VK Calais with VR V8 & Auto

Post Your Delco Powered Ride Here
User avatar
hoopstar
Posts: 46
Joined: Thu Mar 21, 2013 7:29 pm
cars: 350 Chev HR Holden (carby)
VK Calais with (soon) VR EFI 304
Location: Adelaide

VK Calais with VR V8 & Auto

Post by hoopstar »

Hi Guys..

Looong time lurker (hell, nearly 3 years) and first time poster..

Thought it might be a good time to introduce myself as my project starts to take shape and gains momentum.

It's a late '85 VK Calais in Everglade Green with EFI 6 cylinder, auto and BW diff. The Car was bought semi-recently from the original 1st owner in Victoria and honestly was in pretty amazing condition. I flew over from Adelaide in the middle of summer, checked it out and bought it on the spot. No rust. No modifications and a mere 135,000kms on the clock - it was a true 'Ikea moment' as I drove off screaming "Start the car, start the car" :D
Drove back that day in 40 degree heat and had to turn the air conditioner down as it worked so bloody well.

PHASE 1
Replaced the tired suspension that had obviously sat around for some time with new shocks/struts, King springs, Nolathane bushes and strut tops. I also fitted the Calais International rims and gave the interior a good steam clean along with decent polish and detail.

Image

Image

Image

THE PLAN
1. To make a neat little cruiser with a Delco EFI V8 engine that can stop, go and turn plus gets reasonable fuel consumption BUT has a distinctively (cammed) V8 rumble.

2. Done on a pretty tight budget because I have a wife, two young daughters, a dog, two young daughters, a mortgage and two young daughters.. :cash:

The key to this project is that the car is also my daily driver (much to the amusement of my loving wife who thinks I am going through some sort of mid-life crisis and should grow up and buy a car more fitting of someone my age), so it needs to remain on the road as much as possible. This means that I have sloooooowly been piecing together the bits and pieces to make this all slot in (hopefully) in one weekend sometime in the near future. :shock:

PHASE 2
I bought a reasonably 'low' km (~185,000kms) '95 Auto VR V8 Commodore as a donor. Engine checked out OK apart from a few oil leaks. I stripped it down, gave it a good clean out and put a set of decent quality gaskets through it. I also went through all the bolt ons.. reconditioning the injectors, alternator, power steering pump & oil pump plus put on a new starter motor, water pump and timing chain.
I scored a set of HSV headers and Y-piece which I had sand blasted and ceramic coated to take care of the exhaust side of things.
The ignition received a birthday with new NGK platnium plugs, Topgun 8.8mm leads and Bosch rotor button and dizzy cap. I also rebuilt the stock ignition module - moving forward I have a MSD6AL that will take up residence one I have everything up and running..

Image

The good old VR donor also supplied a 28 spline/4 pinion LSD BW 78 diff.
Future plans are to rebuild (and tightly shim) the center and either shorten the housing/axles OR just shorten the axles to drop into the stock (25 spline) VK BW housing. Coupled together with a set of nearly new, 3.9 gears I picked up for $100, this forms part of the rear end update at some point which should wake up the car..

According to one of the receipts in the glovebox, the 5HBD trans was rebuilt around 10,000kms before I pulled the car off the road. Not sure if that makes me happy or nervous as to why a trans would need rebuilding so 'early' but I've put in a new filter and gasket and have a Corvette Servo Piston on it's way to help improve the 2-3 shift.

In the background you can see my budget brake upgrade which consists of a VS Plastic booster and VT master cylinder. Was pretty pumped that I picked these up for $10 and $15 respectively but pretty shattered when I had to pay more than the sum total of the two for the brake line adapters. :roll:

Image

The VR also donated it's V8 K-frame which I've fitted VK lower control arms (for correct camber), nolathane bushes and new ball joints.
A local Adelaide guy makes up engineer approved cross-members for the 4L60e transmission - $170 was a big purchase in the scheme of things but the workmanship is very good and the fact it's a bolt in affair means that I don't have to worry about fabricating something and 'hoping' it fits.
Rounding out the front end, I also rebuilt a VN power steering rack (not shown) with new seals, inner & outer tie rod ends and bellows and sourced a VL intermediate shaft (middle) to connect the VN rack to the VK steering column.

Image

Recently I bought a 'cheap' VK V8 radiator from Gumtree for $80. Took it to the local radiator place to have the upper inlet changed from the standard angled version to straight version to suit the EFI hose setup. Turns out the cores were pretty screwed and the whole thing required a recore. Some $600 and a kidney later and that's done.

