I’ve had 7 commodores through the years from the VL Turbo to the 340 HSV Clubsport which now sits proudly in my garage. What a shame it’s all gone now. Great memories 👍👍
Today's woke/wank consumers can never appreciate a damn near indestructible 253. Had it not been overshaddowed at birth by it's bigger sister 308, we would likely be seeing 253 powered cars in race museums because the 253 is easily one of the strongest engines ever made anywhere on this planet. Muppets think an RB30 is a better thing because they don't know any better. Imagine an SLR with an RB30!... I think I'm gunna vomit.
Top performance engines. But I've worked on EH 179 engines that had done over 1,000,000 miles, never had the head off and you could put a glass of water on the air cleaner with just the slightest ripple. Those early 179s earned respect.
I found that the 202 was just as reliable as a 179 or 186, maybe the 202 has a bit more power, but for the extra fuel it used it wasn't worth the extra cubes, you'd be better off with a 253 or 308. So i don't rate a 202. i'd put a 179 and 186 before it every time.
I always liked the 3.8lt Buick V6- i imported a 4lt stroker kit from the States and we built a twin turbo kit, great little motor.and after the turbos, would surprise the VZ/ VY lads with their brand new SS's, and me pimping around in my Aquamarine VR sleeper 😄
I totally agree with you. The VN/ VP/ VR Buick 3.8 V6 engine was the best of the V6 engine commodores. I had a 94 VR Calais for my first car. After I upgrade the tires and wheels to 235/40/18 and replaced the suspension, front and rear sway bars, sway bar links, bushes, tire rods and strut brace. It handled like a train on tracks. Then I got a Mace intake, Mace 70mm throttle body, Mace stage3 ECU memcal with PaceMaker headers and full 2 1/2 inch Xforce exhaust. It went so well for what it was. Shortly after that my friend brought a VS with the EcoTec trying too be better. But as soon as he got an after market exhaust system I started to suffer serious migraines from the disgusting noise that came from it.
@@ClunieGarage People also thought my VR Calais was a V8 when I cruised around with light throttle. It was just a raw and grunty sounding engine. My dad reckons its sounds agriculture cause GM found it in a tractor lying around LMAO.
The buick v6 was actually a boat motor before it made its way into the Commodores. I owned 2 vp wagons with these engines in them,they were reliable but had problems with the heads on them and overheating issues. The buick v6 is no performance engine without sinking thousands into them,thats why you dont see any of them running the quarter mile. Unlike the mighty barra,theres no six cylinder engine that holden made that comes anywhere near close to the performance of fords 4.0 litre inline six cylinder engine, undoubtedly the best inline six cylinder engine ever made. Show me a v6 holden engine that can make 600 kw on a factory crank and make multiple quarter mile runs with no problems, you cant because they dont handle the power that a barra engine does. Hell the barra turbo engines being built today are putting out up to and beyond 1000 kw,these engines are indestructible and are v8 holden eaters!
@@Healthliving1967 LOL a barra needs forced induction just to make it move hahahaha............. every and any motor will gain power with a turbo so what are you on about? NA barra vs NA LS7- LS7 eats barra for brekky lunch and tea
I own a vs with 333 stroker it's a roller cam VT block. T5 and 3.9 hydratrak out of a vx GTS. I'm 28 I have owned it 8 years now before it I owned a vy sv8. I personally don't think I will ever find a ls powered commodore that is remotely close to having the feel of the vs it's a real blast it's my unicorn. I also enjoy the sound of its grumpy 5ltr. Plus in the world of everything being L's or Barra. It's nice to pay tribute to the king. Holden V8s might be gorn but not forgotten
It’s a shame Holden didn’t get the LT6 32 valve quad cam in time - Holden may still have been in business. GM finally woken up to modern technology- the most powerful NA v8 in the world - ever. Nobody else is even close.
My pick of the bunch would be the Aussie 5.0 308 and 304 injected, in my experience in the workshop even though the ls engine produced phenomenal power, the 308 and 304 seemed more reliable, great video keep em coming!!
holdens were allways 1/2 baked pommy or American versions of something else. LJ Toranas,,, boooo, it was a vauxhall. I had a 327hk for 21 years,, it was deemed the big banger in 1968,, had the 250hp "early version" 327 while the camaro of the same era had 300,350, 375,450hp. the hatchback torana,s, oldsmobile starfire, chev monza copy. The commodores. i saw VT,s in Kazahkstan in 2010, they had chevrolet badges and were not the Aussie made cars, they came out of Opal in Europe. I saw a 4cyl VB commodore in Moscow in 2011, had opal badges. The 308 was a good engine. And there should have been a 350 version of the 308 in Toranas in stead of the lame 253. Evan Green made sure of that wasnt going to happen and ford canned the big block falcons.
@@robertstojcevski1098 if you think the old Holden engines is better than an ls3 you are full of it l have owned both for long periods of time and the 5 litre Holden engine is average at best none of my friends are people l know have had any problems with the ls3 so stop dribbling fan boy🤭
agree had a LC Gtr Torana with a 186 engine and a fully worked 161 head on it. was so ported out only meat left was fir the bolt threads to go through on the head bolts. triple webbers and huge solid cam that used to shake the car to bits. mirrors would come loose and many other parts. Beat turbo and supercharged supras. many V8'S and hosed my mates VH Charger E49 spec. 4.11 gears it would smash all from the lights. I bought the cam off a engine builder whose son had it on his speedway car for one night said was too big for the small track and i was crazy putting it on a street car. It was a mongrel in heavy traffic. he was kind of wright. but i loved how it sounded and performance was awesome.
Best engines holden ever made is a toss up between the 179 and the 186, bullet proof! Not high performance in stock configuration but getting them to boogaloo was not hard with carbs and exhaust mods and they were still bulletproof! 202s were good but suffered with weak timing gears,and thin bores were easily overcooked!
Good at seperating the tops off stock pistons, getting hot resulting in disintegrating fibre timing gears and distributor gears, cracking between welch plugs. Oh, and the terrible oil pressure they had when they were older. This goes for any Holden red/ blue/black sixes. He misses the point on the 202 in racing- the best part was the lightweight nimble car the LJ was.
@@rossbrumby1957 lol why we put straight cut gears in our Holden sixes. wasn't just the whining sound it was for strength. also you put the steel gears from the oil pump on to the Holden distributor and solved that problem also. Then you put the Ford 221 crank and modifie it and put it into a Holden 202 or 186 and you got 235 cubes. also put the 161 head on the 186 or 202 and got a tonne more compression and then fully port it. Made killer engines that scared off the v8 and turbo import boys.
G'day mate, yes I remember the stroker in the yellow GTS-R. Also came out with a blueprint option from HSV for another $10k from memory. 215kW....that used to be a lot of power back in the day 😃
G'day David, correct. Young Frankie has also advised me of this. This means the VK blue meanie is actually a 304 contrary to everyone's popular belief that it is a 308 banger.
That's cause it was a waste of time small cubic "V8 had a vb commodore 4.2 then droped a 5.0 red eng 4 barrel Rochester carb made more horsepower and fuel consumption was exactly the same use to average 14 _15 L 100
Gday mate, hope you're well! I gotta say, love vids like this, as someone who grew up around hotted up cars in the 80's it brings back so many good memories.
