Commodore Picture Archives

It's Not a 308!

By Mark Hanna

...who cares, though, it's still a Commodore.

When it was time for Andrew Falzon to get mobile, he'd already rnade up his mind years ago what car it should be. Having two older brothers with VKs made sure of that. In fact, we featured one of those VKs on the front cover of Commodore Power magazine -- you might remember it by the numberplate OMY-308.

The funny thing about Andrew's Ex-chaser is that when he bought it after seeing an ad in The Trading Post, he thought it was a 308. It's coming up to six years of owning the thing and it was only a couple of years ago that his mate did a check on the engine number which showed the donk to be a 304ci.

It's the only way you're going to know, because basically it's the same as a 308 but had been slightly de-stroked for the Australian Touring Car round in 1985 when the roles stated the engine capacity had to be 5.0 litres or less. That way, racing could still have the Holden/Ford flavour and the Holden didn't have to be classed as a more powerful and exotic car.

Anyway, when Andrew took over the car in 1990 the VK was a perfect base for a project car. Originally, it was Alpine White, but the paint was a bit tired with a few crowsfeet over the bonnet. The 304 came with an M21, Salisbury diff and CSA 14" mags.

WHAT NEXT?

Thc only problem with the car was that the motor was blowing a bit of smoke and it was a bit tired and in need of a rebuild. The first job was a 30 thou bore on the block followed by Federal-Mogul pistons, chrome moly rings, competition bearings and a Heatseeker cam. The 304 heads were cleaned up and a blueprinted Rochester carb now rests on the 304 manifold. The bad gases escape quickly via Genie extractors and a twin 2" exhaust system.

The next job on the list was a look into the bonnet. The paint job on the rest of the car was OK, but the crowsfeet effect on the bonnet was the big letdown. At the time, the idea was to remove the bonnet and respray it, a good idea to someone on apprentice wages.

But at the Summernats, Andrew noticed a big ding in the roof. He's not sure how the hell it got there, but that was the big factor in getting the bonnet resprayed as well as the whole car. Keeping the colour the same was the best and cheapest way to go.

With the motor wound up and the body looking a million bucks, it was time to let the 14" CSAs go. The first wheel change included a set of 15" Performance wheels. But since then Andrew's gone big time with a set of 16x7 Walkinshaw wheels with Avon 225/50/16 rubber. By now the standard suspension setup had really started to show its age, especially with the reworked 304. Corners were being taken faster now and, quite frankly, the old suspension just couldn't keep up.

Now, with a mix of lowered Pedders springs, Pedders Sport shocks and Pedders 33mm front and 27mm rear swaybar, the car handles better than new. Andrew's project started to look and feel the business now, but he felt as though a T5 five-speed gearbox would be more suited.

It happened at the All Holden show at Clarendon, NSW. and Wes Bond was the culprit. At just about every show in the country you'll find this man selling all types of Holden gear, from wheels to dashboards and gearboxes. It just so happened Wes had a new T5 on the go at this show and, according to Andrew, it was his lucky clay. He was feeling good because he'd just got some holiday money and wanted to spend it on something. Yep, a T5 to go, please.

A phone call to Dellow Automotive, experts in transmission changeovers, resulted in a bellhousing and crossmember to suit and the changeover began. From there it was a matter of shortening the tailshaft and carrying out a small modification on the console. And before you could say Lady Di, wham! The five-speed was in.

The final step to what you see on these pages was a full reupholster of the original seats. The front seats, though, were remolded for cornfort's sake and are more body-hugging than ex-factory.

Then there's the Momo steerer, half rollcage and Panasonic head unit, amp and Sony 6x9s. That's about the whole story on Andrew's VK: a mildly worked VK enhanced with a Group A front, Group Three boot spoiler, good wheels, suspension, interior -- just what you need for a perfect cruiser.