91 VP Berlina V8

[D3V14NT]

Well after wasting much time and money on my 93 VP V6 I decided to cut my losses (before they got bigger) and move on to better things. Found this advertised online and within 24 hours it was in my driveway. Came with 10 months reg and cost me $1800. Will be selling off parts both new and used from the V6 over the coming weeks so let me know if you're after anything!

Car: 1991 VP Berlina

Engine: Standard 304 V8

Kilometres: 264xxx

Exhaust: Standard headers & cat + 2.5" cat-back

Gearbox: Auto

Colour: Dove Grey?

Exterior: Clubsport? Bodykit, 35% Window Tint, Calais Tail Lights & Garnish

Interior: Standard

Diff: Single Pegger - 3.08

Suspension: Came with FE2's from factory but I believe it has been changed since then. It's low enough to scrape the tow bar on 50% of driveways.

Brakes: Standard

Wheels: 17" VT SS

Tyres: Assorted

Stereo: Pioneer head unit, 2 way 6" Clarions in the parcel shelf, unknown speakers in the front with tweeters mounted on top of the speaker covers and a disconnected Xplod amp in the boot.

The Broken Stuff:
Door seals (will steal from the V6)
Dint in front left fender (half knocked it out but needs to be done properly)
Saggy headlining
Speakers not connected properly - need to investigate to see whats going on there.
Water leak in boot - spare wheel well is now a pond.
Boot release button in glovebox doesn't work.
Central locking has no remote and is a pain to lock drivers door
Elec antenna mast broken.
Cruise control doesn't work however the CRS light randomly turns on in the dash cluster.
Faded paint.

What I've Done:
Valve cover gaskets
Started removing the built up grease and grime from the engine bay. The valve covers have been leaking for a while and it shows. The exhaust header had half an inch of built up crap on top of it.
Mostly knocked out the dint in the front left fender
Oil Change
Bendix Ultra Premium Brake Pads
Replaced brake booster
Replaced odometer cog
New battery + terminals
New headlight globes
New stop light wiring looms
Fixed wiper switch
Nolathane front sway bar mounts



Future Plans:
At the moment just want to fix whats broken and get it cleaned up a bit.

Pictures:






How it ended up

[ducker85]

give it and good polish on the weekend and see how the paint comes up, dove silver with the clubby kit looks good

[D3V14NT]

Been keen on giving it a polish and seeing how good it comes up. The clear has peeled off in a few places which sucks.

Also going to fit the stage 2 shift kitted valve body from the reco'd box that never quite made it into my v6 and the corvette servo I have for it too. Need to give it a trans service anyway and the v6 box is still just sitting in the shed so I can't think of a more perfect excuse to do it.

Just read the thread on your International. Nearly made me cry lol. Never good too see such a nice car destroyed let alone by theives.

[ducker85]

cheers bro, definatly will be buying another one soon and I go all out with it.

[D3V14NT]

Well the weather on the weekend didn't give me a chance to get stuck into cleaning it up and giving it a polish however I did give it a quick wash to get some of the grime off. Much nicer now the wheels have a bit of shine to them.

Bought some bendix ultra premium pads today to put in. All was well and good until I found out I don't have the lock nut key *sigh*. Using a 3/4 socket and a mallet I managed to get 3 of the lock nuts off but one (on the wheel that needs new pads the most of course) wouldn't budge. Taking it into a tyre shop tomorrow and they can have a go at it. Also replaced the front sway bar mount bushes with new nolathane ones. Fairly easy task and gave me a chance to get rid of some of the built up grease in the engine bay. Also put new wiper blades on. So much I want to do but so little time.

Nolathane stuff is on sale at Repco at the moment if anyone is interested.

[rk has a vn]

Not bad.....

[D3V14NT]

Not bad.....

Thanks mate. Car's a bit rough around the edges at the moment but with some time and care it should come together nicely.

Took the car round to the local Kmart Tyre & Auto and got that last lock nut taken off. Only got a quick glimpse of the socket they used but looked like it had spiralling grooves inside, never seen anything like it. Got the last brake pad changed and finally no more squeeking! Unfortunately I think the brake booster packed it in today so will have to look at replacing that as not having any braking capacity makes driving a little hair raising at times.

Other than that spent an hour or so just tidying up little bits and pieces.

