Turbo Charging A Commodore

[Freddy Kruger]

a company designed a single turbo kit for the ls1... first run was a 10sec and cant run again till they put a roll cage in lol. there is also a twin turbo VS thats runs 9s.

anyone know v6 vengence? that was done on the cheap and it runs high 11s.

for VS, VT, VX V6s, rebuildin the engine with stonger internals are almost a must. anything above 8psi or so things turn more to luck than anything

get on the commodore forums and go from there.

Edited October 26, 2006 by Freddy Kruger

[SECURITY]

wack on a supercharger instead.

im sure theres more support for this for v6 and v8 holdens... plus theres alot less stuffing around.

[discopotato03]

If your really are serious the Supercharged Buick based V6 would be a good start . As is usually the case it had lots of detail changes to make it reliable with forced induction .

In America the Buick Grand National (GN) is a popular car to play with for some and there are lots of bits produced for them in the aftermarket . On the face of it 3.8 litres would probably be fine turbocharged as its 1.5 times the size of an RB25 so would not need to be in a very high state of tune to make fair torque . The USDM version was 4.1 litres from memory so the more the merrier .

At the risk of sounding like a walking advertisment for GCG , Brett said a while back that he was thinking of producing a kit for V6 Commode Doors based on the GT3582R so you could ask him .

Cheers A .

[James_03]

you much better off looking into a paxton/vortech head unit with some custom mounts and supercharging.

Much easier than getting custom exh manifolds made and f**king around getting a twin down pipe system to work. Not too mention turbo water/oil provisions etc.

[The Mafia]

http://www.raptorsc.com.au/

talk to this guy - I know him quite well, and he knows his shit.

[Dingo]

I was only asking out of curiosity, I dont personally have a Commodore, chill people chill.

Thanks for your help anyhow

Edited October 27, 2006 by Dingo

[sinistaGTR]

haha rofl i think you would have expected this response but lol.

[Busky2k]

Stuff turbocharging that Buick. I'd probably use a nice 100hp NOS shot instead. Cheaper, just as illegal and would probably work as good.

[Trav33]

You want to put a Turbo on a Commodore? Easy! Why not install two!

Edited October 28, 2006 by travb81

[Morgs]

Haha, yeah I find it pretty ironic

i would hardly say it works out crap...

sometimes people on here are quick to diss anything which isnt a skyline.. which is pretty funny when a lot of people are driving stockish 33's

[MBS206]

http://www.raptorsc.com.au/

talk to this guy - I know him quite well, and he knows his shit.

No, they're complete and utter shit.

Get on Street Commodores, or Just Commodores.

The guys who are running those superchargers are getting some impressive figures on the dyno. But not ONE of them, can run a decent time. Guys with a tricked auto, cams, and exhaust, are running quicker times.

Those superchargers are absolute rubbish, power is WAY too high up in the rev range ABSOLUTELY USELESS power in other words.

As for turbo charging the Buick, VN - VR, beautiful engine for it. With a compression ratio of 8.5:1 they love some boost.

Snort performance are selling bolt on kits for $5000 (Haven't yet seen them used overly as they're a new kit), with everything required, except the retune (Injectors, manifolds, turbos the lot) (There are also a few other places starting to make kits, for the same price and same pieces)

The VS - VY engine is a bit of a different fish. Whilst still based on the same design. A lighter weight material was used to build it, and it also sits basically, at the minimum specs that it can. Hence, it is quite well known to punch a whole in the block at 12PSi. Whilst it's earlier buick 3.8L will run for a year or two on 12PSi without showing a single issue.

With just a bolt on turbo kit, and running 12PSi down the throat of a buick, for $5000, you're going to be expecting around 200RWKW.

When you get bored there, pull the heads off have them high flowed and ported, get a good size cam, and then send the intake manifold away to be smoother out. Whilst the heads are off, and cam is being done, upgrade the valve springs, seats, retainers.

In the end, around $8000 with turbo kit, and top of the engine done, and you're going to be up near 300RWKW.

Now, I currently own a VR V6 Commodore, (Hence, I know ALOT about them, I grew up with them) but I worked it out, VR Commodore, worth around $5000 at max, add $8000 to be pushing up at around a max of 300RWKW, with the bottom of the motor still standard (So a touch stressed) you've just spent $13 000. You still have standard crappy brakes, boat like suspension, and standard gearbox. Gearbox isn't such an issue with a manual (Clutch might be) but for an auto, it will be. So factor in another $2000 (MAX) there for a good shift kit, and heavy duty bands and clutches in the auto. But, now your car goes in a straight line, but won't turn.

