VR Ute
Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2024 12:28 pm
So I have started a bit of a project on a VR ute. Picked it up a while back and it was pretty rough but luckily it didn’t pick it up cheap as I hate a bargain.
Owner was adamant it was a HSV cause it had a HSV badge on the dash. But you can buy those badges on ebay.
Also had HSV wheels, but you can buy those on ebay.
Anyway the VIN doesn’t match up with anything on the HSV register, so it’s not a HSV anything, but at some stage someone put a bit of work into this ute and had some pride in it, and then at some stage someone has not looked after it very well. I originally thought this ute would just need a quick freshen up and it would allow me to take my time collecting parts to rebuild the one tonner engine and eventually take it off the road for an engine rebuild.
Like everything else it seems, I was wrong. The deeper I looked at it, the worst this ute got.
Wiring was a mess and the MAP sensor hose was eaten through by mice – how it was running I know not but it was running quite well. But the mice seemed to have made a home in the cab with a few of them deciding the best place to die was in the air cond unit. Washed it down because it was leaking from every orifice. Water pump, intake manifold and timing cover were leaking coolant and the radiator was split – which are all easy fixes. Front and rear mains were leaking oil too - not so easy. So out came the engine and then I found more things wrong and it just got worse. So the new plan became to rebuild this ute back to being something tidy for my eldest daughters first car. Something practical, reliable, easy to drive and being a 2 seater less chance of a car full of peer pressure to do something stupid. She does have a healthy interest in cars, but don’t mistake this with being a father/daughter project when she has a choice of the PS5 or venturing outside to spend time in the shed. It concerns deeply me though how she seems to know far too much about Lexus LFAs, Skylines and Supras so an Aussie vehicle will hopefully knock that nonsense out of her and get her back on track. Goal was to have it ready for the start of her L Plates but that is not going to happen now.
But more than likely if she is sensible enough, there’s no reason it won’t last her for years to come. Youngest daughter can get her Ls in the ute too, but she is under the assumption I am buying her a Tesla as her first car.
I’ve been reluctant to post up this project mainly due the embarrassing state of it - and for how stupid I was to buy it in the first place - but one of the great things about this forum is reading about other peoples projects. You get to learn a lot and get some good ideas - not that anyone will be learning anything from this project. On the flip side, you don’t really know what everyone has got happening behind the scenes. I know amongst my circle there are blokes who have lost children, wives, siblings, parents, homes, jobs or have been just dealt a pretty ordinary set of cards in life. And taking time out to work on an interest like a vehicle has helped them retain their sanity. So I appreciate the time forum members take to post up what they have been doing with their projects. And you look forward to the updates whenever they happen. Technical contributions to this forum is something that I am clearly not very good at and I have always been dealt a good hand. I have certainly taken more away from this forum than I have given and I have always been very fortunate.
To be honest, the things I am finding wrong with this ute aren’t doing me any physical harm apart from hurting the wallet, and it has done me some good to get stuck into fixing them. Just the further I looked, the more I scratch my head at what I find. Luckily I have access to a wrecked VS wagon for a few parts.
I wasn’t smart enough to get any photos of it before I started stripping it. But on the plus side, this ute is an S Pack, factory 5.0 litre, original engine, factory T5 manual. The T5 looks like it has been rebuilt at some stage and the LSD is tight. Even though it’s a manual, it was all set up for cruise control except for the module. It had all the wiring, holes drilled, and even had the clutch pedal switch which looks homemade. The clutch looks reasonably new too. And that’s probably the extent of all the good things about this ute.
I haven’t made a great deal of progress but this is where I am up to.
There must have been a master cylinder leak as the engine bay paint was a pretty ordinary around there along with some corrosion on the front brake lines which I wasn’t comfortable with. So I have taken the engine bay back to bare metal and resprayed it in the factory colour. It’s actually come up pretty good considering I can’t paint. The chassis rails have been resprayed in Raptor as they look ugly, but also wanted to protect that area from any more brake fluid or battery acid attacks. I have seen a few other cars with the inner guards and underbody coated with black Raptor lining and recon they look pretty good - thought I’d do the same. I want to keep it close to looking factory or how the factory would have intended with just a few subtle changes. But I still have a long long way to go.
Anyway this is how it currently sits.
Amazing how many holes are in the inner guards when you count them up. I guess they all have a purpose. I have since given the underside a coating of sound deadener.
