Hold(en) my beer - Monaro, Ute and Commodore content
Discussion
The battery is possibly worth replacing soon, there have been a couple of occasions where the crank is a bit lazy, and one occasion where leaving the lights on for a while (they oddly didn't go off after leaving the car) meant it needed a jump start.
This wasn't an isolated incident though, and the story for that is rather more embarrassing. So, there was a car fire on the M1 a week or so ago. This caused some rather significant queues as you can imagine, and I was stuck in those queues. Naturally I didn't have much fuel because 5.7 litre commuter.
Anyway, eventually the stop start queue became a simple 'stop' queue, where we were all then parked for about 30 minutes. I sensibly turned the engine off for this (love you Greta) and had the radio on to pass the time.
Now, what I suspect I also had on, were the headlights... No surprises for what comes next...
So the traffic starts to head move up ahead, I turn the key and am met with nothing whatsoever. Strewth.
As one does in this situation, I ignore the obvious conclusion and retry the cranking a few times, take key out and back in etc. but no, very clearly the battery is not interested in turning up to work, and I'm parked in a lowered automatic Ute on the outside lane of a now non-stationary M1 with a fair few people behind me not overly impressed with the delay
Fool me once and all that, but since the last time Sheila's battery played silly buggers, I've had some meaty jumper cables on board. Now, time to do my very best damsel in distress impression to commuter traffic, because obviously that's the most sensible thing to do right?
Well either way, hazards on, bonnet up, cables in hand doing my best 'grabby grabby' gestures with them accompanied by a gormless expression that says "oh come ooon, pleeease" to hundreds of passing business executives was ultimately successful when a champion in a suit pulls up in his (trade plated) Corsa and saves the day.
Of course in order to save the day he had to basically back his Corsa up into the central reservation and we had to push the Ute alongside it (still 'safely' in the outside lane) but with a healthy dose of rpm it jumped Sheila back in to life and life went on.
I'm sure jump starting a car in the outside lane of a motorway will mean instant points deductions on PH but alas I couldn't think what else to do with it as felt as the vast tailback cleared behind then the danger would increase significantly
Entries in to the bad parking thread aside, long term plans are changing ever so slightly with how to balance the Holden-centric 'fleet' day dreamed about in the opening post.
Currently Sheila is still staying, but really the auto means I'd like to change her long term. The general faff of swapping (and doing a good job...) doesn't seem worth it, but I have had a sort of silly idea of making it a track car, not least because there's so much room to bring tools and spare wheels with you to the track... if I did go this route, then I'd be content doing a more rudimentary manual conversion (and not bothering how 'OEM' it ended up inside) and obviously there's is that stupid anthropomorphised idea of wanting to keep her as now I'm attached to her
What was also mentioned in the first post was the desire for a Commodore wagon, which I stated would have to be a manual... Well I've now had the thought that keeping the wagon as the comfortable wafter option would mean a later auto (so a 6L80E instead of the 4L60E in Sheila) would provide a much nicer auto experience (less slushy) and be a more comfy daily. This has also been swayed by the availability of just such a wagon for sale at a well known dealer who is happy to take my GTV as part ex...
The GTV has been around for ~ 8 years and I've been telling myself I'm going to sell it for about the last 5 of those years...
So yes, I will be completing the set in a couple of weeks (GTV MOT is end of the month) with an eminently sensible 6 litre wagon (2000 litres of load space don't you know!).
The V70 is still around and will be given to a mate as frankly I don't want it sullying up the driveway with its inexcusably pathetic cylinder count / displacement
Oh, and, erm, the wagon is blue. I feel like wrapping it black is the only sensible thing to do, but will have to see what it's like in the flesh. I'm also not sold on the wheel colour (they'd be silver from the factory) but again, will judge this in person.
This wasn't an isolated incident though, and the story for that is rather more embarrassing. So, there was a car fire on the M1 a week or so ago. This caused some rather significant queues as you can imagine, and I was stuck in those queues. Naturally I didn't have much fuel because 5.7 litre commuter.
