When you're on to a good thing stick to it. That's the golden rule Andy Sutton lives by when it comes time to trade up to a new car - and you get the feeling he couldn't be happier with this theory. He's owned just about every type of hottie Ford Australia has ever sold in Australia - EB and EF XR6s, a "list of older Falcons as long as your arm" and even an imported '67 Mustang. So yeah, you can say Andy is a Ford man through and through.
At the start of this year, he even kicked off the Adelaide Ford XR6 and XR8 owners club, of which he is currently the founding President. You may remember the dark green XR8 that we did a few weeks back that's owned by Michael and Andrea Wilson - well Michael is the public relations officerof the very same club. With already around 45 members, it's taking shape very quickly with regular club meetings, family events and motoring days (including full-bore sprints around the local Mallala racetrack) in the itinerary.
So being the head of his own club, of course Andy owns one of the most desirable pieces of equipment you could pick - a better than new (that's not a lie!) immaculate 1997 EL Ford XR8. If you can walk or drive past this Ford without thinking to yourself "Wow, that looks &*$# terrific" you must be inhuman. No matter what your taste in cars, you have to respect the presentation of this big Henry.
Andy splurged out on the car when it was brand-spankers new back in March 1997, but there were plans for an EL XR8 to be parked in the driveway much earlier than that. Andy had done the usual looking through the glossy new car brochures and come up with his choice of colours and options, but at the last minute he spied the yet-to-be-released "Hot Chilli Red". After catching an eyeful, he had to have it. So, regardless of the five month wait (that sure must have dragged by), Andy changed over to a H-H-Hot Chilli Red painted car. In March it arrived covered in the desired duco and contaminated by that wonderful new car smell (is it glue?).
Anyhow, the change from the previous EF XR6 to the XR8 certainly made on impact on Andy that is difficult to put a financial or quantifiable value on - the V8 simply sounded shit-hot. But to let everyone else enjoy the sweet sounds as well, Andy went along to Genie and asked for a full 2¾ inch mandrel stainless steel exhaust system. Together with Genie 4>2>1 extractors and only a single rear muffler box, the sound (and performance) is now improved ten-fold. Andy remembers how when the new system went on, the car suddenly became even more tractable than standard.
By this time, Andy had hooked up with the afore-mentioned Michael Wilson and together they were planning a line of attack to get the most out of their injected Ford 302 V8s without sacrificing their excellent road-going manners.
Andrew also is the State Manager for Lubemobile (an Australian vehicle service company) and he drew upon his mechanical knowledge to devise a package that could both build himself and be confident of having total reliability.
In a similar spec sheet to Michael's car, the intake side of this beastie packs a 70mm SVO throttle body, a set of 24lb injectors, a 65mm SVO mass airflow meter and a K&N air filter concealed inside the big factory airbox. During the engine build up, Andy sent the heads off to his friend David (of Jarvis Ford) who went about porting them to the point where they can now flow an impressive 396 horsepower with the standard valves still in place. Because Andy likes to give it a boot full of revs on the odd (perhaps frequent?) occasion, he also fitted SVO 1.7 ratio roller rockers and Crane double row valve springs to ward off bounce. This was combined with a set of Crane chrome moly pushrods (yeah, yeah we know - what are they?).
The result has been a measured 136kW at the rear wheels, which Andrew equates to around 210kW at the flywheel. That's more than enough power to put you way ahead in the typical traffic light dash! For the time being, the car still spins the factory spec camshaft, but Andy quite likes the cam fitted to Michael's and is seriously considering putting in the same bit of gear.
Speaking of gears (nice follow-on huh?), the scorching XR8 passes its goods on through a standard 5-speed manual gearbox with a shortened gear lever for super quick cog swaps. At the opposite end, the standard 3.27:1 ratio LSD resides, but again Andy is thinking of pushing that aside. Apparently the later model EL XR8s and all XR6s got a shorter 3.45:1 final drive that helped launch them off the line. But rather than going for this option, Andy wants the extra advantage of a 3.77:1 unit that he can source from the 'States. Then he'll really he able to light up those already scuffed looking pair of 225/50 Yokohama 510s!
Ford made a good move when they fitted these particular 16s on their standard XR8 - and why on earth would you want to replace them? Andy has simply had his set polished for extra high impact, and also removed the stock wheel dust covers that used to hide the brakes. Another advantage of removing these plastic bits of gore is to show off those big drilled, slotted and vented DBA discs that have sprouted at each corner. It's about the first time we've really been able to see the size of the brakes on the EL XR8 - and they look pretty substantial. And according to Andy they work a treat too.
While also scoring a set of high-performance Bendix Ultimate pads, the brakes do take a little while to warm up, but once you've got them up to working temp they pull up formidably when you're making a fast dash through the hills.
Once aboard, the huge acreage of the Ford interior is smack-you-in-the-mouth obvious. One of these big suckers could just about have its own post-code! Andy's car is almost standard inside, with the exception of a leather gear knob from a current model Mustang. He's also just acquired a set of trick-looking Ford XR8 embossed floor mats that are the perfect finishing touch to any XR Ford. The rear mat is a single piece item, which ensures it won't get scrunched up to one side of the foot well after a few people have gotten in and out.
Andy also has a couple of other sneaky little XR tricks up his sleeve - or, on his tie actually! If you want to make fellow XR owners green with jealousy, simply give Andy a ring and he'll be able to get you into the latest in Tickford Ford tie fashion. You can also contact him in regard to the embossed floor mats if you wouldn't mind a set. Another small but effective touch has been the removal of the boot key hole and the filling in of the standard number plate grommets. While you may not notice it just looking at these pictures, next time you're out (if you live in Australia!) check out how fussy the rear bootlid is of every other EL Ford. The difference to the car's otherwise quite smooth lines is massive!
Overall, Andy's car comes together as an excellent example of a daily road car (it already has 37,000kms on it) and it gets the positive attention people fitting big wings and oversized wheels to their cars only wish for. As we mentioned, there are a few small changes that are going to be made to the car, but it is pretty well just as Andy wants it. After that he has just one intention - to LIVE IT!
Ha!
South Australian XR8/XR6 owners club
0413 860 840
(Andy)
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