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Barra the xf

Barra into xf

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Hey guys I’m new to these forum pages.

wanting to do turbo barra swap into 86 xf with a manual can someone point me in the right direction, I’ve already spotted engine mounts and sway bar because I heard stock won’t clear the barra. And wiring I have no f****** idea we’re to start.

thibk I will get the FG Barra, will try to get a turboed one already but heard a N/A one with be fine to turbo 

also I’ll note I’ll be stuffing in a 9 inch 

 

any my help is very much appreciated thanks 

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There are afew options for wiring but the simplest way I've heard is ring(don't email as they won't get back to you) Haltech and tell them what your doing and they will work out a loom for you, they make of the shelve stand alone looms for barra's now so it shouldn't be as pricey as it used to be. Also have a read through the members builds section as there are afew conversions in there that will help you with your project

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As for gearbox, I'm assuming that you're running a T5 now, which would be ok behind an atmo Barra but a time bomb on a turbo. It's best if you look for a later model 5 or 6 speed from a Barra if going turbo. A custom tailshaft will need to be made for your setup, perhaps a hybrid BA ute to XF or whatever diff you're running.

A well-built BW 75 or 78 series diff would handle the grunt, no need to go to the trouble and expense of a 9-inch when it's not really needed. They are also heavy and need brakes adapted. The mount for the watts linkage needs fabricating and the whole lot is additional engineering expense. There are 10-second VLs running borgy diffs. If you adapt a built BW, you have options of 28-spline, LSD, 4-pinion, lots of gear options, centres, brakes will be easy and it all bolts in up to and including ED Falcon.

You may be able to use one out of the later models if you use the appropriate control arms but you will need to run an XF hat regardless due to the watts link location and geometry.

Gotta say, an atmo Barra would get along very nicely due to the XF being several hundred kilos lighter than the BA. After looking at the expense of beefing everything up for the turbo, you might want to look at just keeping it atmo and having fun with that.

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Gday, pretty sure the FG sump will need to be changed as the deep pan part is rearwards (not 100% on this), the BA/BF barra sump has front pan. which will clear the XF subframe.  You also dont need the fancy mounts, you can use the falcon ones from EB/ED upper  and bolt them to the lower XF parts    You will need the modified sway bar, muscle garage in SA(?) makes them and sell one ebay. You will need to fabricate a transmission mount according the gearbox selected, and the later the box the more mods you may need to do like trans tunnel and shifter location/console etc  Depending on what radiator you plan on using the front apron needs a trim to clear the lower radiator hose (using BA/BF radiator), and potentially the RH shock tower will need a notch taken to clear the turbo (depending which setup you use (again check the build threads its all covered).

 

Also check with engineer, pretty sure the power output rating on the barra (lowest KW is the E-gas 156kw)  compared to XF EFI crossflow (121KW)  is greater than the allowed percentage in some states and will require engineers certification, at which point they will check a whole heap of other stuff for compliance, which may get costly !. (eg/ Victoria is 20% over standard requires VASS).  If the cars already rego'd you can run it till you get pulled over I guess (if in VIC without yearly inspections) ! :)

 

I will be doing my XE shortly, as I have all the bits, just gotta get it rego'd first

 

 

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this is great thread on the barra swap in XE falcon

 

theres a seller on ebay that has stand alone wiring harness and PATS removed computers, it hink for about $750, has like 6 wires to connect.....

 

 

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Also what other diffs can I put in without heaps of work maybe if there’s something that will even bolt up that I can install disk brakes and different gear ratios 

E series diff is by far the easiest and most cost effective option.

Look through the project threads and you will see what others have done.


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agree with Defective, For the Diff (in my XE) I have sourced a LSD 3.45;1 from an EF XR6, need rear lower control arm bushes changed, brake line fittings changed and a hand brake sorted (potentially use EB front cable ?), and the rear hat for watts link(?), this is probably the least work and plenty strong for non turbo, still able to found relatively cheap, are disc brake etc

 

if you change the turbo exhaust manifold to a custom one i'm sure the turbo could be re orientated to clear the tower its not a massive notch/indentation required, pretty sure the BF and FG exhaust manifolds are different perhaps one of those will put turbo in a different place.

 

as for the 6 speed im not sure, you could ring Mal Wood, he has all sorts of boxes with different length extensions housings and shifter locations

 

 

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