On his trip up to Perth for the Ford Show last year, Jay Smith decided to get me to shoot his ’81 XD Falcon while he was in town. Jay hails from Albany and the shoot was a gift from his fiance Kath Holahan – she purchased the gift voucher in secret.
“I’m a Ford man through and through and have always loved XDs. I had an XD as my first car and have had seven of them since then. I bought this one six years ago; originally it had a six-cylinder in it, but it now has a 460ci big-block with ported aluminium heads, a Lunati flat-tappet cam, Victor manifold and a 950 Quick Fuel carby, putting out over 1000Nm of torque,” explained Jay.
“The motor was built by Brook Gunning at BTG Mechanical & Performance in Albany; he does a brilliant job and has built my previous engines.”
The gearbox is a manualised Powerglide with a 4,500rpm stall built by Dean at Fremantle Torque Converters.
The rear end is a 31-spline nine-inch with a Truetrac centre, billet axles and 4.11:1 gears, with Calvert Racing split mono-leaf springs and CalTracs.
“The car has run 11s at the Motorplex with the old gearing and suspension set-up, so I’m keen to do another run with this current set-up and the bigger stall. I had a blast racing at the Cash Days event this year in Albany. I got to race some local guys and really have some fun.”
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