Leigh's '81 VH SL/X Project

[VS_Pete]

Congrats !

 

[Leigh_G]

Bit hazy vaguely remember taking trimatic shifter out drilling hole larger to accept 4l60e selector rod/bolt combination & put it all back in.

Front of trans pan/auto on drivers side probably touches tunnel so check auto is straight or you'll need to clearance it.

Can't remember what accelerator cable I used if v8 or v6 or might even be similar lengths *shrugs*

Did you change vh radiator tiebar over to vr/s stato donor item so you can fit later model radiators?

Ahhh bugger I just left the trimatic rod/arm in it.. I've messaged the bloke who bought my donor hoping he's still got the shell with the VS one..

So far the trans looks like there's clearance, but I need to get back under the car to bolt the mount to the xmember and double check - looked good during installation so fingers crossed..

Throttle cable was a piece of cake, I used the VS one. It had a plastic sleeve over the firewall lug to increase its OD, but once I just pulled that off, it just slid straight into the original firewall port and the cable clipped into the pedal perfectly. Easier than I expected to be honest..

I didn't change the radiator tie bar as it looked like a PITA so I bought an alloy radiator from eBay, suited to a V8 VH. That's the next thing to install!


Fuel lines are all connected, as are the heater hoses. Installed the aircon bracket to correctly space out the P/steer pump, but left off the A/C compressor for now till I can be bothered working out the A/C and evaporator later on.

I've hooked up the loom as much as I can today. Almost everything from the ECU to the engine:

• Injectors
• Oil pressure switch
• TPS & IAC
• Coolant temp sender
• Ignition module (just figuring out where the hell to mount it)

Next steps would be figuring out where the other main loom line goes/what I need from it (the two large black/grey plugs in the engine bay that hook up to the drivers side loom in the VS) - do some of these connect to the VH's loom? Time to review some wiring diagrams me thinks!!

There's also a small black box in the loom with a vacuum line input - I reckon its a MAP sensor, but I can't remember where the vac line should come from the engine.. I have a horrible feeling it comes from the back of the intake manifold, lol

 

[Vin999]

Ahhh bugger I just left the trimatic rod/arm in it.. I've messaged the bloke who bought my donor hoping he's still got the shell with the VS one..

So far the trans looks like there's clearance, but I need to get back under the car to bolt the mount to the xmember and double check - looked good during installation so fingers crossed..

Throttle cable was a piece of cake, I used the VS one. It had a plastic sleeve over the firewall lug to increase its OD, but once I just pulled that off, it just slid straight into the original firewall port and the cable clipped into the pedal perfectly. Easier than I expected to be honest..

I didn't change the radiator tie bar as it looked like a PITA so I bought an alloy radiator from eBay, suited to a V8 VH. That's the next thing to install!


Fuel lines are all connected, as are the heater hoses. Installed the aircon bracket to correctly space out the P/steer pump, but left off the A/C compressor for now till I can be bothered working out the A/C and evaporator later on.

I've hooked up the loom as much as I can today. Almost everything from the ECU to the engine:

• Injectors
• Oil pressure switch
• TPS & IAC
• Coolant temp sender
• Ignition module (just figuring out where the hell to mount it)

Next steps would be figuring out where the other main loom line goes/what I need from it (the two large black/grey plugs in the engine bay that hook up to the drivers side loom in the VS) - do some of these connect to the VH's loom? Time to review some wiring diagrams me thinks!!

There's also a small black box in the loom with a vacuum line input - I reckon its a MAP sensor, but I can't remember where the vac line should come from the engine.. I have a horrible feeling it comes from the back of the intake manifold, lol

Hey nice work so far, I bet you have worked out there’s a lot of lil stuff that needs buttoning up that people don’t mention, those things take more time and effort than putting in the simple big stuff like motor/trans.

I have not added any more info for you as my conversions have differences like non electronic trans, 1 car uses the haltect, other car 808 and I have done some stuff and electrical different to yours with hook ups and placements. Also I run a different tank/2pump setup and used complete factory VL efi lines on rail/stut under m/c than your VS style.

Your short hsv headers will fit okay with rack, as gtr suggested about the shifter mod and firewall bulkhead connectors. Your trans will be okay for clearance, its the VL that has issues with different hump/rail connections. You can also use your old 6cyl firewall plug loom and motor fittings for oil/temp/vacuum, wire them all up to your original dash quages.
Oil uses a brass connector on V8 engine with original ecu sensor and the temp one I plugged into my VK V8 radiator drivers side port rather than drill/tap manifold.
Use the donor acc cable as its the same length/fit as your old v6 one which can’t be used due to the throttle solid end.

Time to measure up for tailshaft mod as this time of year is crazy for machine shops.
Ignition module hook it sideways under guard bolt rail near old horns, your loom will reach.

PS. I didn’t think VS had map, thought they used maf .... yes the old map connects rear of manifold, mine is mounted with coil above motor on firewall. The old loom goes through firewall, connects to dash/cluster/fusebox and then over to ecu side along with the trans loom extension to key plus the fuel pump loom from rear.

 

[Leigh_G]

Thanks for the info Vin, you've been so helpful as well, really appreciate the tips!

Tailshaft I think(?) I'm sorted - I've got a mate with a bunch of old commodores, from VH to VL and onwards - he reckons he's got a VL rear-half of a tailshaft that will bolt to the front-half of the VS shaft I have here? It will match the flange on the VL borgy I've installed. Best of all, it's free!