I can see from the comments and your reply why it wasn't mentioned but the 253 has had plenty of hate or disregard from many a holden fan over the years but with a little tickle up and a few little changes they are no slouch. Given the commercial vehicle ones where slugs still think they rate a mention at least. Anyway cool vid
I had all three. 202, 308 & 350. I like the old inter truck you have in the shop. I used to regularly drive one of them 1976 -77 model. I think it was a 345 cu V8 petrol, it went alright but oh, the fuel consumption, man do they like a drink. then again back then (when new) petrol was cheep.
G'day Ross, yes I am restoring it the Inter. Its a 1969 C1600. I have fitted a 345 V8 from a later model Acco. Slowly getting there with the resto. Its a big job!
Back when i was an apprentice our repco branch used to do an exchange on the 345 v8s we pretty much always had one in stock and one on the go, they seemed to have a habit of dropping valves with catastrophic results to the tops of their dished looking piston tops.
Something to note about the VL; A friend of mine had a naturally aspirated manual VL. It was completely stock, with the exception of headers, a chip and slight changes to the ignition. Prior to him owning it, the original owner was a farmer. Of course that means that whenever it went into town, it got up to 110, which is an ideal way to run engines in. There's a kicker to make them VERY quick. The Skyline, Pintara and VL all had the same gearbox. The only difference between the three was the gear ratios. Use the Pintara ratios, and it makes a big difference. When he could get the traction right, it did a mid-12 quarter mile. If it had been given a big intercooler and turbo, it would have been even scarier. It couldn't be trusted to "behave" speed-wise unless you used the cruise control
@@ClunieGarage The 4 cylinder that was the Pintara engine alongside the RB30 had 8 spark plugs. My understanding was that it was about fuel efficiency, not power. One set of plugs fires at x degrees, the second set fires at x degrees after the first set, like they do in a rotary engine. Being underpowered, the ratios in the gearbox would reflect this
@@Mechknight73 I owned a couple of 4cyl 2.0 pintaras and believe it or not a fellow work bogan pulled up in the drag lane next to me once after work in his 308 commie and yes i blew his doors off across the lights for the first 200 metres or so. The std 308 was no powerhouse by todays stds.
The stock Pintara 1.9 litre (as they were alongside the first RB30 engined Skyline) had a reputation of being reliable but not all that exciting. I have no doubt they could be tuned up (the head on those engines alone with its twin spark plugs presents some possibilities) but not huge power. All carburettor V8 engines, unless heavily modified tend not to be anywhere near modern standards. My Hybrid Camry could outrun many of them over a big chunk of a quarter mile, and mechanically, it's stock
@@grantreid3031 thats no surprise- low geared does a lot in a short drag. I had a 1983 2 litre rodeo 2wd, mate had a vh ss 253 and for a laugh i offered him a short drag about 150 metres. Had him for all that. He was so surprised and disappointed till i reminded him of my ute gearing vs his highway diff.
I'd add first off the 186, great little motor that went like stink with the right work done to it, especially for its small size. knew a guy when I was younger that had one in an LJ Torana 2 door. there wasnt much around our way that could beat it. and then there's there 308's little sister..the diminutive 253. only little but a good little performer once again with the right tweaks made to it.and like the 308 a very reliable motor. back when I was a girl in my late teens I had one in a HG Kingswood. try as I might I just couldnt kill it. got to the point it used more oil than petrol but still started first turn of the key every time. would love to build an FJ restomod with one in it one day if I ever win lotto.
The 308ci was OVER 5.0L buddy. That's the reason that they had to go develop the 304ci motor for Group A racing from the VL until the VX. Now, the 304, THAT is under 5.0L at 4984cc (but is classified as a 5.0L as it's above 4950cc where the Ford 302 being 4949cc was a 4.9L) but the 308 was 5048cc.
@@campcreekhill8933 I think you're right but I'm not gonna worry about 4cc as it said 5048cc from the source I got it from. point was to let Clunie know that the 308 was over 5000cc while the 304 was under. 👍
I think the 253 was the best. It had the fuel consumption of a 6, and the grunt of the V8. Always had 253s from my HQ Kingswood to my VB Comode. Ive now got a crappy LS1. Yeah its alright, but I don't think it comes near the old 350s, or even the 308s. Also had an LJ Tory with a 192 with triple SUs and fuel balancer, and I could take on anything except for the SLRs and anything with a 350. The Tory cost me back then a weeks wages to change from a 173 to the 192.
G'day mate, thanks for the background. I had a mate who had the 253 in a HQ ute. The thing always felt under powered and slow to rev from my perspective. Am with you on the 308 and 350 though. They were great!
The 253 had the economy of a six and the power of a six. Put on lpg, it got better mileage than a 202 on gas. The 308 was a glutton for fuel compared. Good motor, almost as powerful and almost as economical as a Hemi 6.
@@dcr1545 I had a VF ss with L77 and didn’t have anything go wrong had it for 3 years before my GTS that I have now . Might have heard of the odd lifter issue for sure but heard that on some LS engines which is a shame . But the L98 was a good engine I agree also
Surprised the 202 made the list. First time I saw them was in the HQ Holden. As I recall, they had huge reliability issues. Two engines came out the the Hq, the 202 and the 161. The 202 was supposed to be the 186 of the future passenger market. Its sibling was the 161. Bit of a slug was the 161. But as reliable as all get up.
The HQ came with 2 6cyl engines, the 173ci & 202ci, not the 161ci, the 161ci came on line in the HK Kingswood & finished with the HG Kingswood & LC Torana, there was also a 138ci red engine available in the LC Torana, the 173ci was the economy 6cyl option in the Belmont/Kingswood HQ.
I had a 202 in my HQ panel van back in the 80's, never had any issues with reliability, was great in that respect, I just found it to be a bit thirsty compared to my 253 I had in my HG Kingswood before it...that gave me surprisingly good economy. the 202 finally died one day when I over revved it and took the top off a piston. replaced it with a fully reconditioned 186 which I loved.
@@mickblack2800 The 161 was the base engine in the HR from 1966. It was also standard in the LC GTR in 1970. What most people DON'T KNOW IS... Dick Johnson got the very first GTR TORANA to ever hit a QLD race track on the grid at Lakeside way before the HDT ever got their first XU1 & Tricky's LC GTR ran in Improved Production with it's 161 in full race form. Tricky raced that GTR successfully for several years & eventually upgraded it to LJ lookalike with a 202. He had several LJs right up until he switched to Falcon Hardtops in 1976. Tricky ended up with the very same XU-1 that rudely ran out of fuel at Bathurst in 1973 with Doug Chivas at the wheel. Tricky rebuilt that thing & he became the Six Cylinder Holden King of Queensland when he repeatedly ran away from HDT & Brock/Bill Patterson L34s AND 351 XA & XB HARDTOPS at Lakeside & Surfers Paradise right ut to the end of 1976. The old 161 was a brilliant little motor. Every HR, HK, HT & HG UTE & PANELVAN used by tradies & contractors all over Australia for bloody decades came standard with a 161 unless it was ordered new otherwise or eventually re-engined. I worked for O'Donnell - Griffin Contracting in Brisbane in the late '70s and our most reliable work vehicles were HT & HG utes & vans with 161s that had gone around the clock & just kept on going. The children who put this little presentation together wouldn't know a good engine from a hole in the ground because they came down in the last shower. Holden built really tough engines that kept on running even after the bloody car had rusted in half. Tinpot crap like RB30s & Gen111 chintzyarse kids toys aren't even in the race. Dear old Holdens built this nation throughout the 1950s '60s '70s 80s & beyond. Billions of miles were covered in the process. . . and while all that was going on, thousands of us hotted our old Holdens up & thousands of Holdens won every kind of motor sport event you can think of. How many events were ever won with RB30s & alloy Chevs?... NOT MANY!
