ok well i have come to the conclusion with some help from MicJaiy on what i am going to do in regards to my engine in the verada.
original plan was to do as much as i could to the engine then chuck a turbo or TT in it, but with some logic and some thinking i have decided to go the N/A route.

what i need from you guys is help and ideas, there is no real budget on this,
i want a FULL BLOWN N/A verada machine, although i would like to keep the auto just because it is classy, and a hassel to change. (also i dont have a manual licence, i can drive it but would rather not draw more attention from the cops)
keep in mind that my verada is a 3.5ltr
so all the help and advice you can give me is much appreciated.
i have also realised that in my haste to get extractors and an exhaust system that they will need to be replaced,
the 2.5" exhaust system will be replaced by a 3"
and the pacemaker extractors are gonna go for the RPW racing extractors.

Did you just want a list of things to do? If so:

Port and Polish ($400-$1000)
New Cams ($200-$2000)
Better Intake Plenum (EzBoy has one for sale)
Bigger Intake Pipe ($40-$300)
Extractors (Keep the pacemaker ones I reckon)
New Air Filter ($150ish Panel or Pod)
Bigger Injectors ($100-$600 each)
Worked Head ($1500+)
Forged Internals ($2000+)
Aftermarket ECU ($400-$2000)
New Spark Plugs (~$20 each)

Thats about all I can think of, apart from your usual suspects (suspension, lowering, etc).

It would also be a hassle to convert a verada to manual "due to some legal issues", although there is one floating around. In saying that, the auto gear box is fairly weak in many people's opinion whilst the manual is alot more durable. So you may have some auto gear box issues when you get more power out of your engine. Just something for you to note.

New Air Filter ($150ish Panel or Pod)


I just got a K&N Panel Filter (33-2151) with the cleaning kit for $110 including postage and handling. So if you can't find a place to better that price (I can't so far), pm me and I'll put you in contact the supplier.

So far the places I have been around charge:

Super Cheap $99
Central Auto (Delahey) $99
Repco $134 from memory

Filter only, excludes cleaning kit.

dont waste your $$$ talk to blackbeard he spent $$$ on N/A mods in an auto and from what i've read it was slower than a manual 3.5L

sure a cam and this and that is ok and will give you a lil bit more guts, but going full on into it is silly, to make as much power as the biggest hp n/a guys here you must go manual! in an auto the cams will just not work with the convertor....

i had a serious n/a car and it needed a 3500rpm stall convertor, i had a 3000rpm convertor on it.... fun to drive but it was rwd.... a verada is an overweight magna, and for 5k that you will spend a fat kid on a tricycle will still out run it...

save you $$$ wait till your off your p's and put a turbo on it... or go to NOS!

depending on how much you can do it can be done cheaply.... and it's not the peak KW that you need.... it's NM... and you will get a lot of both with the snail....

or sell and buy cittris's car is cheap as and goes more than fast enough

from what i can find on the forums, no N/A auto has gone under 15sec on the 1/4, no matter how modded..... any well driven 3.5L manual thats stock and not a busted arrse will

or sell and buy cittris's car is cheap as and goes more than fast enough

Would be a pretty good buy, TJ Series 1 VRX with a S/C and other gizmoz and gadgets to make me cry at the money he has put in it... eg. a Unichip (about $1000)

if you wanna stay NA and have the cash to spend id follow the footsteps of this great member

http://www.aussiemagna.com/forums/member.php?u=151

207kwatw and all NA

Jeez! I'm going to have to STRONGLY agree with andrewd here. N/A on a Auto is just plain silly and a waste of time.

But by all means, go ahead and try if you want!

dont waste your $$$ talk to blackbeard he spent $$$ on N/A mods in an auto and from what i've read it was slower than a manual 3.5L

Essentially I only did breathing mods + and ECU and it was alot slower than a stock manual. If you want an 4spd auto magna/verada to be able to keep up with a stock manual then you need to open the engine. Even if you just do a cam swap, you will need an ECU upgrade.

So you're probably looking at at least $3000 (cams, cam gears, ECU, labour + tuning) to give you a 4spd auto magna which is as fast as a stock manual magna.

And as AndrewD stated - if you want to go "FULL BLOWN N/A" (kinda a contradiction but anyway), you are going to be looking at a pretty full on set of cams, which will make the car an absolute pig at low revs, and there is every chance your auto isn't going to like that at all, and you will end up with a car that constantly stalls while idling in gear.

