My build thread Monaro VXR
Discussion
So, a few months ago I bought a 6.0 VXR
As with all Monaros it needed a few bits and pieces doing!
My car is a 05 VXR, it has Wortec brakes all round, now on coilovers, headers and few other bits a pieces.
The bushes as usual are all completely shot, so I ordered up some new Pedders. I used the Polytuff bushes from Aus on my previous CV8 but their prices seem to have gone up so it really made no sense dealing with the hassle shipping them in from Aus.
I fitted coilovers back onto the car aswell as my wheels from the CV8. Still need to tweek it, as it is too low on the front and too high on the back!
I have a few plans for the car, I have still got my Comp cam that i was going to be fitting to the CV8 sat in my garage, and luckily with a differant timing chain set I can still use this and all the other parts I bought.
I took the car for a run down to Goodwood breakfast meet (not realising it was the supercar meet and it would be heaving with people)
So I gave the car a clean up, I am normally terrible at cleaning cars, however I conned my sister into giving me a hand with it and I was rather pleased it came up like this!
I am terrible at taking photos so you will have to excuse!
The goodwood trip (apart from driving it home when it was bought) was the longest trip I have done it. Tons of traffic and bloody hot weather so I was pleased to find the AC blows super cold.
Since then however the alternator died, annoying as it is only 8 months old. So that is off being tested and should be replaced under warranty which is a nice change!
Once its back then I will get onto sorting all the suspension bushes and ride height.
I have to get passed both my sisters getting married this year then Ill be fitting the cam to this car hopefully before the end of summer!
As with all Monaros it needed a few bits and pieces doing!
My car is a 05 VXR, it has Wortec brakes all round, now on coilovers, headers and few other bits a pieces.
The bushes as usual are all completely shot, so I ordered up some new Pedders. I used the Polytuff bushes from Aus on my previous CV8 but their prices seem to have gone up so it really made no sense dealing with the hassle shipping them in from Aus.
I fitted coilovers back onto the car aswell as my wheels from the CV8. Still need to tweek it, as it is too low on the front and too high on the back!
I have a few plans for the car, I have still got my Comp cam that i was going to be fitting to the CV8 sat in my garage, and luckily with a differant timing chain set I can still use this and all the other parts I bought.
I took the car for a run down to Goodwood breakfast meet (not realising it was the supercar meet and it would be heaving with people)
So I gave the car a clean up, I am normally terrible at cleaning cars, however I conned my sister into giving me a hand with it and I was rather pleased it came up like this!
I am terrible at taking photos so you will have to excuse!
The goodwood trip (apart from driving it home when it was bought) was the longest trip I have done it. Tons of traffic and bloody hot weather so I was pleased to find the AC blows super cold.
Since then however the alternator died, annoying as it is only 8 months old. So that is off being tested and should be replaced under warranty which is a nice change!
Once its back then I will get onto sorting all the suspension bushes and ride height.
I have to get passed both my sisters getting married this year then Ill be fitting the cam to this car hopefully before the end of summer!
Its been a while since i updated this thread!
The car has been sat in my garage for a while. My alternator packed up but luckily this was still under warranty as it was only a few months old.
So i stripped the old one of the car and sent it to the supplier who provided the parts and they sent me a replacement, took a little while as it had to come in from the states but very pleased that the supplier honored the guarantee even though it was the previous owner who bought the part!
I got the alternator fitted then took the car up to my friends garage, which is Superduper Garage in Basingstoke.
I stripped the car down to do the cam swap, im ok with spanners but had a deal with the head mechanic up there that any bits I could not do (more like the bits i didnt want to screw up) he would do! I realised during this I only took one photograph!
So here is a picture of it just before I started to remove the oil pump. The oil pump pickup bolt is a pain to get to and in the end I dropped the sump as much as I could whilst keeping the bolts in to give me access.
The swap went rather smoothly, I fitted the new camshaft which is a 231/237 Street Inc grind made by Comp Cam, the old camshaft that cam out barely had any wear and all the cam bearings looked perfect in the motor despite having 90k + miles
Next on I fitted a new SLP ported oil pump and double row timing gearset, finished up the rest of the gaskets and bolted it all back together. I also had a set of PAC valve springs that I fitted along with new pushrods.
The swap went relatively smoothly, I didnt like the idea of fitting the new cam but using the water pump bolts as a grip it actually slid in rather easily, one panic moment was when the valve spring tool bolt snapped clean off in the cylinder, I thought it was game over but James at the garage managed to remove it with ease!
Bolted everything back up together and turned the car over for a while to try and get the oil moving about and after that it started first time, even without the map itll sit and idle perfectly. Yesterday dropped the car off for mapping so fingers crossed for a good hp figure!
