every 1 tells me vl v8 come out with a 304 vin calculator states its a 304 but when i had engine appart its clearly says 308 on block 308 on crank my engine is the original engine from factory any ideas any1?????????

apparently both.. iv heard ppl say theyve never seen a 308 vl, mines a 308 yet iv never seen a vl block with 304 either the prefix for a vl series 5L is VJ, i dont no if this extends to vks and vhs, wat build date is your vl? mines something like jan 88, perhaps earlier 5L were 304s and they needed to get rid of the 308blocks once they decided to go efi, just a few thoughts, none of which have been thought thou lol cheers

i thought the difference was in the pistons/rods, which changed the bore/stroke and subsequently the ci. someone correct me if im wrong though. the blocks i always thought were the same since the 1970's when they came out, till the turn of the century when the first vt's came out with the gen 3. the heads changed in 1989 (vn), but the block remined the same. im no expert though, so someone correct me if im wrong.

i always thought they had the old 308... the 304 uses the 308 crank anyway dosnt it?

From what I understand the Holden V8 changed from 308ci half way through VK production to comply with new Group A rules which imposed weight penalties on engines with more than 5 Litre capacity. They got around this by reducing the engine stroke. 4.9L is also written on the VL air cleaners Quote: Originally Posted by www.brockcommodores.com After being first seen in the form of the SL Group A, HDT revived the Group A name for the SS Group A, a 500 build homologation special with it's striking Formula Blue paintwork. For these cars, the 5.0 litre V8 was actuallu destroked as under Group A regulations, a weight penalty would have been incurred for having an engine over 5 Litres, so the engine was destroked from 5044cc's to 4.987cc's, or 308 cubic inches to 304 cubic inches. HDT referred to the 304 as the 4.9 litre V8. Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

but why 308 on the blocks?? maybe 308 blocks with 304 internals?

NZ is right, it's the crankshaft that was changed. You cannot alter an engines rated capacity by changing rods and pistons as capacity is swept volume not total, if it were total we'd be getting a different sized engine every time they changed the compression ratio.

Quote: Originally Posted by LUXJET but why 308 on the blocks?? maybe 308 blocks with 304 internals? The blocks won't be any different

The blocks are the same as stated, they're even the same as the EFI 5L blocks (bar bolt pattern for gearboxes), only from VN on I think they're stamped 5L. They just never bothered stamping any 304's as they already had enough 308 blocks to use, or it wasn't worth going to the trouble of changing the 8 to a 4. but yes, the VL V8, whilst stamped 308, is a 304, and a nice one too IMO, bit of a dog stock, but doesn't take much to get a bit more poke, headers being the best place to start, as I did.

i know the block casting did change slightly, not sure exactly when though, perhaps someone can help out? The later model ones have thicker webbing around the mains.

Quote: Originally Posted by NZ EVLHSV From what I understand the Holden V8 changed from 308ci half way through VK production to comply with new Group A rules which imposed weight penalties on engines with more than 5 Litre capacity. They got around this by reducing the engine stroke. 4.9L is also written on the VL air cleaners Mine has the same CAI setup & aircleaner as this but the sticker says - Peter Brock 5.0 Litre Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

^^^ it'll be either a VH or early VK sticker Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

As mentioned above the engine size was decreased by destroking the motor by 1mm with a new crankshaft. You can tell the engine size by looking at the engine number prefix. From memory in the VK series VT = 308 (continued over from VH series) VA = 304 (auto only, VA and VB homologation engine 5000 of this pair) VB = 304 (man only, the manual motors with this prefix usually got some extra goodies) VC = 304 (VK Group A evolution engine 500 of this one) VG = 304 (remainder of VK 304's after homologation was completed) VL series VJ = 304 (standard carby 304 with auto only) VW = 304 (HDT Group A evolution engine) VP = 304 (HSV Group A evolution engine) Corsa

Love the look of a clean Brock V8 engine bay.

so the 304 cranks actualy say 308 on them??? has any 1 actualy taken appart a vl engine??? cause mine did have 308 on crank aswell as the block its the original engine from factory and even had the original bearings with the gm stamp and date. all the internals have changed now but was always intrested cause i can never get a straight answer and every1 i ask has different opinions...

Haven't opened mine, 295 on the clock so it will happen sooner or later. Pretty sure what you saw when you opened yours is all factory. CommodoreNut on SC forums will know, should anyway.

100% 304

Quote: Originally Posted by Psi_Wagon 100% 304 psiwagon so whats 100% 304 if the crank and block is 308??? what exactly makes you say its a 304???

I heard from an engine builder that he had seen '308s' in some cars right up to VP/VR as well as the obvious 304's. Most of the engine would be identical but the cubes measure differently. Its just what I heard I know no truth of it.

If you were running a business and you had a surplus supply of blocks that you could use but really wern't meant to, would you use them anyway? If it was the difference between losing 100k I think like any business you would use them...its a Commodore, not a Ferrari, who cares if theres a few bitsa's around the place. Some original photos have not been recovered yet.