There is only one winner in that debate, hands down it is the Australian Hemi. Even the 265 Hemi as a standard engine in the late 70's was as good as or if not a superior engine to a GMH 5.0L or Ford 5.0L let alone the 6's. If you read road tests of the day when say they compare HZ 5.0L Sandman to XC 5.0L Sundowner to CL 4.3L Drifter (all 4spd) they wanted the Holden's chassis with the Ford's interior but wanted the Drifter's engine. Motor in January 1978 tested all three in the above spec, the 4.3L CL van was basically the same in 1/4 mile, top speed and was actually quicker than the other two in 0-80, 0-100 and 0-120kmh. And it averaged 12.8L/100kM compared to the HZ's 15.7 and the XC's 22.6. Both the XC and the CL were 2.92 rear axles and the HZ a 3.08.

Sure there might be some exotic 6's like Jaguar, Mercedes, Ferrari, Aston Martin, Porche or BMW that could argue the above, but put one of them from the 60's or 70's up against a VH E49 and see which one wins!

I would say that the 2 barrel 245 and 265 Hemi 6 were good performing but they did do valve stem seals for sure.

No one could bag the Holden red 6 for being durability apart from the 202 would do big end bearings due to bad quality rod bolts stretching, the longer stroke must and ratio must tax the bolts more so. and valves getting burnt out is a problem with some, they must be running too lean I would think, what I have seen of such is people who pussy foot the car who had this problem and never seen anyone burn out a valve who drove one hard.
The smaller red engines were not as harsh when you rev them out like some 186 and 202 were, some were not all that bad but some were shocking, a mate had a VC 3.3L and it was the most harsh holden 6 I have ever come across, but many blue 3.3L were better than the reds that I came across in std form, I believe the rods were so mixed matched being the main problem, when you look at them you would see big lumps and small lumps on the big ends and small ends all over the place, but you did not see that crap on the Ford 6 as they were all the same.

Some of the Holden 6 ate the cam timing gear, my sisters HK 186 went at about 60,000miles and it was owned by a real old bloke who only plodded about in it. but my 202 had 98,000miles up on it when I sold it and I flogged the piss and pick handles out of that and never had I problem with the engine but blew gearbox diff and axle.

Ford 6 would blow pistons cracking around the top and some crack the Log on the heads part and I dropped the head off a valve on my 3.3L XC.

My Dads VG ute 245 2 barrel blew the mains straight out and the crank came out on to the road with the gearbox and all not long after he soled it, the dude was flat out on the highway when it went, so what I have heard is that some of the early blocks had air bubbles in the block casting and that was sorted out in the months ahead when casting to eliminate that problem.

A mates brother had a old 6 cyl Toyota 4X4 and it had a bubble in the top of the bore the size of a jelly bean cut in half like looking thing with no problem and the big ends bolt and nut like you have on your wheel bearings that you run a split pin through them both.

The 6 CYL Land rover with the huge wave lump toped piston, that must of added much weighed, but it was a slow rev engine, when I seen that it only had a intake valve in the head I had never seen or heard of that ever before, back in 1978 it was.

I never heard people bagging the old 6 CYL Toyota and Datsun 4X4 back in the days, but I would stir the possum, I would say that the Holden Overlander would be the way to go, than that old bustard arse crap and they would spit the dummy directly. it was a good way to get them fired up. haha good times. and sure they have their advantages in some ways but if you really want to take on the harsh going you can't beat the old WW2 Jeep, they will go anywhere with ease that your jap 4x4 will be a real hard slog and out with the winch, as the old Jeep will stop beside you and take off easy as piss.

Hi ExportHolden , That's what the parts book said ..3.08. just checked August 1980 brochure ( AB26) and it lists 2.60 standard on Caprice and statesman ?? . 1 tonner in the 1980 parts book is 4.44-M15, 4.44-M22, 3.55-M40 . In the April 1980 brochure (AD100420 )standard driveline 3 speed and 4.44 diff. You could be correct about the parts book as I found looking at the codes for production plants it says NZ will be stamped on the plate ….. GMNZ did not even fit those type of plates here ( why would they use them when it says Made In Australia ). Thanks Mark.