Heres a little video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9ddO7M_pE8
I followed this guide which was a great help
http://www.ls1howto.com/?article=23
The car has been sat in my garage for a while. My alternator packed up but luckily this was still under warranty as it was only a few months old.
So i stripped the old one of the car and sent it to the supplier who provided the parts and they sent me a replacement, took a little while as it had to come in from the states but very pleased that the supplier honored the guarantee even though it was the previous owner who bought the part!
I got the alternator fitted then took the car up to my friends garage, which is Superduper Garage in Basingstoke.
I stripped the car down to do the cam swap, im ok with spanners but had a deal with the head mechanic up there that any bits I could not do (more like the bits i didnt want to screw up) he would do! I realised during this I only took one photograph!
So here is a picture of it just before I started to remove the oil pump. The oil pump pickup bolt is a pain to get to and in the end I dropped the sump as much as I could whilst keeping the bolts in to give me access.
The swap went rather smoothly, I fitted the new camshaft which is a 231/237 Street Inc grind made by Comp Cam, the old camshaft that cam out barely had any wear and all the cam bearings looked perfect in the motor despite having 90k + miles
Next on I fitted a new SLP ported oil pump and double row timing gearset, finished up the rest of the gaskets and bolted it all back together. I also had a set of PAC valve springs that I fitted along with new pushrods.
The swap went relatively smoothly, I didnt like the idea of fitting the new cam but using the water pump bolts as a grip it actually slid in rather easily, one panic moment was when the valve spring tool bolt snapped clean off in the cylinder, I thought it was game over but James at the garage managed to remove it with ease!
Bolted everything back up together and turned the car over for a while to try and get the oil moving about and after that it started first time, even without the map itll sit and idle perfectly. Yesterday dropped the car off for mapping so fingers crossed for a good hp figure!
Heres a little video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9ddO7M_pE8
I followed this guide which was a great help
http://www.ls1howto.com/?article=23
I have the same sort of deal with my local friendly garage 
231/237 has to be one of the bigger cams in a monaro in this country.
231/237 has to be one of the bigger cams in a monaro in this country.
Behold81 said:
I used a socke extention bar down the centre of the cam shaft to support it. Worked well and was reall easy to get in fully.
Here's a demonstration of putting in a cam...for research purposes SturdyHSV said:
Certainly the biggest I've heard of. I think Gurmeet's is similar (?), but that's complicated 
10* of overlap should sound very nice at idle, will watch the video when I'm not at work
Listened on headphones. Awesome 10* of overlap should sound very nice at idle, will watch the video when I'm not at work
Get it idling lower (I appreciate that was with stock tune), will sound fookin' epic!
SturdyHSV said:
Mud_ said:
231/237 has to be one of the bigger cams in a monaro in this country.
Certainly the biggest I've heard of. I think Gurmeet's is similar (?), but that's complicated 10* of overlap should sound very nice at idle, will watch the video when I'm not at work
Greg VXR said:
Ro looks good, I have a std ride height peddars on mine and it grounds out sometimes, how do you get on with that low-ness?
To be honest, fine. The front is still a little low and the back is still a little high!Mot ramps, rollers, my garage is on quite a steep drive all of which havent had much of a problem
SturdyHSV said:
Listened on headphones. Awesome
Get it idling lower (I appreciate that was with stock tune), will sound fookin' epic!
Yep, had it mapped, the idle is too high now so that needs to be lowered.Get it idling lower (I appreciate that was with stock tune), will sound fookin' epic!
Power figures that came out im a little disappointed by, to be honest ill get it tuned again, i just got a little impatient not being able to drive it!
It put down 450hp & 480fblt, which is stock LS2 6.0, aas headers and the cam. The torque figure im happy with, just not the HP
On the RR the car did have one exhaust that had fallen off (crappy rusted clamp) and a cam sensor fault (which i have ordered a replacement!)
Edited by Phillphill on Monday 12th September 10:21
Phillphill said:
To be honest, fine. The front is still a little low and the back is still a little high!
Mot ramps, rollers, my garage is on quite a steep drive all of which havent had much of a problem
Interesting.....maybe Roger should have convinced me to get coil overs or the lower peddars kit then Mot ramps, rollers, my garage is on quite a steep drive all of which havent had much of a problem
Greg VXR said:
Phillphill said:
To be honest, fine. The front is still a little low and the back is still a little high!
Mot ramps, rollers, my garage is on quite a steep drive all of which havent had much of a problem
Interesting.....maybe Roger should have convinced me to get coil overs or the lower peddars kit then Mot ramps, rollers, my garage is on quite a steep drive all of which havent had much of a problem
I wont say give the best handling as a monaro isnt really a handling car but the ride was night and day...
