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you might be thinking felpro? they are considerably cheaper than durapro.

full durapro kit is like 260.

intake gasket alone are very expensive. cheap nasty payne brand ones at 70 odd for a pair, genuine are $128 last time I bought some.

no it certainly wasn't felpro, when we did my brothers motor we got mls head gaskets then a full gasket set for the rest of it ...

just looking at the precision catalogue, I think it was endurotec its about 40-50 bucks cheaper tha the duratec and the payen is about $15 more than endurotec

I bought some payne gaskets for the vr last year. they were terrible quality lol.

Got the timing cover off. surprised to find the water jackets in perfect condition. Hard to believe for a 23 year old 400k engine. Going to replace it anyway so I can utilize the NOS pumps I got, best to use them in a new housing to get good tolerances. By this many ks the housing get a bit scored up and bleeds oil pressure. Cheap anyway, 170 USD from GM, over 650 here for repro ones


The timing chain on the other hand lol. was pretty loose. The tensioner was very worn too as expected for the ks its done. Was thinking to err on the side of replacing the CAS to be safe, when I got it out its cracked from age and heat. Think its wise to replace it.

Going to use the ecotec rollmaster single chain adjustable kit with my 6 spline oil pump, NOS of course

so the ecotec timing kit works on an earlier motor ?

yep it sure does, fits right in on VR engines with 6 spline oil pump drives as standard.

On VP and VN s2 there needs some upgrading as follows.

here is the differences from VR and prior engines.

VR cam sprocket vs the VP one on the engine.

The VP one is just flat, VR one is weight reduced and offset teeth.
The drive gear for the balance shaft as well as the trust face for the cam integral of this gear is offset differently to accommodate the VR sprocket.

why so?
well the chain is wider and stronger and smoother setup on the VRs, same setup as used in ecotec. VR was a crossover in some of the parts used in ecotec.
oil pump drive vs VP one, the VP has 2 flats and the VR onward are 6 spline and have wider teeth for the wider chain. The 6 spine drive eliminate chatter and fretting seen of the 2 flat drive.

My VPs current engine makes a horrific "aaawooogggggaaaaaaa" sound ( like those old 20s car horns) on start up from the oil pump inner gear likely chattering on the drive until oil pressure builds to hold it in place.

You can actually see the fretting on the VP one, VR one on the shaft for comparison.


Also the tentioners are different, VR one is wider for the wider chain and also has a heavier spring for more tension.

So with ecotec roll master kit CS6141 and one of these

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/VN-VP-VR-V6- ... 4ae8ef7bcf

and one of these

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/COMMODORE-VS ... 43b8b91e86


and one of these pumps "24502941" you are good to go with everything updated

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/GM-24502941- ... 4ae8403a1c

Good info!

Im all over it!

Its amazing the amount of stuff you can find with some digging and careful observations. Most of I picked up on myself and though searching for parts and part numbers. You find bits listed as superseded other parts so you can start linking part numbers together to work out the broad picture on changes they made, and compatible parts.

There has been something like 4 incremental revisions of the buick from late VN to VR and about the same if not more for the ecotec.

when I order the timing covers from GM, they only come in the VR auto style as over there all 3800s of that generation had a cam sensor due to running sequential injection. So I set them as like VR auto with sensor installed just not used. Might come in handy one day?

yeah can't hurt to have it there!

I totally understand what your saying about the parts changed, I've seen so many variations in the motors I've pulled apart!

I also found the VN V6 rockers are a perfect swap for holden 6 with a v8 pushrod and shortened pedestal and they are like twice the strength! (to suit screw in stud head that is)