Anyway, eventually the stop start queue became a simple 'stop' queue, where we were all then parked for about 30 minutes. I sensibly turned the engine off for this (love you Greta) and had the radio on to pass the time.
Now, what I suspect I also had on, were the headlights... No surprises for what comes next...
So the traffic starts to head move up ahead, I turn the key and am met with nothing whatsoever. Strewth.
As one does in this situation, I ignore the obvious conclusion and retry the cranking a few times, take key out and back in etc. but no, very clearly the battery is not interested in turning up to work, and I'm parked in a lowered automatic Ute on the outside lane of a now non-stationary M1 with a fair few people behind me not overly impressed with the delay
Fool me once and all that, but since the last time Sheila's battery played silly buggers, I've had some meaty jumper cables on board. Now, time to do my very best damsel in distress impression to commuter traffic, because obviously that's the most sensible thing to do right?
Well either way, hazards on, bonnet up, cables in hand doing my best 'grabby grabby' gestures with them accompanied by a gormless expression that says "oh come ooon, pleeease" to hundreds of passing business executives was ultimately successful when a champion in a suit pulls up in his (trade plated) Corsa and saves the day.
Of course in order to save the day he had to basically back his Corsa up into the central reservation and we had to push the Ute alongside it (still 'safely' in the outside lane) but with a healthy dose of rpm it jumped Sheila back in to life and life went on.
I'm sure jump starting a car in the outside lane of a motorway will mean instant points deductions on PH but alas I couldn't think what else to do with it as felt as the vast tailback cleared behind then the danger would increase significantly
Entries in to the bad parking thread aside, long term plans are changing ever so slightly with how to balance the Holden-centric 'fleet' day dreamed about in the opening post.
Currently Sheila is still staying, but really the auto means I'd like to change her long term. The general faff of swapping (and doing a good job...) doesn't seem worth it, but I have had a sort of silly idea of making it a track car, not least because there's so much room to bring tools and spare wheels with you to the track... if I did go this route, then I'd be content doing a more rudimentary manual conversion (and not bothering how 'OEM' it ended up inside) and obviously there's is that stupid anthropomorphised idea of wanting to keep her as now I'm attached to her
What was also mentioned in the first post was the desire for a Commodore wagon, which I stated would have to be a manual... Well I've now had the thought that keeping the wagon as the comfortable wafter option would mean a later auto (so a 6L80E instead of the 4L60E in Sheila) would provide a much nicer auto experience (less slushy) and be a more comfy daily. This has also been swayed by the availability of just such a wagon for sale at a well known dealer who is happy to take my GTV as part ex...
The GTV has been around for ~ 8 years and I've been telling myself I'm going to sell it for about the last 5 of those years...
So yes, I will be completing the set in a couple of weeks (GTV MOT is end of the month) with an eminently sensible 6 litre wagon (2000 litres of load space don't you know!).
The V70 is still around and will be given to a mate as frankly I don't want it sullying up the driveway with its inexcusably pathetic cylinder count / displacement
Oh, and, erm, the wagon is blue. I feel like wrapping it black is the only sensible thing to do, but will have to see what it's like in the flesh. I'm also not sold on the wheel colour (they'd be silver from the factory) but again, will judge this in person.
I saw that Wagon online and suffered some want. I wonder if there is another one in the country?
I've driven a couple of VXR8 on circuit and had four Commodore SV6 (3.6L) whilst on holiday, of which one was a wagon. All were great cars, but the best memories were of the run from Queenstown to Christchurch in the wagon. The load space is huge - our cases looked tiny tucked in against the back seat. I can't think of a better car for the Kiwi lifestyle of canoes and camping.
The gearbox in the SV6 (GM 6L45-E I think) can be a little slow witted, but maybe the 6L80E is better?
I'd love to have a VXR8 manual on the driveway before long.
I've driven a couple of VXR8 on circuit and had four Commodore SV6 (3.6L) whilst on holiday, of which one was a wagon. All were great cars, but the best memories were of the run from Queenstown to Christchurch in the wagon. The load space is huge - our cases looked tiny tucked in against the back seat. I can't think of a better car for the Kiwi lifestyle of canoes and camping.
