The VS

[Streetholden]

Year:
1997

Model:
VS SII Equip

Colour:
Alpine white (At a guess)

Bodykit:
Stock
Future Mods:
- SS lip kit
- SS fog light bezels
- Fog lights
- Bob tail

Engine Type:
V6 ECOTEC

Engine Mods:
- L67 OTR CAI
- K&N Panel Filter
- NGK Spark Plugs
- Eagle 8mm Leads
- Gates belt, no air con.
- 69mm throttle body
- 82Deg thermostat
- 12mm Plenum spacer
- 12mm Manifold insulator
- New lifters
- Manifold gasket kit
- Custom tune
Future Mods:
- 72mm air flow meter
- Air box to throttle body ducting
- Valve springs and collets
- New timing chain kit
- Cam • 216°/216° at .050" • Intake Lift .317" (.507" lift at 1.6:1 rocker ratio) • Exhaust Lift .317" (.507" lift at 1.6:1 rocker ratio • 111 LSA
- 4.2L stroker
- Mace CAI

Power:
Been told to expect 140.. Dont know if they mean KW or RWKW..

Brakes:
- New standard rotors all round
- Bendex general pads
- Painted calipers

Exhaust:
- 2.5inch cat back
- High flow cat
- Pacemaker extractors (Have them, not installed)
Future Mods:
- Fix rattle

Diff:
- Live axle
- 3.08.1 Ratio
- Single Spinner/Open Centre
Future Mods:
- LSD Centre
- Ratio change

Gearbox/Transmission:
- 4L60E 4 Speed Automatic
Future Mods:
- Custom Stage II Shift Kit
- Modified, enlarged valve body
- High pressure shift regulator

Suspension:
- Live Axle
- SL for fronts and SSL for the rear
- Monroe GT Sport Gas struts and shocks
Future Mods:
- Adjustable Panhard Rod (waiting for delivery)
- Nolathane Bushes

Wheels & Tyres:
- 17" Speedy Cobolt

Interior:
- Stock standard
- Level 3 dash
- UHF radio
Future Mods:
- Better seats.

Exterior:
- Stock standard
- Clear side indicators
- Cracked tail lights, scratches and broken front and rear bars.
- Debadged.
- Dent under tail light
Future Mods:
- New paint job and air brushing

Stereo:
- Pioneer headunit (model number to come)
- Hertz 6 1/2 split in the front
- Sony 6" in the rear
- Alpine V12 300wrms amp
- 12" kenwood sub in ported box 400wrms
Future Mods:
- Replace it all

Photos:



Engine rebuild list:
From: Mace (those are retail prices)
$33 valve stem seals
$65 spring retainers
$180 105lb springs
$480 The cam in my want to buy in the first post

From: Ebay
$300 for complete gasket kit with head bolts
$190 Lifters

From: http://www.performancewholesale.com.au
$375.50 ACL Race Pistons (flat tops)
$74.46 ACL Race Main bearings
$44.12 ACL Race Conrod bearings
$46.53 ACL Cam bearings

Still to find/get a price:
Sensors: TPS, IAC, pair knock sensors, CAS
Exhaust ports on head ported to the paccys.
Tune
DFI and coils

Project: Big bore.
As many of you know, iv purchased myself a bored and polished throttle body.
One weekend of doing something lex and myself came up with and idea. Thus requiring the purchase of another intake and plenum.

So some more thinking was needed and came up with a conclusion. Bore the plenum out to suit the throttle body. Easy task. Also had some crack pot theories of adding NOS for *@!?*@!?*@!?*@!?s and giggles. Then i started to think. Less air resistance means better flow. So then whilst looking at ebay as i do for no reason, i saw some polished (outside) plenums. So i thought to myself. No one has ever taken the time to polish the inside of them. So now thats 2 ideas for the intake.

So some stage last week i bought: Intake manifold, injectors, rails, plenum and a throttle body. For a whopping $10.50. Talk about luck. Apon receiving it i got to work straight away to pull it apart. One the lid was off i noticed, apart of oil and pitting, that the runners arnt a plush fit when the plenum is bolted to the intake. Idea number 3. So i got to talking one night to a guy called Jim on facebook he mentioned if im going to do that, may as well bore the holes that go from the intake to heads. Idea number 4.

