Car Of The Month

Car of the month for November is this 7000km old FG GT Black edition owned by Dean from Bowen. We tuned it during October, & it just received a KAAZ locker in Brisbane before being dropped back to us for a pulley/boost upgrade & 1000cc injectors coutesy of Herrod Motorsport. The retune ended up at 391rwkw during an even hotter month than previous. Dean is seriously thinking about the intercooler upgrade as the inlet air temps were sky high during tuning & then we'll see beyond 400 rwkw easy. The only thing Dean is disapponted about with his GT Black, where obviously everything is black,... is the silver brake calipers. Silver!  Who's idea what that FPV?? Seriously!

Car of the month for October is actually a car features in Feb. 2009 :- the Magnacharged L76 VZ of Dave Allen's. While in for some other work, Dave decided on a cam install before he picked it up. We worked out the best grind for a stock auto & converter with the guys from Camtech, & in went our selection with a set of their valve springs. Still only running 6psi, it is now losing traction with 345rwkw. A relative of Dave's did the custom air brush work  on the engine covers, & we thought it was worth showing off.

Car of the month for September is this BF XR8 sedan of Matt Cole's from Cairns. Already tuned elsewhere to suit the full (loud) exhaust, forward facing twin throttle body & plenum & CAI, Matt had us install a pair of 290kw heads, a set of Herrod Motorsport cams & a Mellings oil pump. With our retune, the power increased from 218rwkw & 521nm to 254rwkw & 585nm. As we have found previously, the cams feel excellent on the road, & really fill the low end to midrange hole these engines suffer from. And red cars should go faster shouldn't they?

Car of the month for August is this always immaculate auto BA XR6 Turbo sedan of Brad Cull's. It's scored the usual injector & valve spring upgrade, bigger intercooler & exhaust, & while watching the dollars running on 95 octane fuel, still managed 318rwkw on 15psi, & a very tidy 1251nm. That's not a misprint :- 1251nm of torque. On the road it feels stronger than 318kw, but that much torque will have that effect!

Car of the month for July is this Black FG F6 manual of Matt Sloan's. Equipped with a 1000hp Plazmaman FMIC, larger capacity injectors, Bluepower cold air box, Atomic valve springs, Process West fuel pump & surge tank, modified turbine housing & single 4 inch X-force exhaust, after our custom tune with a SCT X-Cal 3, it is now destroying the tyres with 406rwkw & 1133nm on 18psi, still with the stock bottom end & even the factory air intake tubing to the CAI. The idea of a built bottom end is still being considered, but being a member of the "400 club" will do for now....maybe.

Car of the month for June is this auto BF XR6 turbo ute of Luke Sheridan's. It received the Plazmaman treatment with their beautifully made polished plenum, 1200hp intercooler & piping kit, cold air intake & battery relocation kit. Also, on went a new Garrett GT35/82 turbo with 4inch compressor intake & modified turbine housing, in went some larger capacity injectors & heavy duty valve springs, & with the 4inch to 3.5inch exhaust already fitted, out came an easy 371kw & 1165nm on 16psi. If you want to break traction at 100-100kph when you stand on it, you need to "have what he's having".

Car of the month for May is the new toy of long time customer Nathan Irving, a local Defense Forces member. He had a nice manual VX 5.7 manual, then a Pulsar import (!!), & now he's playing turbo Ford. Took a bit , but he got there. This one after a tune is on a tyre friendly 240kw & 680nm, only because we were running out of injectors early. Nathan is now aware of the performance potential of a turbo Falcon, so we expect he'll take steps to increase the output as all good turbo owners do.

Car of Month for April is this Landcruiser turbo dielsel V8 of Joe Gurgo from Ayr. Joe made the short trip north for a Diesel Smart Module & custom tune, already having an uprated exhaust fitted. He came up here with 116kw & 399nm at the wheels, & went back down with 155kw & 501nm, but a lot quicker we'd guess!