The gearbox in the SV6 (GM 6L45-E I think) can be a little slow witted, but maybe the 6L80E is better?
I'd love to have a VXR8 manual on the driveway before long.
gweaver said:
I saw that Wagon online and suffered some want. I wonder if there is another one in the country?
I've driven a couple of VXR8 on circuit and had four Commodore SV6 (3.6L) whilst on holiday, of which one was a wagon. All were great cars, but the best memories were of the run from Queenstown to Christchurch in the wagon. The load space is huge - our cases looked tiny tucked in against the back seat. I can't think of a better car for the Kiwi lifestyle of canoes and camping.
The gearbox in the SV6 (GM 6L45-E I think) can be a little slow witted, but maybe the 6L80E is better?
I'd love to have a VXR8 manual on the driveway before long.
There's apparently 3 wagons in the country, one is a facelifted HSV Clubsport that Vauxhall imported as a press car (evo ran it for a while, it was supercharged, although this was then removed before it was sold on), there's an Aussie who brought his Calais wagon over with him, and then there's this one I've driven a couple of VXR8 on circuit and had four Commodore SV6 (3.6L) whilst on holiday, of which one was a wagon. All were great cars, but the best memories were of the run from Queenstown to Christchurch in the wagon. The load space is huge - our cases looked tiny tucked in against the back seat. I can't think of a better car for the Kiwi lifestyle of canoes and camping.
The gearbox in the SV6 (GM 6L45-E I think) can be a little slow witted, but maybe the 6L80E is better?
I'd love to have a VXR8 manual on the driveway before long.
Looking at prices of the VE wagons over in Aus, I decided that importing one (and the inevitable risks of buying unseen) wouldn't be much different price wise, and realistically an opportunity to 'sell' the GTV without having to 'sell' it is worth paying a little extra for for me, as I am terrible at selling cars.
The rear is indeed huge, and knowing how comfortable the Monaro is (well, was) and the R8s as well, this being a Holden I'm optimistic for seat / suspension comfort to go with the auto to make quite the wafty daily
The 6L80E is a decent box by most accounts, and can be remapped to improve the shifts in manual mode which is something I'll be doing most likely. To further bolster its sensible credentials, as an import it's only £265 VED, and the gearing is suitably intergalactic that wafting down the M1 will be relatively frugal.
This is one area where the Ute is a little unsuitable being a 4 speed box, you get a selection of overly long gears that blunt acceleration, and a top gear that isn't really long enough for the full 'motorway cruising at tickover' experience.
Edited by SturdyHSV on Monday 17th August 17:01
I like the wagon, the wheelbase on those is the same as the VXR8 sedan.
The wheels are the standard design for that car but as you mentioned were in silver. The darker colour was on the last VE Series II SS-Z and SV6-Z . These 2 were special edition runout models. So about 4 years later.
On the ute, if you haven't already, maybe change out the battery connectors. They grounded me one day.
The wheels are the standard design for that car but as you mentioned were in silver. The darker colour was on the last VE Series II SS-Z and SV6-Z . These 2 were special edition runout models. So about 4 years later.
On the ute, if you haven't already, maybe change out the battery connectors. They grounded me one day.
SturdyHSV said:
What was also mentioned in the first post was the desire for a Commodore wagon, which I stated would have to be a manual... Well I've now had the thought that keeping the wagon as the comfortable wafter option would mean a later auto (so a 6L80E instead of the 4L60E in Sheila) would provide a much nicer auto experience (less slushy) and be a more comfy daily. This has also been swayed by the availability of just such a wagon for sale at a well known dealer who is happy to take my GTV as part ex...
The GTV has been around for ~ 8 years and I've been telling myself I'm going to sell it for about the last 5 of those years...
So yes, I will be completing the set in a couple of weeks (GTV MOT is end of the month) with an eminently sensible 6 litre wagon (2000 litres of load space don't you know!).
