60 replies to this topic

[VIXL34s]

Ive had and loved Torana's all my life, no way was the stock L34 that special. Honestly it was lucky to do 200kph even if tuned and blueprinted to the ninth degree. Back in about 1978 a good friend (seduced by the dark side) had from brand new a very stock and very original Phase3. (Fraud)

As youths we where right into speed and the typical GMH vs Fraud arguments. Part of that was doing lots of skids and going down to Ravenswood for street meets to prove who's car was faster. Before country radar we would often do top speed runs out into the country. We tried everything up against that Fat Fraud from SLR's,L34's,A9X's and no way in hell could we go as fast as him. In the end it took me a worked 350 chev (380hp), M22 rockcrusher, 9" LSD with 3.25 gearing before I could finally pass him (which in 79 I put into my SS hatch)

Because of the wildly inaccurate Torana speedo/tacho the key is that we knew his Fraud was hitting its 6150rpm limiter in top gear, so we knew he was doing 227kph. We also know it did 0-160kph in about 15.2seconds and 1/4 mile times of around the low to mid 14 second range.

I hate to say it (GOD FORGIVE MY SINS) but no way was any factory road torana anywhere near as fast as the 227kph factory Fraud.

been away for the week, interesting comments, iwas 19years old when i got my L34 and ikept it for about 3yrs and i can assure you my memory is very clear on this subject, you do not forget those type of events. i can assure you i am not exagerating at all but it seems we will probably have to agree to disagree. Over the time that i kept the car the only mods that i did was 2 inch tail pipes with ofset Lukeys for a decent note. i also got a 650DP which certainly improved the lower end power, but its top speed in mph was better with the rochester, 650cfm versus 780cfm, and i interchanged the carbys several times.This car had little trouble reaching 5500rpm in 4th and the speedo would point almost over the H in the KMH, we did do this more than a few times. i live near the EYRE HWY and the land is relatively flat so one was able to keep it flat chat and let it wind out to which it would. any how why did holden produce these cars when ford had already done HO DOWN THE HUME at 140+, perhaps they needed to compete. if the torana gauges were so inaccurate, then perhaps the test cars that you guys refer to as being pretty average performers, well its highly likely that their carby butterflies werent opening fully, this was a common fault in many cars of all breeds when the owner was trying to extract a little more perfomance. I currently own 2 l34s, a hz GTS 308 and recently bought an A9X hatch from sydney which is not yet on the road, but when i can i will take them up the highway on the same day with same size tyres on the rear and il test them all over the same stretch with GPS and a timer to say 160 kmh, they all have modified exhausts. i will let you know the results but that might not be for while with harvest approaching, CHEERS JEFF

[REDA9X]

THAT car looks familiar


Any car you count as "stock" today I wouldn't consider being the same as when the car rolled off the line new back in it's day. Once you change anything the car is no longer stock. What is the single biggest improvement you can make to an engine to make it perform? Allow it to breath. An exhaust and intake change on a stock L34 engine would allow it to perform, I think people are forgetting this.
The original question related to the cars off the showroom floor and the fact is off the showroom floor the L34 didn't perform much if any better than the SLR5000.

[REDA9X]

I going down the shed to check the car is still there.
Your scaring me. ...... LOL

Actually one of the road tests I have (Wheels mag) is the sister hatch IXT375.
Of course we are talking standard from the factory Torana's performance.
All bets are off for aftermarket hotrods. ...... LOL

Pro cars were not standard

IXT375 was Standard at the time. It's certainly not any more.