Hey guys, currently in the build of my 1969 vf valiant coupe featuring BA xr6t motor and box. My question is what would be a reasonable turbo upgrade for this thing?

I plan to make it a fairly wild street/strip car, wont be my daily so thinking e85 and a decent list of mods. Im looking for a bolt on replacement turbo charger, my searching has lead me to believe a gt3582r or precision 6466 would be a step up from the factory turbo and straight bolt on ? Motor is currently stock sitting on an engine crane minus a turbocharger.

Thanks alot for any input or advice guys, Alan.

Hello,

Have you spoken to an Engineer ? For a drag Car it would be fine, but for the street ? You have an already rare Car. There will be less in the future so the value will increase in original form. Get an idea of what you will have to do for Rego and the cost. Your plans may change.

Hey EL!

Nah havn't spoken to an engineer yet, but legally am allowed up to a 4.2 litre boosted engine. This car has been sitting in my shed untouched for 10 years. It also has some fairly rare brothers and sister v8's in the shed with it!

I realise it is not going to please everyone, but that isn't the goal either. I have budgeted for 40k in getting it back on the road and engineered etc.

Hello,

As long as you have deep pockets. The Valiants were an interesting Car, like many they polarized people. You either liked them or didnt. Brakes and handling is an area I would start first, as if you are used to modern Cars you will have forgotten how bad they were with hard driving.

Haha ooh yes I hear you man!

Going to take out diff with drum brakes and replace with most likely a ford 9" with 330mm 4 piston disks, upgrade to similar brakes on the front and get ford stud pattern all around, think I will do the rack and pinion steering upgrade up front, but yeah steering and braking safely is numero uno!

Not sure what kind of turbo to go with and what kind of power could be expected out of it, but that is going to play a part in what kind of diff and gearbox work I get done I think.

Hello,

A Val should already have a Ford pattern. The early ones had a LHT on the left side. ( wheel nuts if I remember correctly ) There used to be a VL R and P conversion. I would still check everything before you start as rules do change.

You have worked on these devils before I see!!

The stud pattern on mine is close to ford but not identical, I believe the vf and vg are the last of them to have this strange valiant pattern. The later cl and cm models did share ford pattern however. And yes indeed you are right on the left hand threads, I learned tgat after snapping 10 of the wheel studs taking the wheels off (woops), it now has torana studs on that side temporarily haha.

And yeah I will start talking with an engineer before I start buying too much man, just have the xr6t motor and box here and have slowly been getting it stripped back to bare metal and discovering all the secrets that lie underneath.

My end goal is sublime green with black trim, really digging the reverse scoop and american dodge dart style!

So what would the next size up from stock turbo choices be? Gt3582r? 6466? Looking for something decent sized that bolts onto the manifold. Thanks guys.

Hello,

I have a healthy respect for Valiants. It would have been nice if they had a Bathurst win, but sadly not. The Ute is something Yank's would go silly over. Always a very under rated Car.

They are a beautiful car thats for sure 96, we have a vg regal coupe here and it us such a nice old car for cruising, you just dont see them on the road anymore. Mine will be abit more wild but thats what im aiming for!

They had great motors & went great in a straight line, but they were and always will be a Pig of a car.
I have had three of them & they all handled like trucks with their front-end torsion bar suspension. They all rusted out in the chases rail just at the steering box. The last of the line were worse than XA falcon coupes for rust, especially in the boot, around the rear windows, & actually everywhere else you looked. That's the main reason you don't see many these days.
They had the worst brakes, a crappy three speed gear box (floor shift) & if anything bigger than a pushbike ran into the side of one they had the tendency to snap in half. The chassis flexed so bad on the last of them that they used to crack the front windscreen. They are dangerous cars.

Front on they were like Bulldozers but, my last Regal had a bull-bar & I used it on my property to knock down young Cyprus pine trees. I hit a heard of Roo's (8 of em) sitting in the middle of the road at Dalby QLD doing 100 clicks. Killed every last roo but could not find a scratch on the Val.
In my opinion just because they are old & from the 70's doesn't make them a good classic car.
The Chargers looked good & went hard (again in a straight line),, but still,, they are only good for anchors & land fill.