Bomber

Personally, I'd run the factory intank with that surge set-up. You wont be using enough fuel to drain the surge tank.

You will need a hi-flow reg also if running the factory rail. Herrod Motorsports do a blueprinted bosch version for a good price. I ran one on my car and many also do on here.

Geoff is swinging spanners on an XW ute these days I've heard (insert Kermit meme).

Don't trip over my 5.0L roller when you pick yours up At least you know the engine will be spot on so no more dicking around. You definitely did a dirt track rally with plenty of creek jumps but got there in the end

Told ya to bring the boost on earlier Glad to hear it's all running well. Go the little GTX.

Gotta have a bit of dish

Getting amongst it

Picked up the donor...it didn't even make it home before being dropped off at TBRE

Barra conversion done.....

Such fun

Got some good gear that mob

Definitely a toploader mate. 250 2V's didn't come out in XW. I'm happy to 'man up' with a Barra conversion. I'll send you my bank details. 10k should reattach my pen*s.

Still the associated fabrication cost that gets away on ya fast and EFI means computer. The Mustang donk even has the right engine mounts supplied as it was sitting in an XW wagon that the owner is parting out. So other than maybe a trimmed tailshaft and gearbox mount to suit, no other fabrication is required. Everything is basically off the shelf stuff. Boring maybe, but heaps cheaper. I'll still put my own touches on this car and it will be cool when done.

I can hear the booo's already but...the Barra journey is over for the XW. The simple facts are, it costs a lot of coin to retro one. Not just electrics, but things like you can't run a low mount unless you box the towers. When you cost it all out realistically, it's a 10k drop on top of a stock Barra and I wasn't prepared to have the car parked up for two or more years to save the coin for that. So, its a more traditional path for the old girl. I've sourced a 302W roller cam HO Mustang engine for a good price. All the EFI stuff will be left shouldered and converted back to carby. The GT40P cast heads will replaced with some nice big valve alloy jobbies. The engine came with a Windsor bellhousing and 5 speed XR8 box but I have an option on a 6 cogger as well for the right price. Depending on how I go with the sale of the 250 2V and toploader, I may stoke it to 347 cubes. If not, just some nice new forgies with a reco and balance, decent lumpy stick and in it goes. Will aim for around 450hp at the fly. Still should pedal alright in a 1300kg old schooler. Not Barra fast but will shake the ground with dump pipes short of the diff and make the right noises barking through a manual box

That would be cool mate. I'm slowly getting bits together. Have decent front and rear light frames now. A new front bar and plenty of new reproduction stuff from rare spares like lenses etc. Was really pissed on Saturday night when the guy that put me onto the car sent a pic of the GT dash he'd raped out of it a month prior. They're worth a least a grand - grrrr!! He did a deal with the former owner and basically threw his Falcon 500 pos one in of which nothing works. Said he messaged me to let me know the wiring was all there for the GT dash. Yes, thanks mate. I've seen plenty that use the factory facia and install autometer gauges instead. I was thinking of doing that or making up an insert and set gauges up in a similar layout to the GT dash. I'll need to be careful I go with something that will work with the Barra later. Any advice on how you run an old school tacho with a Barra would be appreciated. Speedo and odometer should be fine because they'll be cabled from the trans. Will most likely go a TH400 as I want to get totally away from an electronic trans and I don't think Ford's old school 3 coggers are much chop.

Well, piggybacked the XW home no probs. Been away in Melbourne for the week so had a really good crawl over and under it today. The body is excellent. Virtually rust free aside from a few very minor spots which can be easily fixed. My biggest issue is the amount of stuff missing or not good enough to be used again once I went through the boxes. He has XY rear light frames instead of XW so they'll have to be replaced. The car really deserves to be restored but I've been 'that guy' too many times. It's not that I'm not up to the work but it has to be viable. I'm prepared to throw 20k at it to make it a nice thing with current mechanicals and a set of wheels. Given it currently drives - the engine is pretty stout actually, you'd reckon it's do-able but it needs a lot of stuff. I've got onto a guy that knows his way around early falcons and he actually painted a car for me years ago. The first major checkpoint will be his price. Tick that box and add up all I think is missing from the trusty rare spares catalog and I'll be at a point of no return, lol. I also found another guy on the Gold Coast as luck would have it that has 6 XW's and plenty of parts. That will be really handy as rare spares don't miss you. Being realistic, I don't think the Barra conversion would come for a while as I'm pretty confident most - if not all funds, will be chewed up just to get it painted and restored. If I can't even achieve that, I'll move it on as is. It would be a tough call though as I'll never get this opportunity again.

