My HSV VZ Senator Barbados blue

[Benny J]

Just seen this thread!! Nice car...always loved the Senators....really love there subtle rear wings.

Keep up the nice work!!

[Surfwagon]

The valve springs make a big difference on the dyno! Did you notice much of a drop like that when actually driving it?

Got to be happy with those results tho.

The two dyno's have a big difference! 30rwkw. Pete at csv says my motor work etc should see 300 on his but to expect 320+ on someone elses in town so good to see some evidence that will actually back that up, cheers for posting that

To tell you the truth being an auto I rarely see above 5000rpm so the dip never really affected the way i drove it.
I replaced the springs mainly for peace of mind as there have been the odd case of single springs breaking and I thought if the old springs were causing a harmonics problem that resulted in the dip then they could just as easily fail.
I'm not sure as to the percentage difference between Mainline and Dyno Dynamics dyno readings but you can only really reference your readings against other cars on the same dyno as even the same dyno in different shops can read differently depending on how the operator sets it up.

[Surfwagon]

Just seen this thread!! Nice car...always loved the Senators....really love there subtle rear wings.

Keep up the nice work!!

Thanks, prefer the low rear wing as well.

[RB Onevia]

so i see this has been sold now......

[paynetrainvy]

so i see this has been sold now......

Really???

[Surfwagon]

How did you get the impression I have sold the senator, just put new tyres on her and waiting for a senator roof spoiler to come back from the painters and be fitted.
Also looking to add some Dynamat supalite sheeting to the back parcel shelf so I can fit some DLS OA8 free air subwoofers.
But definitely not sold.

[RB Onevia]

a guy on facebook has a heap of your pics from this thread apart from the one with the build number plus ones of him doing skids in it, i put a link to this thread and he comfirmed it was this car then got all defensive about it and said he bought it on friday from a woman. in some pics it looks like it has a VCM OTR. just thought id put it out there.

[Surfwagon]

Thanks for the info but I can't seem to bring up the link you sent me.

With my senator just purchased a senator rear window spoiler/shade which after painted and fitted I will give the car a good clean and take some new pics.
On a sour note just found a 20mm long deep gouge in my front bumper between the fog light and the rear of the bumper, pretty pi$#@d off.
Just touched it up for now, maybe sometime in the future will get the whole front clip resprayed.

[eaton v8]

...............?

[Surfwagon]

Yesterday I fitted up a Senator roof spoiler, (many thanks to Macca33 for the HSV fitting instruction sheets) and today gave the old girl a wash and thought I would take some new pics.
Hope you all like.

[Surfwagon]

I just replaced my Strut mount tops with Super Pro items.
I only found my old rubber units had collapsed about 4 weeks ago but couldn't do anything until now due to other commitments.
Here are some pics of the old tops.

[axemurderer101]

HOLDEN VY VZ SENATOR STYLE CARBON BOOTLID SPOILER | eBay


guess your car is pretty popular, using your pic on an ebay add

[Surfwagon]

HOLDEN VY VZ SENATOR STYLE CARBON BOOTLID SPOILER | eBay
guess your car is pretty popular, using your pic on an ebay add

I allowed them to use the pics when I used one of their roof spoilers as the originals are NLA and 2nd hand are prooving almost impossible to find.
Once fitted their spoiler looks as good as the originals did.
BTW they painted it for me and the colour match is perfect, much better than the match my local panel shop did on a crease in my front guard I had repaired and painted.

[04VYSS]

Very nice Senator, I like it a lot mate - keep up the great work!

[nathanVY]

If i haven't said this already, this is the greatest car ever.

[Surfwagon]

Thanks fellas, its not overley modified but set up the way I want it for long distance cruising.
Recently fitted superpro urethane strut mount bushes but may go back to Holden rubber ones as the crash and bang over the crappy roads around here is getting a little overbearing.
Funnily enough the broken rubber ones didn't affect ride quality, just how it handled.
I have also been told that the urethane bushes chew out the steering bearings quite quickly when compared to the rubber ones.
Might also have to have a look at my new whiteline plus urethane rear cradle bushes (maybe more greasing) as i have a lot of creaking and occassional knock going in/out of my driveway every day.
The knock comes from right behind my seat which is roughly where the cradle attaches.

