VK auto, diff and engine rebuild.

[Stretchomatic]

hey guys, thinking of fixing up my vk berlina.
its a 308 with a 3 spd auto and standard diff.

what i want to know is where are the best places to get rebuilds and a bit of toughening up done. like are there particular places that can package this gear? or should i source decent parts and get my local mechanic to do it...or would u advise me and my mates doing it? (mates range from 1st yr to 4th year mechanics).

so yeah, details, places, parts, costs?

i have no idea, i read car mags and its all LS1 this and ecotec that...nothin relevant to my VK!

cheers guys, jason.

[ari666]

what do ya wanna start with?

personally i think that trimatics are a great box when they are built properley. i got mine done for 800. the clutches in them tend to be a bit soft but my guy got a 'kit' which included bigger clutches etc, so now it THUMPS into gear, man it shifts hard, chirps into 2nd and third when your foot is planted

see if you can get a 3.55 LSD cos they are great too, you will be doing 3000 rpm at 100 which is acceptable if your motor and cooling is up to scratch. but launches become hela fun with tall gears.

and your engine, yeah, well... the sky is the limit there really. both trimatic and salsbury diffs will be good for a mild build, but when you start pushing RWHP figures they will break. stay in and under 200RWHP and you should be fine as long as you treat it like a 25 year old girl.

a good set of headers, holley carb (i used to be a big quaddy fan but have since seen the light) and mild cam 495 lift and 222 duration should get you by without going for heavier valve springs etc. but you will need a 2500 stall converter.

yeah. then its all about headwork from there on in, bigger vlaves, heavier springs, throats done, three angle valve seats, port matching etc etc. how far you wanna go with it?

all of that is my opinion and i am ready for others to flame

[Stretchomatic]

hey mate sounds awesome. yeah wasnt looking at a fully blown drag car, but i do want a decent lsd diff and a solid motor...like for example a summernats cruise car, nothing special, but it can lap all day and chuck skids with out blowing up.

i like the idea of your gearbox, sounds like it can handle a whooping. and 800 sounds like a good price.
how much does a diff setup like yours set you back...i be looking at more driveable ratios though, probly standard ratio but a bit more solid. and lsd.

cheers for the info.

[v8commy]

have a look at your diff if the backing plate is oval on the drivers side its a 10 bolt meaning 28 spline good strong diff if not find your self a 10 bolt or a vl turbo or vl v8 diff also being 28spline coz if its a standard 25 spline diff not really worth converting it to lsd and i would go for a 345 355 ratio myself but its upto you i went from 260 to 345 made a huge difference i wanted a 3.9 or 4.11 but im happy with the 345 good luck anyway

[AndyVKSSA]

im runnin a 10 bolt diff with 3.55 gears and drives great matched with a 286 cam. if your wanting to work your motor a bit you dont realy wanna stick with a standard ratio.

[Stretchomatic]

fair enough, yeah im pretty sure its a 10 bolt.

[ari666]

i am slowly learning that car mods should be done from the rear of the car and work forward. if i could do my car again in would be in this order.

1. change to 3.55lsd
2. electric fuel pump
3 service tailshaft, i.e CHECK THE CENTER BARING lol
4. shift kit and new clutches for tranny
5. minimum 2500 max 3000 rpm stally
6. trans cooler
7. thermo fans
8. headers
9. roller rockers

only then can you really choose a cam. a lot of cams that offer good overlap and lift will require a stall converter and tall diff gears to start with. if you dont have them then you re wasting your time with an overlapped cam.

tall diff gears and a stall converter will not hurt a stock engine, so you can still drive around while you save bikkies for your motor. but not having them may lose you a bit of your power band in a modded block

then, you can move on to;

1. heads
2. heads
3. heads
4. lol
5. compression ratio, i.e. pistons, zero deck, head gasket type etc etc

now it will be time to choose cams. once you have your cr, port size, vlave size, diff gears and stall you are ready to pick a cam. so this is the next stage

1. pick cam
2. adjustable timing gears
3. install correct valve springs
4. regraph dizzy
5. mallory 6 AL (i canno recommend this enough, these boxes have magical powers)
6. pick correct heat range/gap spark plugs. (only really need to suss this out if you are running a silly comp ratio though) i think stock is 5 and 15 (5 heat 15 gap) but you may wanna go colder and smaller so 6-11 off the later model EFI's

these next bits really need to be bought after you have done all the rest of the stuff. they will need to be worked out on the final power output of the motor. there are a few variables and they need to be considered. i.e. street, strip or drag, rev range of power. rev range the engine will be spending most of its time etc etc. you dont really want a race engine that has a power band of 3000-7000 if its an auto and you are driving to work every day, cos you will prolly only go over 2500 once or twice if you drive in traffic. then you are just wastng power and fuel.

6. inlet manifold (dual plane, single plain, hi-rise, etc)
7. carby and 14" open air cleaner (quaddy, 600, 650, 750, 850, methanol lol)
8. exhaust system. (single 2.5, single 3, twin 2, twin 2.5 etc)

i think thats it. i bet i have left something out though.

[shiftySLE]

Hi all, this info is pretty good but tall gears refers to lower ratios, ie. 3.08:1 are taller than 3.9:1
most people get confused as in tall must mean higher number

op - I had 3.9:1 in a vh trimatic and it was crap for everyday driving, takes off was good but your revving at almost 4000rpm at just on 100kms, you'll also use a hell of a lot more fuel.

[v8commy]

yeh true about the fuel yeh ive done the diff next will be a brand new tailshaft one piece? then t700 build into trimatic case with 3000 stall converter was quoted around $3000 then 383 stroker with a vortec supercharger plus all the little bits along the way then full bear metal respray so yeh thats what ive got planned if some shit driver dosent just drive into it and fully write it off (some people shouldnt be on the road) let me know what ya think

[shiftySLE]

how do you change the pattern from turbo to trimatic, (and BTW, your next post will be 308, useless info)

[v8commy]

you dont i spoke to mv autos the guy said that a t700 could be built into my trimatic casing buddy

[ari666]

?!?!?!?!?

really"?!?!

the trimatic box is TINY compared to the turbo. plus the crank needs to be modded to accept the turbo stally, im really keen to see the results of that mod, might have to do it myself...

oh, yeah. i have a 327 chev now. what the hell do i care? lol.

[v8commy]

haha sick i could put a 350 with 400 fulie heads in mine but dont wont to get defected and have to get engineered