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Introduction:
Anyway, let's review the happenings of Litre8 from inception to present. The first public appearance was at the December 1991 Summernats. This was the usual car project story: finished putting panels back on the car the night before leaving for the Summernats after just over a 21/2 year build. The car had only been driven on and off the trailer at this point so I was fortunate that the only problem suffered when cruising Canberra on Northbourne Ave (back when it was an acceptable pastime) was a battery charging problem. The charging warning light I had installed for the alternator lacked the resistance to kick in the alternator charging so it was a nightly task to put on the battery charger. All in all the Summernats was fairly painless and the cruising was excellent.
Subsequent changes
involved upgrading the brakes to their current hardware, a different
grind roller cam (more lift and duration but still milder than
the current), curing a mysterious dry sump pump leak by ditching
the mechanical fuel pump (the seal had ruptured allowing a small
amount of oil to be pumped out onto the dry sump pump, giving the
impression that the pump itself was leaking at the section
joins!), putting in a full-floater rear end (massive reduction in
brake pad knock off after cornering!) and band-aiding the DNE 5
speed to stop it jumping out of 3rd gear under power
(back cutting the engagement dogs, this worked for a while.. see
the details below..).
Back in '96 Litre8 suffered mechanical failure
of the gearbox kind when it's Doug Nash called timeout in a big
way (3rd driven gear lost 5 teeth and wasn't happy).
This occurred at Phillip Island on a beautiful sunny day on the 3rd
lap of the morning's session. I found that it had jumped out of 3rd
(again...) but this time there were serious mechanical cries for
help coming from the gearbox. I managed to get back to the pits
and get it on the trailer. It was only when I got home and
drained the oil that some broken off teeth were discovered.
Subsequent detailed examination showed that the gearbox main
shaft was flexing and, with third gear about mid way between the
two support bearings, it was just a question of time. It was
clear that the Doug Nash just couldn't cut it so it was pointless
to repair it and put it back into this environment. Better to
repair it, sell it into a less demanding environment and then
seek out a better solution. Below are two pics of the damaged
driven gear, the drive gear appeared okay but
did incur some hairline cracks so both were replaced in the
rebuild.
Being busy work-wise meant it
took some time (and lots of faxes and late night phone calls to
the US) before a replacement gearbox was sourced. A few
gearboxes were considered, including a Holinger, Saenz, T56 and a
G-Force but the final choice went to an impressively rugged box;
a Magnesium cased Jerico 5
speed, dog-engagement with straight cut gears. Whilst these
changes were in progress, the temptation to up the HP ante was
just too much so I started thinking that a new set of Edelbrock
aluminium heads would be good (they had just been released for
Big Blocks). Never one to succumb to the mild (nothing exceeds
like excess..) I made sure they got the full port flow bench treatment as well as 2.3"
intakes / 1.92" exhausts and chamber work. Now they flow close
to Bowtie heads but with much better port velocity. Tom Coad,
ex-Les Small and the man responsible for the head work that gave
Gricey the goods with the Chikadee Commodore at Bathurst in 1986,
was responsible for the significant flow improvement gained with
the head work (intake and exhaust picked up 20+% flow over the
previous 'C' port heads).
About this time my work got the better of my time and effort
(working in Sydney but 'living' in Melbourne for 12 months before
relocating fully to Sydney) so Litre8 sat in storage for some
time again. Eventually, with a new gearbox and heads (and a new roller cam to take advantage of the new head
potential, here's a pic of the old Roller cam), it was time to find someone to put the engine
together and dyno it. After some calling around I got in
touch with Neil Burns (ex- HDT, PERKINS, RED, Team Brock I). Neil
agreed to do the job but he was pretty busy with V8 Supercar
commitments and speedway work so it wasn't going to happen
overnight. With those details sorted out it was also time to get
the necessary transmission tunnel modifications done to accept
the Jerico gearbox. Luckily the same clutch and bell housing
could be used (a definite factor in the box choice...). About
that time I noticed that the current headers were cactus so I
tracked down Craig (of Pro Pipes & Race Cars) who built a new
set of pipes (and upped the primary diameter from 2" to 21/8").
