Vk turbo Tri mess. Please help

[Vkfreak]

Hi all,
New to the club but heaps of good info. Thanks
I've picked up a vk and it looks like it's got a Hz 308 with turbo 350 box put in. (I'm not 100% sure but the engine number starts with va)
When I got the car I was told it had issues with 3rd gear not working, it dumped all its trains fluid and it needed a tri box.
I swapped the box to a tri but it didn't bolt up properly (one bolt wouldn't line up) and it dumped all the trains fluid again (about 30min after the car was turned off..)
I tried to drive it with the tri but it would only go into first gear.
Can anyone help with this? I don't have a clue and I wanna have the car ready for my fathers smash gift.

 

[Sandman]

Woah mate, don't touch the car for a sec. If the engine had a turbo box behind it a trimatic will not bolt up. They are different bolt holes. Some pictures might help here but what state are both gearboxes in? What is the general state of the car and what do you want to do with it?

 

[Bigfella237]

The "VA" engine number prefix is the standard output black 5.0L that came out in the VK Commodore so possibly the original engine?

If you can let us know the car's build date, the whole engine number and the cast date code off the front of the block (between the timing cover and the inlet manifold) then we can pretty well confirm if it was the original engine?

As Sandman said, if it's a TH block you should not have been able to bolt up a Trimatic trans, from memory the four lowest bellhousing bolts line up but the dowels and both top bolts are in different locations.

Without being located on the correct dowels I doubt the engine and trans would be aligned properly so you've probably chewed the pump out of the front of the transmission?

 

[Vkfreak]

Woah mate, don't touch the car for a sec. If the engine had a turbo box behind it a trimatic will not bolt up. They are different bolt holes. Some pictures might help here but what state are both gearboxes in? What is the general state of the car and what do you want to do with it?

The turbo box went into another vk and ran fine.
I got this car as an xmas gift for my father. I wanna try and get it up and running.
The tri we put in all lined up except for one bolt.

 

[Vkfreak]

The "VA" engine number prefix is the standard output black 5.0L that came out in the VK Commodore so possibly the original engine?

If you can let us know the car's build date, the whole engine number and the cast date code off the front of the block (between the timing cover and the inlet manifold) then we can pretty well confirm if it was the original engine?

As Sandman said, if it's a TH block you should not have been able to bolt up a Trimatic trans, from memory the four lowest bellhousing bolts line up but the dowels and both top bolts are in different locations.

Without being located on the correct dowels I doubt the engine and trans would be aligned properly so you've probably chewed the pump out of the front of the transmission?

The spam says 6h5
Engine number is va545508

 

[Hangman]

The turbo box went into another vk and ran fine.
I got this car as an xmas gift for my father. I wanna try and get it up and running.
The tri we put in all lined up except for one bolt.

Somethings not right. Turbo and trimatic patterns don't interchange.

Off the top of my head that's an 8/85 cast date. Good chance it's the original engine depending on build date of the car.

 

[Bigfella237]

Yep correct, that block was cast on 6th August 1985 and the number seems about right in the sequence so probably not a re-stamp, the cast dates normally precede the car's build date by a month or six weeks so assuming the VK is a 9/85 or 10/85 then chances are it's the original donk?

I was going to suggest that your best course of action would be to take the original TH350 to a transmission specialist and then refit it, but it sounds like you've already sold it or whatever?

Other than that I can't say more than has already been said above, the Turbo Hydramatic is a Chevrolet transmission which has the Small Block Chev bellhousing bolt pattern, it is similar to the Aussie V8 pattern but definitely not the same.

To get a Trimatic to even mate-up to the engine you had to have removed the two dowel pins from the block?

This image shows the difference between the two:

The dowels (marked in red) are not even close, neither are the two top bolts, the two middle bolts are slightly out and the lower-most bolt holes are the only ones that line up.

 

[Bigfella237]

I found this post by Smitty on this forum which suggests all VK Commodore V8 blocks are Trimatic pattern?

all VK 308s(and later 304s on VLs) were drilled for Aussie pattern
so yes you are correct

earlier Commodore 308s could be either Turbo (Chev) pattern
or Aussie...and as said all later 304EFIs are all Chev pattern
(EXCEPT VL Grp A with EFI which I am told is Aussie :whistling )

 

[Vkfreak]

The car was built sept 85. is there anyway i can check that the motor is original.

I had a friend (who is the local mechanics, 3 year apprentice) put the trans in and he said it all lined up except for one lower bolt. I should of taken it to a proper trans specialist, lesson learnt bigfella

Last night I was offered a M76 Borgwarner for $150.

thank you for all your info guys. you are all a wealth of info

 

[Vkfreak]

I found this post by Smitty on this forum which suggests all VK Commodore V8 blocks are Trimatic pattern?

so if its an original motor then it will be aussie pattern, would i have any issues' fitting a M76 Borgwarner