I recon something has gone through the engine fan blades at some stage so I bought a new BF Falcon fan and fitted this to a new genuine style radiator with alloy core/plastic tanks. Made a bracket to relocate the coil to the strut tower, which will also mount a catch can.
The wiring was such a disaster I swapped the whole main wiring harness for something that wasn’t butchered and in better condition, and tidied up all the wiring remaining. Scotch locks seemed to be everywhere I looked, and there was some dodgy repairs to the electric window wiring so this is all now gone, along with the typical aftermarket stereo install with the plugs cut off and twist the wires together trick. For some reason it had an earth lead going to the extractors so will get rid of that, and upgrade the power supply for the engine fan. Had those blue H4s in the headlights and for some reason a set of blue H1s jammed in the high beams. These will go back to something sensible. And not blue. I used that Car Builders cloth tape on the main harness. While not authentic, it certainly looks good. But with the main harness now being from a VS Commodore, will need to make a patch lead to go to the engine harness where it connects up near the battery. Also learnt a bit about BCMs and found I needed to swap in the VS wagon BCM as the VR BCMs have a different pin-out. Oddly this ute had a mid-Level one fitted already – possibly for the power windows??? Who knows the history of this thing.
Been testing that all the electrics work with a battery charger and so far so good with the exception of one cluster light for the high beam.
Charcoal canister must have been optional so have raided one from the VS and will mount this up under the front bar.
And I have zero experience with MAP based tunes so will reaching out on the forum for something close when the time comes. I already had an NVRAM loaded with 12P - long story a mate wanted to convert his VR from a V6 to a V8 and wanted to go carby – so will mod the ECU for this.
All the front and rear suspension has been rebuilt with new rubber bushes. I found it had the strut tops replaced at some stage and the domed washers put in the wrong way. Springs will all stay at a sensible FE2 height. They might look good lowered but certainly are no good for comfort. There is also a theory that riding on the bump stops causes the ripples you see in the sides of some of these utes - I think that has some credibility to it.
Another thing I found wrong was the VT front caliper conversion, with the hoses too short and running the VT discs with the larger centre on VR hubs. So installed new non-ABS VT hubs and I already had a set of new correct length hoses and good nick slotted rotors so will run these. Being a V8 already has the 1” master cylinder so pedal feel should be fine. I wanted to replace the front steel brake lines so bought some cheap pipe benders and some brake tubing and nuts. Tried making bubble flares with the flaring tool at work, but wasn’t happy with how they turned out. So bought one of these ebay flare tools and it comes out 1000% better. Quite impressed with how they turn out. The bender I bought doesn’t quite get the tight radius, but it does the job.
New lines made up for the front and they look OK. Put a joiner in behind where the engine block would sit just to make it easier on myself. I still have to get some new bump stops as the old ones had been cut back and a set of tubular upper control arms. I have also braced the lower control arms in preparation for some huge horsepower.
Another interesting thing about this ute is that is has an exhaust hanger on the right hand side so looks to be set up for a dual exhaust. The hanger looks factory with the same bad factory welding but I didn’t think any VRs came out with dual exhausts, let alone the utes until the VS series???
It had a dodgy 2 ½” single exhaust on it when I got it. Am yet to decide between a 3” single or a dual 2 ½” exhaust into a 3” tailpipe.
I’ve made up some stainless tie down points and recessed a small storage box into the LH tray infill panel - ideally would have liked the jack fitted in it to get it out of the cab, but it’s not to be.
Pulled the fuel tank and found the usual return line coming off the swirl pot. Zero chance of my hands getting in there so thanks to a bit of motivation from VK3800 and his long range fuel tank, I threw caution to the wind and have cut the tank in half then extended it by around 340mm. It should hold around 90 litres now. Will make up a couple of extra brackets to support it but will use the factory clamps to mount it back in. I’ve pressure tested it at 3psi and no leaks, and then sealed the welded joints with a strap soldered over the top. I also gave it a coat of KBS tank sealer to be doubly sure.
The centre front tank mount will need to be shortened by about 10mm to allow the tank to sit in square again. But am wondering now if I shouldn’t have tried to fit a VU-VY ute tank instead and have the better fuel pump/swirl pot inside. Maybe they don’t fit or everyone would be doing it. Have ordered a stock Delphi fuel pump to finish it off and run new submersible lines back to the swirl pot. Another one of the many things I found wrong was the engine mounts. Must have been a Friday arvo job welding these up at GMH as one of them was cracked – you can see this originating from a mounting hole but let the photos of the welds tell the story.
