Turbo VN

[Adrenaline]

Just a question, do you think it would be worth it to turbo my vn v6 if so what kind of power outputs would be expected and how $$ will it cost, i have an idea it will be 5g or over, but then again im not a turbo expert

[NinetySix]

im tipping it wouldnt be real cheap if you took it into a performance shop and said "yo, turbo my VN uleh!" rather than buying all the bits you need and fitting them up/getting them fitted..

you would most likely need to have the motor freshened up, built for the right compression ratio with some stronger bits would be the go.

might be better off to use a big single rather than twin smaller turbos ... there are some manifold kits floating around, i think CAPA make them not sure... but some of them ive seen run a single turbo off only one side of the engine, with the other side just blowing through a single header... now that would be GAY!

gearbox would definately need upgrading too, auto or manual as there would be a substantial torque difference, and the diff would probably need freshening too.

lets not forget an ECU to control it all and a suitable big fuel system.


power can be as high as you can afford to go, they have been turbo'ing buick V6's in the states for years and 1500hp+ isnt impossible.

a $5000 drive in-drive out turbo setup would probably not include rebuilt internals with a turbo friendly compression ratio, and your gearbox and diff would/could/will:p die soon after..

for the power levels such a setup would give, it would almost not be worth it ... probably better to spend that 5k on getting it to run good n/a or even sell the car and put that 5k towards something faster to begin with..

i think a budget of around 10k would be more realistic for something that would dine on V8's and hold together well :cool:


might be best to ring around some workshops to see if they have any experience in it and can give you some $$ figures, and look around to see whats been done before in terms of commo V6 turbos

[spiv]

Try the following link below it offers three stages for the Holden v6.

Just remember that when you power up with forced industion you will need to seriously consider upgrading the whole package i.e. tyres, brakes, suspension etc to make it a complete and safe package. This is what is often forgotten and where the money adds up.

http://www.commsport.com.au/category22_1.htm

[CarlFST60L]

For 5g, unless your doing it yourself, IMHO you'll just be making an unreliable modified turbo car, especially if you drive it hard...

[HSV,_I_GOT_ONE]

I'm no expert but wouldnt it just be cheaper and easier just to drop in a supercharged ecotec in? Also I'm sure there are a few supercharger kits that are readily available for VN V6 motors anyway. If you want boost that would be the direction I would be looking at.

[RamRod]

Go have a look at the V6 section in the street commodores forum, there are bulk people who have turbo'ed their buick and ecotec v6's.

[NinetySix]

exactly, if you did most of it yourself you could probably scrape in with a fairly tough motor for 5k but i doubt that would allow you to upgrade the driveline and handling+braking ..


not sure how much supercharged ecotec's go for, but i dont think they would represent very good value for money... the blower thats on them is pretty pissweak tho they certainly go pretty good with a bigger blower or a chunky turbo(s) strapped on...

i think at this stage the best mods you could do for 5k would be to either sell your car and put that 5k towards a better, faster car .... or get some n/a mods done, you can take the V6 pretty far without any blower or turbo

[Adrenaline]

Thanks guys, for a first ride it goes allright for stock, my uncle has a vn ss with lowered diff gears, bigger injecters, 19in mags cold air intake and it goes hard. i was talkin to him and he said to just buy his and u will beet most wanna bees in town he wants 7500 for that and i know id get 3500 to 4000 for mine cause its in good nick 158000km on it but i dunoo what to do, i think to save the pennys is the way to go and save for something newer and goes harder

[NinetySix]

your uncles SS sounds to be in pretty good nick and would go nicely... and if you spent a little extra on that it could go as fast as you want to... just do lotsa research first!

[onezero]

F.I.T. make manifolds for both the Ecotec and Buick3800 motors for a single turbo setup. 'Drive-in Drive-out' prices would be around the $9K mark for all new parts, tuning and labor (t3/t4 turbo, intercooled, fuel pump, injectors, etc).

There's a VR wagon making 300rwhp (can't remember the boost level) with a stock motor, and gearbox (M5) in WA with this setup and saw him do 13.3-13.4 last week. FIT's own VT makes 440rwhp @ 21psi and does 11.6 on slicks (with wheelspin) at 16psi - once again, stocko motor and gearbox (A4).

Intercooled Vortech setups are good for ~300rwhp @ ~10psi and would set you back about $8-9k. Water spray cooled Powerdyne setups will achieve ~230-250rwhp @ 9psi (the maximum for the blower) and will be about $6-7k. Both prices being 'Drive-in Drive-out'.

The CommSport manifolds are for only a single bank - so you've got a turbo running off 3 cylinders... and it's not meant for a twin-turbo setup either. Just a bit dodgy.

Whatever you decide to do - do it properly the first time around. Otherwise it'll cost you a lot more in the end.

Hope this helps.

