Ford BA XR6 Turbo Build Cost! How Much Did I Spend to get the Barra Falcon to 332kW?

I just got a NA 2005 BA XR6. Has a little rust but for free i wont complain.

Thats cool as, i just spent 6 grand on paint and panel. And 3 grand getting it ready for a tune. And still gotta do more before the tune yet. But thos has inspired me a lot. Great vods buddy.👍👍

Got a BF for $6000 August 2021. Bargain!!

should i change my intercooler if im only looking to get 280kw atw? fgx xr6t btw

Like my mum used to say afool and his money soon departed

All my cars I've spent way more than I needed to get them how I wanted, changing my mind and swapping parts etc.
But it's a fun process researching and buying parts then installing them or getting work done.

If you get someone to port the rear housing properly it'll easily control boost at the power levels you're after. I'm happy to do it for you if you want, I'm local to you too.

Also worth checking how much 'throw' the gate you currently have has, some of the aftermarket ones don't move very far so they aren't great at controlling boost.

Turboing my au just need fuel pres reg and injectors then off to the shop no idea wtf im gunna make g

5 years and 9 months to go until BA turbos can be exported to Murca!

You could have saved 3k buying pcmtec instead!

The face in the thumbnail (and at the end) 😂

Im impressed at the power figures you managed to achieve, without having to pull the entire engine apart, that's whats great about the barra. Its a sleeping giant of an engine.

good on ya mate

Are you sponsored by Pepsi?

Are you interested in doing a Brisbane car meet? Would be cool in seeing what all your fans bring out.

332kw back in 2003 was decent street power back in the day. Still decent now

Sean off topic but I'm looking for a new car and have narrowed my search down to two VZ Commodores and two BF Falcons SV6 and XR6 all stock standard and done around 150,000kms. I quite like this era of aussie cars and both models seem very nice and difficult to choose between. What is your recommendation here? VZ or BF?

Cost me 850 bucks to get 520hp out of my falcon

👊😁 awesome video thanks

Sorry if this is answered already in the video, did you have to do the valve springs? I heard they a notoriously bad in the ba’s and can cause valve float when you tune them up higher than a few hundred hp.

Great video, very detailed and I'm sure you did thorough research prior to doing this.
Still, $20k for a car with that power is peanuts. Compare it with a factory car with the same. A classic car v8? The engine alone would cost more than that for the same power. I'd like to know exactly how much difference each stage got, vs the $$. I mean there's no limit to what you can do with a car. Some people pour $100k into a car and still want more.
The 1st option though, intercooler and exhaust. Would be interested to know how much difference that made from stock.

$700 is amazingly cheap for someone to do a clutch for you

Love the content in this series, keep it coming 👌

I got fairly lucky with my my turbo ba xr6 Ute build I bought a clean Ute of a old bloke I work with for $4000 and i didn’t think of putting a turbo motor in till I seen a crashed manual ba xr6 turbo Ute for sale for $5500 came with most the first stage upgrades people do to their turbos aka piping-injectors-fuel pump-battery relocation kit-intake airbox and the computer had been tuned so I swapped all the running gear into my good Ute and it’s been awesome and I probably spent around $1000 extra on some parts that I couldn’t use as they had been damaged when the old owner wrote it off

Thanks for the honest numbers Sean - now those modded XR6 Turbos for $20k+ suddenly don't seem so expensive.

Love your vids bro…

Shaun I just discovered your channel and have been watching a lot of your films with great interest. I too have a BA 2 Mercury Silver XR6 Turbo with the 6 speed speed manual transmission. Mine is about a year newer than yours, but I have now done 240,000km. I have been pretty impressed that you have extracted some 400kw at the crank, well done. And you have not gone crazy, very sensible about it. I bought my car in 2006 for $29K when it was a year old and it had 20,000km on the clock. The immediate issue I confronted was that the front end was really bouncy and it did not matter who I took it to, no one could fix it (Ford, a well known suspension chain, etc). I ended up at a place called Revell Stearing in Canberra (unfortunately a COVID lockdown victim business, they no longer are trading), where they weaved their magic and fixed it, putting on Koni shocks, heavier duty springs, a big heavy duty front sway bar, and lots of new bushes, and probably other things (I can't remember more than that it has been too long). At about the same time I bought a flash tuner off CAPA, which was meant to give the car 300kw at the crank. It certainly transformed the car, it became a monster. More recently I did a middle muffler delete, buying stainless steel pipes that just bolted on where the previous muffler and pipes had been. To my mind it sounds great, it has a great note without being too loud. More recently I took it to a place in Melbourne called ASP Suspension where they replaced a ton of bushes for a very moderate price. Also recently I put some coilovers on the front, which feel great. Oh and I have had my high beam bulbs replaced with LEDs, they are a lot brighter.

u can buy ford iridium plugs for ~$60 for the set

Awesome job mate! you are clearly thinking for the future! $20000 for a car of this calibre is money well spent!

I've got a ZF Ghia mark 2 Fairmont BF 07 I want to turbo the car, make it a bit of a sleeper its go a different ecu, any ideas?

Do you recommend a used BA xr6 turbo or find a BF ?

Should I be concerned about kms travelled

I’m NO mechanic at all.

