power recipes – holden

POWER RECIPES –
HOLDEN
Archives
V8
ince the time when the Holden V8
evolved into its EFI form, it has become
the standard by which all other V8s have
been judged. Considering the fact that the V8
Holden was only manufactured here in Australia,
the sheer amount of aftermarket equipment is
overwhelming and it is a more popular power
plant than the Chev V8 in Australia.
From its inception in 1988 in the VL SS
Group A Walkinshaw, the mighty Holden EFI
S
Scott Taylor
How much power
do you want or need?
We look at the Holden
EFI V8 and give you
an idea of what works
V8 has been available in power outputs ranging from the 165kW 5L in the VN V8 through to
the 220kW+ blueprinted 5.7L engines available
in the 10th Anniversary VT Senator Signature.
While the initial power upgrades are relatively cheap, getting big power out of the
Holden V8 can cost some serious dollars,
but as with everything, you get what you
pay for. The beauty of the Holden V8 is that
there is a power level and price range for
just about everyone and the combinations
are seemingly limitless. As yet, no-one has
discovered the outright limit for horsepower
out of the Holden V8, with at least two multiple-turbo monsters making well over
1500hp at the flywheel.
So let’s take a look at the combinations
available and what kind of dollars you would
be expecting to pay. All power figures are in
flywheel kilowatts.
streetcommodores
97
LOW HEAT – 220kW
This first step is a simple one and it shouldn’t cost you any more than $3000–$3500
installed. All the Holden V8s benefit from an
exhaust upgrade and so a set of decent
headers, twin cats and a single 63.5–76.2mm
(2.5 to 3in) will not only up the power output, but will also improve the exhaust note
and street cred.
While off-the-shelf cam and chip packages
will give you an improvement, they are not
the best way of going about things. Usually
the cams are extremely small and the tuneups on the memcals are designed with safety
across a variety of engines in mind.
Choosing a camshaft is important and you
don’t want to go too big in this area at this
stage because the manifold is your next
major restriction, and too big a cam will cause
more problems than it solves. So stick with
something down around 214–218˚ duration at
50thou' and around 0.460in lift.
This will give you some extra midrange and
upper range power, while still maintaining a
whole heap of bottom-end torque. Spend your
money wisely and go for the custom tune
rather than an off-the-shelf chip job. Off-theshelf chips work, but every car is different, and
you can never cover all contingencies and
variables with a one-size-fits-all chip.
Not bad stock but awesome
when modified correctly
That standard manifold is a major
choke point and it really needs to be
tossed or modified
You can stick with standard-size valves
until you want over 300kW or so
HOT STUFF – 300kW
Now we’re starting to get into it, and with
300kW in a VN–VS Commodore, you’ll be
behind the wheel of a fairly potent beast.
There are actually two approaches here, and
we’ll deal with both of them, but let’s look at
the naturally aspirated route first.
Continuing on with the theme of stage one,
you keep all the stuff that you did to make
220kW and add a few extras. That standard
manifold is a major choke point and it really
needs to be tossed or modified to handle any-
98streetcommodores
thing over about 250kW, so you need to start
shopping for a decent manifold.
Either of the VL or VN Group A manifolds
will serve you well, but the dollars that people
are asking for these pieces are getting insane.
So you might want to look at the COME or
Starr manifolds for a cheaper upgrade, especially if you want to keep everything under
the bonnet. There is also the Active manifold
route, but this requires a major hardware
change and not everyone likes the look of the
four-barrel throttle body conversion.
Headwork is something else you will want
to consider, and while you don’t need much
for this power level, a simple valve and seat
job will make things a lot easier when it
comes to making power. No need to go overboard because if you go too big, you will lose
out in the low-end torque stakes, but if you
match everything up you will rewarded by
power aplenty. Leave the race porting to the
big boys and the wankers.
The camshaft you chose for the 220kW
zone will not cut it here, so it will need to be
pulled and a new bumpstick slotted in its
place. We recommend that you stay with a
hydraulic cam unless you really have a hankering to be adjusting the rockers every four
weeks or so. Something in the 230–235˚ duration at 50thou' with just over 0.500in lift will
work nicely here, but you will need to look at
a 2500–3000rpm high-stall converter and
some 3.5 gears to maximise the potential.