[GTS69]

ouch them tops are nasty as

[Dan VS 231]

Hi Surfwagon, you wouldnt happen to have a copy of the fitting instructions for the rear window shade that you could send me? I also purchased one from the same company on ebay and my car is going in for some paint bits in under two weeks. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Surfwagon]

Hi Surfwagon, you wouldnt happen to have a copy of the fitting instructions for the rear window shade that you could send me? I also purchased one from the same company on ebay and my car is going in for some paint bits in under two weeks. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I will see if I can scan and send them to your pm box.
btw did you ask me for these before?

[Surfwagon]

Just a quick update will expand later with printout but just had the boys from Race Solutions fit one Steve's from Oztrack, Stealth2 cams and dyno tune, netting 307rwkw still with HSV cat back and stock converter.

[Jesterarts]

Very nice mate!!! Nice and healthy power output there.

[Surfwagon]

I have been driving my car fitted with urethane cardles bushes (also have the diff mount bush in urethane) around for about 3 months now and in my opinion they do very little except make the ride harsher.
I've had the diff bush for ages and found no problems with NVH with this fitted but after I fitted the cradle bushes in urethane the ride harshness increased heaps.
Also the typical VZ driveline clunks were much more noticable and under hard acceleration the car still tramped.
Had there been no tramping what so ever then maybe I would have put up with them.
Anyway fitted some new OE rubber bushes and new bolts and the difference is like night and day, the ride over the concrete joins around my place is smoother and the drive line clunks are more muffled.
This is a follow on from replacing the urethane front strut top mounts with OE rubber mounts for the same reason.
For the 1-2% of times I would like to take off really quick or punt it around corners I will live with a softer more compliant ride.
As for the corners bit, thats what they make bigger sway bars for and they are fitted with urethane bushes so I'm not opposed to urethane just in certain parts.
Urethane also both ends of the radius rod but the inner lower control arm bush is still rubber again for a more compliant ride.
I may be getting older but this is still the best riding/handling car I've owned with all the previous cars having lowered urethane bushed suspensions.
Just my opinion.

[wattos_ute]

Hey mate I also have the issue with creaking and clunking over the bumps and concrete joins and such in my Vz Maloo. I had to replace the strut top bushes when I raised it to pass an inspection from an interstate purchase and found they were stuffed I replaced them with nolathane. When you changed these back to rubber did alot of the creaking disappear?
I just had inner control arm, rear radius rod bushes swapped out for superpro items hoping to eliminate the noise but still a bit there. Not as bad but still noticeable.
Also what did the clunking noise end up being as that is really annoying and doesn't sound very good?

Sorry for all the questions just sounds exactly like my issue and wanna get to the bottom of it.
Cheers

[Surfwagon]

All the creaking is gone now that I have rubber strut top mounts and rear irs cradle bushes.
When I had super pro strut tops even covered in their supplied grease they still started creaked after about 1-2 months of driving, albeit during a lot of wet weather, but still the rubber ones never creak.
My original rubber strut tops had the centres torn right out (Post #136) but I still drove the car for around 4,000klms like that because I had some serious family health stuff going on at the time and had no time to take the car off the road but there was no noises.
Also on the rear the driveline clunks (common on VZ's) is a lot more muffled, still happening but you don't notice it as much, now more of a kthump than a clunk/clank as it changes gears at slow speeds.
As I said I'm not opposed to urethane but just use it where it will work and not contribute to a harsher ride quality.
I use urethane on both ends of the radius rod but not on the inner bush of the lower control arm.
That way the wheels are held in castor alignment much better but with out transmitting road vibrations through the lower control arm bush which now only swings up and down and not twisting sideways.
Urethane is used for all swaybar bushings and in the rear diff mount bush.
Pedders told me (after one of their 28point safety checks) that my rear trailing arm bushes need replacing and should think about urethane.
But I'm still debating whether to replace in OE rubber/steel bush or go urethane and after the debacle with the cradle bushes I swaying more towards std OE bushes.
As for longevity of one against the other considering it takes me 1 1/2hrs to change the strut tops and under 2 hrs to do the rear cradle bushes on my own, I'll just replace them with new oe rubber ones when needed.

[wattos_ute]

Beauty that's exactly my issues. What was the cost for the rubber strut tops? The suspension mob I went to said the rear cradle bushes will need replacing soon aswell.