COME Drag Racing

We go through the process of clearance grinding Holden V8 cylinder blocks to fit a 383 Premium Stroker kit. Keep in mind this video was made prior to our development of our more compact Stroker design billet 4340 steel H beam rods now supplied in all our Stroker kits. These rods used in the Holden V8 reduce the clearance grinding requirements significantly. Hitting the water jackets has been made a thing of the past due to these wonderful con rods. The only possible reason for breaking into the water jackets is EXCESSIVE clearancing (you need only .040" to .050" clearance). The only other reason would be a block that has very severe core shift. This is actually very rare in Holden V8 blocks from the HJ (1974) model years when Holden began using patterns made in house at GMH at Fishermans Bend in Melbourne. The original patterns were made in the U.S GM factories and frankly left a great deal to be desired. This was the reason for inconsistencies in blocks made from 1969 to 1973, the HT-HG and HQ model years which all had the Chev Small Block type rear main oil seal. It's a better idea to use the later blocks made from patterns built locally. We look at the minimal clearancing required for the LS Chev blocks to accept our 383, 408 and other stroker kits. We do a detailed look at component balancing for the rotating bottom end assembly.

How to assemble your V8 short block correctly.

Some detailed information about the COME Racing style alloy cylinder heads for Holden V8 engines.

Cam grinding. Camshaft phosphate coating. Straightness check. Computer measurement of lobes.

How and why of cylinder block machining to provide a fully blueprinted block for maximum power and torque along with maximum engine life.

Amazing how time just continues to roll on. This is a pass done by the Torana at a Friday night street meeting at Calder Park Raceway in Melbourne. Issy was driving and the track conditions were very good. The year was 2004.

How to correctly install a rope rear main oil seal into Holden V8 block from HJ-VT. Many people complain these seals leak and are difficult to install. The fact is the original seals from the 1970's through to the early 1990's were made with asbestos to handle the heat generated by a rotating crankshaft on first engine startup. We actually spent a great deal of time on the dyno with various approaches to ensure the later seals would survive. The later seals including those made and sold today do not contain asbestos for obvious environmental and human health reasons. Unfortunately this has created a situation where on start up these seals are very susceptible to literally burning up with the rotational drag of the turning crankshaft. To this end we found the application of molybdenum disulfide grease impregnated into the seal produces virtually the same heat protection for the seal as asbestos did in the earlier seals. This is quite understandable considering the Moly grease is used regularly to coat camshaft lobes of cast iron cams to ensure they are safely run in without the possibility of dry metal to metal contact between camshaft lobes and flat tappet valve lifters.

This was the last engine fitted to our Olds Cutlass. A 714ci GM Big Block built by Tom Martino. Was built to be conservatively powered for long life and minimum maintenance requirements. Engine has gone 6.90 @ 200mph in the Olds Cutlass.

A magnificent 383 Holden EFI engine commissioned by Peter Verteouris in loving memory of his brother Dennis "CHASA" Verteouris. Dennis was a great friend to us at COME Racing and to many in the performance car community right around the Sydney area.

Some history. Winternationals at Willowbank in Queensland in the year 1998.

Holden 383 V8 with relatively small hydraulic flat tappet camshaft, COME Twin Throttle Body EFI intake manifold, COME Racing 590 Series alloy heads. Bottom end has original 2 bolt main bearing caps with the addition of an ARP 2 bolt main stud kit with tunnels line honed to provide .0025" to .0026" main bearing clearance. Block has the COME Racing oiling system upgrade done (see the oiling system video on this channel).

We have sold off our full machine shop but memories are important. Over more than 30 years of developing camshaft profiles for the V8 engines we most commonly built, we produced a very large range of very effective camshaft lobes. Extensive dyno testing resulted in some of the most reliable power making lobe shapes ever seen here in Australia. Our lobe designs were in house developed on proprietary lobe design software and then master cams were ground on Landis 3L CNC cam grinding machines. Our grinding machine was designed and built in Australia by Australia's camshaft guru...Ivan Tighe. Ivan's son Dean has been in charge of there state of the art camshaft business in Brisbane Australia. Without Ivan's machine, training and initial technical assistance COME Racing Cams would never have been a reality for over 30 years.

The simplest and one of the most effective ways to upgrade the original Holden V8 cylinder block oiling system. A must do for absolutely any Holden V8 engine build, street or race engines of any capacity.

This is a great daily drive performance engine with excellent fuel economy potential and an amazing 'big block" style torque curve. With the end of the Holden car era in Australia now is the time to rebuild and restore every Holden V8 equipped car. Prices for old Holdens are going through the roof and for good reason...you can no longer buy one new. If you have any model Holden from HK-VT an engine like this is very hard to beat for practicality and performance.

A run down the Calder Park 1/4 mile track. Holden LJ Torana, 383ci Holden V8 890BHP with small N20 plate system. Track conditions were not very good.

Going through a typical burnout, staging, launch and full run down the 1/4 mile dragstrip. 500ci engine with 1280BHP coupled to Lenco planetary 5 speed transmission through an L&T 8" dual disc titanium clutch. This run was 7.29 seconds @ 193mph.