Phillphill said:
My old car I just sold had Pedders superlow fitted, driving that car and the black vxr on coilovers back to back, my god the superlows ride nice.
I wont say give the best handling as a monaro isnt really a handling car but the ride was night and day...
Agreed. The coil overs are OK but the Pedders standard shocks ride better and are a better option for a daily driver. The ones I have on the black one are OK but not investigated what they're set to. I'd be unlikely to everchoose cool overs over a conventional set up for a daily driver on these cars. I wont say give the best handling as a monaro isnt really a handling car but the ride was night and day...
Phillphill said:
SturdyHSV said:
Listened on headphones. Awesome
Get it idling lower (I appreciate that was with stock tune), will sound fookin' epic!
Yep, had it mapped, the idle is too high now so that needs to be lowered.Get it idling lower (I appreciate that was with stock tune), will sound fookin' epic!
Power figures that came out im a little disappointed by, to be honest ill get it tuned again, i just got a little impatient not being able to drive it!
It put down 450hp & 480fblt, which is stock LS2 6.0, aas headers and the cam. The torque figure im happy with, just not the HP
On the RR the car did have one exhaust that had fallen off (crappy rusted clamp) and a cam sensor fault (which i have ordered a replacement!)
Anyway...
You said stock LS2, AAS headers and the cam. So you mean stock intake manifold? Looks like it is based on earlier pictures. If so, I'd wager this is your bottleneck. The stock LS2 manifold is the worst of the whole LS range. Are you revving it high enough for that cam? It is a big old cam, if it's only going up to 6,300 or so, you're probably not getting up it enough. I'd imagine the intake manifold will be even more of a restriction at that sort of rpm too.
I'm sure you're way ahead of me here but it may be worth considering valve train upgrades to allow you to actually make use of that cam's power band, as it's going to get a lot more exciting around 6-7k and the standard top end isn't designed to flow well up there
Either way, it'll sound frickin' awesome
As soon as that idle is lowered, please post another video, 10* of overlap is plenty for a proper idle 
SturdyHSV said:
Are they mapping it with HP Tuners? I struggled with EFI Live to find the right tables to modify to lower the idle. The live control works fine and it'll happily idle much lower than stock, but despite setting the desired idle tables etc. it wouldn't even consider dropping to it... Bit weird.
Anyway...
You said stock LS2, AAS headers and the cam. So you mean stock intake manifold? Looks like it is based on earlier pictures. If so, I'd wager this is your bottleneck. The stock LS2 manifold is the worst of the whole LS range. Are you revving it high enough for that cam? It is a big old cam, if it's only going up to 6,300 or so, you're probably not getting up it enough. I'd imagine the intake manifold will be even more of a restriction at that sort of rpm too.
I'm sure you're way ahead of me here but it may be worth considering valve train upgrades to allow you to actually make use of that cam's power band, as it's going to get a lot more exciting around 6-7k and the standard top end isn't designed to flow well up there
Either way, it'll sound frickin' awesome As soon as that idle is lowered, please post another video, 10* of overlap is plenty for a proper idle
Yea they used EFI Live,Anyway...
You said stock LS2, AAS headers and the cam. So you mean stock intake manifold? Looks like it is based on earlier pictures. If so, I'd wager this is your bottleneck. The stock LS2 manifold is the worst of the whole LS range. Are you revving it high enough for that cam? It is a big old cam, if it's only going up to 6,300 or so, you're probably not getting up it enough. I'd imagine the intake manifold will be even more of a restriction at that sort of rpm too.
I'm sure you're way ahead of me here but it may be worth considering valve train upgrades to allow you to actually make use of that cam's power band, as it's going to get a lot more exciting around 6-7k and the standard top end isn't designed to flow well up there
Either way, it'll sound frickin' awesome
As soon as that idle is lowered, please post another video, 10* of overlap is plenty for a proper idle Yep, intake manifold will be changing soon and cylinder heads at some point when either me or family go to the states
I just got impatient and wanted to drive the thing!
Looking around at intake manifolds and what to get, I know the FAST intakes are pretty much the best, but its really getting my head round the cost. Those things are not cheap.
The electric TB is another pain, presuming from my reading that most upgrade the intake then port the stock TB as it is 90mm already.
MedwayMonaro said:
Phillphill said:
My old car I just sold had Pedders superlow fitted, driving that car and the black vxr on coilovers back to back, my god the superlows ride nice.
I wont say give the best handling as a monaro isnt really a handling car but the ride was night and day...
Agreed. The coil overs are OK but the Pedders standard shocks ride better and are a better option for a daily driver. The ones I have on the black one are OK but not investigated what they're set to. I'd be unlikely to everchoose cool overs over a conventional set up for a daily driver on these cars. I wont say give the best handling as a monaro isnt really a handling car but the ride was night and day...
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