engine mods for a 253?

[old mate]

hey i got a vb with a 253 and an aussie 4 speed in the shed and just wondering whether theres any more mods i can do to the motor so it actually moves haha before throwing a bigger one in there.

from memory it has:

quadrajet carby and standard 4 barrel manifold
hq cam timing gears
crow 5602 cam (not sure if thats what it is, i'll check it out)
hei dizzy
pacemaker extractors and free flow exhaust

at the moment, the engine comes into its power range at around 2700 - 2800 rpm. just after a bit more hp really, seems very flat, but it is only a 253.

[shiftySLE]

diff gears will make it feel like it has a lot more pull

[old mate]

true that, its got the stock 6 cyl open diff haha 3.08 ratio i think... or is it shorter. already sits at 2750 at 100kph though, and im not keen to go down the highway at over 3 grand at 100 considered it only revs to 5500rpm.

[GetToDaChopa]

I don't know if you can do much on the cheap with the engine but if there is i would not mind learning about it. I think you'd need to spend some big money on it even consider rebuilding it but then you might as well put a 304 in or something.

[shiftySLE]

yeah true that, i had 3.9's in an auto, close enough to 4000 on the hwy, fuel consumption dropped to a point where I nearly had to plan my trip from servo to servo, especially at todays prices

[Reaper]

hey i got a vb with a 253 and an aussie 4 speed in the shed and just wondering whether theres any more mods i can do to the motor so it actually moves haha before throwing a bigger one in there.

from memory it has:

quadrajet carby and standard 4 barrel manifold
hq cam timing gears
crow 5602 cam (not sure if thats what it is, i'll check it out)
hei dizzy
pacemaker extractors and free flow exhaust

at the moment, the engine comes into its power range at around 2700 - 2800 rpm. just after a bit more hp really, seems very flat, but it is only a 253.

Find yourself a brock manifold. They flow a ton better than the stockies. Besides that, take it to a carby specialist and get the carb and dizzy tuned to suit your cam. You will be surprized at the results. As far as carbs go the quaddy is excellent, just make sure you find a specialist who knows about them.

Reaper

[GetToDaChopa]

Also does anyone know of a device you can install to improve the spark in the engine. Can't remmebr what it is called (someone told me about it a while back) but it's supposed improve the ignition and produce a bigger stronger spark to ignite the fuel.

[Reaper]

Also does anyone know of a device you can install to improve the spark in the engine. Can't remmebr what it is called (someone told me about it a while back) but it's supposed improve the ignition and produce a bigger stronger spark to ignite the fuel.

MSD do a few ignition systems with very high energy coils. Is that what you mean?

Reaper

[GetToDaChopa]

MSD do a few ignition systems with very high energy coils. Is that what you mean?

Reaper

Yeah that's the one thanks Reaper. I believe you can get them at place like Autobarn and Supercrap auto?

[old mate]

Find yourself a brock manifold. They flow a ton better than the stockies. Besides that, take it to a carby specialist and get the carb and dizzy tuned to suit your cam. You will be surprized at the results. As far as carbs go the quaddy is excellent, just make sure you find a specialist who knows about them.

Reaper

i've got another manifold sitting around in the shed at the moment but i think it would be a bit over the top for a 253 (edelbrock torker) being a single plane, but it might give me a bit more in the top of the rev range.

yeah i totally agree with the quaddy comment, my old man is running one on his 360 stroker in a hg wagon and hes been playing with them for probably 20 ish years haha, i got him to tune it.

[DANNY8]

Out of all the mods we done to our 253, I rekon the best improvement were the heads.....were only on there for a while then built up a 308. But yeah I'd recommend heads, but obviously ya need to look at everything else as well, like exhaust, carby, ignition to get the full benefits of decent heads. I'd recommend looking around for a decent 2nd hand set, coz getting professional headwork done is veeery expensive.

[VKCOMMO]

308 possibly... lol

[NZVK308]

Good set of ignition.. and good tune.. remmber a 253 is only a destroked 308... everything is the same 253 (3.8inch bore) 308 (4inch bore ) manifold change exhaust set up?

[Reaper]

Memory of those things is fading but I'm sure you will find the bore size of the 253 is much smaller than the 308.

Reaper

[greenfoam]

Same bore as a 202, the stroke is the same as the 308 (but the crank is lighter). Ported heads, a small cam and a modified manifold to brock manifold spec will send a Torana well into the 13's

[Reaper]

Same bore as a 202, the stroke is the same as the 308 (but the crank is lighter). Ported heads, a small cam and a modified manifold to brock manifold spec will send a Torana well into the 13's

Come to think of it what you describe there is exactly what I had in one of my old Hatch backs.... It ran low 14's but hard launches were not possible due to the old Banjo type diff. 1 hard launch = whine. Second hard launch = massive bang and no go go . Fitted a 9" but smashed it before I could find out how fast it really would go.

Reaper

[tigervh]

i've got another manifold sitting around in the shed at the moment but i think it would be a bit over the top for a 253 (edelbrock torker) being a single plane, but it might give me a bit more in the top of the rev range.

The Edelbrock torquers go really well on the 253's with a good mid range cam. Another quick and dirty technique to improve the standard manifold is to fit a 1/2" spacer without the centre divider between the carbie and the manifold. You can also machine out the divider in the manifold. This essentially creates a single plane manifold with a larger plenum area. It improves mid to high range, but low range suffers. The thicker the spacer the better the result. The only limiting factor with this is bonnet clearance.

The Holden V8s suffer from chronic valve train wear. If it has done a few miles it good practice to replace the lifters and re-seat the valves.

[ari666]

unhelpful, but meh...

a good strong rope is the best mod. that way your boat wont float away while you are fishing.

my mechanic swears a 253 is will hold down anything up to a 36 foot yacht, but he reckons they drag the riverbed if there is a strong current.

[tigervh]

unhelpful, but meh...

a good strong rope is the best mod. that way your boat wont float away while you are fishing.

my mechanic swears a 253 is will hold down anything up to a 36 foot yacht, but he reckons they drag the riverbed if there is a strong current.

Blah blah blah, this line wasn't funny the first time let alone the 50 000 th time.