VR EV6 & 4L60E into vn s2 or vp conversion

[Jxw]

Fairly simple conversion for a VN S2 or VP.
To do this in a VN S1 you will need to change the plugs as they are not compatible and won't plug into each other.

You'll need the vr ev6 engine or vn/vp 3.8(with cam position sensor), 4l60e trans, wiring loom to suit, vr ecu and some console bits for the pwr/eco switch.

You will need to have some modifications done to the memcal in the vr ecu unless you are installing the bcm and key head
This tutorial is for wiring a vr auto & loom into the existing vn s2/vp wiring without using the bcm

I can provide a standard tune memcal with vats disabled cheaply if needed or copy your existing tune to a compatible vr memcal, prefer change over basis
or i can mail a chip and socket.





The conversion:

To start with you'll need to change the pin config of both YE 51 (6 pin Engine harness connector near the battery) and
YB 62 (9 pin connector near the ecu plugs for the dash wiring)


YE 51 mods:

You'll need to move 1 pin on the VR auto loom to feed power to the 4L60E, as the VN loom populates a different terminal do the following:



to




Now to the body side of YE 51.

Unwrap the loom near the fuse/relay box to expose the wires going to the plug/pin use a multimeter in continuity mode to make sure you have the right one before cutting, cut the wire from the splice going to the plug/pin, leave the splice in tact and re-insulate it.
This is not a switched positive and you don't want 12 volts to the trans when the car is off (you'll end up with a flat battery).




Now splice it into the orange/red wire which is a fused/relayed switched positive for the ecu and injectors, or you could add your own relay and fuse if you want.




Wrap some loom tape around it all and tuck it back down out of the way and you're done for this part.




YB 62:

Change the wiring layout for YB 62 so it looks like this.




The Red and white wires that are now free are the aldl data and diagnostic mode select wires. If you have a 16 pin OBDII plug that you can use feed these wires to it, alternatively use the old plug from the VN engine loom and put the connectors in that to keep them out of the way and safe.



Tuck them up with the rest in the connector from the old engine loom for future reference.





Pwr/Eco Switch and speedo drive:

If you're never going to be fitting a TH700 again you can chop the plugs off from the trans tunnel and feed the wires back into the cabin.



Separate the Purple/White trace & Grey/Red trace wire and join them together.
This now completes the circuit from the ECU to the speedo, In the VN/VP the speedometer is driven from the trans, where the VR drives it from the ECU.







Find the light blue wire and separate it from the remaining wires.
Tape the unused wires up making sure to insulate them, the 2 pink wires are +12V and the black is a GND.
Hopefully you have all the console parts from a VR/VS with the pwr/eco switch to install.



Feed the black wire from the switch to an earth point (The grey/red wire i cut off the old vn loom with the connector tec screwed to the shifter plate worked for me)
Now connect the blue wire from the the VN wiring to one of the blue wires on the pwr/eco switch, also add another wire fom the blue and feed it up behind the dash cluster to the left side connection.





With some handy work pop out the connector and terminal for the PWR shift - (pin 7), on the bottom row of pins join the wire and put it all back together.

If your cluster doesn't have the cutout for the globe for the pwr shift -, mod the cluster carefully with a sharp craft knife and put a globe in.

make sure you use the pwr shift - socket and not the pwr shift + on the l2 cluster, if using a l3 cluster it only has 1 pwr light so just wire it to the same point above.

That's basically it except for the O2 sensor, as the VN/VP use a 2 wire sensor close to the engine and the VR uses a 4 Wire sensor down near the cat, you can relocate the VR's o2 plug up the loom or wire the vn/vp 2 wire plug into the loom to use the VN/VP Y pipe as the 4 wire O2 sensor heater is not connected through the ecu but just uses a +ve feed when the ignition is turned on.



Alternatively just use a VR Y pipe and leave the VR O2 sensor in place as it reads both engine banks, this requires a gentle massage with a hammer to the heat shield on the body otherwise the end of the O2 sensor sits a bit to close once all installed. You cannot install the 2 wire O2 sensor in the VR Y pipes location as it's to far away from the engine to get to it's operating temperature.





This post is purely a guide to anyone that is looking for information about fitting an EV6 & 4l60e into an earlier type of vehicle.

It is up to you to double check all info provided is correct eg. wire colors.

I take no responsibility if you follow this guide and the car explodes, you loose body parts or the transmission falls out.

