VN 200KW upgrades

[bjf66]

have 304 efi engine suppose to be 9.5 compression from factory, as was informed its 200KW
its been a while since I drove it and actually cant remember too much about it
engine hasn't been going for a while, and why car is looked at, may not be started for another 6-12 months
engine been sitting, although turns over
was looking at Starr manifold to get some air
not sure of camshaft specifications
what upgrades would be considered if you wanted to keep the overall appearance as stock
car will be street driven

1. If engine need rebuilding would you increase ci to 355ci
2. stay with 9.5 compression
3. look at upgrades to hydraulic roller, as well as keep existing compression
4. upgrade intake system what else / who else makes options
5. upgrade heads to aluminium
6. a little porting on VN/VT heads
7. upgrade the Turbo 700 to 6 speed auto

interested in thoughts?

 

[harrop.senator]

I'd always spend the money going 355 personally the low down torque is well worth it.

There's a few manifolds but not any that will retain the factory look apart from the old Starr manifold.

If it's a 200kw it should be a 5000i 4 bolt main motor. I'm unsure of what camshaft they ran.

9.5:1 with a factory intake manifold I'd run a hydraulic roller in the 220's. You can run a reverse split with more intake duration of you want it to rev a little more.

In my opinion with a 355 with 9.5:1 you want a cam that's strong to 5600. The extra cubes maxes the manifold out quite quickly and leaves a decent size flat spot til second wind about 5k. This would probably be good for around 300rwhp in my opinion , maybe 320.

If you've got four bolt mains , don't mind big intake and are prepared to rev it you could make close to 400+ with ported heads.

 

[bjf66]

Mr Harrop.senator thanks for your follow up,
the engine is original VN HDT Aero, never been played with to the best of my knowledge, its original engine, as still in car, so going off what I have read the engine is 200KW, and compression was in ball park of 9.5:1, don't know any information about camshaft, although did check out heads were #0019
I haven't pulled the engine down just yet as was going to see if it fires up as its been sleeping for 15 yrs, but does turn over
Haven't had sump off to check however not expecting it to be 4 bolt but then who knows
can't seem to find out engine specification's

 

[shane_3800]

What is your budget?

If budget allows I would go a 383 stroker with edelbrock heads cnc ported by Higgins or for the extra 2.5k on top just go his heads as thry need T&D shaft rockers.

 

[Deuce]

Extrusion hone on the stock bananas and 70mm throttle body is an okay start which keeps the stock look. Not sure if you can still get Starr manifold, but better than the above option if you can.
Or the trickshift manifold gives you the 'group A' look if you can find one of those.

 

[bjf66]

Shane
I haven't thought about budget, understand it may costs few $ to get sorted
Was thinking to try and keep car semi authentic being HDT Aero without going to extreme
Not sure how much additional airflow you could get out of the VN /VT heads, or in other words how much power they would support


For Stroker kits:
without having to weld the bottom end of the block where water jackets are who offers the best deal for value for money, with dropping the stroker kit in to block with plenty of clearance without spending a lot of time and $ balancing some cheaper brand

Come, Scat, Pavtek, or AT Racing (they seem to get a bad wrap)
Or is better to just purchase the rope seal crank, and pistons and use existing VN rods which seems to be have a good report

 

[shane_3800]

Extrusion hone on the stock bananas and 70mm throttle body is an okay start which keeps the stock look. Not sure if you can still get Starr manifold, but better than the above option if you can.
Or the trickshift manifold gives you the 'group A' look if you can find one of those.

Tell me where do you get an extrusion hone done in Australia atm?
I love how people always know all the supposed answers.

 

[shane_3800]

Shane
I haven't thought about budget, understand it may costs few $ to get sorted
Was thinking to try and keep car semi authentic being HDT Aero without going to extreme
Not sure how much additional airflow you could get out of the VN /VT heads, or in other words how much power they would support


For Stroker kits:
without having to weld the bottom end of the block where water jackets are who offers the best deal for value for money, with dropping the stroker kit in to block with plenty of clearance without spending a lot of time and $ balancing some cheaper brand

Come, Scat, Pavtek, or AT Racing (they seem to get a bad wrap)
Or is better to just purchase the rope seal crank, and pistons and use existing VN rods which seems to be have a good report

The come 383 kit will not hit the water jackets.

If you want a propper engine built with good heads it'll be about 25k.

 

[Deuce]

Tell me where do you get an extrusion hone done in Australia atm?
I love how people always know all the supposed answers.

Fair question. But being that I am in NZ, and brought the COME TTB mani for my 355 about 3years ago, I am not the one to answer your question.
From memory there was a crowd in Sydney. But not much chance of me remembering now.
If you are keen on it as well ask around. Maybe EYY or immortality knew of somewhere (again, testing my memory here).

 

[Deuce]

Was thinking to try and keep car semi authentic being HDT Aero without going to extreme
Not sure how much additional airflow you could get out of the VN /VT heads, or in other words how much power they would support

As an idea, keep your heads and just give the ports a clean up (flatten off pushrod hump in intake runner), run a thinner head gasket, maybe cam it up a bit further, make your choice on intake (which will effect your cam decision), diff gears, tune.
And if you have more budget, new valves and larger diameter intake.

Heads won't be your restriction point.
And this idea will give you a better motor without too much outlay and keeping the original look (and reversable).

I don't think the aero had the 4bolt block (from what I remember reading). But am certainly happy to be proven wrong (and hope I am for your sake)