CHALLENGE ACCEPTED

ARBY’S EFFORTS TO IMPROVE HIS VG VALIANT’S 60-FOOT TIMES YIELD PROMISING RESULTS IN THE RUN-UP TO STREET MACHINE DRAG CHALLENGE

-  MARK ARBLASTER

I'VE been resisting the temptation to write anything about my POR440 VG Valiant hardtop for some time, despite it being in a constant state of evolution. My goals for the turbo LS-powered car have shifted over time from it being a 10-second slapper to running nines over the quarter-mile, and then eights. The current aim is to get it into the sevens, but I knew that wouldn't happen without some further development.

That's why Street Machine Drag Challenge 2024 was a big milestone in my journey with car. Not only was it the first Australian dragand-drive event I'd done in a few years, but the work I did on the Val in the lead-up saw some of its best performance advances.

A while ago, we decided to retire POR440's stock 5.3-litre LS combo, which had run a best of 9.0@152mph. We had been beating on that motor so hard for so long that it was only a matter of time before it all went south. We'd also hit a wall in terms of going quicker; no matter what we threw at it - more boost, more fuel, different converter, different kitchen sink - the car had just plateaued for no obvious reason.

We pulled the motor, and while ditching elements of the hot side, we noticed the front crossover pipe with a flexible stainless joint had collapsed internally, all but totally blocking it. It looked mint on the outside, but it was junk, which explained why no matter what we did, the car would not go one mph faster or a tenth quicker. It had cost us about two years in development! We decided to stick with the factory alloyblock 5.3 but fit a forged rotating assembly and step up the S485 turbo to a 92mm, S480frame BorgWarner item.