I'm in the market for a Holden panel van to rebuild and I'm going to use a VX Commodore as a donor vehicle and I'd like to use as much as possible from a Commodore and fit into the panel van.Is there a model of the panelvans that were better than the others and if so why. Thanks for the help.

Edited by user Sunday, 15 June 2014 7:05:18 AM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Or do you mean an original panel van that you can fit VX stuff into?

I wouldn't bother with the V6 stuff. It can be done but not worth the expense and effort. The easiest conversion is a 5.0L V8 and auto from a VN-VSIII Commodore or Statesman, whilst some adaption work is required it all but bolts in. V6 needs a fair bit of fabrication but the electrics and fuel are similar.

Unless you can do the bulk of the work for either conversion yourself forget it - buy a modern ute and put a canopy on it. Or by one already done.

Didn't miss anything John, in reality the VX is worth $500 a tonne and it'd be better to buy a V8 car for a conversion. I am in agreeance with the rest of your post.

Here is a HJ ute already done, not VX stuff but it displays the point. It'd cost you the asking price of this ute to fit the VX stuff into a van, and you'd have to pay near $10k for a really good van to start with. If you are set on a Holden van with a V6 buy the best WB van you can find, and buy something like this HJ and swap the conversion over. You could then sell the ute and the driveline out of the WB.

I think you need to look outside the square & consider other options.

My opinion: Sell the VX on the open market for maybe $2000-2500, and that's a whole lot of additional petrol money to put in the tank and run a thirstier 202/253/308 Van.
Add the cost of engineers, wiring, custom components, and some labour (which could be a lot) and there's more than enough to fuel the thing for a trip around Oz, maybe even twice to 3 times.

There's really only 3 advantages to the V6:
1. It's more economic.
2. It's a known quantity - ie you've owned it for a long time & know its history.
3. It's reliable when well maintained.

However, the additional cost to convert a van is way more than you think - the donor vehicle is just a small part of the equation. Most don't get any change from $10K if they have to use commercial outfits for mounts, wiring & other mods that they can't do themselves, and that's what I think you need to consider.

Spending $300-500 on a new ignition system components, a good service & all new filters will see a Holden 6 or V8 do many trouble free miles, and be a whole lot easier to work on in remote locations when Murphy's Law strikes.

And that's another disadvantage to conversions - you can look at 20 different Holdens all with a VX commodore V6 in them, and none will be the same - wiring opens up a myriad of methods, from the intelligent to the downright bogan, and this creates massive problems when a fault occurs, as nobody knows what the original conversion person did. This adds massive time, and cost, to any fault diagnosis.

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Originally posted by johnperth
didn't word that very well did i. sorry.
i meant i got the impression he is trying to make do with what he has and not spend more than necessary.
to be honest i would not start with a wb, they are a bit of an orphan for parts etc, like headlights are a small fortune, i would go for one of the earlier models like hj/hx/hz which are basically the same as wb but parts especially body parts are more interchangeable.
i was surprised how hard it is to find bits for the vk, i guess most of the old cars have gone to china to come back as toasters.

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The reason I suggested WB is the best WB in the world as a van is worth $15k, but you'll pay $10k for a HQ-HJ that has a good body but needs a full overhaul.