Commodore car clubs

I'm just looking at different car clubs and forums around Australia. Forums are a great way to share info and tips with like minded people who have come across the same hassles, no matter what kind of car you're into. I used to be heavily into rotaties, owning a series 2 RX-7 with a 13B, and I got a lots of help from the ozrotary forums, which don't appear to be around any more. I still have a passion for the rotary engine, although it's on hold for a year or so at the moment. I plan to get something with a 13B turbo in it.
But, since I'm looking got a decent Commodore club/forum, I'm going to post up all the ones I find here. The first one I came across was justcommodores, which is a good site with a well established forum and quite a few people who know what they are on about. They also have an online store from which you can order spares and various other bits and pieces. It seems to cover the whole country with users and events in all states, although I read somewhere that the club is based in SA, but I don't know how true it is. justcommodores.com.au was, by the way, my source of the ALDL schematics and all the info I needed to get the ALDL link up and happening. I am known as Jonno on Justcommodores if anyone wants to talk to me.

Another one I have just come across, the Commodore Club of NSW, seems like a friendly place, not much agro and immaturity, as much fun as it can be on car forums sometimes. Doesn't look like there is as much technical information across all models as there is on justcommodores.com.au, but then again, I'm not a member, so I'm not sure if that stuff is locked up until I join the forum.

That's about all I can find that's NSW based, there are a few that look like they have closed down. The majority are based in VIC and SA. SA seems to have a rich modified car culture, as does Melbourne, which I can vouch for having lived in Richmond for two years.

Here's some other clubs from around Australia:

Commodores-R-Us
Commodore Owners Car Club - South Australia
Commodore Car Club - New Zealand
Holden Commodore Club of SA
The Commodore Club of Tasmania
Commodore Crusie Club
Commodore Car Club of WA
Commodore Performance Club
Holden/HSV forum
General info - Holden Commodores
CJ's Holden Spares
Indonesian Holden Page
Lion's Pride Holden Car Club
Holden Enthusiast's Club of Otago, NZ

Head gasket set and cylinder heads on the way

I'm a few days out from doing the big job on the Commodore. I have found some cylinder heads. I got quoted $100 each from pick and payless, and I would have had to take them off myself. I found a place here in West Ryde called Buffalo Wreckers, who have them already off, and will let me have them for $80 each, which is much better, and the guy said I can choose them myself. I'm just hoping I can judge valve condition reasonably well without taking the valves out. I don't plan on getting these heads reconditioned, they will just get cleaned up, new stem seals, and I'll take the valves out and check margin, and play between the valve stem and guide. Hopefully all will be ok. I have ordered a head gasket and seal set from Hunter Holden, which will be in on Friday. $255 for the gasket set isn't cheap, but there's two heads, so it's going to cost more than the 4 cylinder engines that I am used to working on. I just need to get a valve spring compressor to get the valves out, and we're all action. I will post pics of the procedure up here along with any interesting things I find, including what it is inside my engine that has caused cylinder number 3 to lose compression.
I'll pick up the heads tomorrow and begin cleaning them up and getting them ready. Sunday will be the big changeover.

P platers and power restrictions

P platers here in NSW now have restrictions on the vehicles that they are allowed to drive whilst on their p-plates. I'm not a p plater, and haven't been for a long time, but while I agree that the general idea is sensible, it has been poorly thought through, and will probably have little to no effect.
There has been a campaign in recent months in the news papers illustrating every single crash involving a p-plater. This has created a lot of community support for the cause, even though I have seen figures that say p-plater deaths from car accidents have actually decreased in recent years, but reading the paper, you would think that they have trippled in the last 2 months. This isn't the case. It seems that the government has a vested interest in creating a culture of fear on the roads, where they can con the public with their tollways, greed (sorry "speed") cameras.
I get the impression that the whole p plater thing is a smokescreen. Something really important must have been happening behind the scenes in governement during the time that the p plater fuss was happening. The p plate rules are there for the benefit of a majority of naieve middle-aged main-stream news worshipping citizens, so the government can push something past them while they're not looking. Thats the feeling I get anyway.
Lets look at these restrictions:
All V8's are banned. So, if i'm a P plater, I cannot drive a VB commodore v8, but I can drive my V6 VP Commodore which has more power and can get to 100kph quicker. I had to laugh at someone on an ABC forum, they say "V6 faster than a v8?, where's the logic?". Um well... Other things contribute to the power output from an engine than the number of cylinders. If a V6 is more efficient, has better fuel and ignition systems, more efficient valvetrain components, flows better, and may even be of a similar capacity, then of course it will go harder. That's why many newer V6's can and do outperform the older v8 engines. The numbers are there on paper. The person that wrote that is the kind of person the governement is trying to appeal to.
If we were serious about road safety, we would train drivers properly, the roads would have money spent on them and would be wide enough to carry the traffic, and would not be full of holes and dangerous, poorly designed intersections. Roadworks would also not be undertaken during rush-hour times.
All we see are stupid reports on sensationalist shows like "today tonight" where a few young guys get done for having their car 2 cm too low or having the stereo up too loud, and at the end of a long weekend we get a fiqure of how many motorists were caught over the period. I always think, I wonder how many of those were doing less than 10kph over the limit on a straight open road. How many were actually driving dangerously, probably 10 or 20.
Meanwhile, you can't catch a train at night in this city, or you get mugged. You can easilly steal a car in Sydney and get away with it, because it's not considered a serious crime. I guess the problem is that there is no money is busting real criminals, because they don't have any, so they go for the legitimate citizens instead.
Just for the record, and to those mentally challenged people that will say "Just don't speed and you won't have to worry". I don't speed, and haven't had a speeding ticket for years. I just feel I could be a safer driver if I didn't have to look at the spedo constantly whilst driving to make sure I'm not over the magic number by more than 3kph.
Another thing.... Mobile phones. This will annoy some people. If you cant drive properly and safely whilst using a hand-held mobile phone, you shouldn't be driving at all. Especially if you drive an automatic.

