VR V-8 SS

[LS1 James]

So, I got the car end of June 2011, .

2011? A bit late mate

..... :doh:

 

[Deuce]

2011? A bit late mate

as L67 Calais said, I'm back dating my story, so people know where it's at now!
Then the story will continue from there as the car evolves!

Funny you should pick up on that though, I almost wrote 2012, LOL

 

[Deuce]

The Powercruise build

So after deciding to go to Powercruise I then decided I need my car to go faster, Hmmmm. Big ideas quickly got reeled back in by my smaller budget. But the fact that I leaked a little coolant between my intake and right bank head (not an uncommon issue) kind of swayed my thinking as to what I should do. So my Powercruise build ended up as follows:
1, Scored some used C.O.M.E racing alloy heads from a Green/White “Auckland Yamaha” sponsored Torana that races in the production Musclecars class. They were off his original engine that got freshened up and kept as a spare, but after 5years of never needing it he decided to sell, and I managed to convince him to split the engine. (Maybe the beer and steak meal at his local pub was the sweetener on the deal.) Anyway, they were around a 06 or 07 build and came with details of there tested flow rates. The valves were 1.6”exhaust and 2.02”intake (up from 1.94”in) they had only done two season's since new!
2, that meant I needed roller rockers, so I got Crane Gold’s (as per standard on VK BROCK Commodores I think) and all the appropriate ARP studs and guides etc.
3, While the heads were off, I opened up each port on my extractors and sent them away to get HPC coated.
4, New plugs - AC-Delco
5, heat wrapped my starter motor, just to make sure it stay’s cool and working well.
6, ACL BS150GTR head gaskets (if I remember part number correctly). Intake and exhaust gaskets were both modified as to not restrict flow (because the ports in the heads were that big)
7, roughly port matched my intake manifold. It’s not 100% but with in 1-2mm of correct, as apposed to needing to take 5mm or more off of every side.
8, made an adjustable pushrod, (from spare 202 pushrod I had around) and ordered the +.050” length set, which was sent to my hotel in Sydney that I just happened to be going to for work. Saved me over $100 to what they would have cost locally!!
9, also installed heavy duty swaybar links with HD bushes
10, Top Exhaust bolts replaced by Chrome Allen head one’s (only 8 that are really seen)

The whole build only took the car off of the road for 19days, and I only took 1day off of work. (6day work weeks and also going to aus used up 4days)

A few pictures from the build are attached.

 

[Deuce]

Finishing touches for Powercruise

1, Took the car to a Panel beater friends shop and spent at least 8hours giving the car a full Buff, including Buffing by hand inside all the door shuts, boot, and engine bay.
2, Also got four new tyres and an alignment, (I think they were ATR sport 225/55-16)
3, Got freezer panels and lined my Cold Air Box, to try and help keep the filter as cool as possible. (pic attached)
4, Fresh oil change at Powercruise after getting through scrutineering, and setting up camp.

All round great event!!
The car was a little sloppy on corners (surprise surprise!) and after an amount of braking my brake efficiency dropped off, just a bit?!?

Also found a sweet picture turned up in NZV8 magazine, for their Powercruise coverage. they emailed it to me, but I do not know how to get it small enough to upload on here (got a pic in Performance Car Magazine too, but their comments were dumb. stupid mag anyway)
But here is another pic that made it up on there web page.
Powercruise 2011 97 « V8 – drag racing, hot rods, muscle cars, car shows – NZV8 magazine

 

[Deuce]

Here's another shot taken at Powercruise 2011.
SS full of the team, chasing down a Falcon.
Powercruise 2011 158 « V8 – drag racing, hot rods, muscle cars, car shows – NZV8 magazine

 

[Deuce]

Powercruise was well over, & the dust had settled.

It was January 2012, and I didn’t have much to do between drag racing events (see pic)
So I thought to myself that my mate and I would add some release to exhaust back pressure, just in case there was any.
$6 well spent I say!

 

[Deuce]

Summer Dreamin'

So by late summer it was agreed by all that we were going back to Powercruise this year too (2012) so of course more improvements were required.
First on the list of upgrades was to firm up the Shifts in the sloppy old auto. So in went a TCI Shift improver Kit, and just for good measure and TCI polished alloy finned Transmission pan, I should take a picture to add up here, but meh,
The transmission is getting on in age, and will probably spit the dummy as soon as I up the power it has to run :undead:, but we will cross that bridge when we get to it.
I could get a super tough auto when it does die, or hassle a Manual conversion. Not sure which it will be yet.

 

[Deuce]

Stop!

Next on the list of improvements before Powercruise 2012 was the Brakes!
At my last WOF check I had been told the front pads were getting low, rotors may need a skim, and the rears pads aren't to much better.
So instead of a cheap-ish fix, I decided I would try to improve the Braking system.
Slotted VT front Rotor's (and adapter rings), VT twin piston Calipers, Police spec pads, Braided Lines, and Penrite Dot4 fluid.
Basically the biggest brake setup that will fit under 16" wheels.
I think some people remove the stone guards, but I prefer to keep them. So after trimming ‘just enough’ off on the fourth or seventh try, there was eventually enough clearance for the calipers to fit correctly.

All Finished, it looks better and stopping has improved too.

 

[Deuce]

Drags

The only real things left to do before Powercruise 2012 was to ensure no other issues arose, so just to be sure my spark is good I replaced the Distributor Rotor & Cap while fitting a set of 9mm Eagle leads.

I took the car to Fathers Day Drags to test it out, and see what it run’s. Best of the day was a 14.87.
I got plenty of pictures from that event. (see attached)

It seemed the car was now running good and cool. Maybe too cool??
I tested the Temp gauge sender and its resistance barely changed between a warm engine and a cold engine, so replaced the sender and found my temperature gauge actually gave me a decent reading now.
A few weeks after that I installed a tridon 88deg hi-flow thermostat.
Now I think this story is up to date!! (finally)

Sorry for all the ranting :blah blah: From now on all updates will be real time.
I should get out and take some nice photos too.

 

[Holdenman]

Enjoyable thread mate, I look forward to seeing more from you though.
And when I get my engine back I will start mine.
BTW by chance I found out a drag racing mate has just set himself up with his own Dyno and is very good at tuning the LS motors and is keen to get his hands on mine so he can add that to his skills as currently only 1 person is any good in NZ. Thought you may be interested in this just in case as our engines sound similar although I don't intend to go too much further with mine.