FORD FALCON XR
302ci Ford Windsor, low-compression forged pistons, crank girdle, World S/R heads, Comp Cams roller rockers, Franklin Cams camshaft, Trick Flow intake manifold, 75mm throttle body, BorgWarner 5330 turbo, Turbosmart 40mm wastegates, 600x300x75mm intercooler, custom drop tank, AU Falcon fuel pump, Sard FPR, Bosch 440cc injectors, custom distributor, NZEFI high performance coils, Eagle leads, 3-inch to 2½-inch exhausts, Flowmaster mufflers, custom twin-pass radiator, 16-inch fan, oil cooler, Davies Craig electric water pump, Link G4 Storm ECU
Ford C6 transmission, 2800rpm stall converter, 9-inch diff, 31-spline axles, Truetrac centre
King springs, reset rear leaves, 25mm front sway bar
300mm front discs, 265mm rear discs, Wilwood calipers
17x8-inch and 17x9-inch wheels, 235/40R17 and 255/40R17 Nankang tyres
B&M QuickSilver shifter, Procomp and Auto Meter gauges, custom fibreglass dashboard
445hp at the wheels popped up, he grabbed it with the intention of restoring it. The car was pretty solid, so rather than tear it down straight away, he and wife Shelley just drove it as is for a while. That was a good thing, too, as soon an XR came up for sale — not just any XR but the very car from his youth — and it still looked much the same as when he’d sold it all those years earlier.
“We were coming home from Shelley’s netball do and I had a bunch of missed calls from a mate. His wife was pregnant at the time, so we assumed she’d had the baby, but it wasn’t that at all. He’d seen the car get listed that day.”
Of all times for it to be listed, though — Jason and Shelley had just had a conversation about really
knuckling down to save for a house and land package so Shelley could have room for a horse … The best way around this, Jason thought, was to buy it first and ask for forgiveness second. “I asked Shelley if she wanted a cuppa, and while I was in the kitchen I rang the number that was listed on Trade Me. I spoke to the guy for about 15 or 20 minutes, made him a deal, and that was that — I was getting my car back. Very sheepishly, I came back in with Shelley’s cup of tea and said, ‘Look, that car looks like the photo in the hallway.’ She said, ‘Yep,’ and I stepped back and said, ‘Yeah, I just bought it’ — so that’s why we have two horses and stables in the paddock,” he laughs.
Only minor changes had been made to the XR through the various owners over the years, so Jason and Shelley could just enjoy it like the good old days. A few paint tidy-ups were eventually required and Jason announced to Shelley that he wanted to supercharge it. He started to collect some bits for the conversion, along with a 302ci Windsor that could be rebuilt to suit, mentioning the plan to his cousin Phil, who owns NZEFI in Christchurch. Phil suggested a turbo could be a better option, giving Jason the best of both worlds: drivability and performance.