Numero XVII – VN Holden Commodore SS
Adult priorities suck!.. Unfortunately I had to part with my street/track Lancer Evo 6 to be able to afford a property for our young family. It’s well worth it of course, and it probably has increased my life a number of years!
It was about 2 years without a ‘toy’ car – I’m sure many of you have felt the urge within. The next car had to be somewhat of a ‘cruiser’, and hopefully one that will hold some sort of value. In Australia we’ve certainly noticed the Aussie ‘VN’ Commodore in SS trim have risen in market value dramatically over the last year. Some of this is attributed to the fact Holden have stopped making cars in Australia, and also the VN are reaching 30 years of age and getting rarer in numbers.
I kept my eye open for one for a while, and one popped up. After some negotiation I picked it up for a steal. It’s a long term project, needing pretty much everything.
It’s a 1991 Series 2 VN SS in Phoenix Red with the Power Pack options, so once restored this should be really enjoyable to cruise around in with the kids.
Sourced from Wikipedia, the Commodore SS was released in March 1989 and was the top of the range sports model of the VN Commodore range and was priced from A$25,375 when new. Its features (in addition to or replacing those of the S model) included:[12]
- 5.0-litre 165 kW (221 hp) V8 engine
- Limited Slip Differential
- TH700 Automatic or T5 manual transmission
- Driving lights
- FE2 sports suspension
- Body kit including front & rear bumper lip, side skirts, boot lip spoiler
- SS decals and striping
- SS interior fabrics incorporating a grey/red checker design
- Unique SS alloy wheels
Optionals included:[13]
- Air conditioning
- Holden Formula Bodykit
- Power Pack which incorporated:
- Front and rear power windows
- Power antenna
- Power mirrors
- Cruise control (Automatic only)
Colours available:
- Atlas Grey
- Phoenix Red
- Alpine White (available later in the VN lifespan).
As mentioned, my example was pretty rough, so I knew I was up for a ground up rebuild project.
With some helping hands, we stripped the entire thing.
And sent it off to Meltham Motors in Perth for a full inside and out repsray in the original Phoenix Metallic Red.
Over the moon with how it’s turned out and can’t thank the team at Meltham Motors enough.
Once it got home I began repainting all the interior trim in the original Holden 16i grey color, and replacing the cracked dashpad with a perfect one. I wouldn’t recommend removing and replacing a dash… nightmare!
Got some better door trims, but still repainted using Holden 16i grey vinyl dye.
Did a little sound deadening work
Getting there…
The power windows are giving me a bit of grief, so until I sort those we pulled the rear axle out and sent it away to fit a helical style Torque-Lock Limited Slip Diff together with some 3.46 ratio gears (coming from 3.08) for some added acceleration around town.
The Torqueline Torque-Lock helical LSD:
Put in some new FE2 height King Springs and Monroe GT Gas shocks, new bushes, and painted all components in epoxy black
Removed the K frame, fitted new bushes and repainted in subframe black. Then started assembling the brake lines, wiring etc
I then had the new LSD centre installed into the diff, and with the help of a mate we installed it all back in with everything painted up and new bushes etc
After this I rebuilt the Holden VT twin piston front calipers and the standard VN rear calipers, painted them and fitted with new discs & pads. Ready to roll!
The original VN SS wheels have been painted!
Tank painted silver with black straps
Motor build:
I completely tore down the original VN motor to bare block with the intention of rebuilding, then after comparing between a rebuild and an LS conversion I decided I would buy an LS conversion kit and an LS… then changed my mind like a woman and decided to shelve both and bought a complete VT motor that I’m going to go all out on instead and build a 355 stroker. The VT is a great base to build from as it is a factory roller lifter block, and is also somewhat stroker kit clearanced. Iron Lion life baby!
The internals of the VT block were incredibly clean
After doing some research a ~450hp motor is acheivable when stroking the motor from it’s 5L (304cu in) to 5.7L (355cu in)
So I started peicing together all the parts and have had built:
VT 304 Roller Block as base
Scat 9000 355cu Stroker crank & 6″ Scat Pro I Beam rods with ARP caps
Mahle Motorsport 0.30 flat top forged pistons
Well ported VN heads with 2.02″ / 1.6″ valves, Crow Cam double springs, machined for 7/16 studs & roller rockers
Cometic MLS head gaskets
11:1 C/R
Crane 888261 Hydraulic Roller Cam 234/238 duration, .574/584 lift
Crane Gold Race Roller Rockers
4 Bolt mains caps
Morel/Crow 5208H tie bar roller lifters
ASR sump
Still to do:
_Measure pushrod length
_Lots
Watch this space..
Loved your Cordia posts brate, have they gotten rare in Aussieland?
Hey Faris, thanks they are super rare now – never see anymore. Probably all filled with rust and wrecked 😦 Where are you from, do you still see them?