VY One Tonner

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brindo
Posts: 199
Joined: Mon Jun 29, 2009 9:43 am
Location: Western Queensland

VY One Tonner

Post by brindo »

Thought I’d post up my One Tonner. So no it’s not a V6 or an LS1 making thousands of killerwasps so go easy on me.
This is it, freshly washed by the kids on the Zoysia.
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Long story short. I had a VT 5.0 station wagon, which was immaculate when I bought it, but wife/children took their toll on it (along with the Warrego Hwy). And all wives want a diesel 7 seat Korean SUV so it had to go. And I also had a VS Series 3 ute that I fitted one of the first Yella Terra Whipple kits to. That ute went OK and it was a pretty good car, but not so good as a ute. After a bit of research, I purchased a fairly rough but sound VY One Tonner and removed the blower kit off the VS ute and returned it back to standard. The blower was then fitted to the VT station wagon engine, and it along with the transmission and k-frame were later installed into the One Tonner. PCM is the original one from the VT and the wiring harness was modded by Ultimate Conversion Wiring. The conversion is Mod plated and thanks to a lot of help from members on this forum, it has been running for quite a few years now.

Its way better as a ute compared to the old VS, but obviously nowhere near as comfortable and in cabin noise is louder. Naturally it doesn’t handle as well either but at least I can put a decent load in the tray. It is more or less a daily driver and my wife drives it to work when I am not on shift, but I won’t say she loves driving it compared to a 7 seat Korean SUV. My kids on the other hand love it and it does its fair share of highway work ferrying them to sporting events etc. Its sedate enough for them to drive around in too.

Fitted a SS front bumper, which recently got replaced again after hitting a roo. Swapped out the original alloy tray as it was way too long. Looks much better and found a small increase in fuel economy with the new headboard too. And fitted a set of $200 Gumtree SSZ wheels complete with gutter rash.
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Originally got it up and running with a Sureflow single 3” exhaust, but have recently replaced it with a Manta “Quiet” system. Quiet could not be any further from the truth and it is now way too loud (or perhaps I am too old).

The motor has never had the heads off touch wood. Engine wise only mods are roller rockers, a set of valve springs and a reground cam 218 degrees duration and 0.516”/0.511” lift with 115 lobe sep – not quite what I wanted but that’s what it ended up as. Degreeing it in was a nightmare. Still has the factory spider plate and roller lifters so waiting for these to fail. Fingers crossed it sees me out till I rebuild the engine. MAF is from a VZ and the MAT is in the intake after the blower. Throttle body is a 2nd hand 90mm LS1 eBay special. Transmission just has the Corvette servo and an external spin-on filter and cooler. Still running the factory air box and paper element. If you run a pod on these everyone knows it’s supercharged. They sound good for a while, but you get over it. Generally sees a max of 9 psi boost, 10 psi on a freezing cold day.

Managed to fit 4 additional gauges in the cabin. They are Speedhut brand and matched as close as I could to the normal cluster. They look good and having the wideband and manifold pressure together is pretty handy for understanding what the engine is doing, but the temp gauge is effectively an ornament as it is affected badly by battery voltage.
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It’s never been down the 1/8 mile and I’m not going to pretend it’s particularly powerful or quick, but it goes OK and has enough power to be a problem. Fuel consumption is woeful though.

I have found the intake air temps on these engines never gets below jacket water temp and the oil splashing on the underside of the manifold doesn’t help either. I am not running an intercooler and MAT used to be around the 98 degrees at highway speeds, sometimes more around town. So have got water injection hooked up and running. How beneficial it is remains to be seen, but the intake temps can be brought down below 70 degs or lower on the highway – can get down to below 60 degs but just depends on how much water is injected. The tank underneath the tray only holds 12 litres or so. I am using the usual Shurflo pump but with an Aquamist High Speed valve which is controlled by the purge solenoid circuit. For the water nozzle I have a single Bete stainless steel Microwhirl nozzle downstream of the throttle body. The water spray is more of a mist or fog. When its running, the blower intake is cool to touch on an otherwise hot engine.

For interest, I tried a few catch can configurations on it. I have tried spin-on filter crankcase filter from a Perkins diesel engine, and it was useless. Replaced this with a Dominik Hunter air compressor line filter. This worked well, and caught its fair share of oil, but let some past as well. Recently fitted a Ryco RCC350. Am yet to see how it goes.

Other than the tacho not working, the only real problem with the conversion is the air conditioner which runs the whole time regardless of the AC button position or whether the blower fan is on. Thinking it’s to do with the BCM as flicking the BCM-Be-Gone switch cuts the compressor. Am yet to sort this one out and more than happy for some input to help sort it out.
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Holden202T
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Location: Tenambit, NSW
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Re: VY One Tonner

Post by Holden202T »

i like it, its certainly something a bit different to the usual LS1 .... BUT i have to ask, how did you manage to get an older model engine certified into a newer car ? i assume the VT and VY have the same emissions requirements so its doable ?
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Gareth
Posts: 2502
Joined: Fri Mar 14, 2014 8:37 pm
Location: Bacchus Marsh, Vic

Re: VY One Tonner

Post by Gareth »

I love the ute, I wish they still made something like this....