So pretty much my plan has 4 stages.
1. Bore the plenum to suit my new throttle body
2. polish the inside of the plenum for less resistance.
3. Bolt the plenum to the intake and work out what needs to be cut out of the way and polish the inside (as much as possible) of that too.
4. Ask Dico very polietly to borrow those spare heads of his, give them a rough clean and find out how much i need to remove from the sides.

So heres some pics of where im up to:

This is how it came


Sanded, roughly, one small section to show you the pitting im removing


The general idea of what i have to bore/polish on the intake. Also in photo is the PCV valve which is the cause to dirty plenums and throttle bodys


The sides i have to bore and polish to the side of the heads, small hole is the PCV valve hole.


And this is where im up to of 2 nights of constant sanding by hand.Still along way to go. Still on the 60grit. Havnt started the boring for the new TB either.

Thats the story. Fast forward with pics.






Now, today this is where i got up to:


Time for a new plenum.

[yoda69]

That's a hell of a post.
Nice work.
As for the intake polishing, if you read up most people now suggest to leave the intake rough (similar to what you have with the 60 grit) these days.
My understanding of the logic, is that it helps create a boundary layer between the runner and the fast moving air above it and actually improves flow when compared to a smooth surface.

Will be interested to see how this progresses.

yoda69

[Holden202T]

i wouldn't bother spending too much time boring out the top part of the plenum, i'd be just port matching it to the lower section and leave it at that, theres plenty of meat in the lower section to remove plenty to port match it without the issue you got in the upper plenum.

[Streetholden]

Cheers for your help. I take your advice about the 60 grit. The story behide that chips is due to the casting joins i guess i was working pretty hard in that one area with the plenum still attached. The plenum itself can still be used, but its not up to my standards and is going against my plan of smoothing everything out for better air flow.

I dont know if i mentioned it or not as it was abit late. But im not simply doing this for a stock intake system. Itll also have a 70mm TB attached to it, to some stainless steel air ducting then to a 85mm (still yet to find smaller ) AFM, to hook up to my existing hi flow air filter and OTR CAI. Also have currently fitted to the car a 12mm spacer and 12mm insulator from MACE.

But to give you an idea, iv been speaking to a bloke that has done it before, not as extreme as what im doing, but close. He got a 30hp gain out of it. So about 15% of an ecotecs power. So given the work i need to do, and im going above and beyond what hes doing i should expect that gain. Also on my theory that the smoother it is, the less shit from the PCV valve will stick in there.

[The1]

why not go the whole hog, use a ls2 95mm MAF Nice Post up BTW.

[Streetholden]

Cheers mate. I dont want a bigger AFM, theres no point. Its still just a 70mm TB. This is my logic anyways.

[The1]

if you use the smaller one do a before and after average airflow log so we can see the difference, i did this between stock and ls2 maf on mine, it's in another thread, HEREhttps://pcmhacking.net/forums/viewtopi ... =31&t=1227

[Streetholden]

I just read that thread from start to finish. Im ashamed to say, i understood very little of it. Basically, this is what i got weather its right or wrong, the LS2 is a lager, more airflow to your 69mm TB and you also had to change your injector rate. To be honest i have never tuned anything that needed a computer.

So im going to guess, with the LS2 MAF and some slight tuning there is more power to be had with that then a 85mm direct fit AFM? Altho i do suspect that it will still have to be tuned.

[The1]

pretty much any mod you do will be made better with a tune as your altering airflow/fuel whatever the sensors or parts you change no longer reflect stock calibration, yes some mods may still work and run but not to potential.

The engine i put the ls2 maf on was still stock internally, yet it still gained airflow, not alot but some, that was even after a intake spacer and 69mm TB, so with a cam roller rockers etc it should defiantly help as you then have a full diameter intake from the opening right into the plenum, pretty much 0 intake restriction, same goes for exhaust then everything in the middle will work alot better.

[Streetholden]

Oh ok, fair enough. Iv been buying my parts from mace. They say they can do the tune for me for $200. Are their tunes any good, or is it just like a ebay sorta thing, one size fits all? When i first joined this site all i did was play around with shift times, pressure, lean cruise mode and that was about it, i disappeared for awhile and have completely forgotten everything. Would it be a better option getting a memcal from VL400 i think it was so i can tune on the fly and get help to do tunes from you guys?