My 1995 Holden VS Berlina Sedan - L67, A2A Intercooled, Plus Heaps More

[ben315vz]

Hey everyone,

About 12 months ago I had a thread on this car, but I had to remove it due to privacy reasons. Well now I decided to start a new thread and start fresh. A lot has changed on this VS Berlina in the last 12 months.

Name:

-Ben Galea.

Age:

-23.

Year:

-04/1995.

Make:

-Holden.

Model:

-VS Berlina.

Type:

-Sedan.

Engine:

-3.8L L67 Supercharged V6.

Transmission:

-T5 Manual with Exedy Performance Heavy Duty Clutch.

Diff:

-Harrop TruTrac, Standard Ratio.

Engine Modifications:

-MACE A2A Intercooler Kit.
-LS1 Throttle Body.
-60LB Fuel Injectors.
-82 Degree Thermostat.
-MACE 19PSI Boost Up Pulley.
-XP Stage 2 Camshaft.
-130LB Valve Springs.
-Rollmaster Double Row Timing Chain.
-BYE Performance Cold Air Intake.
-Blower Port and Polish.
-LIM Port and Polish.
-Machine A2A Plate.
-Custom MSD Ignition Leads.
-Relocated Coil Pack.
-Walbro High Flow Fuel Pump.
-Pacemaker Extractors.
-2x 200CPI High Flow Cats.
-Kalmaker 2 Bar MAP Tune.
-5% Overdrive Balancer.

Power:
-238.7RWKW.
-324.5RWHP.
-837.5NM Torque.

Wheels & Tyres:

-WM Caprice 18's.
-Goodyear F1 Directional 5 235/40R18 Tyres.

Suspension:

-Pedders SSL all round.

Brakes:

-VE V8 Brake Upgrade (Front).
-322mm Brake Rotors.
-VE Twin Piston Brake Calipers.
-RDA Drilled and Slotted Brake Rotors All Round.
-Braided Brake Hoses.

Interior:

-Full Leather Seats.
-Leather Door Trims.
-Statesman Dash.
-VY SS Pedals.
-SAAS Boost Gauge.
-SAAS Volt Gauge.

Stereo:

-Alpine CDE-148EBT CD Receiver.
-Alpine Type R Splits.
-Alpine Type R 6x9s.
-Alpine Type X 12" Subs x2.
-Alpine PDX-M12 Amps x2.
-Alpine PDX-F6 Amp x1.
-Kicker Wiring.

Other mods/Features:

-Factory Upgrade Alarm.
-Automatic Window Wind Up (when doors lock).
-35% Window Tint.
-Dynamat in all Doors and Boot.
-Optima Yellow Top Battery.

Future mods:

Photos:

-First Day I got my VS (24/11/2007):

-Before L67 Conversion:

-After L67 Conversion:

 

[ben315vz]

L67 Conversion.

-Old 3.8L Ecotec V6 out and fully rebuilt L67 and Transmission goes in:

-Few months later, after the engine was run in (so about 2000kms later), A2A install and K-Frame Spacers:

-How the engine bay looks currently:

 

[ben315vz]

I decided to go on Cruise for Charity 10 (10/11/2013), but first I wanted to take the VS to a spray painter and get the whole front end resprayed because of the stone chips, both side sills and rear bumper bar:

They ended up finishing it the day before the cruise! Here are some photos from the cruise:

 

[ben315vz]

Extra photos:

 

[ben315vz]

Reserved.....

 

[GothicKidd]

Looks good, not a fan of the stickers on the enclosure..
also what's the go with the frame spacers?

 

[ben315vz]

Looks good, not a fan of the stickers on the enclosure..
also what's the go with the frame spacers?

Yeah that's how I bought it, someone else put them on. Will probably take them off.

Had to fit the K-Frame spacers because the supercharger pulley was hitting the bonnet, only because the A2A intercooler lifted it up so much.

 

[woodyotoad]

wow amazing work there, gives me some motivation to get my garden ornament back on the road and boosting

 

[ben315vz]

UPDATE:

On the 14/04/2014, I was cruising along and the transmission decided to go bang And yes it was rebuilt at one stage so I don't know what caused it to go. Anyway, ended up losing all gears including reverse.

Ended up getting it towed home and left it in the garage for a bit.

After thinking about it for a while, I was considering doing a manual conversion. I went online to see how much everything would cost and if it would be worthwhile. The day I went online to have a look, I found someone selling a VS Commodore Ute that was factory T5 Manual! And they only wanted $1400 for it. Reason being, where the pan hard rod bolts to the body, that bracket was almost broken completely off. But I still took it for a drive, it changed gears smoothly, and I was thinking that I could just sell parts off that ute that I don't need and then scrap the body.

Photos of the ute (photos that were in the advertisement):

First of all, yes I know it's rough, and no I am not going to be using that gear knob, I will find a genuine one for once it's all setup in my VS. I only wanted this for the manual conversion and because I knew it would have all the parts I need.

So on Monday (21/04/2014), I decided to start striping my VS. There are also other problems with my VS at the moment, like the heater core leaking coolant (I had it bypassed for a while), broken passenger side engine mount, so I decided to get the whole lot done while the car is off the road. Doesn't matter how long it takes because I have two other cars I can use anyway.

Today I decided to start removing the dash and center console. I'm also going to be removing all the wiring for the gauges and a few other things, and redoing it all properly. I also have a Statesman dash and center console that I will more than likely fit once it's all ready to go back together.

Leaking heater core:

So in the end it took me about 6 hours to get the engine/transmission out and 2.5 hours to remove the dash and center console. I have done it all by myself and I have never removed a dash before. It seemed fairly easy and straight forward and didn't even use the workshop manual. But I will be looking at the workshop manual to work out how to remove the heater box and heater core later.

Due to financial reasons, I won't be doing much more to my VS for a while. I have most of the parts, but there are a few things I need to get (like clutch kit, flywheel, heater core, engine mounts and other things I want to do to the engine), and I can't afford it right now. But I figured that I can't drive the VS how it was anyway so I may as well slowly do some work to it and will buy what I need as I can afford it.

 

[ben315vz]

wow amazing work there, gives me some motivation to get my garden ornament back on the road and boosting

Every time I look back at the photos of my VS it keeps motivating me to keep going with it Everything I have done has been worth it though, even though there have been a few ups and downs. Not going to give up on it.