After a few hiccups with header fit (the dry sump pan was a
work-in-progress and some fitting's locations were changed during
the pipes creation), the new dry-sump oil pan was installed and
the engine was ready to wrestle the engine dyno. The planned dyno
work at MoTeC was delayed as they were about to relocate premises
but eventually late last year (2002) it all happened and the final numbers read 727hp at 6500rpm and 695ft/lb
torque at 5150rpm. While the cross-ram manifold may have
contributed to a slightly less than anticipated HP number, the
abundance of torque produced by the long runners (above 500
ft/lbs from 3300rpm to 7000rpm, more than 600 ft/lbs from
4100rpm to 6300rpm, 75% of maximum torque available from 3400rpm to 7000rpm) will ensure some exciting afternoons at
Eastern Creek and Wakefield Park. I don't think I will bother
taking it off the trailer if it even looks damp.
Interestingly, the actual numbers came up just 20hp and 10ft/lb torque shy of those predicted by the Dyno2000 engine analyser (and at close to the actual rpm points). Now dyno'd, the new headers have now been HPC coated and the final assembly of engine/gearbox into car has taken place along with the re-plumbing of the dry-sump lines and fuel lines.
One aspect people used to always ask was whether the car was roadworthy. When I lived in Victoria this was less of issue as there were no annual roadworthy checks, just pay the annual registration fee and hope you didn't get pulled over by the police. So my answer to the roadworthy issue was always 'the car is currently registered', knowing that there wasn't a snowball's chance in hell of it being approved in its current form. Registration was maintained to satisfy the requirements of many car shows that required current registration for entry. These days that doesn't really concern me as I have 'been there, done that' for those shows, nowadays its just a few selected shows per year that I intend to enter. Regardless the registration was dropped once I moved to NSW as by then the fine for being caught using leaded avgas on the street was upwards of $1000. I own the LITRE8 plates so there didn't seem much point in contributing to the governments finances just for the heck of it. My main issue was whether the car was safe on the circuit, and every effort was made during the construction to ensure that it was with respect to braking, handling and safety. The guys I used to perform almost all of the work are/were open wheel or drag racers so they knew the importance of build quality and engineering. This mattered to me much more than the stamp of a roadworthy certificate.
The track day at Wakefield Park went exceptionally well! Though quite warm (about 31-33c) it was a great experience driving L8 in anger after such a long time. Having 12 year old tyres made the handling quite exciting and it was quite evident that use of the accelerator should limited unless the front wheels were pointing straight ahead. Wakefield Park is a very tight circuit with some very challenging corners, particularly the 120 degree infield hook. The main straight is fairy short with about a 130 degree entry corner onto the straight. The straight itself has a slight kink before heading into a 90 degree right hander. With the dubious old tyres I was backing off quite early, just at the start finish line (still a distance from the kink) so terminal velocity was only about 195kph. They say brave people take the kink flat out, I sure wasn't that brave! In fact I was only using 2nd and 3rd for the whole lap (mainly 2nd). Since the pretence of doing this circuit day was to get familiar with the Jerico gearbox I did do a few relaxed laps shifting up to 4th and 5th on the straight. The brakes coped well, after about 45 laps I had consumed about 1/16" of pad material, so there is still approximately 1/2" of pad material remaining. The discs now have a black lustre about them (from the Hawk Brake Black pads). I managed to keep the car on the blacktop all day while others tended to explore (and exceed) their car's limits (some on a regular basis). We had about six Toranas at the circuit with a variety of models and powerplants (LJ XU1 club car, Hilborn Injected LX sedan, LT5 powered hatchback and a venerable SLR5000). Apart from one car having a water pump replaced at the circuit all the rest completed the day without any mechanical ailments though a couple were marginal on cooling. Icing on the cake was the presence of some guys from Street Machine Magazine who took quite an interest in the LT5 hatchback and the Hilborn injected LX. Expect to see some track shots and features on these cars in upcoming issues of Street Machine Magazine (and maybe even a track shot of old L8!). On the Litre8 Home page there are some pictures from Wakefield as well as a short video (taken with digital camera) of Litre8 doing about 2 laps.
Update: 11th November 2004
Finally completed the gearbox oil cooler and pump installation. The first Tilton pump I tried was a dud but the replacement works okay though by nature it is quite noisy (at least with the engine not running). I will get down to Wakefield Park on Monday 29th November for a bit of quality track manners re-familiarisation time with Litre8. Eastern Creek was another option but I think Wakefield is probably better suited for my purposes this time. Eastern Creek will certainly be tried at a later date. Prior to that The Sydney Torana Club is having a show for the McHappy Day charity fundraising on the 20th November at McGrath's Hill McDonalds.