Oh, and, erm, the wagon is blue. I feel like wrapping it black is the only sensible thing to do, but will have to see what it's like in the flesh. I'm also not sold on the wheel colour (they'd be silver from the factory) but again, will judge this in person.
Good choice - they are really good cars. I've had 20 VE/VF wagons over the years.The GTV has been around for ~ 8 years and I've been telling myself I'm going to sell it for about the last 5 of those years...
So yes, I will be completing the set in a couple of weeks (GTV MOT is end of the month) with an eminently sensible 6 litre wagon (2000 litres of load space don't you know!).
Oh, and, erm, the wagon is blue. I feel like wrapping it black is the only sensible thing to do, but will have to see what it's like in the flesh. I'm also not sold on the wheel colour (they'd be silver from the factory) but again, will judge this in person.
The only real issue with the auto box is they tend to do a big jolt coming out of park, even from brand new.
Any idea if it is a an L98 or an L76? The front wing badges are missing otherwise I could tell. L76 has AFM which deactivates 4 cylinders on low load so drops fuel consumption - it was introduced in 2009. I used to get about 12 l/100km out a non-AFM car and about 10.5 out of an AFM car, although my commute is 90+% freeway.
It does have later wheels, this is an SSV I had (an AFM car) with the silver wheels
And this is my later Series 2 SSZ Series in blue with the dark wheels
I had a blue, red, and black Series 2 SSZ - the black one was a manual despite the fact I ordered an auto and they couldn't swap it because there were none left!
Here it is having been washed ready to hand back - last of the VEs I had. Got a VF SS wagon after it.
(the driveway has been concreted since these pics were taken before anyone comments on the weeds
)Jader1973 said:
Any idea if it is a an L98 or an L76? The front wing badges are missing otherwise I could tell. L76 has AFM which deactivates 4 cylinders on low load so drops fuel consumption - it was introduced in 2009. I used to get about 12 l/100km out a non-AFM car and about 10.5 out of an AFM car, although my commute is 90+% freeway.
I reckon it's an early one, so an L98. The V badge on the back indicates to me it is 2008 or earlier. My old 2008 SSV ute had the same badge. The newer ones had an SSV badge not the V on the other side of the tailgate. Yes I'm sure it's an L98 (so no AFM) as it's a 2008 so as you say the year where they removed it, but hey, the extra 10bhp is far more important
Plus to be fair, there's always the risk that I'll put a cam in it (but a very mild torque focused one) at some point so the less gubbins there are the better
A clunk coming out of park is fine by me, at least I'll be expecting it now. Interesting about them being later wheels, I'll reserve judgement anyway until I see them in person. Out of curiousity, what diameter are they, 8.5"?
Plus to be fair, there's always the risk that I'll put a cam in it (but a very mild torque focused one) at some point so the less gubbins there are the better
A clunk coming out of park is fine by me, at least I'll be expecting it now. Interesting about them being later wheels, I'll reserve judgement anyway until I see them in person. Out of curiousity, what diameter are they, 8.5"?
SturdyHSV said:
Yes I'm sure it's an L98 (so no AFM) as it's a 2008 so as you say the year where they removed it, but hey, the extra 10bhp is far more important
Plus to be fair, there's always the risk that I'll put a cam in it (but a very mild torque focused one) at some point so the less gubbins there are the better
A clunk coming out of park is fine by me, at least I'll be expecting it now. Interesting about them being later wheels, I'll reserve judgement anyway until I see them in person. Out of curiousity, what diameter are they, 8.5"?
Yeah, from what I've read the AFM engines are hard to tune, so the L98 is definitely better if you want to go down that path.Plus to be fair, there's always the risk that I'll put a cam in it (but a very mild torque focused one) at some point so the less gubbins there are the better
A clunk coming out of park is fine by me, at least I'll be expecting it now. Interesting about them being later wheels, I'll reserve judgement anyway until I see them in person. Out of curiousity, what diameter are they, 8.5"?
Wheels are 19x8.
Jader1973 said:
Yeah, from what I've read the AFM engines are hard to tune, so the L98 is definitely better if you want to go down that path.
Wheels are 19x8.
