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HERE might be faster XYs, there might be
finer XYs, but there are few tougher than this
one! I know that’s a bold statement, but the
guttural howl of the 8/71 huffer and whining
Gilmer blower drive, combined with the
thunderous bellow of nearly 1000 horses
erupting through the three-inch exhaust, would
surely make anyone stop and gape at this Falcon
as it rumbles on by. Whipped into shape by Roy
and Frank Velardi and the team at Sydney’s V Resto
Garage, this Ford cuts an imposing figure, to say
the least.
Before going any further, let’s deal with the
elephant poking out the bonnet. It’s a 438ci World
Products Man O’War tall-deck block with World
Products heads, Edelbrock intake, a Blower
Shop 8/71 pump and genuine JBR carbonfibrehat – all fed by an in-hat EFI set-up from Joe Blo
Speed Shop.
The imposing mill was initially screwed together
by noted US engine builder Rick Watters. When
first dropped into the Aussie four-door, it sported an
alloy Big & Ugly hat and a thick plate sandwiched
between that and the blower, with side-mounted EFI
injectors. With this set-up, the hat pretty much sat at
roof height; oddly enough, this was deemed a tad
too ostentatious for the street.
Joe Schembri of Joe Blo Speed Shop came to
the rescue. He considerably reduced the overall
height by swapping to a shorter carbonfibre hat and
eliminating the sandwich plate. Joe’s trick EFI set-up
mounts eight downward-facing Bosch injectors up
in the guts of the hat. It’s a very neat arrangement.
The Holley ECU was dialled-in in the US, and onceENGINE: The EFI wiring and
fuel lines go in through the
rear of the JBR hat – the
original injector hoses are
just there for looks. V Resto
Garage cut the hole and
fabricated the bonnet surround
to look like a factory shaker
surround. Although capable
of considerably more, the
TBS 8/71 billet blower is
only pushing 5-6psi of boost.
On E85, that equates to 934
effortless ponies