The Hackshop Garage lads are no strangers to a last-minute thrash for Drag Challenge. After all, the reason they started their YouTube channel back in 2020 was to document the process of turbocharging Nathan’s NF Fairlane for DC.
That car went on to successfully complete two Drag Challenge events (missing the start of a third), and now the driveline from it is getting a new lease on life in Nathan’s tidy XE Falcon.
“I want to take the Fairlane to the next level with a bigger motor and gearbox, but I still wanted a street cruiser while it was being rebuilt,” says Nathan. “I’ve been debating what driveline to put in my XE for years, and I finally decided to go with the Fairlane’s old turbo gear.”
The XE’s old crossflow (with working air con!) was binned, and the Fairlane’s SOHC EF motor, built BTR gearbox and BorgWarner diff were then installed. But before the new stuff went in, Nathan went to town cleaning, painting and sealing the XE’s underbody and engine bay.
“Pretty much every night after work and all my spare time has been on this,” Nathan says. “It was a lot more work than I expected.”
All that hard yakka was done at Hackshop Garage’s ‘Hacktory’ in western Melbourne by Nathan and his Hackshop sidekick Michael Ludviksen, and it was all documented on their YouTube channel.
This week’s episode sees the car fire for the first time, after Michael spent literally weeks wiring the whole thing front-to-back for the Haltech Elite 750 ECU, which was also recycled from the Fairlane. “I felt like I lived at that workshop for a second there,” he says. “It’ll get a clean-up on the dyno soon, and then we’re pretty much ready for DC.”
As for performance, the boys reckon mid-10s aren’t out of the question. “The Fairlane’s PB is a 10.84@124mph; with a lighter car, we might be able to go as quick as a 10.5 if it’ll grip,” says Nathan.
Nathan and Michael will be taking on the Speed Pro Six-Cylinder class at Drag Challenge 2024, 30 October to 3 November. You can find all the spectator information and grab tickets for Drag Challenge 2024 here.
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