Hi All Today i scored a 308 motor and tranmisson out of a VH SLE to replace the missing 304 from my VK Calais and the Trans that came with the 308 looks bigger than the one i already have in the VK. I cleaned under the oil pan and it says made in Canada and a heap of pantent numbers the Words United States. I,m hoping some one could tell me if this is a Turbo 350 or 400 or if its just a bigger trimatic? Also could someone please give advice regarding commodore headlights, I need to know if VH headlights are the same as VK headlights. I almost forgot, just say i have got a Turbo Tran? will my Trimatic speedo cable fit the Turbo? It would be great if someone can reply soon so i can get these things off this guy before he off loads it in the next day or two Cheers Everyone Brian

G,day Mick Thanks for that info mate, I got the tail shalf, cross member and shifter,and after what you said about the speedo cable, i rang him and said i needed the cable as well, The bloke had it on Gumtree for $1250 but said he would take 800 for it but all i really needed was the motor but he said he didnt want to sell it in parts as it was a factory SLE 308 and it comes with a 9 inch diff? I Got all the running gear for 500 , its got edlebrock manifold, Rochester carby , and the big trans but have a guess what colour the motor is? Hot pink. I didnt get the nine inch diff, I tryed to tell him it wasnt a nine inch as they dont come with a backing plate but he wouldnt have a bar of it, i think what he may have was a bigger commodore diff and it wasnt in the car, it was on the ground behind the car and i got under the back of his car and the one in his car looked smaller than the one on the ground and it had 10 bolts and disc,s. His exact words were i,ll put my balls on it being a SLE and he wasnt a bad bloke he,s just not as switched on with commodores as he thinks he is because last night i googled L18,M76,GU8 and it came back a 4 cyl 5 Speed so someone must have wacked the SLE dash and interior into it, Did a SLE come out with a 4? I wouldnt have thought so, Yeah Mick the reason i asked about the headlights is he has two under his caravan with the lion,s on them where one of mine must have been replaced. He said 70 at first then dropped it to 50 then 20 so i might get one off him, is that a good price? He wants to flogg the rest of the VH Off, its straight, stuff all rust ,dark purpley blue metallic paint,the seats are plum.,dark blue vevlor, Woodgrain dash, the hoodling is spot on with the big chrom roof light and it has what look like Monaro courtesy lights in the roof iineing pillows, reckons he take 300 for the rest of the car and he.ll probaby throw that spare diff in as well. the reason i,m saying this someone may need parts. I,ll do as you said Mick and just wack the turbo straight in with the motor and i think you a right about the kick down cos i spotted that last night i think? Cheers BRIAN

Edited by user Wednesday, 8 December 2010 9:30:48 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

The big sals diff has an egg-shaped cover - that's probably what it is.
They are probably worth $300-600 depending on the ratio & if it's an LSD or not. The smaller sals diff was in 6s & 4.2L V8s, and it's a symmetrical cover plate - both commodore diffs have 10 bolts holding the cover plate on which confuses many people who don't realise the bolt count refers to the number of bolts holding the crownwheel to the centre, not holding the cover plate on.

If he's after $300 for the remains, and the trim is all real good, then it's worth it. The SL/E got the chrome roof lamp, and the rear pillar lights are like Monaros (except the lense is plain, without the circles on it).

I'd be going with Byron's theory on the tags. Very common on early commodores that were rebirthed. There's a lot to change to convert a 4 to an 8, and yes, you're right, the SL/E's base engine was a 3.3L (optional 4.2 & 5.0L).

VH/K headlights with lions on them, in good nick, are pulling good $$ because all the Brock guys are chasing them. If they have no stone chips, they are easily worth $70 each. $20 each is a bargain, even with a few small stone marks in the glass.

The VH SL/E didn't get woodgrain at all on the dash (it was black brushed-finish), so that suggests the cluster & dash surround may have been lifted from a VB or VC that got the grain.

I think that about covers it? :-)


Cheers,

Mick
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Judge a successful man not on how he treats his peers, but on how he treats those less fortunate.

Mick, I forgot to ask my diff is G70, is that a o.k diff,? I have to learn how to do paragraph,s like you guy,s, my writing looks all jumbled up, Cheer,s Brian

only chev blocks have casting numbers that are of use(without going to far into it)
turbo 350 in my opinion ..way better than tri's,...9"diffs have NO backing plate
and yep ,put the whole driveline in (308 turbo 350) from what i've read.(shifter?etc)...V******P...could be a police recovery engine

Jim in Adelaide..

The 308 should have a casting date on it, above the water pump area, closer to the passegner side of the motor - the heater hose off the water pump will obscure it a little.

The length of the turbo 350 is only slightly different - but enough to require the right tailshaft - hence my advise further up which you heeded.

G70 is a 2.60:1 ratio diff - a moonshot cruising ratio. If you want better acceleration, consider a 3.08::1 diff (do you know what ratio his one is?)

The Police number on the block is from 1990, when these were still valuable cars, so that goes a long way towards explaining the rest of the 'bitsa' that it is.

Cheers,

Mick
_______________________________________________________________

Judge a successful man not on how he treats his peers, but on how he treats those less fortunate.