Hopefully there’s no confusion over the before photos and after I have fixed it. Engine is stripped down. Not sure how the starter motor ever engaged properly as it only had generic bolts in it, not the dowel bolts to line it up. Anyway it was but will buy a set of the proper bolts. And the third bolt in the side of the block was snapped off - it came out almost a little too easily.
Found a max of 0.002” wear in the bores – probably could have got away with a hone It was a bit sludgy inside, but everything looked pretty good really. No surprises but stock crank and cam. Bit too much corrosion in the manifold and timing cover so these will go to scrap. Welsh plugs were all intact surprisingly. And all the end bolts on the manifold were toast as well so will get a new set. My plan for the engine is to just build something similar to the HSV 215 strokers only a bit heathier. Not trying to be controversial but from what I see is there’s a lot of stroker engines built, and they all seem to have forged pistons, aftermarket rods, huge cams and big heads, yet they all make disappointing figures on the dyno, guzzle petrol and are temperamental to drive. To me it doesn’t make any sense spending hundreds of money on aftermarket parts to handle some insane horsepower only to churn out 180 rear wheel killerwasps. So I will bypass all that and just settle for the disappointing dyno figures but have something that can be a daily driver. If it makes anywhere remotely close to 180kw at the tyres I will be happy with that. It won’t need 4 bolt mains or a crank girdle or head studs. It won’t be built to handle 8000 rpm or win drag races or burn-out comps. But the end result I want is to be able to put this thing in 5th gear, set the cruise button, and not notice any hills. Something that can be driven anywhere and has the bonnet closed more than it is open. And right or wrong will retain the banana oven/manifold, more than likely an acid ported one to see how good or bad it really is. I still have the heavily ported one that needs a home so this could be as good a place as any. But whatever power it makes will be enough. Turning a Holden 304 into a stroker is not a cheap exercise, but if you can find a decent piston you can reuse what are perfectly good conrods and save some unnecessary spend.
For the rest of the ute, I’ll be stripping back the all paint back to bare metal and will be paying someone who knows what they are doing to knock out the minor dents and respray it in the factory colour. If I had a go myself I know I would be forever disappointed.
Anyway that’s about it. I know there’s thousands of stroker Commodore utes out there and they’re all kind of the same and it can get boring. I would much rather read about a turbocharged Valiant or an injected Leyland P76 for something different, but will update this one as I make progress. Hope to make a start on the engine soon.
Owner was adamant it was a HSV cause it had a HSV badge on the dash. But you can buy those badges on ebay.
Also had HSV wheels, but you can buy those on ebay.
Anyway the VIN doesn’t match up with anything on the HSV register, so it’s not a HSV anything, but at some stage someone put a bit of work into this ute and had some pride in it, and then at some stage someone has not looked after it very well. I originally thought this ute would just need a quick freshen up and it would allow me to take my time collecting parts to rebuild the one tonner engine and eventually take it off the road for an engine rebuild.
Like everything else it seems, I was wrong. The deeper I looked at it, the worst this ute got.
Wiring was a mess and the MAP sensor hose was eaten through by mice – how it was running I know not but it was running quite well. But the mice seemed to have made a home in the cab with a few of them deciding the best place to die was in the air cond unit. Washed it down because it was leaking from every orifice. Water pump, intake manifold and timing cover were leaking coolant and the radiator was split – which are all easy fixes. Front and rear mains were leaking oil too - not so easy. So out came the engine and then I found more things wrong and it just got worse. So the new plan became to rebuild this ute back to being something tidy for my eldest daughters first car. Something practical, reliable, easy to drive and being a 2 seater less chance of a car full of peer pressure to do something stupid. She does have a healthy interest in cars, but don’t mistake this with being a father/daughter project when she has a choice of the PS5 or venturing outside to spend time in the shed. It concerns deeply me though how she seems to know far too much about Lexus LFAs, Skylines and Supras so an Aussie vehicle will hopefully knock that nonsense out of her and get her back on track. Goal was to have it ready for the start of her L Plates but that is not going to happen now.
But more than likely if she is sensible enough, there’s no reason it won’t last her for years to come. Youngest daughter can get her Ls in the ute too, but she is under the assumption I am buying her a Tesla as her first car.
