Here it is - already, our second story covering a power-up kit for Ford Australia's Falcon XR6 Turbo (which is still less than a year old!).
In our last XR6T power-up story we looked at Nizpro's MoTeC management approach, which - for around $6000 - gives up to 25 percent more power. This upgrade gives an obvious on-road performance improvement and behaves nicely, but - as Nizpro is all too aware - the MoTeC approach isn't a particularly cost-effective one if you never plan going whole-hog with an engine build.
So here's a more affordable 'entry level' power-up kit for the Ford XR6 Turbo...
Melbourne's AVO (Advanced Vehicle Operations) have been busy playing with their in-house development XR6T 5-speeder and have recently introduced a so-called Stage One upgrade, which retails for a modest $3900 (fully fitted and tuned).
What does that $3900 get you? Well, you become the owner of a brand new Perfect Power SMT6 interceptor module, a set of six high-flow injectors, a fuel-cut defender module and a high-flow cat-back exhaust system.
Unlike many other standard exhaust systems, the XR6 Turbo's factory system is not
too bad in terms of backpressure. "We measured 5 psi of exhaust backpressure in the standard car at its factory output," says AVO's Terry Wilson. Nevertheless, you want the least possible backpressure in the case of a turbocar and, therefore, a free-flow exhaust is a must.
The AVO replacement system extends from the back of the factory cat converter to a new polished tip; the factory XR6T cat converter, we are told, is amongst one of the best flowing OE cat converters you'll find. The new AVO pipework is 3-inch mandrel all the way, constructed from 316-grade stainless steel to ensure good longevity. A straight-through centre resonator and straight-through large-body rear muffler keeps tailpipe noise to a minimum - below the 90dB legal limit, we're assured.
A by-product of reducing exhaust backpressure on a XR6 Turbo is you'll find boost pressure goes up - and, depending on the amount of extra boost, this can trip an engine management fuel-cut. To get around this problem, AVO wire in their in-house fuel cut defender module, which is said to clamp the output from one of the twin factory MAP sensors.
The industry is now learning that the XR6 Turbo responds very well to just mild increases in boost pressure and AVO are able to set a slightly elevated boost curve using a Perfect Power SMT6 interceptor module. Due to limitations of the factory air-to-air intercooler, though, AVO set a 12 psi boost peak in the mid-range tapering to about 9 psi toward the redline. Note that Terry has seen up to 5 psi boost lost through the standard core while experimenting with 250kW at the wheels...
Certainly, an upgrade intercooler is a prerequisite for any really major power increase.
Another challenge faced when enhancing exhaust flow and boost on the XR Turbo is a lack of fuel flow - the standard XR6T fuel system doesn't offer much scope for extra power.
The solution AVO are employing is a replacement set of Bosch injectors that are said to offer about 25 percent more flow capacity over the stockers. These upgrade injectors, of course, necessitate extensive mapping of the Perfect Power module in terms of fuelling. Mixtures are set to around 0.8 Lambda (11.8:1 air-fuel) at full power and ignition timing has been tweaked at various points throughout the load and rpm sites - there's nothing outside the boundaries of 98RON pump fuel, though.
Inlet camshaft timing is not altered from factory settings.
So - with a high-flow cat-back exhaust, slightly more boost, bigger injectors, altered fuelling and timing - how much of a power gain are we talking here?
As seen in this graph, AVO's stock-standard XR6T 5-speed pushes 192kW at the back wheels while their Stage One kit ups the ante considerably to 231kW (as measured in third gear on AVO's DTS chassis dyno). That's a very healthy 20 percent peak power gain (which equates to 288kW at the flywheel), but what's even more impressive is the 30 percent increase in peak torque measured at the wheels.
Forget talking about peaks for a moment and also observe the average torque gain - there's at least 20 percent extra seen all the way through the revs, even at below 2500 rpm!
We hit the road in the AVO XR6T expecting big things but, strangely, we were pretty under-whelmed by its seat of the pants improvement. It turns out there's a very good reason for that, though - the car was later discovered to be running factory boost and incorrect mapping! With the Stage One kit properly set up, however, we're told the car immediately feels quicker than a stocker and the traction control system fights all the way through second gear...
In these early days of Ford XR6 Turbo power-up packages, the AVO Stage One kit is certainly well poised. It's much cheaper than Nizpro's MoTeC approach and it's somewhere in between APS's Phase One and Phase Two upgrades in terms of the number of components, power and cost. Whichever way you might decide to jump, you're guaranteed to end up with a car that has enough real-world performance to smoke anything that's likely to pull alongside - and the cost involved is really quite reasonable.
And what does AVO have in store from hereon?
Well, keep an eye on the
AVO website for details on the soon to be released upgrade front-mount intercooler - end-tanks are being cast as we clack away on the keyboard. With greater charge-air heat exchange properties and less airflow restriction it's quite likely another
smidgin of additional manifold pressure will bump the XR6T comfortably over 300kW (in excess of 400 horsepower) at the flywheel.
From all accounts the big Ford turbomotor can do it all so easy; the driveline, however, is another question...
Contact:
AVO (Advanced Vehicle Operations)
+61 3 9584 4499
AVO (Advanced Vehicle Operations)
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