My engine

Below is a picture of the Buick 3800 as found in the VN Commodore. The version in the VP has a slightly different fuel rail, and a few other things, but the general idea is exactly the same (same heads and block.)

London terror attacks

Just a quick note to express sympathy to the citizens of London for the recent terror attacks on the underground rail system. Being of British decent it hits close to home. I have relatives over there, but thankfully not in London. Lets hope the authorities can quickly bring those who acted to destroy this beautiful city to justice.

Below is the first I heard about it, front page on the daily paper. Click the image to jump to the Australian news site coverage:

New heads for the Commodore

Well, I've decided that it's down to pick and pay less (The local wreckers) to get a couple of second hand heads for the old V6 Buick motor. I'm sure that cylinder number 3 has a sticky valve, and I don't want to replace the whole engine as I was considering, as I'm going to build a whole new one with some decent performance parts when I get some money. For the time being, I'm going to get some heads that are in reasonable condition and just replace them. They are about $100 each. I'm going to do both to prevent uneven carbon buildup in the ports causing it to run un-evenly. The old heads will then become the basis for my new motor. I'm sure there is not much wrong with it, as at revs, it does fire on 6 cylinders, it's only at idle that it misses. I'm just a bit worried about it "dropping" that valve in the meantime though, but if it happens it happens I guess. I'm not going to have funds for the head replacement until next weekend. Money is a little tight at the moment.
It's actually amazing how smooth and powerful this V6 is even when running on 5.5 cylinders. I heard of a guy with a Chev 454 tow truck motor that he put in a statesman. It was perminantly running on 7 cylinders and he didn't even notice.
All my non-car savy friends recon this car has been bad to me, but for $750 bucks, and the only dodgy parts were the engine and electricals. The electrics just needed a freshen up, and the engine should be fine with these repairs, but even if I have to replace the engine, I'm still on top. I'm interested in building the 3800 Buick motor because it seems better than the 5 litre V8, and if I can achieve similar power from it, I will have a great weight advantage. I like the way the car handles at the moment, and I would like to keep the balance the same. I'm looking at doing a rebuild from a second hand motor, which will include:
Stronger valve springs,
ported heads (Match port exhaust to extractors),
possible valve train upgrade (Roller rockers)
Aftermarket cam

To feed all this, I will modify the induction system by fitting the V8 throttle body which is slightly larger, and I will also be removing the bellmouth in the air intake that Holden fitted to this model to smooth out the idle. This bellmouth is a restriction that sits just after the throttle body. Eventually I will be upgrading to a twin throttle body set-up which will again settle the idle and deliver a more uniform mixture distrobution across the cylinders.

Then, of course, the obligitory ECU re-write. I plan to use an HSV memcal that is available on the internet. It's pretty cool, you can download the memcal contents, and write it to the memcal using an EPROM writer.

Got ALDL working on the Commodore

I finally got my ALDL link to the ECU happening on the weekend. Hooked it up and got it going using the WinALDL software package which is available on the internet. I used a circuit derived from the one they have up there and it worked first time. The exact circuit diagram is shown below:

For more info regarding hooking up an ALDL link to your Commodore, check out this link. It basically tells you everything you need to know and do to make it happen.

I uncovered another little issue also, the engine has always been missing at idle. I worked out that it is cylinder #3 that is missing, and thought it was a fuel issue, as I had already tested spark and replaced the sparkplug. I swapped the injectors over, and the same cylinder is still missing on idle. Also when I crank the engine over, it seems to crank slightly irregularly like it's missing compression on one cylinder. The cylinder does kick in under throttle, so I'm sure it's a bent valve or something like that. Possible piston/rings but unlikely.
I'm going to get a second hand engine within the next few weeks, swap it over, and pull the old one apart. Im planning to build a decent worked V6 from it if the internals (mainly the bottom end) are in good condition. This engine will hang in there for a while, until I get funds for the new engine, and interestingly enough it seems to have full power on throttle, and the engine isn't showing any rich mixtures, so I recon it's a valve slightly bent and not seating.