Now all this sounds good, but there is
another way to get 300kW out of your Holden
V8 and that’s by fitting a blower to the old girl.
Fitting up a Powerdyne kit will get you most
of the way there, but to hit 300kW you will
need to fit an intercooler. However, the guaranteed way of getting to 300kW is by fitting a
Vortech S-trim. With 10lbs of boost and a
front-mounted intercooler, getting 300kW at
the flywheel will be a breeze out of the highly
efficient Vortech set-ups, so if you don’t want
to worry about changing stall converters and
gear ratios, the centrifugal blower might be
just what you’re after.
Let’s not forget the Mark’s Workshop Eaton
M112 kit, though. It actually fits this power
requirement nicely and your mates will 'ooh
and ahh' at the engine appreciatively when you
pop the bonnet. Low-down torque and tons of
it are yours for the owning with an Eaton
blower, but if you’re after more power later on
then you have a problem, because that’s about
the practical limit for the Eaton M112.
COOKING WITH GAS – 400kW
Now this is possible naturally aspirated, but it
is a big task, and there will be some fairly big
dollars expended.
This kind of power in naturally aspirated
form requires revs and lots of them, and
when you rev the engine hard, you need to
strengthen the components to make sure it all
stays together. So some aftermarket rods and
high comp pistons are going to be on the
menu, as will be some fairly serious head
porting. We are no longer talking about just
doing a nice valve and seat job, but some
fairly hefty modifications to the bowls and
runners, and larger high-performance valves.
In fact, the whole engine will have to be
fairly specific requirements to build a 400kW
naturally aspirated engine, as they aren’t a
very nice thing to drive around the streets.
But if that’s what you want to do, then you
should be looking at forced induction.
So you’ve come to you senses, have you?
Okay then, you are going to need a Vortech
blower kit, front-mounted intercooler, and a
twin throttle body or COME manifold to start
the fun. Down below you can keep the standard rods and crank, although you really want
to consider the stroker crank because even
boost can only do so much.
Mildly porting the heads and fitting a
decent cam will help the boost get in, and a
decent set of headers will help the exhaust
get out again because you can only fill the
cylinder with as much good stuff as the
exhaust system will allow. So open up those
pipes good and wide, and wind up the boost
to around 14-15psi, but be warned – you will
need a good set of forged pistons at this level.
Camshaft selection is important, but don’t
go overboard because a poor cam choice
will have the boost heading its way straight
Nitrous oxide is handy, but it
doesn’t last long
A poor cam choice will have the boost
heading its way straight out the back door
4-bolt main caps will be
needed for any hi-po or
hi-rev application
If you are after big
power then the extra
fuel from a surge tank
will keep things safe
rebuilt by a professional who really knows his
stuff, and there needs to be a nice induction setup to suit. We are talking cubic inches, and a fair
few of them, so you'd better have a 355 or 383
stroker crank on your shopping list as well.
Twin carbs on a sheetmetal tunnel ram manifold or a pair of four-barrel throttle bodies will
be required, along with a very decent solid cam,
which means it’s going to be a fairly noisy
engine, and we are not just talking about the
exhaust. In fact, that’s another area that will
need to be attended to because you will be looking for some large primary headers (1.875in or
2in primaries) and a twin 3in exhaust system.
Realistically, you would want to have some
If you’re going for something
special then you’ll need a
custom-ground cam
out the back door. Something in the realm of
220˚ duration at 50thou' on the inlet and 228˚
on the exhaust at 112–114˚ lobe separation
and a tad over 0.500in lift will do beautifully.
Not too big and not too small, it’s just right;
call it the 'baby bear' cam if you like, but
Goldilocks never had this kind of power
under her right foot.
This will give you streetable power, and
while steeper gears and a high-stall converter will help things along, they certainly
aren’t compulsory.