Hi, I was thinking of putting in a very basic turbo into my 2007 TERRITORY SY - TX THAT HAS THE 4LT BARRA AND 4 SPEED AUTO TRANSMISSION a d no turbo. I have to tow a heavy boat, that's why I'm thinking the extra herbs may be an advantage while trailering my boat, an I on the wrong parth to consider going turbo ? All messages are welcome. Rob

pcmtec is definitley no problem and is live tune no problem , at all i suppose it helped you not to be correct with your information and being from another state doesnt help your recources

I had a BA Fairmont very refined car to drive. I was impressed every time I drove it. It was very thirsty and did tend to float a bit on cornering. The front also vibrated at speed despite wheel balancing etc. When the tranny started playing up traded it for an FG G6E I still have. Its been a great car. I am keeping it.

I recently picked up a 2-owner manual BA XR6T ute with 102k on it. It's my third car, first turbo. Your channel has been incredibly helpful. I have the original insurance receipt from the day it left the dealership, plus an entire owners manual of paperwork including the 6 stacker CD instruction card. I even found a QFord Springwood pamphlet from 2003. Did I hear that your car was from Springwood QFord? If you get in touch I can email you a photo.

Hello. A very interesting video.
One question though. Is there a European version of this car with left side steering?

So $20K to get to where you have a car with problems? Bargain!

I'm currently building my fg g6et for around the 420kw mark. My spend is sitting around $10,500 but the head is at the machine shop atm so that's gonna be another few hundred and tune will be more probably going to be at around $12,000 all said and done, But all the labour is free except for the machine work, tune and getting the tru-trac diff installed. also no haltec goodies or radiator like yours.
Plan was to do fuel pump injectors and a tune aim for around the 280-320kw mark but things quickly got out of hand
Dominator headstuds with oversized washers $450
crow valvesprings with retainers $450
billet oil pump gears with backing plate $250
atomic timing chain set with new oem tensioner $700
billet flex plate with arp bolts $460
mackilec turbo water and oil lines $400
pulsar psr3582 gen 2 $950
external gate rear housing $400
turbosmart hypergate45 gen 5 $500
walbro 460 pump $100 (got new open box off a mate that went for a low pressure high volume lift pump)
1000cc bosch injectors same as yours but from golbeys not antz $700
turbosmart fpr kompact fuel reg $300
antz turbo side intake and battery relocate $400
Xforce stainless 4" dump/downpipe into 3.5 catback $1300
Cheap china catch can kit $200
antz stage 2 cooler kit $700 (used)
Mace m86 tru-trac centre $799 +$1300 install with bushes bearings etc
plus sundries like gaskets, getting the head machined flat, fluids etc

Now I'm watching all of your videos , one , because I've just bought an FGX xr6 Lpg and it's fun to watch others like yourself modify things . Two , it's motivating for me and three , I do love turbos .
I actually owned an 85 supra and I rebuilt a 7mgte bottom end myself and grafted it to the 6mge head ... Wow , do I regret selling that now .
Mind you the falcon is lowered on 20's and it STICKS to smooth bitumen ... But I better go and fit up the new konis I just had delivered .
Cheers . Thanks again 👍

All that money and you could have just thrown in an aftermarket cam and spring into a LS like a VE/VF SS and it would have made the same or more power for 1/4 of the price almost if you did it yourself.

You're such a humble bloke Sean, surpised to hear you say you only attempted some jobs due to the motivation of the channel given the way you speak and demonstrate critical thought suggests you're far brighter and capable than you give youreself credit for I expect. For those starting out, do your research, do your research again (knowledge is free), then give it a crack & ignore the noise of opinion absent in data. Remember the demographic of people that work & modify cars is as broad as complete idiots to experienced electrical, mechanical, software life-time engineers that love cars so asking random facebook/forum questions and doing as you're told by those that may be a complete idiot is just as likely to have you do something dangerous or costly as it is to give you success. Back yourself, think about safety and have crack and if you're working on a system that, if it fails while driving, will hurt you, your passengers or the public, swallow your pride at the end and ask a trusted mechanic to take 15min to look over what you did on your first attempt and give you the thumbs up. You'll be surpised of what you're capable of and when you take the time to do it properly becuase it's your own car you may even find the job is done better than you taking it into some random shop with a random tech that is on the clock to get the work done.

Did you need to do headstuds at all? Sorry if I missed it in the video

Hi Sean, Do you know the difference between putting a manual radiator and an auto one? I’ve found a rad that I want to upgrade to but it says “manual transmission” and mines an auto.

G'day lad. Just joined your channel today. Nice and clear explanations on your vid's. Just a tip for you on this vid' though. Keep an eye on the tube welds at the outside of the last bends before your rear muffler on the Venom mild steel exhaust system. Maybe I was just unlucky but the tube welding on the actual pipe lengths blew out at the same spot on both pipes at around 4yrs old. about 50mm before the front of the rear muffler... I actually have a stainless steel twin 65mm into single 75mm with a single rear muffler set to replace it already ordered as I type. $740 delivered.

Imma inspired to do the same. Great build and content

You're a wealth of knowledge, great video!

Love your product placement with the Pepsi Max.

I've spent $150k on mine! Car cost me $8k

It is a 1300hp reliable no expensed spared animal