The begining..

Well its done. My lengthy deliberation over a UK based Holden derrived rear wheel driven vehicle is complete. I collected a Tiger Gold 2000 Model Year HSV Clubsport R8 on the 8th October 2005.

After being tempted many times with various 04 Monaro's I decided that I would save a few quid and get a few included "goodies" and go with an HSV.
Around a hundred of these were imported under the GTS and GTS-R nomenclature from 99. Recent UK SVA vehicle import rules have quashed any more without costly testing.
A Monaro would have been 2 doors, while it has the Holden "Calais" level of specification and the GTS or rather, HSV Clubsport R8 has the lower "Exec" level the R8 has a few more benefits.

• Uprated suspension
• Uprated brakes
• Lower ratio 3.73:1 final drive
• 4 Doors
  

In addition the one I found apparently had the following modifications;

• 1.8 Billet rockers
• Uprated MAF (Initial thought to be 85mm, turned out to be Stock 75mm munched by Granatelli to flow more albiet without matching MAF calibrations in the PCM)
• 1-5/8 Headers in Tri-y configuration. 4-2-1.
• 2.55" Dual exhaust with 200 cell cats

Of course after purchase one always expects to find a few non disclosed flaws. So far these are identified as;

• Failed rear window heater
• Failed AirCond (This was brought to the sellers attention and supposidly fixed.. NOT)
• Occasional check engine light (Apparently this is the o2 sensors which dont like UK temperatures, this doesnt sound right to me. But more on this later)

Finally one more item, though this needs verification as it only occurred today. 5500RPM use causes oil pressure alarm to sound. Of course Ill check the oil level tomorrow in the daylight and see what the story is. If its good some research will be required.

So far Ive spent £60 on a wheel alignment. Aircond can wait till next summer. Rear demister will be more important with winter approaching.

However the best part is the EFILIVE v7.3 FlashScan kit winging its way over.
This will be used to remap the PCM and will prove useful in determining the real reason for the intermittent Check Engine Light.

Ive done a lot of reading and intend to start of with the narrow band tuning using the LTRIM learnt adjustments to make itterative adjustments to the VE table. Good info for tuning is available on loads of sites like;

www.efilve.com
www.ls1tech.com
www.ls1-australia.com
www.ls1.com.au

Plus loads of others. An LC-1 Innovative Wideband O2 sensor is on the cards based on how I go with EFILIVE.

Anyway the car drives ok, has some el cheapo tyres but they still have tread so will do the trick for now.

Possible future mods are;

• Cam
• Heads
• Intake Manifold
• MAFless tune
• RIP Shifter