Leigh Kenney`s VL Calais

TOP 60 ELITE 787RWHP VL-T
BEST LAID
PLANS
FROM NEAT STREETER TO TOP 60 ELITE,
LEIGH KENNEY’S VL IS A CROWNING
CREATION OF WHAT CAN BE ACHIEVED BY
ONE MAN’S ULTIMATE VISION
Story by Blake Emirali Pics by Chris Sorgsepp
’d always liked the shape
of the VL and from the
moment I saw this car…
I wanted it,” begins 32
year-old fi tter, Leigh Kenney, of the tumultuous
terror you see before you. It was actually Leigh’s mate Robbo who owned
the factory VL Calais Turbo 5-speed to
begin with, complete with its dealerfi tted electric sunroof and LE body kit.
The two had met when Leigh started
his apprenticeship and the car, funnily
enough, was a four year-old company
director’s ride. Someone had certainly
been rolling in style.
“He bought it when he was 18 and
it was in immaculate condition,” recalls
Leigh. “He sold it in the same condition
and I’d wanted to buy it at the time, but
it was out of my price range as a lowly
“I
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paid apprentice. It came up for sale
again years later, and I jumped at the
chance to get it; however it was now in
need of some TLC.”
The once immaculate bodywork, now
still fairly straight, had been covered in
stone chips after being driven daily on a
gravel road for a few years. The year was
2002 and Leigh planned to begin restoring the car to its original glory.
12 months later, and with plenty of
the folding stuff being saved to have her
painted, Leigh’s VL donned a front mount
and a set of 17in VR GTS rollers. A stop in
to Darren at Ace Paint and Panel once the
pennies had stacked up, put him on the
path to a respray and Leigh wanted the
colour close to original, but without the
infamous ‘dirty’ look when in direct sunlight. “I left it with Darren and he came up
with the perfect custom colour.”
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TOP 60 ELITE 787RWHP VL-T
Now dressed in luscious blue paint,
Leigh needed a new set of rims to keep
the good times rolling (literally), so on
went four 19in BSA 291 shadow chromies.
Though not long after this, the VL’s head
gasket decided it had long played the part
of a functioning piece of hardware, and
decided to pull the plug.
“I pulled it apart to fix it and thought it
was probably a good idea to change a few
things,” explains Leigh of his subsequent
call to Alan from Rajab Racing. “I bought his
plenum, a GT35R turbo with a 44mm Tial
wastegate to go onto it, and had a friend,
Anthony, make me an exhaust manifold as
he was doing them at the time.”
The car remained this way for close
to five years, before Leigh wanted more
power and jumped back on the phone to
Alan, who pointed Leigh in the direction
of a cam’, fuel rail, 1000cc injector, Bosch
044 and FPR1000 Turbosmart regulator
combo. Off the VL went to Bassett Racing
Dynotune, where it proceeded to make
486rwhp on a Haltech E6X, the original
motor still fitted.
May of 2010 rolled around, when Leigh
and his wife got engaged. “She got an
engagement ring and I thought I deserved
something shiny as well, so I bought myself
a GTX4294R turbo, a 6Boost manifold and
60mm Turbosmart wastegate,” laughs
Leigh. Well played, good sir.
The ultimate plan of Leigh’s, once the
wedding plans began, was to have his VL as
a bridal car… though there was still a long
list of things he wanted to do.
Back on the blower to Alan at Rajab he
went – who was probably on speed dial
by this point – and Leigh explained that
he wanted to make 500rwkW. Naturally,
Rajab built a fresh engine to suit, and while
the engine was out of the car, Leigh took it
upon himself to have the engine bay filled,
smoothed and repainted. “I went back out
to Ace to have the work done by Darren
and at the same time I had some engine
bits polished and bought a PWR alloy radiator to match. The engine then went in with
a DCS clutch and upgraded fuel system,” he
continues in addition to the 4L surge tank
and all new lines.
“She got an engagement ring and I thought I
deserved something shiny as well, so I bought
myself a GTX4294R turbo, a 6Boost manifold and
60mm Turbosmart wastegate,” laughs Leigh.
