02-01-04, 04:07 GMT+10#1
ULOOKD - Dave's VL Turbo
This spectatular looking VL is owned by Dave, and has progressed from a standard naturally aspirated 6cyl VL Berlina into the Calais Aero turbo you see here today in just under two years. The only modification done to the car when it was purchased was a 14" Go-Kart steering wheel, and a set of 15" VR Berlina wheels.
Dave had thought to himself, "I finally had a VL" (as his previous car was a Camira), and he was happy (as you would be). All he wanted to do then was put some 17" Clubby's on it, and crank the tunes. But since then, he's come to realise that she's like a woman, if you treat her well, and look after her, she'll return your favour. So... he decided to do a few extra mods.
The first mod Dave did was to get rid of those VR Berlina wheels, and put on something a bit more eye-catching. He decided not to buy Clubbys, as it seemed every man and his dog had them on his Commodore. So he decided to opt for a set of 17" 5 spoke AME Rims with Falken 235/45/17 inch tyres. Dropping the ride height was just as important, so Pedders GSR Springs and shocks were installed.
Dave drove around like this for a year or so, but started to feel that it was missing something. It had the wheels, the stereo, and it was very reliable. It just wasn't anything special! But then one lucky Thursday morning during his weekly shuffle through the Melbourne Trading Post, he came across an ad for parts of a VL AERO kit for sale. The guy was selling a rear bumper and both side skirts for $400. Dave figured the price could be bargained with so he headed down to check out this AERO kit that was for sale. But when he arrived, the seller had the kit laid out on his front lawn, and it wasn't just the rear bumper and skirts. It was the complete kit: front bumper, rear bumper, side skirts, all four door panels, the Director A Pillars covers, and the 3 piece tail light that covers the rear window! He was stocked (as you would be)! He was selling it because he couldn't get it to fit on his VN. Hmm... wonder why?? An added bonus was that it was all Genuine HDT parts.
Dave snapped up the pieces for the kit straight away, as he had seen a kit like this before on a Purple VL in Street Commodores, and I thought it looked awesome the first time he saw it. The only other parts left to buy were the Group A grille, and the LE rear spoiler.
So now it was a decision on where to go from here. Dave decided to get the kit resprayed the same colour as the car and then bolt it on. But it wasn't as simple as that. Many hours had to be spent by Mario and his team at his Autotechnique workshop fitting, and re-moulding the kit, as they're one of the hardest and most time consuming kits to fit.
As the kit was being fitted, Dave's thoughts changed on what he was going to do about the spray painting of the kit, and so he decided to get the whole car re-sprayed as well as the kit. Finally, the kit fitted nice and snug without any gaps in between the fibreglass and the panels. It was then all removed, and the car and the kit were taken down to the spray painters for a nice new coat of fresh paint. At about that time, Nissan had just released their new model S15 200SX. After seeing one fly past him one day, Dave thought to himself that that colour would look nuts on a VL. His mind was made up. Everything was to be sprayed in the Nissan 200SX Brilliant Blue.
The car and the kit got painted separately, and this took about six weeks before he even got to see it again - bloody panel beaters! All the door locks and boot lock were removed as these VL's aren't the hardest things to break into. The kit was then fitted up again, and the whole car was put back together. Came up at treat!
All Dave had to do now was crank up the tunes in the VL. Most of the stereo gear was taken from the old Camira and put into the Aero. The head unit is a JVC Kamelion CD Deck. This sends a signal to a Soundstream Reference 405 6-channel amp, which drives the entire system. He has Focal splits at the front, and Cerwin Vega 6x9's at the back. In the boot is 2x12" Dual Voice coil Soundstream SPL12 subs in a sealed enclosure. Dave designed the layout of the boot as money was a bit tight at that point in time.
The wood for the boot was bought from Bunnings for $40, and the white vinyl was bought from Lincraft for $30. Dave cut all the wood at home and put the whole boot together in his spare time. The only thing that he couldn't do was cut the Perspex that sits over the amp. This was taken down to the etchers and cut there, and that was the most expensive part. Dave also decided to run four fans on each side of the amp to keep the airflow around the amp running cool. So, the whole boot layout cost just under $250 to get it looking like it does, which is pretty damn good!
What this car first looked like!
Dave's VL now had that feel of being something special. He had found the piece that was missing to make it something different, and was pretty damn happy. It was driven every day to and from work. But after a few months, he soon came to realise that the VL needed some Go to back up the Show. To his luck, not long ago, a good mate of his Alex had an unfortunate incident of having his VL TURBO written off. Right then, he decided to keep the car and buy the complete wreck of his Calais Turbo.
Both cars were then taken back to Autotechnique, and everything was taken out of the Calais and put into and onto the Berlina. The turbo motor, computer, driveline, transmission, exhaust, series II interior, dash, rear tail lights, and of course... the pop-up headlights. Just recently, Dave sold the AME rims, and bought the chromed Clubbys that he has always wanted, and raised the boost to 10psi. The only thing left to do is wait for the available funds so that he can bolt on an intercooler and raise the boost even higher!
Good work mate.
(c) 2002 www.calaisturbo.com (http://www.calaisturbo.com) Written and pics by Dave. Edited by Sin
Some original photos have not been recovered yet.
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