasn’t adjusted the rockers for a couple of years and the engine is pulling as strong as ever, as proven by the fact that it ran its quickest ET just before our photo shoot. It’s a solid donk that pulls hard and runs well on premium unleaded fuel, and that makes it perfect for a reliable street mill.

However, an engine is only as good as its driveline, and while we have already introduced you to the diff, the gearbox has the best of credentials as well.

Anyone who knows the Sydney drag scene knows the quality of Tony Dominello’s transmissions, and it’s one of his C4s that Mark has in the XD. That fully manualised ’box, working with a 3800rpm hi-stall converter, helps get the XD off the line and down the track.

As good as the engine and driveline are, we bet that isn’t what first caught your eye. We have to admit we noticed the bright orange Falcon the moment we saw it as well.

Coated in ‘Mr Juicy’ orange, the XD certainly stands out in a crowd, but Mark reckons it looked even better when it was new.

He’s not afraid to drive the beast wherever and whenever he likes, and he says the Falcon looks a little the worse for it these days. We can’t really say we agree, Mark.

Other external features include the filling of the aerial hole, XE tail-lights, and the alloy drop tank.
With the bright orange panels and the Centreline Convo Pros hanging off each corner, the Falcon looks perfect to our eyes, especially with those fat 8.5-inch rims on the rear sporting 10.5-inch-wide Mickey Thompsons.

Inside, it’s just as good, with the customised front buckets almost indistinguishable from the factory items from which they were created. While it might not be cowhide covering everything, the bright orange vinyl looks a treat wrapped over the seats, door trims and hoodlining. Up front, the standard wheel has been ditched for an Autotechnica item, and Mark isn’t concerned with the stereo, which is only there to plug the hole in the dash. He does have the makings of a cracker stereo at home, but he’s saving that for the next project – whatever that may be.

Mark is happy enough with the Falcon just the way it is, but he’s striving to get it into the 11-second zone on street tyres, and then he’s considering the addition of nitrous oxide, which would make things very interesting. After that, who knows? He might sell the big sedan if he gets the right offer, and he’s thinking an EB-EL XR8 might be the go.

Whatever he does, Mark reckons it’s going to be different from what everyone else is doing. That’s one of the reasons why the bright orange XD appealed to him in the first place.

MARK SMITH
1979 XD FALCON