The Ultimate Alloytec Performance Thread

[impulsive]

The Ultimate Alloytec Performance Thread

For anyone looking to gain from the Alloytec motor i think it is a safe bet if we roll what we know all into one. This is just a short list from what i know works if you have anything to add post up and i will add it. Should be a helpful guide to new comers!

Intake
Air Filters work by cleaning the incoming air and ridding it of impurities such as dust, moisture and insects. Air is then mixed with fuel in the engine, so to protect your engine and ensure maximum performance, it is vital to keep the air-flow clean. High flow air filters increases air velocity through your engine, giving your car an instant increase in performance while improving your engine's fuel economy.

M.C.A.I (Cold Air Intake)
Cold air induction in the form of the HSV style air box. Costs roughly $50 and replaces the bottom half of the standard air box. The M.C.A.I has a larger inlet for the air and has a second Inlet that draws air from below the headlight. This combined with a K&N free flow filter allows for a higher flowing air induction. Slight gains at the foot as in revs harder. Unproven as to what gains this REALLY gets, maybe 2 - 3 kw?
Price $40

2 Hole Mod
Similiar to the M.C.A.I but home made and cheap. Roughly same as Power gains as well.
Price $30 maybe..

Mace CAI
New generation cold air intake/box to suit Commodores VZ V6 alloytec, which is a direct drop-in replacement for your existing air box assembly. This includes an all new air box, black lid, airflow meter safe pod filter, along with mounting hardware required for complete installation.
Price $300

Mace Manifold Insulators
A replacement for the manifold Gasket which is 12mm thick and designed to reduce Intake Temps thus increasing power. Apparently makes the Intake Manifold cooler to touch
Price $150

O.T.R
There are a couple out on the market, claiming to make a whole lot of power, but ultimately untill MAFLESS tuning becomes available they see hardly any to no gains. Some say there is a big feel, but i doubt it.
Price $400

PERFORMANCE MANIFOLDS (CPR6)
Is a complately new cast intake manifold, you unbolt your factory manifold and bolt this one on quoted from their website "By adding the CPR6 manifold alone you can add 20hp to a standard V6 Commodore alloytec (6000rpm) at the tyre, and 25hp to an SV6 (6500rpm) at the tyre. Two hours and four spanners - bolt on and enjoy!"
Price $1600+
www.performancemanifolds.com.au

Exhaust:

Extractors
The goal of Extractors is to make it easier for the engine to push the exhaust gases out of the cylinders. During the Exhaust stroke, a good way for an engine to lose power is because of backpressure. If there is any amount of resistance that the piston has to push against to force the exhaust gases out, power is wasted. In a normal engine, once the exhaust gases exit the cylinder they end up in the exhaust manifold. The manifold is a major source of backpressure, because exhaust gases from one cylinder build up pressure in the manifold that affects the next cylinder that uses the manifold. The idea behind an exhaust header is to eliminate the manifold's backpressure. Instead of a common manifold that all cylinders share,
each cylinder gets its own exhaust pipe.

Price $500-$1000
http://pacemaker.com.au/catalogue.html
http://www.hitechheaders.com.au/
http://www.genieheaders.com/

Cats
The catalytic converter converts harmful pollutants such as hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide and oxides of nitrogen contained in the exhaust gas into harmless emissions of nitrogen, carbon dioxide and water. A catalytic converter became a compulsory component in January 1986, when ADR 37 was implemented. The catalytic converter is usually located in the engine pipe in close proximity to the exhaust manifold.
The standard cats on the alloytec motors are known to be hi-flow cats, so when replacing the cats on the VZ when new headers are fitted, it is advisable to stick with hi-flow cats.

Cat Back + Sizes
There are many off the shelf kits around for the Alloytec the most common used being Lukey, Redback, and Di fillipino. Twin 2.5" is probably too big, if anything i think 2.5" or Twin 2.25" would be best
Price $300 - $500

Single 2.5 Exhaust - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQhXh1Oxksc
Twin 2.5 Exhaust - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svOv4MHRpkE
Twin 2.25 Exhaust - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kLTN2dxiGY

Not_an_abba_fan says:
1: It is not, nor will it ever sound like any earlier version of a Commodore V6, so don't waste money on an exhaust that is similar to those. EI: single 2 1/2" cat back with or without a rear resonator. (The only exception to this is one member-can't remember his name-has a CHE 2 1/2" single cat back that sounds good-in his opinion.)

2: If possible, leave the 2 resonators under the car that look like cats, these are not cats, they are resonators, and their job is to remove the raspy, fart in a tube type quality to the exhaust.

3: Bigger is not better. Keeping the stock exhaust keeps the alloytec quiet. The only exception to this (unashamed plug) is a Manta 2 1/4" twin into 3" single which is louder and deeper than stock with no drone.

Clutch & Gearbox:
The Alloytec 6 speed gearbox hosts a Dual mass flywheel, which is designed to slip to allow for smoother driving and such. These are renowned to wear out fairly quickly and are designed this way. If you are a spirited Driver or tow a lot This is for you. Please note that you dont always have to replace the standars Slave Cylinder.

