JASON GHILLER
WITH its bowling-club beige paint and a nasty crease in the passenger door, most of us would’ve walked straight past Jason Ghiller’s XD Falcon in a Coles or Bunnings car park. But Jason runs Tunnel Vision Turbocharging, and under that wellpatina’d bonnet is a Ford Barra twin-cam six transplant with a massive GT47 Garrett turbo punching out over 1000 horses!
The engine bay is presented to an almost Summernats standard, while the engine itself has been beautifully detailed in silver and satin-black paint. It’s a work of art under the bonnet, but there’s been plenty done underneath the Falcon as well.
Get down on your hands and knees and you’ll see the rear end has been re-engineered with an LMS Caltrac-style set-up and Calvert mono-leaf springs. The fuel tank is now in the boot. All four dampers are adjustable Gazzard Brothers items, and the brakes have been upgraded with later, bigger Falcon front calipers and rotors and a Nissan-based rear disc conversion.
Jason bought the XD from a 72-year-old bloke late last year, and the tatty original bumpers, standard seats and interior trim just adds to the charm. In the interests of staying safe, there is an ANDRA-SPEC ’cage tucked in there, while a rear window louvre completes the picture. Only the alloy wheels might raise an eyebrow among keen car freaks; starting life as stock snowflakes from an XE Fairmont Ghia ESP, they’ve been widened to take a 275 tyre.
The basics of the ex-fg Falcon Barra sixpot are a billet crank, I-beam rods, custommade forged SPS pistons and 24psi from the Garrett GT47 ball-bearing booster.
“The exhaust was a nightmare,” Jason said of his beautifully fabricated manifold hidden below the right-in-your-face turbo. Looking sensational on the other side of the engine is the Cnc-machined intake, Jason’s own design. With Haltech Elite engine management, the donk cranks out just shy of 1072hp at the treads and spins to 7500rpm. Behind the big six is a tweaked TH400 and the racers’ favourite nine-inch.
Jason rolled in on Monday morning with his mate Vince and the crew, already exhausted. They’d been thrashing on the XD for the previous nine weeks or so, and the Falcon was a rolling shell just four days before Drag Challenge. The lads arrived at the event just in the nick of time on Day One, having completed the car at 11 that morning.
Despite the last-minute rush, they were ready for action, running a 9.28@150mph at Calder and a 9.33@151mph the next day at Heathcote. The car’s best result of the week was 9.04@151mph at the terrific new Swan Hill track. Jason finished Drag Challenge in 11th place overall and took home the Quickest Six-cylinder and Quickest Ford awards.