Another VK Wagz

[DANNY8]

Ok so me and me bro bought another VK wagz....not getting rid of the white one or anythin, it's just we wanted to try sumfin a little different and didn't wanna use the white wagz to try it in.

The paint isn't tooooo bad.....until ya get up close. But for this one we're just gonna polish the paint, chuck 14" steelies on it with chrome rings, and clean her up to look like a real clean original VK wagon. Gonna experiment a bit under the bonnet tho...

Hopefully should hit the streets within a few months....at least by the end of the year hopefully.

Anyways here's the beast here....we nicknamed it the Red Rocket! Bought it on Sunday.




Spent about half hour on it Monday, and 2night done a bit more. So far this is where we're at.

[ari666]

you are un-freakin-believable


love it

[walesy]

that bonnet will need ALOT of polishing! LOL, nice inj 5ltr... i done a vl wagon with inj 5ltr bout 5 yrs ago but had to sell it as an unfinished project :-(

[Sabbath']

Turbro???

Or...exhaust on the wrong way for a different reason?

[walesy]

Turbro???

Or...exhaust on the wrong way for a different reason?

good spot, i didnt even realise that... doesnt look like the best flowing header though :P

[clutch]

lol polish uncleared paint? needs respray.

lol @ exhaust header back the front

im amazed the old starfire could pull a wagon :O

[DANNY8]

1. The bonnet is rooted.

2. The paint has clear, it's just dirty as f**k in the pic coz I was sitting about 3m behind the tow car on a dirt road while raining so there's dirt spray all over it

2. It was a 202, not a starfire.

3. Manifolds are on the right way.

4. Flow isn't to important when it comes to forced induction (which is the reason I'm not to worried bout using a stock EFI manifold). No way near as important as it is with NA. Trust me, the log manifold WILL work.

The dummy motor is a 308 but it will all be going on a 253 to start with incase sumfin goes wrong....like melted pistons.

These beauties come off a near stock 308 that made 350rwkw at 13psi!

[DANNY8]

Started mounting one of the turbo's, but got me measurements slightly mixed up and she's sittin a bit to high. Easy fixed tho.

[VK SL 3800]

Will it melt the header tank? looks pretty close in the pics. It never ceases to amaze me where you find all your old commodores from, most of them look alright too, not just total pieces of crap.

[DANNY8]

Ya mean the overflow bottle? If so, not sure, if it melts it I'll put another in but in a diff spot.

There's still alot of old Commodores around. It's not wat ya know, but who ya know. I had 4 VK wagons alone lined up to look at. 2 people didn't get back to me in time, one was a bit overpriced (well I knew I'd find one better and cheaper), and then there's this one which we got.

[chrisso 82]

Hey Danny!!! This thing will be tough as !!!!!!

I know it will turn out as nice as the white one!!!!!


I CANT WAIT !!!!!!!!!!

[DANNY8]

Haha thx mate, I hope it does too. Paint on this isn't as nice as the white one.....but if this one gets a regency defect it won't hurt as much if we scrap it and buy another shell. Works out alot cheaper lol.

Both turbo's now mounted, just need to fit the wastegate flanges on each side. Gonna tilt the driver side turbo back a fraction so it looks similar to the passenger side turbo. Passenger side piping took about twice as long as the driver side coz it had to be made to go around the alternator....PITA that was lol. But it's done!

[ari666]

yeah man, those tube headers will be fine. they are marine headers yeah? my mate had a pair on his galaxie, replaced them with a full custom extractor setup (done by a pro-shop) and it made squat all difference. but he didnt have any snails

i also am amazed at how many cars you manage to find. amazed/jealous... at least it gives me something to read keep them pic comin' mate, and dont worry bout misery guts up there, he doesn seem to like anything about anyone. you know ill always be excited by your pics

[Jonno]

looks good mate, cant wait to see it finished



and loool thats not a starfire bahahaha

im amazed the old starfire could pull a wagon :O

[DANNY8]

looks good mate, cant wait to see it finished
and loool thats not a starfire bahahaha

Cheers buddy, I can't wait either.....should be fun lol.

yeah man, those tube headers will be fine. they are marine headers yeah? my mate had a pair on his galaxie, replaced them with a full custom extractor setup (done by a pro-shop) and it made squat all difference. but he didnt have any snails

i also am amazed at how many cars you manage to find. amazed/jealous... at least it gives me something to read keep them pic comin' mate, and dont worry bout misery guts up there, he doesn seem to like anything about anyone. you know ill always be excited by your pics

The old Commodores are definitely still out there aye! You mustn't look hard enuf lol.