Anyhow, I have the same question as 202, How the hell did you get an older model engine approved? Did you have to pass emissions testing?
According to chemistry, alcohol is a solution...
RVK355
Posts: 25
Joined: Fri Apr 03, 2020 6:36 pm
cars: VN headed methanol 355 VK Calais
VR SS manual 5speed 5L
VS V6 ute

Re: VY One Tonner

Post by RVK355 »

Nice mate, thought I would have a look at your car thread and have come in here pleasantly surprised to see what's under the bonnet. using the purge solenoid circuit to activate the water injection is rather smart and interesting, when does that activate? are you just using water or water/methanol?
brindo
Posts: 199
Joined: Mon Jun 29, 2009 9:43 am
Location: Western Queensland

Re: VY One Tonner

Post by brindo »

I was very lucky and found a really helpful engineer who actually knew what he was talking about. Basically if the One Tonner was a Series 1 VY (with the cats underneath the vehicle), it falls under the same ADRs as the VT, and a 5.0 litre VT engine can be fitted. If it was a Series 2 VY (with the cats closer to the exhaust manifold), it can’t be done as this is when the VY changed ADRs. So I searched for a Series 1 One Tonner to buy.

The hardest part was getting the engine with forced induction approved. In QLD, the rules for LA3 Supercharger and Turbocharger Installation is the Vehicle Curb Mass x 3 gives the maximum engine capacity. So without including the tray, the curb weight of a One Tonner is too low meaning a forced induction engine size of 4987cc couldn’t be done. So I needed some official weights for the tray so that it could be included in the Curb Mass. Once I got that, then the calculation works out as a max engine size of over 5100cc, so was good to go.

There was no emission testing, but the engineer did go over it pretty well. I didn’t have to fabricate any cross members or engine mounting so using all factory parts for the conversion makes it simpler.
brindo
Posts: 199
Joined: Mon Jun 29, 2009 9:43 am
Location: Western Queensland

Re: VY One Tonner

Post by brindo »

The water injection is again something that I got a lot of help with too from forum members. The water pump turns on and off with the fuel pump and I can turn the pump off in the cab. Just using the purge canister settings in the VT V8 Enhanced Code to control the High Speed Valve. I am still messing with it, but just have the water flow increasing as air flow increases, and not injecting anything below 50 degs MAT. Can use the Spark Correction Vs Inlet Air Temp Vs MGC to pull timing out if MAT gets too hot or the water turned off/stops flowing. I did have it messed up, but am now retarding timing by 5 degs when it hits 100 degs MAT. I’m sure there’s better ways of doing this, but so far it seems to be working.

Just using plain filtered rainwater for injection. Water Meth would make more sense but the water is free. I was contemplating mixing some Zok in with the water as a once off. Have a small bottle in the shed, but thinking the water would have done a better job by now anyway.

I have got a filter before the pump. It’s only 50 micron, and clean it every 5000 to 10000 kms. I have a spare filter element that I just swap over. I think with water/meth this would be more regular??? The main lines are all plastic and the metal fittings are all stainless. But at some stage, need to get something a little finer downstream of the pump to protect the HSV from clogging.

Years ago I had a VN headed 308 in a WB with an Eaton M112 on it. Very inefficient blower but far superior to drive. Only made 8 psi but the intake temps on that used to get up to 130 degs. I didn’t tune it, but from memory ignition timing on boost was only around 12 degrees and it would still knock on a bad batch of 98. I'd like to think I can keep the timing in this tune into the low to mid 20s at the high end of the table and still be reliable but might be dreaming.
RVK355
Posts: 25
Joined: Fri Apr 03, 2020 6:36 pm
cars: VN headed methanol 355 VK Calais
VR SS manual 5speed 5L
VS V6 ute

Re: VY One Tonner

Post by RVK355 »

sounds like you found a loop hole with the series1 legalities, it makes perfect sense

i am currently in the process of getting everything set up for a T trim vortech blown holden V8, defiantly going to be setting up some water injection onto it, weather it be water or water/meth, i have looked into some of the complete set ups available such as the aquamist kits, but the way im starting to look at it is why add another system if its something that can be done via the ECU, only thing is its for a VR commodore so no purge system unlike the VTs.

but good to see someone who is currently using water injection on a holden v8, im sure il probably have more questions for you later on
RVK355
Posts: 25
Joined: Fri Apr 03, 2020 6:36 pm
cars: VN headed methanol 355 VK Calais
VR SS manual 5speed 5L
VS V6 ute

Re: VY One Tonner

Post by RVK355 »

brindo wrote: Just using plain filtered rainwater for injection. Water Meth would make more sense but the water is free. I was contemplating mixing some Zok in with the water as a once off. Have a small bottle in the shed, but thinking the water would have done a better job by now anyway.

