3 replies to this topic

[rexy]

For a while now reading others posts about engine combos, power produced and the various failures and problems some have had I have thought it might be of interest to gather widespread feedback from our Torana community. I see some folk seem to have had horrible experiences and I certainly have had a range of good and bad.
I will start with a few of mine.

Holden 308. Built by former owners mate and came in the LX I bought in 1993. 60 thou over. Stock crank and rods. Crower beast hyd cam. Early heads. Performer inlet. Cheap inch and 5/8th primary tri Y pipes. Made 220 hp at the tyres. Lasted 70,000 km of daily driver work before it threw a rod and took out the HT block.

Holden 308. Built by general mechanic owner in about 1997. Bought for 2k with approx 5000 km on it. 60 thou over. Stock crank and rods. Crane 286 hyd cam. Early heads. Performer inlet. Same pipes.About 10.5:1 comp. made 245 hp at the tyres. Uneventfully travelled 30,000 km until sold to go bigger in 1999.

Holden 355. Built by prostroke. Prostroke crank. 400 chev rods. 11:1 comp. O-ringed block. VN heads minor porting. Solid 288 cam. Redline torker inlet. Made 420hp and about 430 ftlb on the engine dyno at 5500 rpm. Was always a bit fumey. Died after 10 months when the block failed at one if the O-ring grooves. Cost about 8 K in 1999.

Holden 383. Built by COME racing. VT block. COME crank and rods. Ported VN steel heads. Big solid cam approx 260 duration at 50 thou and 610 thou lift (one of their ultimate street racer grinds). Redline intake. 10.7:1 comp. Only dynoed to 5500 rpm where it made 460 hp and about the same in torque. Cost about 10K in 2000 as reused top end stuff from the dead 355. Flogged mercilessly until 2007. Survived three broken oil pickups in this time. Pulled out to go harder and to give it the once over given the odd bout of no oil pressure it had endured.

Holden 383. Freshened by COME in 2007. A couple of small marks found on the crank from the oil issues together with one slightly stiff small end. O-ringed the block. Copper head gaskets. 11.3:1 comp. 235@50 thou crane hydraulic roller cam (I hate adjusting tappets). Stock COME alloy heads. Reused the redline intake. Again only dyno to 5500 due to my paranoia where it was making 485 hp and about the same in torque. Much fatter low and midrange torque. Flogged mercilessly until the current day. Now lives in the hatch. Have done nearly 100,000 km since the original build in 2000. Freshen cost 9K including dyno run in.

Holden 383. Bought third hand in 2010. First built for a racer/ cruiser in about 2006 by HPE in dandenong. I bought it off the next owner who had it in a regularly raced hatch. Early block. Early heads(VL). COME crank and rods. 10:1 comp. Grout filled to welsh plugs. Approx 235@ 50 thou solid cam. Single plane torker intake. Made about 430 hp and a bit more in torque when built. Lived 2.5 uneventfully years in the hatch. Driven hard at every opportunity and never missed a beat. Paid 7K. Will be going into the yellow LJ coupe when I get motivated again.

There are more of course but I wold love to hear of others experiences, both good and bad.

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Edited by rexy, 25 May 2014 - 03:55 PM.

[TerrA LX]

So I take it the back yarders and loosely including HPE pete here, build way better motors for 1/3rd of the price of the major professional players.

[N/A-PWR]

Great Thread Rexy,

 

( All of my Motors Revved to 7500rpm every gear change, every day )

 

I just put the Same Stage 5 Head ( always made 250psi pots ) and Mid to Race Cam into these:-

 

- 202's, only used the old short motors as they came from other Cars in the 80/90's - Lasted 2000 miles each

 

- 208's which I have had bored out and blue printed - Lasted 6500 miles each

 

So New bottom Ends at the Time were $1000 each vs Old Short Motors at $50 each.

 

All rebuilds had $50 rebuilt Gasket Kits.

 

In the End, I Just got Old Short Motors as it was Cheaper and had Just as Much Power as a New Bottom End Job.

 

 

All Motors Died from Big End Failure, except one had a Vertical Cracked 3rd and 4th cylinder water jacket. Dave I

 

 

 

 

and having one of the Fastest Torana's in Newcastle in the early 80's, as I just put another motor in overnight as needed, ( done about 20 of them )

[rexy]

So I take it the back yarders and loosely including HPE pete here, build way better motors for 1/3rd of the price of the major professional players.

The real disappointment was the prostroke built 355. It was a lot of money for me at the time and while it was a good power jump over the 308 it replaced I was very sad and a bit pissed off when it died.
The HPE 383 was in a hatch in country vic. One of the relatives has a cobra replica with a supercharged five litre Windsor in it and the hatch regularly showed it a clean set of heels at the local drags. Small world!