Need to chose a car to rebuild for HSC subject

[Bhudamasta]

Hey Guys,

Im doing Industrail-Tech: Automotives at the end of this year as an HSC course and i need a major work. Im thinking of rebuilding a commodore engine (v6 cuz im on my p`s) but im not sure which one to do. We are pulling apart the v6 from the vn in school, but im not sure what the engines from others are like (vp,vs). What would be the best engine
(taking into account availability of spare parts,specific problems with certain models etc) for someone of my ability, as i am not a mechanic but ive beeen doing auto in school for 3 years now but wouldnt be as thorough as doing a tafe course.

Does the Vs ecotech v6 have pushrods?




oh and ps. my budget will be around 5000 not including the cost of the car.
will that be enough? to have my head machined and have the crankshaft turned etc, and to give a lil bit of grunt with some extractors and stuff?


Thanks

[TVR-190]

Go a VN or VP

good reliable engines with plenty of grunt.

Vs is an ecotec which doesnt sound as good IMO.

VN & VP will cost less also

[Pub247]

If your going to spend 5 grabd on a motor your better of doing an ecotec stroker than any vn-vp. The standard VE is far better than early buick. Your going to need a lot more machining done than just heads shaved and a crank grind.

Also ecotec do have pushrods

[andyman]

id get a vy ecotec it would have a lot of advantages,

1, newer with less wear, makes the rebuild A LOT easier
2 less wear = less to replace or have repaired,
3, less to replace or have repaired = less money
4, less money = more money to spend on internal mods,

you could easily pick one up for less than 700 bucks if you look in the right places, its more compatible because you can the fit it to a vs, vt, vx, vy

if you want to go older a lot of buicks are starting to get a bit sloppy, an advantage to that tho is you can get one for free if you look in the right places, like out in the bush, theres heaps of burnt vn and vp's these days lol.

[Cheap6]

In terms of the car, assuming that the engine will ultimately end up in one, I agree with the VN or VP, probably leaning to the VP. They are old enough to be cheap, new enough and popular enough to still have parts easily obtainable, both new and used (although that has started to change), and they don't have the level of complexity of the VS. VR is somewhere in between and about the optimum age to find parts for used.

In terms of just the engine, late VN, VP and VR will be virtually identical. The only major difference will be that the VR has a cam position sensor and the other two don't.

Despite looking similar, VS is another step along in terms of automotive technology. Apart from the extra electronics on the car, rebuilding the engine will be a bit harder (but still pretty simple). Special tooling is required to set up the rear main bearing cap and oil seal housing for a start. Depends what on you want to learn how to do.

[brend0n]

I'd look to transplant the motor into something else, early commo or something random
extra wow (marks) factor. with no much extra work if you can fab your own mounts etc.
cause a commo with a hot v6 is still a commo with a v6, in something else it portrays extra work/ more unique..

[MasterOfReality]

I did this subject back when I was in school.

Some of the things students did for their final year projects were amazing.

Can never forget the worked 308 that coughed into life on its engine stand in the school hall, shooting flames out of the extractors and burning the carpet.

My mate restored a 1965 Mustang.

His brother did a XY GT replica.

If I were you, I'd just choose something cheap because you are going to get other students stuffing around with it when you aren't there.

[naf33n]

did the same subject, they like stuff they can actually see, redoing a motor is all good but it wont really catch the markers eye, you need big visual changes for that,

why not do a engine conversion and a nice paint job so they have somethng really nice to look at, or buy a smashed vn and fix it up, and do a bit of work to the motor

we had alot of motors on stands that ran, but thats not really impressive, they all got fairly low marks