STAGE WRITE

THE STREET-REGISTERED XR6 G6E TURBO OF MACKAY LOCAL DEAN PULLEN HAS RUN 10.9@129MPH AT PALMYRA, AND THE TOTAL COST, INCLUDING BUYING THE CAR, WAS AROUND $9250

AWHILE ago Telfo suggested writing about a 10-second street machine that anyone could duplicate for under $10,000, including the purchase price of the car. At the time I thought that running 10s with an XR6 Turbo for around $10K was possible, especially at the price they were selling for at auction. No one wanted them; they were like orphans.

Well, my estimation was a little bit out. The street-registered XR6 G6E turbo of Mackay local Dean Pullen has run 10.9@129mph at Palmyra, and the total cost, including buying the car, was around $9250. With driver, the Falcon weighs 4070lb, and if you get your Moroso calculator out it’s making 730 genuine weight-shifted horses. The car has been raced at Palmyra for over a year now with no problems and has a completely stock gearbox, converter, tailshaft, shocks – nearly everything’s stock, in fact.

The car was fettled by Dave Sheehy from CPV Tuning in Mackay. He is a quiet achiever who doesn’t advertise; instead he lets his customers’ cars do the talking for him at the track. Word of mouth about Dave has spread to as far away as WA. So here’s his lowdown on how to build a 10-second street car for less than $10K.

Dave emphasises it’s really important to get the right car in the first place – ideally a stock six-speed auto XR6 Turbo. Dean’s car was an FG G6E Turbo bought for $4500 with 160,000km on the clock. It was damaged around the back wheel area, and the original back subframe was replaced with a whole BA XR6 Turbo subframe from the wreckers ($500), which had the 3:46 gears and limited slip diff. It’s really important that the project car you source has a 3:46-geared LSD. Every bit of labour is expensive, so if you can’t do this sort of work yourself and you’re on a budget, source an original running six-speed auto BF XR6 Turbo, or an earlier, cheaper, model with a six-speed auto. Do not get a five-speed auto used in nonturbo FGS; they are not strong enough. Yes, it is possible to upgrade the five-speed auto, but it costs money.

Let’s start with the exhaust system. The main thing that needs doing is swapping out the catalytic converter for a five-inch-body 100-cell cat converter ($500). The rest of the exhaust system in Dean’s car was left dead-stock; if you want to change the exhaust system, go to a twin 2.5-inch system, but that’s not necessary to run 10s.

The turbo was damaged in Dean’s car, so a BA XR6 turbo core ($500) was sourced from the wreckers. Brand new 1000cc injectors were also fitted ($595).

For cooling, Dave fitted a Stage II Process West cooling kit ($1500), but if you’re on a budget, an HDI cooling kit can be bought on ebay for around $750. The surge pot was another ebay purchase ($150), as was the single 044 Bosch fuel pump ($210).

The engine itself remains unopened; not even the valve springs were changed.

Naturally it’s dyno-tuned at CPV, which costs $895 including the HP licence, and the Falcon made 420rwkw on the rollers. The standard rims were fitted with M/T 275/40/17 street radials, which were in brand-new condition but bought second-hand for $400.

For the 10.9@129mph run at Palmyra, the car was left in drive with first gear left out of the tune. Dean’s 16-year-old son DJ was driving it for the first time that day. In Dave’s opinion, the car could potentially run 10.5s at 132mph.

It is a beautiful car to drive on the road, too, complete with luxurious leather seats, carpets and stereo; not one thing has been removed. On E85 it gets 13.5L/100km. A similarly set up XR6 gets 8.79L/100km on BP Ultimate with a flash tuner ($795) and can change between E85 and 98-octane.

That’s all there is, folks, to a 10-second, $10K streeter that has been raced for over a year with no drivetrain failures. We haven’t left anything out; everything is verifiable with timecards, photos and even the car purchaseprice receipt.

A car doesn’t know what make is stamped on the bonnet. When people get staunch about their brands – Holden vs Ford, etc – I like to point out that Craig Lowndes or Jamie Whincup can race and win in either. At the moment XR6 Turbos are going cheap at the auctions, and in my view will become a cult car worth collecting. And in written-off form, an XR6 Turbo can be bought from the wreckers complete with a sixspeed gearbox and put into a Torana or Cortina. An almost-stock XR6 Turbo making 730 Moroso horsepower in a 3200lb car could theoretically run 9.35@144mph, and the best part is that all the ingredients are available off-the-shelf or from the wreckers.

If you’re serious about buying and building a 10-second XR6 Turbo, by all means get in touch with Dave at CPV Tuning: 0407 749 043. But if you think he wants to hear about how you got your stock-bottom-end four-cylinder Gemini to run sevens at over 200mph using a Mack truck turbo for less than $5K, don’t bother. Just keep kicking tyres until the urge passes.