While my filtering organs were recovering I saved up to buy new radiator and heater hoses because it's easier to do it now and I hate waiting on the side of the road for an over heating car - my kids may eat again one day..

Image

So that brings the project pretty much up to date..

Currently I am working on the wiring harness. I've sourced a VK EFI 6 engine harness (bottom in the following picture) and am grafting that into the VR loom (upper).
Plan is to make everything as 'plug n play' and factory looking as possible (ie. no external relays) with the minimum wiring on the day I do the engine swap.

Image

The key to this project is to have EVERYTHING working on the car - heaters, speedo, trip computer, AC etc. I want this to be nearly factory in its appearance and performance and this is the hook for me to learn about the Delco system, hence why I've been lurking.. :D

I'm hoping that I can lean on someone in the group that can supply me a memcal that works with what I have right now (most happy to pay) so that I can be guaranteed to having a working PCM and then moving forward, want to drop a smallish (ie. 4502) cam into the engine and tune that myself.

Anyway, stay tuned (pun intended) as I get this budget hack up and running.


Hoops
HQ355
Posts: 1217
Joined: Sun Nov 17, 2013 6:53 am
cars: HQ Holden

Re: VK Calais with VR V8 & Auto

Post by HQ355 »

Nice project, just buy an nvram with and ask for vats to be turned off, then your ready to tune when you want. I think Jayme is selling them now ?
User avatar
Gareth
Posts: 2505
Joined: Fri Mar 14, 2014 8:37 pm
Location: Bacchus Marsh, Vic

Re: VK Calais with VR V8 & Auto

Post by Gareth »

That is one sweet ride :thumbup: cant wait to see it with the V8.

Nice HR in the shed too :thumbup:
According to chemistry, alcohol is a solution...
User avatar
hoopstar
Posts: 46
Joined: Thu Mar 21, 2013 7:29 pm
cars: 350 Chev HR Holden (carby)
VK Calais with (soon) VR EFI 304
Location: Adelaide

Re: VK Calais with VR V8 & Auto

Post by hoopstar »

Biggvl wrote:Nice HR in the shed too :thumbup:
Cheers.. It was my first car and originally bought by my Grandfather from Claridge Holdens here in Adelaide.

Needless to say there's been a 'couple' of mods since then :D

Image
Last edited by hoopstar on Sat Jan 30, 2016 8:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Dylan
Posts: 3355
Joined: Mon Aug 02, 2010 6:35 pm
cars: VR Commodore V8

Re: VK Calais with VR V8 & Auto

Post by Dylan »

Very nice cars congratulations. You'll probably find the motor will be ok and the auto was rebuilt becase as soon as those autos hit 200k they die.
HQ355
Posts: 1217
Joined: Sun Nov 17, 2013 6:53 am
cars: HQ Holden

Re: VK Calais with VR V8 & Auto

Post by HQ355 »

More info on the HR ? Some of us here are realy into the oldies
User avatar
hoopstar
Posts: 46
Joined: Thu Mar 21, 2013 7:29 pm
cars: 350 Chev HR Holden (carby)
VK Calais with (soon) VR EFI 304
Location: Adelaide

Re: VK Calais with VR V8 & Auto

Post by hoopstar »

HQ355 wrote:More info on the HR ? Some of us here are realy into the oldies
1967 Special. Fully engineered and registered:

- 350 Small block Chev by Maxwill Race Engines. Made 531hp (NA) at 7,200rpm
- Powerglide with 4500 converter by BTC
- 'Ford' 9" by Strange with 4.56 gears, axles, carrier, yoke and full spool
- Mini tubbed with 15 x 10's and 295 tyres.
- Fabricated trans tunnel
- Commodore rack and pinion
- Brake booster and wiper under the dash
- Chassis rails connecting front and rear sub frames

Image

Image

Image

Image
HQ355
Posts: 1217
Joined: Sun Nov 17, 2013 6:53 am
cars: HQ Holden

Re: VK Calais with VR V8 & Auto

Post by HQ355 »

That's very nice :)
User avatar
Gareth
Posts: 2505
Joined: Fri Mar 14, 2014 8:37 pm
Location: Bacchus Marsh, Vic

Re: VK Calais with VR V8 & Auto

Post by Gareth »

Sweet as! :thumbup:
According to chemistry, alcohol is a solution...
User avatar
vlad01
Posts: 7780
Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2012 6:41 pm
cars: VP I S
VP I executive
VP II executive
VP II executive #2
VR II executive
Location: Kyneton, Vic

Re: VK Calais with VR V8 & Auto

Post by vlad01 »

looks awesome!
I'm the director of VSH (Vlad's Spec Holden), because HSV were doing it ass about.
Post Reply