Hold(en) my beer - Monaro, Ute and Commodore content

Hold(en) my beer - Monaro, Ute and Commodore content

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SturdyHSV

Original Poster:

10,083 posts

166 months

Friday 5th July 2019
quotequote all
So continuing the 'halve the commute, double the consumption' logic that caused this thread:

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

It's probably time to actually give the commUTEr its own thread. To summarise the other one, 45mpg V70 D5 daily duties taken on by Prodrive Brera V6.

2 months and around 2,000 miles in, a post appears in the Holden bits for sale facebook group of a partially JPS liveried Ute complete with spare set of wheels and a ute tent.

I commented on it largely saying "I appear to have bought the wrong daily, stupid question but I don't suppose you're interested in a Brera..."

Seller replied "That is a stupid question... what sort of Brera?"

Long story short, we met for a couple of beers to discuss poor car buying decisions, drove each car and agreed to just swap hehe This was the Sunday before Le Mans, so really perfectly timed as it meant I didn't have to worry about getting my Monaro running sweetly after the big cam install I'd just finished.

So the Alfa's 23mpg for 260bhp has now been replaced with 21mpg for 390bhp (albeit via a slushbox)

There were a wide array of additional stickers and tape to finish the livery, so this was done ahead of Le Mans, the ute tent worked flawlessly, a spare pair of rears were taken to France and sent directly to hell, and all in it has worked as well as you could hope.

I still haven't managed to bring myself to remove the stickers.





Being that it's largely the same interior as the Monaro it's all very familiar, it's supremely comfortable, rather droney with what I assume isn't the original exhaust, the stereo is comically good considering there's nowhere to put any speakers, it makes excellent grandstand seating for 6 people, and is just so much more 'fun' than the (admittedly gorgeous) Brera was.

It has a very playful handling balance, although the LSD is somewhat worn out so it can be guilty of only spinning up an inside wheel on occasion which is a little uncouth.

The slushbox is nice for commute traffic, but it wouldn't be my first choice. As it's a Ute and can carry spare tyres, my ultimate plan has always been to have a supercharged Ute as a 'silly' car. Unfortunately the 4L60E behind the LS1 isn't up to that in stock form, and I'm not interested in spending money improving a gearbox I don't want, so the supercharger will have to wait.

Long term plan is ultimately to replace Sheila (the Monaro is called Bruce, the Ute has a smaller engine and auto box so...Sheila) with a manual equivalent, but for now I'm just having a great time enjoying the simple 'charm' of another Holden product. It has also implanted the idea that the only sensible thing to replace the V70 with is a Commodore estate (manual, 6 litre, obviously) but that would have to be imported from Aus, so not in the near future!

therealsamdailly

328 posts

62 months

Friday 5th July 2019
quotequote all
Ridiculous. Perfect. Bookmarked


fred bloggs

1,300 posts

199 months

Friday 5th July 2019
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Perfect daily. I saw the le mans video incidentally. I have a vt2 hsv .
Those cone diffs are rubbish, In fact mine had broken cones. I went with a kaaz ,Im not sure on the torsens, I need a proper lock up.

Perhaps put this in it ….


https://www.tuffcarparts.com.au/vt-vx-vy-vz-v8-hol...

SturdyHSV

Original Poster:

10,083 posts

166 months

Friday 5th July 2019
quotequote all
fred bloggs said:
Perfect daily. I saw the le mans video incidentally. I have a vt2 hsv .
Those cone diffs are rubbish, In fact mine had broken cones. I went with a kaaz ,Im not sure on the torsens, I need a proper lock up.

Perhaps put this in it ….


https://www.tuffcarparts.com.au/vt-vx-vy-vz-v8-hol...
I have a truetrac in the Monaro which works really well (albeit slightly clunky)

If man maths comes in to play, I may put a wavetrac in the Monaro and swap the truetrac into the ute...

james_tigerwoods

16,287 posts

196 months

Friday 5th July 2019
quotequote all
Love it - And love the name too smile You need to sticker up the car as "Sheila" biggrinhehe

The Nur

9,168 posts

184 months

Friday 5th July 2019
quotequote all
As above, love it.

