Project cars come in all shapes and sizes. Some get clapped-out bangers, some buy unfinished projects and others grab the keys to the car that Grandad bought new 30-odd years ago. This car joined Steve Peters and his family way back in 1971.

First published in the November 2007 issue of Street Machine

Steve’s dad wanted a brand new XY Fairmont to serve as the family truckster, and the Bronze Wine (with white roof) T-bar auto was ordered with a 302 Windsor under the hood. But when Dad and Grandad went to pick it up, they found that the car had been built with the wrong engine — six pots in a row instead of eight arranged in a V.

“But as fate would have it, my grandpa liked it and bought it as it was, while Dad re-ordered the car he wanted,” Steve explains.

He was only two years old at the time but he remembers that Grandpa loved that car for many years: “My grandparents did many trips away in it — towing a caravan!”

The family is fanatical about Fords and over the years Steve was a passenger in many different Blue Oval sedans. That obviously rubbed off.

“My first car was a TC Cortina 200ci three-speed. As far as power goes it was pretty average,” Steve says. Salvation was just around the corner.

“I heard Mum and Dad say Pa was selling his XY. I piped up with: ‘I wouldn’t mind the car for myself’. The initial response was: ‘Why that old car?’”

Who wouldn’t want it? XY Fairmont, always garaged, no rust, no dents, perfect paint and only 60,000km on the clock.

At first Steve kept the Fairmont pretty much as he got it but then he decided the original hubcaps had to go. So he dropped it two inches all ’round and bolted on a set of traditional 12-slotters.

It wasn’t enough; the performance itch needed a scratch but instead of spoiling Grandad’s Fairmont, Steve bought another XY to tweak. That got all the goodies — a tough 351 Clevo, C4 auto with 3000rpm stall, and a set of 4.56 gears in the bum. In ’93 that stormed down the track to a 12.0@112mph through the mufflers.

But when he was offered a job thousands of miles away, Steve put the car up for sale. As for Grandad’s Fairmont — it was tucked away in storage while Steve went to FNQ for a couple of years.

When he returned, the Fairmont was as good as before, though maybe smelling a little dodgy from the fish oil used to protect it.

“Having not been involved with cars for two years I thought I’d lost the performance bug,” Steve says. “Boy was I wrong!”

He hadn’t intended to modify the old Fairmont but by now the urge had become too great so he started planning for the removal of the original 250ci six. In its place he wanted a mild 351 Clevo with Speed Pro pistons and what he calls a mild Crow cam (248/[email protected]) topped with a pair of mildly ported 2V closed chamber heads.

Jamie at JRM Transmissions, a good mate, built up a stout C4 using a heavy duty input shaft, extra clutches and a full manual valvebody with a larger capacity pan. Steve still had the nine-inch from the other XY so he slotted a set of 3.7 gears into that and bolted it under the Fairmont. It was a solid performer but even so, he soon wanted more.

One day, while sitting around shooting the breeze with his mate Steve, who has a blown 350 Chev Impala, the subject of blowers came up.

“I didn’t want to put a hole in the bonnet so for me the GM-style superchargers were out of the question,” he says.

But around this time CAPA started to push the Vortech centrifugal superchargers and after a few calls Steve had one in his hands. The T-trim Vortech ran with a draw-through carby set-up and a 10-rib belt. Like that it produced 6–8psi of boost.

“The power was a little disappointing,” Steve says. Changing to a cogged belt set-up minimised slippage and with the same pulley ratio the blower pumped 14psi boost. That tells you how much the original set-up was slipping.

“With the cog belt and the extra boost the engine came alive,” says Steve. At the time his grandad had just turned 89 (now 94!) so Steve took the old girl around to show off the changes.

“After a thorough inspection and approval, his only question was: ‘When do I go for a ride?’ I didn’t need asking twice and after the cruise he had the biggest smile I’d ever seen.”

Even the biggest carby enthusiast must admit that injection makes things better and after a few years Steve switched to EFI, using two Bosch 044 pumps, 75lb/hr Holley injectors, a Haltech E6K, and modifying the 4bbl intake to suit. With an intercooler and a 75mm throttlebody controlling the airflow, the Clevo is making plenty of horsepower now. How much, Steve isn’t sure — the only time it’s been on the dyno the trans locked up. He tuned the car himself, using a laptop and wide-band AF meter.

Drag racing in South Oz is in a pretty sad state at the moment so Steve took the opportunity to to debut the EFI set-up at the 2005 Nostalgia Drags. In the run-up he was chasing a misfire. He only sorted it just before the meeting which didn’t leave any time for final tuning.

That didn’t stop the old girl running 10.9@126mph over the quarter. That’s on pump fuel, street tyres and a full exhaust system too. Makes you wonder what it would run now that the tuning has been sorted, but without a track operating down that way we’ll just have to keep wondering.

“The biggest problem to date would be traction,” Steve muses but he refuses to cut the rear guards for bigger tyres. Instead, the XY gets a lot of cruising miles with family and mates.

“For us the main goal has always been to build and modify our cars so that we can drive them — they’re street cars.”

STEVE PETERS
1971 XY FAIRMONT

THANKS
Wife Marianne and kids Jasmine and Luke for putting up with my hours in the shed. Mates Shane (help and advice), Jeff (always ready to lend a hand), and Lockie. Chris, C&M Engines; Ross and Fury, Lonsdale Engine Works; Jamie, JRM Transmissions; Damien and Rob, Car Parts Plus; Kev, Proline Racing; Ben, Outlaw Speed Shop.