Brenden Mock's 14.2sec Xt

[eMPee]

The article NOS posted was from autospeed. They did a follow up story and I will post it up for you. Not as promising but development none the less. I have to say ive had equal feedback good and bad about the mock crew......

The standard BA – BF Ford Falcon is a deceptively quick machine – but it’s nowhere near as quick as this! When the tacho needle passes 5500 rpm in the stock Falcon, the engine starts to run out of puff. But with the latest mods from Jim Mock Motorsport (JMM) you have plenty more rpm and kilowatts up your sleeve. The big DOHC six can roar to around 7000 rpm and hurtle you down the road with the speed approaching an XR6 Turbo.

The team at JMM (Jim and Brendan Mock) has been playing around with big camshafts and a replacement intake manifold and the results are spectacular. Dyno testing has shown the modified atmo engine to deliver more power than the factory turbo engine! That’s more than 240kW at the flywheel.

So let’s look at how it’s done.

Stage One – Bolt-ons

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JMM are specialist Ford six-cylinder tuners and offer a range of bolt-on go-fast parts to suit the BA to BF atmo engine. Their DEV 3 kit comprises ‘Scavenger’ headers, a custom exhaust (comprising a 3 inch front section with a metallic cat converter and a 2½ inch mandrel bent system), modified air intake, different spark plugs and a flash-tuned ECU. (The retuned ECU replaces the previously employed interceptor.) These mods increase output from around 140 to 180kW at the wheels (in the case of a manual gearbox vehicle).

See BA-LLISTIC for our full review of this popular upgrade.

But extracting further power isn’t easy.

Next Level Modification

So what do you do to unlock even more performance from the Falcon six?

Well, JMM has flow bench tested the standard Falcon DOHC head and come away very impressed. According to Brendan Mock, the BA head offers airflow potential for around 400 horsepower (298kW). So in a street application it’s hardly restrictive.

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On the other hand, the standard camshafts are relatively tame to ensure an acceptable combination of emissions, idle quality, smooth torque delivery and fuel consumption. JMM has fitted a pair of secret-spec development camshafts which are described as ‘mild’. The new camshafts operate with the factory dual VCT system and Brendan says its likely BF models (with independent dual VCT) will offer even greater power thanks to the ability to alter valve overlap.

But the big camshafts are a compromise – they detract slightly from idle quality and bottom-end performance but deliver improved top-end power.

At this point, Brendan highlights a limitation of the standard Ford engine.

“When you rev a BA six to around 7000 rpm there’s a pretty good chance you’ll have an oil pump failure. The pump in our car blew and took out the timing cover.

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“We replaced it with a balanced and blueprinted pump using heavy-duty steel gears. We also fitted a Ross harmonic balancer - and we’ve had no worries since.”

JMM has also elected to rebuild the engine using Ford E-Gas conrods and pistons for a 10:1 compression ratio. Brendan says this is about as high as you can go while running pump fuel.

Next, Brendan decided to test an off-the-shelf aftermarket intake manifold. The factory dual-stage intake manifold is a proven performer – but can it be bettered?

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This particular aftermarket manifold is developed and sold by Croydon Racing Developments in Sydney. The product of around 12 months' development (which includes tests with different size plenum volumes), the manifold is primarily intended for big horsepower XR6 Turbo applications. The manifold employs CNC machined billet runners and a precision welded aluminium plenum chamber. Runner length is quite short (to aid high rpm operation) and each runner features a bell-mouth entry which is concealed in the plenum. The throttle body is also forward mounted.

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Brendan says the new manifold is dead easy to install – it’s a direct bolt-on using the standard Ford gasket. An extension loom is required to relocate the electronic throttle and Brendan has fitted a generic pod filter directly to the throttle body. A cold air induction system is yet to be fabricated.

The new manifold is supplied with a replacement fuel rail which Brendan configured with standard BA injectors and a Malpassi pressure regulator to increase rail pressure to around 4 Bar (the same as used in the XR6 Turbo). The only other change is a custom mounting arrangement for the dipstick tube.

Results

Brendan is quick to point out that the camshafts fitted to their demo car are development jobs; they aren’t currently on the JMM product list.

