Well finally I decided to start a thread of my project car a Purple VL Calais! Name: Neil Model: '86 VL Calais Colour: Custom purple pearl Bodykit: N/A Engine Type: RB25DET Engine Mods: FMIC w/custom piping Power: untested Exhaust: 3'' mandrel Gearbox: MX7 (vl turbo 5 speed) Diff: stock n/a single spinner (for now) Brakes: Stock (not for long) Suspension: King Springs, Pedders shocks F & R all new bushes Wheels/Tyres: 20x8.5 Lenso LSII/ Nankang NSII 225/30 (fr), 225/35 (rear) Interior: Standard Series II Calais MODS SO FAR: - Custom Puple Pearl Paint - Shaved ariel, vs fuel door, smoothed bumpers - RB25DET - MX7 manual - Custom Twin plate clutch - 1000hp rated - Full 3'' Mandrel exhaust - FMIC & custom piping - All new suspension bushes on front - King springs and Pedders shocks - Hidden engine bay wiring - Relocated fuse box - 20'' Lenso Mags FUTURE MODS: - VT GTS Brakes - HSV 'big reds' (have already) - VLT Diff with 4.11 gears - Surge tank and Bosch 044 (have already) - Delete passenger door lock, fill in exhaust cut out on rear bumper - Complete engine bay respray and smoothing - Custom turbo manifold, GT35/40 (have already), custom inlet manifold, - After market engine management - Decent stereo system - VY interior, incl dash conversion (a fair while away). I have always wanted a VL Calais, I just love them! So I finally bought one. I got it back in late '06. It was previously featured in Street Commodores issue 100 with the last owner. It had all rust removed, a bare metal respray in a custom purple pearl, all new lights, door rubbers and seals. It was a stock n/a 6 with auto. The prvious owner had lost interest in it and sold off all the custom interior and stereo gear. So I got it with no interior and no mags. Pic 1,2,3,4 - How it was when I bought it & Unloading it at home. Pic 5,6,7,8 - With my wedding comming up in a few months, I needed to get a complete interior and some cheap mags on it. Since it was going to be the bridal car. It was like this for a while, until a mate of mine bought a Manual R33 GTST Skyline! After driving it, I knew what I wanted to do to my VL! I'd always wanted to turbo my VL, so the hunt was on for a R33 half cut, and I eventually found a motor & gearbox for the right price. I will add more posts later showing the engine swap and other mods i've done and doing, if anyones interested LOL! ---------- Post added 06-04-10 at 09:07 ---------- Well I found a killer deal I couldn't pass up! Thanks ebay, LOL! RB25DET with 90,000km's, MX7 Manual G/B, engine loom modded so suit VL (was in a VL for the last 10,000km's), manual tail shaft, intercooler and piping, 3 core raditor and a few other bits. All to suit a VL! So out came the old motor & G/B! I didn't have an engine crane, but I do have a mechanics pit and block'n'tackle at home.....LOL! So with a friend to help, we unbolted everything in the engine bay and lifted the car up, then pushed the motor & G/B (still bolted to k-frame) out from under the car! Easy.....! Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

The next thing I did was give the RB25 a full service, and get her running! By this stage it had been sitting for over 12 months!!!!!! So a mate and I got some fuel, a battery, fuel pump, hooked up the loom and started her up! What a beautiful sound it was too! No exhaust and it just purred like a kitten! Since I plan to extract some serious power out of this puppy, I thought it wise to upgrade my clutch. So I got a Custom Twin-plate clutch (1000hp rated) to put in! Next on the agenda was to rebuild the front end, so I got the k-frame, control arms, castor rods and 27mm sway bar sandblasted and powdercoated. I got new pedders rubbers, nolathane swaybar link pins and rubbers, new ball joints and tie rod ends. Bolted all that together, bolted G/B & motor to k-frame then lifted car up again and rolled the motor over the pit with a trolley I made! I will be putting new shocks and powdercoating the shock towers when I upgrade the brakes soon! I just want this going, been waaaaay to long off the road! I had previously picked up a set of 20'' Lenso mags cheap, so I put them on and put the car back down on it's new wheels! ---------- Post added 06-04-10 at 17:38 ---------- I've been working on neatening up some of the wiring. Drivers side loom pulled back through firewall! Halfway through re-routing wiring. Drivers side wiring complete! This is basicly how it looks now. Next on the list is re-wiring the battery to boot, (was atempted by previous owner, but was very messy). Also neatening up ALL the rest of the engine bay wiring! Can't wait till that is all done, then can focus on getting this baby going! Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

very nice man. in my honest opinion im not really a fan of the vt/vx calais badges. i reckon restoring the normal calais badges and maybe the calais wheels and this thing would look killer Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

Thanks, man. Yeah all the late model badges will be removed soon! They were on there from previous owner. I have a mint Calais rear centre garinsh to go on, as well as a NOS Turbo badge! Once I get all of the 20's bolted on, guards on and ride height reduced, it should look pretty sweet!

Love the work...

Thanks VlDUBC. Your VL is FN mint! Well a bit of a update...... -Removed fuel tank & cleaned out tank of old fuel and scum! -Replaced all tank vapour lines. -Painted tank silver & painted tank straps black. -Put in new Delphi (genuine holden), standard intank pump. (No need for bigger as I have a custom 2.5L surge tank feeding an 044, to go in later!) -Mounted VS fuel door and catch. (still need to hook up electronic release) -Re-run battery cabling from boot. The rear is sitting on new King Super Lows with New Pedders CG short stoke shocks. Seems to sit up almost 15mm higher on drivers side! I bounced on it & rolled it forward to settle the suspension. I guess when I replace all the rear bushes it should level out! Any other ideas on why the height difference? Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

IIRC Part of the reason is because it takes into account the driver, so add another 80kg or so into the drivers seat and it should level out, it was one of the theories I remember anyway Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

Cheers Borci88. That was another theory I had, I guess i will have to get the wife to sit in it and measure the difference!

