When the Gen 3 5.7-litre V8 got stuffed under the bonnet of the local Holden VT Commodore, it was like it'd been hit with a big dose of steroids. Initially pumping out a seemingly effortless 220kW and with 0-100 km/h times in the 6s (in base SS trim), the Gen 3 saw a return to the mega-V8 performance that so many Australians had long-missed. Just ask Sydney's Andrew Soulby - he bought this white Series 2 VT SS brand new in 1999, and was bowled over by the "bucket loads" of grunt on offer.
So the Gen 3 is a motor that pumps out power with consummate ease - but the downside of this is the big Commodore feels a tad slower than it really is. No surprise then - within about 4 months of ownership Andrew went in search of some more seat-of-the-pants excitement. Something that made you reel back when the throttle got a big bootin'. The first toe in the water - at a time when not many Australians had tinkered with the Gen 3 - involved a few bolt-on enhancements. Before anything was tampered with, however, a preliminary power-pull established a standard baseline - 160 rear wheel kW was seen on a Dyno Dynamics chassis dyno.
Stage One of modification saw the stockie exhaust system dropped off and the fabrication of a twin 2 ½-inch > single 3-inch system. Ensuring the maximum increase in exhaust flow, a set of JetHot extractors were bolted to the alloy heads.
With focus then on free-ing up intake airflow, Andrew picked up a Parker Performance mass airflow meter, ported throttle body and a SS Inductions cold air induction snorkel. Ahh, the fitment of aftermarket mods don't come much easier than that. Final trimmings then involved a cooler thermostat and a brace of Nology plug wires.
With just these relatively basic mods, Andrew's SS picked up a claimed 30kW at the wheels (making a new total of 190kW). And - as a bonus - the aural stimulation of the 350ci-er was improved beyond belief.
Andrew was quite happy with the level of power that he'd so far snagged, but - yes - it was again inevitable that more was to follow. Interestingly - working with local C&V Performance - the next step involved injecting gas into the heart of the 350. Yep, a US-market nitrous kit (intended for the LS1 Chev Camaro) was integrated into the Commodore's underbonnet scenery and power clambered sky-high. With no other additional mods - except for some 26.4lb injectors - the car now muscled out a massive 245kW at the back tyres.
With tuning completed (and a shift-kit thrown onto the otherwise stock 4-speed auto trans at the last minute), Andrew took the VT along to the local drag strip. Unsure of what sort of times to expect, the car - which was run in full 1680kg (plus driver) street trim - got its torque down well enough to belt out a 12.8 second ET.
Enough to make the near-$100k HSV GTS look like a pedal car pretender!
The biggest problem, however, was the legalities of the nitrous system (ie the complete lack of it). It was great fun, but Andrew just wasn't comfortable with it. So, again, he did some research, considered all available options and ended up taking the centrifugal blower route.
Back in those days, the Gen 3 was still pretty much uncharted territory for aftermarket tuners here in Australia. A blower kit had not yet been commercially sold. Therefore - when Andrew agreed to go ahead with a CAPA Vortech supercharger kit - he knew some fine tuning and sorting would be required a little bit down the track. No problems though - he's now ended up with a product that makes all the mumbo.
With Charlie of Conrod Motorsport heavily involved in the build-up, the LS1 engine was hung with everything from a Vortech V2 SQ centrifugal blower and supplementary fuel pump to a new airflow meter and Bosch blow-off valve. Part of the conversion also involved swapping the aforementioned aftermarket exhaust system for a D&T twin 2 5/8-inch system. This set-up also sounds killer and the twin tips look very neat.
Realising the level of torque that would now be passing through the trans, Andrew next opted to for a full rebuild that bumped up the capacity to over 700hp. The next bit in the driveline that saw some attention was the diff - it was swapped from the original 3.07 ratio to the manual vehicle's 3.46:1 LSD.
So is it tuff? You bet. The CAPA blower kit - running on up to 7 psi boost - has eclipsed the power seen with the nitrous kit and pushed the chassis dyno rollers to the tune of 270kW. A massive 68 percent power increase, still with the standard engine internals!
Out on the street, you'd never pick this level of power lurking in such a stock lookin' SS. In fact the only give-aways to the owner having any interest in aftermarket gear are the lowered stance (thanks to 2-inch lowered King springs), tinted windows and - like you didn't notice - the SIKLS1 rego plates. Other than the front bar, the body kit is genuine SS and even the 17-inch rims are factory issue; no point in changing them when they look this good.
Inside there is nothing that detracts from the comfort of the standard SS trim. Andrew has added an Autometer boost gauge to the A-pillar (just keep an eye on things), an AutoSpeed needle mixture meter, a 3-window dash, painted the cluster and console surrounds in silver and replaced the factory speaker system. Running off the standard Holden tuner/CD/cassette head unit are Sony 6-inch fronts and Sony 6 x 9s in the rear deck (hidden beneath Calais covers).
Andrew is obviously a big believer in not changing things that don't absolutely require it. And - take a look at his everyday driver, it seems to be an effective philosophy. His next "needs" are a CAPA front-mount air-to-air intercooler kit and maybe some bigger brakes. Brakes - we would have to agree - will be a necessity once the intercooler delivers its extra power hit...
Note - If you want to get all the nitty-gritty details and keep up to date on the progress of Andrew's SS, simply check out
www.holdenls1.com
Contact:
Conrod Motorsport
+61 2 9756 1880
www.holdenls1.com/Cmsracing
Powershift Automatic Parts
+61 2 9913 2469
|