You talk rubbish as someone who has owned over 60 1970 Holdens from 6 cylinder to Holden V8 to Chevy v8. there was nothing wrong with the 202 engine at all and Look at the LJ GTR Torana and see this as it was beating the big 351 Ford engine. Known 202 engines to do 400,000 km without needing a rebuild. I even put big solid cams in a few 202 engines one with 240,000km and another with 330,000km and no issues. most said chance of blowing the rings out. nope even raced and beat supercharged Toyota Supras. R33 GTR skylines with it.
From a reliability and ease of repair, the buic 3800/Ecotec is a great engine. Not necessarily a powerhouse, but very smooth and a fair competitor to ford sohc back in the day. Shame the 3.0/3.6 dohc engines replaced it. I would have loved to see the new Lt-based Ecotec3 go into the vf successor that we never got
That little 3.6L twin turbo unit you spoke about from the 04 Torana concept has in essence made its way into production -- check out the 2022 Cadillac CT4-V Blackwing - even has a manual option 👌🏻 Also check out the CT5-V Blackwing (what I view as the spiritual successor to the SS/HSVs) also touting a 6 speed manual 👍🏻
Damn, now you've got me wondering about how something like that CT4-V Blackwing engine would go in my VF wagon - 472hp with no significant weight increase over the standard NA V6, and probably close to a bolt-in swap, since it's a variant of the same engine family. Good thing it's not available locally, otherwise I could see myself going down a really big and expensive rabbit hole...
@@bradevans7935 Agreed mate would be right at home in a VF - something different thats for sure! Im curious if anyone has done the LF3/LF4 engine swap into a commodore
Thec3.3 black and blue motors. had the best of the old red motors development, sadly choked by emissions. From stock, ditch the complex plumbing, a set of headers, a decent carbon and manifold, no internal changes, and they went really well. Update the EFI, and the vk will liven up another.
I’ve had a few bad experiences with Holden 308 where if you bomb them out to around 500 hp basically they go bang the block is just not strong enough You’ve gotta be real careful
There are heaps and heaps of 500hp 308s that have had no issue with the block integrity. The biggest issues the 308 blocks ever had was core shift issues that often meant thin cylinder walls, that is why you wont see many guys going to + .060" let alone over .060". But they are a fairly easy engine to make power with.
308 was the soft block had no oil pressure and it’s replacement was in the VT crumble door was the 304 chev pattern gearbox they fixed the oil pressure problem and the LS crank would bolt straight in the block also known as the Peter brock engine
I liked my 3.8 Ecotec v6 in my vt base model , more than adequate power no engine trouble with the car with a lot of km but put your foot down it did like fuel.
Well said mate. So glad you put the the 202 in the top 5 as it was a great engine and hard to break. I have the L98 in my VE SSV and it is a great engine and so reliable. The LS engines love new oil. I all ways change the oil in mine frequently. Also i have a Datsun 1200 ute and there is another great engine that never dies. Keep up the great work
Thanks Brad and Yolanda! The dear ol' 202. My first job was on a milk run and the owner installed a 202 into a Toyota light truck. It went forever that engine. L98 is a great engine and we keep ours in the race ute fed with new oil and filters every couple of thousand of kms. Thanks for watching our channel!
Having stripped hundreds of red motors for reconditioning the 202 in std form had a habit of lifting the top off number 6 piston the humble old 186 didn't .
@@ClunieGarage the bloke who made the sandman was going to put a 6.5 in the Hx Le but he got turned down with the idea , also there was some Rb vn's as test mules, some turbo ecotec Vt test mules that made it to street testing but where not fully approved by GM's board
I love the older chev engines like the 350 my dad has 2 c3 corvettes and a speedboat with worked 350 on it im currently on my Ls but I’ve got a vq series 2 statesman with a 304 it sounds mint
I love the red motor, 179, 186 and the 202. As for the V8's I love the 307 (a lot of sentiment in that one, lol). Tangent time, whats the Inter in the background? Looks cool.
The ultimate mongrel LS Ive seen was an LS7 machined to take the full LS10 crank and titanium rods with custom pistons. It was in Paris to Dacar buggy. I think it was the first privateer to finish in the top ten outright..about 5 years back. wild motor with eight huge individual throttle bodies.
Great video mate! gotta give an honourable mention to that final stroker motor that was in the (I think) the last VT HSV's before the LS was introduced. some other good local channels, for the ford fans "Gap Sauce" and for the for a mix of ford and holden "XYYNOT Drifting"
Final stroker motor was in the VR Holden had standard factory stroker clearance block. i know as had to hunt for one for my SLR 5000 build. a lot did not know about it and you could pick them up for a steal and resell them for a profit. i bought and sold 20 of these and made good money. VT just used the same block. all models did until the LS1 came in. Think the block had 5.0 written on it and all non stroker blocks had 304 written on them.
What did you think of the different versions of Holden 6 202 3.3L.... first the Red motor, then the Blue with major changes and finally the Black motors....
I thought that the 253 would have made the grade I have an L76 SV8....in one word...perfect...181,000kms and spent nothing except oils and filters in the 8 years I have owned it....
Enjoyed this "best engines in holden cars" vid but a bit more research and the Torque Power Big Paw and Little Paw would have to have had a big mention. Viva!
My vote goes to the lil l67 v6. Smaller pulley on the s\c, intercooler and a set of high ratio rockers with the usual exhaust and intake stuff and mine puts down 220ish rwkw. Have suprised alot of cars with the old vx calais
if you like a awful sound and don't play with engines. rather a old Red Holden engine with a huge solid cam and triple webber carbs. used to beat Skylines and Supras and many v8's with these engines. So many L67 get spun bearings a lot.
@@ClunieGarage every Holden or Chevy fan loves an LS and the ecotec isn't a flashy motor just reliable as they come any motor that gets 750k-900k on LPG in a taxi is a good thing
Depends which power route you want to take. Staying na may not get you to 440kw even with heads, cam etc.. Forced induction is a proven route and will set you back $16-20k.
Weren't they the ones that built the barra straight 6, I've seen videos where they get groceries during the week and take it to the dragstrip on weekends with very little modifications?🤷♂️🙆♂️🤠👍oh yeah seem I do remember they may have added a turbo without reinforcing the bottom end because the engine was already a badass lol!😁
@@ClunieGarage Good choice of engines. The XU-1 engine I thought was great edition, I’ve owned 2 original LJ GTR’s with a lot of the XU-1 running gear and known others with genuine GTR and XU-1 cars. I’ve also had 2 sets of orig 175CD2 Strombergs, so am familiar with the engines. The VL and VN Group A equiped cars I’m also familiar with as I’ve owned 1 of each. I’m interested to see how the Brock race race car comes along.
You say the mighty big iron block 308 engine, Well I seem to remember that the 308's claim to fame in its day was that it was the smallest external physical sized cast iron V8
G'day ScatMan, small cubes but awesome package in Bathurst guise and they used to sing with that classic Holden firing order. I built a high comp 308 with Keth Black pistons, Superflow heads, Crow Cam etc back in the day and it sounded like a sprint car!
@@ScatManAust yeah nah those 302s are pocket sized. Saw one a few weeks ago and it looked like you could easily stand next to it in the car. Smaller than a 253 by far
Only 2 of your engines are Holden's. A Nissan built under license, and a couple of imported yanks. I'm a Holden nut, I own two Holdens, with Holden engines, and a commodore with a Buick engine.
