History
I am the third owner of this much loved Holden Sunbird. Bought to replace my old 1977 LX SLR which was stolen in August 1998. The car was a factory original Starfire 4 version Sunbird, which ran surprisingly well. It was always my intention to convert the car to run a V8. When the Torana resurfaces, I bought it back from the insurance company after they wrote it off, and it donated it's running gear (except the diff) to the Sunbird. The conversion took about 2 weeks, as I had to fit it in around my normal work schedule. All parts were a simple bolt on affair, and the engine started straight away. The mild 253 in the lighter Sunbird body combined with better suspension geometry and 14 inch diameter wheels made for a quick and stable car, however respect had to be paid as it was very capable of killing the inexperienced driver. It was my daily driver until July 2005 and I crossed the Nullarbor in it twice as well as taking it on many other long journeys. In all I covered 120,000km between Jan '99 and Jul '05 before I embarked on it's restoration. It's been a slow process, and not much has been done since my son was born in August '05. The 253 has gone to god and in it's place is a VS Commodore 5 litre V8. List of mods present and future, are below.
Modifications
Present
Engine: VS Commodore EFI 5 liter V8
Exhaust: single 2½" Sports system with high flow catalytic converters.
Gearbox: Manual 4 speed M21
Differential: Custom Ford 9" with 3:1 ratio gears and standard Sunbird drum brakes.
Brakes Front: Vented HZ V8 Kingswood Discs and cast alloy calipers.
Wheels: HQ-HZ 14x6 Front, LH-UC 14x8 Centerlines on the back
Driveshaft: big diameter single piece driveshaft with super heavy duty universal joints.
Future mods:
Engine: Harrop 4 barrel manifold with Holley 465 CFM carburettor
Camshaft: CROW 4651 L/C 110 Custom grind for high torque and 5500 RPM
Front End: Waddington custom crossmember andsuspension kit
Brakes: VT Commodore front and rear
Wheels: Commodore stud pattern 17x6 Front, 17x8 rear.
Gearbox: 5-speed Getrag 260 manual
Headlights: BMW E39 Headlight globes (not sure how I'm going to do this yet, but the look and feel will be original Sunbird while they are off, until you turn them on, the BMW globes and lenses will sit behind the original UC headlight glass)
Body: restored to original, repaint in factory original Firethorn Red with new chrome trims, original Sunbird badges retained.
Stereo: LOUD (got to be big to get over the engine noise)
