WHITE NOISE Blown XT Falcon

HATCHING

MICK DARKE - 1977 LX TORANA HATCH WORDS / PICS - PAUL BECK

A PLAN

Mick Darke’s X275 Torana had already run a 9-second pass with its small block power. But Mick wanted an 8-sec time slip. Back to the drawing board…

This Hatch started life as a stock sixpack and was one of a yard full of Torana’s Mick had collected back in the day. After a stint overseas, Mick returned with head full steam and got stuck into building one for street and strip duties. Like all of his previous cars, the Torana was always going to be black, and it had to be tough and registered! “I’ve never owned a trailer so the “race-car only” deal just isn’t for me. I’ve always loved the whole Radial racing bracket and decided early on that this Torana was going to be raced in the X275 class”, Mick explained. “I can drive to the track, race it, and drive home again!.” I can certainly see why this bracket is so popular now! Being a hands-on type of car guy, Mick handled the body and paint himself, massaging all the imperfections from the sheet metal before laying on a fresh coat of gloss black. But before the Hatch became shiny, Mick, along with good mate Brett Robertson, had performed a bucket load of work under the car including the mini-tubs, four-link setup and the nine-inch diff conversion. At the time, Mick had allowed clearance for 29-inch tall tyres. In hindsight, he wishes he had made that 30-inches to allow the step up into the Pro-Radial ranks.

On the odd occasion, he would dip into the 9.90’s, but then he got bored and wanted to step it up somewhat.

Inside, the Torana no longer resembles the family-friendly passenger car the factory had intended it to be. The original seats are long gone, with only a pair of Kirkey race seats being put back in. The dash was stripped of its gauges and now holds six AutoMeter dials including the all-important tacho and shift light. A MOMO steering wheel sits just forward of the alloy dash. There’s no carpet in the car at all now, though there is a mass of roll cage, (with a helmet holder) and a Hurst shifter. Mick has fitted a stereo, but hearing it over the sound of that angry big block is a big call. The interior is purposeful. There’s nothing added that Mick doesn’t need on the street or strip. Though he reckons some carpeting could be on the agenda very soon. Obviously he is over the Nascar look!

With the engine in and fired up, and with a driving tune up in place, Mick hit the road for Canberra. And by hit the road, I mean behind the wheel of the Torana! Yep, his big blocked Hatch is a street car!

Mick has only just made the switch up to the big cube Chev engine, after previously running a stout small block. In its previous life, Mick had punted the Torana down the quarter with regular 10.0sec ET’s. On the odd occasion, he would dip into the 9.90’s, but then he got bored and wanted to step it up somewhat. After mate Jeremy Boskovich lined him up a brand new, 555ci Chev, the Torana was relived of its small block and the move to more cubic inches and more power was on! With Summernats 32 fast approaching, the boys worked tirelessly to get the Torana ready to head to the Nation’s capital to have another crack at Tuff Street. Jeremy stripped the engine down to check it out and after finding all was good, it was jammed into the Torana’s chassis rails – bolting up to the Powerglide that was still in place after serving time behind the small block. The engine uses a Dart block filled with a top-shelf rotating system topped with big AFR alloy heads and a tunnel ram holding two 1050 Dominator carbs high through the Torana’s bonnet. The intake has been plumbed with a direct-port Fogger nitrous system worth an extra 600-ponies when Mick feels the need.

With the engine in and fired up, and with a driving tune up in place, Mick hit the road for Canberra. And by hit the road, I mean behind the wheel of the Torana! Yep, his big blocked Hatch is a street car! “It was quite an adventure! The carbs aren’t set up right yet so its running pretty fat at the moment, but we drove it from Sydney to Canberra, played at the Nats including a run on the Dyno before making the haul back down the Hume to Sydney.” Mick proudly told me. Sitting in the passenger seat for the trip home was the Runner Up Street Comp trophy and a dyno reading showing 688hp at the tyres. Mick is confident of upping that number to around 750hp once a suitable tune is in place.

