GM HOLDEN 308 V8 SURPRISE PACKAGE - Dyno Test | Iconic Engine Builds

At PowerHouse Engines we love the all Australian General Motors Holden V8. Here's another great outcome with only stock cylinder head porting using a less is more formula and the extensive engine building knowledge of PowerHouse Engines. Be it Muscle Car or Classic, Ford, Holden, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Road or Track, PowerHouse Engines have you covered and we want you the viewer to join us for the ride and see them all!
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At Master of Machines, we love cars, in fact, we love anything with wheels or an engine, from American Muscle Cars to Australian Muscle Cars, Race Cars and Classic Cars of all kinds and even Barn Finds. If it's fast, powerful, restored or hidden away in hibernation then we'll cover it, and in most cases, we'll even drive them!

[@kennethsmith3260]

I love the old 308 and the 253, both are great engines.

[@liamgross7217]

I had a 308 in a HQ premier the same colour. Did the HZ front end GTS conversion. Lowered it and worked over the suspension and had a warm motor built. Looked great and went pretty hard. We should have kept all our cars.

[@GODEES77]

I’ll keep sharing mate, the thing I like is you’re not just showing “animal” engines but also every day stuff a person on the average wage can access. 343hp out of any engine is great, but out of an old stock iron lion wowsers

[@GlennEverittMasterofMachines]

Thanks Ben! Glad you like seeing engines of varying power levels. We have some real big bangers lined up but enjoy showcasing powerplants to suit a broad range of enthusiasts requirements. We love engines of all shapes, sizes, brands and power levels.

[@griffsrearmountturbothemod1623]

Never late in a 308👌

[@markgriffin4888]

What was the old saying, "one horsepower to one cubic inches, you are going well", that motor exceeded that saying, and more!!!👍👍👍👍👍👍 Bring on that grey motor!!!

[@nathanmatthews4422]

Glenn is such a legend in the scene. Thanks for the great content.

[@Penguinracer]

What a lovely build - stock appearance & sensibly fettled. While the LS is being put in so many heritage Aussie muscle cars...I think that medium-long term, both the market & enthusiasts' hearts will have a special place for these increasingly rare pure-Aussie motors, the 253, 304 & 308. These Aussie gems are becoming a rarity whereas the LS, great as it is, was made in the hundreds of thousands.

[@davehad-enough2369]

There's more to a quadrajet than meets the eye. Tuned properly, like any carb really, they will perform remarkably well. Responsive primaries are fuel efficient but when called for those dinner plate secondaries just kick in and away it goes. Brilliant, and to think guys took them off for thirsty Holly carbs.

[@marcgucciardo1942]

Yep I remember my mate put a Holley on a vb. Thirsty bastard it was. Why indeed

[@karateduck8727]

Quadrajets do that one thing where they catch on fire though…

[@harryharrison483]

mine was flowing 780 cfm

[@marcgucciardo1942]

@@karateduck8727 what is the thing?

[@karateduck8727]

@@marcgucciardo1942 due to the casting of the float bowl in some quadrajets can leak fuel past the drain plug, and have been known to start fires. A good friend of mine lost a HG Monaro this way. No worries in my HQ though… she’s got that newfangled fuel injection 😎

[@peterkelly250]

Thanks Glenn. Top result from a little Aussie motor.

[@brendanbarker2095]

I love your work Glenn, thanks for the effort you put in to your vids

[@bigal878]

Great video Glenn and great to see Johnny putting out these great little engine combos 👍🏻

[@THROTTLEPOWER]

I agree!!!!!

[@lukewarm7744]

That guy down there builds killer engines and genuinely has the runs on the board.Met him once at Lardener Park hell of a nice guy to.Great vid

[@gragrn]

Thanks Glenn that was awesome!

[@oldtimerbloke]

Thank you Glenn for this video I'm loving all the ones that you're bringing out Jan Powerhouse motors you run of the mill motors

[@GlennLittleford]

The quadrajets came in 2 sizes, 750 and 800 cfm. Best carb out there if you can get your head around the tuning.

[@donfinch862]

Great to see some old school stuff

[@chimpy02]

Great work Glen! 👏

[@davidb0126a]

Great video! I like the variety of engines you've selected for future videos. All of them sound interesting. Can't wait!

