# And now for something completely different .... my new car



## PaulS (Jun 15, 2002)

Got a call from my dealer a week ago, to say that my Monaro had arrived a little earlier than expected, and I could collect it on Saturday lunchtime. Cue the start of a week of re reading every Monaro article I could lay my hands on, and sleepless nights dreaming of Chevrolet V8's and racing around the Bathurst circuit . The wait is now over, and I have the car. I've been driving it non-stop since Saturday 

The Vauxhall (nee Holden) Monaro is a 2 door coupe version of the 4 door Holden Commodore, the Holden Commodore being an Australian version of the Vauxhall Omega B. The Commodore really just shares the basic floor pan design and body shape of the Omega. The mechanicals, interior, and external fittings are quite different. I hope you are still with me :wink:

Lift the bonnet and there are no sign of 4 or 6 cylinder engines - they have been thrown out and replaced by a whopping 5.7 litre Chevrolet Corvette V8 and a six speed manual gearbox. The engine produces 333 PS @ 5600 rpm and 465 nm of torque @ 4000 rpm. 0-60 mph arrives in 5.7 seconds and the top speed is rumoured to be around 165 mph. The Australian's obviously donâ€™t give a 4X when it comes to the â€˜gentlemenâ€™s agreementâ€™ over the 155 mph speed limiter, as it doesn't have one. Due to the huge amount of torque on tap, it pulls really well in all the gears, and of course there is no turbo lag. In 3rd gear the 40-60, 50-70, 60-80, 70-90 mph increments are all covered in less than 4 seconds.

If you think that this â€˜Vauxhallâ€™ may lack any sporting heritage - take a look at saloon car racing down under. Holden are highly respected. A large tuning concern has been built up around the racing side - TWR/HSV (Holden specialist Vehicles). HSV are a bit like Brabus are to Mercedes or Alpina to BMW.

Equipment wise, the car comes very well specified. Included in the price is metallic paint, switchable traction control, an onboard computer, dual zone climate control, cruise control, a steering wheel that is adjustable for reach and rake, full leather trim, very comfy sports seats that are electrically adjustable in all directions, alarm/immobiliser, rear parking sensors, and an in dash radio & 6CD player. No sunroof or Xenons though, and no RDS on the radio, but it does have twin cup holders :roll:

So why did I sell my Porsche and (to gasps of horror from the badge snobs) buy a Vauxhall?  [smiley=gossip.gif]

Well, I've always had a soft spot for some of GMâ€˜s big motorway bruisers. The Monza, the Senator 24v (the ones the Police used) and of course the legendary Lotus Carlton have all been favourites of mine. I would have loved to own a Lotus Carlton, but I could never afford one at the time. I used to run a really nice Commodore GS/E coupe as a hobby in the 90â€™s. I finally sold it in 2000 (Iâ€™ve always regretted that) thinking that that was the end of an era. So as soon as Vauxhall announced the Monaro, which as we now know is an Australian Commodore coupe, I just knew I had to have one. Holden's marketing motto down under is "I just want one" :wink: 

The Boxster offered just about the best combination of performance, handling, steering and braking of any sports car on the market. Itâ€™s an Icon, no doubt. You also have the Porsche â€˜imageâ€™ and strong residuals. Well fair enough, but after a while I could not really get on with the firm ride, cramped cabin, and wind noise on the motorway. For me, no good as a long distance cruiser I'm afraid. There is also a badge snobbery issue. I've never been one to subscribe to badge snobbery - I'm not going to buy a â€˜poshâ€™ car in order feel superior to other drivers. I'll buy a car, because I like _the car_, or how it performs. Donâ€™t judge a book by the cover. I went to a few Porsche meets, but the snobbery from some (but not all) Porsche owners toward other vehicle owners I found quite off-putting. Another one of the reasons I decided to sell it in the end. Still, it was fun and Iâ€™ve now been there, done it and got the T-shirt 

Back to the Monaro. What's it like to drive? In a word - devastating! There is so much torque! It pulls in any gear from 1000 rpm upwards. It seems that most 'normal' driving can be done in the 1000 - 2500 rpm range. Above that, fcuk does this car fly!   8) Hit the gas and it surges forward in any gear. It makes the Boxster seem like a milk-float. Shortly after I got it, I tried taking the engine through its rev range (red line is 6200 rpm). In third, and decided it was time for 4th - didn't realise I was doing nearly a ton! You really have to watch the speedometer as the combination bags of torque, a subdued engine note, and high gearing means you arrive at naughty speeds much quicker than you think [smiley=policeman.gif] On the motorway, leave it in 4th and it will dispatch most 'opposition' effortlessly, and I've already had some fun with a BMW 7 series and a Porsche Cayenne. If you are in cruising mode - switch the cruise control on and stick it in 6th gear - at 90 mph the engine is turning over at just 2000 rpm.