Want one.

SturdyHSV

Original Poster:

10,083 posts

166 months

Friday 5th July 2019
quotequote all


Needless to say Sheila was in full bogan mode at Le Mans hehe

As she seems to be slightly quicker than she feels, tomorrow some friends and I are popping over to Santa Pod to see how she goes.

I'm guessing a low 14 at about 100, feel free to guess amongst yourselves, I shall attempt to update the thread although signal at the Pod is scant at best thumbup

gregs656

10,818 posts

180 months

Friday 5th July 2019
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I like these.

Got pics with the tent up?

Steve Evil

10,653 posts

228 months

Friday 5th July 2019
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Have I seen this heading into Milton Keynes via junction 14 on the odd morning?

anonymous-user

53 months

Friday 5th July 2019
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We need pics with the tent up, doing burnouts biggrin

SturdyHSV

Original Poster:

10,083 posts

166 months

Saturday 6th July 2019
quotequote all
Steve Evil said:
Have I seen this heading into Milton Keynes via junction 14 on the odd morning?
You certainly have, 15 to 14 every morning thumbup

hyphen

26,262 posts

89 months

Saturday 6th July 2019
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therealsamdailly said:
Ridiculous. Perfect. Bookmarked
+1 to that!

TerryFarquit

92 posts

126 months

Saturday 6th July 2019
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Epic bogunning!

The JPS livery is a cool touch and will wind up people nicely, and I couldn't work out what was wrong with it - it didn't look right although the font is right, the kerning looks wrong.

Always wondered how these cars held up in the salt, as Australian winters are pretty benign and outside the few hills in NSW / VIC / TAS then I don't think it freezes much at all.

Killer2005

19,595 posts

227 months

Saturday 6th July 2019
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Love it.

And off to the classifieds I go

willmagrath

1,207 posts

145 months

Saturday 6th July 2019
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I saw you at Le Mans a few times, parked up on Mulsanne and doing the odd tire scrubber or 2. Looked and sounded great.


SturdyHSV

Original Poster:

10,083 posts

166 months

Saturday 6th July 2019
quotequote all
https://youtu.be/9enkIEL-A0A

https://youtu.be/czEtOKs8EvA

Bringing a little touch of 'straya to Le Mans smile

In the pairing lanes, weather looks... British.

SturdyHSV

Original Poster:

10,083 posts

166 months

Saturday 6th July 2019
quotequote all
First run, thought I'd try the PWR shift mode just to give the box a heads up... That was the then the first time it's ever held in to a gear, so got to the top of first and it just bounced off the limiter getmecoat

14.4 at 95, so optimistically a low 14 but 100 looks out of reach!

Kev_Mk3

2,740 posts

94 months

Saturday 6th July 2019
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I remember this from the Le Mans whatsapp chat lol love it!

Pit Pony

8,268 posts

120 months

Saturday 6th July 2019
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I have 2 opinions and a question.
1st opinion is that i would remove the tabbaco sponsorship, due to my own hatred of tabbaco companies.
2nd opinion. I love the Ute. It's great.

Question.

I own an omega. How much omega is in its make up.

I'm thinking the doors are identical and m a bye the front screen

SturdyHSV

Original Poster:

10,083 posts

166 months

Saturday 6th July 2019
quotequote all
Pit Pony said:
I have 2 opinions and a question.
1st opinion is that i would remove the tabbaco sponsorship, due to my own hatred of tabbaco companies.
2nd opinion. I love the Ute. It's great.

Question.

I own an omega. How much omega is in its make up.

I'm thinking the doors are identical and m a bye the front screen
Certainly the door handles are the same, except the Omega ones are quality metal, the Monaro are also the same (but also plastic).

I think the door window glass may be the same as well, there are doubtless a fair few shared components and the rear of the estate is very similar to the Commodore.

Yeah tobacco companies are hardly to be celebrated but personally it doesn't bother me enough to remove it, it's quite clearly a bit of fun and to be fair, it worked well with the tyre smoking 😂

Sat in the car in the rain, standard Santa Pod!