Our Plazmaman ’cooler measures up at 500x420mm and
76mm thick; it’s the company’s Stage 3 kit, rated at 1000hp.
As you can see, the unit totally fills the space between the
headlights, and the kit relocates the radiator back slightly.
We also had to replace the old single thermo fan with an XR6
turbo twin-fan unit, because the single unit was too thick and
too close to the engineMPW generously let us borrow a
hoist for a few days so we could
get the car as ready as possible for
Tunnel Vision. With tight filming
and magazine deadlines, we need
as much help as we can geta base-model XT taxi, the front bar needed
more work than a Kim Kardashian photoshoot
before it would clear the pipework from the
intercooler. As for the four-inch turbo intake
pipe and the battery relocation kit, they were
almost a direct bolt-in, with just a couple of
holes needing to be drilled for the new battery
tray and earth lead.
After that was all in, the guys moved on to other
jobs around the workshop and left me to fit the
new exhaust manifold and turbo and generally
get the car ready for the next stage.
We managed to snag a good second-hand
FG turbo exhaust manifold from Zane at Maxx
Performance in Dandenong. Zane also sorted
us out with a much stronger tailshaft. In their
experience – and they specialise in BA/BF/FG
turbo Falcons – the standard tailshafts let go at
around 380-400rwkW, and with our plans for
more power we decided to be proactive and
drop a stronger unit in now. While the two shafts
look identical when laid on the floor side-by-
side, the new unit was significantly heavier due
to increased wall thickness. The guys get them
custom-made and they reckon the beefy shafts
are good for up to 600rwkW.
Back on the hoist at MPW, we closed off
the LPG tank tap and disconnected the gas
converter before removing it completely. The
factory E-Gas converter sits on the exhaust sideof the engine bay, basically where the turbo
would sit, so it had to go.
Our turbo is a custom unit built by GCG Turbos
in Sydney. After talking with the guys about our
requirements they put together this custom
Garrett GT35/84R, which is a fair bit larger than
the factory FG turbo. It uses the same 1.06 A/R
rear housing as the factory turbo, but with an
enlarged wastegate port and flapper along with
an aftermarket GCG/Turbosmart wastegate
actuator. As delivered, the turbo is set for 14psi,
but they’ve included an extra 5psi spring to bring
things up to 19psi when we go for maximum
boost; hopefully that will be enough.
On the compressor side of the turbo we’veO
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