78 Vb 253

[aghatas]

I got my hands on my grandads old 4sp vb, it has a 253 red motor. if i get a blue 308 will it drop straight in?

[SL/ENUT]

Yes it can drop straight in. Well you need to make sure the blue 308 has a flywheel.
But before you do that, remember mint condition VB V8s are very rare these days.

[burnz]

I got my hands on my grandads old 4sp vb, it has a 253 red motor. if i get a blue 308 will it drop straight in?

yes no modes nesesary
but whats wrong with a 253 lotta potenial

[Goon]

Keep the 253 mate if there nothing wrong with it, though i did hear they scrpeed the 253 project around the time the VK 202 came out but i also did hear they went hard i there time!

As SL/ENut said about v8 vbs being rare, well you might have one under your owndership now just look after her

[aghatas]

thanks for replys, it's in ok condition, my grandad gave it to my uncle who had it resprayed, put in new carpet and converted it to dual fuel. then i got it! bit of a family heirloom. what kind of potential is there for a 253? it has the original engine but has low compression in one of the cylinders, was thinking of rebuild but thought if i'm gonna spend the money and time i might as well rebuild a 308 while the car is still on the road and drop it in when i'm done. want to keep the old thing for a few years, who knows one day i might pass it along. i live in melb at the moment but i'm going to duntroon next year so i'll be back and forth for a few months. want the commodore purring!

[burnz]

the 253 packes a wholop when done right
the 308 has a 4" bore
the 253 can go 335
the 308 can go 383
both gotta lotta powa

[aghatas]

really? i thought the 253 could only go about 315. using a 5.7 hsv 3.48" crank and a re-bore to 60 thou.

[aghatas]

what works needed to get stock engine out to 335?

[burnz]

really? i thought the 253 could only go about 315. using a 5.7 hsv 3.48" crank and a re-bore to 60 thou.

take the bore 3.75' use 400 sb rods - 335

[aghatas]

cheers mate.
think i might have a go at it..
what sort of compression ratio would that give me?
you recon i should do the valves while i'm at it? i run on lpg quite a lot and it be good to not have to worry anymore about lead replacement too.. just go 98 ulp. what are somethings i should change while i pull it down.

[burnz]

if ya gonna run Lpg then use
vn/vt 304 heads (no vavle lube needed)
Lpg only 12.5:1 comp ok (lpg=115/118 oct)
9.5 if petrol/lpg
the rest is up to you use your imagination
(we can all tell different thing to use but then it's not your build go for it)
do what u feel is right there is no wrong

[aghatas]

thanks mate,

[aghatas]

using vn/vt heads means i'll have to use the camshaft, intake and exhaust manifolds for a vn to vt. i'll need a universal gasket, vn rocker covers and an aftermarket intake manifold for my carby and prob a new dizzy.
does that sound about right?

[burnz]

using vn/vt heads means i'll have to use the camshaft, intake and exhaust manifolds for a vn to vt. i'll need a universal gasket, vn rocker covers and an aftermarket intake manifold for my carby and prob a new dizzy.
does that sound about right?

use the dizzy,intake,rockers cover
only because you want to
not because you have to

[aghatas]

thanks mate.
i'm gonna go with reco blue heads so i can use my extractors.
head wise do 253's need any work or is the stock blue heads fine on my red motor.

[burnz]

thanks mate.
i'm gonna go with reco blue heads so i can use my extractors.
head wise do 253's need any work or is the stock blue heads fine on my red motor.

i'd look at the 304 vn/vt they breath better
and still use your extractors and intake manifold

[vn88calais]

253 is the bomb man, why spend money when u have one thats good enough anyway IMO...

cheers, Todd

[aghatas]

will vn heads bolt on to my vb-vl pacemaker extractors?

[SL/ENUT]

Nope you need to get VN-VT EFI304 paceys

[tigervh]

Mate I wouldn't take anything that Burnz clown says too seriously. 315cu in is the furthest you can go with a 253 Thats a with a 60 thou over bore and a 3.48in stroke. To get the 335cu in he's talking about he's assumming you can use a 3.75 inch stroke, which you can't. You can't get enough clearance at the bottom of the bores with out hitting water. You are correct about having to use a different cam, intake and exhaust manifold, and rocker covers with the 304 heads. As the arrangment of the ports are different. If you use the blue heads you wll need to use the blue manifold as the Egr and cross over ports are different. When you get your heads reconditioned it would be an excellent idea to get hardend valve seats fitted since leaded petrol is no longer avaliable and your also using LPG. This isn't expensive.

[253@7k]

As people have said 253's go very hard. I currently have a 253 in my ute that will soon be copping a garrett turbo charger. It is rebuilt with ACL pistons and I will be using thicker head gaskets to lower compression, an edelbrock manifold and a 600 holley. I am hoping to run about 6-8 psi and see what sort of power that brings. Through my rambling the moral of my tale is that a lot can be done to the 253 and it is not a bad engine. No no need to go to a 308.

[aghatas]

thanks for the replys, i got a Holden 4 barrel 308/253 Pollution Manifold - KC castings - performance manifold with an egr port that says it fits all 253/308 motors. just getting parts ready now for my rebuild after june exams. so far got paceys, quadrajet, manifold, still looking for a set of reco blue heads and will get acl rebuild kit, don't know yet if its worth getting race series or not see how i go.
cheers

[chevnut]

no questions asked.....i would just spend my money on rebuilding the 308 in my opinion.