Now go and have a look in the for sale section at the price of R33 S1 Skylines. Same vintage car basically, (Touch newer). For a stocker, you may only be making 130-140RWKW, but the suspension is far superior, the brakes 10times better. And 200RWKW is only a FMIC, exhaust, boost controller and tune away.

And hence, you can now figure out why my VR is for sale, and parked on the front road, whilst my R33 is now in the garage.

Whilst a commodore can be made to go hella quick in a straight line, for not overly huge dollars in my opinion, you still have other limitations. The Commodore was built on a "family car budget" and hence, pieces in the drive line are NOT tricked up, and WILL need upgrading.

No matter what you do to the Commodore, it will ALWAYS be a family car.

But, for a simple answer, turbo kits start at $5 000, and then you need to start to fix things up as they break.

[sinistaGTR]

^^^^^ heard it from someone thats done it and no offence mbs206 learnt a very valuable lesson.

[ctjet]

You want to put a Turbo on a Commodore? Easy! Why not install two!

[StuiE]

Could get a VL engine crossmember, then fit any RB engine, for a VT/X you would need a RB25DET NEO or R34 RB26 as the engine is the same age as the car, not older.

For a VN you *should* be legally (for the age anyway) allowed to fit any RB engine

[Cubes]

You want to put a Turbo on a Commodore? Easy! Why not install two!

That dyno figure was fudged.

For one look at the IT temp.

[Rolls]

That dyno figure was fudged.

For one look at the IT temp.

Maybe they dynoed it inside a massive oven, did you think of that?

Edited October 28, 2006 by Rolls

[Cubes]

Maybe they dynoed it inside a massive oven, did you think of that?

It did cross my mind they may have dyno'd in a heated spray booth.

[MBS206]

Could get a VL engine crossmember, then fit any RB engine, for a VT/X you would need a RB25DET NEO or R34 RB26 as the engine is the same age as the car, not older.

For a VN you *should* be legally (for the age anyway) allowed to fit any RB engine

GAH! Bullcrap and rubbish!

You can fit any engine, to any car legally.

Where the problem lies, is you need to get the engines emmissions up to which ever is newer.

Hence, if you have an old school engine from a 1970s car, and drop it in a 2000 model car, you must get your old school engine, upto the emmission standards that were in place in 2000.

Hence, many people say you can't drop an old engine in a new car, as it's much easier to put a newer engine in, and KNOW it will meet the emmisions since emmisions get tighter and tighter each year.

Also, the engine bay in a VN/VP is actually setup for an RB25DET. Holden were originally going to run it, but as a last split second decision, dropped that idea and ran with the 3.8L Buick.

It was that much of a split decision, VN Series 1 engines, still have bits and pieces that are tell tale signs the engine was designed for a FWD (Came out of a Buick FWD...) (Tell tale signs are locations of hoses, sensors, thermostat, etc)

[Alf]

Could get a VL engine crossmember, then fit any RB engine, for a VT/X you would need a RB25DET NEO or R34 RB26 as the engine is the same age as the car, not older.

A VL crossmember will only fit into models up to and including VS.

Holden were originally going to run it, but as a last split second decision, dropped that idea and ran with the 3.8L Buick.

I hope the commodore forums dont spot the above comment, it will make this forum look nearly as bad as theirs.

Holden dropped a V6 buick in a late VL for testing purposes for the VN, an RB25det was never on the books.

[MBS206]

A VL crossmember will only fit into models up to and including VS.

I hope the commodore forums dont spot the above comment, it will make this forum look nearly as bad as theirs.

Holden dropped a V6 buick in a late VL for testing purposes for the VN, an RB25det was never on the books.

Since I've actually come from the SC and JC forums (From when I was going to do my Commodore up) I actually picked that nice bit of information up on Street Commodores.

The V6 was a very last minute decision.

Hence, why when holden got some more time (Between S1 and S2) they managed to change the engine design around a little bit.

It isn't known by many, but there is technically 3 series of VN. Unfortunately, the first two series of VN, are classed as a Series one.

The first was released. It was an absolute torque monster down low. Holden realised this after many complaints of people loosing traction. They quickly changed the head and cam design and changed the tune again, this is basically the "series 2", but is not recognised as an actual series.

For my VR, I would have loved the VN S1 early model Cam and heads (And yes, they do bolt on although many people don't beleive it)