[@borismcfinnigan3430]

308s are an awesome thing. Best engine i ever had was a stock stroke 308 that a mate and i built as an apprentice. Was a fairly basic engine with ported B cast heads, flat top cast ACLs, comp xe284h camshaft (dual pattern 284/296 with .544" lift) single plane torker with an untouched HP 650dp on a 1" spacer and 4-1s with an X piped twin 2.5 exhaust. Thing went 324 at the wheels and in my HX went 12.2@111 consistently which at the time was pretty good for a street car and it sounded amazing. I ran it to 7250 every time i jumped in the thing and 18 years later that engine is still running like a champ in my brothers LX hatch

[@scooter0958]

Gidday Glen, great show mate and thanks for showing us a variety vehicles and engines it’s bloody awesome👍. Wow I didn’t realise it takes so long to edit these videos😳, I can only speak for myself but I really appreciate the effort and thank you.

[@biastv1234]

Awesome. That is very very good out of a Holden V8.

[@1080sucks]

Nice build. Had 2 mates with 308 Monaro's back in the 80s. They went well

[@owenstotts8771]

Man I wish I found your channel earlier , keep up the great work mate , love the 308 , i have one in my vr ute and just love the little beast

[@jamespavier1624]

That HQ will go well with that beast😁

[@barneybetelgeuse6273]

Good on you Glen 😀👍

[@anomamos9095]

A friend of mine had a WB Statesman he would chauffeur me around in when I was working in Australia. It was a very nice car with a fairly crap engine, it was getting hard to find leaded fuel so he had it rebuilt to handle unleaded. I thought he dropped a big block in it the difference was so spectacular. It still wouldn’t run on unleaded (so he converted it to LPG,) but he loved the power increase so much he couldn’t complain.

[@79series]

Great video mate.

[@TurboHDT]

we dragged a 308 in A-Street with those heads it made 598hp class rules has to use stock heads, max bore .030, flat tappet cam, and stock stroke and weight 9.5lbs per cubic inch, was on methanol we were never beaten by any 308 ever, engine was build by Peter Michaels from PM Engines it held both et and mph national record till class was ended we had guys from HRT blown away at the Vic Champs how much hp it made lol

[@THROTTLEPOWER]

Great vid!!! 👍👍👍

[@premiermarketingco]

Nice little combo. I'm doing a 253 at the moment along similar lines. Same comp, a little less camshaft and smaller valves. Same stock intake with a quaddie. Should make somewhere between 250 to 280 hp which with a 4 speed and 3.55 gears, will wake up my old HX GTS nicely. Don't need a killer engine to still have a fun car

[@grantreid8583]

If you can stretch your budget go for the bigger valves it really wakes them up. I was an apprentice reconditioner and worked on these type of engines right through to the mid nineties when i changed my vocation. We could build engines like these and better for next to nothing using our own labor and access to very cheap engine parts.

[@premiermarketingco]

@@grantreid8583 it does have bigger intakes but stock exhaust. They’re about 1.84 I’m pretty sure so bigger than stock but smaller than L34. You have to watch the big valves on 253s as they can touch the side of the bore with a big enough cam

[@andrewbojanich8003]

Just need to be able to drive all day with a crisp note! Lay a bit of rubber here n there

[@markperkins8858]

never underestimate a 253 about 7years ago now somebody got 515hp out of one naturally aspirated that is a bloody good effort as far as I'm concerned the engine was in a vc commodore station wagon it went bloody hard to.

[@wayno23]

Good work 🤙 she's run in for the customer too.

[@roudyrusty610]

power...and you got a new look

[@lukewignall9947]

Another nice powerhouse engine. Met jonny at summernats. Realy nice guy

[@PK075]

Love it well done.

[@mark4m557]

I love the fact that the people of Australia and New Zealand picked up on the sport dirt oval track racing everything about that sport is fun I was a big drag racing fan 8 years ago until I met my wife and was introduced to dirt racing

[@leslieharding7514]

Well and truly subscribed

[@RolandElliottFirstG]

I did a cam change, timing and port on my 308 years back, apart from that all stock, Quad Carb etc, it made a huge difference to the prior setup, which had the new ADR27 ( Power destroyer) at the time .

[@LeonardCrassman]

Nice to see milder street builds.

[@Warrior_Resisting_Colonialism]

That's way more than that little car will be able to use, that's for sure lol. He'll try to use it and he'll just melt the tires. Yeah, he'll be happy. Dang, looking forward to that monster windsor. I didn't know those were bored and stoked out to 440 cubes haha. That's amazing. What a ripper that thing will be.

[@ziggassedup]

That's good numbers for a stockish 308...I wonder what a set of 304 heads would do on this baby...(equivalent cam swap obviously).

