INTERIOR: Inside is your basic
black GT-spec interior, but
with a few upgrades. While
all the factory gauges in the
dash work, Mark has added a
trio of Auto Meter gauges to
keep tabs on the 642hp Clevo
under the bonnet, while the
air/fuel mix is monitored by
an Innovate gauge. The TCI
Outlaw shifter gives a pretty
good indication that the old
Top Loader has been swapped
out. Mark didn’t muck around,
putting a transbraked C10from Mike’s Transmission in
its placeMAIN: With a set of factory five-
slot wheels bolted on, Mark’s
XW would look like a nicely
restored GT Falcon, although
traction would be a bit of an
issue. But with GT le af springs
and a set of CalTracs, the car
hooks up nicely. It remains
untubbed – not even mini-tubbed- but with a slightly shortened
diff it quite easily swallows up
the 255/60/15 rubber out back
MARK’S XW GTa mild 408ci Clevo, but I went through two clutches; they wouldn’t
hold the power,” he says. By “mild”, Mark means somewhere around
the 540-550hp mark, so the decision was made to go to an auto to
make life a bit easier on the driveline – and also his left leg.
“After I decided to put the auto in it I thought I would step up the
power and put a bigger cam in it as well,” Mark explains. “I had a
dual-plane CHI on it, so we went to a single-plane CHI and stepped
up the extractors as well. I had 1¾-inch extractors on it but went to
17 /^8 -inch. I could have gone to two-inch primaries, but the car was
built more for the street than strip.” The pipes did require a bit of
massaging to get around the XF power-steering box, before heading
back to twin three-inch pipes and Magnaflow mufflers that dump just
before the diff.
“I could have put a crazy cam in it that makes the power at 7000rpm,
but it’s been built where it’s got a lot of good torque down low so it’s
streetable,” Mark says. “It’s not a drag-spec motor. I went with the
208cc heads instead of 225cc because you make a lot more torque
around 2500-4000rpm. I’ve got the best of both worlds – it’s still
good on the track but it’s also really good on the street.”
The engine is topped off with a 1000cfm Pro Systems Holley,
and though Mark admits the fuel economy isn’t the best, that’s the
farthest thing from his mind when he’s out cruising with his family