OK great stuff, cheersWheels are 19x8.
Yeah I think there are AFM (or DoD) delete kits available but would much rather have it from GM without the stuff on just for convenience. Realistically although it would make a difference for commuting, I'm fine with the 21mpg ish the Ute gets and this will doubtless be better than that
I missed the bit about the ride height.
If you haven't sorted it yet mine is on Pedders Sports Ryders part number 2643 at the rear and it doesn't hit anything (unless you put too much in the back in which case the diff grinds along the road...guess how I know that). It is down about 25mm from standard.
According to some info I found the Monaro part number is 2461 and they sit about 15mm lower on a VY sedan.
If you haven't sorted it yet mine is on Pedders Sports Ryders part number 2643 at the rear and it doesn't hit anything (unless you put too much in the back in which case the diff grinds along the road...guess how I know that). It is down about 25mm from standard.
According to some info I found the Monaro part number is 2461 and they sit about 15mm lower on a VY sedan.
Jader1973 said:
I missed the bit about the ride height.
If you haven't sorted it yet mine is on Pedders Sports Ryders part number 2643 at the rear and it doesn't hit anything (unless you put too much in the back in which case the diff grinds along the road...guess how I know that). It is down about 25mm from standard.
According to some info I found the Monaro part number is 2461 and they sit about 15mm lower on a VY sedan.
Thanks for the info. My drive has a fairly inconvenient hump to it as it gets to the road, it's not been a problem in anything, the Monaro is lowered as well for example, but because of the longer wheelbase of the Ute it just manages to scrape the exhaust (non-standard I suspect) on one of the flanges. If you haven't sorted it yet mine is on Pedders Sports Ryders part number 2643 at the rear and it doesn't hit anything (unless you put too much in the back in which case the diff grinds along the road...guess how I know that). It is down about 25mm from standard.
According to some info I found the Monaro part number is 2461 and they sit about 15mm lower on a VY sedan.
I did start grinding this down for clearance but my arm was aching and I gave up half way
Not really an update as such, but a preparation for an update, a set of Commodore SS seats have appeared on the owner's group, they're in vastly better shape than Sheila's are, so I shall be 'nipping' up to Doncaster on Friday to pick them up.
I may also be picking up some 1 7/8" long tube headers at the same time for the Monaro, but this is a thread about the Ute
Weather willing I may then swap the seats over at the weekend, and may thus take that opportunity to replace the steering wheel too, the old one from the Monaro is once again in far better shape, and can just swap the airbag centre from Sheila over so I keep the Holden steering wheel badge.
Should improve the interior nicely, still no idea what the actual mileage is, but I've never seen the seats / wheel as worn on any of the UK cars, so I suspect it's high, and it's nice to have found some SS embossed ones that thus match the originals.
Shall post up pictures as and when I make the swap
The CrossClimates are starting to lose the battle with my driving enthusiasm now, can feel them giving up earlier (or I've become accustomed to the grip and am pushing harder) but tread depth is still absolutely fine. Will be curious how they get on once temperatures drop down again, I may swap left / right over at some point because naturally Milton Keynes roundabouts take a serious toll on the outside tyres...
Wagon collection is Monday, bit excited
I may also be picking up some 1 7/8" long tube headers at the same time for the Monaro, but this is a thread about the Ute
Weather willing I may then swap the seats over at the weekend, and may thus take that opportunity to replace the steering wheel too, the old one from the Monaro is once again in far better shape, and can just swap the airbag centre from Sheila over so I keep the Holden steering wheel badge.
Should improve the interior nicely, still no idea what the actual mileage is, but I've never seen the seats / wheel as worn on any of the UK cars, so I suspect it's high, and it's nice to have found some SS embossed ones that thus match the originals.
Shall post up pictures as and when I make the swap
The CrossClimates are starting to lose the battle with my driving enthusiasm now, can feel them giving up earlier (or I've become accustomed to the grip and am pushing harder) but tread depth is still absolutely fine. Will be curious how they get on once temperatures drop down again, I may swap left / right over at some point because naturally Milton Keynes roundabouts take a serious toll on the outside tyres...
