Rhubarb77

A quick update guys. I sent a PM to Zane from Maxx Performance regarding the stock turbo pistons (he supplied them for the aforementioned Greentop Barra build) and he's run them at 680RWKW on E85 for several years but does not recommend this! My goal is 550kW.

Yes these are a factory BF turbo piston I bought complete with 3R rods, sold the rods so the pistons cost me next to nothing. As xsspeed mentioned, they are supposed to handle quite a bit of punishment. I got the idea from the Carnage channel on YouTube when Scotty built the greentop Barra. . This is definitely a budget build! I figure, I give it a go. If it works that's awesome. If it doesn't, I learn a lesson and have another go. That's the beauty of this cheap and abundant taxi engine hahaha.

The motor in previous pic was bought from a wrecker and used for test fit. When I disassembled it, unfortunately, cyl 5 had rust in the bore. So I picked up a MK1 FG block with good bores but the water jackets were badly corroded. So finally found a good, well maintained motor from a vehicle that had a front end impact. A local Engineer cleaned the block, power honed & ball honed the cylinders retaining the standard bore size of 92.25mm, surfaced, an crank linished. And 10mm taken off the main caps to fit the Ellis Engines girdle. Youtube is a treasure trove of knowledge for building barras which is why I have opted to do the assembly myself. I now understand why engine builders charge what they do. It takes time! And care! So much process involved and I got caught second guessing myself as to whether or not my second compression ring was facing the right way up hahaha. So out they all came and, yes. I had done it properly. The engine has not been torque plate honed, tunnel bored in the main journals or grout filled. All are highly recommended for engines making big power. The main component I wanted reassurance with was the rods. These are Spool drag pro I Beam. Factory rods have been pushed by some tuners to 800hp but from what I understand, this is only possible due to conservative tuning. I want timing and boost as early as possible to make the power hit very hard. Strong rods will hopefully help me achieve that. Cheers

Hi. It's going to be both street and strip but mainly street and roll racing. There's no plans to get it tech'd which means any faster than 10.5sec? over the quarter and I'll get sent home. When it's all working optimally I'll most likely take it for a first and last pass What tyres do you have on your Ute? I'll be using Hero's or Pro Street Radial 235 60 15. I have been told to expect insane torque and performance. Can't wait. Cheers

Any advice, suggestions or questions, please post here Cheers. Link to project

Hi crew. It's been a while since posting. I sold my 355whp turbo pinto Escort after many years of good times. Living 10mins from a popular race track (Lakeside, Kurwongbah) that hosts everything from circuit racing to show and shines/ cruise days it was just a matter of time before I became miserable not having a project to tinker with. I want to go much faster this time and thanks to Castlemaine Rod Shop the process is simple. Engine mounts , T400 transmission crossmember, VT brake upgrade hubs from them and front swaybar (to clear the front sump) from Muscle Garage. It's a 1993 Holden Commodore Executive. 92,000 genuine km country car from Roma, Qld. No rust! The reason for choosing this car well there's a few. My favourite series of Commodore and lovely Marine Aqua paint. Ford's from the same era are heavier and uglier (no hate just my opinion!). The weight, only 1275kg. 1250kg with the barra. No firewall modifications other than massaging the tunnel for bellhousing where starter motor sits. Power goals 650whp 1300nm but it might increase to 800whp depending on the transmission spec. Motor will get forged rods, stock turbo BF pistons, ARP bolts, crow springs, girdle, stock timing chain, stock BF cams, torrington bearing. Fuel system Aeroflow 76L anodized cell with triple pump hanger, 2x Walbro 525 pumps. Diff has been built with 31 spline axles and Chinese Trutrac. T400 is going in for build on 3rd July. Torque Power bellhousing, billet input shaft and possibly a billet intermediate shaft too. 36 element sprag etc. Link to dicussion

Drags again last Saturday. 11.7 @ 121mph. The photographer captured some great shots of the tyre wrinkle. I'm making some cosmetic changes to the engine. Rocker cover painted in 2K same colour as the body, Olympic blue. The inlet manifold, turbo inlet pipe & bov pipe are getting powder coated satin black, I will have them back next week. Really happy with how the rocker cover turned out.

The fuel pressure sensor has been connected for a while now but I had been putting off oil pressure until last weekend. I got stuck in and mounted this EFI hardware sensor block on the inner wing. Moved the fuel pressure sensor over and bought another for the oil. These are Variohm 0~150psi sensors. The lines are 3AN braided teflon and stainless hose ends. The loom wires were only long enough to reach the sensors if I mounted them pointing down.

Woohoo. Dipped into the 11's last Saturday. The bias ply slicks performed amazingly!! Chopped 0.3sec off my 60ft and 0.5sec off my ET. One of the runs at 121mph. I had read horror stories about mixing radials and bias ply so after making lots of calls and taking on advice I ended up with a set of used Avon ACB9 5x22x13 bias ply formula ford tyres up front. The car ran straight as an arrow on the strip, a lot more stable than previous runs on semi slick radials.

I would not recommend this transmission mount, poor fit onto the gearbox extension housing (I needed to cut the tops off both mounts and weld the old top plate onto this one) and so much noise and vibration through the car so I put a standard mount back in, much better The ignition leads have been replaced after it was found they were causing a misfire on hi boost only. And I've finally sealed up some minor but annoying leaks from the thermostat housing and rocker cover using better products. Loctite 515 on the thermostat housing gasket and ThreeBond super sealer on the rocker gasket. It's a 2L rocker cover on a 1.6 head I don't know if that's why it's always leaked in the past?? The rebuilt gearbox is back in and the car shifts much nicer now especially with the Redline oil in it.

Another cruise session at Lakeside a few weeks ago and unfortunately the gearbox failed. It was not catastrophic so I was able to drive the car home 10 mins from the track. I used the dropped crossmember method to remove the gearbox which worked really well. It's been shipped interstate for a rebuild and I was told on Friday that the gears are all good but bearings are shot. Heavy duty needle roller bearings will be fitted as part of the rebuild. I'll be using Redline MT90 oil this time and have sourced a heavy duty transmission mount keep things supported a bit better. Thanks