Hi fellas, Just recently i bought a VK Calais rolling shell for $500 bucks with the 10 bolt diff, now i have had a lot of opinions from friends on what donk and box i should put in it, i would appreciate any ideas on doing this car up ! i will enter this car at next years Summernats Cheers

injected 5l? or i think i saw an RB25DET NEO engine for sale somewhere for 2400.. they are 208kw stock...

whack in a 5ltr fuel injected. it will be perfect for a VK calais. with a strong 5 speed.

For wow factor, put in a Lexus Quad Cam alloy V8. They make pretty decent numbers (a lot more than a EFI 5.0 Holden motor, ie between 190 and 220kw's depending on year) and it's different. you can also get decent cams for them too, so with decent injection and cams, will make 400 plus hp easy and they are bullet proof. You can pick them up for around $1500 for engine and gearbox from jap importers. Complete front cuts go from around $2900 if you don't want to fit an aftermarket computer. Either way you'd still have to convert it to injection, so cost is no different there and if the VK was a 6 originally, you'd still have to change engine mounts and gearbox mounts anyway. Dellow automotives do 5 speed conversions for them too (they are all auto from factory) so there's heaps of options there. If yu wanna know more about the EFI V8 conversion I can tell you all there is to know, having done it myself.

Put a rb30et in it, i'll sell you mine.

What catagory do you want to enter the car into at Summernats? Be bold in your engine choice. Drop a big block chev into it. 427ci = TOUGH!!! Or you could just go down the trusty old efi 304 route. Still very cool. I like the Lexus idea as well. If you want to piss off everyone and be seriously original, drop a 20b rotor into it. The rotor boys will hate you casue its a commodore, the Holden fans will hate you casue its a rotor, and the ford boys will ahte you for all of the above. Id love to do that, would be great. :mrgreen:

Thanks guys.... a friend recommended a LS1 and 6 speed manual... what do you all reckon ? As for summernats i would like to enter it in the dyno heros, burnouts, moddified car, etc etc Just recieved a very good offer for this VK Calais at $1500..... not too sure whether to keep or sell

an LS1 and 6 sp manual would be nice - but very very expensive. I'd only go that route if I could attain the motor/box/accessories very cheaply (unless your loaded!) Reading Street Commodores a while back and they said a different conversion would be the Toyota 1JZ-GTE 3.0L TT out of a Soarer into the VK. These can be picked up for a bargain. Would be different and a couple of mods could yield impressive power. Thats my 2 cents : )

Your a brave man if you want to enter horsepower hero's with a v8 or any of the catagories, the figures now being achieved by these guys are amazing. Unless you have a deep pocket I would stick to something easy but with potential. An LS1 would be a good start, but the cost of the engine/gearbox and wiringloom/computer put it way up their but not out of reach. A carbie fed and dizzy run 8 would be by far the easiest but not as powerfull as you would think, unless you got the engine built right with all the good stuff but then that costs just as much as the LS1 swap (and you'd be better to do the LS1 swap then). In the middle but with power to spare is any of your RB series turbo engines. My choice is the RB20DET as it the cheapest by half and is can equall the others for ease of power upto 160-200 rwkw.

Below are some approx figures of fitting an efi engine into a vk I thought you may like to read. 1)Use vl efi fuel tank,a surge tank, and vl turbo/v8 fuel pump - upto $300 2) new exhaust for whatever engine used (mild steel 3" mandrell) - upto $1000 3)vl 6 or V8 engine crossmember for either RB20/25/26/30 or V8 swap - @ $70 4a)vl manual gearbox mount/crossmember for rb engines with manual - $40 4b)not sure, but probably standard auto crossmember for v8 with auto - $40 You have two options for the rest of the swap. 1)Buy a complete front halfcut 2)Buy engine/gearbox package and an aftermarket computer Both cost close to the same, but the second option will leave you with more tuning cpotential and options. Some examples of halfcuts are: R32 with RB20DET @ $2500, R33 with RB25DET @ $4000, GTR with RB26DETT @ $7000, vn efi v8 $3000. Unsure of LS1 halfcut price. or engine/gearbox packages rb20DET/gearbox @ $1000, RB25DET/gearbox @ $2700, RB26DETT/gearbox @ $5000.I'm unsure of efi v8/gearbox or LS1/gearbox prices. If you go the Engine/Gearbox package you'll need an aftermarket efi computer. Microtech, EMS, Haltech, Wolf3D all have offerings capable of running these engines at $1000 to $1500. Fitting and initial tunning/mapping of the computer will be $450 fitting and $400 tunning. For cost and ease, but not the greatest power would be a used carbie and dizzy run v8. Power for the listed engines with only mild mods i.e. exhaust, airfilter, and 15psi boost(if applicable) is (these are approx): RB20DET @ 155rwkw RB25DET @ 170rwkw RB26DETT @ 200rwkw VN efi V8 @ 150rwkw LS1 efi V8 @ 190rwkw Each engine has its positives and negatives, but the end choice comes down to funds available. I hope this is of assistance to you.

So VK Turbo, you did a little bit of research. Come on give him the half cut price for the 20b rotor. Dont forget his standard diff wont be up for any of that new power either so that will ahve to get replaced with new tailshaft. The 6spd box will require a fair bit of re-shaping the tranny tunnel to make it fit as well. cheers. Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

Yer, I did a bit of research. Had to show that I am in here to chat and help other ppl out with the same interests. Some ppl in the forums thought I was just trying to cause trouble, but they simply misunderstood what I was trying to say. Anyways, I actually had the info handly, as I too was looking to upgrade my carbied 6 vk. I was hoping to put in the rb25det as it offered more capacity and low down torque, but my wallet made the choice so I went with the rb20det. I now think it the better option as the money I saved can be spent on upgrading the engine. As i dont have wads of cash i think I'll buy another turbo and run twins. Should be good for 250rwkw at standard boost Once it is all running right, I'll post some pics for all interested in carrying out a similar conversion. This should also help you out Devil666 as you will see how easy it really is to get more power in the VK. I can also Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

VK Turbo, Thanks for the advice, i went ahead and put in a RB25DET in the VK calais with some help from a friend who is doing his VK LS1 Project at the same time. Unfortunely bad news, i made the mistake of letting my woman borrow it for the nite with her friends, she hit a sharp corner and the VK Calais lost it, slammed into a powerpole on the front so yeah the motor is damaged and fair amount of damage. This happened a week ago. Oh well at least it gives me a chance to look for another project to work on. Oh now the woman is banned from driving my other cars, she's stickin to her mild modded Honda Civic. Been looking at a VY HSV Clubby ? what do you all think ?

Those VY Clubbies are just a amazing looking machines... '260 R8' is a Hot House one here on the coast and its just awesome.