AVENGE MkIII 06 HSV GTO

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Been way to long since I’ve done one of these so here goes….

After a running out of talent on Phillip Islnd race track in my old car (R8 Maloo) I decided it was time to finally get the one car I’d always loved, the Z Series GTO.

Luckily found this one via a friend on FB in Sydney, needed a little work but 2 weeks later I flew down to pick it up with a lot planned for it in a 10 month period. Picked it up for a steal considering how much they’ve gone upwards in value.

So the mods:

408ci stroker built by HiTorque

Higgins heads……wouldn’t use them again.

FAST LSXR 102 Manifold & 102mm Throttle Body

DiFillipo headers & X Force twin 3 inch system.

TruTrac diff with 3.7 gears & Harrop cover

Pedders Coilovers

Simmons 20 inch wheels

Makes just over 500rwhp or 570rwhp on a good day…..could make more if I pulled my finger out and gave it a decent fuel system.

 

 

[Limit-R]

Damn 500 isn't bad. This is the same engine from the Ute yeah? Same cam and all? I only remember seeing the Ute out on its run in tune.

I always wondered if the Ute covered by insurance after the accident?

What's the story with your heads? Mine runs Higgens afaik and I've not had a drama but I didn't build mine I'll admit.

Lastly how do you find the coilovers? (Pedders Xa I assume) as I'm not the biggest fan of mine. Too stiff even when the dampers are wound down.

Definitely sitting on an appreciating asset there man.

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5 minutes ago, Limit-R said:

Damn 500 isn't bad. This is the same engine from the Ute yeah? Same cam and all? I only remember seeing the Ute out on its run in tune.

I always wondered if the Ute covered by insurance after the accident?

What's the story with your heads? Mine runs Higgens afaik and I've not had a drama but I didn't build mine I'll admit.

Lastly how do you find the coilovers? (Pedders Xa I assume) as I'm not the biggest fan of mine. Too stiff even when the dampers are wound down.

Definitely sitting on an appreciating asset there man.

Same block but slightly larger, cam changed from the 232/234 to a 231/247 Comp Cam.

Nope no insurance on a race track.

The heads......when I sent them away to get done by Higgins I specifically requested that I wanted double row valve springs, had budgeted for it, was willing to pay for them etc. When they came back I was bolting the heads onto the block when I noticed the springs were still singles so I asked the question.......after some 'umms & ahhs' from Higgins, they came back stating they'd checked the singles and said they were fine for the cam I'd chosen..... Ok, all back together tuned and took it on Modball Rally... no problems. 

Couple weeks later decided to take the car to Woolies one day, got maybe 2 mins down the road have a loss of power and a strange noise coming from the engine, turned around and went home. Pulled the covers off to find a broken valve spring and a hole in the head from the valve that had been dropped into the piston and then used like a battering ram. Ended up needing an engine rebuild (402ci to 408ci due to the sleeves being damaged), and Higgins claiming it wasn't their fault and totally backing out of any damages costs, therefor I'll never use them again and strongly believe they're absolute fuckwits. 

 

The coilovers are generally pretty good up front, the rears are too soft which is a common complaint with the Coupes here and overseas. I know Matt Crust runs the same set up but has put a stiffer rear spring in his.

[Panda]

Moist arse blue

[Limit-R]

Yeah I didn't think you got it covered. Which is serious kudos to you because that's a lot of hard work to get back to a good financial standpoint.

Ahhhhh. That explains the same block part then too. Pretty shitty from a customer service standpoint.

I wish mine were softer. That said they have been in my car 10 years. Though they have always felt that way. I think if I were to change I'd move away from a coil over and just go decent spring with some Koni's.

16 minutes ago, Panda said:

Moist arse blue

I always thought that was delph blue (his first Ute lol)

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SS Ute was Delft Mica

Maloo was Ignition

GTO is Odyssey

[Panda]

Looks mint. Should come do road trip drag challenge in November. It's the fun casual version.

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30 minutes ago, Panda said:

Looks mint. Should come do road trip drag challenge in November. It's the fun casual version.

I’ve got a couple mates that do that each year, def looks like fun!

 

If it’s back on the road by then I’ll def consider it ?

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Current situation.... See Pic.

Whats going on.....Well a bolt managed to work its way loose quite some time ago which brought up an engine light but the car still ran fine. Then I decided one day to dig a little deeper into this engine light issue to find out one of the cam gear bolts had worked its way loose and caused a bit of damage. basically because the gear was moving it had sheared off the locating dowel on the camshaft and also the chain had rubbed on the oil pump and one of its links was missing a plate. 

Started to gather parts to repair it but when I removed the cam shaft I noticed the cam bearings needed replacing which means Engine to come out. So hopefully in the next couple months I'll get around to that send it off to a mate to carry out the more extensive repairs and also check over the bottom end for anything else while its out.