Make no mistake, Nathan Boyle’ has a hankering for fast Fords – especially early Aussie Falcons. Initially, he satisfied that hunger with a nasty XP ute, complete with big tubs and an angry, nitrous-sniffing, 347ci Windsor. Unfortunately, it was just slightly illegal and was eventually put off the road for good.

First published in the August 2025 issue of Street Machine

After pulling the XP’s engine and gearbox and selling off the roller, Nathan began pondering what to do with the ute’s staunch driveline. As luck would have it, a mate of his had an ‘I’ll do it one day’ XR Falcon 500 project he was willing to part with. “My thoughts were that this model came with a V8, so I’d give it quick tidy-up and drop the XP’s running gear into it,” Nathan says.

While in pretty good shape, the Falcon 500 had tinworm in most of the typical places. And once you start, it’s hard to stop, so it wasn’t long before the shell was sent off for blasting back to bare metal.

After Nathan had completed cancer eradication duties, he tapped Billy Cowcher to look after final panelwork. “He did a mint job,” Nathan says. “We were both on the same page about how straight and how good the gaps had to be. Billy would come over after hours and on weekends, and we got the whole thing done in under two years, start to finish.”

That was all done in Nathan’s dad’s shed. “He normally keeps it very clean and tidy, but during those two years, we made a massive mess of it,” he recalls. “At the end, I completely emptied the entire shed to clean up all the bog dust!”

Nathan and Billy could see that the XR was turning out too nice to just repaint it factory maroon. After searching for an alternative, they landed on this Crimson Red, a VW Passat shade somewhat similar to the factory colour but with a heck of a lot more punch.

After Billy had painted the engine bay and undercarriage in front of the shed, Dozza from Ryan McDermott’s Paint & Panel kindly made his booth available over two weekends so Billy could spray the body and hanging panels. “That was the only time it left the shed,” says Nathan.

The paint colour wasn’t the only change of plan during the build, with Nathan having second thoughts about using that XP ute driveline. “The naturally aspirated 347 had a massive solid-roller cam and lots of compression, along with a big converter and 4.11 gears – it revved its tits off on the highway,” he says. “I wanted something more driveable, and, having owned a Nissan GT-R, I knew going turbo was the logical choice.”

Nathan was looking to make 1000hp at the rear tyres, and he knew the XP ute’s factory block was not up to it, but a solution was close at hand. “Dad had a VSC Sprintcar sitting up on the rack doing nothing, so I pulled it down and stole its 8.2-deck Dart Windsor block, which I bored and stroked to 349 cubes.”

For help with turbo selection, Nathan reached out to Darcy Stafford at KillaBoost Manifolds, who recommended a Garrett G42-1200. Darcy also advised Nathan against making fancy four-into-one headers, as simple log manifolds would do the job just fine, so Nathan purchased a bunch of steampipe bends and began welding bits together.

“At first, I was TIG welding everything,” he says. “But it was bloody hard going, and the MIG was sitting right there. ‘Stuff it,’ I thought. I knew it was going to be heat-wrapped, so in the end, I just MIGed it. A two-day job became a two-hour job.”

When it came time to weld up the piping for the front-mounted, four-inch Plazmaman intercooler, Nath called on the TIG skills of Hayden at Petersen Engineering. Hayden also helped build the diff centre, and knocked out a full exhaust system.

Nathan fell in love with the look of Holley’s Hi-Ram intake, but he wasn’t keen on cutting a hole in the bonnet, so he made custom engine mounts to drop the Windsor down about 30mm. After he also modified the bonnet bracing, the Hi-Ram just fit under the stock bonnet. The lowered engine also required sump mods to keep it from dragging on the bitumen.

Having decided to unveil the XR at Street Machine Summernats 35, Nathan and his crew spent the final part of 2022 in a mad thrash to get everything done in time. Being an electrician, Nathan sorted the wiring for the Holley Terminator X ECU mounted in the glovebox while Clint looked after the rest of the electricals. Hayden continued ticking off his mile-long job list, Paj fitted up the glass, Tommy at Dyno House plugged in the break-in tune, Daryl at GV Front End Specialist sorted the ride height and wheel alignment, and Nathan’s brother Aaron did an awesome job of modifying the bonnet release cable.

The boys’ hard work and dedication resulted in smiles all ’round when HERB66 made the Top 60 at Summernats 35 – great effort!

Best of all, Nathan’s XR is now a sweet driver with plenty of grunt on tap when he needs it. “Now it drives around like a standard 5.0-litre until you put your foot into it – then it just peels rubber,” he says.

While the engine is barely run in and serious tuning still needs to be undertaken, the turbo 349 has already made 580rwhp with a break-in tune and 7psi of boost. Nathan plans to create separate tunes for 98 and E85, which should deliver that magic 1000rwhp number. “If it runs a mid-nine, I’ll be stoked,” he says.

It the meantime, this rambunctious ride is at the ready whenever Nathan feels the urge to head out and lay some blacks – and he might even have a crack at Street Machine Drag Challenge some day.

NATHAN BOYLE
1966 FORD XR FALCON 500

THANKS
Billy Cowcher for body and paint; Dozza at Ryan McDermott’s Paint & Panel; Hayden at Petersen Engineering; Daryl at GV Front End Specialist; Tommy at Dyno House; Scotty Bryant; Darcy Stafford and Paj; my brother Aaron and especially my parents for letting me make such a mess of their shed for a couple of years.