Boingk's VT II Wagon - "The Pursuit Wagon"

[boingk]

Quick update, I added these:

New shocks and some dodgy paint on the calipers.

I'm still waiting on fitting new discs and pads, I've decided to go with some very basic slotted discs from eBay, should work out fine with some decent fitment:

That's about it for now, she's due for an alignment on Friday and feels a lot better on the new shocks than she did on the stock units.

One question - I'm thinking of doing a few mild drag passes with her for a bit of a hoot and am looking for some more power. Would a tunnel-ram, dyno tune and some high-ratio rockers be all I need for a reasonable bump in go?

- boingk

 

[WHCapriceHBD]

A tunnel ram will probably kill off about 15-25 kw of output on a stockish engine like this one in all honesty. I've seen many dyno tests back to back and the best all rounder intake manifold for the street LS is the LS6 factory intake. Which you may already have anyways, dependent on model year as some early LS cars did not get the LS6 manifold, they had the old LS1 manifold.

Definitely stay away from tunnel rams or any short ram aftermarket manifolds as they may look nice but without a cam or heavy internal modifications, they will kill low and midrange power and you will have spent good money to lose good power.

 

[boingk]

Thanks for the advice WH, very solid. I was reading up on the LS3/LS6 manifolds and looks like I might go that way if I can find one reasonably priced.

Another thing I've been reading up on is nitrous. NSW ruling is that you can have the attachments fitted, however the bottle cannot be fitted and the system cannot be able to be actuated... so, whats the limit with nitrous on a stock LS?

I'm looking to run maybe a 100hp wet shot initially, with up to 150 or 200hp worth all up once I see how the 100 shot goes. From everything I've read, a stock engine should handle up to 600-700hp fairly well, and I'm already at about 400hp with the tune, intake and exhaust.

Is this a reasonable idea for the dragstrip or is it just going to kill my engine?

- boingk

 

[boingk]

Long story short, I decided against nitrous. It might be cheap and easy for the power on tap but I decided I want to enjoy my car all the time, not just at the track.

So, I've gone with a more comprehensive upgrade plan. First stop? High ratio roller rockers. I decided to wait on the valve springs until I see if I want a camshaft or not - if I need much bigger than stock I'll need different springs... these are just uprated factory springs (the 'blue' springs, mine are the 'yellow' ones) so not great for lift over .540" or so. Here's the kit all laid out:

A quick shot of the engine bay before I began. It looks daunting but the LS series basically just have individual coil packs on the rocker covers and fuelling above those, making things look messy and complicated. You can see the mafless intake pipe I fitted, too.

After all the above crud is taken off:

...and the rockers removed:

...and the new ones installed!

Checking the pattern is centred on the valve stem:

And finally, before putting it all back together, I figured it'd be a good opportunity to clean the valve covers before they got covered back up again!

There we go, all done. It took maybe 90 minutes all up and it's not a big task, mainly just directly replacing the stock parts with aftermarket ones. She started first go, too, and settled into a nice idle. I gave her a drive around for a bit so the ECU could make some corrections and the new rockers would get lubricated properly... it went well and actually felt a bit smoother than stock. Nice.

Not quite sure what I want to do next but I'll be sure to post it up when I do... she's going to be one fast old wagon!

Cheers - boingk

 

[boingk]

Looking to fit a camshaft next as well as possibly a high stall in the auto.

For the cam I'm thinking the Lunati Voodoo 'High Lift' 60516: 219/223-duration, .625/.625-inches and 112 LSA. From what I've read its supposed to pull well up top as well as offering good torque through off idle and through the midrange. It won't win any dyno contests but should be a really good, strong street/strip cam.

Has anyone used this cam?

On converters... I know little about them. What would people recommend? Cam range is 1800-6500... stock converter be okay?

- boingk

 

[Husky]

With that Cam range I wouldn't bother touching the converter unless you are already doing something else with the gear box.

 

[boingk]

Thanks Husky, I haven't messed much with auto gearboxes before so wasn't completely sure.

The camshaft looks like a monster down low anyway, something like 40Nm gain at 3000rpm and a top of about 500hp. Be interesting to do a dyno session if/when I get it.

- boingk

 

[Zom]

Stock converter should be fine.

 

[boingk]

Thanks Zom, good to hear a few people saying its alright as the last thing I want is a boggy, lethargic car that suddenly goes insane at 3500rpm. I'm mostly looking at quite mild cams anyway but figured couldn't hurt to ask.

Camtech got back for my inquiry as well, they recommended a square pattern 221/221 @ .585" with the 1.8:1 rockers, sounds like it would be similar. Decisions, decisions...

- boingk

 

[vtchris]

Nice wagon mate so wish my was ls1 maybe oneday lol