“We’re still doing some more work with camshafts but, on average, the cams we’re using will pick up about 10kW at the wheels [assuming the car already has suitable bolt-ons] . The idle is a bit ugly at the moment but we might change the cam profile and spend more time developing the tune,” he says. Price of the camshafts will be around AUD$490 each.

And that sexy Croydon Racing Developments intake manifold?

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Well, once the big cams are fitted and the engine can breathe at high rpm, the manifold can deliver a further 30kW ATW gain. This brings total output up to around 220kW at the wheels – according to Brendan, about 10kW more than a standard XR6 Turbo manual.

However, at the other end of the rev range, the engine loses a substantial amount of grunt and you need to wait until 4000-4500 rpm to overtake the performance of the standard manifold. Output then holds strong to about 6500 rpm and the rev limit is set just over 7000 rpm.

The Croydon Racing Developments manifold retails for AUD$2850 and you’ll need to allow about AUD$900 for an aftermarket fuel pressure regulator, air filter and installation. JMM’s tuning costs are yet to be determined.

In normal driving, the cam and manifold equipped BA Falcon sacrifices much of the effortlessness found in the standard car. The 4-litre capacity of the engine means it’s not slow, but it lacks the off-idle slog of the standard car. But from about 3500 rpm onwards the story changes. The engine starts to roar and can torque hard to near 7000 rpm. However, we reckon a shorter diff ratio would improve the overall package - the improved top-end power would be that much much more accessible in normal driving.

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Interestingly, the aluminium intake manifold also causes a raspy noise on cold start-ups – this appears to be an in-plenum resonance. The noise disappears when you hold your hand on the plenum chamber. Odd...

And the verdict?

The cam and manifold combo certainly delivers plenty of top-end performance. But we have reservations recommending it to anyone who drives the car in traffic every day; the trade-off in low rpm torque is very noticeable.

Brendan answers this by revealing JMM is currently assessing the results of honing the standard dual-stage intake manifold. If a similar top-end gain can be achieved without sacrificing bottom-end, we reckon this would be an absolute ripper combo.

Contact:

Jim Mock Motorsport +61 3 9399 4401

www.jimmockmotorsport.com

Croydon Racing Developments +61 2 9648 4264

www.croydonracingdevelopments.com

[Guest]

Well found and well posted ePMee, do you have a link to see those pics.

Only talked to a mate today about the intakes from Croydon, I'd like to see one go toe to toe with a Nizpro intake.

On question that the Croydon intake looks the goods and sounds a clear winner up high but how often do you take your car to 6500rpm?

Got to love the fuel rail that comes on the Croydon intake, anyone seen one cracked yet? I haven't but time will tell, as the Nizpro intake seems to be build like a brick sh*tter.

[ROLMDL]

Would that pod filter setup work any good on the T??

Edited 27/12/06 01:02 PM by Black ThundeR

[Guest]

So heres a good question what kit was Brenden Mock using when he rocketed down the 1/4 in 14.2sec????

Was it the set up in the first post or the later one care of ePMee????

Would have thought that some 220rwkw would get you in the 13sec club, not by much but in there.

With that kind of power on tap its almost a crime not to lift the diff numbers how about a rip shifter, these two mods would get you well into the 13's.

I'd like to see this car and Im starting to re-think wanting to go toe to toe with Brenden Mocks XT with out my NOS.

[ROLMDL]

NOS XR do you have a pictre of your car under the bonnet?

[Guest]

I'll start a Post for BA-BF N/A 6 Porn pic's......KY anyone?

[eMPee]

Sorry NOS I dont have access to the autospeed website. I fished that from ford mods forum but there were no pics......

Also to answer your question ive been to 6500 maybe twice

I think u should go toe to toe with mock, show them up buddy :D

[DAWSEY]

I think you have a time to beat now Greg.

with your new tune I am sure you will get it done the strip quicker then that...

[Guest]

Power Cruise is on its way, we may find out soon. No question it'll run in the 14's off Nos.

Before I do any more 1/4 runs on Nos I want a new clutch and a Nos control unit.

I never want much

[Doogstar]

So the unopened record is 14.2 by BM, does anyone have any more details about this run? What were his car mods, was it manual? What mph did he run?

AFAIK, he holds the BA n\a opened record, 13.8@100mph.

I think I might have a good shot of beating his unopened record. My best is a 14.73 with standard driveline. I have since added 4.11 gears and will have a 2500rpm stally soon.