B
EN Leat, the owner of this VH Vacationer wagon, planned
to build his car to be a summer cruiser and then flip it when
the time was right. Like most car builds, they always begin
with the best of intentions. But the old ‘Yeah, nah, I’ll just
do a few things to make it a cruiser’ spiel you sell yourself;
that never lasts.
If you think you’ve seen the number plates before, you’d be right.
Ben used to own a red VH (SM, Jun ’16) that sported a mean Holden
- Ben tells us it wasn’t long after the red car was featured that
he sold it off as a roller.
“I sold it just after I got a roadworthy on the wagon,” Ben says. “I
bought it from a guy in Ballarat who obtained it from the original
owner, who had passed away.”
The car sat in Ben’s shed for a few weeks until he figured out what
he would do with it.
“I began to tidy it up,” he says. “The paint was all original apart
from a touch-up on the bonnet, and all it needed to look neat was
a massive clean-up.”
Ben fitted up new suspension, as the wagon’s factory set-up had
seen better days. A set of new SSL King Springs were put in, as
well as Monroe gas shocks up front and Pedders short-travel items
in the rear. The rear end also got a new adjustable Panhard rod and
adjustable upper arms.
The front brakes were replaced with a set of Wilwood four-piston
stoppers, while the rear items were upgraded when Ben swapped
out the car’s original diff for a VS Commodore wagon BorgWarner
unit built by Matt at Geelong Diffs.
The VH’s original wheels were ditched in favour of 15x3.5-inch Billet
Specialties Comp 5 Series rims for the front, and 15x8-inch Weld
Racing items out back. Ben tells us that with the VS Commodore
wagon diff bolted in, 235/60/15 tyres are about as big as he can
fit without tubbing the rear. Since the photoshoot Ben has installed
an airbag system out back so he can raise and lower the rear to suit
the road conditions.
“The VH originally had a 202ci and a Trimatic gearbox,” Ben says.
“It had power steering and air con, and it even had cruise control.
But eventually the 202ci started to feel really tired. Plus the car was
looking fast with the new wheels, brakes and suspension; it needed
the power to match.
“Originally I was going to put the 355ci Holden motor out of the red
VH I'd had, but I ended up selling that engine as well. At one stage
I was thinking about putting a 3.0-litre turbo motor out of a VL, but I
couldn’t find anything decent.”
In the end Ben stumbled upon a VX Calais that had been hit in the
front. It had the LS running gear he was after, so it was a no-brainer
to buy the whole car rather than just the parts he needed.
“I took it home and got everything I needed for the conversion and
sold off the rest,” Ben says. “Once I got the motor out of the car I
stripped it all down and cleaned everything and gave it to my mate
Tim Holmyard. He races a pretty wild VX SS and is a bit of an engine
builder. He’s also a legend bloke, so that was the best way to go.”
The engine was freshened up with a set of new pushrods, a new
COMP 234/236 112 LSA camshaft, a Melling oil pump, new
COMP Cams lifters, new gaskets, and 30thou was shaved off the
stock LS1 heads. The motor was also treated to a trick new Holley
mid-rise intake and an Accufab 1250cfm four-barrel throttlebody.
Ben had DTM Automatics build a fresh Turbo 400 to suit his
new motor. The gearbox is fully manualised and runs a Dominator
4500rpm eight-inch converter. Ben tells us the converter helps the
LS1 quickly move to where it makes power: up top. The tailshaft is
a two-piece item from A1 Automotive.
If you look at the engine bay you’ll notice that the motor, at least at
first, doesn’t look like an LS at all. Ben went to a great deal of trouble
to conceal the engine’s identity. And he’s done it well, custom-fitting
a factory Holden 5.0-litre V8 air cleaner and using some blue paint
to give the donk the classic look he wanted.
Ben did most of the handiwork in the engine bay, tidying up all
the metal and relocating what didn’t need to be there. The wiringPEOPLE SCRATCH THEIR HEADS, AND THEN WHEN YOU TELL THEM
IT’S AN LS, THEY’RE LIKE: “OH YEAH, I SEE IT”