Raptor Superchargers Project Car VY

[Raptorsc]

This week is high ratio rockers week, or at least get them on the way. Hoping we can get these on in time for next TNT and hopefully get a dyno run done as well.

[1991_Vn2nV]

Maniac

We will have dyno numbers buy mid dec for 1 if not 2 V6 engines with stroker kits in them. One is a 3800 the other an ECOTEC, one is 4.2 the other 4.3 liter, the 3800 being the 4.3 liter job. As Tuddles says, these larger engines should make some decent power.

Greenfoam, agree

4.3L as in the Bradey 4.3L crank by any chance? From what I've heard, that crank does not take to forced inducton well at all.

[immortality]

guess we will find out if the bradley crank is weak then with the raptor setup.

[MaN|aC]

................

[Raptorsc]

The pictures have been taken. In the first image you should see the original system, the twin cats aren't easy to see, following images are the new system. You will notice that the EGR is still connected and functioning.

We are ecstatic about the new system, it has only one flaw that we can live with and its even beneficial to us in some respects. We covered about 500km of driving over the weekend and the inside quietness was just like stock, fuel economy was 8.8 lite/100km @140 on cruise , can't beat that. The system compliments the VY perfectly. The only flaw is it really rasps like a V6 can under full throttle, we have a video from the lastest test and tune night if anyone wants to hear it. We have a customer with a single 2.5" system which really sounds perfect under power but way too noisey and droney. No worries tho, our system looks great, goes well and won't intrude on the tunes the IPOD is producing through the car speakers!! The dual outlet doesn't quite match the rear bumper but that will correct itself when we fit the "S" bumper.

This is probably the last thing we will say about the exhaust for now, will revisit this when we fit the HM Headers for a back to back run later on, you know whats more, HM even rang us to see how it was all going, now thats customer service!!

The thing this week is to get some FIT 1.97:1 Xtreme rockers heading our direction, stayed tuned (pardon the pun) for the next session. www.v6supercharged.com.au is where you can check out the product we will be using.

Somewhere in between a full coolant service will happen, seems the coolant is buggered and we can't have corrosion happening in the ECOTEC, no no!

[Tonsta V6 S/C]

Great Build-up Project there Tim, looks like you'se are already off to an Excellent start

We will be watching this one with keen interest

Regards

Tonsta

[fabz]

This is awsome guys keep up the great work. Cant wait to see the end result!!

[Raptorsc]

Rockers should be on their way today

[Raptorsc]

A few things from the last few days

These things could seem a bit trivial to some however attention to detail goes a long way towards total reliability.

We noticed the coolant didn't look too green anymore and there were gingery deposits on the underside of the radiator cap. With car being 2 years old and 50 000+ on the odometer the coolant was probably DONE. Checked around what was the good thing for V6 ECOTECs and settled on the Tectaloy V PLUS especially for the V6 Commodore engines. Will attach pic of product and coolant colour before it was drained.

While we had the plenum cover of we noticed the around each injector was pretty grubby, this is a common trait with the ECOTECs so a shot of degreaser and a high pressure clean, its all ready for the injector upgrade in a few weeks when the supercharger system goes on. Probably we will be in a hurry at the time of SC fitting so having all the gunge pre removed will be great, no worry about grit contaminating seals etc and falling into injector holes. Before and after pics of the job.

[Raptorsc]

Today the Rockers have arrived, a mere 48 hours after payment they have come from Perth (FIT) to Mackay and are ready for install.

We would like to get an exhaust only dyno run but its not going to happen, so we will settle for a 4kw gain which would bring us to about 119kw at the wheels before rockers, if anyone disagrees with this assumption then let us know your thoughts

Install of rockers will be tomorrow followed by a Test and Tune Mid week, so the results on the quartermile will come quite quickly. Importantly we will have 3-4 days driving on the new rockers which will allow the computer to get used to whats going on prior to the 400m stuff Will definitely be getting a final dyno run prior to SC install and tune

And ......... the Raptor V supercharger for this car is now being built , its soon time to add the big HP. We are aiming for 180+kw at the wheels on the first stage, lets see what we can do, its all up to the tuner!!

[Raptorsc]

Got to installing these 1.97:1 Rockers in the VY, we doubt there would be many VY V6s with FIT 1.97:1s in the country.