Handling wise, I'm pleased with it. Itâ€™s a big car outside, but it doesn't feel like one when you are pressing on. You can throw it around with confidence. On the bends there is a bit of roll, but it hangs on very well. In the Boxster, I used to go around a big roundabout near me, several times, in ever decreasing circles, to approach the limits of adhesion, and have some fun. Well I can't do it quite as fast in the Monaro, but it's just as much fun. Itâ€™s also the best car I've had, by a long way, for laying rubber on tarmac in parallel lines [smiley=smoking.gif] :wink: - with the traction control off, of course. However, the TC system itself is a bit crude - when it activates, it is rather juddery and the accelerator pedal pushes back up - it feels rather strange.

The steering is light and nowhere near as accurate as the Boxster, and there is a definite dead zone in the feel as you throw the car around and the weight transfers from left to right. The Brakes seem strong, but again don't offer anything like the feel of the Boxster, The ride quality is fine on the motorway and good A roads - but it can get a bit choppy on bumps and uneven surfaces. I guess this is to be expected on 18" wheels, and 40 profile rubber .

Fuel consumption. Well what do you expect from a 5.7 litre V8? Autocar quote a 19.9 mpg average with a touring figure of 27mpg. Itâ€™s actually not too bad, if you consider the performance available and the fact that I never used to get more than about 22 mpg from the Boxster. I never bought the Monaro as an everyday car - I have a Peugeot Diesel for such duties - I bought it to use as a toy, same as the TT and the Boxster.

Inside, itâ€™s smart and functional, and there are no squeaks or rattles, but the quality of the materials and finish are nothing special.

I have a couple of mods planned. A stage 1 upgrade, that includes a modified air intake, ECU remap and a performance exhaust system, will add another 35 bhp. Also, the stereo system is coming out. I intend to put in a tailored ICE system. I thought the Bose system that I had in the TT and Boxster were very good, the standard fit Monaro system is nowhere near as good.

To be honest, the Monaro doesn't really fit into a defined segment in the UK market, and it won't appeal to everyone. It's unique, in that it combines American muscle car underpinnings with a cleanly styled body, and European standards of ride and handling. It is rather different and will always be rare, as only 250 will be imported this year. I love the shape of it - it's one of those cars that has real presense on the road. I kind of like the fact that it wears a Vauxhall badge, and offers such devastating performance for so little money. It's almost as if it's sticking up two fingers at the establishment :lol:

Don't buy one if you are looking for Mercedes refinement and sophistication, or BMW cutting edge design and technology, because it offers none of that :wink:

After years of boring company cars followed by a few hot hatches, (and having paid off my mortgage last year) I thought it was about time I had a few proper performance cars. You only live once. I sold both the TT and the Boxster after a year or so, but I have a gut feeling that I will be keeping the Monaro for some time.

It's a *bad Mother F*..... :twisted: :twisted: and I love it! 









*It's a beast*








*One of the world's great engines - the all aluminium small block Chevy 5.7 litre V8*
































*Spacious interior and very comfy seats*


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## Kell (May 28, 2002)

wow.

Are there any others in the UK that you know of?


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## jgoodman00 (May 6, 2002)

Very nice, & about as different from the Boxster as you could get!


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## garyc (May 7, 2002)

Hey nice review Paul. And I have warmed to the Monaro theme and it looks much better in silver than red. Sounds like you are going to be happy together for a while. Enjoy. 

(2000rpm @ 90mph in top.  That's revving evevn lower than the Tractor, which takes 2500rpm @ 92mph.)

_As they say, " A good biggun is always going to br better than a good littlun_ :wink:


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## jampott (Sep 6, 2003)

I love cars that hit 90+ in third


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## ronin (Sep 6, 2003)

Lokks lovely - if i`m not wrong your`e one of only three hundred UK cars this year.
Are the wheels standard? They look the dogs, sort of Audi RS6 "themed"
Nice looking car mate [smiley=thumbsup.gif]


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## scoTTy (May 6, 2002)

Nice review Paul.