[@deanstevenson6527]

Every one in Oz copied Holden Fisherman's Bend 4bbl only 308 stuff. What an Engine! The early double roller timing chain ended up on the 18R Toyota, the rods were donated to V6 Capri strokers, the Qjet to replace Ford's more unreliable Auotlite Spreadbore and Carter Thermoquad. And the distributor cap and rotor, donated to Oz Spec Chrysler and Ford 5.8's. And 30 years of Bathurst wins till Larry Perkins took it to its last win with F1 style injection.

[@ninashirley432]

Your a crack up . Don’t stop your love of Holden 🙏🏽💜😹

[@DavidM-pd9oi]

Looking forward to rebuilding our 308 in our HZ in the future. She’s been waiting patiently for twenty-five years for us to get time and money 😭 Keep up the great videos ;)

[@paulinehayes1334]

Good old school horsepower👍😎

[@snickerss2995]

G'day Glenn. Another great video. I have my 304 out of my VQ Statesman in getting fully re-built at the moment. It's been a slow process for the mechanic to get parts during these times. At the start of December he told me it was a 6 week wait to get a new cam. It's going to be built to original specifications as far as I am aware. I will be interested to see how my engine turns out with HP. I'm looking forward to getting my Statesman back early in the New year. Have a great New year Glenn.

[@roccoloops]

Very impressive work! I've always thought those trusty cast Holden manifolds weren't as bad as everyone made them out to be back in the day and this just proves it 👍🏻 Id be very curious what a straight A-B comparison with the quaddy vs a square bore Holley on a configuration like this would do -- The quadrajets have fairly amazing flow capabilities once those secondaries open (750+ cfm) and with those tiny primaries youre not sacrificing that streetability/fuel economy as you would with a large square bore. Great vid! Cheers 👍🏻

[@SHADYFUN]

Would love to a 60 tho 308 block with 8 new sleeves do something like this. Be bought back from the dead keep up the good work

[@chuckmaddison2924]

Very impressive. I hope a lot of tuners in America see what you've done without turning it into a Christmas tree. Aussie Rules : )

[@revtec4267]

Great result Glenn- Stock stroke heads manifold and carb and will pull like a 14-year-old 😀🦘

[@m1cky6]

Awesome! Glad I stumbled across this channel, used to love watching man and machine! Not sure if I'm correct in saying this but you seemed to have trimmed down a bit since them days?? Looking very fit! Love your enthusiasm, all the best with growing the channel!

[@GlennEverittMasterofMachines]

Thanks mate! Yes, I went on a major health and fitness quest. Dropped quite a few KGs. 😊

[@T1000AX]

an extra 100hp and stock looks is pretty cool

[@paulthompson1654]

hi dyno sessions are about spreading the love Compression?? full cam spec ?? great job ...

[@MightyMick88]

Blow it up Fletch, love your work. Lift off....out the window.. come on Fletch flog it.

[@regenmeister9646]

Well presented Video Glenn, becoming more professional with each one done. (sans yeeha's) Great subject matter. The Repco Holden engines are probably the pinnacle of the L31 development; would be nice if you're able to do a detailed story on one of those - long time subscriber, gave a thumbs up; if there was a double thumbs up, would've hit that button too.

[@GlennEverittMasterofMachines]

Thanks mate, yes all the Yeeha's were a byproduct of TV networks pushing that direction when we aired our series on Channel GO. I've rolled a lot of that content out on the channel to help build it. Glad you're enjoying it. Having said that, I am a pretty excitable fellow. :-)

[@alangarnham706]

Mate, I would love to see a good old 253 on the dyno, 175-185hp stock, with a few minor mods 1hp/ci. Thanks for presenting this too.

[@Icycoldcoke]

nice sleeper

[@johnslender5408]

Great video Glenn. Have any of you guys worked on the 308s in the Bedford Trucks. I've read they are an L34 based engine.

[@shanevonharten3100]

Youre easily impressed

[@timaustin110]

I would put holly sniper efi on it 👌👌

[@Selkirk69]

. A 230dg intake, probably a 235dg exhaust...519"-.526" (?) and from the looks of the graph and the peaks of the tq and hp, maybe 110dg LSA. I know it's only a 5.0litre but 2" collectors. eeeeee..10:1 on petro or E85? and the head cleanup was worth 13-17cfm? Nice build ! Cheers!