Update: 20th August 2004
Another change of hosting for this site! With the demise of http://v8holdens.coms as a domain host this site now has a permanent, dedicated web site http://www.litre8.com I don't expect to have to change this again.
Update: 20th July 2004
Almost completed fitting and plumbing the gearbox oil pump and cooler. Space constraints have dictated the location for both the pump and cooler to be the boot along with the current engine oil cooler and dry sump tank. I hope to have this done with a few weeks, overseas work trip(s) permitting. The next items to tackle (and its getting close to the end of the list now!) are the new injection trumpets & filters (the trumpets will have a 20 degree droop to run parallel to the rocker covers and clear the bonnet), possibly new dual 4" exhaust with 3" crossover (its a bit quiet currently, I plan to use Dynomax mufflers and terminate before rear axle with 60 degree bends) and, finally, a chassis dyno session (or track session with MoTeC Logging and lambda sensor in place) to fine tune the M48. When all this is done I think Litre8 will be almost complete......
Update: 12th April 2004
Well the 2004 Torana Nationals have concluded. It was a great Torana only 'rice-free' environment with 130+ Toranas of all flavours and heritages on display. Included in this was a massive 31 A9X's! Bowden's had their impressive Torana collection on display along with many other multi-Torana owners.
It was real enthusiast and entrant event at which I am sure all who attended would have had an enjoyable time. The venue at HPDC in Qld was great with ideal display and cruising facilities.
Update: 27th September 2003
Well the 2003 Toranafest has been and gone. It was a great event with seventy-eight Toranas making the pilgrimage to the Newcastle foreshow. For the trip up we had a convoy of twenty Sydney Torana Club Toranas which was a great sight in itself. The show was blessed with great weather in the morning and few passing showers in the afternoon. It was great to catch with lots of Torana owners, especially the guys from the VTC as well as many of the faces associated with the Gmh-Torana forums. I was pleased with the reception given to Litre8 as, after seven years in hibernation, I wasn't sure that she would still make an impact in a car scene where things have progressed a long way in engineering and sophistication.
Update: 6th September 2003
This site is now v8holdens.com at litre8.v8holdens.com. This makes it not only easier to find but allows more room to add in more pictures etc. Additionally the V8Holdens website, though new, is a very trick looking site and is manned by some real keen (and real young) car enthusiasts. The site at ozemail will remain but, due to space restrictions, wont be expanded nor updated.
Update: 17th July 2003
After a few test laps around the block at AMRaceparts the car was taken down to MoTeC for a lambda check and some data logging. This was delayed by a dud starter drive sprag assembly but we finally managed to do some "interesting" cruises of the local streets with the logging enabled. Apart from the fact that we were unable to get any full throttle under load readings the sampling did show a few overly rich points in the mapping which were addressed. Then it was time for a quick wash (probably the first in 3 or 4 years) and then back on the trailer for the trip home to NSW. A pleasant run back to Sydney ensued and now the car is resting comfortably in the garage, ready from some intensive cleaning and restoration. The major target is to have everything complete and the toy back to its best for the Torana Nationals in Easter 2004!
Refer to the History section for a more detailed history from 1976 onwards..
Engine:
Lift " |
Intake flow @ 28" |
Exhaust flow @ 28" |
Exhaust/Intake % |
0.1 |
80 / 80 |
68 |
86 |
0.2 |
156 / 153 |
119 |
77 |
0.3 |
224 / 223 |
162 |
73 |
0.4 |
282 / 286 |
197 |
70 |
0.5 |
331 / 322 |
227 |
70 |
0.6 |
366 / 348 |
248 |
70 |
0.7 |
378 / 362 |
266 |
72 |
0.75 |
382 / 369 |
274 |
73 |
Details:
Theoretical Performance
First |
2.643:1 |
126kph@7000rpm |
Second |
1.933:1 |
172kph@7000rpm |
Third |
1.460:1 |
221kph@6800rpm |
Fourth |
1.208:1 |
256kph@6500rpm |
Fifth |
1.0:1 |
309kph@6500rpm |
Brakes:
Thanks to:
