L
OOK closely at any square inch of Steve Bellia’s
ultra-sanitary XB Falcon and you’ll quickly realise
that nothing is what it seems. Everything is
modified (even if only subtly), re-engineered or
fabricated from scratch to be smoother, slicker
and a whole lot neater.
“Nothing’s off the shelf on this car,” says proud
builder Steve. “Maybe the bonnet hinges. Even then, I
machined up new pins to neaten them up.”
Steve inherited this GS sedan off his father (see
breakout, p42), and promptly set about fulfilling his long-
term dream of owning a mega-tough FoMoCo streeter.
“It’s my brother Tony’s fault,” Steve says. “He’s got a
tough XY Falcon that he’s owned for 20 years and I’ve
always wanted one of my own – I just never intended
to go this far.”
Steve began with the understanding that a tough car
needs a tough engine. So with a near-new 351 Clevo
block in tow, he headed off to chat with Chris from
Gibson Race Engines. Chris’s advice? If you want bulk,reliable power, ditch the factory block. Go with a Dart
and lots of cubes – 434 to be precise!
“Chris had built a killer 355 stroker for a mate of mine,
Russ,” Steve says. “I trusted him, so pretty much let him
do whatever he wanted. He was awesome.”
The parts list is all absolutely top-shelf, including
deep-breathing CHI 3V heads, tall single-plane
manifold and 1050 Holley Dominator. On the
dyno, Steve’s faith in Chris was rewarded with
a big-cube small-block good for a very stout
754 horses.
“The engine was the first thing I organised, but the
last thing finished,” Steve says. “We didn’t want the
assembled engine sitting around for years. Chrisloaned me a dummy block, cylinder heads and inlet,
and we literally build the car around the engine.”
Being a fitter and turner by trade – and a dab hand at
fabrication – Steve’s responsible for a host of BFAT’s
unique pieces. So too was James from Groove Ryder
Fabrications, and they spent countless hours between
them re-engineering the all-Aussie Falcon to handle
the prodigious power. The rear leaves were relocated
inboard and outfitted with modified CalTracs, and the
repositioned springs and mini-tubs (complete with
factory-looking swage lines) dictated a custom fuel
tank, which was baffled to eliminate fuel slosh.
The rest of the driveline is every bit as tough as
the donk. Al’s Race Glides came to the party with
one of its bulletproof, full-manual reverse-pattern
C4s. It’s followed by a massive chrome-moly tailshaft
by Strange, which feeds into a 35-spline Strange
centre with full spool and 3.9:1 gears – all riding in a
fabricated housing.
Up front, there’s a new firewall (also with factory-looking swage lines) and a larger tunnel to
accommodate the significantly set back engine. Every
redundant hole was also welded over and smoothed.
Under the dash is a Wilwood pedal box, with remote
reservoirs. Steve’s handiwork can also be seen in the
shifter mount, one-off steering boss, steering column
mount, seat mounts, fuse box, gauge brackets,
alternator adjuster, bonnet adjusters, beefed-up hood
pins, battery hold-down and brake lines – plus more,
more, more.
A shortened, front-mounted LH steering rack is
bolted to the new chrome-moly front crossmember,
along with CRS two-inch-dropped spindles and same-
brand tubular upper and lower control arms. The armsSTEVE SET ABOUT FULFILLING HIS LONG-TERM DREAM
OF OWNING A MEGA-TOUGH FOMOCO STREETER
INTERIOR
Like the rear seats, the
front seats, console
and door trims are
all handmade one-
offs. The factory XB
dash was trimmed in
hand-stitched leather,
which also swathes the
enlarged tunnel. Polaris
RZR fittings in the side
intrusion bars makes
them removableROOF
The original plan was to
trim over the rollcage
here in order to conceal
it. Instead, trimmer
Mick Carter made pie-
shaped fibreglass insert
panels, trimmed them
in suede and press-
fitted them into place.
“It makes it look like a
spider-web emerging
through the hoodlining,”
Steve reckonsGRILLE
The very slick grille is a
full custom fibreglass
piece by IM Composite
Technologies. And
before all you XB owners
think about putting
your hand up for one – it
won’t fit! This custom
one-off was designed to
fit into BFAT’s massaged
front opening and uses
different mounts to tie
into the smoothed-off
headlight buckets –
which now mount in
from underneath