It looks so different to the Black one we went out in! It looks a lot less "heavy".

You're gonna have to come up to the Kneeworth/Cambridge Motel meet so we can run some comparisons. You haven't been out in mine either so it should be very intteresting.

[smiley=thumbsup.gif]

p.s. Make sure you get the exhuast done by then !! :wink:


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## W7 PMC (May 6, 2002)

Niiiice one Paul.

Sure does look & sound like a sweet motor. Bad ass big blocks are so much fun, so welcome to the V8 brigade 8)


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## scavenger (Jun 25, 2002)

Nice one, looks real good in silver.

I think it was last months EVO where they went down to Oz to drive one and the photo's didn't do much for me. Yours looks real nice though - maybe you can send them to EVO


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## Jac-in-a-Box (Nov 9, 2002)

Hi Paul 

The new car looks great, a little disappointed in the colour choice - I thought you were going for "Purple Haze" 



> I went to a few Porsche meets, but the snobbery from some (but not all) Porsche owners toward other vehicle owners I found quite off-putting.


I'd have bought you an ice cream or burger had I met you at a Porsche meet...assuming Porsche meets allow burger vans in 

Enjoy the new car, and does it snarl when you tug its tail? :wink:

Jackie x


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## PaulS (Jun 15, 2002)

Thanks for the replies 



Kell said:


> Are there any others in the UK that you know of?


Vauxhall are importing 300 in total this year. I'm not sure how true this is, but my dealer said that around 150 have been 'sold' so far. They have only just started deliveries, and about 8 have been delivered to so far. I appear to be one of the first owners. Some people have bought them purely to use as a basis for a track car.



jgoodman00 said:


> Very nice, & about as different from the Boxster as you could get!


Thanks James. It certainly is very different to the Boxster. People seem to either completely ignore it, or stop in their tracks and stare at it. This is the first time that I've had a brand new car, that is actually brand new to the market as well. I'm enjoying it 



garyc said:


> Hey nice review Paul. And I have warmed to the Monaro theme and it looks much better in silver than red.


Thanks Gary. All the silver cars I've had have all been great. So I decided to play safe this time and get another silver one. I think you'll agree - this is not a 'poofy' coupe  :wink:



garyc said:


> Sounds like you are going to be happy together for a while. Enjoy.


They say life begins @ :wink: so yes I'm going to enjoy it. Wife likes it too. She doesn't really take much interest in cars - when we went to have a look at the Monaro, her only real consideration was how comfortable it was. As soon as she sat in the passenger seat, she was convinced. "Yes, you can buy it" I might have to be a little economical with the truth over the fuel consumption though :? :wink:



garyc said:


> (2000rpm @ 90mph in top. That's revving evevn lower than the Tractor, which takes 2500rpm @ 92mph.)


Double checked on the way home from work tonight. It's 2k at just over 85 mph 



garyc said:


> As they say, " A good biggun is always going to br better than a good littlun


"There's no substitute for cubes" 



jampott said:


> I love cars that hit 90+ in third


Yep. I suppose the more cylinders you have under the bonnet, the higher the gearing can be. I think it will go over 100 in third. Not the sort of thing you can try out too often though. Although there is one thing I do know - it does 60 mph in first gear!



ronin said:


> Lokks lovely - if i`m not wrong your`e one of only three hundred UK cars this year.
> Are the wheels standard? They look the dogs, sort of Audi RS6 "themed"
> Nice looking car mate


Thanks ronin  250 cars will be the CV8 (like mine ) and the other 50 will be the 380 bhp 'vxr' model. My car is pretty bonkers, but the vxr is positivlely insane!

The wheels are standard spec, and included in the price - just Â£28,500.



scoTTy said:


> Nice review Paul.
> 
> It looks so different to the Black one we went out in! It looks a lot less "heavy".
> 
> ...


Thanks Paul, and thanks for taking the time out to come down and have a look at the Monaro. I'll try and make it to the next Kneesworth/Cambridge meet. I'm going to wait until the car has covered some miles, and the engine is run in, before I go for the stage 1 upgrade, and exhaust. I want to get a feel for the performance and mpg, before I upgrade. I'm going to get the ICE system fitted in ASAP though :wink:



W7 PMC said:


> Niiiice one Paul.
> 
> Sure does look & sound like a sweet motor. Bad ass big blocks are so much fun, so welcome to the V8 brigade 8)


Thanks Paul. I can't quite believe that I've gone out and bought a car with a 5.7 litre "bad ass big block" V8 under the bonnet! My dad said that I must be nutts!  Probably true, but I thought I'd better do it before the politicians ban the fun 



scavenger said:


> Nice one, looks real good in silver.
> 
> I think it was last months EVO where they went down to Oz to drive one and the photo's didn't do much for me. Yours looks real nice though - maybe you can send them to EVO


Thanks scavenger. The silver does look really good when the sun shines. It's more or less the same as the 'original TT' silver. As well as the Evo feature, Autocar will be running a Monaro as one of their long term cars 



jackiestt said:


> Hi Paul
> 
> The new car looks great, a little disappointed in the colour choice - I thought you were going for "Purple Haze"


Hi Jackie  Purple Haze is only available on a limited edition Monaro, that is only available in Australia. May be it was best that I went for silver anyway 



> I went to a few Porsche meets, but the snobbery from some (but not all) Porsche owners toward other vehicle owners I found quite off-putting





jackiestt said:


> I'd have bought you an ice cream or burger had I met you at a Porsche meet...assuming Porsche meets allow burger vans in
> 
> Enjoy the new car, and does it snarl when you tug its tail?
> 
> Jackie x


I'm probably exaggerating just a little re my badge snobbery comments. It happens in all car 'circles' ....

The Monaro certainly does snarl. And it wags it's tail just as easy as the Boxster does 

Enjoy your new car too :wink: 

Paul


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## teucer2000 (May 14, 2002)

Lucky man and don't worry about badge snobs....Vauxhall built some of the earliest ever 'sports cars' and most drivers conveniently forget that the earliest Porsches were powered by Beetle engines. I say well done to Vauxhall for bringing the Monaro over and I hope you enjoy your choice. 8)


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## stephengreen (May 6, 2002)

excellent post
enjoyed the review and the pics.You are a true petrol head so you cant be as bad as i thought.At the risk of appearing more ignorant than usual what does "small block "actually mean?


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## PaulS (Jun 15, 2002)

stephengreen said:


> excellent post
> enjoyed the review and the pics.You are a true petrol head so you cant be as bad as i thought.At the risk of appearing more ignorant than usual what does "small block "actually mean?


Thanks.

The Chevrolet V8 has been around for years. It's actually a 1960's design that has gradually been developed over time. The exact capacities vary, but basically it comes in two block sizes - small block, 4 to 6 litre, or big block, 7 litre plus I believe.

The engine started life as a cast iron unit, but is now all alloy. It's lightweight, durable, and very easy to tune for more power. It's regarded as a classic design, and has been fitted to millions of vehicles, worldwide.


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## Dotti (Mar 9, 2003)

Very nice Paul . Certainly will be a head turner because it is so different :wink: .


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## jgray (May 8, 2002)

At the end of the day it will suffer because of the badge, they should have left the monaro with the holden badge.


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## amtechuk (Nov 17, 2003)

Suffer how? Residuals? I don`t think so, te VX220 retains 60% of it`s value after 3 years. The Monaro will be a rare sight on the roads and only add to it`s appeal. Badge snobbery is a terrible thing but have to amit I suffer from it too, to a degree


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## PaulS (Jun 15, 2002)

Been having a lot of fun with the Monaro over the summer 

I've had the Linden stage 2 390 bhp upgrade and a 'Ripshifter' quickshift gearlever fitted. I waited until I'd covered 4000 miles to let the engine loosen up a bit, and so that I could get a feel for the performance and economy of the standard car, so as to get a good comparison after the upgrade was done.

http://www.lindenspecialvehicles.com/lsv-monaro.htm

How does it go - it absolutely flies and sounds superb  8) - best keep that TC on most of the time in the _dry_ now :wink:

The package includes a new twin 2.5" stainless steel exhaust system inc headers and free flow cats. The accoustics - AWESOME! You could just not hear the engine properly before, the standard exhaust is too quiet, but now .... WOW! .......I'm no longer embarrased when I pull up at a set of lights beside a TVR now  :evil: 8) :wink: 
However - it's not *too* loud under certain driving conditions - whilst crusing there is hardly any 'boom' so I'm very pleased. Has a nice 'zing' to is as you pull away too. It's a beautiful looking system - the manifolds look great under the bonnet.

A recalibrated MAF meter map gives the engine a far far crisper throttle response - that 'fluffy' feel that you get sometimes at part throttle settings has gone, and it pulls much cleaner. It always used to pull hard, but now it pulls much harder, in ALL the gears. Pulls in 5th like it was in 3rd before.

An added bonus is that the fuel consumption has dropped slightly - got 23mpg on my 150 mile trip up to Linden and 25 on the way back.

The ripshifter - it certainly improves the feel of the gear selection, it gives you more confidence that you are going to get the right gear during a quick shift although the lever still requires quite a shove between gears. A braided clutch hose has stopped the clutch pedal going mushy if you've been stuck in traffic for a while - heat soak under the bonnet affects the standard rubber hose. Next will be a cold air induction system and an 'edit' tune up - GM's version of serial engine management programming.

Inside the car I've replaced the head unit with a Kenwood 4 x 47w unit, my Mstation MP3 system, and I replaced both front and rear speakers with Infiniti 6.5" component units - the fronts have seperate tweeters mounted on the tops of the doors and they give a huge improvement in sound quality and imaging. They work well with the standard fit subwoofer as well. As it stands, I'me very pleased with the sound, but as the speakers are high wattage rated units, I could add an amp too, to further enhance the sound :wink:

Externally, the car now wears the correct Holden badges all round, and a Monaro related plate :wink:

Holden - Drive on!  :wink:

PS - How about an 'other Marques' - _V8 only _ meet sometime ? :roll: :wink:


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## Jac-in-a-Box (Nov 9, 2002)

Hi Paul

Been a while since we've heard from you...sounds as though you've been busy tho' - and enjoying your new car.

Saw a Monaro last weekend - big but very nice, first one I've seen. Guess they're still relatively rare? (they are up here at least)

A new exhaust and cats then? Surprising how they can change the character and feel of the car. 
Had the same thing carried out to the Box at Janspeeds factory in the summer... sports cats and a custom exhaust, sounds fabulous - and goes better as well!

I look forward to hearing how the lot of "tweaks" performs 

Jackie x


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## PaulS (Jun 15, 2002)

Hi Jackie 

The upgrade really has made a huge difference to the exhaust sound, engine note and performance. The engine has a real hard edged metallic howl to it now, under load 8) 
I must admit, I do miss those Porsche brakes though :wink: A set of AP racing brakes are on the list .....

I've only seen one other Monaro on the road so far - a red one - and a blue one at a Holden meet last month, so they are a rare sight - only 300 are being sold this year.

Tomorrow I'm visiting the annual all GM show at Northampton, hope to see a few more there 

It's an awesome car, I'm loving it! :wink:

Trust you are still enjoying the Box?


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## PaulS (Jun 15, 2002)

A very enjoyable day - you can't beat an Aussie sense of humour! :wink:

2 Monaros (mine & a VXR) and 4 HSV's all with different outputs - one with a supercharger and 500 bhp!









R8 clubsport 285kw
















Monaro CV8 and a ute (!) 








260kw GTS









The Monaro VXR which is the UK Vauxhall badged version of the Holden HSV Y series coupe - 292kw

http://www.hsv.com.au/cars/vy2/default.htm


















If you ever come across any of these cars on the road - and notice the 285 or 300, or 320 badges on the boot - beware - down under they quote kw and not bhp :wink:

There are good pics @ http://www.hsvdriversclub.co.uk/home/ for those looking for an alternative, from the far east :wink:

About 20 Lotus Carltons were at the show too 8)


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## scoTTy (May 6, 2002)

PaulS said:


> How about an 'other Marques' - _V8 only _ meet sometime ? :roll: :wink:


That would be a small meet! I think only you, me and PaulC.

Glad to hear you've "fixed" the noise. It did seems a bit smoothered.

Name the time and place coz we need to go and make some noises! :wink:


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## PaulS (Jun 15, 2002)

scoTTy said:


> PaulS said:
> 
> 
> > How about an 'other Marques' - _V8 only _ meet sometime ? :roll: :wink:
> ...


But I think we have 2 Maserati V8 owners on here too :wink:



scoTTy said:


> Name the time and place coz we need to go and make some noises!