G'day Matt, yes the lines do look familiar hey. That prototype launched in 2004 from memory and then the VE came out in 2006 so stands to reason that some of the design could have carried through.
He mentioned the LS9 right after the LSA. Should have put a few more LS9 and LS7 motors in HSV. Give the LS3 to the SS and put LS7 in all the remaining Clubsports.
Good day mate the 2001 VX 5.7 litre V8 I think . Because I used to own one of them Calais but not for long because cops took them . And I never get the chance to find out about the engine . Besides that was long time ago
G'day mate, you can get the banner from the US online BTR store. Our first banner got lost in Mexico! Then they sent us a replacement with some free t-shirts. Do you have a BTR cam?
@@ClunieGarage thanks and yeah i have ordered direct from them before i have clothing and btr equalizer set up and btr trunion kit, i currently have a vcm cam that i purchased before i heard about btr but i do plan on getting a cam from them as i am really impressed with the qualoty of their products, i have seen the banners for sale on their site but they have no size in the description
The best Holden Engines ever are the aftermarket torque power big paw 500ci and little paw 443ci both made in cast and alloy blocks keeping the Holden v8 basic fitment and dimensions.
@@ClunieGarage Have a look on the torquepower website and Facebook page. Great Aussie company. Fortunately or unfortunately I'll never get into a project like that though😅
Yeah I'm with you Dan. I have spoken with Torque Power twice about these as I was really hoping to be able to put together a solid big cube Aussie cruiser with one of these but they are pretty exclusivrely a competition engine and you'll need about 30k to put one together anyway. Pity, I'd have loved to lope around in something with that much pedigree but glad they are getting them out there.
I’ve had 7 commodores through the years from the VL Turbo to the 340 HSV Clubsport which now sits proudly in my garage. What a shame it’s all gone now. Great memories 👍👍
G'day mate, make sure you never let go of your 340!
Gone but not forgotten
Very surprised the 253 didn't make that list.
G'day mate, the poor ol 253. No room in the top 5 unfortunately.
Today's woke/wank consumers can never appreciate a damn near indestructible 253. Had it not been overshaddowed at birth by it's bigger sister 308, we would likely be seeing 253 powered cars in race museums because the 253 is easily one of the strongest engines ever made anywhere on this planet.
Muppets think an RB30 is a better thing because they don't know any better. Imagine an SLR with an RB30!... I think I'm gunna vomit.
Was a 308 technically,lower stroke
@@johnbrooks9523 the 2JZ & 1UZ are up there. Quite strong motors.
Top performance engines. But I've worked on EH 179 engines that had done over 1,000,000 miles, never had the head off and you could put a glass of water on the air cleaner with just the slightest ripple. Those early 179s earned respect.
I found that the 202 was just as reliable as a 179 or 186, maybe the 202 has a bit more power, but for the extra fuel it used it wasn't worth the extra cubes, you'd be better off with a 253 or 308. So i don't rate a 202. i'd put a 179 and 186 before it every time.
179 platinum 👌💪
I always liked the 3.8lt Buick V6- i imported a 4lt stroker kit from the States and we built a twin turbo kit, great little motor.and after the turbos, would surprise the VZ/ VY lads with their brand new SS's, and me pimping around in my Aquamarine VR sleeper 😄
Ah nice one Max. I had a made with a two tone VN with the Buick engine, extractors and exhaust. He would fool people into thinkimg he had the 5.0L!
I totally agree with you. The VN/ VP/ VR Buick 3.8 V6 engine was the best of the V6 engine commodores. I had a 94 VR Calais for my first car. After I upgrade the tires and wheels to 235/40/18 and replaced the suspension, front and rear sway bars, sway bar links, bushes, tire rods and strut brace. It handled like a train on tracks. Then I got a Mace intake, Mace 70mm throttle body, Mace stage3 ECU memcal with PaceMaker headers and full 2 1/2 inch Xforce exhaust. It went so well for what it was. Shortly after that my friend brought a VS with the EcoTec trying too be better. But as soon as he got an after market exhaust system I started to suffer serious migraines from the disgusting noise that came from it.
@@ClunieGarage People also thought my VR Calais was a V8 when I cruised around with light throttle. It was just a raw and grunty sounding engine. My dad reckons its sounds agriculture cause GM found it in a tractor lying around LMAO.
The buick v6 was actually a boat motor before it made its way into the Commodores. I owned 2 vp wagons with these engines in them,they were reliable but had problems with the heads on them and overheating issues. The buick v6 is no performance engine without sinking thousands into them,thats why you dont see any of them running the quarter mile. Unlike the mighty barra,theres no six cylinder engine that holden made that comes anywhere near close to the performance of fords 4.0 litre inline six cylinder engine, undoubtedly the best inline six cylinder engine ever made. Show me a v6 holden engine that can make 600 kw on a factory crank and make multiple quarter mile runs with no problems, you cant because they dont handle the power that a barra engine does. Hell the barra turbo engines being built today are putting out up to and beyond 1000 kw,these engines are indestructible and are v8 holden eaters!
@@Healthliving1967 LOL a barra needs forced induction just to make it move hahahaha............. every and any motor will gain power with a turbo so what are you on about? NA barra vs NA LS7- LS7 eats barra for brekky lunch and tea
Long live the iron lion
You betcha. Loved my ol' 308.
Hear, hear.
I own a vs with 333 stroker it's a roller cam VT block. T5 and 3.9 hydratrak out of a vx GTS. I'm 28 I have owned it 8 years now before it I owned a vy sv8. I personally don't think I will ever find a ls powered commodore that is remotely close to having the feel of the vs it's a real blast it's my unicorn. I also enjoy the sound of its grumpy 5ltr. Plus in the world of everything being L's or Barra. It's nice to pay tribute to the king. Holden V8s might be gorn but not forgotten
It’s a shame Holden didn’t get the LT6
32 valve quad cam in time - Holden may still have been in business. GM finally woken up to modern technology- the most powerful NA v8 in the world - ever.
Nobody else is even close.
Had one of each finishing with a LSA GTS.....a keeper. History gone but never forgotten!
Ah excellent. Make sure you keep the LSA forever!!
My pick of the bunch would be the Aussie 5.0 308 and 304 injected, in my experience in the workshop even though the ls engine produced phenomenal power, the 308 and 304 seemed more reliable, great video keep em coming!!
Thanks mate, will do.
holdens were allways 1/2 baked pommy or American versions of something else. LJ Toranas,,, boooo, it was a vauxhall. I had a 327hk for 21 years,, it was deemed the big banger in 1968,, had the 250hp "early version" 327 while the camaro of the same era had 300,350, 375,450hp. the hatchback torana,s, oldsmobile starfire, chev monza copy. The commodores.
i saw VT,s in Kazahkstan in 2010, they had chevrolet badges and were not the Aussie made cars, they came out of Opal in Europe. I saw a 4cyl VB commodore in Moscow in 2011, had opal badges.
The 308 was a good engine. And there should have been a 350 version of the 308 in Toranas in stead of the lame 253. Evan Green made sure of that wasnt going to happen and ford canned the big block falcons.