Car of the month for March is this already fast (it's red) VZ 6 Litre manual Commodore ute of Ben Evans from Mount Isa, way west of Townsville. It already had a big VCM cam, 1.75 extractors & twin 3inch, Higgins heads & Duspeed OTR, but apparently that's not enough. We installed a Harrop stealth 2300 supercharger kit , VCM fuel system & cold air box, & tuned it with VCM-suite software to achieve a respectable 425rwkw & 1044nm. We also dropped it with Pedders coil overs at the front & adjustable shocks & spring pads at the rear. Ben was thinking of building an iron block stroker in the future as well, but that was before he had driven the car in this form!

Car of the month for February is this FG Falcon GS ute with the factory supercharged 5 litre engine. Owned by Lucas Hurley of 343 Plastering, this auto weapon came in for a custom SCT tune without any other modifcations, & left with an extra 80 odd rwkw :- 284 became 367! With very impressive performance on the road & the FG's high standard of ergonomics, they make a helluva work ute.   

Car of the month for January is this 2000 model Nissan Patrol 4.2 Turbo Diesel of Scott Mc Mullen. The vehicle arrived with 66rwkw & 264nm (about normal), & after we fitted a Manta turbo back 3inch mild steel system, a DTS intercooler & one of our bleed tees, & revised the fuel pump settings, it's driving away with 102rwkw & 389nm. That's a 50% increase on power & torque! No tricks, just good quality parts & careful tuning brings these big beasts to life.   

Car of the month for December is this black 2009 manual F6 of local electrician Paul Dean. We installed uprated injectors, a Manta full stainless twin 3inch exhaust & a modified turbine housing, & while running 95 octane & the factory intercooler, achieved a repeatable 328rwkw & 857nm on 15psi with sky high inlet air temps (it is Summer here too!). A nice Plazmaman intercooler kit would overcome the air temp issue, but for the moment, 328kw at the wheels all day every day still makes for entertaining driving.   

Car of the month for November is this manual 04 VY Commodore SS LS1 of John Shepherd. The 5.7 received one of  Camtech's mid range - top end profiles ground on a billet, along with h/duty valve springs,& vernier gears to allow us to dial it in. A alloy VCM cold air intake fits neatly into the top radiator trim, high flow injectors were installed, & this one we tuned with a SCT X-Cal 3 flash tuner. Due to this, we were able to give John a "low octane" tune if 98 octane can't be found, & a "lend it to my mates tune" with a low rev limit. Remeber, trust no-one with your toys.

Car of the month for October is this BF Falcon XR6 Turbo sedan of Russel Icely of Mt Isa. While the car was in Townsville, we organised the installation of the fibreglass body kit & full respray. Then it was our turn, so on went the process West plenum, intercooler & air intake along with  a 3.5 inch stainless exhaust that Russel had all tucked under his bed for a while. It also scored a set of high flow injectors & a Herrod Motorsport fuel pump. We then gave it a full custom tune with a X-Cal3 flash tuner, so Russel drove the 800+ kms back to Mt Isa with 340rwkw & 1035nm on 15psi. Bet it didn't take long ..... !

Car of the month for September is this immaculate 2008 FPV GT auto of Michael Kremmer's. It scored a set of 3.23 diff gears, along with X-Force stainless extractors-though-to-quad-tip system, a Bluepower cold air intake & full custom tune via an X-Cal 3. We picked up 34rwkw top end, & a very handy 186nm in the midrange. The increase in throttle response through mid rpm has transformed this car, & with the deep not-too-noisy exhaust note combined with the induction noise of the CAI, you know you're driving a V8!      

Car of the month for August is this low, loud & lumpy VY 5.7 Berlina auto of local Defence forces member Matthew Cullen. In went a Camtech cam grind with 238 & 242 deg. at .050" & 110 LSA, double row timing set, h/duty valve springs & pushrods, 4.1:1 gearset in the diff, & an absolute must for this cam was a 3000rpm high stall converter. It also scored a VCM alloy OTR & custom tune, & although running out of injectors top end, still managed 276rwkw safely. The exhaust is not one of the quieter ones around, but who cares when it sounds this tough.  

