Hi all first ever post on here about my build.

First off I'm in Australia so things are a bit different here to the USA on what we can and can't do with engine vs car size weight.
The engine of choice for for this build is a alloy 5.7 LS1
I'm taking the driveline from what we call a 2004 vy adventra similar to the USA Tahoe awd driveline I think. (I might be wrong).
It's a Ls1 5.7 346 engine and 4l65e awd gearbox so 4 speed automatic box.
I've fitted it into a 1976 LX hatchback torana. 1250KG. Down from the Adventra 1985kg weight.

If I had enough coin I would buy a 6.0 bottom end but they are rather expensive here for just a block you are looking at anywhere upto $4000.

So staying with the 5.7 block and aiming for 400 awd hp around 600 to 650hp at the flywheel.
On race gas or turbo charged this would be quite easily achievable but our rules for vehicles are very different to the USA so those options are out of the question. Dam fun police.🤣🤣

So the engine has to stay N/A and be drive able on the street at as low as 40k's in our school zones appoxmently 25mph.
Also the GM Holden 2004 vy adventra computer system has to stay in tacked for the system to all work and not shut the engine down into limp mode.

Yes it can be dyno tuned and flashed with new tune but the system has to have all the abs traction control and other electrics left in place.

So now that im done with the boring stuff here is the list of engine components ive selected for the build.

Factory ls1 alloy block fully machined to suit build and zero deck height.
Factory crank with all the bells and whistles done.
6.3 inch Callies comp star connecting rods.
DSS forged 3.903 6cc dome top pistons with 1.115 pin height.
.040 head gasket.
Gen X 215 race cnc ported heads with 64cc chamber topped with a Holley mid rise 4150 single plane inlet manifold with a 2 inch spacer to help with low speed torque by increasing runner length.
The throttle body is a 1000cfm 4bbl unit.
600cc injectors fed by -6 fuel lines and intank walbro fuel pump.
Exhaust headers are custom made 1 7/8 4 into 1 equial length 32 inch headers to 3 1/2 collectors.
Exhaust system is a dual 3 inch system with 100 cel cats large volume x pipe and race style mufflers.

Cam is a comp cams hydraulic roller 227 235 113+4 so 109 inlet and 117 exhaust lsa.
Comp cams valve springs to suit cam.
Johnson short travel tie bar hydraulic roller lifters.
going over kill on rocker arms with Jisel shaft mount rockers so no problems with how harsh this cam/springs combo are on valve train and 7200rpm rev limit.
Full ARP stud kit top and bottom.
static compression is 11.78 to 1.
Dynamic compression ratio is 9.1 to 1 or 194psi according to online calculators.
Only draw back is the octane of fuel being used.
here in Australia we have what we call pump 98 octane that is the equivalent to 93 octane in the USA.
yes we have E85 but I don't want to use it as the car could sit for weeks at a time.
I have to stay with the stock converter lock up of 1850rpm or the system will have a melt down with rpm speed vs wheel speed sensors. Plus being a street car/show car it has a great rpm range of 1900 to 7000rpm. Big wide power curve. Perfect for the street and not a pig pushing at a set of traffic lights.

What is everyone's thoughts on this combo. Do you think it will make my hp goals or be a big failure. 🤔🤔🤔

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

First thought: The cam is way too small for your power goals and desired RPM range. My old SBE LS1 with CNC ported factory heads and a FAST intake was running a 228/232 with a 111 LSA, and I was peaking out around 6500. I'd be looking for something in the mid 230's on the intake side. Second thought: Single plane intakes are useless on the street. The spacer isn't going to help. You will be killing your low to midrange torque, and by the time the manifold starts showing gains, you'll be out of cam. There are MANY dyno tests proving that single planes are not a good choice for street cars if you want to have a fun to drive combination. Unless you're only concerned with 5500-8500, get rid of the single plane. Also: You are not getting 600-650 HP out of an LS1 unless you're looking for peak power at the aforementioned 8500 RPM range, and that's going to take a huge cam, way bigger heads, and an even bigger single plane intake. Just from what I see, your parts choices and desired power/rpm are in conflict with each other. This is where you have to start doing research to decide what is really best.