Don’t go thinking the boot
escaped any trim treatment. You
can’t have the Top 60 accolades
of THE30T without a posterior
piece that looks this nice
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Rajab Racing-built RB30 drinks
a solid diet of E85 fuel, and
pumps out 787rwhp with a JEM
tune in the MoTeC. Winning
Thank you, metallic blue. That gorgeous bodywork pierces with a
glass-like reflection, and take it from
us, the sweet scent of E85 filling the
air around it doesn’t hurt, either
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TOP 60 ELITE 787RWHP VL-T
A mate of Leigh’s, Steve, who happens to be an auto elec’, came out and
tidied the engine bay wiring, hiding the
headlight harness and relocated the
battery before Leigh began to get the car
run in with its new engine. “At this point
I went to see Todd at Eastside Kustom
Trim to get the interior underway. I
already had a set of VZ R8 front and rear
seats from eBay and Todd immediately
started coming up with ideas.”
The front seats were recovered while
the backs were cut down and modified
to fit, before also copping a re-trim.
Along with new carpet, fresh hood lining, a covered dash and new door cards,
Leigh kept things fairly simple in combination with a few billet details. Then it
came time to get the car tuned!
“I didn’t have time to take it to
Melbourne so Alan recommended Adam
Neish at Just Engine Management,”
Leigh tells us. “The Haltech was pretty
old now and not up to the task of E85, so
a MoTeC M84 was installed along with a
HKS electric boost controller.”
The blue beast made 644rwhp, which
was a little short of the power Leigh
had been chasing due to undersized
injectors, but with no time or money to
fix it and the wedding edging ever closer,
Leigh had to save his hard-earned for a
set of charcoal Simmons FR20’s.
“I had to rush a few things but I was
really happy with how it turned out. We
married in March 2012 and my friend Robbo that owned the car originally, drove it
for us. We got back from our honeymoon
and I decided to tidy up the few things I
was unhappy with or rushed with. At this
point, I wanted to take the car to Summernats and make the Top 60.”
It was now June, 2012, and the exterior of the VL was now nine years old!
Though in really good condition, it was
no Top 60 bodywork, so Leigh visited his
old mate Darren at Ace once more, and
told him what he was looking down the
barrel of. “Darren suggested Glasurit for
a better finish and he did such an awesome job. I can’t thank him enough for
his help over the years!”
Leigh received the car back with its
flawless Elite-level paint, and proceeded
to pull everything out of the car from
tip to toe. The underneath was cleaned
up and then painted in high gloss black,
before Leigh decided that he was also in
need of new brakes. “I wanted ones that
made a statement,” he suggests.
After getting into contact with
Harrop Engineering, Leigh soon had
the biggest set of suitable brakes they
made. Once he’d fitted them, the time
came to slip those sexy Simmons on,
complete with 3in of dish, and wouldn’t
you believe it… ‘CLUNK’… “Because of
the dish, the wheels were hitting on the
huge caliper, so the rear brakes came
back off,” Leigh remembers.
Ig
got
ot the
the car
car back
back
together
t
ogether and
and running,
running,
took
t
ook it
it down
down to
to JEM
JEM
again
a
gain and
and it
it managed
managed
787rwhp!
The VL’s trim is nothing short of sensational.
Based atop a VZ R8 seat combination,
Todd at Eastside Kustom Trim stitched up
a storm, and there are plenty of one-off
touches in here to amaze and appreciate
Snail is a GTX4294R, with a
60mm Turbosmart wastegate for companionship
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TOP 60 ELITE 787RWHP VL-T
Yep, they are the biggest brakes Harrop
make… and they nearly
fill a 20in wheel!
There was no ti
Th
time to
t take
t k anything
thi
back to Harrop to be rectified, so Leigh
found a local machine shop to remake
the rear brake hats, giving the clearance
he needed. Once the brakes were back
on, he then turned his attention back to
the fuel system.
“I didn’t like relying on two pumps
so I bought a big Magnafuel single, and
upgraded the injectors to 1600cc items.
I got the car back together and running,
took it down to JEM again and it managed 787rwhp! I was more than happy
with that and decided not to push it too
much before the Nats.”
On the way home, Leigh completed
his visitations to old buddies, and
stopped by to see Todd at Eastside as
the interior was “A bit plain for a Top 60
car.” Leigh left him with a few ideas and
t ll us he’d
h ’d wanted
t d to
t gett away from
f
tells
the plastic door handle and lock look.
