VF Calais V v8 Wagon

[dassaur]

Thought I'd post my journey of v8 ownership

First purchased 2nd hand in Jan 2020. At the time I had 2 kids so it had to be a wagon. The softer suspension of fe1 suited the family too. The amount of extra features in the Calais meant it was very much a good bang for buck option, and so after looking 6 months I found this one at a dealer.

It had a 3" varex catback but the previous owner did not give the dealership the remote. All the wiring was there though.

I also love the prussian steel colour! It has grown on me heaps.

 

[dassaur]

The varex had frozen (the actual butterfly valve was stuck) so fixed that up and cleaned everything up. Tidied up the tow bar hitch too with a cover.

I also installed a hard wired varex switch too. Works very well.

 

[dassaur]

I then installed a dashcam (front and rear). Not too hard with the aid of a cable snake.

I wired up the gauges too

 

[Lex]

I wired up the gauges too

What guages?
More pics please.
Tia.

 

[dassaur]

Sorry. Just feeding babies so it's coming in dribs and drabs
Here are the gauges. Currently the coolant temp is not connected

I also have a tablet which reads everything else especially trans fluid and fuel flow.

 

[dassaur]

I installed a VCM otr myself and got a set of 3" 1 3/4 xforce headers & 200 cell cats to go along with the catback that was already on it with a tune to suit. (pulse racing, menai. Top stuff). That really woke it up and drives beautifully.

The rears were on some kind of Eibach spring with an HSV part # & stock shocks. Looks wise it was good, but slighty too low - had some driveway scraping issues. Hub to guard was about 365cm. So I raised it on King Springs low (KHRL HD) with some monroe GT shocks, which increased hub to guard measurement to about 380. The photo below is on the Eibachs

 

[dassaur]

Wanted to upgrade to brembos so was on the hunt for wheels. Was never looking for black but my wife convinced me she thought they'd look great. I found a good deal on some second hand redline forged wheels (I think!). I also put on a rear wing and a stubby antenna

I painted the rear muffler tips to match the wheels. The 'bottom half' of the car had a black theme, top half chrome.

 

[dassaur]

By this time I had changed out the transmission fluid twice (75k kms, 77k kms). So on the 2nd change I did the deep pan mod and added a transmission dipstick. Much easier to check level and add fluid! Although it must have been before I got the headers on so timing is slightly out of whack.

I added a transmission cooler too, a PWR VE one which I modified to fit the VF

 

[Lex]

transmission cooler too, a PWR VE one

Yeah, l added a pwr trans cooler (this one https://www.sparesbox.com.au/part/p...MInonF8a-v8QIVWyUrCh3CEwzGEAQYAiABEgLBivD_BwE ) to my wagon too. I have also added a 10 inch fan with a inline fan switch ( this one https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/265063183877 ). It turns the fan on 180 f & turns off at 165 f. Good for when your stuck in the car park!

 

[dassaur]

Yeah, l added a pwr trans cooler (this one https://www.sparesbox.com.au/part/p...MInonF8a-v8QIVWyUrCh3CEwzGEAQYAiABEgLBivD_BwE ) to my wagon too. I have also added a 10 inch fan with a inline fan switch ( this one https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/265063183877 ). It turns the fan on 180 f & turns off at 165 f. Good for when your stuck in the car park!

Ha I just trawled through your thread. Amazing work man.