About
RON HARROP. A name that has been associated with motor sport for decades both in Australia and overseas.
When Production Cars are subjected to extreme stresses of motor racing, problems occur that were never envisaged by the manufacturer. Ron Harrop is an engineer who spends most of his waking and working hours finding solutions to these problems. In 1968 Ron first became involved in motor sport through two legends – Norm Beechey and Bob Jane. The family engineering business, started by his father Len, was located in Brunswick close to Beechey’s Speed Shop and Jane’s Autoland car yard, and Harrop Engineering was always doing machining and fabrication work for the duo.
These contacts got Ron interested in making cars perform better, so he bought and modified an EH Holden, which went pretty good in its day. Although he was not interested in racing, he was talked into a street drag race against another EH which was having some success at the Calder drags. The Harrop machine won, and a racing career was launched.
Although he ran at Templestowe and Rob Roy hill climbs in a Morris Minor fitted with an MG TC engine, Ron’s early competition was mainly drag racing. The EH won its class regularly at Calder, and Castlereagh in Sydney, even though it was being used as a road car. Eventually the mechanicals were transferred to an FJ body. This car, named “Harrop’s Howler” was a sensation, doing an 11.8 second standing quarter, with a speed through the traps of 118mph, and won numerous National, State and “Mr Holden” Championships.
In the early 1970’s an association began with Harry Firth and the Holden Dealer Team. This brought lots of work into the engineering shop, and it soon became recognised that Harrop equipment was the gear to have. The focus was on the long distance touring car races, particularly Bathurst, where the shortcomings of the production running gear and brake systems were emphasised by increasing speeds, better tyres and the ever-present Holden and Ford rivalry.
Ron still managed to fit some motor racing into his increasingly hectic business life. He drove at Bathurst on different occasions with Charlie O’Brien and John Harvey in HDT cars, and then had an association with Warren Cullen for some years. In 1978 Ron had a big accident at the end of Bathurst’s Mountain straight in a HDT Torana A9X after the brakes failed. (not, it must be said, a Harrop component!).
The car hurdled the concrete barriers, flew through the air, hit a power pole and came to rest.
He was shaken but unharmed. Since 1986 Ron has not raced, preferring to concentrate on providing world class engineering services to a diverse customer base.In late 1993, the Holden Racing Team, via Tomas Mezera, approached Ron to provide some technical assistance to boost their performance. This proved positive and the following year he became the Chief Engineer for the team. During the 5 years that he held this position until resigning in 1999 the team became the benchmark. As well as specialised race components Harrop Engineering manufactures prototype and production parts for the automotive, rail, mining, medical and scientific industriesThe engineering excellence is clearly evident in the products now produced and on the drawing board at Harrop Engineering.
The customer responsive and technology driven manufacturing facility performs to the highest international quality standards. Today Harrop employs eight Specialist Engineers across our Design, Quality and Production disciplines who form part of the total team of 55 dedicated staff delivering the quality and service for which Harrop Engineering has become renowned.
HOLDEN EFIJY
When GM Holden made the decision to produce the wildest concept car ever, Holden designer Richard Ferlazzo, the brainchild of the “EFIJY” approached Harrop Engineering to gauge interest in the project. With confidentiality agreements in place, we discussed at length our enthusiasm to be involved in producing many of the components required. This was a perfect opportunity to showcase our capabilities to a worldwide audience.
More than 20 suppliers and designers offered their time, parts and expertise to build the car over 12 months. In 2005 Holden estimated the build cost to be over $1.5M; today many consider EFIJY to be priceless. The car is based on the stretched and widened underpinnings of a C5 Corvette and features a Harrop polished LS supercharger assembly together with the finned billet rocker covers for the 6 Litre LS2 based HSV engine. With 480Kw of power and 775Nm of torque, it is almost 11 times more powerful than the 45Kw (60hp) engine in the 1953 FJ Holden.
Harrop also produced the 22″ diameter rear, and 20″ front, 2 piece, billet outer and spun inner rims, together with intricate 5 axis machined billet hub caps. With such high levels of powertrain performance our Ultimate Brake Kit featuring 15″ (381mm) dia. front discs with 6 piston calipers and 14″ (355mm) dia. rear discs with 4 piston callipers were the obvious choice to achieve necessary braking performance.
