A long time ago in my youth, i had mates spend big dollars on the red motors, and we all found out pretty quick, that a even if you spend up on a red motor, a standard blue/black motor will still be faster. ( i am not talking carzy ****, just mild cam,head skim and 350 holley on the reds) The Vk 202 carby black motors made 1kw less than the blue 253 motors out of the vh( obviusly there where no vk 253's. Obviously the 253 had more torque. You used to be able to buy some tricky yella terra heads for the black motors as replacements, but even with no other mods they lowered the 0-100kmdown a second, rare as hens teeth now though. Personally after owning hg's, hq's, hx's hz's, i would just put a stock 308 on gas. They only use the same amount of fuel as the 6 any unless you get stuck in traffic. Living up in th hills i always got better fuel economyaswell with the v8 ones, the 6's chewed it in those big heavy bodies. What is your budget?, if yourskint, a injected or carby vk black motor would be the go, put a baby cam in it and shave the heads. cheap now aswell, Read those PDF files, good luck getting those yella terra heads, i tried to buy a set 13 yrs ago and they didn't make them anymore as yella terra run out of castings, the only hope was secondhand then, they were only $400-500 new back then. Doesn't tell you how much comp that motor had aswell, on todays premuim you could go quite high, if that motor only had 8.0 something, theres plenty of room to move. A stocky style red 308 with a performer intake/rejetted quaddie/ small holley /extractor/exhaust , skimmed heads and something like a crane 268 would be the go for a v8 on the cheap. Whats the budget? cheers darren

Budget is rather tight at the moment due to the body needing quite a bit of body work, rust cut out, new floor pans, suspension overhaul etc. Just need to decide which block i should start out with to aviod spending money twice. and more importantly get the thing moving under its own power! At the moment a $200 253 looks to be the go, as from what i gather the 308 is a direct replacement. Yes its a classic poor man pays twice example but it doesnt seem to be as bigger loss as replacing the red6 drive line only to upgrade later. Any one know a good place to look for replacement pannels? in particular the front and rear windsreen sils? Rare Spares have them, but some of their stock isn't exactly cheap. Are there prices on par with the going rate? or can they be had cheaper somewhere else? To answer the question, budget is minimal at the moment, a few hundered upto around $600 for engine & box, Later down the track i hope to allocate around $3500 to $4500 on the drive line. I can do all labour, and wiring.

Rare spares do the panels new (or should) but they charge through the roof. Your best bet is ebay... but inspect before purchasing as theyre often bent and rusty.