vt1 steel block 220kw

[marcevo1]

other than the obvious - ie the steel block oposed to the alloy - what are the differences?

tuning potential? given the significantly cheaper cost to buy - i'll have more money to spend on it.

i'm not making a track racer so if the differences are minor - is this a potential route ie charger brakes etc?

any ideas

[Woody vt]

I have a VT1 iron block 220kw. Great car, more torque than HP oriented. Loads of low down power whenever you want it.
Parts are a little harder to come by but obviously they are readily available from thousands of places in Aus, you'll just have to wait a little longer for them.
With regards to tuning, not as easy as you might like. Suspension etc is, on the whole, shared with the gen 3 cars but there are a few differences.
With regards to tuning the engine, I am doing, or attempting to get through this bit myself at the moment. First major pain is the std ecu is not mappable, it uses the DELCO 808 computer which is great but the system uses MEMCALS (similar to the Lotus Carlton)which hold fixed settings. Reprogrammed memcals can be purchased but if you want a custom tune then like me, the search is on as I've yet to find anybody in the UK that can handle the car. Unichip make a piggyback ecu for the Holden which is another avenue (the one I have taken) but find a good tuner and beware buying your chip from Aus direct (as I have) as Dastek HQ here in the UK refused to install mine as I didn't buy it through them. However any Unichip dealer can do it, so don't worry too much. The other route is to look at a comlete new EFI sytem such as HALTECH but this can be very expensive.
Supercharger kits are readily available, as are headers, throttle bodies, manifolds etc etc.

If you want it relatively easy then go with a gen3 car (you'll get more HP too but not massively more). If you want an all Aussie machine and something even more exclusive than hving a HSV over here (as if they aren't exclusive enough)then go with the iron block as I am reliably informed there are only 6 VT1 GTS cars in the UK and Ireland. The sound from the iron block is awesome (Got a modded Wortec system on mine) and despite being harder work to tune is a fantastic car and becoming increasingly rare. The gen 3 GTS badged UK cars are actually Aussie Clubsport R8s (the Aussie GTS was 300KW with different heads)where the Iron block Holden engined cars are the same GTS you would have bought in Aus (not that this makes any real difference)I am lead to believe from club members in Aus that there were only somewhere in the region of 400 iron block GTS cars made.

It's all down to personal taste and what you're looking to achieve really. You can't go wrong with either car, they just have slightly different characteristics.

Hope this has been of some help

[marcevo1]

great reply many thanks :-)

[marcevo1]

can you post the links to the manufactures of the performance bits - chargers, manifolds etc?

cheers

[ringram]

Getting over 300KW from the LS1 in stock form is easy. Forget the 304 5L Iron engine, its obsolete.

[motomk]

Engine stuff
www.comeracing.com
www.harrop.com.au
www.samsperformance.com.au
www.kec.com.au
Streetquick performance in Maddington Perth Western Australia is another good one.
www.pavtek.com.au/
www.yellaterra.com.au
www.capa.com.au
www.crowcams.com.au
www.acl.com.au/
www.speco.com.au/
www.rocketindustries.com.au/
www.horsepowerinabox.com

Tuning
www.amberleyautos.com.au/
www.kalmaker.com.au
www.chipmaster.com.au
www.chiptorque.com.au/Holden/VTV8.html

motomk

Edited by motomk on Wednesday 2nd August 10:52

Edited by motomk on Wednesday 2nd August 10:54

[r988]

ringram said:

Getting over 300KW from the LS1 in stock form is easy. Forget the 304 5L Iron engine, its obsolete.

It's the stroked 5.7L V8 with 220kW (some say 230kW) actually, it's got more torque lower down and in the real world is just as quick most of the time. Some people preferred that sort of driving style and the GenIII was criticised for feeling a bit limp and needing to be revved to extract power when they were both new. For people to accuse the GenIII of lacking low end torque then you know it must have been a real stump puller.

In Australia they make a lot more sense because there is a ridiculous amount of easy and cheap tuning stuff available for the aussie V8. But there is just as much peak power available from a Gen III and that has at least 220Kw standard in most versions, and the motor is lighter as well.