Another greeting from down under, and pics of our L36
09-25-2004, 11:18 PM
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Another greeting from down under, and pics of our L36
gday people and greetings from the land of oz
Im Ryan and i own a '95 VS Holden Commodore with an L36 V6 in it. We call this engine the 'Ecotec' over here. The main difference i can see between our setup and all of you guys (apart from the obvious FWD vs RWD) is that you seem to have been lumped with some plastic pathetic excuse of an inlet manifold that from my looking around the forums seems to cause alot of problems for all of you :(
we have quite a different inlet manifold on our NA L36es. Ill post a couple of pics to show you what it looks like.
But first a bit of aussie info...
the L36 and L67 engines have been in our commodores from 1995 (L36) and 1996 (added the L67) up until this year. This spanned the commodore models VS VT VX and VY. Prior to this we had the earlier style buick engine in our 1989 to 1994 VN VP and VR models. Scott from streetcommodores who i see has visited here as well and wowed you with the trumpet setup on the "v6 vengeance" project car is an example of a 1989 VN model with the earlier type of engine in it (i think you guys would call it a series 1)
As of this years new VZ model we are now using the new GM HFV6 (dubbed the alloytech in australia) which looks to be a promising engine, but it is disapointing in some ways because if that new engine hadnt come along we probably would have got to get the L32 and series3 3800 engines over here. Anyway theres still plenty of our beloved v6'es getting around the place over here, what with the commodore being the most popular australian family car for quite a few years running :p
Anyway i thought id sign up and say gday and say that im looking forward to learning more about my engine and the US 3800 scene from you guys (i have so much reading to do), and i hope i can help you guys know a bit more info about what it'* like over here too.
A couple of quick details of my car... it only has bolt on mods at the moment, including 1.9 ratio roller rockers (although the pics below show the other rockers i used to have which are 1.8 ratio and made by an aussie company called YellaTerra), pacemaker extractors (1 5/8" primaries), hiflow cat, 2.5" exhasut. Also runs the MSD coils, topgun 10mm race leads, CAI and KingDragon panel filter, a shiftkitted 4L60E auto trans and 3.9 LSD in the diff. It puts out 130kw at the rear wheels and my best 1/4 time is so far a 15.4 however i need to learn how to drive the bloody thing better, a friend of mine with near identical car/mods got a 14.8 the last time we were at the track together
Ive also done a heap of other stuff like a custom red/black velour interior retrim, brake upgrade, wheels and full suspension kit, engine bay detailing and a car audio setup that i just cant seem to stop upgrading
But the big plans at the moment are a total engine rebuild with forgies, L32 rods, etc etc and also rebuilding the transmission. Why you ask?! Because a pair of Garrett GT25 roller bearing turbos will be finding themselves home in my engine bay very shortly!!! This is a pretty big job obviously and plenty of others things will be done as well - custom exhaust manifolds and new custom inlet manifold, as well as all the other obvious stuff required like fuel system upgrade, intercooler etc etc. We aim to have it on the road in December.
I have already received alot of help and info from the Chris and Scott at INTENSE about my planned setup and i can tell you, the day i "discovered" the american L36/L67 aftermarket parts stores i think i stayed up all night reading them all, and went to work after no sleep lol
Without further ado a couple of selected pics... and once again a warm gday to everyone here
[edit] - my webspace seems to be having a few issues and the pics arent showing up all the time... but they are definately there so hopefully my ISP fixes whatever the problem is and you guys can actually see them!
Exterior
Interior
Engine Bay
This is what they look like pretty much stock (with the engine cover on etc)
I also thought you might like to see a couple shots of the inlet manifold coming apart
This is the lower inlet manifold, the upper plenum bolts onto this with 5 bolts.
The plenum itself has a removable lid so you can get inside and undo the bolts. Also makes it a breeze to clean all the oil and gunk that gets in there from time to time from the stupid integrated PCV valve.
The best part about the design is, you can use the stock lower manifold and that takes care of the thermostat housing and water galleries etc... but then build your own plenum on top of it and incorporate a large single throttlebody or twin throttles if it took your fancy. But it makes it alot easier to do a custom manifold when yo ucan just use the base already
Anywa, if anyone wants to know anything about the australian "v6 scene" let me know and ill do my best to answer. Also i cant find a pic of what your L36'es look like with their cover off so if you have one, post it up and show me!
Im Ryan and i own a '95 VS Holden Commodore with an L36 V6 in it. We call this engine the 'Ecotec' over here. The main difference i can see between our setup and all of you guys (apart from the obvious FWD vs RWD) is that you seem to have been lumped with some plastic pathetic excuse of an inlet manifold that from my looking around the forums seems to cause alot of problems for all of you :(
we have quite a different inlet manifold on our NA L36es. Ill post a couple of pics to show you what it looks like.