The Holden v8 is crap compared to an ls3 😄
@@johnboy5167 tell that to ls3 owners who's engines have failed prematurely due to spinning cam bearings lol
@@robertstojcevski1098 if you think the old Holden engines is better than an ls3 you are full of it l have owned both for long periods of time and the 5 litre Holden engine is average at best none of my friends are people l know have had any problems with the ls3 so stop dribbling fan boy🤭
The 186 has got to be on this list as its a great motor
G'day Peter, maybe if we made a top 10 list 😀
Yep better than the 202.
agree had a LC Gtr Torana with a 186 engine and a fully worked 161 head on it. was so ported out only meat left was fir the bolt threads to go through on the head bolts.
triple webbers and huge solid cam that used to shake the car to bits. mirrors would come loose and many other parts.
Beat turbo and supercharged supras. many V8'S and hosed my mates VH Charger E49 spec. 4.11 gears it would smash all from the lights.
I bought the cam off a engine builder whose son had it on his speedway car for one night said was too big for the small track and i was crazy putting it on a street car.
It was a mongrel in heavy traffic. he was kind of wright. but i loved how it sounded and performance was awesome.
Me well owned a warm 253v8 in a 1982 vhsle since 1990 till 2 yrs ago still going strong .......
Best engines holden ever made is a toss up between the 179 and the 186, bullet proof! Not high performance in stock configuration but getting them to boogaloo was not hard with carbs and exhaust mods and they were still bulletproof! 202s were good but suffered with weak timing gears,and thin bores were easily overcooked!
Good at seperating the tops off stock pistons, getting hot resulting in disintegrating fibre timing gears and distributor gears, cracking between welch plugs. Oh, and the terrible oil pressure they had when they were older. This goes for any Holden red/ blue/black sixes. He misses the point on the 202 in racing- the best part was the lightweight nimble car the LJ was.
@@rossbrumby1957 lol why we put straight cut gears in our Holden sixes. wasn't just the whining sound it was for strength. also you put the steel gears from the oil pump on to the Holden distributor and solved that problem also.
Then you put the Ford 221 crank and modifie it and put it into a Holden 202 or 186 and you got 235 cubes. also put the 161 head on the 186 or 202 and got a tonne more compression and then fully port it.
Made killer engines that scared off the v8 and turbo import boys.
Holden’s stroker from hsv. From VS to VT, 215i and 220i.
G'day mate, yes I remember the stroker in the yellow GTS-R. Also came out with a blueprint option from HSV for another $10k from memory. 215kW....that used to be a lot of power back in the day 😃
Very torquey motor.
Vr had them too
Brock also done 5.8 355 strokers in his commodores before HSV
They changed it to 4,987 cc (304 cu in) (1985-2000) to keep it under 5l for touring car rules
G'day David, correct. Young Frankie has also advised me of this. This means the VK blue meanie is actually a 304 contrary to everyone's popular belief that it is a 308 banger.
@@ClunieGarage yes the 308 was 5044cc
Mate you forgot about the good old 253 that’s what iv got in my wb Ute love it good old 253
That's cause it was a waste of time small cubic "V8 had a vb commodore 4.2 then droped a 5.0 red eng 4 barrel Rochester carb made more horsepower and fuel consumption was exactly the same use to average 14 _15 L 100
The old thong slapper can sound amazing with the right set of pipes.
they're the unloved V8 of Holdens line up but I love them. had a HG with one in it and was one of the best motors I've ever had.
Just get a 308
Gday mate, hope you're well!
I gotta say, love vids like this, as someone who grew up around hotted up cars in the 80's it brings back so many good memories.
Ah nice one. We are doing another couple of videos over the weekend so keep an eye out!
@@ClunieGarage looking forward to them 👍
My VF Redline is in the shop atm getting the top end done, bye bye DuD lifters!
Good clip , thanks for posting, ok I will throw a couple roughies out there, the old 186S & the 2600S in the GTR Torana. cheers.
Nice ones Andy!
Had a 71 xu with webers a 253 prem and a 308 would like to hear from anyone with a 3.2 vectra
I can see from the comments and your reply why it wasn't mentioned but the 253 has had plenty of hate or disregard from many a holden fan over the years but with a little tickle up and a few little changes they are no slouch. Given the commercial vehicle ones where slugs still think they rate a mention at least. Anyway cool vid
Thanks Terry!
no difference to a ute 253 or a sedan lol. even had same carby etc. same internals. same manifolds. god some of you talk absolute rubbish.
Some low compression 253s were fitted to Bedford trucks
The 253 was always a banger!
G'day mate, oh jeez the ol 253 is hard to love...
@@ClunieGarage haha love hate relationship ya rekn?
#thongslaptheworld
Congrats on the 5k subs Clunie Garage. Another informative episode!
Thanks Pedro. It has taken us 1.5 years to get to 5k subs. Onto 10k now!
I had all three. 202, 308 & 350. I like the old inter truck you have in the shop. I used to regularly drive one of them 1976 -77 model. I think it was a 345 cu V8 petrol, it went alright but oh, the fuel consumption, man do they like a drink. then again back then (when new) petrol was cheep.
G'day Ross, yes I am restoring it the Inter. Its a 1969 C1600. I have fitted a 345 V8 from a later model Acco. Slowly getting there with the resto. Its a big job!
Back when i was an apprentice our repco branch used to do an exchange on the 345 v8s we pretty much always had one in stock and one on the go, they seemed to have a habit of dropping valves with catastrophic results to the tops of their dished looking piston tops.
Something to note about the VL; A friend of mine had a naturally aspirated manual VL. It was completely stock, with the exception of headers, a chip and slight changes to the ignition. Prior to him owning it, the original owner was a farmer. Of course that means that whenever it went into town, it got up to 110, which is an ideal way to run engines in.
There's a kicker to make them VERY quick. The Skyline, Pintara and VL all had the same gearbox. The only difference between the three was the gear ratios. Use the Pintara ratios, and it makes a big difference. When he could get the traction right, it did a mid-12 quarter mile. If it had been given a big intercooler and turbo, it would have been even scarier. It couldn't be trusted to "behave" speed-wise unless you used the cruise control
Thanks for the insight mate. My dad had a Pintara, oh jeez it was slow as a wet week!
@@ClunieGarage The 4 cylinder that was the Pintara engine alongside the RB30 had 8 spark plugs. My understanding was that it was about fuel efficiency, not power. One set of plugs fires at x degrees, the second set fires at x degrees after the first set, like they do in a rotary engine. Being underpowered, the ratios in the gearbox would reflect this
@@Mechknight73 I owned a couple of 4cyl 2.0 pintaras and believe it or not a fellow work bogan pulled up in the drag lane next to me once after work in his 308 commie and yes i blew his doors off across the lights for the first 200 metres or so. The std 308 was no powerhouse by todays stds.
The stock Pintara 1.9 litre (as they were alongside the first RB30 engined Skyline) had a reputation of being reliable but not all that exciting. I have no doubt they could be tuned up (the head on those engines alone with its twin spark plugs presents some possibilities) but not huge power. All carburettor V8 engines, unless heavily modified tend not to be anywhere near modern standards. My Hybrid Camry could outrun many of them over a big chunk of a quarter mile, and mechanically, it's stock
@@grantreid3031 thats no surprise- low geared does a lot in a short drag. I had a 1983 2 litre rodeo 2wd, mate had a vh ss 253 and for a laugh i offered him a short drag about 150 metres. Had him for all that. He was so surprised and disappointed till i reminded him of my ute gearing vs his highway diff.
