I purchased this in November 2011 after looking at an auction for a ****ty 4banger to fix and sell but after seeing this I had to have it. When I first got it, it wasn�t fantastic. It had hit a pole and the radiator support was bent, along with the front all being smashed in. Along with this, there was some previously repaired (very poorly) damage in the rear � panel that we fixed as well. The original plan was to just spray the front but then I decided I might as well do it right and had the whole thing sprayed. The car was originally an na auto but as soon as I got it I pulled out the original motor and box and dropped in the 25/30 and r33 5speed out of my blue over silver Calais (now owned by felony and swapped the diff internals over and replaced the spool with an LSD from leb vlt. It was at this time that I hid all the engine bay wiring and relocated the fuse box to inside the car and the battery to the boot. Then I ran into some trouble. I lost my licence and the car sat around for the next 10 months gathering dust while I was away at uni. Fast forward to November this year. Two weeks before I got my licence back, I came home from uni and still hadn�t gotten the 25/30 running and needing a car to drive again, I purchased a complete RB25det with loom, ecu, turbo etc. for $1000 and dropped that in. I wired it up myself and it�s been the most reliable VL I have owned ever since. The plan is, in a few weeks il pull the motor out again, replace all the gaskets etc. and slap on all the bolt ons from the 25/30 setup and have a crack at making 400hp at the rears. There were a heap of issues with the 25/30 that I am putting down to timing related so that was semi scrapped and an RB25DET was installed just to get the car on the road again so I could enjoy some turbo powered action for a while untill the power bug bit again and the "big setup" from the previous motor was bolted on to the 25. I then lost intrest in it for quite a while and then on a whim decided I was sick of turbo RB's and wanted to drop in an LS1 and a 6 speed. This resulted in my purchacing an LS1 from a VX SS with a TR6060..... after working on it on and off for about 9 months I finaly got it started only to discover the motor had dropped a valve and destroyed a piston. I then purchaced a new motor and then decided I didnt want a TR6060 so I brougt a T56 to replace it so I didnt have to use the rubber doughnut on the output shaft. The motor was installed about a fortnight and started first flick of the key ( hell yeah). All that is left now is to fill it with various fluids and about a hundred little jobs and it will be ready to hit the road Make / Model: 1988 Holden VL Calais Wagon Colour: Cardinal Red over Asteroid Silver Bodykit: Factory Holden Engine Type: LS1 5.7L V8 Engine Mods: Maffless tune, custom air intake Power: Standard ish? Gearbox: T56 with modified short shifter and custom tailshaft from Final Drive Exhaust: Pacemaker headers with twin 2.5" stainless system Clutch: Standard Diff: VL turbo disk brake, 28 spline axels, Kazz 2 way LSD, 3.9 diff gears and cast aluminium diff cover Brakes: VT master cylinder, VS booster. front: VT twin spots with braided lines Rear: standard disks with bendix ultimate pads Suspension: lowered springs and shortened shocks Wheels/Tyres: Polished Calais rims or Simmons V5s Interior: immaculate grey S2 Calais interior with HDT head rests, Custom gauge holder, venetians side and rear, sheep skin seat covers, Knitted rug from my nanna on the rear seat Stereo: Factory calais tape deck with clarion speakers Other Mods: Red star catch can, Custom engine loom, battery in boot, custom fuel lines, SARD riding rate fuel reg, Surge tank, Bosch 044 fuel pump, bonnet struts, polished strut caps, hidden engine bay wiring with fuse box under dash, aluminium radiator with AU thermos, Smoothed engine bay, Pacemaker engine and gearbox mounts. The list of mods may not look very long but putting an LS1 in an early model commodore is a very tight squeeze indeed. When I first saw it Arrival at the workshop Smothing engine bay after getting it all straight Before the clear went on Finishe�almost Home time 25/30 setup Finished interior The 25 before it went in As it sits now 25 engine bay Its first cruise new gear to go on Im keen as to throw the big set up on, while its quicker than a standard vlt and it lights up alright, its still a bit of a slug. **** will be happening as soon as I buy a new daily. Everything is sitting there ready to go cheers Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

looks real nice in person! need a new set of plate jack. be kila wen the new setuo goes on it!

Awesome wagon mate.

Wow...

more pics because im bored the 1/4 pannel was full of bog from a previous owner the paint cost me more than the venetians!!!!! Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

nice did u just paint it the og marron ?