But first a bit of aussie info...
the L36 and L67 engines have been in our commodores from 1995 (L36) and 1996 (added the L67) up until this year. This spanned the commodore models VS VT VX and VY. Prior to this we had the earlier style buick engine in our 1989 to 1994 VN VP and VR models. Scott from streetcommodores who i see has visited here as well and wowed you with the trumpet setup on the "v6 vengeance" project car is an example of a 1989 VN model with the earlier type of engine in it (i think you guys would call it a series 1)
As of this years new VZ model we are now using the new GM HFV6 (dubbed the alloytech in australia) which looks to be a promising engine, but it is disapointing in some ways because if that new engine hadnt come along we probably would have got to get the L32 and series3 3800 engines over here. Anyway theres still plenty of our beloved v6'es getting around the place over here, what with the commodore being the most popular australian family car for quite a few years running :p
Anyway i thought id sign up and say gday and say that im looking forward to learning more about my engine and the US 3800 scene from you guys (i have so much reading to do), and i hope i can help you guys know a bit more info about what it'* like over here too.
A couple of quick details of my car... it only has bolt on mods at the moment, including 1.9 ratio roller rockers (although the pics below show the other rockers i used to have which are 1.8 ratio and made by an aussie company called YellaTerra), pacemaker extractors (1 5/8" primaries), hiflow cat, 2.5" exhasut. Also runs the MSD coils, topgun 10mm race leads, CAI and KingDragon panel filter, a shiftkitted 4L60E auto trans and 3.9 LSD in the diff. It puts out 130kw at the rear wheels and my best 1/4 time is so far a 15.4 however i need to learn how to drive the bloody thing better, a friend of mine with near identical car/mods got a 14.8 the last time we were at the track together
Ive also done a heap of other stuff like a custom red/black velour interior retrim, brake upgrade, wheels and full suspension kit, engine bay detailing and a car audio setup that i just cant seem to stop upgrading
But the big plans at the moment are a total engine rebuild with forgies, L32 rods, etc etc and also rebuilding the transmission. Why you ask?! Because a pair of Garrett GT25 roller bearing turbos will be finding themselves home in my engine bay very shortly!!! This is a pretty big job obviously and plenty of others things will be done as well - custom exhaust manifolds and new custom inlet manifold, as well as all the other obvious stuff required like fuel system upgrade, intercooler etc etc. We aim to have it on the road in December.
I have already received alot of help and info from the Chris and Scott at INTENSE about my planned setup and i can tell you, the day i "discovered" the american L36/L67 aftermarket parts stores i think i stayed up all night reading them all, and went to work after no sleep lol
Without further ado a couple of selected pics... and once again a warm gday to everyone here
[edit] - my webspace seems to be having a few issues and the pics arent showing up all the time... but they are definately there so hopefully my ISP fixes whatever the problem is and you guys can actually see them!
Exterior
Interior
Engine Bay
This is what they look like pretty much stock (with the engine cover on etc)
I also thought you might like to see a couple shots of the inlet manifold coming apart
This is the lower inlet manifold, the upper plenum bolts onto this with 5 bolts.
The plenum itself has a removable lid so you can get inside and undo the bolts. Also makes it a breeze to clean all the oil and gunk that gets in there from time to time from the stupid integrated PCV valve.
The best part about the design is, you can use the stock lower manifold and that takes care of the thermostat housing and water galleries etc... but then build your own plenum on top of it and incorporate a large single throttlebody or twin throttles if it took your fancy. But it makes it alot easier to do a custom manifold when yo ucan just use the base already
Anywa, if anyone wants to know anything about the australian "v6 scene" let me know and ill do my best to answer. Also i cant find a pic of what your L36'es look like with their cover off so if you have one, post it up and show me!
09-26-2004, 12:28 AM
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it started life as an "executive" which is the poverty pack base model. But i have pretty much modified every area of it by now hehehe.
This is what a stock executive looks like:
It'* your typical mid 90'* aussie RWD family sedan, and at the time its "features" of airconditioning and powersteering were actually "features" hehehe. The VS model looks very similar tothe previous VR model... minor cosmetic differences only, however the big hoo ha with the release of the VS series was the introduciton of the Ecotec (L36) engine, replacing the buick3800 from VN to VR days.
The different spec levels available for the VS series were "Executive", "*", "Berlina", "Calais", "SS", "Statesman" and "Caprice". As well as a Ute and an SS Ute.
Gearbox choices were 4 speed auto (4L60E) or 5 speed manual (T5), and later in series 2 the 5 speed manual was changed to the Getrag 'box. Engine choices were the 147kw Ecotec V6, and the aussie built 5.0L Fuel Injected Holden V8 which put out 165kw and there was also a "HSV Enhanced" 185kw version of the v8. Starting from Series2 they also started offering the supercharged L67 as an optional engine upgrade on selected models (calais, statesman and caprice). Later models like the VT and VX saw the L67 optional on more models, and even start to come standard in the calais.