How about a meet at an open track day - castle coombe or Bedford Aerodrome - plenty of other cars to have a nose around/try out as a passenger/driver at the same time :wink: ?


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## PaulS (Jun 15, 2002)

jac-in-a-box said:


> I look forward to hearing how the lot of "tweaks" performs


Have you ever wondered how many horsepower, you car actually delivers at the rear wheels? The engine power (flywheel) bhp, less losses through the transmission - the gearbox and differential. Virtually all manufacturers quote flywheel bhp (less ancillaries) and not what is actually put down through the wheels - what really matters :wink: 

Normally power figs are obtained by a run on a rolling road, where the tyres run the rollers - but sometimes you can get â€˜slipâ€™ between the tyres and rollers - and if the car is not tied down too well and bounces about whilst under power, it can be a scary experience to watch! 

I did a rolling road session with a difference today at Abbey Motorsport - instead of the road, the wheels are removed from the car and the driveshafts are bolted to wheel dynamometers using adaptors. The dynamometers themselves are like big torque converters (they can handle up to 1200 bhp!) and are water cooled. The system gives a far more accurate (and safer) measurement of your power at the rear wheels. They can do 4wd - they just attach 4 dynamometers! The other advantage is in how the run is done. After the engine has been warmed, load is applied on the dynamometers, the car put in 4th gear, and the engine throttle is then opened fully - the load on each dynamometer is reduced gradually (by electronics) and the engine is allowed to spin up to maximum operating rpm. You get a very smooth run. The run is recorded on a graph with bhp torque rpm and air/fuel ratio, and all the data is exportable in excel format for your PC.

But there is a further, very very useful feature built into the Monaro - access to the vehicle management system via the OBD port. The car has around 100 engine and system sensors (ipâ€™s to the engine management system) virtually ALL of them can be viewed â€˜real timeâ€™ (and stored for playback later) whilst the dyno run is being done 8)

Throttle opening
Coolant temp
Air intake temp
Ignition advance
Knock retard
Rpm 
Injector rail pressure
Manifold vacuum
Short term fuel trims
Long term fuel trims

Etc etc â€¦.

The whole lot is exportable to excel for bedtime reading :roll: :wink:

Once youâ€™ve read the data from your car - and read the base tune - you can then â€˜editâ€™ all the tune parameters (it would take a very experienced tuner) or download a new map - such as the HSV profile. A good â€˜editâ€™ tune on its own, can add 20 bhp.

http://www.hptuners.com/

Itâ€™s reckoned that a Monaro looses about 60bhp through its transmission, with some 4x4 Scoobys and Skyline GTRâ€™s loosing 70 - 80 bhp.

Mine achieved:

350.4 bhp @ 5800 rpm
349.0 lb/ft torque @ 5000 rpm

at the rear wheels :wink: 

Which has got to mean a solid 410 flywheel BHP so Iâ€™m very very pleased  And that was running standard unleaded, not optimax. An edit tune should add another 20 :wink:

4 cars were tested today - 2 Monaros (S2) a VXR, and a standard Holden GTS. 
The Monaro CV8 is quoted @ 329bhp, the VXR at 382 bhp - but we reckon it puts out more than that :wink: And we confirmed that the VXR engine map is the Holden HSV one - not quite as powerful, as the Linden stage 2, but smoother.

Many thanks to Abbey Motorsport If you want your car tested properly, they are the experts:

www.abbeymotorsport.co.uk



> Please pass on my thanks to your group for allowing me to run your Holdens
> today, it was an interesting exercise that I hope will lead to the chance to
> have a little go at tuning one myself. I maintain my view that there is some
> serious ground to be gained by running a more suitable air/fuel ratio and
> ...


I've been looking at the bhp/tonne figures:

Evo lists the following:

BMW M3 338bhp 1570kg 219bhp/ton 
BMW M3 csl 355bhp 1385kg 255bhp/ton
BMW M5 e28 286bhp 1431kg 203bhp/ton
BMW M5 e34 340bhp 1650kg 209bhp/ton
BMW M5 400bhp 1720kg 236bhp/ton

From Autocar:

Monaro CV8 329bhp 1658kg 198bhp/ton

Results from Abbey motorsport dyno run:

Monaro S2 410bhp* 1658kg 247bhp/ton

*350bhp confirmed at rear hubs, 410bhp estimated flywheel bhp

I'm rather pleased with the result 

and just for comparison...

