Mighty Car Mods' Mechanical Stig proves why the Barra is the best Aussie performance engine of all time

Iain Kelly
Contributing Journalist
14 Jun 2019
2 min read

Back in 2017 the boys from hit YouTube show Mighty Car Mods set out to build a car to run 10-second quarter-mile times in just a few days.

They used a mid-1980s Toyota Cresta sedan they had previously driven around Japan, and fitted a Ford 4.0-litre DOHC turbocharged Barra in-line six as the powerplant. 

After helping the boys build the car, and then run a 9.9 sec pass, Mechanical Stig (or Ben Neal, as per his birth certificate) took the mantle of refinining the Cresta (including fitting a different Barra) as he prepared it to go to the USA for the epic Hot Rod Drag Week. This automotive torture test involves driving your drag car hundreds of miles between tracks plus racing each day, all without a support vehicle.

After running in the low-9s Mr Stig got the Toyota back to Aus and, once it was back at his Benny's Custom Works shop, he decided to tear the engine down to see how the basically stock Barra held up. Check out his video to see just how tough these epic six-pots are.

Is the Barra a better in-line six than Nissan's RB or Toyota's 2JZ? Let us know in the comments.

Iain Kelly
Contributing Journalist
A love of classic American and European cars drove Iain Kelly to motoring journalism straight out of high school, via the ownership of a tired 1975 HJ Holden Monaro.  For nearly 20 years he has worked on magazines and websites catering to modified late model high-performance Japanese and European tuner cars, as well as traditional hot rods, muscle cars and street machines. Some of these titles include Auto Salon, LSX Tuner, MOTOR, Forged, Freestyle Rides, Roadkill, SPEED, and Street Machine. He counts his trip to the USA to help build Mighty Car Mods’ “Subarute” along with co-authoring their recent book, The Cars of Mighty Car Mods, among his career highlights.  Iain lends his expertise to CarsGuide for a variety of advice projects, along with legitimising his automotive obsession with regular OverSteer contributions. Although his practical skills working on cars is nearly all self-taught, he still loves nothing more than spending quality time in the shed working on his project car, a 1964 Pontiac. He also admits to also having an addiction to E30 BMWs and Subaru Liberty RS Turbos, both of which he has had multiple examples of. With car choices like that, at least his mum thinks he is cool.
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