Probably the only thing going for the executive is that it is pretty light, at 1400 odd kilograms. The higher specs like calais with ABS, leather interior, trip computers climate control, dual airbags etc etc added a fair bit of weight. And the later VT VX and VY models added a full two hundred kg over the VS so its always nice to have a bit of an advantage over them
I find it funny that your front wheel drives are like heavier than our big rear wheel drive sedans. They must be pretty solid units to weigh that much and being considerably smaller.
It also had typical handling for a car of it'* type and purpose (as in it handles like a bloody boat and has ride height that would make some 4 wheel drives jealous!). But that was quickly taken care of with new shocks struts springs, panhard rod and a strut brace in there as well. It handles like a race car now
Other things that have been done which are subtle yet effective, are replacing the stock rectangular amber indicator lights on the front quarter panels, with clear oval ones from a VT model... also colourcoding several things and removing silver pinstriping and debadging the exterior except for the Holden "Lion" logo front and back. My car has a sort of hybrid bodykit made up of the lower bumper extensions from the "SS" model which was the V8 performance model, and also other bits such as a series2 calais front bar and tail lights, a "*" model rear lip spoiler (not shown in pics). Plenty of people go out and fit the"HSV" (Holden Special Vehicles) bodykits to these cars but i much prefer the kit i have on my car... subtle, factory looking, yet effective
For pics and specs on all models of commodore from inception (VB model in 1979) to current VZ model, have a look at the "Unofficial Holden Commodore Archive" : http://www.users.on.net/~nweber/commodore/
This is what a stock executive looks like:
It'* your typical mid 90'* aussie RWD family sedan, and at the time its "features" of airconditioning and powersteering were actually "features" hehehe. The VS model looks very similar tothe previous VR model... minor cosmetic differences only, however the big hoo ha with the release of the VS series was the introduciton of the Ecotec (L36) engine, replacing the buick3800 from VN to VR days.
The different spec levels available for the VS series were "Executive", "*", "Berlina", "Calais", "SS", "Statesman" and "Caprice". As well as a Ute and an SS Ute.
Gearbox choices were 4 speed auto (4L60E) or 5 speed manual (T5), and later in series 2 the 5 speed manual was changed to the Getrag 'box. Engine choices were the 147kw Ecotec V6, and the aussie built 5.0L Fuel Injected Holden V8 which put out 165kw and there was also a "HSV Enhanced" 185kw version of the v8. Starting from Series2 they also started offering the supercharged L67 as an optional engine upgrade on selected models (calais, statesman and caprice). Later models like the VT and VX saw the L67 optional on more models, and even start to come standard in the calais.
Probably the only thing going for the executive is that it is pretty light, at 1400 odd kilograms. The higher specs like calais with ABS, leather interior, trip computers climate control, dual airbags etc etc added a fair bit of weight. And the later VT VX and VY models added a full two hundred kg over the VS so its always nice to have a bit of an advantage over them
I find it funny that your front wheel drives are like heavier than our big rear wheel drive sedans. They must be pretty solid units to weigh that much and being considerably smaller.It also had typical handling for a car of it'* type and purpose (as in it handles like a bloody boat and has ride height that would make some 4 wheel drives jealous!). But that was quickly taken care of with new shocks struts springs, panhard rod and a strut brace in there as well. It handles like a race car now
Other things that have been done which are subtle yet effective, are replacing the stock rectangular amber indicator lights on the front quarter panels, with clear oval ones from a VT model... also colourcoding several things and removing silver pinstriping and debadging the exterior except for the Holden "Lion" logo front and back. My car has a sort of hybrid bodykit made up of the lower bumper extensions from the "SS" model which was the V8 performance model, and also other bits such as a series2 calais front bar and tail lights, a "*" model rear lip spoiler (not shown in pics). Plenty of people go out and fit the"HSV" (Holden Special Vehicles) bodykits to these cars but i much prefer the kit i have on my car... subtle, factory looking, yet effective
For pics and specs on all models of commodore from inception (VB model in 1979) to current VZ model, have a look at the "Unofficial Holden Commodore Archive" : http://www.users.on.net/~nweber/commodore/
09-26-2004, 10:14 AM
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Welcome to the club! It'* great to see others from abroad.
Now I'm wondering if that top end can be retrofit to our L36'*? I can see some larger runners being done with that setup!
Now I'm wondering if that top end can be retrofit to our L36'*? I can see some larger runners being done with that setup!
09-26-2004, 10:23 AM
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That looks WAAAAY too much like the new GTO. For some reason, when they said they new GTO was styled after an Aussie car, I think they meant this one.
-justin