Rhubarb77

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 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 

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.

From the very beginning my Bosch 044 pump suffered from cavitation. Sounds like glass beads getting smashed up inside the pump. Well when the fuel pressure fell over on the dyno and it was time to go twin pumps, I emailed GRP4, the tank manufacturer and asked them if the -8AN outlet would flow enough to support two pumps. He was good enough to be honest with me and explain the the pick up pipe inside the tank has a kink in it and would reduce flow. I had no idea it would be this bad! Needless to say this was causing massive flow issues and is a testament to the durability of the mighty Bosch 044 pump. After careful planning and acquiring all the parts to complete the job, I took the tank to Drew at ARE Cooling in Brendale where he cut side of tank open, welded on a -12AN outlet and 1" pick up pipe. -4AN fittings where the fuel sight gauge used to be and tidied up the welds where my fuel sender goes in. The car is back running and the pump is actually QUIET! I will get the second one wired up soon, the ECU will switch it based on manifold pressure, as a guess it will come on around 18psi.

So I got the car out to the drags last week and was stoked to run a 12.4. The mph is the same as previous outings which is no surprise with hp being the same. But the better spool and take offs gained me 3 tenths of a second. Still pretty lazy 0-60ft so I'm thinking of getting some M&H 22" 8" 13" drag slicks and having a decent go after the next and final tune.

I also ran in the Forced Ford Forum cruise last weekend at Lakeside All Aussie Day. Here's a link to a youtube vid from the guys in 51OBA. Enjoy

On 25/05/2016 at 21:39, Rhubarb77 said:

Big update. Since the last post I got a heavy duty driveshaft made (modified XA-EA falcon tailshaft) and the anti tramp bars welded in. Diff gears are now 3.7- WOW, so much better than the 3.45's. A new GTX2860R GEN2 supercore has been slotted into the existing 0.86 turbine housing. All new custom alloy piping to hold more boost, allow a bigger filter and 32mm plumb back BOV. New tune coming up in the next couple of weeks. Gate spring pressure is now 12lb (up from 7) , 840cc injectors ready to go in and we'll be going to 25psi hopefully netting around 350whp! The car already feels so strong with the new turbo and diff gears. Cheers

Hi guys. It's been a while since last post. The car has been performing great and I'm still getting out an about in it, mostly on weekends. There's always something on at the local track every couple of months. I really wanted to get back onto the forum after growing somewhat tired of facebook and all the crap it can add to this hobby.

Anyway... as far as developing the car. I have learned that gearbox ratios are very important. The W58 I have is quite low in first and second gear and a bit of a gap to third. Typical of road ratios. Well, a 600hp XR6T i've not been able to beat at roll racing finally fell behind me the last time out because I rolled on in 3rd instead of 2nd. 3rd has much longer legs and I didn't lose the speed changing from 2nd to third. So I looked into close ratio gear sets for the W58 and turns out they are available. At a cost of around $4500. Needless to say, the CR gearbox can wait. But gee it would make a difference.

Also, the temptation to add more power has gotten the better of me. I have bought a used HKS GT2835R-56T , it's a Garrett GT3071R with a back cut rear wheel so it fits in the T25 exhaust housing. Compressor wheel will go from 47mm-60mm 62 trim,  to 53.1mm-71mm 56 trim and more importantly the turbine, from 54mm-47mm 76 trim to 56mm-53mm 90 trim. I'm aiming to add around 30 or 40hp so 330~340hp at the wheels. My current GT2860RS  is pretty much out of puff @ 300whp. At first I was going to fit a 67mm GTX billet wheel, effectively turning it into a GTX 2867R. It could probably make that extra power but nowhere near as efficiently as the GT2835R-56T. The larger turbine is where the benefits will come from. A larger set of Siemens Deka injectors will also be fitted. Jumping from 60lb (630cc) to 80lb (840cc)

I took it to the drags a few months ago and it went 12.75 @ 113 mph (2sec 60ft) . Hoping with the new turbo and tune to crack into high 11's. If not I will just live with it because any more power will result in problems like gearbox failure, clutch failure, cracked block etc etc.

So here's a pic of the car launching when I ran the 12 with 205 60 13 rear tyres. I was only able to achieve low 13's with 185 60 13 tyres, as soon as the 205's went on it was into the 12's. I might put in some 3.45 diff gears with the 185 tyres which would work out about the same as 205's and 3.9. Cheers