VR V8 EFI in Opel Monza

[Gse]

I live in Holland where i own 2 Opel Monza,s in one of them i wanne put a Holden V8 instead of the current straight 6.

I am coming to Australia in januari for a Holiday and bought me a VR Commodore V8 EFI with automatic gearbox on ebay that is parkt at a mate of mine Melbourne,after my trip i wanne send the engine and transmission home and put in my Monza but i have problems:

The VR has the 4L60E box and that works electronic,how can use my speedo cable again?

What need to changed to the CPU that it run other cars? (read something about anti theft something)

How hard is the wiring from a VR with auto box in a VB Commodore coupe.

My car already is a injection,so tank and pump and lines are there,radiator wil be a VK V8tacho will be one from a VB-VH V8,that aint going to be problems,only that stupid 4l60E gearbox is my biggest problems,i thought all V8 EFI commodores had a TH700....

 

[greenfoam]

Gse, you can do it, you will need the loom for the engine and ecu. I'm not sure how you go about the speedo but it is possible. I will fix the memcal for you to disable the anti theft. I can do this from anywhere in the world so don't worry about that part. You just get it in the car and wired up . Another option is just buy a T700 or even a 3 speed T350 and run the VN/VP loom and ECU

Also what does the K frame look like in the Monza? I think you might need a K frame from an Australian car? to make the V8 fit?

P.S this is a really cool project you are doing

 

[Gse]

Haha thanks it aint cheap i mean getting a ticket for the land down under and getting a V8 Holden just for the engine and later find out that you have the "wrong version of the V8 setup"

But i bought the car cheap on ebay and its with a mate of mine now.
After i did my trip trough Aus the engine will be pulled out and send home on a pallet by seapost to put in my daily Monza A1.

I have a series 2 Monza but that one has ABS and aircon trip computer and i dont wanne change all that,and it has a digital dashbord that can be changed to a 8 cyl tacho as far i know.

But anyway it will end up in this:

Good points are:

The Commodore VB-VK is a 90% copie of my Monza it has the same trannie tunnel and a TH700/4l60E will fit in 100%,if the engine bay is complete empty its a right hand steered Commodore VB-VC-VH-VK under the bonnet.

I have a fitting tailschaft here,from a later Monza 4 speed aisin wagner automatic gearbox that has the same lenght as the TH700/4L60E box and our Trimatic and 5 speed Getrag and 4 speed automatic have the same yoke as the TH350 and TH700/4L60E so it shut fit.
(all Opel yokes of those days are the same as the the trimatic ones)

And a Monza has the same platform as the Commodore VB-VH so that tailschaft shut fit also,if the splines and connections are the same.

My Monza is a standard EFI one so lines and pump are tank are there.

VB-VK radiator would fit 1:1 as my current mounts are one the other side than the Aus ones:

I found out that a VR V8 K frame is the same than a VB-VP one but that the rest is diffent so it shut bolt right into my chassie 1:1 if use the rest of the suspension from the Monza.

Another big problem is the steering system,but i am close to have that solved:
We have a recerculating ball system and the Aus cars have a rack system,i got me a a steering rack from a 1998 E class mercedes that i changed now that it shut fit the VR K-frame if i weld some brackets on the K-frame and i than have the same track as a Monza and enough clearance for the exhaust atleast that what i hope,ow yeah we have the steering wheel on the other side,that why nothing from Holden fits.

My current 3 liter straight six has 2 exhaust pipes from the start till the end (all of them) so changing the exhaust wont be a big issu,they are 2x45mm.

Every Monza has 4 brake disks and i bought 330mm front brakes in Aus and they are on the car right now with a 1" master cylinder and a brake booster from a MV6 Omega (Aus based VX commodore),so brakes doenst need to get changed.

But my big problem is going to be wiring i cant find any real good information of how and what to wire????

My plan is:
Get the engine and trannie out and send it home with the rest that i need and a extra VN V8 loom + cpu and swap the 4L60E trannie here for a TH700,or buy me one and sell that 4L60E trannie,there are plenty of US barrels here that have a TH700 so that wont be the problem.

But is somebody could explain me how to wire a VN loom into a VB-VK would be great.

I did a lot research today and came up with this:
4L60E is not the right trannie for me:cant get the speedo working for a fair price and i dont like wires,a tv cable is much more simpler and a TH700 after 82 or 84 is just as strong as a 4l60E.