I'd add first off the 186, great little motor that went like stink with the right work done to it, especially for its small size. knew a guy when I was younger that had one in an LJ Torana 2 door. there wasnt much around our way that could beat it. and then there's there 308's little sister..the diminutive 253. only little but a good little performer once again with the right tweaks made to it.and like the 308 a very reliable motor. back when I was a girl in my late teens I had one in a HG Kingswood. try as I might I just couldnt kill it. got to the point it used more oil than petrol but still started first turn of the key every time. would love to build an FJ restomod with one in it one day if I ever win lotto.
Yep had over two hundred thousand miles from my 253 prem and only sparkers and batteries replaced
The 308ci was OVER 5.0L buddy. That's the reason that they had to go develop the 304ci motor for Group A racing from the VL until the VX. Now, the 304, THAT is under 5.0L at 4984cc (but is classified as a 5.0L as it's above 4950cc where the Ford 302 being 4949cc was a 4.9L) but the 308 was 5048cc.
G'day mate, correct, my co-star Frankie advised me of that after we published. Great pick up.
Wasn't the 308-
5044cc?
@@campcreekhill8933 I think you're right but I'm not gonna worry about 4cc as it said 5048cc from the source I got it from. point was to let Clunie know that the 308 was over 5000cc while the 304 was under. 👍
@@campcreekhill8933no 5.1 that is why they made the 304 to get under 5.0
Wasnt it 5044cc the 308
Camtech engine in jb camira. Could replace clutch disc without removing gearbox.
Knew the 253 wouldn't be on the list.
We all know they are the best. #thongslaptheworld
I loved the 253. It was the only V8s I ever had from my HQ Kingswood, to my VB Comode.
I think the 253 was the best. It had the fuel consumption of a 6, and the grunt of the V8. Always had 253s from my HQ Kingswood to my VB Comode. Ive now got a crappy LS1. Yeah its alright, but I don't think it comes near the old 350s, or even the 308s. Also had an LJ Tory with a 192 with triple SUs and fuel balancer, and I could take on anything except for the SLRs and anything with a 350. The Tory cost me back then a weeks wages to change from a 173 to the 192.
G'day mate, thanks for the background. I had a mate who had the 253 in a HQ ute. The thing always felt under powered and slow to rev from my perspective. Am with you on the 308 and 350 though. They were great!
The 253 was a sweet small V8, better fuel economy
Had the 253 in my LH Torana. Great sound to it.
No.
It had very poor fuel economy and made very underwhelming power.
The 253 had the economy of a six and the power of a six. Put on lpg, it got better mileage than a 202 on gas. The 308 was a glutton for fuel compared. Good motor, almost as powerful and almost as economical as a Hemi 6.
Holden (Red 253) was thoroughly proven as one of the most reliable and had a tone better than any V8 of its time upto the HZ
Great video. Shout out to the L98. Great motor.
Thanks Damien, you bet, a very solid engine the L98.
@@ClunieGarage any time I like you channel. Keep up the good work and long live Holden.
@@dcr1545 L98 wasnt too bad i agree. Like the L77 myself
@@CurtisLSA not to bad! OK. L77 has a lot of issues with the AFM and isn't as reliable as the L98.
@@dcr1545 I had a VF ss with L77 and didn’t have anything go wrong had it for 3 years before my GTS that I have now . Might have heard of the odd lifter issue for sure but heard that on some LS engines which is a shame . But the L98 was a good engine I agree also
Surprised the 202 made the list. First time I saw them was in the HQ Holden. As I recall, they had huge reliability issues. Two engines came out the the Hq, the 202 and the 161. The 202 was supposed to be the 186 of the future passenger market. Its sibling was the 161. Bit of a slug was the 161. But as reliable as all get up.
The HQ came with 2 6cyl engines, the 173ci & 202ci, not the 161ci, the 161ci came on line in the HK Kingswood & finished with the HG Kingswood & LC Torana, there was also a 138ci red engine available in the LC Torana, the 173ci was the economy 6cyl option in the Belmont/Kingswood HQ.
I had a 202 in my HQ panel van back in the 80's, never had any issues with reliability, was great in that respect, I just found it to be a bit thirsty compared to my 253 I had in my HG Kingswood before it...that gave me surprisingly good economy. the 202 finally died one day when I over revved it and took the top off a piston. replaced it with a fully reconditioned 186 which I loved.
@@mickblack2800
The 161 was the base engine in the HR from 1966. It was also standard in the LC GTR in 1970.
What most people DON'T KNOW IS... Dick Johnson got the very first GTR TORANA to ever hit a QLD race track on the grid at Lakeside way before the HDT ever got their first XU1 & Tricky's LC GTR ran in Improved Production with it's 161 in full race form. Tricky raced that GTR successfully for several years & eventually upgraded it to LJ lookalike with a 202. He had several LJs right up until he switched to Falcon Hardtops in 1976. Tricky ended up with the very same XU-1 that rudely ran out of fuel at Bathurst in 1973 with Doug Chivas at the wheel. Tricky rebuilt that thing & he became the Six Cylinder Holden King of Queensland when he repeatedly ran away from HDT & Brock/Bill Patterson L34s AND 351 XA & XB HARDTOPS at Lakeside & Surfers Paradise right ut to the end of 1976.
The old 161 was a brilliant little motor. Every HR, HK, HT & HG UTE & PANELVAN used by tradies & contractors all over Australia for bloody decades came standard with a 161 unless it was ordered new otherwise or eventually re-engined. I worked for O'Donnell - Griffin Contracting in Brisbane in the late '70s and our most reliable work vehicles were HT & HG utes & vans with 161s that had gone around the clock & just kept on going.
The children who put this little presentation together wouldn't know a good engine from a hole in the ground because they came down in the last shower.
Holden built really tough engines that kept on running even after the bloody car had rusted in half. Tinpot crap like RB30s & Gen111 chintzyarse kids toys aren't even in the race. Dear old Holdens built this nation throughout the 1950s '60s '70s 80s & beyond. Billions of miles were covered in the process. . . and while all that was going on, thousands of us hotted our old Holdens up & thousands of Holdens won every kind of motor sport event you can think of. How many events were ever won with RB30s & alloy Chevs?... NOT MANY!
You talk rubbish as someone who has owned over 60 1970 Holdens from 6 cylinder to Holden V8 to Chevy v8. there was nothing wrong with the 202 engine at all and Look at the LJ GTR Torana and see this as it was beating the big 351 Ford engine.
Known 202 engines to do 400,000 km without needing a rebuild.
I even put big solid cams in a few 202 engines one with 240,000km and another with 330,000km and no issues. most said chance of blowing the rings out. nope even raced and beat supercharged Toyota Supras. R33 GTR skylines with it.
Good job on including the SB2. Slice of heaven right there.
Thanks Tom, we thought that would be right up your alley!
From a reliability and ease of repair, the buic 3800/Ecotec is a great engine. Not necessarily a powerhouse, but very smooth and a fair competitor to ford sohc back in the day.
Shame the 3.0/3.6 dohc engines replaced it.
I would have loved to see the new Lt-based Ecotec3 go into the vf successor that we never got
That little 3.6L twin turbo unit you spoke about from the 04 Torana concept has in essence made its way into production -- check out the 2022 Cadillac CT4-V Blackwing - even has a manual option 👌🏻
Also check out the CT5-V Blackwing (what I view as the spiritual successor to the SS/HSVs) also touting a 6 speed manual 👍🏻
Damn, now you've got me wondering about how something like that CT4-V Blackwing engine would go in my VF wagon - 472hp with no significant weight increase over the standard NA V6, and probably close to a bolt-in swap, since it's a variant of the same engine family. Good thing it's not available locally, otherwise I could see myself going down a really big and expensive rabbit hole...