[XLR8 V8]

Thanks guys, for a first ride it goes allright for stock, my uncle has a vn ss with lowered diff gears, bigger injecters, 19in mags cold air intake and it goes hard. i was talkin to him and he said to just buy his and u will beet most wanna bees in town he wants 7500 for that and i know id get 3500 to 4000 for mine cause its in good nick 158000km on it but i dunoo what to do, i think to save the pennys is the way to go and save for something newer and goes harder

For a stock VN V6 (exec?) with 158000km, you'd be VERY hard pressed to get $3500-$4000 for it, no matter what condition it's in. If it's running fine atm, I'd hold onto it and save your pennies a little longer for something better -Your uncle's SS is getting on a bit in years now too, and a VR/VS SS can be had for low $10K

[Chris52]

I'm no expert but wouldnt it just be cheaper and easier just to drop in a supercharged ecotec in? Also I'm sure there are a few supercharger kits that are readily available for VN V6 motors anyway. If you want boost that would be the direction I would be looking at.


What he said.

[NinetySix]

if you have an attachment to the car and would love to see it go faster, then go for it

just stay well clear of "drive in drive out" packages as they will bend you over and extract every dollar they can via your rectum :eek:


big single or twins, and nothing else... running a turbo off 1.9L of engine to supply 3.8L of engine is just gay.

and so are centrifugal blowers :p just cant beat the torque delivery of a turbo of a good positive displacement blower


no matter what you do if you go ahead with forcing air into your buick, it'll be silly not to give it a freshen up... im not familiar with which parts of a buick v6 go bang at a certain RPM/HP point, but im sure somebody else would be :) a good ~8.0:1 compression ratio would be ideal too ... the rest is easy

[blownvn]

I guess I should have some input into this thread seeing that I have a turbocharged V6 VN commodore.

You can do this two ways (actually there is more but lets no confuse things):


*You can do it on the cheap, using the stock VN headers cut and redirected into a single exhaust (you must merge both banks together) and feed this into an internal wastegate turbo. If you do this on a stock engine you don't want to run the boost over 7-9psi with an intercooler if you want the engine to last a while but it will make good power if tuned by a competent tuner which is probably the most important part of the equation. At the end of the day you could make decent power (270-280rwhp) and have alot of fun but it still has to be done with some common sense

*The other way is to make up some turbo headers or just buy a set from FIT which is the easiest way, and build the motor up to handle a bit of extra boost with a set of decents heads and cam. I built my engine up at home using ACL race series pistons (used the whole ACL race series kit), and ARP main stud and rod bolt kits, but we kept the standard crank and rods. The heads were mildly ported but we have kept the factory valves and just used aftermarket springs.
Probably the most important bit was the camshaft which we had made custom by crow cams, it is 234/240 at 50-thou and around 530/540 lift with 112 degree lobe separation. It's more of a blower grind than a turbo grind but it works well enough. Until recently the turbo was just a high flowed T03/T04E unit that was capable of 430hp and used a internal wastegate.
A nice simple set-up that didn't cost a million bucks and made very good power for the dollars invested.

So what does it run and what power does it make?

Well at 10.5psi it made 241.7rwkw (323rwhp) on the dyno and ran 12.0 at 113mph at the track on slicks. With 11psi boost it actually ran 11.9 at 114.7mph on slicks (it also ran 12.1 on Nitto NT555 street tyres at this setting). All this with a standard bearing turbo which was maxxed out and and way out of it's efficiency range (11psi was the most we could maintain). Recently we killed the turbo through running it way out of it's intended range and so now we've got a roller bearing turbo which will be capable of up to 600hp and this will allow us to wind up the boost a bit and see what we can really get out of this car. I'm not after 600hp out of it but I think it will be able to realise 400hp out of it at the rear wheels.


What did it cost? Well at retail prices it cost just under $15,000 for the whole car. Remember that the engine is only part of the equation, we have a VL turbo diff in the rear and a 3000rpm Dominator converter and Full Manual Turbo 700 from Craig's Automatics. The car has done over 230 passes in total and over 130 passes on the built bottom end.

http://www.realper4mance.com/events/wsid_17112004/wsid_17112004_046.jpg

http://www.realper4mance.com/events/wsid_17112004/wsid_17112004_115.jpg

http://www.realper4mance.com/events/wsid_24112004/wsid_24112004_178.jpg

[NinetySix]

nice :cool:

have you run the roller bearing turbo on it yet? what kinda RPM's do you get full boost?

with 3.8L of engine you can spool up a huge turbo with bugger all lag, just like a XR6T ... i would definately go with a big turbo, as a T3/4 would probably end up choking the thing

hmm...GT30? :D

[blownvn]

Yeah the new turbo is based off a GT30 core but I was running around today trying to find water fitting for the core which I didn't need previously. I haven't finished fitting the Ball Bearing turbo yet but I'll be finished tomorrow and we'll see how much better it is then.
The old standard bearing hybrid used to start boosting at around 2600-2700 and have full boost by around 3400-3500rpm.
At the drags I can get it up to 3300rpm on the converter and then it will just power away from the line whether I'm ready or not which can be a little embarrassing if you're leaving the line with the front brakes locked and the handbrake pulled on. :eek: :lol:

I reckon with 15psi on board we'll see around 400hp at the rear wheels and ET's in the 11.3's or so. :eek: :D