MICROWAVING – 600kW
This is big-dog territory here and big dollars as
well. Essentially, you are combining the naturally aspirated and forced-induction sides of
the Cooking With Gas level. Remember Jason’s
article the 'The Price of Fame'? That’s the kind
of dollars you’re looking at, and remember
there was very little change from $50,000, so
consider that as your start-up money if you
want any sort of longevity from it.
At this level the Vortech S-trim no longer
cuts it, and you will be looking to either the Ttrim or VS-trim, which both have the capability
to make this sort of power with relative ease.
You’re also looking at big hydraulic roller
cams or even larger solid cams to make this
kind of power, and we recommend going the
roller cam route just for sanity's sake. How
much power do you need, though? This kind
of power is going to be tricky on the street,
especially with a high-stall converter and
steep gears. The main problem with this kind
of Vortech set-up is that the boost isn’t easily
adjustable unless you use an electronic blowoff valve to dump excess boost, but the noise
might just drive you insane.
So, turbocharging might be the answer
here, but unfortunately no-one has had the
foresight to develop an off-the-shelf twin- or
even single-turbo kit with this kind of capabil-
streetcommodores
101
Don’t bother with off the shelf cam
and chip packages, pick a nice cam
and get a custom tune to suit
Put it this way, it’s like trying to install a 13in
rim into your engine bay
ity for the Holden V8. Any steps you take
down this road will be walking down the path
less travelled, and that considerably narrows
the field of engine builders and workshops
that can handle the job.
Turbocharging is definitely the way to
achieve this power level and still have an easily street drivable 600kW package, but you
risk a large hole in your pocket while you pay
for a workshop to do the research for you.
THERMONUCLEAR –1000kW+
While definitely doable, this is where we
enter the ludicrous zone. Yep, the power is
definitely out of this world, but so is the cost
to achieve it.
High-dollar engines are the order of the
day, and when it comes to choosing an
engine builder, it’s best to stick with the guys
who know what they are doing. We’ve seen a
lot of guys pour a bucket load of money in the
aim to achieve this kind of power figure, and
use guys who haven’t ever achieved this sort
of power before. The result is more and more
money being poured into a bottomless pit.
Decide whether or not you actually need this
kind of power. In reality, the only reason to have
it is to take a shot at Horsepower Heroes, and
those guys are already pushing close to 1500kW.
How do you achieve it? Well, we are talking
the best of the best here. That is, the best
components and the best engine builders
with the right formula.
While some centrifugals fall by the wayside,
there are a couple that will make the grade, but
the size of them makes engine bay fitment rather
difficult. Put it this way, it’s like trying to install a
13in rim into your engine bay. So turbos might
be an easier option when it comes to space considerations and outright power output, and you
will need some big bastards to boot.
102streetcommodores
Think 700–800hp ball-bearing jobs and you
will be getting close, and remember none of this
stuff is going to fit straight off the shelf, so you
are looking at a full custom set-up and the dollars
associated with that. Large solid roller camshafts,
billet steel cranks, mega-dollar conrods and custom pistons all have to fall magically from the
sky or be paid for by a high-dollar bank balance.
You’re looking at cam lifts over 0.650in and duration of 260–270˚ at 50thou' and coupling this with
30+ pounds of boost, so your engine components need to be made from 'unobtainium'.
At the end of the day, it’s a totally achievable figure, but do you really want to go
through the pain? None of the 1000kW cars
we know about are daily street drivable. Sure,
you can drive them on the street, but it’s like
juggling gelignite: one day you’re gonna slip
and blow yourself up. Most of the cars have
had their engines in and out repeatedly, as the
tuners and mechanics work out what works
and what doesn’t. Remember that this is the
cutting edge of Holden V8 power, and the road
to ultimate power is rarely smooth.
SC
The EFI 5Lwas like a shot
of adrenaline injected
straight into the Holden
performance scene
Holden’s EFI heads flow
great but any money
spent on the heads is
money well spent
Standard rods are alright, Group A ones
are better, but a set of quality H-beam
rods will take just about anything you
want to throw at them