Good advice there Jim, particularly in light of the police number on the block.

Cheers,

Mick
_______________________________________________________________

Judge a successful man not on how he treats his peers, but on how he treats those less fortunate.

G,day Mick and Jim,.
Been in the shed for the past couple of day,s doing the sump,rocker cover gasket,s and getting rid of the hot pink paint job,.lol
I found that casting number you were talking about Mick near the water pump, it say,s 24D9,the only thing that was,nt pink was the harmonic balencer and that was orange .
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Not sure what ratio he was running Mick but I know it was,nt the bigger egg shaped diff you spoke about because after you told me the difference and i drove back out the next day to get the speedo cable and headlights i got under and had a look,it was a small diff.
.

It was funny because when i got there to pull the donk out he was already under the car while some little feral was trying to take thing,s off the motor, lol .I had to keep telling him to leave this and leave that so he did,nt hang around long. ,
He already had the tail shaft out and was,nt keen on letting me have it or the cross member so i,m glad i got them as you can see the differrence with the cross member especially
.
My step son who gave me the VK had a look at the turbo cross member and reckon.s it looks like it,s been home made? it is blue Mick and look,s boxed where the VK one is just single plate, my step son reckon,s his old one look,s stronger but i cant see it, to me the turbo one look,s stronger. .
Also he was using two big nut,s as spacer,s between the cross member and trans i think, what would be the go with that Mick? Its not factory as they are even two different sized nut,s but same thickness.

Like you said that was good advice from Jim especially with the V.P number and thank,s for that Jim, I,ve seen the advice you,ve given people and it,s alway,s good stuff. You do very well....

I,ll keep trying this blokes number but if i cant reach him tonight i,ll be making a third trip up there because the red tape will probably be a bigger head ache than making the two hour trip, I once had a Silver fox XW GT and it got stolen and rebirthed as a Diamond White HO Phase Two, They stole my G.T plate, grind my number off my shocker tower and radiater surport panel. They sprayed my Brown interior Black, my plate has never turned up and the detective handleing it was pretty good and got me a copy of it,s first rego paper,s,and on the paper,s it had Cam Dawson Ford in Geelong where it was sold new, the copper wrote a short summary of what happenen to my the car but when i went to Vicroads the bloke working the counter got on the computer and told me he has to look at the car so i pop the hood and straight away he say;s "These arnt your number,s?" pointing to the shocker tower and when i told him i had proof from the copper,s that they were my number,s , he said it did,nt matter because they (Vicroad,s) know my number,s were ground off at some stage and that,s that.
It was a shattering drive back from Vicroad,s that day and i know it,s happened to other,s as well and i feel for everyone that this has happened to because as everyone on this site know,s car,s are more to us than just car,s, their in our heart,s with family and friend,s,and it hit,s hard.
The Vicroad,s guy told me if i wanted to get the car regoed that day i would have to drive down to this Auto repair,s down the road that they (Vicroad,s) must use and the mechanic grabbed a hammer and punches and stamped a heap of ugly looking XXXXX,s over my real number,s and then made it look even worse by putting a big V at the start of the XXXXX,s and a big P at the end so the XXXXX,s were sandwiched in between the VP and that,s what i tryed to explain to the guy tonight, he kept saying he,s never heard of a V.P number and the motor has never been hot,then he said it,s not a V.P number because the V.P arnt side by side, that,s when i told him the V.P does,nt have to be together side by side and explained how they sandwiched the XXXXX,s between the V.P on my G.T but it was a mission and a half trying to get through to him and even after telling him the motor is all good ,it just mean,s the motor has been stolen years ago around 1990. Of course i did.nt drop any name.s but i told him i,m in contact with guy.s on the net that know their stuff...
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This situration is different to the situration with the G,T but Jim is spot on,i need a copy of the rego paper,s and that,s my number one mission now i,ve got rid of that hot pink ..lol.
.
Thanks again Mick and Jim.
If it was,nt for both your advice and other,s i could have had a headache coming my way...

Cheer,s Brian
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Edited by user Sunday, 5 December 2010 2:59:56 AM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Just got back from getting the rego paper,s so i feel better now but it,s been a funny day...
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Have a good one Everyone.

Brian

Edited by user Sunday, 5 December 2010 3:02:44 AM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Howdy Jim.

Yep cant deny the engine now mate.
Thank,s to you getting the ball rolling with your advice.

I had to laugh because when i drove out to get the copy of the rego paper,s yesterday morning as arranged i got there and no one was home and there was a bunch of blokes swarming over the VH like a pack of lion,s with other,s circularing in the distance like Hyena,s. ha ha ha.
The nighbour came out and told me they,ve gone up to the Murry River for the day and that,s when i sort of stopped laughing and started spitting chip,s... lol
It was either drive back to Melbourne with my young son or wait up there in this country town for hour,s for him to return.
And after what you said the other night, that,s what i did and it worked out good because he ended up just giving me the rego paper,s because he was just stripping the rest of the car anyway.

Now all i have to do is get the motor and tran,s in the car which hopefully should,nt be too hard.

Cheers Jim have a great day in S.A Great...

Brian

Edited by user Monday, 6 December 2010 3:36:01 AM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified