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VK 308 or LS1

gtrboyy

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she'll be right maaaa'aaate ;)


*if got complete donor car
 

vc commodore

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Conversions are not fairly straight forward as you think/say if you have actually done one/any.

Yes they sound fairly easy on google paper but reality is theres a bit of head farcqking around to get all things buttoned up to drive like a factory fittedV8 car.:)

If a 304 is converted to carb, reality is, they are as simple as swapping from a 6 to an 8...If it is left as an injected motor, different story....

I do know of a couple of carb powered 304's too.....Can post up a youtube video of one if you like....Happens to belong to a relative of mine....
 

losh1971

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If a 304 is converted to carb, reality is, they are as simple as swapping from a 6 to an 8...If it is left as an injected motor, different story....

I do know of a couple of carb powered 304's too.....Can post up a youtube video of one if you like....Happens to belong to a relative of mine....
Doing an injected 304 swap will be easier than dropping in an LS, especially if going with VN/VP ECU and trans. Yeah decent amount of work but at least most things bolt up. Like GTR suggested get hold of donor and pretty well set.
 

vc commodore

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Doing an injected 304 swap will be easier than dropping in an LS, especially if going with VN/VP ECU and trans. Yeah decent amount of work but at least most things bolt up. Like GTR suggested get hold of donor and pretty well set.

I agree Losh....I have seen an LS1 and 6 speed that has been put in a VH....It was one big headache for the shop owner to get it in and running.....A carbed 304 is as easy as pulling 1 motor out and putting the next one in....The injected set up...I haven't personally seen one done from start to finish, but I would still imagine it wouldn't be as difficult as the LS conversion....:)
 

Not_An_Abba_Fan

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Having done an LS1 into a VC I can say that it's not straight forward. There is a bit of work to do for engineering and to make it legal. Mine was a skid car so I did a few things that were necessary but not legal.

The easy part is fitting the engine. The not so easy part is having clearance for everything. Bolt on conversion kits aren't always bolt on as a mate of mine found out when doing one in a VK. I fabricated everything that needed modifying from engine mounts, steering shaft, extractors and sectioning a piece of the chassis rail. For engineering it is easy to do a right to left starter swap and buy off the shelf headers. The wiring is also easy, only really about 6 wires that need to be hooked up as it's pretty much a stand alone harness. I went with a 4L60E and used a VS front half tailshaft bolted to the VC rear half as the shaft needs to be shorter. The gearbox cross member needs fabricating, although I elongated the holes and flipped it over, worked but not legal.

As far as fuel goes, a Bosch 044 fuel pump, I fitted an adjustable regulator to the valve on the fuel rail as the LS regulator is in the tank.

It is MUCH easier to do a 304 EFI conversion.
 

keith reed

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The biggest problem I had when I had a vp v8 with auto fitted to my vh was finding anyone who knew what they where doing. There were those who said they could but didn't so it cost me a lot more than it should of. This was over 20 years ago when there weren't that many conversions being done. Afterwards wisdom would have been to convert it to carburetor. Would have been a lot cheaper.
 

vc commodore

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The biggest problem I had when I had a vp v8 with auto fitted to my vh was finding anyone who knew what they where doing. There were those who said they could but didn't so it cost me a lot more than it should of. This was over 20 years ago when there weren't that many conversions being done. Afterwards wisdom would have been to convert it to carburetor. Would have been a lot cheaper.

I honestly can't remember when the carb manifold became available for this conversion....So it might have been the case of having to stick with injection at the time of doing your conversion :)

I remember 10 or so years ago of a fella that fitted an injected VN V8 into his HQ 1 tonner....He went ape crap with that thing, converting it to 2 axles on the back and electric everything....From memory it set him back $60K way back then to have it approved and completed....
 

gtrboyy

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The way I remember it early-mid 90's the harrop dual plane was first carb manifold hit the market then Active single plane..after that the gun Harrop single...redline single plane...tp manifolds....come single or redline tunnel ram.

Fairly sure they all had injector bosses although barely anyone knew how to wire up delco.Even less people had software or able to tune them needed aftermarket like motec or microtech.

First efi 5l conversion I was involved in had ems into blue meanie replica....was a shamozzle we did so many things the hard way or just wrong.Took months to make work yet was never 100%..with what I know now could have done it in a weekend/week with all factory parts & half the costs but yeah nobody knew much about efi conversions back then unless you read Zoom mags.

On top of all that my triple webbered 202 lc gtr slaughtered it on streets although it was considered quick with 13.1 sec pb all holden spaghetti driveline.


The efi 5l conversions are getting difficult to do as parts get harder to find.
 

Vin999

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Doing an injected 304 swap will be easier than dropping in an LS, especially if going with VN/VP ECU and trans. Yeah decent amount of work but at least most things bolt up. Like GTR suggested get hold of donor and pretty well set.
Sounds like you have never done a V8 efi conversion before and just saying its easy from other user’s posts you read considering the time you spend 7days a week on this forum noting your ute simple fix dramas, you wouldn't have time to do a conversion, let alone sleep and work paid job.
Best knowledge is hands on experience, spending money on parts, making misteaks not just from memory of others written posts, as you wouldn’t know if facts are true/work just like any info anywhere online .

Sure 308/304 CARBI IS DEAD EASY, no problem, anyone can do it without any issues as parts are simple and no engineering or efi electrical understanding needed ... even if you’re not old enough to have fiddled with 1970’s carbi V8/V6 mods which a child can tune.

I have done and been involved in two 304/355 legal efi conversions and one legal 5.7 Ls into a VL and basically you could say they are the same, since same old factory bits have to be done/changed for both engines, with the main issues in engines being the steering rack/headers/sump/gearbox/body clearance/engineering , especially the LS. As most things, aftermarket kits are available which help, not all are a purrfect fit all the time, yes you save in an area like not shifting battery or ecu's etc but you pay in another area like buying fitting electric steering pumps/starter motors and making headers etc, it doesn’t take long for all the things to add up $$ to make it legally road registered. And don’t forget the extra expense of also doing body resto bits and suspension and brake upgrades while you’re there.

There are many ways/methods $$ to skin a cat and horses for courses whether auto or manual as well, it’s still a lot of farqcking around with what actually fits/works for your combo and how you want to have things look and perform and how much funds to spend.

Sure saying its easy is simple for anyone to type in a post, do the walk not just the talk, and paying $$$$ to a workshop to do the conversion plus dyno tunes, any idiot can do that, sure that’s easy.. it’s not doing the walk.

The hardest and easy thing is time spent to source the original second hand parts and to clean, fit, restore them yourself as it’s the cost $$$ that kills you especially workshop rates and buying new aftermarket stuff, not the time doing the conversion yourself if you know what to do or willing to have a crack the 1st time. Even having a donor car takes time to strip stuff and understand/know what needs to stay/go/altered, not easy for a novice.

So having done a few, I would say doing it was easy as I love mechanical work, I just hated all the time consuming messy cleaning/resto of car and 2nd hand parts and the frustration of trying to learn what works/fits properly the 1st time when you don’t know and the cost $$ and the wrong bullesheet advice you get/hear from others who pretend to have done it.
 
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