Extreme Clutches
It comes as a complete package including high performance carbon moly flywheel. This replaces the factory dual mass flywheel, which can be prone to failure under high performance driving conditions. Also available in Xtreme Organic, and Xtreme Motorsport versions.
Price $1400

Exedy Clutches
Kit includes replacement Single Mass Flywheel and Concentric Slave Cylinder
Price $??
Exedy Website

Tuning:
Vcm suite is a package that allows tuning workshops to crack into the holden factory computer to adjust vehicle parameters to improve performance and economy.
Vcm suite is a combination of programs, The package includes these three main components - VCM Flash, VCM Editor and VCM Scanner.
The process works like this:
VCM Flash is used to read the current software and calibration settings from the VCM.
VCM Editor is then used to make any changes (for example, to change your fan on and off temperatures).
VCM Flash is then used to write the changes back to the VCM.
VCM Scanner is used to verify that the changes had the desired effect (start the car up and monitor the temperature at which the fans turn on and off).

While this is a very simple example, the process is basically the same for other changes. Of course, there's no substitute for experience and common sense. Use experienced tuners - they are your best friend!
Price $900 - $1000
http://www.vcm-suite.com.au/outlets.html

Aftermarket ECUs:
Only a handful have jumped into these water, Proflows Turbo Ute, CPR6 Performance Manifold ute and his Alloytec Torana (i think). Motec, ViPec, Haltech to name a few. It is my belief that if you have the money to spend do it. Only dreams can tell us what is really achievable with these very expensive bits of kit.
Price $3500 upwards for ECU not including the cost of tuning

Diff Gears:
As most would realise the alloytecs are sluggish of the line, this can be easily fixed by replacing the final drive ratio. Common replacement Diff Ratios to the Alloytecs are 3.08:1; 3.46:1; 3.7:1; 3.9:1.

Alloytec V6 Ratio: 3.08:1
Alloytec 190 V6 Ratio: 2.87:1

Differential Gear Ratio determines the number of times the drive shaft (or pinion) will rotate for each turn of the wheels (or ring gear). So if you have a 3.46:1 gear ratio the drive shaft turns 3.46 times for every turn of the wheel.
When changing the diff gears you are setting out to change 2 things, Torque(acceleration) and RPM.

Changing to a lower ratio (3.46/3.7) your car will accelerate better but will also rev higher (2400RPM@100kph) High ratios like standard are better for freeway driving since they run at lower RPM’s (1800RPM@100kph) and offer better fuel economy.

Moves power down the speed range with diff gear changes, as for what is best, i believe the 3.46's for the auto are proven handy with a 14.3 being pulled by a tuned VZ. As for the manual from what i learnt the gearing in the manual is eqaul to having a 3.46 in a Auto?


Underdriven Pully's
Cost:????

As for the underdrive pulley:

Yes essentially it drives your alternator, water pump, a/c, power steering etc 20% less.

By reducing the power used to run these things, more is freed up to be used at your wheels.

I was worried to begin with, that driving these less might be noticeable somewhere, but it isn't, steering feels exactly the same, no electrical or voltage problems (checked with multimeter too, difference is next to nothing), no overheating or temperature related problems, and as for the a/c, I haven't timed the difference it takes to defog the windscreen, but it still seems as though it hasn't changed at all.

Which makes sense, think about it... When your driving, you're between 1500- 6000+ rpm, that's a huge variance in drive speed already.
reducing that by 20% even at 1500 rpm, basically means ur only running the accessories at 1200 rpm... Which is still well above idle and more than enough to drive everything...

Thanks to ImpulseSV6 with his help on this thread. I stole some of his knowledge from elsewhere.

Please help us out with this thread, i hope it helps some out and this becomes a useful guide somewhere.

[2005vzute]

Good thread impulsive, should help out a lot of people that want to know this stuff instead of having it posted 20 times..this should be stickied...just another thing with diff gears for those who find it difficult..if you've ever ridden a pushbike with front and back gears, just think about that...pretend you are the engine, the front set of gears are your input pinion and the rear gears is the ring gear on your diff...instead of a direct meshing mechanism, it's just connected by a chain..just think about the principals and the sizes of the sprockets behind it and how they effect speed and effort to get the bike moving..example, your in first at the front gears and first at the rear, think about the effort required to get the bike moving, not much right?..now how fast can you go? not very...now change to the highest gears on both the front and the back..how hard is it to move, how much effort is required, how fast can you go(if you get it moving) etc...that would relate to what impulsive is talking about with torque and speed

hope that helps a little, using that principal behind i learned a fair bit about diff gears.
cheers everyone

[Tim_in_NZ]

Many thanks Impusive , very Impressive.
Now got to work out which is most important....
Cheers

[Troy711]

Great idea for a thread... so it's now stuck

[VT-565]

Top idea for a thread.
Just a few things to clarify/add...
About the extractors, the idea is not actually to eliminate backpressure, but increase cylinder scavenging through the exhaust stroke and on the overlap, helps draw intake air into the cylinder = more torque.
And with the diff ratios, generally a lower (sometimes referred to as 'taller') ratio would be your 2.9:1, typically suited to highway runs. Higher ratio is suited for better acceleration.