“A friend, Dean, made me the fascia for
the dash and in went some Autometer
gauges, with Steve the sparky once again
helping with the wiring.”
With about three weeks before Summernats, Leigh had the car back at Darren’s so he could spend a few days buffing it to be ready for Canberra, and the
results that sit so utterly gorgeous on the
pages before you, is the very same mark
of pristine display that saw tremendous
praise within the Top 60 Elite Hall.
“Overall, the feedback in Canberra
was really good,” thanks Leigh. “I wasn’t
sure how it would go down there being
a 6-cylinder car with a colour so close to
original, but it made the Top 60, and that
was the plan.”
We got back from our
honeymoon and I decided
to tidy up the few things
I was unhappy with or
rushed with. At this
point, I wanted to take
the car to Summernats
and make the Top 60.”
Door trims
are where
the real su
b
bttle
tle
ettie
ie
es
hap
pp
pe
en
n, jju
us
stt ch
hec
ck
ko
ou
ut
some of
of tth
ho
o
os
se d
de
etta
e
ails
ai
iills
ls!
s!
NITTY-GRITTY
OWNER:
Leigh Kenney
MODEL:
1988 VL Calais Turbo
BODYWORK:
HDT Group A front bar, HDT LE side
skirts, HDT LE rear bar, HDT LE bobtail,
Group A grille, smoothed engine bay,
gloss black under body
COLOUR:
Custom metallic blue
ENGINE:
RB30 6-cylinder
BLOCK:
A8
ENGINE MODS:
O-ringed and decked block, line honed,
blueprinted, Rajab Racing H-beam rods,
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Arias pistons, Jap ring kit, Rajab Racing
camshaft, Rajab Racing valve springs, high
volume oil pump, Rajab Racing intake
manifold, Rajab Racing inlet plenum,
Rajab Racing fuel rail, GTX4294R turbo,
60mm Turbosmart wastegate, PWR aluminium 16in thermo and alloy fan shroud,
FPR2000 Turbosmart fuel pressure
regulator, 4L surge tank, -8AN fuel lines,
polished 12mm alloy hard fuel lines, ARP
head studs, ARP mains studs, race bearings, oil catch can, custom power steering
reservoir and braided lines, billet strut top
caps, billet master cylinder cover, billet
brake booster check valve, Magnafuel 625
ProStar EFI pump, Bosch 1600cc injectors,
MoTeC M84 ECU, HKS boost control, JEM
wiring, E85 fuel diet
c-coated
dump pipe into 3.5in ceramic-coated
exhaust, high flow cat, 3.5in muffler
GEARBOX:
R33 5-speed manual, DCS twin-plate clutch
DIFF:
VL Turbo BorgWarner LSD, 4.11:1 ratio,
28-spline axles, 2.5in two-piece tailshaft
BRAKES:
STEREO:
Sony head unit, Fusion amp, Fusion front
speakers, four Fusion 6in rear speakers
381mm discs with 6-piston Harrop calipers
(front), 356mm discs with 4-piston Harrop
calipers, custom-made brake hats (rear)
Owned 10 years
SUSPENSION:
COST:
King springs and Koni adjustable shocks
all-round, Nolathane adjustable front
strut tops
WHEELS/TYRES:
POWER:
787rwhp
Grey charcoal Simmons FR, 20x8in with
225/30/20 Kumho tyres (front), 20x8.5
with 235/30/20 Kumho tyres (rear)
EXHAUST:
INTERIOR:
6Boost manifold, ceramic-coated 4in
light grey and charcoal leather, trimmed
d
dash, suede roof lining, Autometer gauges,
Billet Specialties steering wheel, panelled
boot, custom gear knob and handbrake,
billet door handles, billet power window
switches, custom parcel shelf
VZ R8 front and custom VZ R8 rear seats,
BUILD PERIOD:
Who cares!
CONTACTS/THANKS:
Darren from Ace Paint and Panel, Todd at
Eastside Kustom Trim, Alan at Rajab Racing Developments, Adam and Dean from
Just Engine Management, Steve at Steve
Else Auto Electrics, Chubby at Lowe Fabrications, John Robertson, Dean Beattie,
and my wife Kyla for all her support
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