01-01-04, 06:56 GMT+10#1
HSVSUX - Brent's Insane VL Calais Turbo from New Zealand
The car is a 1987 Calais turbo series 1 auto. I purchased the car in 1994 completely standard, and used it as my daily transport for about a year. I then set about fitting 17 x 8 alloys, KYB shocks, lowered springs, bigger swaybar and a $3000 stereo system. I was reasonably happy with the car and continued to drive it to work on a daily basis until it got stolen from my work in about December of 1995. At 3 am the next morning I got a call from the cops saying that my car had been found back at work. I drove through to check it out and discovered it had been badly damaged around the back end. They had not even started the car - just bunted it down the road with another vehicle.
They had taken my alloys and stereo system, broken the drivers side window and front windscreen, cut all the seatbelts, scratched all the panels, broken the rear bumper, both tail lights and rear trim. My Insurance company were pretty good and said I could get it repaired where I wanted to. I took it to the best place I knew of and they replaced all the broken parts (except the stereo) and gave me a new 2 pak paint job.
Over the next year or so I wanted more performance, so my brother and I made a 3 inch exhaust system. I had the local turbo shop install a high flow compressor to the standard turbo (16 lbs boost), fitted an extra injector (with a link controller), and a Subaru water to air intercooler. It went ok, (13.6 down the 1/4) but the brakes let me down on several occasions so I upgraded the brakes with Willwood 320 mm rotors, alloy adapter hats, Willwood Superlite 2 calipers. The car now stopped and accelerated well, but the handling was still not as good as I wanted, so I replaced the shocks with Koni sports and fitted the front and rear with 65 mm diameter race coils (fr-450lb r-280lb) with adjustable height platforms. I put in a full set of Super-Pro urethane bushes and a 30 mm adjustable front swaybar. I also made the panhard bar adjustable.
Around 1997 I got the Circuit racing bug (my brother takes the blame for that) and went along to a couple of test days at the local tracks (Pukekohe and Taupo) to see what it could do.......it went alright, but it was a long way from being a race car.
A couple months later the auto gave up, and I had no 1st, 2nd or 4th gears. I asked around locally whether anyone had modified a Jatco auto, but the answer was always no. I had read of a company out of Melbourne who had successfully modified these autos to handle some power, so I shipped off my auto and followed it myself a couple of days later. I picked up a rental car, went to the freight terminal, collected the box and headed straight for Yarra Valley Automatics in Lillydale to see Tony. He worked quickly to get it finished in three days including a Dominator 2800 hi-stall.
While I was waiting for Tony to finish the job I swung by Nizpro and proceeded to bottom out my credit card on a number of 'go fast' bits including an intercooler, extractors, stage 1 cam, vernier gear, injectors, regulator, turbo, fuel pump, Motec computer and loom. (I had to buy a couple of extra bags to carry all my new stuff!)
Before putting the auto back in, I decided to remove the engine, fit the parts, and get it tuned on an Engine Dyno. After a quick familiarisation with Motec software, I took the engine to Marsh Motorsport in Auckland and set up the engine on the Dyno with all the new parts. The final figures were 445 hp, and 460 flbs at 18.5 lbs. boost.
The car now went a lot harder, so I headed off to the drags to see what it would do. (After fitting some soft shocks and springs) 12.3 at 117 mph was the result with a few traction issues....
My aim was to get back to circuit racing, so I joined the NZ Commodore Car Club, who have regular circuit racing events. I also decided to fit a roll-cage, race seat, harnesses, race fuel cell and surge tank. While it was in the shop, I got them to turret the rear end so I could run true coil over rear suspension (a friend Duane custom made some double adjustable aluminum Koni coil overs). I then fully rose-jointed the suspension and made moly radius rods and fitted adjustable camber plates.
My brother and I then cut away the original front strut towers, and custom made some new ones allowing more caster / camber and 25 mm higher to get more suspension travel at a lower ride height. I then fitted the diff with 300 mm Willwood rotors, Dynalite calipers and a minispool. I now run 17 x 9 ROH R/T's and 265 Dunlop slicks. The springs are now 1000 lb front (with a 2nd die spring) and 250 progressive rear. The front sway bar has been relocated to the rear of the front suspension, and is custom made with 50 mm moly tube (thanks again Duane).
After several race meetings and test days, my best time at Pukekohe so far is a 1.06, and 44.0 at Taupo. Circuit racing with a standard sump caught up with me and the engine developed a loud big end knock, so I rang Simon at Nizpro and ordered some forged pistons, new rings, bearings, valves and valve springs. Marsh Motorsport ported the head and rebuilt the short block. I assembled the rest of the engine and dynoed the engine once more - now at the same boost it made 455Hp and 495flbs. And of course I had a custom circuit style sump made (9 litre).
Now: GT35 (1.06), 45mm pro gate, custom manifold, JD plenum, XF TB, 587HP @ 6100 - 535ftlbs trq at 26 psi
Times - Puke 1.02 Taupo 42.8
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