At the time of doing the shoot, Mick had yet had the opportunity to get the big block fully sorted and ready to hit the track. He still needs the right tune and also a more suitable converter in the Powerglide to match the gassed big block’s power curve. Once these things are sorted, those radial tyres will be put to the test. Mick’s hopeful of getting an 8-sec ET without the bottle – even an 8.99 would be good enough! When he does, those Fogger lines will be feeding twice as much power through that engine! And he thinks the cruise to Canberra was an adventure… Stay tuned…

ANTIRESTO

Anyone can restore a rare factory muscle car, but it takes a real man to Pro-Street one and then repower it with a Procharged small block! Enter our man Rags…

Believe it or not, there was a time when HQ Monaro’s weren’t considered muscle car gold. You could own a nice, V8-powered coupe for around $10,000. Unfortunately, those days are gone and unless you’ve offloaded a couple of spare houses, there’s little chance you’ll be cruising in a tough HQ Monaro anytime soon. The story of this tough HQ starts in Adelaide. Rags was looking at buying his best mates’ car and came across this already modified Monaro looking for a new owner. The pristine body had been given the once over and the House of Colour Lone Ranger orange paint and silver stripes had already been laid down. That was some16-years ago! The only real change to the exterior was the addition of the reverse cowl scoop giving the Monaro a much tougher look. Manta Resto handled the body and paint duties which still look great today, though Rag’s is planning a repaint in the near future to give a fresh new look. Coming from Adelaide, it’s surprising not to see a set of satin-finish Centerline wheels tucked up under the HQ’s guards. Maybe at the time of purchase there was, but Rags decided the Weld Magnum’s (the rear featuring double bead locks) look so much better. And who are we to argue?

The most important part of this HQ Monaro, for us hardcore car guys anyway, is what’s lurking under the bonnet.

Opening up the doors reveals just what it would have been like driving this HQ from the showroom floor back in 1971… almost. The lightly-padded seating has been retained and have been recovered in the factory-styled black leather by Manta Resto, as have the door trims and headlining. Obviously there wasn’t a lot of imagination used by the interior designers in the early 70’s, with the main-focus was placed on performance… thankfully! The dash is primarily factory GTS-spec including the factory appointed gauges and steering wheel, with some AutoMeter gauges added to keep Rags accurately informed at all times. A TCM shifter has been adapted to the HQ centre console and makes shifting gears so much more precise!

Believe it or not, there was a time when HQ Monaro’s weren’t considered muscle car gold. You could own a nice, V8-powered coupe for around $10,000. Unfortunately, those days are gone...

The most important part of this HQ Monaro, for us hardcore car guys anyway, is what’s lurking under the bonnet. Back in 1971, this car could have been equipped with a 308 or a 350 engine. Those are just distant memories now though after Rag’s had Brett Niddrie at BNR Race Engines build a tough, 408ci small block Chev complete with a big Procharger. Brett kicked the engine build off with a 400ci Dart block filled to the brim with quality internals, knowing full well that Rag’s wanted big power from the big cube small block. Iron Eagle heads were next on the to do list and were bolted down to complete the long motor. An Edelbrock intake was added along with a Dandy Engines EFI intake and throttle body that gets the nod from the Haltech 2700 Elite computer to work with the MSD 7AL ignition to fire the pumped small block into life. A Holley fuel pump feeds copious amounts of E85 through the engine to produce a whopping 700-horsepower at the considerable ET Radial rear treads. Transferring all those ponies through to the 9-inch diff is the sole purpose of the Turbo 400 auto that is now a reverse-pattern deal and fullymanualised. The diff uses tough 31-spline axles to get that power to the sticky Mickey Thompson tyres. Pedders springs and shocks help keep the HQ more stable on the road. Wilwood discs and calipers hide inside the Weld wheels and pull the HQ up from any speed with ease.

A Holley fuel pump feeds copious amounts of E85 through the engine to produce a whopping 700-horsepower at the considerable ET Radial rear treads.

Rag’s has already hinted that the HQ will be getting a fresh paint job soon, and while its off the road, he thinks it will be a great time to get the engine back to Brett for a freshen up. No use having the Monaro off the road for any longer than it needs to be.

THANKS TO: Brett from BNR Engines for building a very reliable engine and setting up the Procharger. Luke from Hasty’s Auto Repairs for the tough and reliable gearbox. My Dad for making bits and pieces at work and putting up with my constant demands. Frank at All Sparks Performance for his help when my car solving problems and also help with the Haltech injection and the tuning. Tommy and Ali for help setting up the rear end and suspension to get the best results on the track. My wife and 3 kids for putting up with me spending endless nights in the garage. Seeing my Boys in the car smiling makes it all worthwhile…

The story of this tough HQ starts in Adelaide. Rags was looking at buying his best mates’ car and came across this already modified Monaro looking for a new owner.

MAKE MINE

A DOUBLE

While the rebuild on his tough Camaro was slowly taking place, Justin Smith needed a horsepower fix. Then along came a half-finished VK Commodore…