Vx ecotec bottom end

[VX_Commy]

Thanks for the advice guys
I also got kangaroo slotted brakes and be did brake pads, now I just need shocks and also Iv got 17 inch vx ss rims with Bridgestone Potenza re002 adrenalin tyres 345/45 which makes the car react a lot quicker and they just grip the road, Iv still got my 15s that I use for the track days and I leave the bridgestones on the front for that extra grip but at the drags I leave 15s on front and back and I'm gonna get the lowest profile tyre I can for them so I have good take off at the strip
With what's done to the car and the kms on it plus the whole vt Calais leather and full electric and airbag front seats it goes good for what it is, I ran a 15.5 my first time going to the drags with over half a tank of fuel and I also leave the jack and spare tyre out of the boot but when I go for a long drive I always put it back in
I reckon Holden did stuff up the gear ratio in the v6 commodores running the 4 speed that's why I reckon they don't really have that much of a good take off to have that little bit more fun, what Iv herd is that with the 4L60-E they made the first gear long with a ratio of 3.06 so when it goes into second it's a mich firmer shift
And also Iv herd back in the vs and older models the turbo 700 and 3.08 diff ratio where good

 

[DevilDRake]

When I got my Stage 2 camshaft fitted back in the day on my ecotec, it made it sound pretty cool, but it was still gutless.

Changing the diff to a different ratio (from say 3.08 to 3.7) made a world of difference. Then get the speedo recalibrated at Holden.

 

[Jxfwsf]

Thanks for the advice guys
I also got kangaroo slotted brakes and be did brake pads, now I just need shocks and also Iv got 17 inch vx ss rims with Bridgestone Potenza re002 adrenalin tyres 345/45 which makes the car react a lot quicker and they just grip the road, Iv still got my 15s that I use for the track days and I leave the bridgestones on the front for that extra grip but at the drags I leave 15s on front and back and I'm gonna get the lowest profile tyre I can for them so I have good take off at the strip
With what's done to the car and the kms on it plus the whole vt Calais leather and full electric and airbag front seats it goes good for what it is, I ran a 15.5 my first time going to the drags with over half a tank of fuel and I also leave the jack and spare tyre out of the boot but when I go for a long drive I always put it back in
I reckon Holden did stuff up the gear ratio in the v6 commodores running the 4 speed that's why I reckon they don't really have that much of a good take off to have that little bit more fun, what Iv herd is that with the 4L60-E they made the first gear long with a ratio of 3.06 so when it goes into second it's a mich firmer shift
And also Iv herd back in the vs and older models the turbo 700 and 3.08 diff ratio where good

For handling racing around a track then low profiles are good with less movement in the sidewall, for drag racing in a straight line then your 15's are best, keep the larger aspect ratio and go wider tyres.
How many top fuel drag cars do you see with low profile tyres?

There's no difference in gear ratios between a th700-r4 (4l60) and 4l60e/4l65e.
They didn't really stuff up, it's a family car... the first vn's with a higher lift longer duration cam were dynamite off the line... so much so that to many complaints from people buying them we ended up with the detuned later vn/vp/vr engine and then onto the ecotec.

3.08 ratio worked better in the VN-VS because the car itself is lighter, if they had 3.45:1/3.7:1 then it'd leave your VX in the dust.
Although the ecotec has more killawasps i'd say an older vn-vr 3.8 has more torque down low before the ecotec really kicks in, they made more power sure but it was higher in the rev range so you have to get there first.

 

[Immortality]

I've always found that with any load in a V6 commodore other than a driver you soon start to see the lack of torque. On many occasions in our old VS on long trips with a heavy load the engine used more fuel @ 100km/h then it did at higher non legal speeds. A simple diff ratio change solves this issue (by getting the engine further into the power/torque band) and is why I say that Holden got it wrong. Vehicle manufacturers claim certain fuel mileage but I'm sure the tests don't represent real life driving conditions.

I don't know, maybe because here in NZ we don't have nice long flat roads but it just seems impossible to get anywhere near the stated fuel mileage even when driven nice. Driving up and down hills and windy roads means your on and off the power and brake all the time, not good for economy.

 

[EYY]

Couldn't agree more about the weight/gearing problem. As soon as you put big, heavy wheels on them they turn into a gutless pos too.

 

[Jxfwsf]

I guess that's a bonus of aus... fairly flat, tbh i miss the old 3800, had a tandem and vx on the back of that thing and it still had get up n go.
With the ecotec even a 3-400 kg 6x4 empty slows it down noticeably (weight is an estimate, it's old and made from checker plate steel and 2" angle iron, it isn't light).

 

[Pollushon]

For the cash you'd spend on a cam and rockers you could invest a bit further for a Tonyz $2k budget turbo kit and a daily driver tune. I think bolt on boost is a more logical approach to the Ecotec (more so L27) power equation because they respond well to it and if it shits itself replacement engines are a dime a dozen and an easy swap. If you put a leg out of bed after a cam goes in you've just spent huge bucks for little gain.

You'll also be very satisfied with the results, these little bulletproof ####ers have got legs

Otherwise I agree a diff ratio change is a noticeable improvement to the kick in your pants.

 

[VX_Commy]

Jxw
For drag racing on a standard street car a lower profile tyre on 15s would make the car accelerate faster because the wheel does one rotation quicker than what it does with a bigger profile tyre
And I know there's no difference between the gear ratios even with the 4 speed ve it's the same ratio but I forgot how light those vn/vr/vs were haha
I reckon they should've put in the 5 speed auto from the vz sv6 for the vt/vx/vy if they fit because those gear ratios seam suitable for such a heavy car with only 152kw stock
Eyy
Yeah Iv noticed when I got the bridgestones on the back the car struggles with take off because those 17s are pretty heavy and my car isn't powerful enough to get those wheels moving from take off and its like it hesitates until your over 20km but with the 15s that's not a problem

 

[vsv6dude]

I took out the mesh from the maf because gm Motorsport do it on the cars they tune and I got a k&n filter and they usually stop all the crap getting into the engine ..................

You took out the MAF mesh because GM Motorsport do it ......??

This doesn't make sense. So what GM Motorsport do whatever.

BTW K&N filters are leaders for letting crap into into the engine.
To many have been sucked in with the K&N myth plenty of info IF you google K&N filters you will find the opposite is true.
Usually engines with these filters have higher silicon content in the engine oil which means faster wear.

Put the Mesh back in MAF and get a proper air cleaner that keeps grit out. OEM air cleaners are best.

Those 2 items do zip for measurable power gains other than give you warm fuzzy feeling of dyno butt power of the mind.

 

[VX_Commy]

My k&n airfilter is like brand new on the other side and it has always been like that
All the people that get crap into there engine probably don't oil them or over oil them
The oil keeps the crap out of the engine and they flow a lot better than paper airfilters
When I had a brand new paper filter in my car it went like **** the car was always missing so the first thing I done was change the air filter and it stopped doing that
I had the k&n in for a week it was fine
Put the paper one back in it starting missing again because it wasn't getting enough air so now I just use the paper airfilter for when I clean my k&n for a day and reoil it the next day
GM Motorsport are professional tuners, they say they take it out because it's a restriction in the air intake system and it gives better throttle respone and runs the engine cooler, they do it to all the cars they tune and they also have the fastest n/a cam only ve running 10s
They have been tuning cars for years so I thought I'll test it to see if it makes a difference with the car and it did, it made it run cooler and it did give it better throttle response so I left it out
And I checked if it ran cooler by using that diagnostics mode thing and with the paper air filter it made the engine hotter than what the k&n filter does