Yeah I had the paint codes matched for the maroon and the silver - got to keep it original

Finaly had a rear window put in the good tailgate i brought a year ago. which ment I could finaly put the "Holden, Australias driving future" sticker I brought about 3 years ago on it. Next up: get new fittings for roof racks and get the whole car buffed so I can finaly put all the badges on it and the exterior will finaly be finished Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

Picked up a set of vx ss calipers/rotors/pads etc last night so fitting them next time im home when i get some new rubber lines for them Also, picking up a new 3" exhaust for it tonight aswel

Finaly fitted a new master cylinder so the car stops when you want it to (just) new brakes are hopefuly going on tomorrow and new exhaust next time im home from work (maby)

Update time: I did a compression test on the 25 the other day and came up with 180psi on every cylinder so I have decided to go ahead and start putting all the big gear on the car. Started with removing the hot and cold sides from the standard 25 and prepping everything to fit. (http://s94.photobucket.com/user/vlwagonit/media/null_zps38db7651.jpg.html) Everything removed (http://s94.photobucket.com/user/vlwagonit/media/null_zpse9f74e43.jpg.html) Test fitting. I needed to jack up the passenger side of the motor to be able to get the 6boost manifold on and then found out the lip on the top of the chassis rail needed "massaging" and the engine mount required some trimming to allow clearance as well but im pretty sure it should fit now. There is still a lot to do to fit everything as I have to either re mount the Bosch coil packs as they wouldn't fit under the forward facing plenum on the 25, or re wire the yellow jacket coils that came with the motor for the microtech. As well as this, I want to tidy up the rest of the microtech wiring as well. After seeing SIroller's winter to do list, I decided to make my own with the aim of having everything done before power cruise at the end of the year. Front Finish applying stone guard to inner guards Align bonnet properly so bonnet release works Fit vt twin spot front calipers Rear Remove fuel tank Replace all fuel tank hoses Clean all of the undercarriage from diff tunnel back Seal with under body deadener Purchase and fit under car surge tank Fit tail shaft loops Remove and paint diff Fit new LSD or mini spool as the diff is stuffed Engine bay Fit new turbo setup; Rising rate fuel reg Exhaust manifold Turbo Forward facing plenum injectors etc. Exhaust, screamer pipe - lots more Fit power steering Interior Wire up guages Other Get car buffed Fit badges Finish painting door molds Polish roof racks and drainage channel trims Chrome door handles Re paint venetians Fit Scheel head rests to rear seat Lots to do but I want to do it properly. Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

Sweet build man. Love the wags, Cardinal is a very nice color on a calais.

love the wagon, when you get them running reliably they are an absolute joy to drive.

cheers man. it was running a bit rough before i pulled the manifolds off and as i was taking the plenum off i realized one of the idle air lines weren't connected but at least its pushed me to get off my arse and do some more to it Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

New editions. getting more serious now. Set of Tommi drop in Poncams Slide industries Greddy copy plenum with 80mm billet throttle body. comes with fuel rail but that will be getting sold as it is for 11mm injectors and mine are 14mm. will be dropping the cams in and putting the intake side on on sunday hopefuly and getting a new coil bracket made up out of stainless so I can run the Bosch MEC 717s insted of the yellow jackets and they have the built in igniters for series 1 vls but iv got the X6 ignitor on my Microtech so no point in running them. Also picked up one of these nice and cheap the other day: Eaton M90 supercharger off an L67. Will be run in series with the T66. It will be a long time before this goes on as I want to fabricate all the brackets, tentioners, pipeing myself so it will take a while to get done. I want to get it running with the current setup first before i get stuck into it again. Also scored a Wats linkage setup off an EL falcon for free so I'm going to look at putting that on there as well, however if I do, then that will mean swaping out the cast ally diff cover that is curently on there :/ Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

Where did you end up buying the Poncams from?

Got them brand new off gumtree

Yeah saw them, I was thinking of buying them for my white Calais haha

Fair enough. I sold my VS Calais so most of that has gone into the wagon again. Hopefully when I sell off the rest of the L67 gear I have, the Supercharger would have paid for its self Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

Finaly got all the bolt ons on and got the poncams in without any issues today Then got it sitting in the bay and I have alot more room around the turbo than I thought I would. There is still heaps to do but it's mostly there now Sorry about the ****ty phone pics Some original photos have not been recovered yet.