V8 to V6 Conversion Question (Yes you read it correctly)

[evilstuie]

Hi All,

I was wanting to buy a wrecked LS1 commodore or ute and accidently ended up buying a VE 07 V6 ute at an auction late at night by mistake. It only cost me $1250 and repairable writeoff is just a bent rear bar that my mate can fix up.

I've found a '03 LS1 Calais in good shape for $3000 and was wondering if, instead of getting the repairable writeoff fixed up, if I instead took the LS1 out of the Calais for my project car, and then put the V6 into it?

I know V6 to V8 you need to do suspension, brakes, engineering certificate etc, but the other way around can I just do it and let QLD Tranport know its had an engine change?

This way instead of a mistake I end up with the donor motr and trans for my car and all the fancy of a calais with the fuel bill of a 6 to sue as a second daily driver.

Is there any issue with doing this? (Other than the fun of wiring from VY to VE, but I'll probably swap the dash etc over where needed)

 

[_R_J_K_]

Super pointless and lots of dicking around too, none of the VE stuff will bolt in and the VE loom won't plug in. You would certainly need to spend more converting it, and it will probably still need an engineers cert too as the VY never came with an Alloytec.

Even if it did bolt up and plug in I would still advise against going V8->V6.

 

[gtrboyy]

Two completely different cars not much will change over...sell/flip the one you don't want.

 

[evilstuie]

Thanks guys.
The Calais was a bust. Guy had pictures on Gumtree (before he crashed it) and forgot to mention the fucked front end, spray can paint job and trashed wheels, transmission and interior in the ad and on the phone before I drove 2 hours to get it.

Looking at a VZ now but I suppose it's the same scenario with putting the 6 in it yeah?

I'll get the VE ute fixed up and put it up for sale, what's a fair price for a registered and roadworthy VE ute with a repairable writeoff on its history?
Auto, bodykit, spotties, lsd, twin exhaust and good paint and panel.

 

[_R_J_K_]

Looking at a VZ now but I suppose it's the same scenario with putting the 6 in it yeah?

Correcto. You can do an Alloytec but you will still need a VZ V6 k-frame and all the VZ V6 specific wiring, ECU, BCM linking etc. It's just not worth trying that kind of swap when there's so many of them around from factory for so cheap, especially for the reliability if you want to use it for a cheap daily. People never put a value on their own time for things like this, it will be far more effort than it's worth.

Basic rule of thumb is that unless you have a complete donor with everything you need that you can swap straight in, change to a different type of engine is gonna be a bad time. They might as well be different cars for all intensive purposes.

 

[Skylarking]

... I'll get the VE ute fixed up and put it up for sale, what's a fair price for a registered and roadworthy VE ute with a repairable writeoff on its history?...

Sadly many buyers won’t pick up a vehicle with a repairable writeoff history flagged within the NEVDIS database and shown on PPSR reports. As a result it may be unsaleable.

So the question should be whether it’s more profitable to sell the wreck or sell the parts as compared to repairing the car (considering time and effort spent repairing or wrecking).

Also, don’t discount the bureaucratic pain involved in documenting the complete repair process and paying fees to engineers checking the repair and fees to rego authority... If you do go down the repair road, make sure you fully understand all aspects of the bureaucratic process you must follow (else you’ll be royally pissed) come registration time.

(Above is assuming the vehicle is currently written off and not registered, if currently registered and it’s an old WOV flag from years ago, selling can still be an issue)

 

[Fu Manchu]

Makes you wonder about these Repairable Writeoff channels on the YouTube’s. Samcrac would be one. He is getting Lambos and stuff. Fixing them up. He fixed up a nice Audi R8. Turned out ok.

 

[Skylarking]

^ Samcrac’s from the USA which is a different market to ours. Likely they have a completely different regulatory requirements in put such write-offs back on the road (as compared to down under). And it’s probably a much bigger market in the US for such repaired write-offs which is not the case down under.

In any case, it’s still interesting to watch how repairs can and should be done correctly to return a badly crashed car back to factory fresh state

Down under, I believe, even statutory write-offs can be repaired if the vehicle is over 25 years old. This is to allow the preservation of classics which would otherwise be crushed by metal recyclers. Anything, no matter how badly crashed, can be repaired to as new condition if cost is not a limiting factor. But it’d have to be a rather special vehicle for someone to bother....

Insurance companies won’t bother even with special vehicles. Once the repair estimate hits about 75% of cars value, its written off with no emotion