A blown LS-powered VS Commodore – Dubai Car News

LLooking back on it now, it’s hard to believe that Shane D’Amato initially thought of his VS ute as simply a stopgap machine. “I bought an engine for it. It had a new rear quarter that was in primer, and all I was going to do was paint it and then sell it,” says Victorian. “But then I got inspired after a year at Smyrnatus and decided to separate my VH, so I put the LS as a fill-in to the VS while building the VH. Ten years later, it’s still here. Is!

First published in the November 2022 issue. Street Machine

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In Street trim, the VS wears Simmons FR20s on all four corners, measuring 20×8.5 up front and 20×10 with 275 rubber in the rear. Shane did a modest tub extension in the rear to fit the larger hoops, which also secures those shiny rear quarters from the swing belt on the pad.

Shane took care of the entire build himself, and while the ute has gone through a few different LS combos and looks over the years, the core purpose of the car has always remained the same. “I wanted a burnout car that was still usable, rather than just a dedicated skid car,” Shane says. “That’s why it runs EFI and E85 instead of mechanical injection and methanol like the other burnout guys.”

While it was an aspirational car for a long time, the VS now rocks a 403-cube iron-block LS built by Randall Mortier at Hadzip Performance Engines. It is loaded with accessories including a Kellys 8ccw crank, Oliver rods and CP pistons. Finishing off the bottom end is a lumpy Warspeed stick, all tied to a pair of CNC machined Higgins heads.

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VS has worn many colors during her tenure with Sheen, but Renault Liquid Yellow is definitely the most eye-catching.

The shiny part of the package is what we really want to talk about. Both the Bullet 6/71 blower and intake manifold are from The Blower Shop, with the Enderle Big & Eagle Hat on top. The EFI track uses 16 Raceworks 1000cc injectors courtesy of a Joe Blo kit, with spark from GM coils and the brains of a Haltech Elite 950 ECU.

The whole deal made a comfortable 675rwhp on Chev’s Performance Center dyno, with the manualized Turbo 400′ box and 3200rpm converter cranked to the tune of 14psi.

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Shane isn’t one to cut corners, even being known to color-match the 70L Aeroflow fuel cell, which is more than enough when 16 1000cc injectors are fed by a pair of Walbro 525 pumps.

“The difference between that blown setup and what I used to drive is night and day. It’s a completely different car now,” says Shane. “With the aspirated stuff, you always felt like you On the pad he’s wringing his neck, while with the blower I’m doing the same things while only using 30-40 percent throttle.”

Completing the driveline is a shortened version of the original VS BorgWarner diff, which employs a factory Commodore four-link. It sits beneath a mild tub job that Shane gave to fit the massive 20×10 Simmons FR20 rear wheels wearing 275/30 rubber.

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Shane did a lot of fabrication work on the VS himself, including streamlining the engine bay. Sitting atop the 403ci iron-block LS is a 6/71 blower, revving at 14psi and drinking E85.

While the nearly 700rwhp blown LS sticking out the front is a wild thing, the ring is the most beautiful aspect of Shane’s machine. “First it was black, and then it was dark brown for a long time, but about two years ago we decided to change the color to yellow,” he says. “It’s a Renault liquid yellow with a few layers of pearl. I just saw the color on a Renault one day and thought it was cool, so here we are.

The ute has been rocking both the ring and the blower for the last couple of years, having done plenty of burnout events and racked up quite a few miles on the road in between. “I actually enjoy doing the power skid stuff more than going around in circles on the pad; we don’t have a lot of straight line skid stuff here,” says Shane. “I’ve done a lot of events in it and Over the years the car has traveled all over the country, and a year ago the car came sixth in the Burnout Masters at Smyrnatus when it was still an aspirant, which is no easy feat. what.”

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Inside, the original dash has been binned for a much classier version of a VS Statesman, with a Haltech iC-7 digital display. The seats are pulled from the VE SS.

As for the racing, Shane gave Ute a belt under the belt when she was keen, and ran a perfect 10.6. “I haven’t had a chance to run it with a blower yet, but I’d like to do it just to see what it will do,” he says. “That’s not really the point of the car though, so connecting it would probably be a big problem!”

Most recently, Shane took out the Burnout Kings top gong at Heathcote Park Raceway earlier this year, and is hoping to return to Masters for Smyrna in a few months. “Between now and Summernats, I’m planning on doing LOO5ENATS, Summernats Slam and maybe one or two others,” he says. “And with the weather getting a little nicer, I’ll probably take it out and do a little more sightseeing.”

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Shane D’Amato
1997 Vs Holden Commodore UTE