I’ve been reluctant to post up this project mainly due the embarrassing state of it - and for how stupid I was to buy it in the first place - but one of the great things about this forum is reading about other peoples projects. You get to learn a lot and get some good ideas - not that anyone will be learning anything from this project. On the flip side, you don’t really know what everyone has got happening behind the scenes. I know amongst my circle there are blokes who have lost children, wives, siblings, parents, homes, jobs or have been just dealt a pretty ordinary set of cards in life. And taking time out to work on an interest like a vehicle has helped them retain their sanity. So I appreciate the time forum members take to post up what they have been doing with their projects. And you look forward to the updates whenever they happen. Technical contributions to this forum is something that I am clearly not very good at and I have always been dealt a good hand. I have certainly taken more away from this forum than I have given and I have always been very fortunate.
To be honest, the things I am finding wrong with this ute aren’t doing me any physical harm apart from hurting the wallet, and it has done me some good to get stuck into fixing them. Just the further I looked, the more I scratch my head at what I find. Luckily I have access to a wrecked VS wagon for a few parts.
I wasn’t smart enough to get any photos of it before I started stripping it. But on the plus side, this ute is an S Pack, factory 5.0 litre, original engine, factory T5 manual. The T5 looks like it has been rebuilt at some stage and the LSD is tight. Even though it’s a manual, it was all set up for cruise control except for the module. It had all the wiring, holes drilled, and even had the clutch pedal switch which looks homemade. The clutch looks reasonably new too. And that’s probably the extent of all the good things about this ute.
I haven’t made a great deal of progress but this is where I am up to.
There must have been a master cylinder leak as the engine bay paint was a pretty ordinary around there along with some corrosion on the front brake lines which I wasn’t comfortable with. So I have taken the engine bay back to bare metal and resprayed it in the factory colour. It’s actually come up pretty good considering I can’t paint. The chassis rails have been resprayed in Raptor as they look ugly, but also wanted to protect that area from any more brake fluid or battery acid attacks. I have seen a few other cars with the inner guards and underbody coated with black Raptor lining and recon they look pretty good - thought I’d do the same. I want to keep it close to looking factory or how the factory would have intended with just a few subtle changes. But I still have a long long way to go.
Anyway this is how it currently sits.
Amazing how many holes are in the inner guards when you count them up. I guess they all have a purpose. I have since given the underside a coating of sound deadener.
I recon something has gone through the engine fan blades at some stage so I bought a new BF Falcon fan and fitted this to a new genuine style radiator with alloy core/plastic tanks. Made a bracket to relocate the coil to the strut tower, which will also mount a catch can.
The wiring was such a disaster I swapped the whole main wiring harness for something that wasn’t butchered and in better condition, and tidied up all the wiring remaining. Scotch locks seemed to be everywhere I looked, and there was some dodgy repairs to the electric window wiring so this is all now gone, along with the typical aftermarket stereo install with the plugs cut off and twist the wires together trick. For some reason it had an earth lead going to the extractors so will get rid of that, and upgrade the power supply for the engine fan. Had those blue H4s in the headlights and for some reason a set of blue H1s jammed in the high beams. These will go back to something sensible. And not blue. I used that Car Builders cloth tape on the main harness. While not authentic, it certainly looks good. But with the main harness now being from a VS Commodore, will need to make a patch lead to go to the engine harness where it connects up near the battery. Also learnt a bit about BCMs and found I needed to swap in the VS wagon BCM as the VR BCMs have a different pin-out. Oddly this ute had a mid-Level one fitted already – possibly for the power windows??? Who knows the history of this thing.
Been testing that all the electrics work with a battery charger and so far so good with the exception of one cluster light for the high beam.
Charcoal canister must have been optional so have raided one from the VS and will mount this up under the front bar.
And I have zero experience with MAP based tunes so will reaching out on the forum for something close when the time comes. I already had an NVRAM loaded with 12P - long story a mate wanted to convert his VR from a V6 to a V8 and wanted to go carby – so will mod the ECU for this.
All the front and rear suspension has been rebuilt with new rubber bushes. I found it had the strut tops replaced at some stage and the domed washers put in the wrong way. Springs will all stay at a sensible FE2 height. They might look good lowered but certainly are no good for comfort. There is also a theory that riding on the bump stops causes the ripples you see in the sides of some of these utes - I think that has some credibility to it.
Another thing I found wrong was the VT front caliper conversion, with the hoses too short and running the VT discs with the larger centre on VR hubs. So installed new non-ABS VT hubs and I already had a set of new correct length hoses and good nick slotted rotors so will run these. Being a V8 already has the 1” master cylinder so pedal feel should be fine. I wanted to replace the front steel brake lines so bought some cheap pipe benders and some brake tubing and nuts. Tried making bubble flares with the flaring tool at work, but wasn’t happy with how they turned out. So bought one of these ebay flare tools and it comes out 1000% better. Quite impressed with how they turn out. The bender I bought doesn’t quite get the tight radius, but it does the job.
