My 85 VK V6 build.

[Shaun_VK]

Hey guys, just thought i would throw up a thread and some pictures of my VK V6 conversion.

This is my first ever project car and i have had a lot of learning curves so far, I started to undertake the conversion about 4 months ago, being only 17 i was still at school which limited the time i could spend working my my old girl also working every weekend made it even harder. being my first project i have had basically no idea of what i was in for, i spent a few weeks reading up on the conversion on here and also some web pages i found on Google. After i felt i was ready to tackle the conversion i set out to find a donor car.

A few weeks later i found a VN wagon that had been flipped on its roof (apparently the owners thought it would be easier to pick the car up with a fork lift to service it rather then put it on a car hoist and woosh gust of wind flipped it off the forks and on its roof). The wagon had everything i was looking for a stock V6 with a T5 on the back and a good old VN LSD. $500 later, I picked up the wagon and took it to my girl friends place, due to not telling mum i was buying yet another old "bombed out" car as she calls them.

And the conversion began!
Being a bit unsure of where to start i started off stripping all saveable body panels and interior of of the wagon. i then started on the loom taking out the ECU and engine loom. A few days later i started on the fuel tank, lines and filler neck. after waiting a few weeks for the girls friends dad to get home we finally got the wagon into his shed with the help of his bob cat and a few mates and I started dismantling the front end. after about a hour the hole front end, gear box and all were ready to be taken out.

Using the bob cat to lift up the Wagon shell we slide the hole K-frame, suspension, motor and gearbox all out in one and put it on a trailer to take to my house just up the road to be worked on. not needing the Wagon shell anymore basically being a empty shell, getting the LSD diff out was a easy task. once again the wagon ended up on its roof and the good old 9" grinder had the diff off in a matter of minutes. I squabbled with my self for a few days about doing a diff conversion and using the wagon diff on my VK but after much though I decided to sell it.. got $200 for it so I was happy i had made a bit of money back already.

After disposing of the VN shell I started working on the motor, had no idea what i was in for....This was the first time ever i had pulled apart a motor to a bear block, i worked my way through with the limited amount of tools i have and finally got it all done. The rear main was gone, so i was happy i pulled it apart before i put it in my VK.

The VK!
Starting on my VK was the next step unfortunately the girlfriends dad had gone back to work in WA for another month so i was stuck in a bit of a corner. After a weeks weeks of harping my best mates mum she agreed to let me borrow her shed for a few weeks to get the motor out of my VK. So the back yard mechanics began! after the front end was ready to come out about five of my mates and I devised an amazing plan using a rope, the roof pillar's and mum's (best mates mum's VR) we came up with a pully system to lift up the front end of the VK to slip the hole front end out from under neath again, it worked thank god.... Although next time i think we will do it the right way. I took the Vk front end to my place and also put it in my shed for safe keeping. the original plan was to put the VN set up all in one on the K-frame into the VK but things went south and mother needed her shed back so i had to move the VK shell back to my house.

This was a months ago since then i have put the new fuel line, tank, filler neck in the VK, set up a power steering rack and rebuilt the bottom end of the V6 i was lucky enough to have a bit of money left over to buy a 69mm throttle body, mild cam, flat top pistons and high ratio roller rockers for the v6. tomorrow a freind and i will be putting the final touches on the V6.

I still have a few queries im not sure on though so any help would be great. My main one is the Gearbox mounts and cross member. i think i remember reading that custom mounts need to be made and also some welding of Angeline metal to the cross member.. Any help on this would be great appreciated.