Vs dash conversion - Firewall - ecotech swap - vs stato front end conversion
Hey everyone a few ideas about my car.
Its Currently a vn powered by a buick, t5 manual.
Has a vq dash conversion, a have everything for vq rear end, ie bumper garnish ect.
Vy seats
My ideas include:
A VS stato front end conversion
A VS Stato dash conversion.
An ecotech conversion attachinng the t5.
Now i have a number of questions.
-Has anyone ever done a vn to vs stato front end conversion? i would love to see pics
-Beacuse im changing to ecotech and to a vs stato dash im considering doing a firewall swap that way i can run climate control ect. I have seen this done once before however i cant find it anywhere!!!
By doing the vs motor, dash, loom and front end there shouldnt be any dramas with the wiring as i can run a vs loom?
What is needed to install a t5 from a vn to an ecotech? i know i need a vs manual flywheel and a custom y peice however is there anything else?
I plan to finish the lot in a blue, or maybe a blue and black two tone. Decent home respray.
Any help would be appreciated.
Budget:
Vs shitter: runner, use firewall and motor, sell rest. $200 - $500 make a fair bit back
Vs Stato Dash - door trims, dash - $200 maybe a little cheaper if i hunt around
Vs Stato Front end - Not sure Hopefully not to much
The other option is do motor and dash swap and leave out the front end swap till later, this will mean i will have to re wire the vn loom though.
ideas and throughts!
plan to organise it all and start peicing it together, carry it all out in a week or two at the end of year (finish year 12)
Well it wont be done in a weekend or 2 thats for sure.
Not hard, very time consumeing and unless your great with a welder itl be hard to get the firewall in, But after that its all bold back up.
Windscreen out 2 bolts and alot of glue will see the firewall out ( will need to be welded in and welds painted )
Loom easy, the rest will bolt in.
The paint alone will take a couple of weeks if you plan to do a " decent " home job. 3 colour shit loads of clear and a rub between each coat left to bake in a hot shed for a week if not more.
Well ive had a good think and im thinking the best way would be to do it in stages.
Old motor and dash out: one after
windscreen and firewall out.
I know a few people who weld as a living, like my father in law is a boiler maker and makes all sorts of stuff. It will need to be welded with a mig right? basically he will be able to do it.
Once thats in maybe smooth some stuff, strut towers, firewall welds. and prime, paint, clear the bay and wall.
At this stage In between painting the bay i will work on fitting the upper dash and the prepping the motor and loom.
Drop motor in, and run loom. Connecting up everything. Finish fitting dash.
With the vs firewall in can i just bolt everythinig up such as climate?
With a vs dash and motor fitted, as well as vs loom do i run a vs lvl 3 cluster or vn? vs is my guess.
So to keep it shorter im thinking ill paint the bulk of the car after its together and driveable.
Im tossing up wether or not to do the vs stato front end. if so it can all be painted off the car. If i dont run vs front what chages need to be made to the wiring? is it just the headlights?
Heres a vs Stato front end conversion:
I think with a vq rear end and vn ss side skirts it would look mint. Chrome window moulds, nice 18's, 19's, stato dash and ecotech!
What i want for my car.
So for the ecotech conversion i should just need somethibg like this: Holden V6 Flywheel to suit Ecotec to T5 Gearbox - eBay V6 Engines, Engines, Components, Car Parts, Accessories, Cars, Bikes, Boats. (end time 04-Jun-10 21:47:20 AEST)
and my t5 will fit and run the way it should?
Yeah mate, Thats the one.
Sounds like you have it saughted, and yes, If the firewall is changed EVERYTHING vs will bolt up as per stock.
For the front end, you may need the VS front door's the front guards are tubed more then the VN ones.
I have a full VR interior includeing rear doors In my VP used teh vp loom and modded to suit, even the motor went with the swap. T5 manual also.
Imho it was well worth it, makes the car look alot better on the inside.
