My Vh Vacationer - Ecotec

[Quivr]

Name: Matthew
Model: 1982 VH Vacationer Wagon
Colour: Beige
Bodykit: None
Engine Type: VS Ecotec V6
Engine Mods: Stock
Power: 168.8hp dyno from 3/11/07 - 15.22 @ 89.02mph
Exhaust: HM headers and 2.5" exhaust from Cat Back
Gearbox: Auto 4l06e
Diff: Single Spinner Small Sals.
Brakes: disks up front, drums at rear
Suspension: Stock
Wheels/Tyres: 205 wide on 15" chasers with 3 vs hubcaps :P
Interior: Vs Front Seats, VH rear seats Vinyl dyed dash, VS Cluster, vs shifter, new floor carpet
Other Mods: Power Steering, Removed Aircon, Hidden Wiring, Gas Bonnet Struts, SS Induction CAI, New Aerial, Relocate Battery to Boot, Cold Air Intake.
Stereo: Pioneer 6950ib Deck. 6.5" Eclipse Splits for Fronts, 6" Eclipse for Rear and 4 Channel Eclipse Amp
Build Period: Started May 2007
Cost: $1300 for VH, $850 for VS Wreck
Contacts: Me
Thanks: Mettam Mufflers, HUGE thanks to Justin (couldn't of done it with out ya), Beno, Dylan, My Olds and tha missus.
Future Mods: Vk side mirrors and side indicators, remove rust, Venetians, Vt Brake Conversion, VS GTS front and rear seats, reversed plenum and GT35 turbo.

What do ya think

[Quivr]

Engine Bay

Front

Dyno Chart

[greenfoam]

Awesome great way to keep the oldies alive and usefull (without making you bankrupt with all the fuel drinking) for another decade or two. Bet it's given a few VN's a wake up call too

[vkwalks39]

Hi mate. I own a vh Sedan, and I want to put an ecotec motor into it. How hard of a job is it? Were you able to do it by yourself? What hassles did you have? Was there any mods you had to make? Cheers!

[Cobez]

Got any interior pics?

[Quivr]

cheers fellas

vkwalks39 - Its a pretty straight forward job. Best way to do it is buy a damaged vs commodore and transplant everything for the conversion across. The wiring is probably the hardest but i redid all the power and earths, hid the wiring in the engine bay, relocated the fuses under the dash, relocated the battery to the boot and i am using the vs dash cluster. If ya got any more questions just ask.

More pics





Car is planned to be going in for a few changes in the next few months. Just waiting on ok from the boss ( missus ) but plan is for a single turbo, suspension rebuild, vlt diff and transmission work.

Plan is also to remove rust and give it a full repsray (thinking the new ve blue) but not til after turbo setup. Hope to have it completed before Powercruise

[vkwalks39]

G'day!Did you need a engineer certificate for the V6 conversion? You mentioned that the wiring was difficult to do. Did you do it yourself? Or did you get a professional to help you? Did you have to do any mods to the tailshaft? If so what were they? Did you use the vh's or vs's front struts? Last of all, one more question. How does the car drive with the v6 in it? Thanks for your advice!!! Cheers!!!

[EvoVIIIJDM]

Very interesting conversion. Bet it would go well and get a few biwildered looks as you burn off past guys.

[Quivr]

You will need an engineer cert for the conversion. I havent yet due to the planned turbo work that will be going on. I will just get it done at the one time.

A mate of mine did the wiring for me. I gave him a hand but he did most of the work. I think you can buy wiring kits for the conversion from V6 Conversions. But i you want a car elec to do it they may charge upwards of $1000.

Im using the Vh tailshaft. Didnt modify it. You may want to replace the uni joint thou. Mine after a few months started to make a lot of noises but that probably due to the driving and the old uni joints. The front part of the tailshaft fits into the 4 speed and bolts up to the tailshaft like normal.

Im using the Vh struts. No need replacing what works. Just bolt the k frame up and away ya go.

[vkwalks39]

Thanks mate, for info. cheers

[Quivr]

Well i have just bought an L67 engine in preparation of the turbo setup. It had a little fire incident but i only want it for its bottom end. The tool that pulled it out of the car must have used the snout as a lifting point as the snout has snapped off the blower. Mate was running 20psi with a whipple into a L67 so it should be able to handle the turbo for a little while. Only planning on running 8psi to start with and then go up from there.

Tossing up between the T04z and the Gt3582r atm.

Will upload pics later today

[Pav]

This is an awesome car, especially with the ecotec in it, fast and economic lol.
Btw how did you manage to make the VS cluster fit in the dash?

I noticed ur in WA also, wherebouts are you?

[Quivr]

There is quite a bit of room where the original dash is. Fits quite nicely. will get someone to make me a fibre glass surround to mold it to the dash better.

I'm South of the River. Armadale way

Was hoping for my car to have progressed a little more but at the moment still waiting for bank and i am currently in the progress of completing a ecotec 5speed conversion into my girlfriends vk. Will eventually get the supercharger of the L67 but plan is to get it running so my car can go to the painters.

Regards

[Grennan]

Reminds me of a guy we had cruise with us a bit last year, had a VH V6 from a VN. Took a lot of us by surprise when he gunned it and was keeping up with the v6 boys.

Very sneaky bet youll get a lot of looks when you hear the whine or spooling from under the hood.

[Quivr]

Got my intercooler today. 400x300x100. Should fit without chopping any of the front bumper

[weston]

Hello there i was happy to see the result of what you have done with the old girl, i am myself in the process of a rebuild on a VH and have updated the motor and box to series one VN. I have also pretty much done the same sort of things as you have done on the wagon but i wanted to run the VK Calais starwars dash but after reading peoples reports and the like on this way have decided to go with the VN cluster as the VN loom is in use in the car. I would be very greatful if you could shed some more light on how you went about putting the VS cluster in the dash as with mine i was going to mod the dash top by cutting it and riseing it up a bit to fit the VN cluster. I would be very greatful if you can help thanks.

[weston]

Hey would just like to kknow how you exactly went in fitting the speedo cluster into the dash and how you have it sitting as in did you make a bracket to hold it? I ask as i am wanting to do the same i have a VH sedan and have tranplanted the motor and bo (VN series 1) and also using the whole VN loom and want to mount the VN cluster so i dont have to modify the dash hope you can help. thanks

[Quivr]

The cluster is just sitting there. i never properly mounted it as i was planning on running an autometer dash. I just removed the orginal vs wiring harness and just wired in the ones i needed. it all worked mint.

[Quivr]

Wagon was taken off the road about 18 months ago for a full rebuild and things have been going slowly since then.

[stickym]

thats nice work mate . keep up the good workk

[vnformula6]

hows it comming along?