23 replies to this topic

[EunUCh]

I recently purchaced a 79 sunbird powered with the almighty starfire engine,has anyone ever wasted time/money on trying to get the starfire to go a bit
better than what they do.I read somewhere that you have to pull em back a gear to drive over a shadow and that they are noisy,rattly,gutless,oil leaking etc,etc
"IF" anyone was to try to get a bit more out of them what cam,exhaust/carb set up,so far as i know people rob the conrods out of em to fit to sixes and throw the rest in dump.any suggestions

[Neils LX]

Sorry to say most people i know nick the rods out of them and dump the rest. its not hard to throw a red 6 at it.

[76lxhatch]

Starfires are a great little engine and go fine for a four cylinder engine of the era (with a manual box at least). A set of twin carbs etc would probably wake it up a bit but its never going to be particularly quick and bang for buck there are better options for a car that can easily house a V8.

[yel327]

I'd have to agree. I changed one once to a red 202. All that is needed is a complete red 202 inc radiator, exhaust to suit and tailshaft to suit. If it is an MC6 you'll have to make a shifter hole in the same spot as a 6cyl one, slide the crossmember back and fit a 6cyl MC6 tailshaft and patch the old shifter hole. We put in a 3.08:1 diff at the same time. From memory we bought a rusty 6cyl manual UC with good exhaust for $100 or something like that and swapped it all across.

[Heath]

I have heard of them being hotted up a bit with some success. Give it two or four throttle-bodies, some cam timing and some normal port work and see what happens!

The only problem is that they are kinda small for a full-sized Torana, but that's only really because we're used to them being fitted with big motors haha. It's not uncommon for european or Japanese cars to weigh more than a UC Sunbird and have a motor that's that small or smaller.

[EunUCh]

yeah the cars do have a bit of power to weight problem with less than 2L in em,have driven a lh with 202 that was fitted with webers,very responsive.
i was just thinkin that someone might have actually done some succesfull mods(but probably not admit it),sounds like they have a bad reputation.
had thought of a small turbo but the time to build an exhaust manifold to fit in there put me off a bit.I suggested to a mate of mine who builds
engines for a hoby on what could be done,this was his responce"you wanna do what to one of them you must be fkn mad,when they put starfires in toranas
they didnt bother putting a speedo or a clock in the dash,they put a calendar there instead".spose i will have to take a difrent route.Some bloke
left me with a little roots blower and was gonna toy with the idea of fitting it up,not sure of the size of blower but,he said it was an sc12 but its got
no identification marks or numbers on it,but it does fit above the fuel pump and clear the rail and other stuff.not sure of legalities of blown eng.either.
Got a lh with v8 in ,sure its nice easy power and you cant beat cubes for grunt,would like to try something difrent thats probly not everones cup of tea but i can cop the comments regardless of their nature,not a problem.

[yel327]

I'd just buy something like the heap of sh!t in the attached auction and use everything out of it:

http://www.ebay.com....=item4aab9f0236

[Neils LX]

I'd just buy something like the heap of sh!t in the attached auction and use everything out of it:

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/holden-hz-hq-hx-hj-seden-factory-v8-4spd-/320706904630?pt=AU_Cars&hash=item4aab9f0236

+1

[EunUCh]

ahh bomber you remind me so much of me mate who puts calendars on dashes of starfire powered sunbirds or were they a torana,the jury is still out to lunch on that topic and its an extended overseas round the planet lunch break,i think the jury is lost,too much fine wine and good food.
orig cast mani. been ditched because someone talked me into makin 4 into 1 pipes so carbs would fit,the things we do.
Sounds like air pump way to go to me,fit one up see how it goes,if it turns to scrap metal start again i spose.
Fuel consumption not too foul considering low(no) power output from eng.but would probaly be better with 5spd.
shit the v8 boys off a bit might be a bit of a task but maybe get it to spin a bit harder if it dont shake everthing off be a difrent story.

[rodomo]

Dinosaur Fred that went no-where: http://www.gmh-toran...ate-a-starfire/

[hanra]

SC12's are fitted to holden sixes with very little success, although peple still try it.

The blower is just to small.

Butttt for a Starfire it would be far more on the money.

Would the SC14 be a bit more suitable?

[Heath]

Yeah because it has the 3.9 diff, which would be very advantageous if you were to keep the 4cyl and install a 5spd, definitely.

Probably bolts straight up to an M76??? or a typical Toyota box swap?

And that would be destroying a potentially cool car.

Have you guys never done anything fun just for the sake of it???

[enderwigginau]

Starfire should bolt up to anything the red6 does - isn't the back the same?
The supercharger sounds like a plan. Check the compression and give it a bash.

Grant..

[76lxhatch]

The ones in the VH and VK Commodores I've had were all factory M76 five speeds with Varajet carbs, they go surprisingly well - enough to maintain 100km/h up steepish hills in top gear and to hit a top speed of around 175km/h with a tail wind! Worth mucking around with for novelty value if you already have a V8.

[EunUCh]

i took some advise from input,got a small cam on way,,290 adv dur.315 lift, and a mate has donated 2 40dcoe carbs.and manifold,
clean up ports, fit decent valve springs,valves same as blu motor so wont go bigger,giv it a go and see what happens
blower on bak burner,needs the drive pulley and hard to get pistons for 3.5 bore