Well done

[kngsv6]

hey where can i get a M.C.A.I from? and what do u guys think of the ss inductions growler kit?
cheers

[impulsive]

Holden sell them for, they come off the monaro's etc.

SS inductions have worked for earlier models, but not sure bout the Alloytec, best bang for buck as stated is the MCAI or Two Hole Mod. Thats my experience atleast, Has anyone got, tried SS Inductions

[impulsesv6]

hahah...
almost a carbon copy of my thread on other forums, hahahahah

http://www.ls1.com.au/forum/showthre...hlight=powerup

[impulsive]

I gave all the credit to you, thought it might help people out and stop the Annoying Which Diff, Which CAI, Which Exhaust threads..

[kngsv6]

alright cool thanks.
so can i pick a mcai from a holden dealer or something.. and also do you guys think a mace manifold insulator is any good and where can i pick one of those up from?
cheers

[impulsesv6]

exhaust should say "I do the Redback twin 2 1/4" into single 3", it's not too loud, doesn't drone and gives a good increase right across the rev range. The only system I have heard that doesn't have that distinct high pitched rice sound.

$485 shipped. "
quoted from notanabbafan

[impulsive]

lol.. wow, this just becam a sticky!

[impulsive]

Maybe someone from Raptor could post in here about their Forced Induction Kits, or you Impulsesv6.

[VT-565]

Boost FTW!!!

[Dz811]

also add to such,

25% Underdrive pulley, i haven't tried it, but reviews say 5-10 rwkw (im skeptical), and much freer revving. $300 ish i think?

[richardpalinkas]

anyone know about these underdrive pulleys?

[Greesie]

alloytec underdrive pulleys Dz811 has put one in his im guessing cus i found this post, seems to be pretty happy with it, im kinda interested myself.

[Dz811]

Aside from the installation, which if u have a little experience and the right tools should be fine anyway, Id say go for it, i don't understand why holden didnt have one of these to begin with?... COZ THEYRE AWESOME!

[Greesie]

haha sweet, were abouts did ya buy yours from?

[impulsive]

If you want to do a write up, i will add it to the Top Post!

[Dz811]

got it off ebay actually, (found out later it was only 20% underdrive lol), and it was delivered with new high quality belt, one of those awesome ones with the crocodile teeth in it, and 2 new pulleys, which i haven't even put on yet.

the good thing about VZs is that there's heaps of room between the harmonic balancer and the radiator fan, so you dont't have to pull the radiator and stuff off to get to it with a puller. You just have to pull your intake pipe and MAF off so you've got room to get down the front of the engine bay.

And basically from there on it's easy, don't have to worry about timing or aligning, because the timing chains are separate from the belt and balancer. Just undo the centre bolt and get the old one off (hard part), and slide the new and improved one on and re-do the bolt up, just make sure you do it very tight if you dont have a torque wrench, and probably a good idea to leave the car in 4th (or park lol) or something so the crank doesnt turn while your loosening or tightening the bolt.

Then just release the tensioner a bit and slide your new belt on, and job done

will explain replacement of the 2 pulleys when i do it, kinda worried the pulley that's on the tensioner will just spring off and go everywhere when i undo it haha.
Otherwise it's a good value-for-money kit, and you'll notice as soon as you fire it up it just jumps to idle, and when free revving it seems more lively.

As for real-life power gains, they are definitely there, but i'm a sucker for the placebo effect so unless you had a dyno nobody knows for sure. I'd be guessing around the 5-7 kw mark, not a huge noticable gain, but a fun mod DO IT!!!

[Greesie]

awwsome mate, sounds pretty easy. might be a stupid question, but do they reduce the power going to the accesories? cus im not 100% sure how they work, i thought they basically make the accessories work slower so that the engine has more power available to go to the wheels instead of say ur a/c and alternator, does this mean ur a/c may not be as efficient?

cheers for your rightup mate

[vr1uz-fe]

performancemanifolds also dose cams for the alloytec

i also found out that you can delete the variable timing it is complicated but performancemanifolds can do it

the advantage of deleting the variable timing is for upgaded camshafts so you can maintain corect phasing of the cams

[vr1uz-fe]

and just to put this out there i dont think the cpr6 lower and upper intake are compatible with spacers im not 100% on this but maby some one would know


:edit no the spacers should be fine

[Phyco]

awwsome mate, sounds pretty easy. might be a stupid question, but do they reduce the power going to the accesories? cus im not 100% sure how they work, i thought they basically make the accessories work slower so that the engine has more power available to go to the wheels instead of say ur a/c and alternator, does this mean ur a/c may not be as efficient?

cheers for your rightup mate

Yes if anyone can shed some light on this, it would be great. Only thing that is stopping me from buying one right now!