Aussie six , three years on since they finished.

[roddy1960]

G'day all... Been trying to get over a few issues of late , health and otherwise and been watching more than ever a few car vids here and there . I have been appreciating more and more how amazing our Barra is being received by more and more people and not just in Australia.

I LOVE our Ford V8's with a passion and rightly so because they are some of the best V8's going but the Australian straight six for a long time culminating in the mighty Barra deserves a lot of respect. Not just from a performance and upgrade potential perspective but for sheer durability and reliability.

Even in N/A form the Barra has so much usability and is pretty darn economical which I can personally attest to . Then you look at what this beaut bit of Aussie ingenuity can achieve in turbo form and comments from overseas ask why the Barra was basically confined to Australia/NZ at least for special performance uses or alternative choice to a V8 for certain Ford vehicles or would different emissions regs stop that I guess .

It has it's faults not least it's physical size but when it's literally strong enough to cope with way in excess of 1-2000 hp without blowing to bits and 6-700 hp is no big deal at all it tells you a lot why it's a gem and no wonder so many now lament it's no longer being built . What is you guys more recent thoughts on Aussie sixes but especially the Mighty Barra .

I won't post a heap of vids for obvious reasons but this is good to watch for those who haven't seen it from Haltech..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJ6O1qnMmak...

Thanks all..

[Electrolyte Burns]

Often thought there would be money to be made by taking a container full to the US.

[Vesper Martini]

Originally Posted by Electrolyte Burns

Often thought there would be money to be made by taking a container full to the US.

One of the attractive things about the Barra here is low cost and availability of parts.

sorry but Taking them to another country where none of the local cars are produced with the engine will leave you with a full container and a big hole in your pocket.

[GASWAGON]

My good old BF3 Wagon got head on written off last week.

Went greast just with extractors and 2.5 Cat and system.

Not thrashed N/A Barra with 260,000k's and ALWAYS serviced at 10,000k's plus the BTR just serviced aswell..............$600 for both as a package???

Whole car is on Gumtree for more parts.......PM me!!!!!

'Project BAXR6T' is next on road by next week now!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Bossxr8]

Originally Posted by Bevsta007

One of the attractive things about the Barra here is low cost and availability of parts.

sorry but Taking them to another country where none of the local cars are produced with the engine will leave you with a full container and a big hole in your pocket.

I disagree. There are already barra importers over there, and they are gaining a solid following now. There were at least 3 barra powered vehicles at drag week, and hot rod garage is buying one to run against a gm 4.2 I6 they threw a turbo on. People are well aware of them over there. Plenty going into fox body mustangs.

They are even turning up in sweden. There's a cool Volvo 240 with a 700hp barra in it that was the cover car of swedens biggest modified car mag.

[Raptor]

Originally Posted by Bossxr8

....

They are even turning up in sweden. There's a cool Volvo 240 with a 700hp barra in it that was the cover car of swedens biggest modified car mag.

I stumbled across that one, it's actually a Volvo 945: PROJEKT BARRA

The project’s goal is to make 945 horsepower and run a 9.45 sec quarter-mile...

Long Live the Barra

[roddy1960]

They've even fitted one in a GTR would you believe , and Holdens and Jeeps and Patrols and and........The GTR one is incredibly well done that I saw .

I guess the real joy of the Barra is that getting incredible power gains is a bit like 'how long is a piece of string ' limits and so much redundancy built into it allows that .

I've also got a bit of a soft spot for the Intech SOHC beast as well , not to forget the even better VCT's also . My old girl in the AU ll has a pretty sweet old donk that just purrs away , idles as smooth as silk and has enough grunt still to make any overtaking duties or climbing big hills as easy as you like .

Ford Australia presented us with a nice run of decent straight sixes in my humble opinion .So glad we stuck with the inline engines and didn't really dabble in the V6 mumbo jumbo .
.

[.:4:.]

Originally Posted by roddy1960

They've even fitted one in a GTR would you believe , and Holdens and Jeeps and Patrols and and........The GTR one is incredibly well done that I saw .

I guess the real joy of the Barra is that getting incredible power gains is a bit like 'how long is a piece of string ' limits and so much redundancy built into it allows that .

I've also got a bit of a soft spot for the Intech SOHC beast as well , not to forget the even better VCT's also . My old girl in the AU ll has a pretty sweet old donk that just purrs away , idles as smooth as silk and has enough grunt still to make any overtaking duties or climbing big hills as easy as you like .

Ford Australia presented us with a nice run of decent straight sixes in my humble opinion .

