Holdens a little info

[Steve Lamb]

>From what I'm told, the 3L Nissan motor was actually designed in Australia,
>by GM Holden engineers as a joint venture of Holden/Nissan. They were, of

No, the RB30 is a Nissan design, although some would argue that it has
strong links to the Prince engine company which Nissan took over in the
'60s.  The Holden engineers merely "Australianised" the engine with changes
to cam profile and ECU Maps.

>course, built by Nissan, and they were discontinued be Holden mainly because
>Nissan charged extortionate prices for them. Basically, they saw out their
>contract of purchase to Nissan, and then went as quickly to the VN's V6 as
>they could. At least, this is so I'm told. However, it would seem to be

Well, sorry, but what you have been told is, again, wrong.   GMH entered
into what was basically a fixed price contract for the supply of the RB30
for the VL Commodore, which, at the time the contract was signed, was a
good deal.  Unfortunately, what they didn't (and largely couldn't) forsee
was the simple fact that the Aussie $ dropped in value BIG TIME against the
Yen in the mid 80's, so the cost per engine sky-rocketed.  Of course, to
stay competitive with Ford, Holden couldn't simply raise the overall price
of the Commodore to recoup the engine costs - and the rest is history.
GMH was an innocent player in this, but you can hardly blame Nissan or the
Japanese either (unless, of course, you subscribe to the the theory that
the Japanese used their commercial "crystal ball" and effectively
"engineered" a decline in the value of the OZ $ to gain an advantage).

>true, as lmy Father was looking at puting one of the Nissan engines into his
>HX Kingswood at one time, and at the Holden spare parts place, they told him
>$9000 for a short motor from the VL Commodore, and then they said that he
>would be better to go to a wrecker and get one. As it turned out, he would
>heve had to make engine bay mods to get it in, so he didn't bother. As for

New prices for "genuine parts" (ie with the GMH logo plastered all over)
are always going to be extortionate.  Hardly surprising that a lot of work
would be required to fit an RB30 to a HX: it is a _totally_ different
engine to the old 186/202 pushrod designs.  Still, sounds like a damn good
idea, and I know which engine I'd prefer ;-)

>the V6 - Yes, it's a Buick, although I don't know what, exactly, but I'm
>told that it is a re-hash of an **OLD** engine (hence, the pushrods). As for
>the Ecotec V6... It's a completely redesigned engine, so I'm told (by a guy
>at the showroom a couple of years ago). Apparently, both the bore and stroke
>are different, there are more aerodynamic inlet, and exhaust manifolds,
>etc... Basically, it is a completely new engine, within the old casting, or,
>at least, so I'm told.

A Holden engineer told me that there are virtually no interchangeable parts
between the Ecotec and earlier versions.  For example, there's around 0.5"
difference in deck height alone between them.


Steve Lamb
Department of Defence, DSTO
Aeronautical and Maritime Research Laboratory
506 Lorimer Street
Fishermans Bend  VIC 3207 Australia

Tel: +61 3 9626 7525
Fax: +61 3 9626 7089

IZCC #180