Diversion

Well its not its not a Holden, but it has the right running gear. LSD solid axle, Torsen diff, LS1 engine, 1999+ model ECU, A4 4L60e (said to be somewhat weak as stock)

The plan is to get the VXR8 to a daily driver state, (ie) Reliable! The cam and the rest of the setup in the Holden is designed to be driveable. ACT T1S Twin Plate works as stock and is very good. The 227/243-113 LSR cam also pulls from idle. The setup is otherwise basically stock with no fancy aftermarket parts to maintain, replace, repair.

That means the Camaro can be a little more leary, though the plan is to also make it nice to drive on a trip etc. So Stevie from PH set me up with a set of old LS1 853 casting heads he had done by a now defunct US firm. The heads got good feedback when they were still around. 62cc Chamber, 227cc intake ports, 2.02" intake, 1.57" exhaust with 297cfm intake.
I also had an LSR 219/227-112 Cam which when I ran the setup through Camquest came out as the number 1 recommendation for performance street use, though I had already purchased it prior on the basis that it would be a good LS1 cam.
Im also in the process of selecting a stall converter to wrap up the system. The CircleD 278mm 3200 stall converter looks the go. Not as beefy or track worthy as their billet stuff, but much better than stock in any case.
http://www.circledspecialties.com/p-6-gm-278mm-hp-4l60e-ls-torque-converter.aspx

The price is right and at around 30Lbs should fit in the suitcase on one of my USA trips.
Ill add the BBK Full length headers and Y pipe to the mix as well as a second hand LS6 Holden intake and it should be a pretty well balanced budget build. The stock 245 tires and 3200 stall should make traction fun if/when required. Stock they put down around 270rwhp with the auto, which is a bit Ill, but Im hoping to get that up to 350rwhp at least. Ill drive down to Surrey Rolling Road http://www.surreyrollingroad.co.uk/ and run the car up with the stock tune, as well as much quick and dirty COS5 efilive tune to get a baseline.

The car already has a 3" cat back Borla exhaust. It really needs a dual 2.5, but I think the dual 2.5 into 3" BBK Y Pipe without cat should be fine. Im expecting some pretty good gains from each of the mods. I also have a 25% underdrive ATI Pulley to go on. Maybe 370rwhp is possible. We shall see.

The BBK exhaust is a pretty good price about $360 USD for full length headers, y-pipe and install kit. http://www.bbkperformance.com/products/98-02-ls1-f-body-long-tube-exhaust-headers-and-25inch-y-pipe.html Ill post the next VXR8 dyno results up, Im definately expecting to exceed 500rwhp by quite a margin.

The Camaro will follow as parts arrive etc. But hopefully get some baseline results in the next month or two, with final results Q1 2012 in time for the Olympics ;)

Phoenix

Well, after putting down 500rwhp I went through a series of issues with clutches resulting in a number of trailers and repairs down to bad workmanship.
That being said the company sorted out the problems, but not without financial pain to myself from lost, time and disrupted holidays, rental cars etc.

So after that being put right the next problem was a lifter that took a dump, roller seized taking out the cam and bearings along the way. A massive bill later (would have been cheaper to buy a US short block) and its back to working albeit somewhat knock limited. That being said Id rather it be a little on the high compression side than low as you can always pull timing a tad. So after some messing around and about 17-18* on the dyno it pulled 499.5RWHP. There should be well over 20rwhp more there with a bit more timing.

So another read of the good old "power squeeze" article by David Vizard.

http://www.popularhotrodding.com/enginemasters/articles/hardcore/0311em_power_squeeze/index.html

Ill drop engine temps, run cooler plugs and use v-power (99 Octane) currently it was tuned on Sainsburys 97 octane fuel. So with all that I hope to add 2-3 more degrees and free up perhaps 10-20bhp we shall see.