Wagon collection is Monday, bit excited
The GTV needs a wishbone replacing so that's a nuisance, but I won't be defeated, will remove the old one (the easy part) tomorrow, picking up a new one on Monday morning to then fit (the hard part) before driving down for the part-ex...
The bloody thing knows it's going and won't go without a fight
TAD, I'm confident a cammed and/or supercharged vxr8 would be a lot of fun and definitely be a nice contrast to the M5, both in terms of power delivery and wallet impact. A V10 is pretty special though
The bloody thing knows it's going and won't go without a fight
TAD, I'm confident a cammed and/or supercharged vxr8 would be a lot of fun and definitely be a nice contrast to the M5, both in terms of power delivery and wallet impact. A V10 is pretty special though
The GTV continues to fight me, EuroCarParts didn't in fact have the wishbone on Monday morning (but I did get to enjoy an hour queueing outside, which was a treat!)
As it wasn't going to be part-exed with 3 wheels, a friend took me down (in the V70 I gave him a week or so ago) to pick up the wagon, and I'll now have to sell the GTV privately. This fills me with absolute dread, but I imagine I'll be able to get more than the part-ex value for it anyway so every cloud right...?
With the pox ridden Alfa still on the drive (and still on axle stands) I haven't been able to get that joyous shot of a nice clear driveway with 3 Aussie V8s lined up on it, but otherwise the wagon is what I hoped for
The blue is much nicer in person, it has a much bigger range of colour from light to shade, it looked a bit flat in the dealer pictures. It was apparently a special order colour as it's actually from the facelift (VEII) Commodore (possibly?) so obviously that's nice in making an unusual car even more unusual!
It's comically quiet compared to the other two, the gearbox feels about 30 years better than the one in the Ute, and so far it's instilled a very wafty driving style in me.
Driving back returned 10.0l/100km on the dash, so about 28mpg, with traffic and the odd squirt off a roundabout during my commute it appears to be settling around 11.1 - 11.3, so 25mpg, a decent jump over the Ute and not surprising given it's trickling along at much lower revs thanks to having a sensible amount of gears to choose from.
1st is also comically short so it really does pick up and go for such a big car.
Here's a picture to break up the tedium of text...
It came with a spare set of pads, spare air filter and some oil, looking at these and the tyres (APlus no less, China's finest at £73 each!) I'm going to assume it has been maintained with a close eye on cost, so after giving it a little time to settle in to its routine whilst keeping an ear out, I shall be deploying the tried and tested burnout technique to dispose of the ditchfinders and put some proper tyres on fairly soon.
There's a bit of wind noise from the sunroof over 60mph, the ride is quite pillowy so I wonder if the dampers are past their best (wouldn't be surprising) and the steering wheel is a bit girthy and sculpted for my tastes, but otherwise I'm really enjoying getting to know it.
I may give it an oil / filter change and pop it round for an MOT just to take a more comfortable prod around underneath. Although being on 100,000 miles, the overwhelming majority of those were done in Australia (only imported 2 years ago) so it appears very tidy underneath. Again will get it up on the MOT ramp and perhaps weigh up waxoyling it depending on how it looks.
In other news, I picked up some seats for the Ute (just tidier versions of the same) and also some 1 7/8" long tubes for the Monaro ahead of its engine rebuild (it has 1 3/4" mid length manifolds at the moment and they won't be up to the task once it's 6.6 litres and passing 600hp)
The mid lengths (and the whole current Monaro top end realistically) will ultimately go on the Ute (along with a set of ITBs) but that ridiculous project is much further down the line. The 4L60 on the Ute is pants, so I'm currently daydreaming about it having a sequential box
Given the Monaro is Bruce, the Ute is Sheila, I was expecting to call the wagon Shane-o or something equally bogan, but it's all a bit refined for that at the moment... Stereotypically Aussie suggestions welcome
As it wasn't going to be part-exed with 3 wheels, a friend took me down (in the V70 I gave him a week or so ago
) to pick up the wagon, and I'll now have to sell the GTV privately. This fills me with absolute dread, but I imagine I'll be able to get more than the part-ex value for it anyway so every cloud right...?With the pox ridden Alfa still on the drive (and still on axle stands) I haven't been able to get that joyous shot of a nice clear driveway with 3 Aussie V8s lined up on it, but otherwise the wagon is what I hoped for
The blue is much nicer in person, it has a much bigger range of colour from light to shade, it looked a bit flat in the dealer pictures. It was apparently a special order colour as it's actually from the facelift (VEII) Commodore (possibly?) so obviously that's nice in making an unusual car even more unusual!