ƃuoɹʍ ʇsnɾ sı sıɥʇ
heard a rumor that there are still about...... 8 brand new VR/VS firewalls for sale from Holden.
Removing the firewall can be done in about 2 hours with minimal effort.
The trick is to cut the firewall out first, leaving about 50mm of a strip left around the base, still glued into the rest of the car - then drill a hole in a bit of the remaining strip, smash a d-shackle through it, and tug at it with an engine crane
Tail-lights will be slightly different loom - I can't remember if the VS has any lights on the actual boot lid?
Not sure if you'll run into issues with the central locking - seeing as the VS runs a 2 stage locking setup (I imagine it should be fine, though)
Be sure you get a BCM and matched keyhead out of the VS, too - to avoid troubles in the future.
Im trying to keep things on the cheaper side of things so ill probably end up just using a 2nd hand vs firewall.
What does everyone think my cheapest option will be?
1- buy a vs statesman thats been rear ended. get everything i need. loom, firewall, motor, dash, door trims, front end.
2- Buy dash and door trims seperately. buy a vs shitter to use motor and firewall out of.
3- buy everything seperate (would prefer to have a running motor to begin with as in not by a motor on its own).
Vn-Luke your pics are great thanks a heap! so with the vn one out you do the same to the vs and then slot it in? does it shit right in as in no shaping? then just have it welded?
With the bcm and key head can this be linked to an aftermarket alarm and central locking?
Can i run a vs steering column? any problems attaching to the rack? i know the joining sleaves are different from vn to vp so im worried ill run into trouble.
I did think about the tail lights, shouldnt be to hard to work it out if i have any troubles.
Do you think you could get the firewall swap done in half a day? 6-7 hours? just trying to organise a time frame.
Do i use vs engine mounts? do they just line up?
While the cars on the road i can work on the ecotech getting it reday right, few sensors need to be changed, a whole in the manifold welded over?
The more i think about this the keener im getting. everything seems do able, once the firewall is swapped its all pretty much plain sailing, swapping the vs parts over by the sounds of it. And it doesnt sound to costly, should be able to sell my manual vn motor for a bit, my vq dash ect.
Davo VP do you have a thread for your car? had a look but couldnt see it. would love to see some pics of your conversion!
ƃuoɹʍ ʇsnɾ sı sıɥʇ
Originally Posted by vnsmanual
The firewalls are 100% exchangable. fit right in, no mods.
it's going to be hard to pull the 'donor' one while keeping it in good enough nick to make it fit back in just nice. - I can suggest cutting out that entire section of the donor car and then doing it while it's all out. ... Failing that, you can cut as much of the glue as you can and try engine crane out the firewall, or use a hydralic jack on the inside to push up on it and try 'break' the glue away.
Yes you run a VS steering column - which gives your VN adjustable steering position
Yes your alarm can be linked to BCM and keyhead - word of warning though, if you want everythign to work mint, stick with as much factory stuff as possible.
I would definitely buy a written off statesman - that way you get the correct loom(s) and everything will work perfectly - if you get a fancy dash but exec loom, you'll quickly find a lot of things don't have provision in the wiring etc.
If you are going with a squeko-tech, you should also use the factory engine loom and ECU that comes with the donor car. - no need to tap manifolds or do anything - just plug and play.
There's a fair bit of info floating around from when I done pretty much the same thing here: VN Luke's VN
Only other thing you need to be careful about when welding the thing in etc; Remember that the factory glue also acts as a sealant. Make sure you CAKE all the joins with good sealant - ESPECIALLY around the edges of the 'plenum' part of the firewall. - This is where all the water from the windscreen runs down when it rains
Alright so it may be hard to keep it square? its doable though isnt it?
Whats a rear ended v6 stato worth? im thinking my best bet would be the auctions.
No mate i dont, Never made one, Its just a VP vacationer with shiny paint and a VR berlina interior etc.
Just picture A vr interior in side a VP tehe :P
Im thinking im going to do it in stages.
