304 mods

[304VKCalais]

Hi all, I’m new to V8s so hope you can help me.
I have a VK with 304 which I believe was out of a VN 165kw motor.
Turbo 700 gearbox
10 bolt Salisbury diff 3.08 ratio

Now like I said I’m new to V8 motors so am wondering what mods Can I do to get this thing moving?
It currently has pacemaker headers, 2.5 inch exhaust into Y pipe single cat to 3 inch pipe, muffler and straight 3 inch pipe all the way to the end.
It also has a memcal in it with basic changes.
The car is slow... prob does a 0-100 is about 9 seconds and if I floor it off the mark it doesn’t even break traction. Is this normal? I expected it to go better.

What Can I do to make it quicker if you can list the mods and what I’d expect to pay for said modifications?

Hopefully it’s not to much to ask

 

[EYY]

Shouldn't have any trouble breaking traction with live axle in a light car like a vk. Check your ignition timing in diagnostic mode. Should be at 10 degrees btdc.

 

[304VKCalais]

Shouldn't have any trouble breaking traction with live axle in a light car like a vk. Check your ignition timing in diagnostic mode. Should be at 10 degrees btdc.

Sorry mate but how do i do that? Do i need a scan tool?

 

[harrop.senator]

I'm unsure where they would have put the reader in your harness but from memory you paper clip jumper the diag Port ?

How longer diff gears? In a vn-vs its normalish with good 235s not to smoke them with how slow 304s are. On the cheap a cold air intake and Thermos will take a bit of a drag of of it.

In my opinion which I'll probably be heavily flamed for changing the cam with stock manifold isnt really worth it if paying a k for dyno tuning. Id be buying a cheaper speed master manifold machining flat and going a 4 barrel throttle body or a used twin throttle body home job. Have seen home job twin throttle with no r+d pull 25whp untuned with no other mods.

Cheapest option is a set of hy lift lifters ($80 a set) , Crane 276 in the older cams or a Clive, camtech or lunati more modern profile ($3-450) lt1 springs n retainers ($150) an adjustable timing set ($120) a gasket set from precision ($100) and a mail order tune from Joe @ ace performance ($360). Can be done yourself at home with some knowledge for around 12-1300 parts n tune.

You'll be able to get a bit of an improvement with a tune on stock camshaft but maybe 10 hp peak as they're very wet stock.

 

[EYY]

A cam change with the stock manifold is still worth it, but needs supporting mods! The long runners of the banana manifold help to make up for low compression in terms of low-down torque. With a cam change (anything much bigger than a 276), the low compression will mean it'll be a slug down low, and the manifold means that it won't like to rev very freely over 5k rpm. I have a crane 268 in mine and it's great for a daily but harrop's right - for the money it's probably not worth the expense unless you're willing to change the manifold, valve springs, up the compression etc etc.

See here for diagnostic info:
http://www.techedge.com.au/vehicle/aldl160/vn_aldl.htm
https://forums.justcommodores.com.au/threads/checking-your-computer-for-faults-vn-vp.3937/

 

[harrop.senator]

I had a 276 with hsv cai, hsv headers, twin hi flows , twin 2.5" exhaust , chip torque computer and 2500 more stall. It was barely any faster then stock lol.

 

[delcowizzid]

We ran a similar cam twin 2.5 exhaust opened up stock headers and real tune with 2500 converter and ran high 12s was night and day difference to stock just stomp it from idle and blaze to top gear lol

 

[EYY]

I had a 276 with hsv cai, hsv headers, twin hi flows , twin 2.5" exhaust , chip torque computer and 2500 more stall. It was barely any faster then stock lol.

But did it sound better?

Bit more comp with the 276 and I reckon you'd notice a good difference from stock.

 

[harrop.senator]

We ran a similar cam twin 2.5 exhaust opened up stock headers and real tune with 2500 converter and ran high 12s was night and day difference to stock just stomp it from idle and blaze to top gear lol

Is this cause my cars 1800 + the fatty driving? Mine was a 14 second car and did 0-100 in 6.8 lol. It was pretty slow. And had cubes...

But yes eyy she was a panty dropper.

 

[delcowizzid]

Had a couple on the dyno just basic cam and head cleanup and skim with headers and single 3" 250rwhp 180rwkw not to bad for bananas