The rockers were supplied with slightly smaller diameter CROW push rods in order that clearance against the castings in the cylinder head would be cleared and we were well warned that they still may not fit. The problem is HOLDEN got slack somewhere along the line with the castings and have left massive dags at the mould joints which should have really been broken off. See images, first image you can see a large lip that runs right around the whole opening that the pushrod goes down through, all this lip is excess crap, the second image shows how the push rod sits against the lip and cannot use the full amount of the slot in the pushrod guide plate. Until the lip is removed or pushrod thinned you cannot run the 1.97:1 rockers on a VY series 2. Lets just say thinning the pushrod is not an option Too much metal to move.

We did a basic install to see what was touching and then removed the rockers etc and performed the corrective action, triple checking every clearance. We wanted to persist and get this unique setup working as when tuned it will give our customers a great margin of tuning safety since our setup will flow more air than possibly all others, so anything flowing less will be inherently safer on the same tune. That is the unique thing about Raptor Supercharger kits for ECOTECs, they are tuned around high lift rockers, far as we know no one elses are, so essentially if you add rockers to another SC system you are unlikely to be getting the full benefit of your upgrades. It never matters if you don't upgrade the rockers but you always have the peace of mind that you can and see a big gain!

In the end (3 hrs) it all looked sweet and time to start up to see if our work was perfect. Well the beast never ran sweeter, BEYOOTIFUL quiet as, not one tick or any other unwanted sounds

Time for a drive, now we know from experience that the full effect of the rockers is not apparent on the first drive or the second one for that matter, whether its the ECU adjusting its tables or whatever, you just have to give it a couple of days. Anyhow, first drive has shown some promise, a lot stronger through the top end with the tacho really sweeping the gauge from 4000rpm on, did a little test on a known distance and it seems there is 5km an hour there already so it could easily be another 2-3mph at the drags.

Test and tune night is this Wed night so the results will soon be in an another couple of days, and a dyno run after that.

Task rating: not for the backyarder, but well worth the extra effort.

Satisfaction rating: High

Power rating: don't know but seems like there is promise of bang for buck


Next installment

THE SUPERCHARGER SYSTEM

Timeframe: 3-4 weeks, just sorting out a few details with the tuners at present, other that than its all go, the supercharger is being manufactured and most other parts are already here. Stand by for ENORMOUS POWER INCREASE

[Tonsta V6 S/C]

OMG Tim,

Gee Holden Really did get very, very slack towards the end of the production line. We always knew that as the models transgressed from VS to VT to VX and VY that there seemed to be an increasing amount of residual casting overhang in the pushrod area, and yours being one of the very last VY Ecotec's to be built certainly details exactly how slack they got towards the end.

VS, VT and even some VX's don't even need the 5/16"s pushrods and run on stock pushrods, but we can see quite evedently there was way too much over-hang in the head castings for even the lesser diameter pushrods.

Great to see you got them to fit, you will be well rewarded when you hit the dyno and 1/4 mile track

P.S. It will take a couple of days for the computer to re-learn/adjust for the full benefits to be realised.

We recommend you run:
- BP Ultimate 98+RON Fuel
- or Mobil Synergy 8000
... ONLY !!
Any other fuels are second rate for this performance application.

Also Free'ing up the intake will help it breath better, getting the air into the engine to realise the full potential for the thirst for air the new 1.97's are demanding.

Awaiting in keen anticipation for the results

Best Regards

Tonsta

P.S. Check out how much more room (less over-hang and protrusion) there is in these Stock VS Ecotec heads on our Workshop Test Engine. We have also fitted 1.99's and 1.97's to our FIT Calais (VT) and FIT Statesman (VX) with stock pushrods, so definitely seems they got very, very slack in the VY models. Mainly wouldn't affect normal engine operation with stock ratio rockers, but sure makes it tough when wanting to install higher ratios

[Raptorsc]

Tony

Yeah, we feel pretty certain there will be numbers of interest, the end power figure of this machine "could" be quite interesting, we may not quite make the power a manual car with the same setup would but we are hoping (when supercharged) to get close to our customer "Tuddles" numbers!!

We will slop some 98 into the tank, this will ensure all the pony's this combo (the rockers and exhaust) can make will be up and galloping!

[Raptorsc]

Just been informed no T&T this week, track is temporarily closed until November 10th!!

So, time for a dyno run, will attempt to get a dyno run and post chart up this week so the rockers power increase can be accounted for in some way. Seeing that the 10th isn't so far away its likely we will get a run at the T&T with this setup before we go blown.

