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3.8 vs 5.0 vs 6.0 take off / low end torque

greenacc

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Just do some cheap mods to the Ecotec, manifold spacers or similar and later when you still want more just buy a VZ or VE SS and be done with it.
Comparing 3.8 to 5.7 or 6.0 is obviously futile. I did like my old Eco though, it could take a pounding and didn't complain.
 

gtrboyy

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Only real way to move faster off the line is shorter gears & higher stally....diff gears are best bang for bucks for what you got unless going to buy vz 6.0 & even those you'll want to modify the same things.
 

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You've ruled out the one mod that would make the biggest difference on a stock car.

IMHO the stock ecotec is a bit of a slug, I'd rather my VN V6 over an ecotec.

L67 with a few decent mods is great for a daily but I'd still throw some diff gears at it.
 

Zeke Topanaga

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You've ruled out the one mod that would make the biggest difference on a stock car.

IMHO the stock ecotec is a bit of a slug, I'd rather my VN V6 over an ecotec.

L67 with a few decent mods is great for a daily but I'd still throw some diff gears at it.
The VN V6 was as you say but the ecotec V6 were a lot of difference in that some went well and some were real slugs, I think it has to do with how the spark timing is setup, it looks to be a hit or miss thing, as some had to be re chipped to retard the timing because they would ping.
My wife's VS V6 would ping on overtaking on the highway initially and would ping from 5000 to 5500RPM on 91 octane and this was the fastest auto V6 I have driven stock as a rock.

Two people I know who buy a new ute every year and they say that they have had one ecotec V6 that was gutless and that the others went well.
I had a drag with Ant's and cleaned his up like a dogs breakfast, but mine was chipped and exhaust and air box snorkel like the HSV have looking thing, I still have the chip and air box from that 1995 V6 manual.
 

EYY

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The weight of the vehicle is a MASSIVE contributor. Buick v6 in a VN is similar in performance to an ecotec in a VS. I had a VR statesman with the Buick and it was definitely slower and more reluctant to rev than the ecotec. I owned both the vr and vs at the same time - both v6's.

Btw if you have a car than constantly pings, either you're using **** contaminated fuel or there's something mechanically wrong. Factory tunes are very conservative, and the v6's all have knock sensors to retard timing if knock is detected. If it's so bad that the knock retard doesn't help, you need to be looking at the engine itself.
 

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We had both a VN and a VS V6, my VN would run rings around the VS any day of the week without trying. T5 for the win :D
 

vr304

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Not sure if this is a comparison your looking for but I have a VE SS 6 litre manual with otr air intake, hsv headers, twin 3 inch exhaust and full mafless tune it is very snappy off the mark have to be gentle with the throttle on take off otherwise it lights the wheels up.... Also I think you'd be pleasantly surprised by how much difference changing your diff gears makes, it will be heaps snappier off the mark and still cruise at decent revs and drive better all round if you go to a 3.45 ratio
 

commodore665

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We had both a VN and a VS V6, my VN would run rings around the VS any day of the week without trying. T5 for the win :D

I agree totally , the VR V6 Calais we had , used to bark , surprisingly quick off the line .
 

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I used to have a 70mm TB on the VN, the throttle was very touchy and too sensitive for regular street driving I went back to a 65mm unit instead.
 

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Only real way to move faster off the line is shorter gears & higher stally....diff gears are best bang for bucks for what you got unless going to buy vz 6.0 & even those you'll want to modify the same things.
No reason to doubt that for the stock cars mentioned but I have found that there is a diminishing point of return in a VE A6 SS with a short diff and you are better with tall gears, even starting in second gear, and stock stall, than turning it into a engine case screaming ricer.
Boils down to tractive effort (force) vs traction (grip). I’ve done mods to increase 6.0 torque level and manage bandwidth, and swapped back stock 2.92 and deleted first gear from the tune, because both were counter productive:
Below calculator is by HP Tuners, uses detailed specs to provide accurate bench testing of results.
Here is high torque VE 6.0 take-off street tyres, 2.92 diff, stock stall, both identical. Blue is stock first gear vs Red second gear ratio result (cos setup as 5 speed second shows as first etc):
 
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