Dusty Benson’s VC Holden Commodore - Build of the Month March 2017

The Car's Story

The car was bought from a clearing sale for $700 over 3 years ago, it was already fitted with the rear louvre and the roof racks. The car was dragged out of storage 4 weeks before Winton's Performance Car Mania 2015 and the conversion was carried out over the next few weeks which done with an LS sourced from a wrecked VZ Thunder ute. The engine had the heads removed to have a quick clean-up and facilitate the replacement of the lifters, and a quick check of the factory big-end and main bearings which checked out ok so were reinstalled with the original hardware. The diff had a quick CIG conversion to make sure it'd hook-up and sealed back up. Once all the hot and cold sides of the turbo system were fabricated, the vehicle had its final assembly and plumbing up of the fuel system and transmission oil cooler by Shaine from Rapid Performance and the Auto Electrics done by Paul from APK Auto Electrical. It was then off to Websters Dyno and Performance for its tune. In its original form, the vehicle dynoed at 470kW and 932Nm.dynoed at 470kW and 932Nm.it'd hook-up and sealed back up. Once all the hot and cold sides of the turbo system were fabricated, the vehicle had its final assembly and plumbing up of the fuel system and transmission oil cooler by Shaine from Rapid Performance and the Auto Electrics done by Paul from APK Auto Electrical. It was then off to Websters Dyno and Performance for its tune. In its original form, the vehicle dynoed at 470kW and 932Nm.

Having had a strong start to the weekend at PCM, the car broke it gearbox input shaft during the drags on a Saturday, which put a halt to the weekend. Once the gearbox was fixed, dusty started looking around for what other events could be done with the vehicle. That's when he heard about Street Machine Drag Challenge. The decision was made that he was going to take on the Week of Drag Racing which saw racers compete at 5 tracks over 5 days while having to drive your race car between the events carrying all spares and crew in the car. Modifications were done so that the car would have a better chance of finishing the week, which included the conversion to a 9" diff with 3.55 gears. The car was then returned with the need to fit another fuel pump taking the count to 3, this saw power figures at the rear tyres of 540kW and over a 1000Nm of torque. With all the mods complete, the car was finally ready for its big week. The coverage for Street Machine Drag Challenge and how the car performed can be found on our Instagram and Facebook pages.