Commodore Picture Archives

The result was exactly what the doctor ordered in a complete VN Group A body kit and the car painted in Spies Hecker Diamond Black. With the ball rolling Sorin's eyes focused on the appropriate wheels; 17x8" VN Group A rims clad in 235/40 and 245/40 Michelin Pilot rubber.

"It looked bloody sensational except the ride height was too high." The next and most obvious step was to mod the suspension with a full complement of Quadrant goodies consisting of Bilstein gas shocks and heavy duty lowered springs.

"Once I had a handle on the aesthetics I dug deep in the search for maximum mumbo and that's when the whole thing turned to shit." For Sorin to achieve his dream it meant that no short cuts could be taken, which extended to the purchase of a brand spankers ZF 6-speed trans, custom Borg and Beck long lever type clutch, shortened tailshaft and heavily modified Ford nine-inch diff. Sorin went mad with the diff fitting it with VN Group A brakes and a 4.56 Richmond geared limited slip centre.

Justification for the new drive line was a killer - meaning the most radical combination available -  engine. Topped with Group A twin throttle body injection and bumped with a monster roller cam, it produced a genuine 474 ballistic ponies for a short time at least. But more on this in a minute.

While the engine was being built Sorin moved his attention to the engine bay, braking system and interior. He moved the battery to the boot while tidying up all bay wiring, bolstered the front end with Harrop four-spot calipers and 13 inch rotors and fitted a complete VN Group A interior--which is a story in itself. The only addition to the factory interior has been a pumping sound system fronted with a Pioneer single CD head unit operating a boot mounted stacker. A nine band Kenwood equaliser also plays a part and the boot is chockers with a custom sub box and amp panel. Amps number three, including two 100 and one 200 watt Kicker units feeding amperage to a 10 inch Kicker subwoofer, Kicker front splits and humungous parcel shelf mounted rear speakers.

So with maximum fire power both under the bonnet as well as the interior, Sorin was wanting for nothing until the engine shit itself! "I took the car back to the engine man for a rebuild only to have the camshaft die a couple of weeks later." Pissed off, Sorin searched for another engine builder but was again dissatisfied when the engine lasted only a week. That's when Marlo Pancione of Auto Technique entered the equation. "Once advised on all of the problems I looked at the engine, engine management and drive line combination which allowed me to design alternatives and options for rectification. The basic engine configuration appeared to be acceptable, if not a little too radical, so I pulled it apart and went through each part step by step," was Mario's approach.

The fact that Sorin had gone to the expense of buying a brand new four-bolt VN Group A block had little do to with core integrity. Sure, the first engine builder may have modified the oil galleries and deburred the internal walls, but what he hadn't done was measure the cam tunnel. Three engine builds later and it continued to spit camshafts... Logically the camshaft tunnel needed rectification, but none of the engine builders had come to this conclusion.

Mario immediately picked the fault with rectification the responsibility of Pro Stroke Engines. Mario then invested considerable time on measurements and clearances which led to a large number of parts being modified. For example, he had the 355 Harrop stroker crank tuftrided and the galleries chamfered, new Repco competition bearings were fitted and the VN Group A rods peened, polished, resized and equipped with ARP bolts.

Another problem was the high compression ratio. Auto Technique solved the problem by fitting fly cut KB Hypereutectic flat top pistons and Perfect Circle rings therefore dropping the static to 10.8:1. A new hydraulic Wade cam of Mario's design replaced the roller and is topped with Speed Pro lifters, Group A push rods and Crane roller rockers.

These are secured via screw in studs on extensively ported and CC'd Group A cylinder heads supporting tuftrided valves and Isky retaining gear. Supplying oil to and bolted in front of the balanced internals is a Group A sump, JP oil pump, Romac balancer and Rollmaster timing chain set.

Further port matching of the large port Group A inlet manifold, new 930 Porsche Turbo injectors and a recalibrated MoTeC engine management system helped tidy up the top end. Mario designed a new exhaust system to back the HM headers to include twin three inch mandrel bent pipes and twin catalytic converters meeting prior to the diff.

The new combination has since proven its salt, that while it's down on power compared to the original set up, it runs smoothly and sweetly. And by the by, a recent rolling road exercise saw the engline deliver 220 kWs of power to the rear wheels at 5500 rpm. In other words, as the engine is designed to make maximum mumbo at just over 6000 it's fair to say flywheel output rests somewhere around 400 stump pulling ponies with top torque coming with the 355 cubic inch capacity.

The clutch had also been a point of contention with three different combinations having been tried with limited success. The simple solution was to go with a proven Centerforce clutch and pressure plate. Now all Sorin had to do was put up with the noise and notchiness of the ZF six-speed. "i reckon that for the money they're a piece of shit," added Sorin.