Stay tuned

[A Grim Mystery]

Great article Tim. Thanks for pointing it out to me on MSN tonight.

I'll be watching this space very closely.

Woodsy.

[Raptorsc]

With boost on the way its always handy to have an indication of what boost is being produced

Purchased an SS inductions VY gauge binnacle for the boost gauge and whatever other gauge we decide on.

Pretty easy install, the original panel just lifts up from the windscreen side, just make the screw holes through the holes in the new piece, drill the holes and before you know it bob's your uncle!!

The SS inductions piece does the job but doesn't fit to perfection on the bottom right hand side, have seen same issue on another JC members VY using same piece. Really fussy people might consider only a genuine piece, but more than 2x the price of the SS Inductions piece.

Will attach some pics of the lonely boost gauge

[MaN|aC]

I'm also interested if you are running stock internals and see how they will hold up with the blower. The last thing that you need is if you run into some serious problems later on say another 50,000kms-100,000kms on the engine.

[Raptorsc]

Maniac

Statistically 95% of all Raptor kits are bolted to stock internal motors, our VY is stock and will be remaining stock at all power levels we throw at it.

Now unless a Raptor equipped ECOTEC dies tomorrow there has not been any Raptor kit supplied with Factory Raptor (Electronic Automotive) tune that has developed mechanical problems at any power level. A large percentage of those motors are already over 200 000km and going strong.

The VU VX and VY will be tuned by CHIPTORQUE, this is the only difference between the VN - VT kits and the VU - VY kits. We will work with CT to get same outcome as we have for the VS VT kits.

If anyone is distasteful of unreliability it is us , we rather be manufacturing than fixing anyday!!

[Raptorsc]

Made a decision on the gauges we will run in the new binnacle

Will have a boost gauge and real time boost temp gauge

Quickly grabbed a couple of guages from 2 different ranges from the Autometer website. We would get a matching set provided we can find a temp guage with a low enough start temp, as the Raptor boost temps are quite low

[Raptorsc]

Finally we have measured the power since the rockers extractors and HSVexhaust have been fitted and given some time to settle in.

Some stats:

This newest dyno run was not done in shootout mode, the operator is just new to this dyno, shootmode normally records a slightly higher figure than the standard mode. So if anything the power figure shown here could be a touch conservative

Fuel used: BP Ultimate 98

Rockers used: FIT 1.97:1

Extractors currently fitted: Pacemaker with 1 5/8" primarys

Exhaust system is stock VY HSV V8

As you can see from the power AND torque curves the improvment is everywhere right through the range with a noticeable increase at the end of the power run. Car really pulls well for this small upgrade and we reckon there would have to be at least .2 of a second at the strip to be gained now, the car slightly taps the limiter in first gear now since the RPM flicks up damn quick!!

For NA mods its nearly impossible to go past the 1.97 rockers and exhaust system combo in terms of bang for buck! We can't think of a more useful V6 upgrade anywhere.

STOCK POWER 114.6 RWKW

Power with FIT 1.97:1 rockers, extractors and HSV pipe 134.8 RWKW or 180 RWHP

Gain is 20.2 KW or 27 RWHP

Now people ....... we will be adding the Prostreet Supercharged POWER upgrade. How much will it add, might set up a competition for who can guess closest to the final powerout put for Prostreet setup. Win some free stuff ..... yeah!! I will kick that off here soon.

[Tonsta V6 S/C]

WOW !!

That's Amazing !!

Incredible Power and Torque Gains all the way.

Look at what happens around 4,000rpm - 6,000rpm !!

Top Result Tim, Very Impressive, Well Done !!

Regards

Tonsta

[Lumps of cheese]

Ohhh this is looking the goods guys, keep up the awesome work!

[immortality]

thats an amazing gain for a simple mod. might i suggest that you also post this info in the "modifying V6" section as many have argued that going to high ratio roller rockers isn't a worthwile mode for a n/a stock V6 and this is convincing evidence otherwise. well done. impressed with the work you guys are doing and looking forward to this little competition. keep it up

[hinterland]

another good bang for buck is a good vacumn pump in most cases 15 percent increase just by bolting it on and around same price as fit or y/t rockers

[Raptorsc]

Hinterland

You are welcome to elaborate on the vacuum pump idea, I am sure most people have no idea what you are getting at.

All yours to say ...............