CHEAP BASTARD
KYLE Breed’s VH Commodore drag wagon grabbed the attention of SM’S Facebook friends recently, with many impressed that it cost a measly $3800 to build and has run a best of 11.82@120mph. Others were less amused by the fact that it’s being propelled by Ford Barra power! Rick Putland – They must be good fabbies and got creative to keep it under four grand. David Ogi Mackieson – I call bullshit on it being less than four grand for that conversion. Shane Pettiford – Must have stole threequarters of the parts.
Conrad James – It’s called DIY. Steve Weber – It’s possible to build that for that. I’ve got a Cortina and it would probably cost me the same to put an LS1 in that. No different. I built a street-legal RB30 VK for $1000. Just did the conversion myself. Only took two weeks.
Kyle Breed – Car cost $500, $150 engine, $250 turbo, built and tuned all in-house. Total cost before slicks and converter, when it ran 13s, was $2800. It’s done 42 passes now. One oil change. Built auto done in-house. Parts aren’t dear, labour is.
Martin Amena – Cheap car to run quick. Well done. Damian Aird – Epic shits and giggles. Andrew Hall – Awesome. Hayden Mate – ebay the world. Paul Frank – Ha ha. Try to run 11s with an LS for that. Darren Bull – Great little conversion! Also a few LS set-ups running 11s for that price too.
It’s not how much coin you’ve got when you can swing spanners and think outside the box!
Steve Cartwright – Just made the price on ex-taxi engines increase.
Cor Plow – Those Barra motors are popping up everywhere. Might put one in the wife’s Pajero. Shannon Fehring – That’s bloody cheap! Maybe Barra for the Kombi, ha ha! Jay Waters – Poor VH with a poxy Barra in it. Matthew Williams – Why put a Barra in a boat anchor? Aaron Butler – You mean why burden the VH with an anchor? Tamaoho Charles Llewell Christensen – Why would you pull out the best engine Holden ever built? Its mighty 90hp and 3800rpm limit should run 22s! Those powerful Barras would easily turn the chassis into a pretzel.
Grayson Steer – That shell is an original SL/X. Top of the line in factory V8 manual wags.
Sam Cantwell – I’d rather run 18s than put a Ford donk in a Holden.
Rodney de Groot – Speaking from actual experience, the Barra is better bang for your buck than the LS1. You actually need to put a bit of money into an LS to run the same times this Barra runs. I know the Holden guys don’t like it, but the Barra is probably the best bangfor-buck engine in the world. By the way, the LS1 is a Chev engine, not a Holden.
Sammy Carbone – HT Brougham 350: $300 intake, $250 NOS, $500 carby, $900 dizzy, $190 cam lifters. First pass: 11.72 – 20 years ago! Jesse Carroll – So many experts here; sheeiitt.