Nah not marine manifolds, I made these ones myself out of a set of stock VN tube headers. Just lopped the pipes off a few inches after the flange and made them flow into the 2" pipe then welded them together. Needed to cut and rotate 3 of the pipes but overall was pretty easy. Easier then making the rest of the pipe from the manifolds to the turbo's lol...but even that wasn't hard, just took a bit of nutting out, especially the passenger side with the alternator.

[DANNY8]

Picked up most of the EFI bits still needed, and rekon I've even got the wiring sussed out so will try and make up a harness to join it up with the original loom. Still gotta move the battery to the back too.

Pretty much just the same pic as b4 except the EFI gear is on.


Started mucking around with designing the dump pipes, and have come to the conclusion that 2 3" pipes aren't gonna fit easilly down behind the motor. Have decided to bring the passenger side turbo forward a bit, then have the dump pipe exit through the inner gaurd, over the tyre and down underneath.....things could possibly get messy lol....and hope a cop never asks us to lift the bonnet coz I don't think it's gonna last too long on the road if they do!! Might have to play dumb and say the bonnet cable is broken or sumfin haha.

Anyways, I did actually do sumfin 2day, got one of the wastegates mounted....took all of bout 45 mins lol.

[DANNY8]

Have had to move the turbo's round a bit to make the dump pipes go out a bit easier. Done the passenger side. I thought the driver side would of been the easy one but it's being a c**t!!

Anyways here's the passenger side which I done this morning.

[ari666]

so um... the exhaust going straight into the wheel arch?


im not complainin' just clarifying

[DANNY8]

Yeah mate, engine bay is to tight to fit the 3" pipes down the back....could be done with a lot of stuffing around, but alot easier to go this way. Will go around the strut assembly (over the wheel) and down the back, will prolly use the flexible pipe for that bit lol. We're not doin jumps in it so it should be fine.

I've now finished pretty much all the exhaust for the engine bay. Only tacked most of it so I can get everything welded up by someone who knows how to weld better then me. I welded the manifolds and they didn't turn out the best...I'm not worried at all about the looks at this stage, but am worried about dags getting in the pipes, coz yeah don't want that shit goin thru the turbos lol.

[ari666]

aw dual pic fail

[DANNY8]

aw dual pic fail

huh? I don't get ya?

[Trav001]

The dummy motor is a 308 but it will all be going on a 253 to start with incase sumfin goes wrong....like melted pistons.

So EFI on a 253? arent the valves too big or is that a old wives tale as such cause that sounds freaking awesome :P

[DANNY8]

So EFI on a 253? arent the valves too big or is that a old wives tale as such cause that sounds freaking awesome :P

Nah that's a load of crap....well maybe a std size bore might not work but at the moment my white VK wagon has a 30thou 253 in it with VN heads. I sat the VN head on the motor with a soft spring installed and tested it and she was fine. So put the motor 2gether, put it in and she started and ran first crank. Ya can definitely tell the VN heads have bigger chambers coz starting it sounds like it has bugger all compression lol, and the motor ain't old so I'd hope it's not that lol. I got more info, pics and vids of the 253 with VN heads in my other wagon thread.

[DANNY8]

Well it's time to start on the motor now, here she is......red 253 out of a HJ Kingswood. Apparently it had been rebuilt at some stage so was hoping it didn't have std size bores incase the heads didn't fit. But yeah nothin special....just an old thrashed farm hack which had been sitting for a few years, till we got it (and it started first shot with a good battery and a squirt of "start ya bastard")


Pulled it down a yep, 30thou over so the VN heads will be sweet!!


Not rebuilding it. Just gonna give it a coat of paint, few new bits and chuck it together. The bottom end is staying as is.

[ari666]

yeah the proud owner and his weapon.

the other post was cos two of your pics didnt work.

also i know i have asked b4 and i know this isnt that thread, but what do i need to do to put the VH front on my vK? is the bonnet the same? is it just a case of grabbing some bars and reos, and drilling new mount holes? im thinking seriously bout doing it.... again.... cos i cant make my mind up about anything

am loving this wagon btw