V6 Conversion For Vb To Vk

[Mickey Maj]

if you are keen on the VR/VS suspension setup then i might possibly suggest using the aftermarket adjustable top strut mounts as were used in the build up of VU for U (ute)by street machine magazine. in the later model commoderes they did away with the strut mount like the VS where it's bolted in with 7 or 8 bolts and they spot welded the strut mounting cup directly onto the strut tower. in the later model commodores they drill out the spot welds, drill 3 holes to suit the adjustable strut mount and he presto the job is done. i bleieve the 3 mounting bolts are the same as the VB-VP strut towers etc so should go straight in.

The adjustable strut tops you hav mentioned sounds like a good idea, i shall look into that.:thumbsup:

 

[STEALTHY™]

I'd like to add, i did this conversion in my VK. The tailshaft was just a case of using the front half of the VN tailshaft (out of the gearbox) with the rear half of the VK tailshaft.

The car was a wagon, but i didn't think they were different until VN


Also, this should be made a sticky, if it isn't already.

 

[vk3800]

I'd like to add, i did this conversion in my VK. The tailshaft was just a case of using the front half of the VN tailshaft (out of the gearbox) with the rear half of the VK tailshaft.

The car was a wagon, but i didn't think they were different until VN


Also, this should be made a sticky, if it isn't already.

I've a few peole say that you can split the tail shaft and use one half from each. But when doing mine the two shafts where different diameter and bolt holes didn't line up.
Mine was one of the earlier VK's, so maybe the tail shaft's where changed to simliar to what was used in the VN.

 

[STEALTHY™]

I forgot to say, my diff is a disk rear, so that might have something to do with it, aswell as the car being a V8 (before the transplant) and a late 85 model

 

[DANNY8]

I've a few peole say that you can split the tail shaft and use one half from each. But when doing mine the two shafts where different diameter and bolt holes didn't line up.
Mine was one of the earlier VK's, so maybe the tail shaft's where changed to simliar to what was used in the VN.

That's a good point. I'm not sure bout the VN's, but the VL used a slightly larger in diameter tailshaft, coz when I put the VL diff under my VH, I couldn't bolt the rear section of the VL tailshaft up to the front of my VH tailshaft, so I had to use the rear section of a VK tailshaft which was running a Borgy diff.

Next time I see my bro I might get under his VN with my digital veneer caliper and measure it up, then measure my VH and VK tailshafts and I'll post up the results.

 

[Mickey Maj]

Yeah you need to use the rear section of a VK V8 tail shaft as it has the bigger uni's and cv joint and will bolt up to the vn shaft where as the 6 cylinders are a smaller cv joint and uni's...

 

[Mickey Maj]

• If you use an auto box, make sure you connect the speed sensor. If you don’t the car will shut down at about 45km/h as the computer thinks you doing 245km/p

I used the auto box in mine and comlpletely snipped the speedo out of the wiring harness and it has no worries wot so eva doing over 100 km/h, wasnt game to go any faster coz it got no doors or windscreen lol

 

[vk3800]

OK so the tailshaft.

1. if the car is an earlier model it will most likely have the smaller diameter tail shaft and it would be easier to fit the VN shaft after being shortened.
2. if the car is a later model, it would probably have a similar tail shaft to the VL & VN. This being the case you could change the front half to the VN.
3. if the car is a V8, you could probably change the front half to the VN

 

[Immortality]

early VK's had the salisbury diff and the later VK's had the borg warner diffs. different driveshafts to suit from memory. better using the borgwarner diffs. that way you can get the 4 spider LSD units from later model cars that fit straight in etc. the salisbury diffs only ever came with a 2 spider LSD from memory. also, there is a much larger range of gearing options for the borgwarner diff also

 

[yobbo88]

Does the Aussie 4 speed gearbox found in the earlier commodores bolt up to the v6 engine? i dont want to change my car to an auto and vn etc manuals are pretty rare and on top of that i could keep my current driveline? Im gettin a bit itchy to do a conversion ive been reading for months and the most affordable for me is the v6 conversion. 5L are so darn expensive...

Edit: Also my car being a VH what is involved in the wiring side of things? does the ecu of the VN control anything other than the engine? theres obviously no existing wiring to adapt into. ie would any wires go through the firewall or would it all be in the engine bay?