31-12-03, 16:05 GMT+10#1
Paradoxx - Yellow VL Aero turbo: 57RUT
This is Ian's VL Commodore turbo which has come a fair way since he first laid eyes on the VL. After looking around for a cheapish import of some description for a few months and weighing up the comforts of a later model jap car (and expensive insurance and the expensive replacement parts costs) Ian put his heart on finding a decent VL Turbo Calais. After looking for a while at all the "dreamers" trying to sell their bog standard calais' for $10k, he decided to get an Executive. The car was already fitted with super low king springs, K Mac swaybars and a 3" mandrel bent exhaust, running a moderate 9psi boost. It was purchased for a reasonable price... thinking that he could deck it out with mods and still be cheaper then a standard Calais. As it turns out, that was a bit of a bad idea as it ended up costing way more!
Ian had some big plans for the Commodore. A few months later with only a few pennies spent, it was looking a much nicer car, as it had new carpet, some nice seat covers, a top of the line Panasonic CD player, and a whole lot of TLC. Next to do was a set of wheels, and some 16s were purchased with the best rubber he could find. After previously nearly crashing his car by breaking traction at 120 in the wet, the new rubber was a godsend. By then the boost bug had bitten!
Ian walked into a radiator shop after deciding he needed an intercooler to start the modification path off properly. After a lot of talking and background work, he finally settled on a new custom Garrett Intercooler. After initially wanting the biggest cooler that he could bolt to the car, it was discovered that a smaller core would be just as effective, but produce less turbo lag, and would therefore be more useful. The core measures 630x330x75mm using 2.5" piping. This lowered intake temps incredibly! Ian then got his hands on a Turbosmart electronic boost controller, which meant that the VL could now be left with his gf without him having too worry too much about her putting it sideways into a pole!
At this stage, the car was strapped to the dyno. The results produced 301.3hp @ 13psi at the flywheel, while the dyno sheet showed signs of transmission slippage as the torque flat lined at 300hp. Not too shabby for a standard car with a bit of boost, cooler and a 3" exhaust. After receiving a bit of street cred in the blue VL, (and being able to get pretty sideways at 60k's, Ian decided he wanted to give it a squirt of paint and a bit of a bodykit, to make it look a bit more respectable. After looking for ages for a nice second hand HDT LE kit, he stumbled across a decent priced aero kit for sale. It was snapped up in a second. Unfortunately, it needed a lot more repair then first he first expected. The skirts where too short, new brackets needed to be fabricated, and various other smoothing and prep work had to be done.
A few months later of a lot of weekend and after work hours it was all fitted! Only a few days later, it had all been painted in bright devil yellow 2pac with white saturn pearl. After replacing the tail lights with new items and replacing a few other broken trims the car is how you see it today. By now it was starting to owe Ian a lot of money, but that hasn't really concerned him as he knows how far it has come since he got hold of it. A VS commodore interior is being installed shortly. Also on the inside is a a Spitfire boost gauge, an Autometer oil pressure gauge and air/fuel meter gauge. Steering duties are handled by a Autotecnia leather steering wheel.
On the mechanical side of things once again, the diff has had some 4.11s installed for improved acceleration and less top end, with LSD. A new 4.1L plenum has been installed, but the car has yet to be run on the dyno since this change was made.
Contact: Paradoxx on #vlturbo and message board, [email removed]
(c) 2002. www.calaisturbo.com (http://www.calaisturbo.com) Edited by sin, information and pics by Ian.
Some original photos have not been recovered yet.
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