Lotus 340R 190bhp 658kg 293bhp/ton  :wink:









Warming up prior to the run. 








Hub adaptor....









... with the dyno connected ... 








PC hooked up to the Monaro engine management via the obd port 








dynapack control system records power at the hubs 








whilst your laptop monitors and records engine performance data via the obd port

The screen shots below (i know, they are a bit too small) represent a sweep from 1500 up to 5800 rpm over a 13 second (00:00:13) time period. Values recorded are:

Time/RPM/Vehicle speed/throttle position%/ign timing advance/knock retard/?/manifold absolute pressure/engine coolant temp/air intake temp/o2 sensor bank 1/o2 sensor bank 2/injector pulse width average bank1/injector pulse width average bank2/short term fuel trim bank1%/short term fuel trim bank2%/long term trim bank1/longterm trim bank2/dynamic cylinder air g/cyl/fuel trim cell.

So there is a lot of info for a 13 second run! These are the figures that you adjust to tune your car.


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## scoTTy (May 6, 2002)

Interesting idea with the dyno.

Your figures seems really good. That amount of HP at the wheels is very impressive.



PaulS said:


> scoTTy said:
> 
> 
> > PaulS said:
> ...


[smiley=oops.gif] Doh!  Not sure why I thought the above! :roll:



PaulS said:


> scoTTy said:
> 
> 
> > Name the time and place coz we need to go and make some noises!
> ...


There's a Bedford day coming up soon which Sundeep's going to I think?

I'll see what I can find out but with the out V8'ers go on track?


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## jampott (Sep 6, 2003)

If only they made an estate version...


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## PaulS (Jun 15, 2002)

scoTTy said:


> Interesting idea with the dyno.
> 
> Your figures seems really good. That amount of HP at the wheels is very impressive.


As is the setup at Abbey Motorsport (Oxted, in Surrey) The technicians there really are experts - they do a lot of Skyline tuning - I would highly recommend a visit, and I will be back there soon for an 'edit' tune to smooth out my torque curve :wink:



scoTTy said:


> There's a Bedford day coming up soon which Sundeep's going to I think?
> 
> I'll see what I can find out but with the out V8'ers go on track?


Bedford sounds ideal! Anybody else up for it? (BTW, I'm not trying to detract from the other marques Karting meet - I'd like to do it - but it's a bit too far for me, and I'd prefer something in your own car and track based to start with)


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## scoTTy (May 6, 2002)

> I'll see what I can find out but with the out V8'ers go on track?


This was meant to say :

I'll see what I can find out but will the other V8'ers go on the track?


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## PaulS (Jun 15, 2002)

jampott said:


> If only they made an estate version...


Well, down under, they do a 'ute', for transporting sheep around rather quick, so this could be just for you, Tim  :wink:










Are you still thinking of replacing the Z, Tim?

If you are _really_ interested, they DO do an estate. Just got to LSV or CAPA special vehicles, spec a body, trim, and mechanicals (up to 600bhp) wait 6 months whilst you 'own' the car in Australia, and then do a personal import :wink:


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## scoTTy (May 6, 2002)

The Optimax thread in the flame room says that Tim's looking at an S4 Avant.


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## scoTTy (May 6, 2002)

PaulS said:


> Bedford sounds ideal! Anybody else up for it? (BTW, I'm not trying to detract from the other marques Karting meet - I'd like to do it - but it's a bit too far for me, and I'd prefer something in your own car and track based to start with)


All details are HERE

but basically 
Sat 30th October
08:00-17:00 open pitlane
Â£199
Mainly Porsche's on track


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## jampott (Sep 6, 2003)

> Porsche's


Oi!


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## scoTTy (May 6, 2002)

I didn't put that apostrophe in!! My PC must have a virus.

Honest.

:roll:


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## Guest (Oct 1, 2004)

PaulS said:


> scoTTy said:
> 
> 
> > There's a Bedford day coming up soon which Sundeep's going to I think?
> ...


I'll be there....

The full 3.6 mile GT circuit is ideal as there are almost no barriers to hit.. so lots of run off areas if needed !

PM if you decide to go..... and the price is a bargain.... there will be (my guess) about 80 cars there...

about 30-40 porsches (all sorts), another 30-40 Lotus Elises and a few others.....


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