New lines made up for the front and they look OK. Put a joiner in behind where the engine block would sit just to make it easier on myself. I still have to get some new bump stops as the old ones had been cut back and a set of tubular upper control arms. I have also braced the lower control arms in preparation for some huge horsepower.
Another interesting thing about this ute is that is has an exhaust hanger on the right hand side so looks to be set up for a dual exhaust. The hanger looks factory with the same bad factory welding but I didn’t think any VRs came out with dual exhausts, let alone the utes until the VS series???
It had a dodgy 2 ½” single exhaust on it when I got it. Am yet to decide between a 3” single or a dual 2 ½” exhaust into a 3” tailpipe.
I’ve made up some stainless tie down points and recessed a small storage box into the LH tray infill panel - ideally would have liked the jack fitted in it to get it out of the cab, but it’s not to be.
Pulled the fuel tank and found the usual return line coming off the swirl pot. Zero chance of my hands getting in there so thanks to a bit of motivation from VK3800 and his long range fuel tank, I threw caution to the wind and have cut the tank in half then extended it by around 340mm. It should hold around 90 litres now. Will make up a couple of extra brackets to support it but will use the factory clamps to mount it back in. I’ve pressure tested it at 3psi and no leaks, and then sealed the welded joints with a strap soldered over the top. I also gave it a coat of KBS tank sealer to be doubly sure.
The centre front tank mount will need to be shortened by about 10mm to allow the tank to sit in square again. But am wondering now if I shouldn’t have tried to fit a VU-VY ute tank instead and have the better fuel pump/swirl pot inside. Maybe they don’t fit or everyone would be doing it. Have ordered a stock Delphi fuel pump to finish it off and run new submersible lines back to the swirl pot. Another one of the many things I found wrong was the engine mounts. Must have been a Friday arvo job welding these up at GMH as one of them was cracked – you can see this originating from a mounting hole but let the photos of the welds tell the story.
Hopefully there’s no confusion over the before photos and after I have fixed it. Engine is stripped down. Not sure how the starter motor ever engaged properly as it only had generic bolts in it, not the dowel bolts to line it up. Anyway it was but will buy a set of the proper bolts. And the third bolt in the side of the block was snapped off - it came out almost a little too easily.
Found a max of 0.002” wear in the bores – probably could have got away with a hone It was a bit sludgy inside, but everything looked pretty good really. No surprises but stock crank and cam. Bit too much corrosion in the manifold and timing cover so these will go to scrap. Welsh plugs were all intact surprisingly. And all the end bolts on the manifold were toast as well so will get a new set. My plan for the engine is to just build something similar to the HSV 215 strokers only a bit heathier. Not trying to be controversial but from what I see is there’s a lot of stroker engines built, and they all seem to have forged pistons, aftermarket rods, huge cams and big heads, yet they all make disappointing figures on the dyno, guzzle petrol and are temperamental to drive. To me it doesn’t make any sense spending hundreds of money on aftermarket parts to handle some insane horsepower only to churn out 180 rear wheel killerwasps. So I will bypass all that and just settle for the disappointing dyno figures but have something that can be a daily driver. If it makes anywhere remotely close to 180kw at the tyres I will be happy with that. It won’t need 4 bolt mains or a crank girdle or head studs. It won’t be built to handle 8000 rpm or win drag races or burn-out comps. But the end result I want is to be able to put this thing in 5th gear, set the cruise button, and not notice any hills. Something that can be driven anywhere and has the bonnet closed more than it is open. And right or wrong will retain the banana oven/manifold, more than likely an acid ported one to see how good or bad it really is. I still have the heavily ported one that needs a home so this could be as good a place as any. But whatever power it makes will be enough. Turning a Holden 304 into a stroker is not a cheap exercise, but if you can find a decent piston you can reuse what are perfectly good conrods and save some unnecessary spend.
For the rest of the ute, I’ll be stripping back the all paint back to bare metal and will be paying someone who knows what they are doing to knock out the minor dents and respray it in the factory colour. If I had a go myself I know I would be forever disappointed.
Anyway that’s about it. I know there’s thousands of stroker Commodore utes out there and they’re all kind of the same and it can get boring. I would much rather read about a turbocharged Valiant or an injected Leyland P76 for something different, but will update this one as I make progress. Hope to make a start on the engine soon.