Small update...... - Made custom throttle cable bracket - Finished wiring/hiding up ignition/starter/alternator loom - BIG STEP......got the motor running! - Got all guages working except for tacho. (I know how to, just need to do it) - Bought a new battery - Got a pair of genuine VL Turbo 28 spline axels, I already have a VGC LSD. So I can convert my crapy N/A diff to Turbo spec later. Next on the to do list... - wire up tacho and mount RB25 ecu behind kick panel - put on all ancillarys, ie. P/S, A/C, coolant system - mount new 600x300 intercooler - make up intercooler piping - rebuild clutch master cylinder and put on new slave cylinder - bolt in manual pedal box - put in tail shaft - and 3'' exhuast system ....then finally after almost 2 years off the road, the VL will be drivable! Of course there are a couple of other little things before I can drive it on the streets. Cheers. Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

hey mate, nice to a see another vl build in wodonga clean looking car you have there mate. Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

Thanks wpn vl. Yeah I know there are a few neat modified VL's locally, but personally don't know any of them, DOH! Yours is comming along nicely, should go real hard once done? What exhaust manifold is that your using? What ecu you gonna use?

No worries mate. Yeah there's 2 light blue vlt wagon's both about 300rwkw. Used as drift cars. One has an rb25 the other one rb30. Benny has the rb25det one and also has a vlc wagon on 20's that's been turboed. Also a guy in Wang mate of a mate with the yellow vlt. Thanks mate. Yeah should be pretty good just a monsta eBay high mount but hey whonxt did mid 9's with a manual using one with 756hp or something like that I'm going to use a microtech lt12s. Running sequetial fuel and ignition. Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

Small update time... - Got VL tacho working - Put VL crankpulley on, (so I can use VL A/C) - Moddified VL P/S pump bracket, (sits nice and close to block & use VL belt now) - Bolted up P/S pump, A/C - Making custom P/S lines & resivour, (so there hidden & look neat) - Bolted in manual clutch & brake pedals, (what a fun job!) - Put in tail shaft - Rebuilt clutch master cyl & painted silver - Put on brand new clutch slave cyl & bled clutch, (twin-plate clutch feels awesome!). Next on the to do list.... - Finish P/S lines & resivour, (then I will be able to drive it out of garage to wash!!!!) - Mount FMIC - Make up custom intercooler piping - Bolt up/make 3'' exhuast - Hide more enginebay wiring - Bolt-in coolant system - Bolt-on front guards & bonnet Getting closer......can't wait!

what brand clutch did is yours mate?

It was custom made by Direct Clutch a few years ago, 1000hp rated. My brother bought it for his VL, but never fitted it then sold his car. Why can't I edit my earlier posts?

A bit of an update. Been busy, so havn't done much to car. - Made boost guage bracket & hooked it all up, (no holes in dash!). - Made own manual floor plate, and put centre console back together. - Made custom ECCS bracket so it mounts in factory position behind kick panel, it also holds my tacho circuit box. - Finished re-routing P/S lines & made custom reservoir, (as in pic). - In the middle of neatening RB25 loom further. - Put on all coolant system, (still going to make custom overflow canister, like P/S reservoir). - Drove car out of shed and gave it a wash!!!! (hasn't been drivable for a very long time!). - Wired up alarm & imobiliser, (no one will be able to steal it now!). Finally able to wash car!! (the dust was very thick! LOL) New boost guage installed. Needs a good vacumm! LOL Custom P/S reservoir, & re-routed lines, (alot neater). No more bay shots till cooler piping done, wiring finished & bay polished! I'm currently in the process of mounting the FMIC & doing all the cooler piping. Hopefully will turn out how i'm imagining it! LOL Will post more updates when more done. Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

Well, been along time since my last update! My next job on the list was FMIC and custom piping. I want to retain A/C, so in order to keep the A/C condensor and fan without butchering my front bumper, I got myself a 10'' Davies Craig thermo. I made custom brackets and modified the wiring to suit, also I moved the reciever dryer back aswell. I saved over 30mm in thickness over the standard setup! After mounting the intercooler up and back as far as I could, I started on the piping. Since there is no off the shelf kit, I made my own! Staring with mandrel bends and tape, a mate and I slowly worked out the best path for flow and least amount of heat transfer. Then when I was happy, I TIG welded it all up! I modified the 3'' exhaust to suit a sedan, (since it came off a wagon) and bolted it all up. The last FUN job I had left before bolting the panels back on was to relocate the fuse box and hide the passenger headlight/AC loom behind the guard. I didn't want to cut holes in the dash, so instead of mounting the fuse box into the glovebox, I made a bracket and modified the standard fusebox to mount it up in the passenger footwell. ---------- Post added 10-01-11 at 09:08 ---------- And on thursday before new years, my mate and I put the rest of the car back together, and took it for a test drive! Woohoo! What a feeling it was to drive it after such along time off the road. I only need to sort a couple of little issues, but thats to be expected! LOL Here it is after a good wash! Still needs a really good cut and polish. And here it is after I Detailed a genuine Calais garnish I had in storage, and put on. Also put a NOS turbo badge on. Looks MUCH better now.....IMO! Also changed engine details with VIC Roads, so officially registered with this engine conversion......WooHoo! Some original photos have not been recovered yet.