It's comically quiet compared to the other two, the gearbox feels about 30 years better than the one in the Ute, and so far it's instilled a very wafty driving style in me.
Driving back returned 10.0l/100km on the dash, so about 28mpg, with traffic and the odd squirt off a roundabout during my commute it appears to be settling around 11.1 - 11.3, so 25mpg, a decent jump over the Ute and not surprising given it's trickling along at much lower revs thanks to having a sensible amount of gears to choose from.
1st is also comically short so it really does pick up and go for such a big car.
Here's a picture to break up the tedium of text...
It came with a spare set of pads, spare air filter and some oil, looking at these and the tyres (APlus no less, China's finest at £73 each!) I'm going to assume it has been maintained with a close eye on cost, so after giving it a little time to settle in to its routine whilst keeping an ear out, I shall be deploying the tried and tested burnout technique to dispose of the ditchfinders and put some proper tyres on fairly soon.
There's a bit of wind noise from the sunroof over 60mph, the ride is quite pillowy so I wonder if the dampers are past their best (wouldn't be surprising) and the steering wheel is a bit girthy and sculpted for my tastes, but otherwise I'm really enjoying getting to know it.
I may give it an oil / filter change and pop it round for an MOT just to take a more comfortable prod around underneath. Although being on 100,000 miles, the overwhelming majority of those were done in Australia (only imported 2 years ago) so it appears very tidy underneath. Again will get it up on the MOT ramp and perhaps weigh up waxoyling it depending on how it looks.
In other news, I picked up some seats for the Ute (just tidier versions of the same) and also some 1 7/8" long tubes for the Monaro ahead of its engine rebuild (it has 1 3/4" mid length manifolds at the moment and they won't be up to the task once it's 6.6 litres and passing 600hp
)The mid lengths (and the whole current Monaro top end realistically) will ultimately go on the Ute (along with a set of ITBs
) but that ridiculous project is much further down the line. The 4L60 on the Ute is pants, so I'm currently daydreaming about it having a sequential box Given the Monaro is Bruce, the Ute is Sheila, I was expecting to call the wagon Shane-o or something equally bogan, but it's all a bit refined for that at the moment... Stereotypically Aussie suggestions welcome
No don't think they did, like a log manifold. VCM over the radiator intake and a tune and you're done!
Suspension front and rear stock shocks I can find for about $400 to $500. Judging that it is currently sat on factory FE2 suspension. These would only be good for stock or factory lowered. ie if you want it lower than it is at present you want a different shock again to go with a lowered spring.
The wagon has different shocks to the sedan at the back, or the numbers indicate it does.
Maybe replace the front top spring bearing bushes at the same time. Same part number as your ute.
Steering wheels are chunkier than the VT-VZ cars. The VF has a smaller diameter steering wheel but that wouldn't fit really.
It should handle a lot better than the ute.
Suspension front and rear stock shocks I can find for about $400 to $500. Judging that it is currently sat on factory FE2 suspension. These would only be good for stock or factory lowered. ie if you want it lower than it is at present you want a different shock again to go with a lowered spring.
The wagon has different shocks to the sedan at the back, or the numbers indicate it does.
Maybe replace the front top spring bearing bushes at the same time. Same part number as your ute.
Steering wheels are chunkier than the VT-VZ cars. The VF has a smaller diameter steering wheel but that wouldn't fit really.
It should handle a lot better than the ute.
Edited by motomk on Saturday 5th September 06:20
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