Are these 253 mods worth it?

[charjon]

Hi everyone,
The old man just gave me his old work horse to have a play about, its a HJ Ute with a HQ front end, the body is straight, very straight, and it has a 253, pretty much stock as far as I'm aware. Being an apprentice I cant really afford to lump out enough dough to put in a 308, or Efi 5l at the moment.
So I thought buying a part here and there for the 253 might be easier.
So far I have come up with;
1 Crane Camshaft 218/[email protected]
1 set of Crane Anti Pump Lifters
1 bottle Crane Super Lube Break In Concentrate
1 double row timing chain kit
1 HOLDEN 253/308 TORKER STYLE INELT MANIFOLD
1 BRAND NEW 600 VAC SEC "GENUINE" HOLLEY SHORTY CARB
1 Electronic dizzy of some sort,

can someone please let me know if you think these mods are going to improve the motor significantly enough to justify the total outlay of around $1160,
Also if I have forgotten any vital part or using parts or specs that are no good, please let me know. Cheers.

 

[383 hatch]

No, leave it standard and save your money until you can afford a bigger engine. $1160 should be able to get a good running 308 in the car.

 

[brockzila]

The other way to look at it is that all the parts above will fit a 308 anyway so if you dont like it in the 253 you can transfer them to a 308

 

[VR38]

Sell the intake and carb and get hold of a performer manifold and 465 vac sec square bore holley.

 

[smokem]

Youll pick up a stocky 308 for about 400 bucks ya may aswell just grab a stock 5.0 litre and put the parts straight in instead of doing the work twice, p.s. that cams prob almost standard holden grind itll be crap. Ya want minimum crane 276 hydraulic or if ya wanna have a nice tough note then crane 286 hydraulic with the torker manifold not sure on ya 600 vac i personaly think 650 dp is perfect for a 308 with cam and 600 vac is for stocky.s

 

[ari666]

can someone please let me know if you think these mods are going to improve the motor significantly enough to justify the total outlay of around $1160,

there is no way you could justify spending that much on a 253.

now that i have said that, the torker manifold is WAY too much. and a 600 holley is too big. dunno why people think single planes will make their 253 run faster, there must be 100 threads asking the same question, and the answer is always NO.

if you want it to run well, then change the air, fuel oil and oil filter, spark plugs and leads, fit a ebay shitty 50 dollar dizzy but replace the igniter unit with a 50 dollar bosch unit. run a bosch HEC716 coil,
go over the whole car and check all the vacuum lines fuel lines, brake and heater lines for cracks/leaks. replace them if you find any. make sure all the hookups are working properley, egr, exhaust butterflys, vacuum booster etc.

basically go over all the stock items, check they work and fix if necessary. itll cost a lot less and itll be the best 1st mod youve ever done.


then put away 50 bucks per week from your apprentice wage and save for a 308.