DRESSED TO THE NINES
This aspirated Holden V8-powered VN SS is destined to be a ninesecond street weapon
IT IS said that some cars find their owners, and it’s certainly true of this super-neat, super-tough VN SS, as owner George Josevski explains. “I’ve got a very tidy SV5000,” he begins. “It sits nice – really low with a tough engine and lots of detailing. I had it at a big car gathering, enjoying the atmosphere, and a bloke came up to me: ‘I want to buy your car.’ I told him: ‘Sorry mate, not for sale.’ After he persisted for a bit I tried to shut him down: ‘I have a number of other
Commodores and I never sell them.’ He came back at me with: ‘You should buy my mate’s VN SS then – it’s the best one around.’
“A few minutes later, I’m heading across the road to check out this VN. True to old mate’s word, it was immaculate.”
George figured that a VN SS would be a nice addition to the collection, so a price was settled upon and the deal was done. It had a 355 stroker by Adicted Performance, a built TH400 and big exhaust.
Initially, George was happy cruising it around as it was. However, it wasn’t long before he yearned to make a few changes. For starters, it kept junking axles, so a nine-inch was in order. That was enough to kick-start a major revamp. “It went from a diff swap into a whole new car!” George says.
Already the owner of a number of boosted race and road cars (see breakout, opposite page),
George wanted to keep the VN aspirated and Holden-based – old school!
“Frank from Dandy Engines is doing the engine program for my Torana race car; it’s a pretty extensive build,” says George. “I know what they’re capable of and they are great to deal with – such gentlemen. Frank nutted out the whole combo, and even told me what converter and diff gears to run.
“I was looking for maybe 680hp, which I thought was pretty stout for a street engine on 98. But Frank knows what I’m like, and said: ‘If we don’t make over 700, I’m not building an engine for you.’”
After punching the bores out to 4.030, Dandy dropped in a 3.750 COME Racing crank to stretch the capacity out to 383 cubes. Next up, many hours were invested in custom-porting a set of Higgins Racing Vn-style alloy heads, topped with – wait for it – a Ford Cleveland
ALREADY THE OWNER OF A NUMBER OF BOOSTED RACE AND ROAD CARS, GEORGE WANTED TO KEEP THE VN ASPIRATED AND HOLDEN-BASED
intake manifold! Yep, you read right.
Frank explains: “Shaun Lynch Racing took an off-the-shelf Higgins Clevo manifold, cut it in half, welded and redrilled the flanges to match up with the intake ports, then welded the two halves back together.”
The result of all the engine sorcery makes for 8600rpm capability and a very respectable 733hp.
GEORGE’S turbo Rb30-powered VL is a seven-second beast. “Originally a BT1 ex-police car, it’s run 7.44@193.8mph,” says George. “That’s the quickest single-cam RB30 on the planet. Built by JW Automotive in Queensland, it’s got a 3.2L billet block, but still has the 1986 head. Although it makes 1707rwhp on 72psi of boost, it’s maxing out at 60psi in the top end, so there’s more in it. We’re maybe knocking on a 7.0. Untubbed, factory chassis – all on a 255 radial. My dream is to run a six on the 255.”
Not happy to rest on his laurels, George has a Skyline GT-R in the build to chase the current world GT-R record of 6.86@204mph – on an X275 tyre. It’s set to make around 2500hp!