The "Mighty" A9L

[Smitty]

aaahh... yes
camshafts...stuff of legends and tall stories

but the docs I have, the ECS above and the
genuine GMH Commodore parts manual plus
the GMH special Passenger service bulletin
H10/86 (pps21-37) pretty much sets out
what happened initially with the road cars

CAMS and cams for race cars... another story

the basis of the 'red' VK Grp A engine was that
hipo GMH engine commonly known as the V5H
performance option. Its camshaft is nothing special
GMH P/No 2825882.. and mild as
lift shown as .306" on the nose

The ECS and the Parts Manual both note that HDT was
to supply a camshaft kit (aka cam, dual chain and sprockets)
the kit or Camshaft Assy having a part number of 92029026

that camshaft assy had a short street life.... simply becoz it
was not run in and warranty claims went thru the roof

So we get the service bulletin which spends 5 pages
of how to replace, install and run in the high lift camshaft
specc'd by HDT

Such words of wisdom...
T. Start engine and CAREFULLY bring up to 2000rpm
and maintain for 30 minutes

and NOTE:
1. Revving of engine intermittently during the first 30 mins
of engine operation with the new camshaft is liable to cause failure
2. Owner shall NOT exceed 3500rpm for the first 2 hours of operation
with a new camshaft
3. Oil and oil filter MUST be changed at 1500km after camshaft
installation

So there you have it ....

[Sniper]

Luvin all that hard data you have Smitty .... it's hard to believe that the camshaft "run in" period was blatantly ignored and it certainly made it easy for the next A9L's to get basic shafts .... I can remember replacing one with a Crane 276 and the thing was really shagged

It created an opening for workshops to improve the A9L out of sight as the heads had to come off .... those old Holden engines certainly were hard work some days ...

[Sniper]

What treatments did the VK "SL" SS Group A get?
I remember a Waltons Blue Group A driving around Townsville in the late 90s early 2000s. I saw it again recently in traffic. I never new much about them other than being Blue or White

I was hoping someone else might enlighten us with your question Carl ...I don't have any data of relevance to that model .... other than it was a precursor to the GPA proper ... it wasn't as popular as the LM5000 rom my recollection

[HSVGTS125]

I was hoping someone else might enlighten us with your question Carl ...I don't have any data of relevance to that model .... other than it was a precursor to the GPA proper ... it wasn't as popular as the LM5000 rom my recollection

Thanks mate. From memory around 150 built but i never knew the specs. The one i knew has plates "TRU85" because people didnt believe it was genuine.

[Pickles]

What treatments did the VK "SL" SS Group A get?
I remember a Waltons Blue Group A driving around Townsville in the late 90s early 2000s. I saw it again recently in traffic. I never new much about them other than being Blue or White

The guy who was the President of the HDTOC S.A. had one of these from new, and He kept it like that. He has unfortunately passed away now, but his wife still owns it. His was a white one.
From memory I think they had the 177KW Group 111 engine, and the same running gear as the Group 111.
As far as options were concerned, there wasn't a specific range for that car, but if ya had the dollars, anything from the HDT option list could be fitted.
Pickles.

[Pickles]

The guy who was the President of the HDTOC S.A. had one of these from new, and He kept it like that. He has unfortunately passed away now, but his wife still owns it. His was a white one.
From memory I think they had the 177KW Group 111 engine, and the same running gear as the Group 111.
As far as options were concerned, there wasn't a specific range for that car, but if ya had the dollars, anything from the HDT option list could be fitted.
Pickles.

Should also add, they didn't have the scheel interior as standard, ya just got the standard VK SL seats!
Pickles.

[Sniper]

I'm going to go a little off track for a bit before I talk about the A9L mods I've done in one of my GroupA's

The 70's and 80's were a great period of Australian High Performance .... and I'm going to stay on the "Australian" factor and not go back pre 70's to the Chev powered Monaros

1973 ... August to be precise was the start of real tough Holdens with the Bathurst XU-1 ... it superseded the previous XU-1's with real hard core mods that was directly aimed at taking the Torana to a second straight win at the mountain ... over the 72 variant it had (from memory) .... bigger cam, more extreme head .... tubular headers made by HM ... different relief valve assy in the oil pump .... forged pistons and heavier rods ....a machined plate on the harmonic balancer to stop it separating plus various other mods to chassis/brakes/wheels etc etc ...

In 74 came the L34 with a similar type of thinking with special heads ... similar mod to the balancer ... flat top heavy duty pistons ... and more critical - it came with a small option catalog containing a myriad of options that could be dealer sourced that made the L34 something real good if these were added ... I've seen this catalogue back in the late 70's and haven't seen one since .... but you could buy all sorts of stuff from Cams to twin Weber setups ... optional rockers ... wheel spacers .... I'd luv to see one of these catalogs again but a search on the net has not brought anything to the surface .... I had mates in Adelaide that took their L34's to Gown Hindhaugh back in the day for fitment ...

The A9X a couple of years later didn't feature as much hardcore stuff as the racing rules were relaxed (engine wise)

These combos set the tone for something special to come in the future but sadly it was about 8 years on before the A9L brought the next phase of performance mods to the Holden buyers .... we had to get through that Group C era first ...