@@bradevans7935 Agreed mate would be right at home in a VF - something different thats for sure! Im curious if anyone has done the LF3/LF4 engine swap into a commodore
I had a VL Turbo and it was a great car and engine. Now to my get my 308 VH back on the road…
The turbo rb30s were great in their day! Best of luck with the 308, best sounding firing order on the planet.
Thec3.3 black and blue motors. had the best of the old red motors development, sadly choked by emissions. From stock, ditch the complex plumbing, a set of headers, a decent carbon and manifold, no internal changes, and they went really well. Update the EFI, and the vk will liven up another.
I’ve had a few bad experiences with Holden 308 where if you bomb them out to around 500 hp basically they go bang the block is just not strong enough
You’ve gotta be real careful
Yep, agree. I have personal experience of detonation at 450hp!!
There are heaps and heaps of 500hp 308s that have had no issue with the block integrity. The biggest issues the 308 blocks ever had was core shift issues that often meant thin cylinder walls, that is why you wont see many guys going to + .060" let alone over .060". But they are a fairly easy engine to make power with.
Highly surprised the old 3.8 Buick didn’t make the list. But each to their own.
G'day Luke, only a limited number of spots for so many cool engines!
@@ClunieGarage no stress mate.
I’m not surprised 😅 hunk of shit
LSA the world !
You bet Curtis, the LSA mention was for you ! 😀
@@ClunieGarage Thanks for that !
Great vid
308 was the soft block had no oil pressure and it’s replacement was in the VT crumble door was the 304 chev pattern gearbox they fixed the oil pressure problem and the LS crank would bolt straight in the block also known as the Peter brock engine
the Torana was called the TT36 , I saw it at the Sydney motor show. you can see the cruise in the design there too.
G'day Ken, imagine if we could buy that car today!
@@ClunieGarage yeah I loved it when I saw it.
Saw it last week in the Birdwood Motor museum very cool
I agree with you 100%
Ah nice one Seth! Are you staying safe with the latest COVID outbreak? WA is doing OK from what I see?
I love the ls3 especially if it's a w375 ❤
G'day, yes the LS3 is pretty special.
The V6 boys will be crying for not giving the L67 an honourable mention
G'day Nick, no room for that engine on this list!!
Never late in a 308 but 186 gets the chicks
Haha classic!
I liked my 3.8 Ecotec v6 in my vt base model , more than adequate power no engine trouble with the car with a lot of km but put your foot down it did like fuel.
Ah nice one. Any plans for modifications or looking at a V8 in the future?
Well said mate. So glad you put the the 202 in the top 5 as it was a great engine and hard to break. I have the L98 in my VE SSV and it is a great engine and so reliable. The LS engines love new oil. I all ways change the oil in mine frequently. Also i have a Datsun 1200 ute and there is another great engine that never dies. Keep up the great work
Loving life in my ve L98 6.0l
Thanks Brad and Yolanda! The dear ol' 202. My first job was on a milk run and the owner installed a 202 into a Toyota light truck. It went forever that engine. L98 is a great engine and we keep ours in the race ute fed with new oil and filters every couple of thousand of kms. Thanks for watching our channel!
You bet Tom, great engine the L98!
Having stripped hundreds of red motors for reconditioning the 202 in std form had a habit of lifting the top off number 6 piston the humble old 186 didn't .
Would have loved to have seen a big block option for the earlier Holden’s - especially HQ-WB , L88 & ZL1 come to mind .
G'day Ian, how good would it have been to have a 454 big block in a HQ!
@@ClunieGarage the bloke who made the sandman was going to put a 6.5 in the Hx Le but he got turned down with the idea , also there was some Rb vn's as test mules, some turbo ecotec Vt test mules that made it to street testing but where not fully approved by GM's board
As long as it's a GMH it's the best...even without an engine HOLDEN all the way, Kingswood my first car LOL.
I love the older chev engines like the 350 my dad has 2 c3 corvettes and a speedboat with worked 350 on it im currently on my Ls but I’ve got a vq series 2 statesman with a 304 it sounds mint
I love the red motor, 179, 186 and the 202. As for the V8's I love the 307 (a lot of sentiment in that one, lol).
Tangent time, whats the Inter in the background? Looks cool.
G'day mate, apologies for the very late response! The inter is a 1969 C1600 I am restoring.
The ultimate mongrel LS Ive seen was an LS7 machined to take the full LS10 crank and titanium rods with custom pistons. It was in Paris to Dacar buggy.
I think it was the first privateer to finish in the top ten outright..about 5 years back.
wild motor with eight huge individual throttle bodies.
Great video mate! gotta give an honourable mention to that final stroker motor that was in the (I think) the last VT HSV's before the LS was introduced. some other good local channels, for the ford fans "Gap Sauce" and for the for a mix of ford and holden "XYYNOT Drifting"
Thanks mate, will keep an eye out for those channels! Nice choice on the final stroker.
Final stroker motor was in the VR Holden had standard factory stroker clearance block. i know as had to hunt for one for my SLR 5000 build. a lot did not know about it and you could pick them up for a steal and resell them for a profit. i bought and sold 20 of these and made good money. VT just used the same block. all models did until the LS1 came in.
Think the block had 5.0 written on it and all non stroker blocks had 304 written on them.
What did you think of the different versions of Holden 6 202 3.3L.... first the Red motor, then the Blue with major changes and finally the Black motors....
G'day, we were always fans of the red 202.
Holden is the best 🔥
Yeah good list!
I had a 308 in a Xul type Torana. Good in a straight line.. that's all it was good for.
G'day mate, nice one. That would have been pretty handy in a light weight platform.
I thought that the 253 would have made the grade
I have an L76 SV8....in one word...perfect...181,000kms and spent nothing except oils and filters in the 8 years I have owned it....
Everyone says the 308 is dead. It's not my dad still builds heaps to this day
Ls9 is actually the granddaddy of the Ls family.
G'day Courtney, the LS9 is awesome, we agree. The LS7 is 427 cubic inches which is why we have called it the grand daddy.
1: LS family
2: 350 Chev
3: 308/304
4: RB30 Turbo
5: 202
Rb30 is a Nissan motor
Dad told me half a century ago anywhere a Holden won't go ain't worth going! Ss28ve
VR series 2 till vt 5.0/304 had clearance for 355stroke crank , Holden used harrop
So you should have called the video top 5 engines in Holden’s. Glad you included the RB30T.
G'day mate, thanks for watching, I thought we clarified that in the initial part of the video.
What about the 253 fantastic engine n the 3.8 that come out in the VT unreal engine n the old 186 great engines 2
No room for the dear ol 253 or 3.8 on this list mate. Thanks for watching though!
Enjoyed this "best engines in holden cars" vid but a bit more research and the Torque Power Big Paw and Little Paw would have to have had a big mention. Viva!
Excellent info. I love my Redline wagon. It’s red too ! Red ones go faster !
You betcha! That's why we chose a red Redline as well!
LJ XU1's had easily the best looking Holden engine ever. Good looking car too!
G'day mate, you bet!
Great video 👍
My vote goes to the lil l67 v6. Smaller pulley on the s\c, intercooler and a set of high ratio rockers with the usual exhaust and intake stuff and mine puts down 220ish rwkw. Have suprised alot of cars with the old vx calais
if you like a awful sound and don't play with engines. rather a old Red Holden engine with a huge solid cam and triple webber carbs. used to beat Skylines and Supras and many v8's with these engines.
