Commodore Picture Archives

Ron's first Commodore was a VK Director, but he sold it in a moment of madness and bought a 4WD. The changeover didn't really thrill Ron, but his daughter was the one who finally brought him to his senses and convinced him to buy the SV '89.

This car was built as part of a limited run of 200 vehicles, all of which had been pre-sold to dealers before production was complete. The SV '89 was the first model released by HSV to be fitted with the Holden production fuel injected V8, and this has proved to be the main attraction of the car. Producing 180 kW of power and 400 Nm of torque, this car provided the same power at lower revs and more torque than the well known VL Group A. The standard Holden motors were given a set of 2~/2 in extractors and a 3in big bore exhaust system to cope with the greater volume of air and fuel they intended to feed into the machine. The single throttle body and inlet manifold were retained, with a high capacity air filter and cold air intake being added to assist breathing.

The HSV engineers incorporated a knock sensor into the engine management system to make allowances for Iow octane unleaded fuel and also recalibrated the system to make the most of the engine's free breathing characteristics. Ron Svechheimers has gone one step further with a performance chip which he reckons gives him 200 kW and 410 Nm of torque. The computer chip alone wasn't responsible for the power increase, with the HSV workshop being given the job of rebuilding the motor to SV 5000 specs.

The 4.987 l V8 has had flat top Group A pistons installed raising the compression ratio from 8.4:1 to 9:1. A Group A crankshaft and A9L con-rods run on heavy duty tri-metal F770 bearings to complete the bottom end. The timing gears are driven by a twin row chain and the inlet and exhaust valves are from the SV 5000 parts list. Coupled with modifications to the throttle body, Ron has picked up over 10 percent more horsepower than the car had when he bought it new in 1989.

This car is equipped with the Turbo Hydramatic 700 transmission. HSV took these automatic gearboxes and revised the shift points to suit the power delivery of their tweaked motor before re-installing them. The drive shaft runs back to a limited slip 3.08:1 diff and live axle arrangement. The Holden live axle configuration has long been criticised for it's power delivery on anything but the smoothest of road surfaces, but a considerable amount of suspension development on the SV 89 was seen as providing an acceptable compromise between production costs and performance.

The VNs as delivered from GMH were fitted with the FE2 suspension kit, but the HSV workshop took the handling package even further. Progressive rate coils on the front firmed-up the ride while also lowering the car. The strut mounts were modified and Macpherson gas shocks were installed along with a 26 mm anti-roll bar. The rear end also saw the same sort of treatment with revised springs and struts and a strengthened pan hard rod. Rear brakes are solid 279 mm discs while the front end uses 289 mm discs and finned alloy callipers. HSV chose ROH wheels from South Australia once again to grace the V8, and the 16 x 7in rims on Ron's car now run on Pirelli 205x55s.

The external styling of the SV '89 was kept pretty Iow key in comparison to some of Notting Hill's previous efforts. The front air dam and grill are replaced with HSV units, as is the standard rear bumper assembly. Side skids and rear spoiler are discreet to say the least, but it was never intended to be a race car generating serious down forces on the road. The whole run of 200 cars was painted in Alpine white and the reserved exterior package was complete.