I'm hoping others on here can add the missing pieces to my memory gaps ....

[Smitty]

well.. I have an 80+ page document from CAMS
which shows all the changes relating to the special 150
build XU1 in support of what Sniper put in above

I won't even start putting in details here.. it covers
everything from different gearbox ratios to road springs
to valve springs, even the wheels

But have (somewhere) the L34 'Performance' Options brochure
which is a little different to what is written above. For starters
... these track only options were a standard kit (which when ordered
were left in the boot in a cardboard box! of the car when delivered)

more to come ....

Will add more tonight

[Sniper]

well..

more to come ....

Will add more tonight

Absolutely fabulous Smitty .... you've made my day ....

[Smitty]

....

Will add more tonight

L34 FACTORY std specs
Repco developed engine block with reinforcing especially around the webs at the rear of the engine
New main rear seal setup
Larger main caps (and bearings)
Larger conrods bolts 3/8"
Clevite 770 main and rod bearings
Revised crankshaft
revised crankshaft harmonic balancer with retaining plate (bolted on front)
Revised flywheel (lightened)
Perfectune supplied cylinder heads.. std castings but with 1.95" inlet and 1.60" exhaust valves
and combustion chambers all matched to 58cc
Needle style roller rockers on modified pivot plate and pivot attached via a screw in stud (machining by Perfectune)
Std inlet manifold revised .. part number machined off and primary/secondary divider removed
Quadrajet carb with std 308 jetting but divorced choke remove and manual choke mechanism added
HM headers - 4 pipes to a flange with a detachable rectangular collector assembly
New fuel pump with a higher psi (6.5psi) and gph rating and larger .375" fuel lines
Sump.. baffles lengthways with a flap added
Windage tray added to bottom end (special main cap bolts used)
Revised air cleaner (no hot air stove)
Larger radiator with matching larger fan assembly
Revised oil pump with a higher pressure relief valve spring (80psi)
Extra ignition coil - Bosch
Distributor - revised to include twin point assemby

and so the list goes on...
HQ style GTS wheel assemblies with revised offset to suit the Torana body
HQ holden front brake rotors and calipers
HQ rear drum brakes
Rear and front axles revised to Holden stud pattern
Banjo style differential assembly with baffles and cone style LSD
fine spline rear axle assemblies
revised front crossmember with new disc/knuckle assemblies and bump stops

even a revised ashtray!

The myths and legend areas are-
it got a Holley .. NOT in the factory!
It got a hot cam .. NOT in the factory! The standard Holden cam and timing set up was used
It got a T10 gearbox. NO!.. It got the std 308 Holden 'Aussie' M21 2.54 first gear box
(but a 2.32 first gear set was homologated for the Aussie box)
It got (take yr pick)... TruTrac or Detroit Locker added to the diff. No!


All the above details is ex factory
but GMH would sell the car PLUS a 'Track Pack' (as it was called)
to customers who held a CAMS Motorsport licence

the 'Track Pack' was NEVER fitted in the factory, some dealers
did it for customers. Most customer did it themselves.

The optional $1500 'track pack' contained :
Harrison (yeah same as aircon mob) oil cooler P/N 3157804
Adaptor and hoses oil cooler to oil pump
'Race' solid camshaft (based on Wade 140 grind)
Solid lifters to match camshaft
Aluminium roller rockers (proper to replace the modified std rockers )
Holley carb 780cfm Holley p/N 3310
Aluminium inlet trumpet (to fit on Holley)
AC race spark plugs 436TS

If you bought the optional track Pack, all these parts were left in a box in the boot
for the buyer

Trivia...
it was never called XU2.. although the LH SLR5000 originally was

L34 was never specially chosen as the name. 'L' denotes an engine
in GM lingo.. hence L31 or L32. L34 was the next unused 'L' number
in GM world. It got applied to the 'Production build code'... in the same
way as the A9L engine got applied to the VK SL Blue meanie build
and the car is known as the L34

the std street L34 was no more powerful, no quicker than a std SLR5000
the std 308 camshaft saw to that ....

It got round headlights (replacing SLR5000 square ones) as the car
was intended to be HDT's main rally car and Hella (lighting experts)
would not make a square Halogen headlamp

14" HQ style wheels were chosen... to fit the larger brakes and also allow
for a wider choice of race tyres to fit the LH

ALL L34s got black trim and were only ever produced at Dandenong VAP

The body flares were not fitted in the factory... EVERY L34 went to
Bill Patterson Holden at Ringwood and their service mechanics cut the
bodywork (using a jigsaw!) and fitted the flares. Every one was rejected
by the QC inspectors in 'Traffic' at Dandenong on their return as being
of unacceptable quality. Joe Felice GMH motorsport wrote a QC variance
concession to cover the entire production run (which meant they coul go
to dealers for sale)

And the most interesting bit... GMH actually never put the car 'on sale'
As they were made, they were sent to 'selected' dealers... eg Zupps
Ron Hodgson, Southern Motors who had to find customers for the cars
(not a problem as all got sold by the dealers involved)