Danny's VK Wagz 308

The motor is now out of the stato, hopefully drop it in the wagz 2morrow. Not gonna clean it up yet, just drop it in and wire it up. When it's running we'll pull it back out and do some work to it.

Get the VL wags fuel tank 2morrow, hopefully that should do the trick.

The minispool rocked up 2day. Will drop it off at Richards Motors 2morrow, they're the guys putting the diff 2gether for me.


And the motor's nearly in. Having a bit of trouble getting it in with the extractors there (would put them in after put I rekon they'll be a headf**k and prolly scratch up the engine bay), so will wait for Brad to knock off work and with him helping we should be able to drop it in.

Dam Danny that 5l is going to be killer in the wagz,lol wish i had done that with my old wagz lol,Dan ya the man,very nice

lol cheers mate. The efi 5.0L conversion hasn't cost me stuff all so far, lets hope it stays that way haha. Only the $900 for the Stato....but gotta get a some exhaust gaskets and water hoses 2morrow. The main thing I was worried about was the extractors not fitting around the steering rack....we ended up dropping the rack to put the motor in and haven't bolted it back up yet, but I rekon she'll be all good!! Apparently pacies do a set of extractors to suit the EFI 5.0L in early Commo's, so if worst comes to worst and the stock ones don't fit I'll have to look into those.

Here's a pic. Pretty dirty, but still good enuf for the dunny door haha. I love it!

Looks bloody good Danny to bad your gunna ruin it but its your car and your money

Do you know if you can inject the 253 - 308 block i think i read somewhere that you can but not to sure

Very nice Danny look very sweet indeed its taken me like few days to just do one quater panel of sanding its a long process wish i had help but im stuck in this god dame hick town whyalla keep up the good work mate and cant wait to see it at few car club shows

I don't see how ya's think I'm wrecking it. It will prolly be on the pad 1-2 times a year, and unless I put rego on it so Brad can take me cruisin in it, it won't leave the yard.

Yeah Trev ya can use the 253-308 bottom end and chuck all the injection gear on top. That's prolly the easiest way to do it coz technically the motor would still be pre-ULP so doesn't need the additional cats, and as u retain ur carby block u don't need to get it engineered.

Not much has happened with the wags. Bought a pair of 19" RJR Blades.....got them cheap so couldn't say no lol. Prolly only use them on the pad coz I only got 2.


Trying to hunt down a 2nd EFI 5.0L block so I can start working on it. Have bought an ARP head stud kit, main stud kit, rod bolts and flex plate bolts.


Also realised I HAVE to have power steering coz the manual rack doesn't fit with the EFI motor.

The wagz is nearly ready to drive. Got a burnout comp on Saturday here in Pirie and if everything goes to plan we should be entering. Bout 2 and a half weeks ago I had the crazy decision that we should try and have the wagz ready for this Saturday. Was still sitting out the back with no windows, no bumpers, fenders not on properly, no brakes, old diff, VL dash (needed to be changed)....so we decided to have a crack. Some mates come around to help out chucking the windows in. The tailgate window was an absolute bitch and still doesn't look right up close, so gonna pull it out and replace it with the rubber seal sort like the front window. Have fitted new door locks, put the door skins on, bought a brand new carpet and 5 brand new seatbelts, but not fitting them yet.

Took the VL dash out, replaced it with a VK dash, painted it up. Also changed the diff over to the one I had built up with 4.11's and a minispool. Haven't put the rear brakes on yet tho, just got the backing plate from the drums on there so it seals up. Put the calipers on the front, put the brake lines back in, just need to silicone up the seal around the bottom of the brake reservoir so it doesn't leak.

Also pulled the injected 5.0L out and now have the carby 308 out of the race car sitting in there taking it's place for a while. Decided to use VH bumpers, was Brad's idea and I didn't really agree, but after they went on I fell in love!

Still got some chrome mouldings to put on, one of the tail lights, one door handle, rear seat to put in, and the only reason we haven't started it yet is coz we're broke as bums and can't afford tranny juice till my payday 2morrow haha.

Anyways here's some pics.

The diff, went for a borgy diff out of a VK wagon, cost me $100 with the tailshaft. 4,11's cost $200 and minispool was $100. Thanks to Richards Motors for putting it together. Still need to paint it up, but right now it isn't important as time is as tight as a fish's bum hole.


Big thanks to Scotty and Lobes for their help fitting the windows!


New sticker on the window.....I stuffed it up putting it on tho but ya can't see it lol, only has to last for the burnout comp then I might get the pro to put the next one on lol.


Lots of junk in this photo (the crap on the floor is soaking up a large oil spill), but I love it! Still haven't bolted the bottom of the passenger fender on yet....better do it b4 I forget lol.

looks real neat yeah would be good to see pics of it in a park on lawn or something hows the engine is it a good one?

The motor is a blue 308, new bearings, Rollmaster timing chain, Dynotec cam, Yella Terra heads, LT1 springs, Crow retainers and collets, Edelbrock manifold, and 600 Holley. The trans is a stocko 308 trimatic with a 2500rpm hi stall. Made 146rwkw last time on the dyno and that was with the old crusty trans....so hopefully it makes atleast over 150rwkw now. It would kill the injected 5.0L that I did have in it, which was one of the reason as to why I put this motor back in instead of using the injected motor.

Had a blast at the burnout comp.....did have a few drama's with the car, but something was bound to go wrong since it was all rushed to get 2gether for the comp. Overall I'm stoked with how well the car performed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9PORp77lT0

Few new shots of the wagz.

