1998 Holden Commodore Ecomod journey

[baldlobo]

ok, don't know where some of you are coming up with aluminum cylinder heads; but the 3800 series(90 degree buick engine) as far as i know has only had a cast iron cylinder head unless you buy an aftermarket aluminum one, you might be thinking of the 3.1 and 3.4(60 degree chevy engine), completely different engines.

****ty plastic intakes yes

[bobo333]

Your right baldlobo, this motor has iron heads and block. The same design as the F body Firebirds and Camaros, mine doesnt have a plastic intake though, the intake is alloy on the Holden. The model after this was the new "Alloytec" DOHC V6 which was alloy block/heads and started in 2004 with a 3.6L

i have considered an engine swap once this one needs a rebuild, its still going fine at 168000 miles now though. i was looking at either rebuilding and turboing this one, getting the factory supercharged model, or swapping to something different like the 1UZFE toyota V8, i want something a with a bit more torque for hauling around the 3-400kgs of audio gear i have in it as well as occasional towing and up to 5 people in the car, obviously an LS1 would be a straightforward choice but with the extra battery, wiring and bigger alternator im running out of engine bay space

Us aussies like our big family sedans and wagons because everything is so far apart, driving from my city to the next main city is 8 hours of open country highways and a big comfy car soaks up road trips like a champ, the V8 ones are even better with a 6 speed gearbox instead of my 5 speed, they actually use less fuel at highway speeds

[Flakbadger]

Welcome back Bobo, glad to see you're back after your hiatus.

What happened to your LPG F100?

EDIT: P.S. your zombie theme is awesome.

[t vago]

If it's possible, keep the wider tires but go to a LRR set. They've been shown to reduce rolling resistance because they won't deflect as much under vehicle loading as narrower tires will, and my opinion is that any increase in Cd * A will be more than offset by the decrease in Crr * m.

[bobo333]

Thanks Flakbadger, I still have the F100 but it needs a bit of work and im now not allowed to drive V8, turbo/supercharged or "high performance" vehicles as i am back on a probationary license (Aussie licensing laws make no sense at all)

Il have to have a look what LRR tires are available in the size i need, im waiting for a tax refund before i can afford to get new tires, rear shocks, and a full service as well as a couple of bits for the inside, hopefully il get it in the next few weeks

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

It's really quite non-sense to enforce a restriction based on the presence of forced induction or the cylinders layout

Originally Posted by bobo333

i have considered an engine swap once this one needs a rebuild, its still going fine at 168000 miles now though. i was looking at either rebuilding and turboing this one, getting the factory supercharged model, or swapping to something different like the 1UZFE toyota V8, i want something a with a bit more torque for hauling around the 3-400kgs of audio gear i have in it as well as occasional towing and up to 5 people in the car, obviously an LS1 would be a straightforward choice but with the extra battery, wiring and bigger alternator im running out of engine bay space

Getting a supercharger would allow you to attempt the Miller-cycle in this engine. But if you'd ever fit a V8 into, for God's sake, don't get one with DOHC heads...

[bobo333]

It's really quite non-sense to enforce a restriction based on the presence of forced induction or the cylinders layout

Try telling that to the Australian government lol, for example i am allowed to drive the current model of this 1600kg wagon with a 210kw 3.6L V6 but i cant drive the previous model with a 180kw supercharged 3.8L V6, or the model before that with a 190kw 5L V8 because i am apparently too inexperienced...

in 2 years time on my 25th birthday however i will be allowed to drive whatever i please, no matter how much driving experience ive gained between now and then

[bobo333]

Hi guys,

Had my first fill up since getting the wagon back on the road the other day, the tank was a broad mix of city, Suburban and hills driving, in the city/burbs i used a combo of DWL and keeping an eye on when DFCO occurred using the factory instant fuel usage readout, in the hills i didnt pay much attention to the economy at all and drove in "fun mode" revving much higher and accelerating briskly between sharp corners which brought my tank average down to 20.22 MPG which i am quite happy with

A few eco mods and paying more attention to my driving should see this plummet quite easily. The car also needs a good service, after being off the road for nearly 2 years fresh fluids, filters and spark plugs are a must to get it running right again, as well as new tires as the ones i have are quite useless as far as grip goes and are too big so i get a bit of rubbing in some places

Today i started my first Ecomod, a flat floor/undertray!

First i found a sheet of coroplast in my workshop that wasnt being used anymore, then i tucked it under the lip at the bottom of my front bumper and measured the center before putting a couple of screws in to hold it in place, i then cut out sections to clear the wheels/suspension:


I used the offcuts to fill in the bits on either side of the bumper where the sheet wasnt wide enough to cover:


at the back i folded a couple of sections up and screwed them to the chassis rail to keep it from sagging:


at the front i poked holes in the bumper and coroplast and fixed them together with small cable ties:


the finished product, took around half an hour and cost me about 30 cable ties (maybe $1.00?)


it obviously helps having a hoist at my shop but the same thing could have been done on jackstands quite easily

i also got a couple of nice photos from a cruise on the weekend:




Thanks for looking

[bobo333]

I want to do a kill switch soon so i can enter/hold DFCO whenever i like, not just when the ECU thinks its ok, a few questions here:

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...-v6-27386.html

[bobo333]

Hi guys,

I ended up doing the injector kill by adding a bypass switch inline with the injector fuse, i mounted the switch under my thumb on the gear stick so its nice and easy to get to, check the thread in the post above for more details

Another tank down this week, i started my new job in the hills so most of the tank was driving through the hills, i was being more mindful of DWL and using the killswitch a lot this tank, as well as adding the front bellypan my average went up to 22.6mpg for the tank.

just after filling up i changed the oil to 15/40 full synth as well as new sparkplugs, fuel and oil filters

I have also started planning a rear carrier to get some of the stuff off the roof racks so i can work towards getting rid of the roof basket

Thanks for lookin