VR loom/cpu has that anti theft thing in it,and the VN cpu not and the VR loom has that automatic box shift cpu in it that i dont want so thats why i wanne get me a VN V8 loom if a VN loom fits on a VR engine without any problems....

 

[ari666]

de goedemorgen en hoe is u? (that was copied from babel fish)

anywas, i hope you do well with this job. keep up in touch bro

 

[Reaper]

There are a couple of Monza's in Australia who have done this conversion. I'd ask at some of the HDT forums to see if one of the guys will help you out regarding how well/bad the Holden "K" frame and suspension goes into the Monza. VB - VP are all definitely the same as far as the front ends go. VR is different. Some parts are the same but I don't know where the line is drawn.

Check out www.brockcommodores.com and www.bertiestreet.com.

Reaper

 

[Gse]

de goedemorgen en hoe is u?
Mean:The goodmorning how is you.............The words are not in the right way it shut be:
Goedemorgen hoe is het...

Reaper:
I can take a Monza k-frame and weld to suit the V8 if its really nessacery but i read somehere that the VR k frame itself is the same as the previous Commodores but that the lower controle arms and the rest is diffent because a VR has a weither track.
If that is true than i can use my Monza control arms and z bar and all shut fit the VR k frame.

The only thing i am a bit afraid of the wiring,i did 2 C30SE engine converions (the 3.0 24V 150KW engines from the later Omega/Senator B=Your VN-VS chassie) and they have a Motronic system with heaps of unnessacery wires,but you can find plenty of information about that:

opel, senator, monza, omega
(i speak and German too as i live 15kays of the border and have plenty of german tv channels and now lots of Germans)

Buy i find hardly any information about the V8 loom witch one is the best/easyst to wire up:
VN-VP-VR-VS-VT???????
What need to be taken from the donor car??

I am going to see the guy that owns the Brock Monza,he is also doing a V8 EFI converion into his other Monza that he imported from the UK,hopefully he knows abit more over how to wire a 304.

What crossmember for the transmission and all that doesnt really matter i can weld something together that fit,i have a few crosmembers here from wreckt cars..

I never drove a V8 and i hope that wenn i floor the pedal that i say yeah thats what need...

My brother owns this:

It has a strock 24V engine and a 5 speed Getrag gearbox ,and it does 0-100 in 7,8 sec and has a topspeed of 235kays (tested in Germany with GPS on a highway whit no speed limit)
That engine has 204hp/150KW and 270NM of torque somewhere around 4000/4500rpm.
It even might have a bit more power because the cats are gone,but wont be much.

 

[Reaper]

All of the VN - VS V8 looms are pretty much as easy as each other to wire up. Just get a GM Holden engine manual that gives you the pinouts and voltages attached to the ecu for dash inputs/outputs etc.

Reaper

 

[Haydz]

congrats mate.

this seems like an awesome project and im glad youve backed it up with pics.


definitely wouldnt pick one of them cars having a v8 in it. im pretty sure youll be happy with the power and noise from a 304. i know im pretty happy with mine.


and a vn loom would be best. as all 304's wire the same and are the same engine just use different transmissions and different/better theft systems etc.

cant wait to see this all finished. hope youve got a set of holden engine covers to go on it too

 

[Gse]

This is the Commodore/engine i got:

Its a 94 VR V8 with automatic trannie,runs on LPG. (cheap do drive in Aus and i drive my daily Monza on LPG here to so i have the right LPG system too that fits that engine.

Got it real cheap of ebay and is has 6 month rego,so i am quit happy with the car,cheap to run,aircon works,and a V8 for my holiday..
My mate took a look at the car before i bought it and it runs fine:
blows no smoke,runs good on both fuels and the trannie shifts okay,there are no oil leaks or whatsoever,so i hope it serves me well.

But another question:
The VR and VS have a 4l60E transmission and that transmission needs a cpu that is needed for the gearbox to shift and use the lockup and the rest that the transmission does,
Can the VR engine loom that is ment for a 4l60E be used on a TH700???
There is a VN V8 loom now on ebay,would that be a better choise?

The TH700 aint a problem a guy that i know well has a few,and if he tested them and he has a spare for himself than i could have one.

 

[Haydz]

mate you can use a vr loom and computer. just get greenfoam the first guy to reply to your thread to reprogram your memcal ( part in your computer) so that it turns off all the stuff about the 4l60e as you will be using a kickdown cable for your older style box.


and also whats your plans for the shell when you take the motor and gearbox out as it looks quite tidy ?