Hey guys I thought it’s about time that I made a thread about my 355 lpg injected vl Calais… I brought the car back in January as an almost complete 355 that just needed some tlc and a tune to get it on the road. As with all performance cars that is never the case and after spending more on it than the actual purchase price I paid I have finally got it on the road with more work to still be done. As I brought the car with the motor rebuilt my understanding is that it has the following; 308 block stroked to 355 10.5:1 CR Standard VS Senator heads and injectors Vs Senator Extractors and single 2.5 inch exhaust Trimatic with stage 2 shift kit Rebuild VL V8 LSD diff Since getting the car I have added a harrop dual plane manifold and edelbrock 1000cfm Apollo LPG injection kit Blue racer cam and associated springs etc. (the car was already fitted with one but was incorrectly run in and I lost a few lobes), The car is currently sitting on 16inch clubbies but came with chrome 20’s and I’m not too sure if I will put them on of sell them to fund a new exhaust. Future mods are an autometer dash (already have all the gauges), new extractors and a twin 2.5 inch exhaust, some form of ignition booster like a msd 6al and twin thermo fans Here are a few pic for your enjoyment! These are from when I brought the car With the new manifold and lpg injection As I am new to the V8 scene I am open to comments and advice. At the moment it only made 167rwkw (on petrol) which I thought was a bit on the low side considering the mods. The cam timing is a little advanced (so the tuner told me) but the new timing chain should stretch a little over the next few thousand km’s and bring it back to about the right timing. Anyone got any ideas what else could be causing such low power? Apart from the exhaust as that is a given. There are also problems with the lpg as it’s not idling but seems to run fine apart from that. Cheers Josh Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

Hows the gas?

chuck a solid cam in. harrop single plain. and she should make some decent power

Is it definately a stroker?

So you have what is essentially a stock VS Senator 215i motor, right. 170rwkw is good power for what it is. What kind of power are you expecting out of it?

the gas isn't tuned yet cause they cant get it to idle but just sitting there with no load on the motor it revs and sounds pretty good. the injectors will flow about 250rwkw so they wont be a problem. i want to drive it on the street and was told a solid would require more maintaince and about $1000 more for parts that i couldnt afford at the time and i want it to say all under the bonnet which is why i went with a dual plane low rise, it just fits with the 1 inch spacer. PROGHM- yeah i suppose your right, just a bit bigger cam and a bit more comp.. the specs of the cam are slightly smaller than a crane 286 i think. max power was at about 5500 rpm. i thought the harrop manifold would have helped me make a few more rwkw. i really need some extractors and an exhaust to pump up the power i think.

What's wrong with the pacemakers?

nothing wrong with pacemakers as thats what i want to get. at the moment i only have the factory hsv extractors. from what i have been reading and can see there is not a lot of room in there for the extractors.

what a pity all the pollution gear and gas stuff clogs a neat engine bay

I do tend to agree with you Epitaph. i didnt realise when i had it put on gas that they were going to put the converter and computer out for all the world to see. on previous cars i have had that is usually all hidden. that is one thing down the track that i do want to fix up just so they engine bay isn't so cluttered!

Yeah i'd be going and seeing someone good, like Jason Ghiller and getting him to hide it all. ---------- Post added 22-07-11 at 11:09 ---------- By the way, im pretty sure you could ditch the charcoal cannister because its now straight gas?

its still dual fuel so i think i need it there.. at the moment the gas guys cant get the car to idle so i cant drive it around on LPG which is annoying and expensive. Initially they told me i could go straight LPG which is what i wanted then when i picked the car up they said it needed to be dual fuel.. i wanted the car as a nice street car that i could drive pretty much every day. the motor is strong and perfect (apart from the high rpm when sitting on 100km/h) and the LPG should keep the cost down. can anyone pm me Jason's details and where he is located?

gas injection my friend will solve all your gas worries! will support 300rwhp. 3k for a retro fit to utilise your existing setup. mines booked in once the blower is fitted

Looks very neat man. If it was mine id be painting the door frames gloss back and kick those wheels to the gutter for some nice VE Super Sports. Keep us updated

nice vl

Thanks for the comments guys. simcoe- its already LPG injection. the is some issue with the lpg fuel pressure at idle. normally at idle the pressure in the rail drops to 1.2 bar or somthing but for some reason it is remaining at 3 bar. I'm taking the car back tomorrow so with a bit of luck all the LPG issues will be sorted by tomorrow night. FLY-03L i agree with the black door frames and the rims.. just want to get everything sorted mechanically before i spend more money on paint/rims.

Quote: Originally Posted by toohey86 [View Post] Thanks for the comments guys. simcoe- its already LPG injection. the is some issue with the lpg fuel pressure at idle. normally at idle the pressure in the rail drops to 1.2 bar or somthing but for some reason it is remaining at 3 bar. I'm taking the car back tomorrow so with a bit of luck all the LPG issues will be sorted by tomorrow night. FLY-03L i agree with the black door frames and the rims.. just want to get everything sorted mechanically before i spend more money on paint/rims. Only VT 5.0l's support (proper) LPG injection and from what iv been told from the gas fitter who will be fitting my gas injection up is that engines prior to sequential LPG need to run petrol at idle then tune the computer to switch over to gas once revs increase,this is cos they fire on 2 banks of 4.Nor sure if this will help ya out or not but best of luck with it! Iv just ordered my cam and other bits for my 304 patrol which once blown will be put strait on LPG injection. Il let ya know how mine goes. Cheers

yeah i have heard both sides of that story about batch fire. Apparently its running but i dont know for sure because i had to get my old man to pick it up on a trailer today. Apparently the workshop took it for one final joy ride, i mean "test run" around the block and when they got back they noticed oil pissing out of the gearbox. they said its probably a front seal but they were all replaced not that long ago. It all sounds very sus to me! Either way, by now it should be at our mechanics back home in the bush. someone we can trust and has been our family mechanic in a small town for like 30 years! i have had enough of paying through the teath for city workshops who promise the world but deliver nothing. i know there not all like that and so far i have only found one that i will use again and that is efi performance in lilydale. So while the trimatic is out and all apart i might get it rebuild and maybe manualised as well to be sure it will withstand anything that can be thrown at it. sorry about the rant, needed to blow some steam off!

Finally got my car back from the mechanic over the weekend with the new gearbox seal. its also wearing simmons fr17's and semi slick tyres from ebay that seem pretty good. i'll get some picks up soon. It runs pretty good on both petrol and LPG but the LPG feels a little sluggish compared to petrol and struggles at full throttle! i think its running a bit rich at the moment. i'm wanting to get a MSD 6al ignition shortly to try boost the LPG's performance. I think it really needs a good tune on the LPG though as the guys that converted it didnt have it on a dyno. does anyone know of any good places that can dyno tune LPG?

I think you should replace the wheels. I like it chrome but I find it too large.