We first saw this ’01 Holden Calais at the Sydney drags lined up in the
staging lanes. Nothing particularly high-profile – just a stylish luxury sedan
with an attractive choice of wheels.
Boy, were we fooled!
When the lights turned green for this
Calais it absolutely leapt off the
line holding a beautiful power-on attitude for the first 50 or so metres. By
half track the opposition was well behind and at the traps, well, we were all
wondering what the hell had been done to this subtle looking streeter.
A 12.27 ET at 116 mph – on street tyres and with a full sound system – is
seriously, seriously fast!
Have a chat with David Zieger about his silver
Calais and you can’t help be bowled
over by every aspect of its modification. The quality of the idle, the muted
exhaust note, the drivability and, of course, the proven grunt. All of this in a
sensibly lowered practical luxury car with a classy look that even HSV would be
proud of.
The more you look over this vehicle, the more it emerges a bumper-to-bumper
dream machine. This is unquestionably one of our favourite feature cars.
David picked up this VX Calais brand-new in 2001. One of the conditions of
sale was the dealer fitment of HSV upgrade brakes. Why? Well, David knew he’d
need ‘em to go with the engine mods he had in store!
The first mods were nothing particularly out of the ordinary. The exhaust was
changed to a twin 2¼-inch into 3-inch arrangement with Pacemaker extractors, a
SS cold air induction was fitted as was a SS Inductions throttle body. The
engine was then tuned with LS1 Edit and the diff was converted to a shorter
3.46:1 ratio for improved acceleration. David says these mods gave a pretty
decent improvement but it was nothing to really rave about.
Next came a supercharger – but not just any ol’ supercharger!
David stepped up for the Starr supercharger kit that’s built around a Whipple
huffer. The Whipple is a positive displacement blower, which means – in contrast
to a centrifugal blower – it gives boost from very low rpm. However, unlike many
other positive displacement blowers, the Whipple uses a sophisticated twin-screw
design that offers much improved efficiency. The upshot is boost with less
charge-air heat.
The Starr blower kit comprises a Whipple blower unit, the necessary drive
system, mounts as well as a neat water-to-air intercooler that nestles in the
intake manifold. An electric pump circulates intercooler fluid through a large
front-mount heat exchanger.
Not content to stop there, David upgraded the camshaft to “something
reasonably wild” and fitted Higgins Race cylinder heads. These might sound like
the ingredients for lumpy’n’gluggly monster, but we can assure you that’s not how this machine drives. Starr Performance are credited with ‘case managing’ the build.
Much of the overall refinement can be attributed to the thorough MAF-less LS1
Edit tune - a 2 Bar MAP sensor is now used to determine engine load. The fuel
system has also been enhanced with a rising rate regulator, 50lb injectors, a
Bosch Motorsport pump and a surge tank – the last thing anyone wants is an
engine lean-out when fuel sloshes to the back of the tank under hard
acceleration.
Other changes along the way include moving to DeFillipo 1 7/8-inch 4>1
extractors that lead into a Starr Performance twin 3-inch system with high-flow
cats and mufflers. A Starr 90mm throttle body and air intake system has also
been slipped in.
With a Whipple blower, a cam and head work it’s likely the factory auto
trannie would’ve died with a leg in the air. Thankfully, it has been rebuilt to
“unbreakable race Corvette specs” and equipped with a shift kit. A large
transmission cooler keeps trans fluid to a sane level. A look in the
Calais nosecone also reveals a V8
Supercar radiator and power steering cooler – trick stuff.
In the search for traction, David has recently ripped out the previous 3.46:1
Holden diff and swapped to an even shorter 3.73:1 KAAZ LSD. This further
improves the lively driving sensation.
In its current mechanical configuration, David’s
Calais has roared on a Dyno Dynamics
chassis dyno to make a highly impressive 380kW at the wheels. That’s over 500hp
at the wheels in old money! And don’t think that the engine is boosted off its
brain – 12 psi is all that’s needed. David explains, “We wanted to keep it
reliable and part of that was keeping boost pressure as low as possible.”
So that’s the class act under the bonnet – what about the class that shows on
the outside?
After much “umm-ing” and “ahh-ing” David chose a set of 19 x 8 HSV VY Senator
rims wearing 245/35 Yokohama AVSs front and rear. Sure, the decision to go for
an off-the-shelf HSV rim might not be daring, but take a look at our pics and
you’ll see they suit the big Holden down to the ground. Literally. The
suspension has been lowered a couple of inches thanks to a Koni
adjustable/Pedders suspension combo. Dark tint has also been applied to the
glass.
David isn’t afraid to add weight to his car if it’ll improve the driving
experience and overall comfort. This is used as a family car/work car, after
all. The sound system is another all-out approach with a pair of 15-inch Orion
subs in the boot, a pair of head-banger amps, Clarion 6 x 9s in the rear shelf
and Clarion splits up front. The heart of the system is a Pioneer head unit with
a 6-stack CD changer. The cosy Calais-spec interior is further complemented by
an AutoMeter oil pressure and boost gauge.
David tells us the needle on the AutoMeter boost gauge flicks upward more in
relation to throttle position than anything else. Forget waiting for revs
to build – when you nail the loud pedal in this baby you’ve got instant boost,
regardless of engine speed!
The LS1 bottom-end is a strong bugger, but with this much grunt on tap nobody
would be surprised if it cried enough. Not that David is worried by that. In
fact, he sorta wants it to crumble apart so he can rebuild it with a stroker
kit. “At this rate, though, it doesn’t look like giving problems – I might have
to stop waiting for an excuse and just go ahead with it!”
Can one of our favourite feature cars get even better? It certainly looks
that way!
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