Draimond
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Aug 28, 2008
- Messages
- 273
- Reaction score
- 254
- Points
- 63
- Location
- Brisbane
- Members Ride
- VS V6 Executive
I'm feeling stuck, not sure which way to go.
Did a big end bearing whilst doing some gravel drifting in my VS ecotec.
Looking at putting no more than about $11k in for parts and machining.
The goal is to have a strong street car that sounds p###ed off and obnoxious.
More specifically: low 5k rev limit optimized for maximum torque, drift mods like sump and oil cooler, plus as much tips and tricks I can gather to optimize the engine, oiling and reliability under load.
Got 2 VS bodies and ecotec engines, both in somewhat rough shape.
All I know is that I want to keep the VS body.
I've tried looking around for a while now for a body like my first VS, executive series 1, no airbags or abs, live axle. Can't find all those things in one anymore.
So I'm not thrilled with building on something that I can't even change the steering wheel in, but I'm willing to work with what I got. Curious about the VR platform but I've had no experience with them. I've heard that there are key incompatibilities that will bite you when you find out the hard way. The simple fact that they look the same and generally don't have air bags and abs makes me want to cut into my budget to get one.
As for the engine, call me crazy but I do like the ecotec motor. I've seen a great range and availability of performance parts that are reasonably priced.
When the engine started knocking the first thing I thought of was "time to do the LS swap".
I priced the conversion and came to the conclusion that for about $8k or so I'd have a stock second hand LS and auto from a wreckers running in my VS. I'd still need to get it mod plated.
It's stock. Second hand. Most of my budget gone. No optimizations. Just as likely to die first full send from oil starvation or because it was just ready to die the min I bought it. My rego goes up along with my minimum fuel cost (Assumption - gentle economic city or highway, I assume the min fuel consumption of the V8 will be higher than a V6 worked the way I'm thinking). Parts also become more expensive. I'm undecided if I can afford a V8 long term.
On that plus side.. hey it's an LS! With the right exhaust setup I'm sure it's real easy to get the particular note I'm chasing. Bigger range of parts. More power potential. I assume an optimized LS can take more punishment than an optimized ecotec.
So if I don't do the LS swap, I'm rebuilding. It's something I've always wanted to do anyway.
I could go the stoker kit: I need new parts anyway, I want high torque and a low rev limit. Makes sense to stroke right?
Did up a parts list off the Mace site which came to about $5k. Looks like they've got everything covered there. The only thing I'd change is to get king bearings instead. Keep $1k aside for machining and lube.
At which point I wonder if I could twin turbo for $5k. $1250 per turbo, make all the flanges at work with the plasma cutter or laser, pay next to nothing for all the pipework.
Then I need? ECU, wide band, injectors, intercooler, oil cooler, catch can and hoses?
wreckers LS, ecotec stroker, ecotec stroker turbo, ecotec turbo..
thoughts?
I feel like writing this down helped me process some of it but I'm no closer to a direction.
Did a big end bearing whilst doing some gravel drifting in my VS ecotec.
Looking at putting no more than about $11k in for parts and machining.
The goal is to have a strong street car that sounds p###ed off and obnoxious.
More specifically: low 5k rev limit optimized for maximum torque, drift mods like sump and oil cooler, plus as much tips and tricks I can gather to optimize the engine, oiling and reliability under load.
Got 2 VS bodies and ecotec engines, both in somewhat rough shape.
All I know is that I want to keep the VS body.
I've tried looking around for a while now for a body like my first VS, executive series 1, no airbags or abs, live axle. Can't find all those things in one anymore.
So I'm not thrilled with building on something that I can't even change the steering wheel in, but I'm willing to work with what I got. Curious about the VR platform but I've had no experience with them. I've heard that there are key incompatibilities that will bite you when you find out the hard way. The simple fact that they look the same and generally don't have air bags and abs makes me want to cut into my budget to get one.
As for the engine, call me crazy but I do like the ecotec motor. I've seen a great range and availability of performance parts that are reasonably priced.
When the engine started knocking the first thing I thought of was "time to do the LS swap".
I priced the conversion and came to the conclusion that for about $8k or so I'd have a stock second hand LS and auto from a wreckers running in my VS. I'd still need to get it mod plated.
It's stock. Second hand. Most of my budget gone. No optimizations. Just as likely to die first full send from oil starvation or because it was just ready to die the min I bought it. My rego goes up along with my minimum fuel cost (Assumption - gentle economic city or highway, I assume the min fuel consumption of the V8 will be higher than a V6 worked the way I'm thinking). Parts also become more expensive. I'm undecided if I can afford a V8 long term.
On that plus side.. hey it's an LS! With the right exhaust setup I'm sure it's real easy to get the particular note I'm chasing. Bigger range of parts. More power potential. I assume an optimized LS can take more punishment than an optimized ecotec.
So if I don't do the LS swap, I'm rebuilding. It's something I've always wanted to do anyway.
I could go the stoker kit: I need new parts anyway, I want high torque and a low rev limit. Makes sense to stroke right?
Did up a parts list off the Mace site which came to about $5k. Looks like they've got everything covered there. The only thing I'd change is to get king bearings instead. Keep $1k aside for machining and lube.
At which point I wonder if I could twin turbo for $5k. $1250 per turbo, make all the flanges at work with the plasma cutter or laser, pay next to nothing for all the pipework.
Then I need? ECU, wide band, injectors, intercooler, oil cooler, catch can and hoses?
wreckers LS, ecotec stroker, ecotec stroker turbo, ecotec turbo..
thoughts?
I feel like writing this down helped me process some of it but I'm no closer to a direction.