Outside first- Hopefully really soon. Find a stato front end and fit it. Also fit the VQ rear bumper and ss lower skirt and some vn ss side skirts.
Maybe just colour coded to my cars colour now as the paints been re done recently or redo in turismo blue!
Need some help on sort of vs stato front end i should be looking for, are vs and vr front bumpers, guards and bonnets the same?
I wnat what MEANVN has as his front end, caprice grill ect.
have a look in my thread i have done all what your wanting to my VN
i have full vr caprice front with lower lip and it all bolts up with no probs.
vr caprice dash and doors. vq caprice electric seats,vq caprice roof linning with radio controls,speakers and mirrors.
vr s2 statesman loom and bcm vq sv90 5ltr
so i have full electrics in and working.i also have a vq statesman heater(hvac)box for climate control
modded wagon rear bumper with vr statesman number plate holder with lower lip and full statesman sides
remember the vr vs commodore front guards are different to satesman/caprice ones. you need statesman/caprice or toyota lexen guards.
Thanks for that, i have been watching your thread for ages now, pity it was sold.
I pretty much wanna do everything you did but have a vq rear bumper and skirt.
I wanna keep my current roof lining for now and my vy seats.
Did you change firewalls? or did you do the vent style mods? anything else needed to bolt up to vn firewall?
Can i run a full vr caprice/stato loom and still connect up to a vq climate?
If yes then i may just run the vn firewall and mod the dash to fit accordingly.
can i connect up the vr dash and loom to my vn buick 3.8? i plan to change to a ecotech eventually but this wont be for a while.
Are you running a vs cluster or vn?
Lastly what did your bonnect, bar, grill and guards set you back?
also your dash and door trims?
Ive been planning to send you a pm for a while in regarsd to painting. just after some pointers and times, did you paint yours in acrylic?
Cheers
the front bumper is new which is 450 rrp
spot lights will cost 300-600
indicators 60 each 2nd hand or 110 new each
front reo bar 30
grill 200
guards were 85 each
bonnet was 250
lights were 350
if your running the vn loom you need to make a patch loom for the vr/vs headlights to work.
my hvac works with the vr loom just need to re pipe the demister which is the easier part,
the firewall is original still with the vq hvac box.
the 3.8 will still run with the vr statesman loom just needs a few patch wires i have a vq cluster moded to suit the vr loom
but if your serious and want to do a complete loom swap and have patch looms. my best advice is to contact BUDWIZER on this forum as he has done many dash.loom and many patch looms even made his own complete loom for his cars. he will come out if your in melb or so and is highly recomended and you will like the pricing he was the main person who helped me with all mine
I should be able to get out of it cheaper than that though right? like usuing second hand shit.
is there a differnce in the bumpers? like vr caprice to vr stato to vs caprice to vs stato?
ugly yellow indicators
VR VS HOLDEN STATESMAN FRONT BUMPER - eBay Bumper Bars, Exterior, Car Parts, Accessories, Cars, Bikes, Boats. (end time 08-Jun-10 17:19:13 AEST)
reo
COMMODORE VR VS FRONT BUMPER SUPPORT - eBay Trim, Interior, Car Parts, Accessories, Cars, Bikes, Boats. (end time 10-Jun-10 13:12:11 AEST)
headlights:
Holden VR VS headlight NEW pair BARGAIN - eBay, Other, Car Parts, Accessories, Cars, Bikes, Boats. (end time 07-Jun-10 05:42:07 AEST)
are vs indicators (corner ones) the same in base models to stato?
you can get them from any price.but depends on if the bumper is warped which mine was.that why i went new.anywhere from 500 to 1500 its the spotlights lower lip and indicators that are alot of $$$ aswell as the grill.maybe from 100-200 for that.
the indicators next tot he headlights are all the same ,reo's are different to the stato to the carprice(cut outs for the spotlights) with the bumper mine is a vs s3 caprice one with the cut outs for the lower lip and spotlights
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