Barra Engine Swap

Feb 12, 2019

The Barra or FG motor, with turbo in it's stock location is 730mm wide. It will fit into most Falcon/Fairlane engine bays (not XK to XP Falcon), but only just. In the RRS LTD, the turbo (in stock position) cleared the drivers side shock tower by 4mm.

Your first choice is modify the engine or the engine bay, our choice (RRS) was create a lot more space and therefore a lot more air movement.

Replacing the original front suspension with Gen7 front coil overs allowed RRS to "notch the shock towers" without reducing the structural integrity of the front of the car.

Typhoon Notching Kit

Maverick, early US Falcon and XK to XP Falcon have some of the narrowest engine bays. By notching the shock towers, you can increase room and more importantly airflow. Turbos thrive on cool air.

Notching the towers meant installing the HO2 height adjustable coil-overs and an RRS brake package.

 H.O. 2

Gen7 H.O.2 RRS latest coil-over with geometric correction knuckle, high load Bearing Hub, light weight billet top mount, cold formed chrome silicon wire springs.

Typhoon Engine Mounts

RRS developed the Barra Grabber Engine Mounts for Barra/FG turbo motors. The Grabber engine mounts are designed to sit on V8 frame mounts (as pictured below). RRS has developed a series of engine mounts and gearbox mounts to fit the turbo 4.0L motors to Falcons, Fairlanes, Mustangs, etc.

Typhoon Sway Bar

The RRS Barra Sway bar, which measures 24mm, navigates the sump.

Typhoon Pedal Mount

You need to use the electronic accelerator with your motor. RRS has developed a simple universal flat plate pedal mount in 2 configurations: BA or FG.

Typhoon ZF Gearbox Mount

RRS gearbox mount cross member, the highlighted piece is if you incorporate the RRS 3-link rear suspension system into the mod motor conversion.

G6 GT Rack n Pinion Powered Rack

The Barra motor has power steering pump on the motor, making upgrading to the RRS rack and pinion system so simple. The latest RRS fast ratio bolt-in powered rack, comes with a 5-year warranty.

RRS has models to suit Australian Falcons, Fairlanes, Fairmonts, and LTDs, a great range of left and right-hand drives for Mustangs, Mavericks, Torinos, US Falcons and Fairlanes and the Mercury Cougars, Comets, Cyclones, and Montegos

RRS engineer and product designer Matthew Pankau moved the battery to the boot. "Moving the battery to the boot is a bigger change than people think 18 kilos moved from in front of the front wheel to behind the back wheel".

Stealth SS - Under Dash Brake Booster

RRS has developed the Stealth under dash brake booster and master cylinder (manual or auto left or right-hand drive).

Trans-Am 3 Link

RRS has created the Trans-Am 3-Link rear suspension mini coil-over system to suit 9" diffs. If you purchase the 3-link, you will get the gearbox mount cross member included.

The 3-link will allow the use of the RRS wheel speed sensor.

The RRS Trans Am 3-link is a great way to complete the conversion of your classic Ford into a high-performance, totally reliable ride that starts every time. It will also essentially be a climate controlled work of engineering perfection.

Speed Sensor Kit

Depending on your configuration, you may need to install an aftermarket speed sensor. Pictured here is a simple rear wheel sensor that easily mounts in the RRS 3 link setup.

As RRS went through the build, we:

• modified the trans tunnel to fit the ZF gearbox
• built an unrestricted dump pipe
• created A dual exhaust system
• had a stand-alone loom built
• built a speed interface to work with the original digital 84 LTD dash display
• modified the sump to fit the cross-member
• changed the dip stick position
• put in A new hi-flow fuel sender in the tank
• modified the front lower radiator support panel to accommodate the radiator hose.

These products were too specific for the combination of 270T, ZF gearbox, and 84 LTD to make into products, but they may help with your build.

 Front Sump & Pick Up

To fit a Barra to an X-series Falcon or early Mustang you will need a front sump and pick up, you can either modify your sump and pick up or use the sump from a territory to clear factory X member

The Falcon, Fairlane and early Mustang have a cross member that sits across the centre of the engine bay. The Barra of FG (except Territory) are rear sump and even the territory sump does not clear all cross members

Remapping the EMC & AMC depending on the choice of gearbox.

The Barra and FG motors are fully integrated into the car, body control module, ABS, ACM (for auto models), traction control, speed sensors, all these functions need to be hooked up, disabled or mimicked, when you take the engine out the original car.

There are many different ways to solve the wiring, at RRS we choose to fully convert the computer and loom to a stand alone function and use the ZF 6 speed automatic ACM.

The advantage with the stand alone system is the ability to use existing your dash and customise the car setup with multiple computer tunes.

In the years since RRS started the Barra conversion many wiring and computer remapping options have been developed. A google search will give you many options.

In Sydney there is a loom builder called JB Automotive Electrical.

 4" Dump Pipe

Turbos love air and air flow the original exhaust on the FG is restricted 2¼" dump pipe RRS configured a dump pipe to an open 4" system to navigate past the RRS rack.

 Twin 2½" Exhaust

RRS has developed 4" single collector to a twin 2½" exhaust to high flow muffler for the long wheel base LTD. There are now many after market pipe kits both engine and exhaust.

The lower radiator support panel needed to modified to allow the use of the Barra radiators and fans.

Applications