Car of the month for July is this FG XR6 Turbo sedan of Troy O'Connor's. Pictured here on the dyno after receiving a intercooler kit, uprated injectors, X-Force 4inch dump to single 3.5inch s/s system, Bluepower cold air intake, valve springs & our custom edit with a X-Cal3 flash tuner, this auto sedan is leaving us with 325rwkw & 1043nm. The standard  turbo runs out of puff at this power level, but the midrange is very strong due to the smaller turbo, & is usually enough to keep the most discerning customer happy.

Car of the month for June is this twin turbo 6 litre 02 Monaro auto owned by Danny Nelson. This recently-acquired-from-south car runs a L98 6 litre with a mild cam, & custom headers to a pair of low mount turbos. 14psi boost is pushed through a front mount intercooler to a Holley throttle body, & after our custom tune developed 353kw & 1175nm at the wheels. There's still some tidying up to do mechanically, but Danny is looking at larger turbos already. 

Car of the month for May is this very tidy auto 05 BF XR6 Turbo of Mark Pallaro. Originally in to fit Nizpro valve springs & modifided turbine housing, Mark only wanted 340kw at the wheels. But the fuel system fell over at 330, so a Herrod Motorsport fuel pump assy was installed, & then it kept on going to a respectable 358kw, & 1128nm. The larger intercooler & injectors,& 3.5inch exhaust already installed were a pre-requesite to get to this power level, but it shows again how easy it is to get power out of the Falcon 6's. By the way, in the "old money", this engine is putting out just over 600hp at the flywheel!!

Car of the month for April is this AU Falcon 6 cylinder we installed a 9psi Vortech supercharger kit onto. Owned by Scott Harris, a local defence forces member, the faint blower whine is all that gives away what's under the bonnet, & after we carried out a custom edit of his SCT flash tuner, he now has 172kw & 605nm under his right foot.  Improvement to the midrange & top end, & a smoothe torquey delivery makes this a deceivingly quick AU.    

Car(s) of the month for March are these 09 VE Clubsport R8 manuals owned by Tania & Jeremy. Jeremy's lowered green car received a Duspeed cold air intake painted the body colour, along with a custom mafless tune. Tania's black car also received a Duspeed intake, but in gloss black, as well as a custom mafless tune. Both cars run twin 3inch cat back systems, & they both achieved 296rwkw after their tunes. Tania's has since been lowered, & Jeremy's has gained some aftermarket mags. Talk about a competitive couple.........

Car of the month for February is this 12,000km old 2009 VE Commodore ute with a manual SIDI 3.6 engine owned by local Defence Forces member Nick Pincombe. Because there is no such thing as "too new" to start upgrading, Nick chose a Growler cold air intake as the first improvement, which was a wise choice as it raised the output from 148RWKW to 164RWKW. The middle of March will see the ute gain a twin 2.5inch cat back exhaust as well. a man on a mission we reckon.

Car of the month for January is this VS Commodore sedan of Sam Rutherford's, running a freshly built 383 with manual gearbox. The engine was built for a blower (in the near future), & is running COME crank & rods, SRP forged pistons & file fit rings, a camtech camshaft, Crane roller rockers, ported heads, full balance & blueprint etc. We wired in a new Haltech Sprint 500 ecu rather than a "plug & play" E6GMX due to it becoming blown in the future, &  the improved adjustability of the new Haltech ecu. Time for running in the new engine first, & then we get serious!

Car of the month for December is this immaculate 351 Windsor powered Mustang convertible owned by Darryl Henderson of the NQPFC. As received from the States, it has Edelbrock alloy heads, intake & carburettor, so Darryl decided to give it a Christmas present of a roller camshaft conversion to complement those upgrades. The lopey idle Darryl was after also came with a power improvement from the previous 168rwkw up to 192rwkw. This exceptionally restored & modified convertible has always been superb to drive, but now has the added bonus of more power! Some is good,.... more is always better!!     

Car of the month for November is this VX  Commodore sedan owned by Daniel Taylor, a local Fulcrum technician. About 2 months ago is was running a tired 5.7 & even more tired 4 speed auto. Now between the strut towers is a crate L98 6 litre that we pulled the heads off for porting & milling to increase the compression ratio to just under 11:1. To get the most out of that, we installed & dialled in a VCM3 camshaft, & fitted a 92mm Big Mouth throttle body. Behind the 6 litre is his old auto, now fully rebuild, strengthened & shift kitted, & with a serious oil cooler up front. With a  VCM cold air intake up front, & our custom VCM mafless tune controlling the pcm, exactly how much torque does a bloke need? Plenty thanks!!

