TREET cars have never been quicker than
what we’re seeing today, with six- and seven-
second 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 small-
block 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 427-
cube 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 belt-
drive 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’sEngine:
“I’ll go through the engine combo
before Drag Challenge 2020,
possibly with a Noonan billet
block,” Troy says. “We saw them at
Summernats and I fell in love with
them – they’re strong and light so
hopefully it would go quicker again.
I’m hoping to run a 7.70 or 7.80 with
the LSX, so we will see if I need to
step up to something like a Noonan”A:
Troy wisely updated his ute with a
Rod-Tech independent rack-and-
pinion front end, connected to a
Billet Specialties column. There
are also adjustable bracing rods
running from the crossmember to
the front of the chassis that help
secure the front end and safely slow
the ute down from over 170mph. Out
the back, the 9in hangs off a pair of
Strange Engineering Gold Ultra coil-
over shocks, with a Rod Andrews
parallel four-link and sway-bar
locating the third memberBelow:
“When I first built the FJ it was
too hard to work on with the inner
guards,” says Troy. “I couldn’t work
on my own with a removable front
clip, as I couldn’t lift it off myself,
so I realised I needed to tilt it. We’ll
look at doing a fibreglass front end
for Drag Challenge to get more
weight out”