What did i buy

[1stTimeV8]

Brought myself a lovely old girl 82 VH, lots of work had already been done. Big brakes, full suspension overhaul, 3/4s of the interior, extractors, cams, and what i was told was a 355 under the hood. Drove very nice had a heap of get up and go and sounded wicked but as this was my first v8 i didn't know what i was missing out on.
Took it to a great shop, first dyno 180 hp next day after some replacement bits 250 hp which is much better. They tell me there is no way it is a 355 just not enough torque and should be 300 hp+ is that the general consensus out there?

been looking through the threads with the engine and vin numbers trying to work out what i actually have got, maybe some one can help out.
engine
VR334765
bvh005194m

Thanks

[ari666]

250HP at the fly or at the wheels? 250HP from the wheels is pretty damn good. i am jealous...

250HP at the fly is around the same as mine, so itll be a modded 308.

there is no way to tell if its a stroker from the engine number. you will have to crack the sump and take some measurements.



looool! my book says that VR engines are high compression 253's:
4142cc's
9.0:1 CR
92.075mm bore
3.625mm stroke
power output 100kw@4200rpm
269nm@2000rpm.

clearly its not stock if its getting those power figures. have a quick look at the passenger side of the block and see if you can see 253 embossed on the side of it.

[Darren_L]

well you can easily check if it's a 253, it will be embossed on the side of the block - either 253 or 4.2L
my fairly mild 304 is good for 275rwhp, so a decent 355 should easily make 300rwhp, but just depends on the cam, whether it was dialled in correctly, intake manifold, carb setup etc

[1stTimeV8]

Thanks for the reply.

Yes that is HP at the wheels on a very new dyno standard shootout graph (252.4 to be precise). i will have a look at the block when I can.

[1stTimeV8]

The only numbers i could find on the engine are
vt424771
I I L3 with a clock pointing to 5 ?

So searching the forums that was or still is a 308 i think.

Thanks

[Not_An_Abba_Fan]

Not sure how acurate it will be, but you can measure the stroke with a thin piece of wire. Take a plug out and get the piston to TDC, insert the wire so it touches the top of the piston and put a mark at the edge of the plug hole on the wire, rotate the engine so the same piston is at BDC and push the wire down to touch the top of the piston and put another mark. Pull the wire out and measure it, a standard 308 is 77.7mm, a 355 stroker should be about 88.5mm.

[ari666]

vt424771

??? is it VR or VT??? VT is a VK black 308.

[1stTimeV8]

The papers say VR but the block says VT so i will go with the VT number.... I hadn't thought to compare them till you suggested looking on the block.