Modification Options

[cdm]

Ok. I have been following the mods for the XR6 Turbo with great interest and thought a single post with all the alternatives would be a good resource. So, from what I can tell we have:

CAPA offering kits ranging in performance and price from 8psi and $1290 (not fitted) to their 10-12psi kit costing approx $5030. According to one member a manual ute fitted with this kit runs approx 12.55 sec 1/4 mile. A thread on this product is located here.The dyno chart for this kit is as follows:

Dyno Chart: http://www.capa.com.au/pics/dyno_ford_ba_xr6turbo.gif

AVO turbo world will be offering kits in the near future, they advised me that they have so far fitted an exhaust and chip etc and the site should have details in about a week or so.

Air Power Systems (APS) is already offering a 280kw kit which consists just of the unichip at a price of approx $1590 (fitted).

Dyno Chart: Here

By June/July more powerful kits (such as the 330kw and 390kw) kits should be available.Here is a thread.

Herrod Motorsport is possibly the best known 'mod shop' for the Ford Falcon. Apparently they will have a kit ready very soon. They already have suspension kits available for the BA. This is the thread.

Powerchip offer a 300kw kit for $1490 (not sure if this is fitted) however there has been much debate on this product. This is the Datasheet and here's a thread.

DNA motorsport have a 260rwkw kit available and I believe are working on a more powerful kit. This kit is worth approx $7475. Here's a thread.

Dyno Chart: http://www.dnamotorsport.com/XR6/xr6_dyno01.jpg

Redcliffe Dyno is the most recent company to undertake development of a performance upgrade kit for the XR6 Turbo.

[rjs]

Wow, pretty interesting stuff.

[CJF077]

Im holding out for the Herrod Kit. I know Rob will have some fantastic stuff out to blow most of these guys away!

[rjs]

The herrod kit sounds great, but at what costs and gains. So far I know that there are circumstances surrounding the Powerchip. But that so far seems not that bad in terms of kilowatt/dollar. Any feedback from others?

[Cro]

Great topic, you've listed all mods and their relevent links..good stuff

[bdennis]

Great topic.

Lets not forget the Warranty issues though.

I spoke to my local service manager and he advised that the engine managment system will be able to detect and log any changes to boost etc. (Given that I have a good relationship with this dealer I tent to think this is a true statement!)

So if people are planing on making mods and then removing them before a service / warranty repair then you may be in for a shock!? I know most people make these upgrades with this in mind but there will be a few who may assume things...

Each to their own..

Good luck.

my 2c worth..

[XR6TK1W1]

bdennis youre completely right. The CPU knows all and lists basically anything that's outta the ordinary. Its funny since Simon Butterworth from Ford said "I can't wait till the aftermarket boys get their hands on these cars". If so Ford why make it so blimmin hard! PS great thread and I'll watch with baited breath.

[cdm]

Thanks for the edit Chris. I spoke to my dealer today about warrnaty, as I have before and they said that exhaust is ok, but chip is not. However, what good is the exhaust without the chip, other than just for the sound? In the end, I think most warranty issues are at dealer discretion.

From my personal experience, I had a unichip fitted to my AU XR6 by APS which gave noticeable gains, and on a $/kw term was a good option.

After reading the Autospeed article on the Powerchip guy, I don't think I would pick their product. It certainly looks promising as far as bang for buck, but I'm not too sure how legitimate the figures may be.

I will be interested to see what AVO bring out as they have had the XR6 turbo there for a while now. Over the phone I couldn't get any figures out of them though, so I guess we can keep checking the site next week. As far as turbo specialists go around Melbourne, I think these guys have got a very strong reputation. Mainly on Skylines, Supras and VL etc. I think their experience should provide a good product.

For me personally I would find the DNA kit too expensive and too much of an unknown quantity for what you get. If I am going to fork out a few grand modifying a car worth over 50k I want a company with a strong reputation.

I think that leaves CAPA and Herrod. CAPA certainly appear to have put in a lot of research and development into their Falcon and other kits. I'm no expert, but I think the Herrod kit might be worth holding your breath for. Purely because they are Ford Falcon experts, enthusiasts and have a strong reputation to uphold. Having said this, I never got any work on my AU done there because it was rather expensive. I guess time will tell. Either way, I hope this thread can provide useful information of the options available to all those mad keen Falcon pilots!

[DavoWA]

Excellent thread guys.

I have a colleague who talks with some Ford Factory technical guys and it appears that a number of things can be done, but just a word of caution, it is suggested that anyone who steps up the combo do so with a step by step approach, taking personal driving styles into consideration.

Probably more just common sense.

[Guest aracheha]

bdennis youre completely right. The CPU knows all and lists basically anything that's outta the ordinary. Its funny since Simon Butterworth from Ford said "I can't wait till the aftermarket boys get their hands on these cars". If so Ford why make it so blimmin hard! PS great thread and I'll watch with baited breath.

Great summary,

I have just visited the APS site and read up on their unichip upgrade and found it interesting what they had to say about modifications to the turbo especially considering comments from Simon Butterworth.

Basically, they mention the lengths that Ford has gone to stop modifications to the XR6Ts, and not all bolts on modfications will work.

Also interesting is the recent dyno test of an XR6T and XR8 by Street Machine magazine. Both cars had identical peak power figures. Either the XR8 figures are overstated or the XR6T power figure is downgraded to protect the relative positioning of the XR8 amd GTs.

Now only if we can have the XR8 bonnet on the XR6T.