Honestly mate, forget the N/A and go forced induction. Magtone spent like close to $5k on his car (I think) His is 5 speed auto and he ran a 15.3 or something. No disrespect to Magtone, I'm just saying that $5k could be spent better elsewhere - I'm sure even he'll tell you that. If it were me, I'd be asking Sprintex if they have any kits left. If not, look at doing a single turbo conversion.

Honestly mate, forget the N/A and go forced induction. Magtone spent like close to $5k on his car (I think) His is 5 speed auto and he ran a 15.3 or something. No disrespect to Magtone, I'm just saying that $5k could be spent better elsewhere - I'm sure even he'll tell you that. If it were me, I'd be asking Sprintex if they have any kits left. If not, look at doing a single turbo conversion.
5k of mods and only got a 15.3? Doesn't sound right, my near stock 4spd (all i had was a factory tj sports muffler) could pull a 15.5, and HyperTF's 3.0L 4spd was in the low 15's with breathing mods plus chip.

I don't reckon it would be too hard to get an auto into the 14's N/A, just need to do the right mods.
New intake, new exhaust system (2.5 inch mandrel bent, pacemakers, high flow cat, hot dog and magnaflow muffler) and definitely a piggyback ecu like a haltech or unichip. All properly tuned that would bring you close. IF you're worried about the auto chuck another oil cooler on it and do an oil flush while you're there. There's about $3k, then you can get a mild cam, maybe rebuild the top end to get some better compression, get it tuned for RON 98, that should see you in the 14's.

Sure it'll be as quick as a stock manual, but heck that's pretty quick, and you get the luxury of the verada/auto.

Like has been said I have spoken to shehan and I have already told him about how he won't be getting the full potential out of his car without either ripping out the gearbox or changing the engine. I've already warned him about how there will be little gain for the amount he will spend.

He definitely doesn't want to change the engine nor does he want to change the gearbox (mainly due to the fact he doesn't have a manual license atm) and yes you have to get an engineers cert because there was never a factory 3rd gen Verada that came in manual.

Anyway at the end of the day it is his car, his money. I'm not exactly keen on this idea myself but he knows what he is getting himself into and it is great to see another member to go "full blown N/A" lol

What about boring/stroking the 3.5L engine to a larger capacity? Anyone ever done this? What would the costs be do you think?

What about boring/stroking the 3.5L engine to a larger capacity? Anyone ever done this? What would the costs be do you think?
From what i've been told the 3.5 is a bored 3.0, so not sure how much more you could go safely.

From what i've been told the 3.5 is a bored 3.0, so not sure how much more you could go safely.

The 380 engine (6G75) is a bored and stroked 3.5 (6G74) so yeah it's definitely possible but expensive.

i'd say go forced induction, for the simple fact that a bombed out NA isn't going to be as user friendly as a turbo. unless you are only planning on using it for the track, the turbo will make it much nicer to drive down to the corner shop to get some milk.

From what i've been told the 3.5 is a bored 3.0, so not sure how much more you could go safely.


Different blocks

Anyway at the end of the day it is his car, his money. I'm not exactly keen on this idea myself but he knows what he is getting himself into and it is great to see another member to go "full blown N/A" lol
Technically it's more of a "half assed N/A" without the manual conversion...

Grab some ralliart cams, get them reground then case hardened, port and polish the heads, get a different plenum, computer of sorts, extractors, exhaust, you'll have a nice gain there.

What ever gain you do get on auto you'll get a much bigger difference by going manual aswell.

Edit: Or atleast a 5speed auto conversion due to the gearing of the 4speed.

just curious
assuming you got a set of cams that start making power at 3500rpm
can you get a stall converter off the shelf for the magna or would it have to be custom made ie cost a crapload

you can get the convertor modified around the $500 mark including reco...

but it's not going to turn a 2000rpm stally into a 3000rpm stally... you will get no more than 500rpm extra stall speed 1000rpm if you lucky and making a truckload more torque than std at them rpm but unlikley..

then if you go to something that is modified or a different size you loose the lock up.

so there is nothing like say a 3000rpm dominator for the magna?
hmmm that's strange cos i'm thinking there would be a market for a decent hi-stall for em

nope cos there is no market for it

and c'mon high stall in a fwd?!? cant get traction stock lol

nope cos there is no market for it

and c'mon high stall in a fwd?!? cant get traction stock lol


fair point :nuts:

