Gawwwnnn...!

With the VZ shell stripped of all required bits, it was time to get rid of the evidence.

After many weeks of no bites on eBay, it finally sold for the princely sum of $32!

The half-assembled engine test frame (in the foreground below) was pushed (literally) into service to get the front end onto the car trailer...



Worked a treat too!




Bye!



J

Out!

One week later, the engine and gearbox was out of the VZ...






Now the fun begins...



J

A new chapter begins...

So, it has been a little while between posts. The Impala has been out and about, clocking up the miles, however that is set to change in the not too distant future; this turned up on the weekend...




Complete with this under the bonnet...




With low compression in a couple of cylinders and oil leaks everywhere, the factory original 327 has been on borrowed time since 2011.

After much umming and ahhing over rebuild/crate motor/2nd hand/conversion options, the decision was finally made to go with an LS swap from a later-model Commodore.

I was keen for a 6.0 litre for the low-down torque (over an LS1) and 4-speed auto (smaller than the VE Commodore's six speed, so a simpler fit into the Impala's transmission tunnel).

This left a very narrow Holden model range to look in, VZ Series II only... less than a year's production as VT Series 2 through to VZ Series 1 only had the LS1 and VE onwards had the 6L80E six speed.

Enter one statutory write-off VZ Series 2 SS-V Thunder ute, complete with L76 and 4L65E with less than 100k km on the clock. Perfect!

So let the fun begin!




J