 

The cam rpm range is 1900 to 7000rpm plus so it's fine for the street and intended use.
As for the single plane intake manifold. Ive ran single plane intake manifolds before with carby setups on the street and they work just fine if set up correctl.
Last one was on a GMH 308 stroked out to 355 cubic inch engine. 3.48 stroke and 4.030 bore that ran 11 to 1 static compression and 8.94 to 1 dynamic compression ratio with a single plane inlet manifold that is know as a hiwinder inlet manifold here in Australia. That comb had enough torque at low rpm that at 40k's per hour roughly 25mph I could drive in 4th gear with 3.08 diff gears and 24" tyres and exccellerate to Max speed 160mph without changing gears to bring rpm up higher. By slowly applying throttle over 400 meters.
yes it was a well built engine and had a slight bigger cam than what I'm planning to use in this engine.
If I don't get 400awhp than so be it. It's just a target I've set myself that's all.

 

Aussie here and LS1 owner as well as a former Aussie 304 / 355 owner. As stated, I would not run a single plane manifold on an LS for the street, even in a light weight Torana. A 355 is nothing like an LS1 and it would lose way too much under the curve. However, your car of course. I also agree, you won't see those power figures with that combo.

Can you clarify your use of AWD in a Torana? Are you just taking the motor and gearbox from an Adventra? So, still just an LS1 and a 4L65e with RWD? Or are you doing a wild conversion with the lot? So actually building an AWD Torana!?

 

Ive taken the whole drive line from an adventra and fitted it to a lx hatchback torana.
all the front seats dash air con adventra struts and k frame. Gearbox tunnel cross 8 crewman diff to have the 3.46 ratio rear diff. ABS traction control all the electrics complete wiring harness from adventra you name it. If you are on torana whisper on Facebook you can find it on there.

 

Oh wow! Awesome! You win the internet today, sir! It's a shame you can't turbo such a combo. A 9 second car in full street trim for sure. I knew someone with an HSV Coupe 4 with a turbo and it was a true street trim 10 second car back in the mid 2000s and they're heavy suckers!

 

I wish I could turbo it. Would be so much easier to make the hp.
I already own another torana that runs a turbo 6. It's a lc gtr with a rb25 30 neo engine with 5 speed box that makes 630rwhp and is capable of sub 10 seconds 1/4 miles.
I'm new to ls engines and this is the first one I've played with so don't know much about the ecu side of it with the adventra.
But holden made them in such a way you can't delete anything in the system as it puts the car into limp mode.
So I've had to use the whole system from the Adventra.

 

Here's some photos of the conversion also the metal work and my custom made 4 into 1 headers ive made. Over 100 hours in and not much left to do before i disassemble it for paint.

 

Sorry, I just meant true 10 second street car. Obviously there's lots of 10 second cars around but what impressed me was this was a straight drive off the street and run a 10 car. No tyre change, dropped exhaust weight stripped etc. It was just a standard luxury Coupe 4 with the engine mods and gearbox upgrade and I can assure you it was just as fast on the street. Only thing I could compare it to was my mates 10 second Nissan GTR. Nowadays, there's even factory 10 second RWD cars but back then, this Coupe 4 was very impressive.

I'm not following you on your engine management points. I don't think that's true? I think you can disable nearly anything on our cars with the right tuning software? Who is your tuner?

 

Very impressive!

 

There is currently over 50 different builds happening around Australia that are trying to use the adventra driveline.
When they have removed things out of the system it puts them into limp mode and cuts power output from the engine. Limp mode.

 

How do you mean, remove things out of the system? It's not like the older Holden's where you can just change stuff without tuning the computer to compensate. That's why I asked who was tuning it.

If specifically talking about the Traction control etc, I don't think you can turn those off as from memory they're part of how the AWD system works. Adventra system is not like a traditional 4WD. However, I know with my car, when it was tuned, I had the traction control adjusted so that it's way less intrusive. I can actually launch it on the street without it kicking in.