NIZPRO MARINE
In 2008 Yamaha released their brand new Offshore and Super High Output series of outboard engines and dubbed them the “Game Changer”. The US market instantly embraced the new Yamaha 6 Cylinder 4.2L Marine Outboard engines with many applications even running two outboards to maximise their performance potential. This triggered a new development program at Nizpro Marine with the goal to produce the most powerful 6 cylinder marine outboard on the planet, with less weight, drag through water and no additional service costs.
Nizpro Marine Director Simon Gishus approached Harrop Engineering and shared his idea to create a positive displacement Supercharger to suit the Yamaha V6. After many months spent analysing the complex packaging requirements and rotating group suitability for the application, a TVS1900 Supercharger Kit was cast and prototype parts manufactured to begin comprehensive testing. The heart of the Supercharger is an Eaton R1900 rotating group which is packaged within the Supercharger manifold featuring twin water to air charge intercooler cores. The Supercharger is driven by an 8PK drive belt and auto tensioner and only adds 55lbs to existing F and VMAX series engines. A key design requirement was for the Supercharger to fit under the factory cowl, a challenging task due to the limited packaging space left by the OEM but achieved with the use of a 105mm spacer. The Supercharger Kit was launched at SEMA 2017 on the Harrop and Eaton booths, winning a Global Media Award in the New Product Showcase for Best New Performance Product.
FORD (FPV) SUPERCHARGER PROGRAM
In 2009, Ford Performance Vehicles (FPV) approached Harrop Engineering when looking at options for a forced induction performance package for the FPV FG range. The result was a Prodrive developed Harrop Supercharged Miami 5.0L V8 engine, based on the earlier Ford Coyote V8.
The Australian delivered FPV FG range was boosted by a Harrop HTV1900 Supercharger Kit featuring Eaton Twin Vortices Series (TVS) technology. The Supercharger System was front drive, rear inlet and positioned under the intake plenum in the engines ‘V’, providing an integral high-efficiency plenum and runners. The Supercharger System also featured an inlet bypass valve that improved fuel efficiency and an electronically controlled ‘drive by wire’ and 75mm throttle body.
Peak power and torque from the Miami V8 varied across the FPV FG range, the FG GS and Pursuit were released from factory with 315kW of power and 545Nm of torque (maximum boost pressure was 0.40 bar/5.8 psi) where the top of the range FPV GT made 351kW of power and 570Nm of torque.
LOTUS UK SUPERCHARGER PROGRAM
In 2009, Harrop Engineering was contacted by Lotus Cars UK to design and manufacture the HTV1320 Supercharger System for the newly released Evora S which marked the beginning of an OE supply program that still exists today. Fast forward to the present and Harrop still supply positive displacement Supercharger Systems for the stout 2GR-FE 3.5L V6 found in the Exige 350 and Exige 380 variants.
Harrop has a wealth of experience supplying Supercharger Systems to OEM’s like Toyota, Ford and Lotus which has given us the experience and knowledge to offer the same level of quality and integration to aftermarket customers.
EATON
In 2004, Harrop became one of a few licensed master distributors of Eaton Corporation technology and to this day remain committed to supporting the manufacture of Positive Displacement Superchargers and Traction Control Products for low volume applications. Harrop and Eaton share a synergy for research and development that has provided Harrop the ability to work with Eaton on the design, development, and delivery of world class products for the last two decades.
As a key strategic partner of Eaton, Harrop has enabled the development of supercharger and traction control solutions for a broad range of vehicle applications for OE and aftermarket.
FORGELINE
In 2010, Harrop became the Australian distributor of Forgeline Wheels, a leading USA wheel manufacturer who design and engineer the world’s finest custom made-to-order lightweight forged aluminum street and racing performance wheels.
With over 30 years of experience, Forgeline offer custom made to order wheels to suit each individual customers unique vehicle whether it be a daily ride, weekend cruiser or race car! As Forgeline’s exclusive Australian and New Zealand distributor we share the same enthusiasm and drive to deliver superior quality products and service to our customers whether it be for the street or track!
FXH
In March 2023, FXH was founded by two iconic automotive brands Forgeline and Harrop Engineering, bringing together over 90 years of shared OEM, Motorsport, and Aftermarket Performance pedigree to engineer premium off road wheels for discerning enthusiasts and professionals.
FXH Wheels was born from a love of adventure and a passion for performance whether it be on the road or beaten track. FXH Wheels combines quality, strength, and durability with sleek and modern designs to forge new boundaries with every wheel created. Whilst our story is just getting started, we are committed to delivering the best off-road wheels to our customers!
Our History