[VPRob]

Wow! Thanks for the above post.
I have fitted a VR motor into my VP but stuck with a VP auto transmission. I guess a lot of the above is to deal with the different transmission. I left the original VP wiring loom and ECU in place although I did score the ECU and wiring loom with the VR motor. The VR motor has one connection on the front for which there is no plug on the VP wiring. The engine runs happily as is.
I have often wondered would I gain anything by installing the VR ECU and wiring and are there any technical difficulties in doing so?
The engine has no mods and I am mainly interested in getting maximum economy rather than maximum power. Too old and grumpy for wheel spins, noisy exhausts and burnouts
cheers

[Jxw]

i'm guessing you're referring to the cam angle sensor on the timing case, only used in the vr auto's to run banked injection, a lil more economical but would require reprogramming the memcal for it to happily run without it's proper trans, not even sure it could be done and would require a lot more wiring mods.

i think it may have been used to detect stretched timing chains with the right equipment also (not entirely sure about that bit though)

the setup you have mentioned is fine

In theory the vr engine should be more economical than the vn/vp engines, higher cr, roller rockers(many more changes).. creating more power, less friction internally for the same amount or less of fuel

[Pub247]

just to let you know its a cam phase sensor yes its used to help improve fuel economy. They already got a crank angle sensor

[Jxw]

crap, wrote that when i woke up was sure i'd typed cam not crank

[VPRob]

Thanks for the replies to my questions. Jxw, you did type cam but then put that with angle sensor, not phase sensor. I'm not up with the changes between the VP and VR motor. Interested to learn the VR has roller rockers but what is higher cr? Any suggestions for getting a tune for better economy? Plugs, leads and coil packs are all pretty new

[Jxw]

cr = compression ratio

basically it should be reasonably economical, if you tune for economy you'll loose power, even though you're not a lead foot it's still nice to know if you need to over take someone on a short stretch of road that you'll get past safely, although a VR tune with lean cruise enabled can be made up for your setup and will only require changing the memcal, should make a small difference.

basically to make sure you're getting the best mileage:
make sure the ecu temp sensor is good
make sure the manifold air temp sensor is good and not suffering from massive carbon build up
and that the o2 sensor is working satisfactory and not 200,000 kms old (single and 2 wire o2's like in the vn/vp's have a service check interval of 50,000 kms)

I had to replace all of those in my calais as it went from 12 l/100 up to 16-17 l/100 kms at one point, each sensor i replaced it dropped a smidge but was still way to high once all 3 were done it was much better on fuel consumption.

air cleaner, spark plugs, leads which you've covered and also the correct weight oil

I haven't tested the car this tut is based on yet for mileage, it's been a work in progress and the only driving has been limited to permit restrictions, at least it's not a rolling shell anymore, but i'm pretty confident it's going to be much more economical then my 88 v6 calais.
I've read a lot of conflicting stories about the banked injection as to weather it really makes that much difference, in theory as it's not firing all 6 injectors at the same time but splits them into 2 lots of 3 and fires each group depending which cylinder has the intake valve open it should make a small difference for light throttle and cruising.

rough estimates i got from the gregorys manuals (don't have vp)

VN auto City/highway 12.5/8.0 L/100km
VR auto city/highway 12.0/7.6 L/100km

considering the vr was a heavier car than the earlier models and yet apparently holden got better mileage out of it with the engine revisions in theory should be even better in a lighter vehicle.

I'll be honest i've never managed to get close to those numbers on the highway but the car is over due for alot of suspension work and wheel alignment which won't help and that's why i revived the the vr mod in the 2nd car as a test bed, although 12.4-12.8 is what i get in the old calais round town and i'm not always sedate on the go pedal.


i did type crank in the earlier post but edited it, i've know it as position, angle and now phase sensor

[VPRob]

I reckon the best I get is about 10l/100km on the open road and about 15l/100 around town. I would love to get the figures you posted so I'll follow up on your suggestions

[Jxw]

just ran through some notes i have from when i last did some tuning and road testing, 8.4 l/100 is what my current 88 v6 was getting on the open road

cool night straight run no stops not exceeding 100km/h providing the pump bowsers i went off were accurate (they matched the l3 cluster numbers fairly close) when i filled at both ends, but as i said the front bushes are in need of replacing, radius/castor rods are bent and it hasn't had a wheel alignment in close to 15 years, otr cai, 2.5" cat back exh, no other mods except for the memcal tune


*edit 2/2/12*

So far it seems the vr driveline in the old 91er is more economical, 40km's of driving in town traffic, 12.1 l/100 by the l3 cluster with lots of traffic lights/stops/40km/h school zones, ok i wasn't driving sedately all the time..... will add more when i get a chance to do some accurate highway testing and measuring fuel off bowsers.
Currently basically a stock VR engine, cam advanced 4 degrees and a 2.5" cat back.
Only issue i have found is the 4l60e is damn sloppy, sfa engine braking backing off and even manually down changing gears compared to the th700, had someone test drive it that is used to a VX and they thought it felt normal and what they're used to....