PRIMED SUSPECT

WITH ELITE-LEVEL FIT AND FINISH AND LOW EIGHT-SECOND PERFORMANCE, TROY DAVID’S FJ UTE IS PRIMED FOR GLORY

This Red Centrenats Grand Champ is knocking on seven-second quarters

TREET cars have never been quicker than what we’re seeing today, with six- and sevensecond monsters blowing away records. But we’re also seeing people building these incredibly swift pieces of engineering to an Elite level, blurring the lines between street, race and show cars.

A great example is this killer twin-turbo ’54 FJ ute owned by Troy David. It has run an 8.2@171mph, but has also taken out Grand Champion at Red Centrenats, showing just what a well-rounded package the Northern Territory landscaper has built, from quite humble beginnings.

“My late father-in-law, Phil Kerr, found the car in the paper on a Saturday morning,” Troy explains. “An army guy had moved from Victoria to Darwin and had no room to hang on to it. It had a smallblock Chev, TH350 auto and a nine-inch, and was just a basic cruising car, as it was a very rough conversion.

“When I first met Phil he had an FJ ute that was very close to original, and I loved the shape, so that’s how it started off. For the FJ’S first build we fitted a nitrous motor, two-speed Powerglide and four-link rear end in it, then we put a 400-shot of gas on it and it ran 9.0s. But it black-tracked the whole way down the strip, so I pulled the running gear out of the FJ and put it all in an HG Monaro to use it for a cruising car.”

Vic and Troy at Bo Chassis sorted out the FJ’S bodywork, with Troy admitting it was in “very average” condition when he took over custodianship. A tilt front end plus flat floors and both front and rear firewalls provide a clean style, while the rollcage adds the safety element needed when heading for deep seven-second ETS. The tray has a smooth rollpan, fat wheel tubs, and enough bar work to look like a jungle gym, including the integrated parachute mount that sits where the tailgate would have originally gone.

The Resto Shop in Darwin took over the paint prep, laying down the custom Spies Hecker Fifty Shades Of Grey for a look that throws the FJ’S rotund shape straight back to the conservative 1950s.

Replacing the nitrous small-block Chevy is a 427cube LSX making herculean grunt. Inside the iron block is a crank and rod combo from Lunati with CP pistons, topped by 15-degree All Pro six-bolt heads wearing high-end shaft-mount T&D rockers.

The E85 fuel is supplied by a cable-driven 1100 Enderle pump, and is changed for methanol when running at the track. There are 16 ID2000 injectors plumbed into the Shaun’s Custom Alloy tunnel ram to squirt the alcoholic fire-maker, with a pair of Accufab 4150 four-barrel throttlebodies handling the charge-air provided by the twin Garrett T51R spooly boys.

An aluminium Moroso pump works with a beltdrive R4 Peterson oil pump to keep the spinning bits oiled, while a Race Radiators core and 16-inch thermo fan keep a lid on temps when cruising. Standard LS1 coil packs and a Haltech ECU handle zapping the fuel and air mix, with spent gasses exiting via a 3.5-inch twin exhaust system.

The big-inch LS made 1120rwhp on MPW’S

WE PUT A 400-SHOT OF GAS ON IT AND IT RAN 9.0S. BUT IT BLACK-TRACKED THE WHOLE WAY DOWN THE STRIP

THE 427-CUBE LSX IS MAKING HERCULEAN GRUNT – 1120RWHP ON MPW’S CHASSIS DYNO ON APPROXIMATELY 18PSI

chassis dyno as a fresh combo on approximately 18psi, and Troy hopes there are plenty more ponies hiding inside as he and MPW get a handle on the combo and step things up. “Adam [Rogash of MPW] is keen to put all the boost in it, but we’ll see,” he says.

With MPW’S experience in running sevensecond passes, it shouldn’t take long to land Troy’s goal ET. “I can’t thank Adam and Luke [Foley] enough for all the help they have given me,” he says. “They have been absolutely amazing with the effort they put in.”

Behind the seven-litre noise-maker is a Reid-case two-speed Powerglide wearing the same-spec TCE converter that Adam Rogash uses in the ALLSHOW VK Commodore. A 3.5inch Mark Williams tailshaft links the fabricated nine-inch, also from Mark Williams, which has been filled with all the goodies needed to put over 1100hp to the decks. There is a Truetrac centre, 35-spline full-floater Race Products axles, and a set of 3.5:1 gears from US Gear.

Those gears will likely need to be chopped out in Troy’s quest for seven-second slips, though. “We’ll need to go to a 3.2 ratio to dip well into the sevens,” he says.

Troy’s FJ took out Grand Champion at Red Centrenats last year, then backed that up by landing in the Top 20 Elite and being part of the Magnificent Seven in the hunt for Grand Champion at Summernats 32. While many would be happy with that, Troy is already eyeing off another, even crazier build that will be given to one of his daughters, just like the FJ has been.

“I have three daughters, and I said I will build each of them a car, all old-school,” says Troy. “When my first girl Alicia was born, my father-in-law bought an HG Monaro for her first birthday present. I have given the FJ to my six-year-old Rachel, which will suit her well as she is a little wild. My youngest girl, 18-monthold Erin, is the craziest of them all, so I will have to build her one of the fastest true street cars around!”

I HAVE GIVEN THE FJ TO MY SIX-YEAR-OLD RACHEL, WHICH WILL SUIT HER WELL AS SHE IS A LITTLE WILD

B: Troy realised that manually lifting your car is for the birds, so he had V8 Supercar 280mm air jacks fitted, plumbed with Brown & Miller hoses, to make getting the FJ off the ground super-simple. “There are a lot of different ideas in the car, like the air jacks, which were an absolute last-minute addition just before it went into paint,” says Troy. “Now I don’t need to worry about rags on jacks, or chassis stands”