In The Build: Insane Barra-Powered Ford TC Cortina

Those Victorians do love a good turbocharged straight six - in the early 2000s the State lay claim to the nation’s fastest VL Turbos, and with the advent of the venerable 4-litre ‘Barra’ six-cylinder motivating Falcon XR6 Turbos around the country, Victoria is claiming their crown up as the home of Oz’s fastest Barras.

By LIAM QUIRK — 05/06/2023

The only thing more astonishing than the power potential of an unopened green top Barra is the amount of different things you can slide the Ford six-pots in. They’re a popular choice to convert in a variety of different platforms, but there’s something so right about seeing them retrofitted to older Fords, like Harley Hamilton’s Ford TC Cortina that’s currently in the build at PSIDUP Fabrications.

PSIDUP have their name attached to some of Victoria’s toughest drag and street cars, and are specialists at motorsport and high performance fabrication work - if you’re a fan of welding eye candy, or crazy-tough tubbed street cars then PSIDUP Fabrications socials are a must.

They’ve also got somewhat of a history with tough, drag racing Cortinas, with owner Daniel ‘Pazzo’ Nunziante at one stage owning the country’s baddest radial race car - the famous PSIDUP twin turbo big block Ford-powered Cortina.

The Cortina was campaigned on radials way before the radial revolution that continues to breathe new life in to drag racing, and was the first radial car in the country in the sixes but the weight of the old Ford and the limits of the factory chassis and suspension meant that Daniel ultimately decided to pursue faster times in a better-prepared car.

Harley’s Cortina caught our attention thanks to its factory-styled two tone paint job, beneath which lurks a mountain of fabrication work and high-tech wizardry to make the giant turbo-assisted Barra a tough radial racer.

The Cortina is significantly strengthened with chassis connectors underneath and a full cage inside the car, as well as the obligatory radial hardware like a track locator, anti-roll bar and Menscer shocks.

Despite significant modifications to the car itself (including recessing the firewall and modifications to the trans tunnel, the Cortina hasn’t lost any of its retro appeal - outwardly, the only hints as to its lethal power potential are the Weld wheels and the subtle alloy wing and twin parachute combination.

Far from a stock bottom end green top build, the Cortina has been paired with a billet Barra that’s got a G57 turbo hanging off a 6BOOST manifold, backed by a Turbo 400 gearbox and a full-floating nine-inch in the rear.

Is all this work is enough to make KNG4L join the ranks of Ford Cortina royalty, alongside the likes of other legendary Cortinas like Pazzo’s PSIDUP, the iconic WOG007 or Joe Gauci’s insane ProFab Cortina which was running 6s on radials way back in 2016.

LIAM QUIRK

Expert mechanic. Linguist. Heart throb. LQ hasn't ever been described as any of these things, but it grabbed your attention and spinning engaging yarns is his forte. He's been writing for almost two decades, including contributions to just about every car mag' and auto website in the country. When he's not deepening his encyclopedic knowledge of chrome wheels that were popular in the Autosalon era, you can find him restoring antique lawn mowers. Seriously.

No posts found