The engine bay.....newest pic I got but now has VT twin thermo's and a gilmer drive. Haven't neatened it up to much yet, pretty much how we slapped it together for the burnout comp. Have pulled the ends of the strut brace off now too. Had to get the struts customised to fit the new wheels (had the spring seats lifted), so chucked ultra lows in at the same time to lower it a bit more and to help compensate for the 10mm lifted spring seats. The rear still has plain old lows in it tho.


The interior getting there slowly. Putting the stato seats in it. Bought a new carpet and all new seatbelts, also got the B&M ratchet shifter which still needs fitting.


And now got some 20's for her.




Gonna try and slap some rego on it soon and put it in Brad's name with the V8 rego'd in it, gonna try and have it all done b4 the new P plate laws come in otherwise he won't be able to drive me around in it haha.

Thought it was time for an update....not much to update tho.

Got me new plates for it. Also got the rego changed over to a V8, and put it into my brothers name.


Pulled the motor and trans back out for the race car. Also got me another bonnet with a VK scoop on it. Just need to respray it to match the car.


The motor I'm building up for it....just mocked up for the pic lol.


Done a disc rear end conversion. It's pretty straight forward....just remember if ya do it, ya gotta change the oil seals on ur axles to disc seals. If u use the drum brake seals, she'll leak. So yeah ya may as well get bearing kits and chuck new bearings on at the same time.


New hand brake shoes and the springs and clips all in place.


Bolted on with the axle in.


Backing plate on, calipers on, all ready to go. I got all the brake gear acid dipped, so gave the calipers the same treatment. Bought caliper kits to put through the calipers, so they have new seals, boots and bolts. Not worried about painting them up yet. Was off pay week when I done it (had everything already to do it, just no paint), so figured the paint could wait. No point in waiting to paint them b4 I chuck them on or they probably wouldn't of gotten done lol.


And started cleaning up the 308 block. Did buy an ACL race series complete rebuild kit, but not gonna use that now. I wanna invest in a stroker kit down the track....so for now it's just getting a simple rebuild. Just new rings and bearings. Then chuck the VN heads on, Procomp manifold, 600 Holley....hopefully it doesn't go to bad. Aiming for 150rwkw....but not sure if it will get there with the stock EFI cam. Dropping it off 2morrow to get new cam bearings fitted and hone the bores. Hopefully can get it back in a few days, and put the whole thing 2gether next week when I finish my nights.


I recently bought a Triton and have been spending most of my time and money on that....which is why the wagz has been goin slow....spose I can't really use that as an excuse coz it's always taken me a while to do anything to it haha.

Oh and the BIGGEST update of all.....I finally cleaned up the backyard!!! (all those who have been to my place will know how bad it was lol, only a few people off of here I think) Thx to Heathy for helping me out. We also chucked up the shed that's been leaning up against our back fence for the last year. Even got 6 bucket loads of gravel to put out the back! Hasn't been this clean since we moved in haha!

Hi Danny looks killa gonna be another mad wagon besides pazz's dame shame you live so far away would love to see this on cruise cheers Josh

Thx mate. And don't worry....when it's done and rego'd we'll definitely come down for a cruise. We come down every few months now to pick parts up or drop parts off....so will definitely bring the wagz for a run....even if it will cost twice as much in fuel lol.

DANNY8 wrote:

Oh and the BIGGEST update of all.....I finally cleaned up the backyard!!! (all those who have been to my place will know how bad it was lol, only a few people off of here I think) Thx to Heathy for helping me out. We also chucked up the shed that's been leaning up against our back fence for the last year. Even got 6 bucket loads of gravel to put out the back! Hasn't been this clean since we moved in haha!

pics of the cleanup danny ??? lmao.....was lookin like a wreckers yard for a while there from some of the pics

lol I'll take a few pics for ya so ya can see the difference.

Cleaning it up only took about 3-4 hours to do the bulk of it, and we didn't even fill the trailer right up. Most of the mess was parts lying around, so pretty much just re-packed everything, plus threw out a few things, sold a few other bits. And started filling up the new shed (well not new, was an old shed we bought for $350 lol). Decided to only keep enough room for one car, which will be the wagz, so we have enough room to put crap in it still, which will give us more room in the main shed, which is always messy as well from parts on shelves and around tables lol. Was gonna wait b4 we use the new shed as we were gonna concrete the floor.....but yeah just leaving it dirt for now, doesn't really matter anyways I suppose.

Even sold our 308 VH (not sure if anyone seen that one, was the brown one that I had in my avatar). Didn't want to, but we already have too many toys. So sold that and bought new tyres for me Triton lol.

More pics.

Just waiting on the stall converter to rock up, then can bolt the trans up to the motor and drop it in! Also bought a 750 dp to replace the 600 in the pics below. Not long now....hopefully will be running in a week or 2!

been a while since i looked at ya wagz Danny its come great..the donk looking real good to,makes me wish i never sold my VH wagz lol,keep up the great work.

Ya should get another one!

More updates...

Got a 3000rpm TCE converter.


Pretty much ready to drop into the wagz.


She's in!


A big thx to Macen for helping out....he happily done the crap jobs that we always whinge about doing haha.

man that wagz is killer danny luv the 5l...mmm

yep if i get another wagz,it will sure piss all over the other one.lol but its a toss up over a tray top ute or a wagz,what want a v8 as well starting at a 308.

Few new pics.








Registered it Monday morning, done about 200k's in it so far. Farkin love it!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnJGLQ0Dn0k