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nice to see the middle age models getting some love

end of an era, but the writing was on the wall with the finish of the commodore. Now i can officially become an old bugger driving an old car and can give the ole V8 a few extra revs when i pull up beside an EV at the lights just so they can remeber the smell of petrol....LOL

yes, rust the iceberg in your car! Actually after pulling the back windscreen, there was rust on the right hand side even though none was visible before hand. i had been told the front windscreen was new and all good but on close inspection had some doubts so we pulled the front windscreen as...

yip , rust cut out, new metal welded in, then body filler to smooth everything out

here is what lurks under the windscreen rubbers..left rear screen. visible rust was a 5mm hole until the screen was removed.

I have the twin to your VP mine doesnt have the boot wing though. What HSV options did your car have/, did it have the HSV enhanched badge on the dash?

Close up of the factory fit of the spats on my Calais. They really are not a great fit when you look closely.

+1 My VZ ute developed a misfire. ( this does seem to be a common query on here ) Used the scanner and fault code pointed to fuel injector on number 4 cylinder, checked the fuel injector and it is dead. What impressed me how precise the fault code was. No mucking around with swapping coils...

gonna alter my early guess at the survival rate of cars. here in NZ was talking to the owner of a VP Clubsport. There were approx 67 or 77 VP Clubsports imported to NZ, the owner had checked and believed only about 17 were still registered on the road. that would give you a survival rate of only...

i have a VP calais and I have 235/45/17 tyres on VE rims , the clearance is fine. If you want the 225 profile i think you will find 225/50/17 is the equivalent diameter.

I was also wondering about the survival rates of the earlier commodores. Here are my guesses. I would imagine the HSVs eg Clubsports and Senators to have a high survival rate as would have been purchased and looked after by car lovers. So maybe allow a survival rate of >80% which would allow...

only you know you car. If you feel the drive shaft bearing and shaft itself are good then good chance of the Torque converter playing up. You are in a good position with a " recon gear box" all i would say is if you fit the new gear box seriously consider changing the torque converter as you...

Still a numbered car and VP are starting to become collectible.. probably a slight premium over a Vp berlina or such. Price probably more relates to condition.. the better the condition and low ks helps.

Lol us Kiwis went cheap cause of the price of petrol here.. or maybe just the Aussies sent us there junk. Actually you could buy the first of the VN with a 4 cylinder as well.. the standard motor for the VP was the 3.8. The inline 2.6 was a cancelled export order fobbed off on us kiwis. Gee if...

There were 100 of these were built and only for the NZ market. There is a bit of buyer reluctance to a GTS with a 3.8 motor, so unless it is mint dont set your sights too high for pricing.

Hi had a similar problem with my VP. Had a shudder under load at about 95 to 100kph. Eg uphill under acceleration. Tracked it done to the torque converter, apparently they are prone to warping with excess heat and causes a problem similar to what you are discribing.

yes can still buy the original rubber bushes from Holden at a price, i see there are generic ones on Ebay in rubber as well , dont know what they are like though. I would definetly recommend the rubber bushes if possible. The rubber chassis mount bush must be absorbing a lot of the impact from...

That confirms what I am thinking the King springs are firmer than the originals.. aimed at better handling i guess.

Yip thats exactly what i would like to try now, I am sure I will find some in kiwi land at some point. Car is a long term keeper so I dont have to have everything done straight away , good things take time.

Thing is i paid up for a brand new set of King springs front and rear with new shocks all round thinking i would make the car ride like new but it didnt work the way I expected, so now I am experimenting with different options

Yes thanks for the heads up had read that before. here is the Car with VY 16' wheels and the VZ springs up front. Ride height is about right and comfort is pretty good now. Need to mention one of the problems is the crap state of our NZ roads.

yep i am sure these were a nice riding car from new. My Calais had been altered with cut front springs and super lows in the rear. Shocks were stuffed and the sub frame bushes were flogged out. I tried new shocks and new standard King springs but didnt seem as good as i remembered an other VP...

Photos. Figured out how to resize them. Car is sitting on 17' VE Statesman wheels in these pics.

Hi guys, first post for me. I have a VP Calais V8 which I purchased a year ago. I have slowly been working through restoring this to mint. Ride quality was not great when i purchased it so was the first thing to look at. The strut mounts were not in good condition, so these were the first things...