The WB Kingswood (A9K) sedan, Kingswood SL sdn & wgn, Premier sedan were removed late. Oct 9, 1979 seems to be the first revision cancelling these models from the programme. I wonder how many pre-production models were made. There's the Kingswood SL in Birdwood, I don't think any others survive.

BTW Sandman was also intended for the WB series but I don't have a record of when that was cancelled.

Anyone remember the Tyres back in the days from FX to WB.

I never drove a car with old rag tyres on the roads.

My father in law claims that the more weigh in a tyre is the best because their is more rubber in it, now he said that to me and I thought f off you are trying to piss in my ear.

But back in the old rag type he may of been correct.

Now another old dude claimed that with Dunlop that the only thing that they got right was the colour, I had Dunlop on at the time and they were real good top of the line W1 I think, so I said you are pissing into the wind ya silly old goat.

I remember my dad 1st steel belt radials he put on his HQ, well they hung on much better but they got a side wall bubble and many others back in them days did I remember.

Not to mention rubber compounds they were all crap that went hard when half way worn, so I would trade them in then for new as it was not worthy to the likes of me, but then around he time that the Brimstone RE71 came out the rubber compound was far better and all the way to the end. not to mentioned that tyres have not improved from the RE71 really.

Does anyone have opinions on tyres.

Yes I agree.

I did some cleaning up in the shed and seen a old motorbike tubes was split then found another the same, well they have a shelf life as well, the corona ? effect or is it the corolla effect I call it. haha !

Well I used 3 sets Michelin tyres with my VY SS from new, same type but they changed the type every time with in a year, now they were all very different, I loved the first set it steered like it was on rails it was just so direct but the next did not all were good, but then a mate with the same car got some cheep crap Westlakes yes they were crap but if you pumped them up to 50 PSI they were good but road harsh, but good value and I found that a lot of the cheep crap like that can be ok, not to mention I had some 225/60 15 Falken tyres before the SS that were real touchy with tyre pressures, I would know what the pressure had dropped by 4 PSI as it made a hell of a difference.

Edited by user Wednesday, 20 March 2019 10:07:25 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

From what I have been able to find out, most all the radials from the 60's including the Michelin XAS were 80% aspect ratio so were marked on the sidewall as tyre width, SR14 or HR14. The XAS I believe were 185HR14, approx 25.5in diameter and 80 profile.
The HQ SS were fitted with 195SR14 80% profile on the 6in sports wheel. As we know ER70 radials were first available on the HT series and are the equivalent to a modern 205/70/14 today.
Agree the RE71 were a fantastic tyre, my parents had a 1984 Mazda 929 hardtop and these were factory fitment, unbelievable dry grip. Later in 1990 I raced a Suzuki Swift GTI on a variant of these tyres called a RE71R, they looked identical to the road tyre but had ever 2nd sipe deleted and remainder sipes were half depth and were softer compound, superb road/club race tyre.

I have had one steel belt radial tyre that separated back in 1987 about 100km out of Darwin. f I thought the tail shaft had dropped out directly, siting on 100KM/H in Feb mid day like hot as, I can not remember the name brand but it had 90% good rubber on it, and drove fine until she just let go, pulled up and by the time I got the spare out, she was flat, did not hurt the XC P Van at all. but she had delaminated like as if it was a re-tread.

I ran over the biggest snake I have ever seen about 20km before that.

Any way had a girl friend with the same type of brand tyres on her Escort and they delaminated as well on two of them tyres.

How about the HP of the 5.0L Torana's that raced Bathurst and then the VB as they only ran small valves and then the VC HP with big valves and up to the last EFI 5.0L V8's. do we have them HP numbers.

Larry Perkins would have the exact figures for the last of the GM-H V8 Supercar engines.

The 308’s that ran in 1973 onwards GroupC will have varied a bit as they got better at building them and making them last. Some had Holley carbs and some had Dellortos too, and as you know camshafts were free in GroupC so everyone would have had a different setup. The F5000 numbers would be good to know as well. Norm Darwin published GMH’s dyno results of the developed L34 and F5000, will post them up when I get a chance.