There is still further development in the aftermarket for barras. I think i know of the r32 skyline you speak of with a barra in it. Its rwd and dressed to look like a gtr from memory, but its clean with a clean engine install, and makes stupid power. Even single over head cam ford 6's are still making their way, like barras, into anything with an engine bay long and tall enough. Theyre a physically large in an awkward way motor. Long and tall. I do like the 65 or 66 stang drag car with a turbo au sohc that used to be on gas. It ran some rather quick ¼ mile times. The potential for the later ford inline 6's has been explored for a while now and since the xr6 turbo was released in the ba, it shifted the norm from v8s being the only way to make a quick powerful car. So looking back to 2002, an ls1 powered ss commodore was making 5kw less them a ba turbo. Granted hsv were doing a bit better with the ls1 powered clubsport, but at 260kw, it matched the xr8 for power. I do beleive, well, hsv being the expensive fancy version, a clubby would be the pick over a ba xr8, but we are talking 6's. And the xr6 turbo was in direct competition with the ss commodore, and i think it changed a lot of the stigma. V8s werent the only go fast option anymore. So ill use my personal experience as an example. Bone stock 2008 6 speed bf ghia. I bought it in 2010. My brother turned down my offers of him taking it for a spin cause even though i thought it went good for a stock non turbo 6, he had v8s during the 90s and into the 2000s when he lost his licence for an extended period. So not long after i bought the ghia, he bought an hsv optioned 5L litre caprice. It was a 91 or 92. So yeah i took it for a spin and teased him asking if it was down 4 cylinders. So he finally drove my stock 4L zf6 ghia. Yes these days they deffinately are not a fast car. But compared to a 90s v8, they perform much better.

[roddy1960]

A bit late now I guess but if someone else had bought the rights to re manufacture the Barra for commercial or sport( eg drag racing) use I wonder would it have been worth it ?

I often wonder how much further technological development could have been done on it to keep it relevant as an alternative to a really big V8 for a decade or two yet. I guess now we'll never know and I doubt Ford would have never given up the rights to the engine anyway.

[Bossxr8]

Originally Posted by roddy1960

A bit late now I guess but if someone else had bought the rights to re manufacture the Barra for commercial or sport( eg drag racing) use I wonder would it have been worth it ?

I often wonder how much further technological development could have been done on it to keep it relevant as an alternative to a really big V8 for a decade or two yet. I guess now we'll never know and I doubt Ford would have never given up the rights to the engine anyway.

There were direct injection prototypes built, that would have passed euro 5. There was even an xr6 Turbo LPi ute running around that went like stink apparently.

It could have been made emissions compliant, but the decision was made to cancel Falcon so it never went ahead.

[Sprintey]

Superb motor. We currently have 2. They are the trusty reliable '186' or '250' of today, with power reputation the '265 Hemi' had.

Roddy, locally I'm seeing Barra conversions for 1970s Mercs, and into Patrols with amazing results. I reckon it will have a place in many 4wds as they age for the reason it gives reasonably economical highway cruising, is far more simple than modern diesels, and has both good torque and great rev for the sand.

Just saw family racing their V8 Holdens on a track being beat by an AWD Barra turbo Terry

Barra with AWD is special.

[roddy1960]

Originally Posted by Sprintey

Superb motor. We currently have 2. They are the trusty reliable '186' or '250' of today, with power reputation the '265 Hemi' had.

Roddy, locally I'm seeing Barra conversions for 1970s Mercs, and into Patrols with amazing results. I reckon it will have a place in many 4wds as they age for the reason it gives reasonably economical highway cruising, is far more simple than modern diesels, and has both good torque and great rev for the sand.

Just saw family racing their V8 Holdens on a track being beat by an AWD Barra turbo Terry

Barra with AWD is special.

Yep , you're right ..I cannot believe how many people are choosing the Barra to replace a diesel...Says a lot for this terrific engine .

Exactly what you said being shown in this clip actually ..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLQiDHWpt-A...

Cheers..

[Sprintey]

Great link, read some of the comments too.

"Niiiice! I'm gonna soup-up my Ford Territory 2005. It has a Barra in it😰

Why should I spend $50,000 on a new gay Asian/European SUV when I can get my classic-looking Ford Territory decked-out/upgraded/renewed for $8,000?"

Know the feeling.

[davenl5l]

Going to barra my 105 6cyl petrol land cruiser down the track , dellow trans conversion ring is only $765 engine mount a couple of hundred.

[Vesper Martini]

Originally Posted by Bossxr8

There were direct injection prototypes built, that would have passed euro 5. There was even an xr6 Turbo LPi ute running around that went like stink apparently.

It could have been made emissions compliant, but the decision was made to cancel Falcon so it never went ahead.

Australian LPi cars could have been the cleanest on the planet!

[Mechan1k]

Originally Posted by Raptor

I stumbled across that one, it's actually a Volvo 945: PROJEKT BARRA


image

Long Live the Barra

There's crazy modded Ovlvo's in Sweden ... they have some seriously quick bricks there.

The Barra looks right at home in that engine bay as well.

[Mechan1k]

Originally Posted by Bossxr8

There were direct injection prototypes built, that would have passed euro 5. There was even an xr6 Turbo LPi ute running around that went like stink apparently.

It could have been made emissions compliant, but the decision was made to cancel Falcon so it never went ahead.

Booooooo,

That makes me sad indeed.

It always comes down to the bean counters and the "powers that be" to kill the party.

We lost such a good thing.