restoring the VR

[nathanVY]

Hey everyone,

I'm wanting to fully restore my VR, get it back to prime condition.
Where should I start?

[VSHeaven]

How much money do you expect to spend and what condition is she in? Can it spend serious time off the road and do you want to restore to originality or do you plan modding it? Post some details about it and see where this leads

[BADGTS]

Do all the mechanical work first then repaint it and do the trim and door rubbers all the body parts last.

[nathanVY]

will post some photos soon, planning on mods. not sure on how much money i'd spend on it. see how we go.

[nathanVY]

photos attached.

car type: 1994 VR Exec.

what i've done so far:

- highflow cat/ ehaust installed
- debadged, replaced old vr badges with shiny vs/vt badges
- fixed my windscreen washers (YES!)
- new radiator & thermostat
- new spark plugs/leads
- reco alternator (other one died)
- k&n high flow filter
- crappy sound system


future mods:

- extractors (i have them just need to get them painted and fitted)
- new wheels
- lowered
- CAI of somekind (thinking about mace, or a custom one)
- new chrome strips
- bonnet respray
- L3 cluster/blue led conversion
- redo roof lining

[nathanVY]

what mechanical stuff would you recommend getting done?

[SHANBANGER]

I would suggest putting the front lion badge in the right spot, it seems a little high and to the right to me

[nathanVY]

haha really? if anything that should be in a better place than the rear one cos it has the holes to fit into. i'm not really gonna bother until I get the bonnet resprayed.

[neet_wagon]

^^^^ he is correct there. Bit high, and i can't really comment on whether its off line due to the angle of the photo.

Get it lowered, throw them wheels in the bin, get some clear side indicators, and be careful what you paint on those extractors, use the wrong paint and they will end up looking 100% worse than they do now.

Good luck champ, first car i'm guessing? Not a bad way to start at all.

****On my VR the holes were straight up and down, while the VS badges (straight from Holden) had the little plastic studs (to go in the holes) off-set.

[nathanVY]

yeah first good car anyways lol. interesting facts about the badges, next one ill get a vs one and sand off the clip bit and measure it, get it on sweet. thanks for the help!

any tips on sanding/painting the extractors?

[neet_wagon]

If you use a high heat paint (like VHT), it has to be baked on in an oven, otherwise when you run the car it will just flake off and smoke like a bitch.

As for sanding, just grab some medium-grit paper and 'stroke' it.......
Doesn't have to be a perfect job as the high temp paint will cover it fairly well ( just remember to bake it!!)

[nathanVY]

might have to get it done somewhere cos im pretty sure my extractors won't fit in the oven!

[neet_wagon]

.......and they f*%king stink!

[nathanVY]

can anyone tell me about installing extractors? fairly straight forward isn't it? bolts, gaskets, etc.

or will i need to drill holes for o2 sensors.

[neet_wagon]

The extractors should already have holes in them for the 02 sensors.

What brand are the extractors?

[nathanVY]

no idea, see this thread.

how do you tell what brand they are?

[neet_wagon]

Normally you can tell by visual reference. They kinda look like a rip-off of HM headers, so I dunno.
They aren't HMs or Pacies. They do look like these a bit, which would make them Genie's, which are a copy of HM's original design. buick v6 Extractors-Genie-melbourne

Are you after making power or just after a decent exhaust note?

[nathanVY]

cool. well the exhaust already sounds pretty good so more power I guess.

[neet_wagon]

If you were after power than I would suggest throwing those headers in the bin, getting some pacies, a CAI from holden (like $90), pull the bellmouth out of the plenum, get some decent plugs and leads, and clean the injectors.

You could also go some roller rockers, or a cam and lifters upgrade, but that sort of stuff is a bit dearer.

Then I'd jump on ebay and order a custom tune from greenfoam ('nicefrog' on ebay)

And that should see you happy until you start looking at forced induction, etc.

[nathanVY]

was thinking of getting a mace cai, throttlebody and memcal.

define decent plugs and leads?
it has VX injectors in it, should be pretty clean, but are there any guides to cleaning them?

[neet_wagon]

Im not sure if the mace cai would be any better than the one from holden for less than half the money.
If the mace tb is 70mm. i would think its a bit of overkill for a not 'super-hot' V6.

[nathanVY]

well the mace cai runs a podfilter too. at the moment im just running a standard highflow filter, surely some sort of cai into a shielded pod is better.

[neet_wagon]

I run a holden CAI into a modified standard airbox, with a K&N high flow filter.
If you are after 'hektic intake noise' my set-up still has it.
I had a shielded pod (fabricated alloy heat shield), but i reckon the new set-up works heaps better.

[nathanVY]

ok boys! getting the car detailed and the bonnet replaced, all the paintwork touhched up and chrome strips replaced, roof lining redone this friday! should look HEAPS better, will post some photos when she's done

soon to come:

pacemakers
lowering

a bit further off:

good wheels.