Car of the month for October is this auto BF Falcon XR6 Turbo owned by  Tony Wilson of Payless Garages here in Townsville. The recently body-kitted, & always immaculate car received a Nizpro Cobra 2 upgrade kit a little over 12 months ago. This weekend toy has only managed another 3000kms in all that time, but we hope at least some of it was sideways! 

Car of the month for September is this unassuming KH Laser of Morgan McKney's, which started life as a carby single cam 1600, but is now a turbo twin cam 1800. Running H-beam rods, forged pistons, mls head gasket, stud kits top & bottom, & ported head with h/d valve springs, it is currently using the factory turbo & manifold, & being tuned by a Microtech ecu. In the near future though it will see a much larger turbo & improved exhaust manifold, & then  those 850cc injectors should start working a bit harder.

Car of the month for August is this 12,000km old FG Falcon XR6 Turbo manual sedan owned by Ryan Nash from Tully. Having just received a Process West intercoler & air intake system, Nizpro injectors & Stainless 4 inch exhaust, the  power has risen from 253kw & 732nm to 332kw & 987nm, all with the standard turbo. Mods & tuning to this level make a great car from the factory into a very impressive car.

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Car of the month for July is this tidy manual BF XR6 Turbo owned by James Jaswinsky. Mods to date include a Plazmaman plenum & air intake, aftermarket intercooler, 3.5" exhaust, 60lb injectors & one of our custom edits. Fortunately we fitted a h/duty Mal Wood clutch recently, as we are now seeing 360kw at the wheels. The ultimate sleeper.

Car of the month for June is this 2007 VE GTS owned by Scott Aitken of Zip-Zip Electrical here in Townsville. This LS2 6 speed manual powered sedan just received a Yella Terra cold air intake & one of our MAF tunes using VCM-Suite. The colour is "fusion", the car is immaculate, & now with 248 rwkw is even sharper to drive.  

Car of the month for May is this manual n/a 05 BA XR6 owned by Clancey Bawden. We've just upgraded it  with Pacemaker extractors, single 2.5" stainless X-Force system, Growler intake & a custom edit to increase power output from 132 rwkw to 160 rwkw. Improvement to midrange & top end power was very noticable, & with the manual a good alternative to a turbo'd car if the authorities reckon you can't have one of those yet.

 Car of the month for April is this auto BA Falcon XR6 Turbo owned by Jason Adams from Cairns. It is running a forged bottom end, stock turbo with modified turbine housing, process west plenum, APS intercooler, x-force 4" dump to 3.5" system, Nizpro injectors, built auto with h/duty  2200 stall, just  to name a few of the mods. It's also good for 370kw at the 19 inch wheels.

Car of the month for March is this far from normal old Mark 1 Escort owned by Chris Anderson. Running a Haltech tuned Turbo'd Nissan SR20 engine & five speed through to a mini tubbed, 4 link borg warner diff, the 175 kw (until new injectors are fitted) being made currently makes for entertaining driving. The pedal box is under the dash, there is a mini hydra-vac booster under the body (fortunately), it is fully legal, fully registered, & yes, ok, it is also fully sick. There are more photos in the "Different" gallery because.......it's different! A lot different!!

The car of the month for February is a water to air intercooled & eaton supercharged 6 litre VZ Commodore owned by Dave Allen.  Running a stock auto, pacemaker extractors & system, & one of our custom vcm-suite 2 bar tunes to 6 psi, it is putting out 292kw at the wheels on 98 octane fuel. You can see & hear it run up on our dyno in the "on the dyno" section of this web site.   

Our customer's car of the month for January is this Series 5 RX7 owned by Chris Van Hulsentop ;- recently painted in PPG custom red with a yellow pearl, this always well presented car is running a ported turbo 13B manual, is Microtech tuned, & driving through a 1.5 way Cusco locker.