I'll see what state the car is when I get there. Am taking my big LED work light and small hand held with inspection mirror to go all over it. The owner assures me it's rust free. I've really pressed him on this point. If it isn't, the price goes south. If it's major (like needing new sills etc) I'll just return with an empty trailer.

Donor low k FG engine running factory ECU (manual) and at this stage maybe a built BTR. If budget permits I'll do F6 injectors, valve springs, pump gears and head studs prior to fitting. Initially, stock little turbo with gutted cat and modded stock 3" FG ute zorst (if viable). 300rwkw in something that is nearly 500kg's lighter will pedal nicely. People will bag the BTR but I can get one fully rebuilt and supplied with a hi-stall for 3.5k. It's pushing a lot less weight and I want the thing for a club cruiser as well so like the idea of having the extra cog. Diff not sure at this stage. 4k for a 9" seems pretty fkn steep to me. If you could cut down and delete the ABS etc I'd even look at a B or F series ute diff with a truetrack centre.

Picking it up Saturday. Straight and most prep done ready for paint. Qld Country car - rust free body. Has a 250 2V with yella terra head, 350 Holley, extractors and toploader. I'm going to get it painted first and on the road until the donor goodies are prepared. At around 1350kg, it wont need a lot of mumbo to get it hauling. Still not decided on color but want it to really pop so maybe orange or bright green. Looks like it was track red originally. Can't wait to sink my teeth into it. Will be awesome when it's done. I'm hardly a trailblazer going with a Barra conversion but I'll do it my way and make it a classy ride

XW Ute

Just got back from looking at another Capri North of Brisbane. Pretty honest roller. Think it was a track car previously. Has bigger brakes with home made adjustable strut tops and what looks to be a falcon disc brake diff with the watts link removed so maybe AU? It ran a rover 3.5L V8. Custom sheet metal dash with basic instrumentation. Had a MSD ignition unit and relays mounted internally on the passenger side fire wall. All glass but no interior. Was at least a roller. Has been about three different colors by the looks. Was very straight actually and no rust that I could find in the body but did find a little section in the rear chassis rail but I think that be repaired reasonably easily. Was some bog in the bay on the drivers side that had cracked away but they hadn't smoothed it so not sure what was going on there. The previous owner had also cut the floor out of the boot so that would need to be remade which I'd do in conjunction with a custom fuel cell. Had both a steel and fiberglass bonnet to go with it. Was lukewarm about it when crawling under and over it but when considering the body was basically rust free and straight - just needed soda blasting to get the 10mm thick coats of paint off it, I might make him an offer. Only thing it's not mod plated for a V8 so this one would need to be the 1JZ deal. If I can get it for a few grand and throw maybe 5k at the body it might be viable. I'll look at the other one on the Goldie that is mod plated tomorrow. It's not a roller though but will be good to compare the two.

Looks like I'll be car-less for ages if what I've seen thus far is anything to go by. A Windsor powered Capri I looked at needed a body patch up in a few spots and closed door respray at a minimum to look half decent plus, he'd put an ebay special skinny ass allay radiator in it that hung that low the first decent speed bump you'd snap it in half, lol. Had a single rail box and stock V6 diff still and wanted 25k. It was seriously worth about 10k as it presented. He's had plenty of offers - all low of course, so he pumps it up to 29k on gumtree now? Hilarious. Looked at a kinda XR GT mock-up yesterday (in GT Gold etc). It had a reasonable standard 'back-yard' paint job done 15 years ago with a mild cammed 289. MSD and stuff with C4 and stall but stock diff. He wanted 38k for that but I wouldn't even want it for 28. I guess it was always going to be an adjustment going back to old school but seriously, some of these people are dreaming with what they think their cars are worth in a sh*t market. The right car will come up. It's looking like my best go will be to build one though. Looking at another V8 plated Capri body today. It has the Rod shop chassis kit included but is completely pulled down. Really want at least a roller.