Still, when tuned, as per the Coupe 4 I mentioned, the Adventra AWD system can run the times. A good tuner is needed though.

 

Yes they can and there is one in Sydney that has 900 hp and is extremely quick.
no idea what sort of money he has spent on the motor and box but it would definitely be way up there.
The key factor is finding a good tuner who know what they are doing.
I've only ever found one with rb stuff before and he only works with certain ecu's now and nothing else.
so only time will tell with that department for this build. I kèp me ear out and watch all the Facebook pages to see who is doing what.
I was extremely surprised when I spoke with KRE Racing Engines that they had bugger all experience with high compression N/A LS 5.7 engines.
Considering they build the engines for v8 supercars here in Australia.
I've spoken to Hi Torque and they haven't build an engine anything like what I'm building so they couldn't answer any questions either.
So hard in Australia to find anyone who knows anything except put a set of heads and cam or turbo it's
Really frustrating.

 

I'm in Sydney, we have lots of good tuners. For example, Dale at Castle Hill Performance is very good. Chris at Russo Performance too. Sam's Performance also is very experienced. I know that Sonny from Autowerks built the 10 second Coupe 4 AWD I mentioned back in the mid 2000s. Scott from Haltech may have tuned one of these too but I doubt you could use him.

My old 355 was tuned by Injection Perfection, they were very good. I had it re tuned by Silverwater Automotive, not a good tune... The guys who tuned my two RB Turbos are long gone.

 

I was thinking about the Adventra traction system. With the front and rear open diffs on the Adventra, when one wheel loses traction that wheel is braked and the drive transferred through the open diff to the other side of the car. I think this is controlled by the bosch ABS system? Is that system ultimately controlled via the ECU? Or standalone? I would imagine if any of these sensors/ ABS / traction control were not available, it would not work at all and go into limp mode as you described.

A long way from the usual LS into Torana / early Monaro / Commodore, where when tuning, they just turn all of this off in the ECU. Since it's RWD and not needed. Very simple in those cars. Although, often they run a Haltech anyway.

There's a guy on the LS1.com.au forums, IJ is his user name from memory. He put an Adventra drive train into a CV8 Monaro. He may be able to help you. I guess most shops won't just give out information over the phone anyway. It's really their IP. ​​​​

 

Im in Brisbane and the quality of dyno tuners here is very hit and miss.

 

I see. I would try and speak to IJ on the LS1.com.au, purely because I think that the CV8 he converted to AWD was a heads and cam 5.7 LS1. May offer you some info. Good luck.

 

the head and cam package is just a dyno tune the rest of the system is the problem.
But even then the ls1 can be difficult for majority of tuners if you try to run a 107 or 108 LSA cam. I've had to settle with a 113lsa cam as I couldn't find anyone in Brisbane who said they could 100% tune the engine with that sort of cam.
As the ls1 really benefits from a tighter LSA cam.

 

Yeah, but the point is not that he built a heads and cam CV8, he built and Adventra AWD Heads and Cam CV8 Monaro (not a Coupe 4, he built it off an Adventra platform). What you're trying to do with your Torana.

I've been playing with LS engines for over 2 decades and never heard that about LSA. In fact, LSA means nothing on its own. It's the actual cam events that matter. You'll find thousands of LS1s in Aus running less than 113 lsa too (inc me). I don't know why that would be an issue for any tuner. 108 on a big cam is getting there (lots of overlap!), but still no issue for a component tuner. I don't see the correlation with the AWD system here? It's still an LS engine/ gearbox? That combo can be tuned for sure in a regular LS1 What's the issue you think?
​​​​​

 

it's just what I've been told by a couple of dyno tuners. They say it plays having with the knock sensors.
They say it's why cam manufacturers only stock majority of cams with a 12 or higher LSA.
The tighter lsa would help bottom end torque and wake it up a lot more.
but I'll just have to stick with the 113lsa until someone actually learns how to dyno tune properly in Brisbane.