With 474kW at the wheels (yes, you read it right!)
it's fair to call this Holden Monaro a monster. But that implies
something that's simply not true. This isn't a monster that'll stamp through
your garden and torment your pets - nope, this monster is as well behaved as
they come. A monster on a leash.
Owned by Salem Hoblos of Melbourne, this 2002
Holden Monaro defines the modern age of V8 performance. Not only is its 474kW
ATW output bloody well incredible, you'll also find that it drives sweetly and
the motor is largely stock inside. Who said you had to get dirty to get
down?!
Salem didn't set off on this project with a
specific dyno figure or quarter mile in his sights. "It started off with an
exhaust, bigger brakes and suspension and it kept on going from there," he
says.
These initial mods came not long after the 2002
purchase of the car (a CV8 Monaro optioned with sunroof, leather and all the
fruit). Salem made the most of what was available off-the-shelf and enlisted
G-Tech Performance to install the Premium brake package from HSV. These were a
nice bolt-on affair. The suspension, too, came in for a serving with Bilstein
dampers, Noltec bushes and Eibach springs (which bring the ride height down
about 2½-inches). Nineteen-inch VX GTS rims have also been whacked on for
improved handling and looks.
The factory 225kW output is decent, but the
restrictive OE exhaust has gotta be ditched if you want to make big grunt.
Initially, Salem's Monaro was fitted with Di Filippo 1¾-inch primary extractors
feeding into a twin 2.5-inch mandrel system. Power and torque were then
optimised using a UniChip interceptor in conjunction with the factory ECU. Just
the extractors, exhaust and UniChip hoisted power from 170kW ATW to 230kW ATW -
a very tidy 35 percent gain.
Salem's next move is a fairly common one for
enthusiastic LS1 owners - a new camshaft.
DynoMotive came to the party with "a pretty mild"
custom cam grind that, when fitted together with a 80mm BBK throttle body,
netted 279kW at the treads. Following this, the alloy heads were hauled off
for porting, polishing and fitment of larger valves. Salem tells us the heads
are now capable of flowing air for 630hp (naturally aspirated). These mods gave
only another 6kW at the wheels, but Salem explains, "the head work got the
engine breathing right ready for the next step - forced induction..."
A CAPA (Centrifugal Air Pumps Australia) Vortech
T-trim blower kit was bolted to the easy-breathing LS1 and Dynomotive fitted their own
custom 4-core air-to-air intercooler. "The core is several inches thick - it's
as big as would possibly fit," says Salem. The intercooler piping is custom
mandrel and includes a pair of Bosch blow-off valves.
Fitment of the blower and intercooler was then
followed by some revision of the existing cam profile and exhaust system - there
was no need for quite an aggressive cam (the blower takes care of power
production) and the exhaust system needed upgrading simply to cope with the
massive gas flow. DynoMotive swapped aftermarket cam #1 for a slightly more
conservative profile and switched to 2-inch primary De Filoppo extractors
(fatter than previously) and a twin 3-inch system. Consider the cross-sectional
area of a twin 3-inch exhaust and you can understand why there's no need to drop
the pipes for visits to the drags. (And, yes, we're getting close to telling you
its best time!)
The fuel system also needed some serious upgrading
at this stage so you'll now find a pair of Bosch Motorsport pumps drinking from
a surge tank, while the engine end of things is taken care of by a replacement
fuel pressure regulator and bigger injectors. Ignition remains stock. And,
interestingly, the whole fuel and ignition shebang is still taken care of by the
UniChip.
Note that the majority of the engine - including
the factory 10.0:1 compression ratio - remains unaltered. Thanks to the
breathing preparations and the blower, Salem's Monaro has cranked out a maximum
of 474kW at the rear wheels running a very mild 9 psi boost and with Shell
Optimax in the tank. You want an awesomely powerful streeter that you can fill
up at the corner petrol station? Well, there you go!
About this time, Salem had to replace the clutch
with a massively upgraded unit. A '1000hp' drop-in clutch was purchased from
CAPA and there have been absolutely no driveline issues - despite more than
20,000km of supercharged "driving like a maniac". The only other changes are a
short shifter for the 6-speed 'box and a shorter 3.9:1 LSD - great for neck-snapping response!
Salem obviously doesn't believe in making special
preparations for quarter mile attacks (what's the point when you change it all
back afterwards?) so he has run the car at Calder Park complete with its full
exhaust and 245/35 19 Hancook street tyres. Slicks? Nah, they're for 'trailer
sailers'... As you might imagine, the big Munro took a while to hook up but it
powered down the blacktop to record an 11.8-second ET at a strong 129 mph.
And this level of performance doesn't come with
any interior comfort sacrifices. Salem already started off with the factory
leather trim and power sunroof, so there's not a lot else that's required. A
'bugger the weight' sound system has been installed comprising a pair of JL
sub-woofers, Kicker amps, MB Quart splits and a Kenwood DVD head unit. "I didn't
want to cram it with gauges because I wanted it to look like a stocker,"
explains Salem. We've gotta say, though, there's little doubt that this car is
anything but stock when it rumbles past!
Few words can describe a car with as much grunt as
this Monaro. Salem says its simply "awesome" and that sums it up pretty well.
But those monster power and torque characteristics are combined with daily
manners that are quite remarkable. "I drove it to the SummerNats this year and
it was very smooth, it never missed a beat, and it gave better than standard
fuel economy," says Salem. "It's all spot-on - it's fantastic."
And that's the happy end to this story. Or is
it?
It seems Salem can't get enough of a good thing
and is now putting together a stompin' 427ci (7.0-litre) supercharged donk that
should reach his target - try about 800hp at the wheels! We'll see if
that one can be taught good manners!
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