As for oil pressure, I've been hunting a brass adaptor (I did this for an autometer gauge on my old calais) but all the auto shops these days have limited stuff so I'll have to go somewhere more specialised. I reckon I'll take the coolant temp sender off the VH and drill/tap it into the top of the thermostat housing (which I did in my Calais and worked fine)

VS S3 I reckon switched to MAF, same as the VT roller motors? Keep in mind this Stato had an engine transplant approx 5000 kays before I bought it, so the engine is actually from a VN Berlina, while the loom remains VS Stato (just to add to the complexity of this job lol)

I reckon tomorrow I'll fill the fuel tank and short out the pump wires in the boot to make sure I've got no leaks, before I begin the task of running all my pump/sender wires toward the dash for integration.

 

[losh1971]

If you can, get the tail shaft phased once you match the two halves. They can be a prick for wobbling if they are not set properly and this can cause a blow out in the centre bearing. Also if one is still available used a Gen bearing. Aftermarket ones are problematic even the brand name ones. The boot is too soft and doesn't support the bearing enough and can also cause it to blow out.

 

[Leigh_G]

If you can, get the tail shaft phased once you match the two halves. They can be a prick for wobbling if they are not set properly and this can cause a blow out in the centre bearing. Also if one is still available used a Gen bearing. Aftermarket ones are problematic even the brand name ones. The boot is too soft and doesn't support the bearing enough and can also cause it to blow out.

Awesome, thanks for the heads up, I'll definitely do that!

 

[gtrboyy]

Small 6cyl temp sender should screw into bannana manifold...might even be same rating so compare them.Assuming 6cyl temp sender is small unit screwed into large bolt that screws into head???

Trace green wire off temp sender through harness then tap into engine loom or harness plug at firewall.Should be 2 greens from memory for ac compressor other for temp sensor.

Don't need to tap thermostat housing...even then heaps of room front of manifold to keep it neat anyway.

Did you keep 6cyl engine harness?
green - temp sendor
blue - oil pressure sendor
pink -accessories
red - 12v
purple -starter solenoid
brown - charge light/alt

Lay 6cyl harness out on 304 then can plot what joins v8 looms...bit of planing,unwrapping/taping & takes bit of time to understand what does what & where to route.Not hard just tedious & boring.

Think I gave list of junk to keep that come in handy later in build lol

Should be able to join vh sender wire to stato fuel pump/sender wiring & use purple wire(f/pump wire) from that out of stato as power wire like factory did or better yet trigger wire for f/pump relay kit like you can get get from bluewire.

Another option for can use tachiometric relay to turn f/pump on instead of ecu....that way can put 6cyl oil sender straight into oil pump no t-piece pita.

Damn...swapping to vn-vs tiebar opens up cooling options & more ways to pretty up engine bay.With vb-vs tiebar you'll probably need to track down vb-k fan shroud for clutch fan or mondeo thermofans....not much else will keep it cool or fit with bulky tiebar.

Keep plugging away bit by bit will get there.

 

[vc commodore]

In relation to the tailshaft....Be a little cautious if going through Hardie Spicer..About 9 months ago, I had my tailshaft done through them and they changed the price 4 times.....

I will admit the job done on mine was more indepth than what yours will require, but just thought I'd put the warning out there

 

[Leigh_G]

Trace green wire off temp sender through harness then tap into engine loom or harness plug at firewall.Should be 2 greens from memory for ac compressor other for temp sensor.

Did you keep 6cyl engine harness?
green - temp sendor
blue - oil pressure sendor
pink -accessories
red - 12v
purple -starter solenoid
brown - charge light/alt

Should be able to join vh sender wire to stato fuel pump/sender wiring & use purple wire(f/pump wire) from that out of stato as power wire like factory did or better yet trigger wire for f/pump relay kit like you can get get from bluewire.

Okay excellent, thanks for those VH wire colours, I spent some time tracing them and came up with similar results. Here's how my VH loom looks coming out on driver's side:


So there's 5 wires on the black "instruments plug", and 3 thicker separate wires.

I've deduced the plug wires are:

• Green: Water temp sender
• Blue: Oil pressure sender
• Brown 1: Alternator (for charge lamp)
• Brown 2: Tacho (not used/no pin in the opposite plug, as this is an SLX so just has a vac gauge)
• Pink: 12V feed from VH dizzy (acc)
• Orange: ??

The three Thicker wires:

• Purple: Starter Solenoid to Ign switch
• Red: Starter (+) Post, to in-dash VH fusebox & Ign switch (as constant 12V feed)
• Pink: ???

So my plug wires look the same as you mentioned Gtrboyy, which is great, but WTF is this thicker pink wire?

Also, on the firewall passenger side there's one more plug. My docs state this is all A/C circuit, so if that's true, I'll leave it alone for now.

Lastly, I assumed I probably wouldn't need any of the loom from the drivers side of the VS, but looking over it I think I may need some.. here's the whole thing laid out (click for full-res):

1. Driver's Side firewall bulkhead and connector for passenger-side engine loom
2. Starter & alternator connectors
3. Fuses & Battery lugs
4. Fuse/relay box
5. ABS connector & variable p/steer plug
6. Headlights/washer/etc crap

Should I just tear this thing apart and piss off each sub-loom I don't need? (basically 4/5/6) or would it be simpler to just take the alternator/starter plugs and just re-wire the alt/starter loom myself with fresh stuff? I can't have the VS fusebox on the strut with the washer and overflow bottles there, and I'll hide the relays somewhere else I think..

In fact I think I just answered my own question, lol

Annnnnd lastly, to keep the vac gauge in the dash working, what's the simplest place to access manifold vac? Any existing lines that would be safe to slap a T-piece in??

 

[Deuce]

Make your own new loom, as the starter wiring gets hot and old and brittle so may cause issues.

Also any manifold vac from the plenum should be fine