[D3V14NT]

New brake booster in, pain in the ass of a job. Relatively straight forward to do just a couple of fiddly nuts behind the dash to make it difficult. Big improvement over the other booster even before it completely died.

[D3V14NT]

Got some more stuff done over the weekend even with the rain.
- Fixed odometer by replacing that little cog
- Fixed window wiper switch so I now have all three settings not just '2'
- New battery + terminals.
- New headlight globes
- New stop light wiring looms

Dropped it off for a roadie this morning. Hoping for a short list of things to fix. New tyres from The Wheel Deal should hopefully turn up today, will take car in for a fitting, balance and alignment today or tomorrow depending on how long the roadie takes.

[somefool]

wow fair bit of work you have to do and have done. Its a neat car - the front bumper looks tough

With the cruise control being fiddly you could check the wiring of course but check the module itself - the first module that i got from a wrecked calais was full of water!

[D3V14NT]

wow fair bit of work you have to do and have done. Its a neat car - the front bumper looks tough

With the cruise control being fiddly you could check the wiring of course but check the module itself - the first module that i got from a wrecked calais was full of water!

Cheers mate, I became a fan of the clubsport kit pretty quickly. Never really liked the spoiler but after having it on for a few weeks it's grown on me too. I'd love to get my hands on an actual clubsport front bumper though and the driving lights to go with it.

I feel compelled to fix everything that's broken no matter how little so this car will definitely keep me busy for a while. The problem with the buying an older Commodore is that everytime you fix some thing you always find something else that's broken.

I checked out the switch block for the cruise control when I had the cluster out the other day and couldn't find anything wrong with it. Next step was to check out the wiring and the module. It's strange as the CRS light in the cluster will randomly light up every now and then. Makes me think it might be a dodgy module. Anyone know if the v6 and v8 cruise control modules are interchangeable as that'd make life easier if they are.

Got the roadworthy checklist today. Could've been better but it isn't too bad I suppose.
- Replace front top strut bushes
- Horn button loose
- Replace LH Rear door seal
- Replace all tyres
- Front tie bar bent
- Tie Rod end boots cracked
- Oil leak
- Replace gearbox mount and missing mount bolt
- Front and rear uni joints
- Replace windscreen - arc markings
He also let me know the rotors just scrape in with about .5mm thickness over the minimum. I wanted to upgrade them anyway so they'll do until then.

Got stuck into it pretty quickly and have most of the parts I need ready to go with a couple of things on order. Fixed the horn button already, when it was fitted to the steering wheel correctly it was pushing the metal contacts together so I used the trusty dremel to remove some of the plastic so that there was some clearance. Also changed over all the door seals with the ones from my v6 as they were all pretty shitty and falling apart. Also had enough time to get under the car with a mallet and knock the tie bar back into shape.

I've got the car booked in tomorrow to get a new windscreen fitted and to get new tyres fitted, balanced and aligned. Also got nolathane strut top bushes coming tomorrow. Oil leak should be fixed with a clean up as I'm pretty sure it's just the left over oil from the leaking rocker covers. New uni joints and gearbox mounts are ready to go in, just need to find a replacement mount bolt. Hoping it wont be too hard a job, going to pull the tailshaft out to hopefully make it a bit easier to do the uni's. Got a couple of tie rod end boots coming in on wednesday and that should finish everything up for the roadie. Fingers crossed anyway!

[somefool]

The problem with the buying an older Commodore is that everytime you fix some thing you always find something else that's broken.
Anyone know if the v6 and v8 cruise control modules are interchangeable as that'd make life easier if they are.

Bloody oath!
I enjoy getting my car over the pit at my mates place but cringe at the many faults that i see.

Yep the v6 and v8 CRS modules are interchangeable it will (should) bolt in just fine.

Goodluck mate

[D3V14NT]

Well after much time and money spent fixing all the issues and getting the car to pass the roadworthy test yesterday, it was written off this morning. Took a hard hit in the rear which bounced me into another car in front. Car behind hit me so hard it snapped the bolts on the drivers seat and bent the whole car into an arch. Brand new tyres which weren't even on there for 24hours were shredded from the rear section of the car being pressed into them. Will post pics up later. Much sadness.

To anyone who was travelling into melbourne on the west gate freeway this morning at about 7 - 7:30 would have seen the end result.

[D3V14NT]

First post updated with crash pics