Honestly mate, forget the N/A and go forced induction. Magtone spent like close to $5k on his car (I think) His is 5 speed auto and he ran a 15.3 or something. No disrespect to Magtone, I'm just saying that $5k could be spent better elsewhere - I'm sure even he'll tell you that. If it were me, I'd be asking Sprintex if they have any kits left. If not, look at doing a single turbo conversion.

kinda close there brett. As posted in a simlar thread o.p i spent 4k on the mods and have currently go a 15.1 1/4 mile. Think i can do better, but it is a fair bit just to come close to manual times stock. Also mentioned what blackbeard did and said it will be no good going big cams in an auto. but if you change that then i am sure you will run into more trouble with the auto than what they already represent. spend 5k on forced or do not expect huge gains. I have also mentioned with my mods plus a decent intake plenum will get close to 150kwatw in an auto...that'll cost around 5k....and for alot of people it is enough. it will beat many v8's and not have the running costs asscociated with it. i'd be happy for anyone to donate me their rpw manifold

ok thanks for the few that gave some ideas and not the GO MANUAL or GO FORCED lol (i did expect them).
but thanks for all the suggestions to all,
different ideas from different people make me unsure nowlol,
ill do more research, about the S/C, the turbo, the TT and the N/A routes,
at the moment i DO know that i dont want to change the auto, after my Ps that may change and then the options for me will become greater.

also i dont want TOO much stress on the engine or gearbox/transmission.....therefore i want long lasting results, not every so often to have troubles and take the car into the shop for repairs

please keep the ideas coming

ok thanks for the few that gave some ideas and not the GO MANUAL or GO FORCED lol (i did expect them).
but thanks for all the suggestions to all,
different ideas from different people make me unsure nowlol,
ill do more research, about the S/C, the turbo, the TT and the N/A routes,
at the moment i DO know that i dont want to change the auto, after my Ps that may change and then the options for me will become greater.

also i dont want TOO much stress on the engine or gearbox/transmission.....therefore i want long lasting results, not every so often to have troubles and take the car into the shop for repairs

please keep the ideas coming

Just on that note then, i have not had a single problem with any of the work i have had done
My missus loves the extra power of the car, and cos it is a redback rear muffler, it is not too loud for the bubba.

Saw it on the net last night. somewhere in america, you can get a stroker kit for the 6G72. It would increase engine capacity to approx. 3.3L

Saw it on the net last night. somewhere in america, you can get a stroker kit for the 6G72. It would increase engine capacity to approx. 3.3L

You can also get a good 3.5lt engine for $700 with a 3month warranty from most wreckers

just thought i'd put that option on, i mean hey if they have a stroker kit for a 6G72, then i'm sure they'd have something for his 6G74

just thought i'd put that option on, i mean hey if they have a stroker kit for a 6G72, then i'm sure they'd have something for his 6G74
not necessarily. the 6g72 is in quite a few cars in america. i think the stroker kit would've been designed for the GTO and dodge stealth twin turbo motors.

is it a big hassel changing the auto gear box to another auto gear box, like getting the evo8's 5 speed box ( auto version) in there or something like that?

would it be worth turboing/charging an engine thats done around 160k or would it not be worth it....

that depends on so many things. has the 160kms been highway or city driving? city driving wears the engine a lot more cause more time is spent at idle. you can have a car that has done 10,000kms on the clock and have a bore that looks like it has done 200,000 if they have sat there idling for a long time. the highway patrol cars are like that cause they sit their idling with the aircon on all day on the side of the road.

also how much boost you plan on running

is it a big hassel changing the auto gear box to another auto gear box, like getting the evo8's 5 speed box ( auto version) in there or something like that?

It'd be more trouble than it's worth. It'd only be worth fitting it to an AWD, and even then the headaches would be numerous. It'd be more cost effective to get the original auto toughened up.

that depends on so many things. has the 160kms been highway or city driving? city driving wears the engine a lot more cause more time is spent at idle. you can have a car that has done 10,000kms on the clock and have a bore that looks like it has done 200,000 if they have sat there idling for a long time. the highway patrol cars are like that cause they sit their idling with the aircon on all day on the side of the road.

also how much boost you plan on running

mainly country driving. last ~25k city
only problem is now i think about it is i will have no warranty if i go for sprintex charger.

is it a big hassel changing the auto gear box to another auto gear box, like getting the evo8's 5 speed box ( auto version) in there or something like that?
EVO 8's never came with an automatic transmission. ADM version came with 5MT and JDM versions came with 6MT on GSR and MR models, while the RS model retained the 5MT.