Street Machine Australia — January 2018

are a classic example of how much attention to detail has

gone into BFAT.

“To make them neater, I stripped the old powdercoating,

dressed all the welds and had Peter Snell’s Protective

Coatings re-powdercoat them in a harder-wearing satin

black,” Steve says. “I sent a lot of parts to Peter for

powdercoating – all the suspension parts, diff housing

and loads of small parts. He even coated the headers in a

special heat-resistant powdercoat, which hasn’t dulled off

even after driving it several times.”

James went to town stiffening up the whole car. While

on the rotisserie, beefy chassis connectors were added

before the entire shell was fully seam-welded. The sills

were cut open and chrome-moly tubing welded inside

(which now houses the fuel and brake lines), while a full

chrome-moly rollcage finishes it all off. The extensive ’cage

runs behind the dash and ties into the rear engine plate as

well as the chassis connectors – this GS is not only bloody

fat, it’s also bloody stiff. The ’cage runs tight to the car so

that it could be trimmed over to make it less conspicuous.

“James is a magician,” Steve enthuses. “He did so much

fab work, including the headers, 3.5-inch exhaust, tailshaft

loop, oil cooler mounts, radiator mounts, oil breather tanks

and overflow reservoir. He also looked after all the front-

end geometry, which included eliminating the factory

bump steer. His work looked so good, I was determined

to finish it off properly.”

The exterior was another joint project, this time in

partnership with Andy and Marty from AA Panel Craft.

“A lot of peopled helped me with this car and it’s a credit

to them,” Steve says. “However, it would never have been

this good if it wasn’t for James at Groove Ryder and Andy.

Andy was always there to help me, and knowing that I was

trying to build the car in a double-car garage, he let me use

his shop quite a bit. Both James and Andy really pushed

me. Plenty of times they’d be like: ‘Come on, let’s do this!’

I can’t thank them enough.”

After repairing the rusted-out dog-legs, boot and sills,

Steve and Andy turned their attention to the panel gaps.

They were all over the shop; they’re now a snug 3mm.

Many of the mounting threads for the door hinges, as well

as a host of other threads, were stripped out. To repair

them, Steve machined up myriad^5 /^16 -inch bungs and TIG-

welded them into place.

ENGINE

Even BFAT’s radiator

overflow is super-

sanitary. It runs up

to what looks like a

straight oil breather

tank located at the

driver’s side rear of the

engine bay. It’s actually

internally baffled to

create two separate

tanks – oil breather and

radiator overflow. And

while you’re having a

good look, check out the

smoothed and modified

bonnet catch, slick

carbonfibre cover panel,

painted coolant pipes (to

match the rocker covers)

and machined water

pump bolts

BONNET

Steve and body/paint

man Andy didn’t like the

look of the underside

of the bonnet, so they

made insert panels and

welded them in place,

while also welding up all

the unnecessary holes.

It’s much smoother and

cleaner now

REAR

Compare this to a stock

XB and you’ll note the

factory finger-sized gap

around the tail-lights

has been eradicated.

The bumper has been

narrowed, shaved and

sunken into the body,

while the custom rear

plenum snugly fits

those meaty 3.5in dump

pipes. And er, the rear

wheelwells appear to be

somewhat larger!

STEVE BELLIA
1976 XB FALCON
Colour: HOK White/
HOK Galaxy Grey

MAKIN’ IT MOVE
Engine: 434ci small-
block Ford
Block: Dart 9.5in-deck
Intake: CHI high-rise
single-plane
Heads: CHI 3V
Cam: Solid-roller
Crank: Scat II
Sump: Moroso, rear
pick-up
Carb: Holley
Dominator 1050cfm
Ignition: MSD
Fuel pump:
MagnaFuel Pro
Star 500
Cooling: PWR
three-core, two
16in Spal fans
Exhaust: Tri-Ys, 1^7 / 8 in
into 2¼in collector into
3½in system
Preferred fuel: BP
Ultimate 98
Engine mount:
Sandwich-plate front
and back
Dyno stats:
754hp@6700rpm,
644lb-ft@5300rpm

DRIVELINE
Gearbox: C4, full-
manual, reverse
shift pattern
Converter: 4500rpm
stall
Diff: Fabricated 9in
housing, Strange
35-spline axles,
Strange alloy centre,
3.9:1, full spool
Tailshaft: Strange
chrome-moly

CHASSIS

Front suspension:

CRS control arms,

2in-drop spindles,

Viking coil-overs

Rear suspension:

Modified CalTracs, leaf

springs, Koni shocks

Brakes: Wilwood four-

piston, 300mm rotors

(f & r)

Master cylinder:

Wilwood dual, remote

reservoirs

ON THE INSIDE

Trim: Leather

Seats: Front and

rear seats made

from scratch

Door trims: Leather-

wrapped fibreglass

Carpet: Flat floor with

insert panels

Wheel: Grant

Seatbelts:

Retractables front

and rear

Shifter: Precision

Performance Products

Gauges: Auto Meter

Ultra-Lite

Boot: Panelled-off,

leather-trimmed

RIMS ’N’ RUBBER

Wheels: Weld Racing

Vitesse; 15x6 (f),

15x12 (r)

Tyres: Mickey

Thompson S/ R;

26x6 (f), 29x15 (r)

THANKS

My brothers Tony,

Ethan and Rusty for all

their help; last but not

least, my wife Sheree

for all her help and

support

CHRIS’S ADVICE? DITCH THE FACTORY

BLOCK. GO WITH A DART AND LOTS OF CUBES