Troy's Toy
Owner:        Troy Thornbury

Engine:        289 Windsor

Trans:          C4 Auto

Diff:             8 3/4" Sprint
Troy Thornbury's first car was a white XP Fairmont which he purchased four months before he was old enough to obtain his drivers license. It was a four door sedan powered by a later model 250ci six cylinder engine with a four speed gearbox. The body was a bit rough so Troy decided to fix it up and treat it to some new paint. At the time several of his mates were working on their cars, mostly later models, but Troy wanted his car to be different to theirs and stayed with his XP. Troy's father, John is an experienced panel beater and spray painter so his help and guidence was sought and the rebuild underway.
They decided to look around for another car to provide some better replacement parts to use on the Fairmont and eventually they found an original, one owner XP four door sedan for $600 which was duly purchased.
In the meantime, Troy had changed his mind and decided he wanted a V8 powered XPso, after considering all their options, the decision was made to sell the white Fairmont and carry out a full rebuild on the $600 'parts car'. After stripping it down, it was discovered much more work would be required than first thought. All four floor wells were rusted but fortunately the sills and pillars remained quite solid. John formed some replacement floor pans and welded them into place. Both front door were replaced with N.O.S whole doors while the original rear door frames were fitted with N.O.S outer skins.
The rusty sections in the bottom of the rear door frames were cut out and repaired using handformed patch panels. The right rear quarter panel recieved the same treatment while the left quarter panel was completely replaced with another N.O.S panel. Because the original N.O.S panels were originally only painted in primer, and primer is porous which lets the moisture through, all the panels were found with surface rust so they all recieved a light sandblast.
Sandblasting body panels is a risky business if not handled by an experienced operator so Troy was very nervous about handing over his N.O.S panels and hopong they wouldn't get destroyed in the sandblasting process. Fortunately everything turned out according to plan. Next step was to strip the remainding of the body shell back to bare metal by hand and leaving the engine bay and door jams to the sandblaster. With the body completely stripped john set about welding all the body seams and filled every hole in the firewall and radiator support panel. A handmade cover panel was formed to go over the top of the radiator and extends down the back of the radiator to the subframe. this smooth panel conceals things like some of the wiring loom, twin horns, windscreen washer bottle and radiator overflow cannister.
Similar hand made panels were made to enhance the underside of the floorpan. They are held in place by button head stainless steel fasteners. With all the body repairs and improvements completed the whole car was painted in approximately 12 coats of Spartan Pastel Green acrylic. Everything that could be painted was painted the same as the body colour and all the original brightware was either rechromed or polished for a totally rejuvinated look.
Mechanically, Troy's XP features a Ford 289 Windsor V8 which has been rebuilt from top to bottom. A Rollmaster timing chain is used to drive the Crower hydraulic lifter camshaft. Crane lifters and hardened pushrods control the valvetrain in the cylinder heads which are equipped with screw in rocker studs, Crane guide plates and roller rockers. Manley oversize valves are 2.02" and 1.6" diameter, the same as used in high performance Chev cylinder heads. Fuel flow into the engine is metered by a Holley 600 c.f.m four barrel carby mounted on an Edelbrock Performer inlet manifold. Standard Ford exhaust manifolds direct the exhaust into a two inch diameter dual system fitted with Walker mufflers and stainless steel tips.
All joints in the exhaust system are flanged and bolted for ease of removal should it become necessary. The complete engine and all it's accessories such as the alternator, distributer and water pump are painted to match the body colour but in two-pack. A Mr Gasket air scoop and a pair of Ford Motorsports rocker covers add to the engine bay detailing. Engine cooling is handled by an XT Falcon V8 radiator and six bladed XT fan mounted on the water pump pulley. Also housed in the engine bay is an XT Falcon dual circuit master cylinder which has a remote VH44 power booster mounted under the front guard.
Other neat detail tricks found in the engine bay are the filled and smoothed shock absorber mounts and the home made aluminium caps for the radiator, winscreen washer and radiator overflow cannisters.
Transmission in the Falcon is a C4 auto which has been fitted with a shift kit and has a borg-warner trans oil cooler mounted on the front of the radiator core. The diff is an 8 3/4" American Falcon Sprint and a stock XT Falcon tailshaft bolted straight in without shortening and uses the same size universals. Rear springs have been reset three inches lower than standard and had two extra leaves added. The front suspension was lowered by using a pair of two inch lowered spindles and a pair of 1 1/2 inch lowered springs. Pedders gas filled shock absorbers are used front and rear. Front brakes are ventilated HQ Holden discs which have been redrilled to Ford bolt pattern. The XP rides on a set od Cragar wheels, 15x6 and 15x7 fitted with Yokohama 205/60 and 215/60 series A509 radial tyres.
Absolutely every aspect of the car is either new or thoroughly reconditioned. The pastel green theme continues into the interior with the dash, instrument cluster, steering column and seat bases all colour matched to the body. The grey velour upholstery material is used extensively but it is highlighted with green piping. Front seats are Sigma buckets and the rear bench is a stock XP seat. The standard instrument cluster is complimented by water temperature and oil pressure gauges mounted in the console for the B&M Megashifter. A SAAS Twirler steering wheel is fitted to the stock XP steering column and the original heater/demister unit has been retained. Inertia reel seat belts have been fitted for all occupants.
Troy and John spent two years working together on the Falcon. One week before last years Muscle Car & Mega Bike Show in Melbourne, the car was being detailed to appear in the show when it slipped off the jack which had been placed on the diff before smashing into the fuel talk and carrying on its destructive path up into the floor of the boot which then looked like it had a hill in it. Put yourself in this position andit would be very hard to describe your feelings, but the show had to go on and after burning much midnight oil repairing, repainting and reassembling the car, the XP made it to the show on time.
At the end of the weekend all the extra hard work was rewarded with the car winning 'Top Engine Bay' and '2nd Street Machine' in a field of high dollar pro-built cars. All aspects of the XP's rebuild including all the painting were carried out in the Thornbury's backyard workshop. Others who assisted in the end result were Don Burton at Don's Motors - mechanical; Mark Craig at Milner's Upholstery - interior trim and Dave Inge at Inge Bros - auto electrical work. The car is fully engineer approved and street legal.
Feature used with thanks to Street Rodding magazine,      copyright Graffiti Publications 1996