So many L67 get spun bearings a lot.
Good yarn Fred.. yes all good engines man... 👍
Thanks mate, this video is turning out to be very popular!!
@@ClunieGarage
I watch every one of your videos man!
Most people I know would say 202jp & 350hp ( showing my age 🙃) both good motors back in the day ,myself I'd say ecotec & ls3
G'day Hairy, yes we have a soft spot for the LS3 and that why the LS family made it to the top of the list.
@@ClunieGarage every Holden or Chevy fan loves an LS and the ecotec isn't a flashy motor just reliable as they come any motor that gets 750k-900k on LPG in a taxi is a good thing
Good old 202 don't even need oil they run for ever
Holden red 308 has the best sound
Agree, the LS just doesn't have the same firing growl as the 304/308.
Mate I have a question. How much you reckon it will cost me altogether to get my 2009 V.E SS up to 440kw . Thanks for your time
Depends which power route you want to take. Staying na may not get you to 440kw even with heads, cam etc.. Forced induction is a proven route and will set you back $16-20k.
@@ClunieGarage thanks for replying . I don’t know anything about SS
You guy's did'nt get the big block chevy in anything?
Have a look at our top 5 chev video.
Great video
Thanks Steven and glad you like it! Don't forget to subscribe if you haven't done so already! 😉
Forgot to mention the original Holden turbo 6 the UC SL/T dealership optional turbo set up. Similar to the DJ turbo xe falcons
G'day Steven, I have heard of those but couldn't fit in them in the top 5. Maybe a top 10 candidate for next time.
Weren't they the ones that built the barra straight 6, I've seen videos where they get groceries during the week and take it to the dragstrip on weekends with very little modifications?🤷♂️🙆♂️🤠👍oh yeah seem I do remember they may have added a turbo without reinforcing the bottom end because the engine was already a badass lol!😁
VL and VN SS Group A twin throttle engine is missing.
G'day John, yes we will add them in the next list!
@@ClunieGarage Good choice of engines.
The XU-1 engine I thought was great edition, I’ve owned 2 original LJ GTR’s with a lot of the XU-1 running gear and known others with genuine GTR and XU-1 cars. I’ve also had 2 sets of orig 175CD2 Strombergs, so am familiar with the engines.
The VL and VN Group A equiped cars I’m also familiar with as I’ve owned 1 of each.
I’m interested to see how the Brock race race car comes along.
The red 173 is the G.O.A.T 💪
You say the mighty big iron block 308 engine, Well I seem to remember that the 308's claim to fame in its day was that it was the smallest external physical sized cast iron V8
But they have big power
G'day ScatMan, small cubes but awesome package in Bathurst guise and they used to sing with that classic Holden firing order. I built a high comp 308 with Keth Black pistons, Superflow heads, Crow Cam etc back in the day and it sounded like a sprint car!
Not quite, the 302 Windsor had a 8.2" deck height and the Holden 308 had a deck height of 8.8".
@@angry9901 Im talking about total footprint size
the total height and length of the engine.
as in getting it to fit the smallest under bonnet space
@@ScatManAust yeah nah those 302s are pocket sized. Saw one a few weeks ago and it looked like you could easily stand next to it in the car. Smaller than a 253 by far
Only 2 of your engines are Holden's. A Nissan built under license, and a couple of imported yanks.
I'm a Holden nut, I own two Holdens, with Holden engines, and a commodore with a Buick engine.
The "Starfire".
The ls1 I'm pre sure came out in the series 3 of the vts not the series 2 thought they kept the 5ltre till the series 3
You got to mention the Holden the Old Holden 253 v/8
G'day Paul, there is no way I could have listed the ol 4.2L 253!!!!
The lines of the torana prototype, VE commodore???
G'day Matt, yes the lines do look familiar hey. That prototype launched in 2004 from memory and then the VE came out in 2006 so stands to reason that some of the design could have carried through.
Does any know if Hillman ever made engines for Holden?
Dear Brian, Can you do a top 5 video on each 4, 6, and v8 on Ford, Holden and Chrysler .(9 videos)
Personally I think the greatest Holden motors of all time have easily gotta be the 304 and 308. I think they are way better than these new LS motors
You are wrong about that l have had both and the ls3 is far superior
what about the w1 hsv ls9 that was holden built for Australia
He mentioned the LS9 right after the LSA. Should have put a few more LS9 and LS7 motors in HSV. Give the LS3 to the SS and put LS7 in all the remaining Clubsports.
G'day mate, yes LS9 made it into the LS family and took no. 1 spot. A very special engine.
Aloytec FTW!
I have a 355 vp and a 202 vh
Mate the 350 chev is that the same engine you can find in the holden Calais V8 ?
G'day mate, depending on the age of the Holden Calais V8, you are most probably looking at a Holden 304 V8. Which year are you referring to?
Good day mate the 2001 VX 5.7 litre V8 I think . Because I used to own one of them Calais but not for long because cops took them . And I never get the chance to find out about the engine . Besides that was long time ago
They were powered by the ls1 @@efrenarnold5379
253, 4.2 the sweetest Holden engine of all.
G'day, they are an acquired taste the ol 253.
2 fluffy 3
Biggest under powered joke they were
did you buy the old green truck up in brisbane
G'day Craig, I bought it from a bloke that was from Toowoomba from memory and it was sky blue. I have restored it and painted it metallic IH green.
Camira donk?
You Wayne Kerr…. Lol
Camira rubbish
G'day Wayne, the mighty Camira engine is about to feature in our next 'lemon' video!
They are the true Frankensteins. So many upgrades and variations. Better than the starfire.
Where did you get the btr banner and gow much are they
G'day mate, you can get the banner from the US online BTR store. Our first banner got lost in Mexico! Then they sent us a replacement with some free t-shirts. Do you have a BTR cam?
@@ClunieGarage thanks and yeah i have ordered direct from them before i have clothing and btr equalizer set up and btr trunion kit, i currently have a vcm cam that i purchased before i heard about btr but i do plan on getting a cam from them as i am really impressed with the qualoty of their products, i have seen the banners for sale on their site but they have no size in the description
The vz alloytec is great
G'day mate, glad you like the alloytec - we don't have personal experience with them but they seem pretty good from all accounts.
tuning 500hp out of a vl turbo. is that all??? need to see the boys in western sydney cranking 900-1200 hp out of them
Agree what is possible now. I was referring to back in 1994-1995 when my mate had a VL - back then 500hp was pretty healthy.
They won't last long 😄
Im surprised the 1.9 Starfire didn't get a mention LOL 😂
The dear ol starfire. Classic!
Pretty sure back in the day even so today it was a hp rate not a kW rate
The best Holden Engines ever are the aftermarket torque power big paw 500ci and little paw 443ci both made in cast and alloy blocks keeping the Holden v8 basic fitment and dimensions.
Oh wow, we have never heard of them! Thanks for watching.
@@ClunieGarage Have a look on the torquepower website and Facebook page. Great Aussie company. Fortunately or unfortunately I'll never get into a project like that though😅
Yeah I'm with you Dan. I have spoken with Torque Power twice about these as I was really hoping to be able to put together a solid big cube Aussie cruiser with one of these but they are pretty exclusivrely a competition engine and you'll need about 30k to put one together anyway. Pity, I'd have loved to lope around in something with that much pedigree but glad they are getting them out there.