I have got a filter before the pump. It’s only 50 micron, and clean it every 5000 to 10000 kms. I have a spare filter element that I just swap over. I think with water/meth this would be more regular??? The main lines are all plastic and the metal fittings are all stainless. But at some stage, need to get something a little finer downstream of the pump to protect the HSV from clogging.

yes methanol would change a few things in regards to maintenance, also being a hydroscopic and also corrosive to untreated alloys, just stick to water since ur already set up and running with it
Charlescrown
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Re: VY One Tonner

Post by Charlescrown »

Another advantage with just water is the fact that you don't have to have a different tune when adding the water.
brindo
Posts: 199
Joined: Mon Jun 29, 2009 9:43 am
Location: Western Queensland

Re: VY One Tonner

Post by brindo »

So many years back, I had this WB ute. Just looking back have very few photos if it really.
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Originally got it and fitted a 308 from a VK Commodore that I had rebuilt when I was an apprentice - the TAFE college did all the machine work. It was just a basic 0.020” over, cast dish top pistons, stock rods, Crane 276, Yella Terra heads, stock manifold and a Rochester. It was nothing special. Fitted a 4 speed single rail from a Cortina which was actually a really good gearbox and has the shifter in the right spot – all I did was replace the interlock and front/rear seals. It was much better than the M20/M21. I think I got a best of a 15.07 over the ¼ mile so nothing spectacular. Hindsight would say this is how it should have stayed. Anyway……

Then converted it to VN heads with factory injection and cream top injectors, COME cam with roller rockers, but running a Motec instead of the Delco. Stock dizzy was locked and used a Camira ignition module with a Ford cap and rotor. Had a single Bosch 044 fuel pump. I never had the Motec software, only used the hand calibrator to adjust the tuning.

I had hit a dingo and taken out the radiator support panel so this is it with an ugly alloy bar on the front.
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Ran like that for a while before it was resprayed and I rewired it with one of the poorly named Painless kits. Bought a Tremec 5 speed and had the input shaft shortened and fitted it using the same Single Rail bellhousing. Very nice gearbox to use – almost like driving with a Supra gearbox. Speedo drive was from a VN T5.

Then I pieced together the blower kit for it. Bought an Eaton M112, CAPA crank pulley and a Ross manifold. I spec’d the blower pulley to run what I thought and it came out perfect at 8 psi. Had it all machined up to fit by Ross Balancers and used the factory throttle body. Had to clearance the fuel rails and extend the bypass to make it all fit as the blower was too wide, but all in all, went together nicely. It had an LS1 idler, but I ended up remaking the idler pulley at work with a dual race bearing out of steel. Never had any belt issues after that. I don’t have any photos of it after I finished it but this is just as a temporary set up with a pod filter. Still kept the stock throttle body which was a restriction that only added to manifold temps.
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Had it dyno tuned in Brisbane by a well-known tuner and …. let’s just add that to one of life’s lessons. So I then bought a VN factory loom and converted it to a Delco 808 and got it up and running. Just drove it around with the blower belt off running a BAYA memcal before getting it dyno tuned again. Made a massive 250 hp at the tyres, but it was driveable. But compared to the Whipple, the Eaton makes boost instantly. You can be in any gear and have whatever boost you want just controlled by your right foot. Very driveable. The Whipple is not like this. It had heaps of torque.

Anyway, it was useless on the 1/8 mile - or I was useless – couldn’t even get into the 10s - until I fitted a set of slicks then got into the 8.5s. As before, suffered badly from high manifold temps as there was no intercooler. But did a lot of miles in this guise and it was surprisingly good on fuel on the highway.
Used to get 28 mpg easy enough on the highway, thanks mostly to the Tremec I think. Used to tick over at around 1700 rpm for 100 km/hr. I had a 110 litre alloy tank under the tray and could get over 1000 kms from it. Ended up fitting 2 Bosch 044s – but one was always disconnected.
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But sadly, had spent a lot of time and cash turning a WB into a Commodore the hard way.
There were no off the shelf headers for HQ WB with VN heads at the time, so had a set of VN Genies modified to fit. Fitted VT Commodore front brakes using Hadfield drop spindles (he made a limited run of these in the 90s), redrilled discs and custom hoses, and now there are off the shelf kits for this. Installed the usual 9” diff, with 3.25 lsd and VH Commodore rear discs and adapted the hand brake cables to suit. Pieced together a custom air conditioner system up for it – at the time I thought there wasn’t much room under the bonnet – so little did I know. Interior was retrimmed in VN grey with VS Commodore door pockets. Dash had a set of VDO gauges behind a GTS dash with a boost gauge where the clock usually lived. Also fitted a VDO immobiliser with central locking.
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So usual story. Impending Children = Ute returned back to NA and sold off. Pulled the Tremec and refitted the Single Rail. And to be honest, wouldn’t have it any other way. Put the blower kit on eBay and it sold instantly. The buyer said he was putting it on a VS ute with a 383 stroker.
The bloke who bought the ute was getting similar times over the 1/8 mile without the blower so consider that a good reflection on my driving ability. Think it ended up with a Powerglide and lower diff gears and he has recently sold it for double what I sold it for. Hopefully the current owner is enjoying it.
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