Budget-built 9-second VN Commodore

First published in the October 2012 issue of Street Machine

Speed costs money — but exactly how fast you can go for how much is always up for debate.

WA brothers Josh, Lindsay and Con Oosterwaal decided to have a crack at 13s for $1300 with a $250 VN V6 Commodore the boys nicknamed ‘The VN of Fury’.

The boys loved blasting past new HSVs and FPVs with their budget beater but they thought they would have to slow it down a tad so they could avoid expensive licensing and annual tech inspections

After sourcing a cheap turbo with a leaky oil seal along with an external 50mm wastegate from eBay, they modified the factory V6 headers to suit and stripped out the interior. With weight pared down to 1200kg and a set of drag radials bolted up, they hit Kwinana with 9psi boost and managed a 13.9@100mph pass before too much PCV blow-by had the officials pointing them towards the gate.

A week later they were back with the PCV issue fixed, and the VN screamed down the quarter in 13.59 seconds at just over 100mph. After that they sourced a cheap converter on eBay for $100, which helped the turbo VN get out of the hole quicker. Their PB dropped to 13.002@103mph — not bad for less than $1300.

At this point the boys decided they were having too much fun to stop so they threw a few grand each into the kitty to see where they could take the six-pot VN. With some 96lb MSD injectors, a Haltech plug-in ECU, forged custom JE pistons, Spool H-beam rods and a seriously beefed-up Turbo 700, they managed 370rwhp and ran 11-flat next time out, followed by a high 10sec pass.

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The turbo is nothing fancy but with boost at 30psi and running E85 they saw 445rwhp from the 3.8-litre combo

Extra effort on weight reduction and a switch to E85 dragged the VN down to a 10.1@134mph before officials demanded they add a rollcage.

They built a four-point ’cage from chrome-moly tubing and borrowed some slicks and frontrunners.
To date the boys have only made one pass in the latest configuration — the officials sent them home again after the VN ripped off a 9.88@134mph.

With more development time and the car brought up to ANDRA specs, who knows where the limit will be, but with the total bill just over $10,000, they’ve proved budget performance is a reality.

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THE DAMAGE

Costs (in 2012):
VN Commodore: $250
Turbo, wastegate & intercooler: $1000
Rebuilt T700 & converter: $1600
Rebuilt engine (JE pistons, Spool rods): $3400
Fuel system (tank, pump & injectors): $1500
Haltech GM Sport & tuning: $1800
Chrome-moly rollcage: $500
Welded diff:(3.08)$free
Drag radials: $750

TOTAL: $10,800