[@bigal878]

I reckon you are close on cam specs mate. Going off the known 230 @ .050 inlet duration I’d guess exhaust is 234. Lift noting they are using LS rockers is probably in the range you mentioned or even a little bit more but with a bit less lift on the exhaust compared to the inlet and LSA around 108-109. Id like to see bigger collectors as well. Overall a nice 308 combo and thanks to Powerhouse Engines and Glenn for putting the video together 👍🏻

[@deanharris9375]

I had a fully decked 4'2 done to 310 big everything lol even tops of my bird had to be scolept out four size of valves hard 8000 revs

[@71DJL]

good numbers Glenn from a near stock engine with early heads. Cam is fairly conservative too

[@jimfatyakmcgregor8867]

Would be a nice combination for the wingless Sprintcar fraterity I think Glen

[@Ricky-manic]

I never knew about this engine until i found this video i want a 308 in my monte carlo lol

[@jeffsewell412]

Can we see what happens when a full street setup is fitted, working water pump, loaded alternator, fan, compliant exhaust silencers, real under bonnet temps, basicly a DIN run. It would also be nice to see what part throttle performance is like.

[@chrisczaj7947]

Best motors 👍

[@mrdoiii]

Great work. I would be interested to see what you can get out of a 302 efi Windsor.

[@deanharris9375]

8:50 I took my bigger inlets off ran standard one ported 6000 revs

[@jimclarke1108]

Good old 308 likes to rev, 6000 RPM, cool

[@barstoolsandpowertools8617]

👍👍👍

[@oldtimerbloke]

And what's the chances of a 308 VN heads single 4 barrel and electronic distributor and a 286 cam love to see what horsepower that would make as I've built a couple like that but never put on the dyno

[@andyjames2082]

👍

[@dtengineering1]

It would be great if you could tune out that dip in the HP curve - great results though. I would love to see some 253 efforts as well.

[@GlennEverittMasterofMachines]

I think you'll find that the stock intake manifold contributes to that dip. I agree, the 253 will be an interesting quest in similar spec. On another note, stroked 253's are also an interesting combination too, long stroke and small bore, great midrange.

[@HanstheTraffer]

"Old Holdens never die...They just go FASTER" That thing has more HP than my stock '99 Honda Civic.

[@jordypicca91]

How much initial/total did ya end up running

[@grantreid8583]

Has that had valve seat inserts fitted to the cyl heads so it can run unleaded fuel?

[@deanstevenson6527]

Comment 100...enjoyed 💯

[@k9-unit-australia275]

I can’t remember the last time i saw a timing light. 😂😂

[@scott196464]

Good video .How much total timing did give it ? Cheers.

[@bugzfreeland4953]

I'd love to see the finished product in the car

[@akaitv6606]

Usually 106lsa 230 in 240 ex 500lift works a treat You would only need twin 2 1/4 exhaust

[@holdenbrougham7768]

Well Glen i enjoyed my 1st video of yours , and had hg with very fit 308 in stock mode it was brilliance, but tweaked by you was the thing they need ,, how much hp did air conditioning drag from them ? I had air and left it in the car stuff removing that kind of luxury

[@GlennEverittMasterofMachines]

Good stuff! The AC probably pulled 8hp in the upper rpm range when the compressor was engaged, but it would have been well worth having that luxury on a hot day. 😊

[@GODEES77]

Hey mate is this your shop? Love your dyno vids

[@mschiffel1]

Please explain the hole at the front of the rocker cover? 343 HP = Great job!

[@jamesmatheson5115]

A 302 Ford motor with a Scat kit 600hp heads deceit cam and carb setup will get you into the 400's. But this 308 with stock heads did good.

[@deanharris9375]

1:43 stock inlet manifold Match ported gives way heaps more talk to 6000 revs then most ??? Four plain??

[@dmrftg6000]

At 7:28 the distributor cap seats itself!

[@jacksonbermingham2168]

the standard manifold pretty horrendous to be had it might like a carb spacer on it to.. but for what the guy wants for the monaro she pretty nice combo

[@bubbleobill267]

Old school cool!. Not an ecu in sight.

[@madcowmark7129]

Looking good, you lost some weight or had a haircut.

[@GlennEverittMasterofMachines]

Thanks mate, yes, lost a few KG’s, been on a major health kick.

[@JoeDirt-ok2hm]

I was wondering how much timing it took?

[@lancecooper4646]

Could've put a stroker kit in it & still look totally stock, & it would've cost less to make the same power & torque at lower revs 🔥👅😈

[@conservativesniperhunter7439]

There’s nothing wrong with the good old Aussie built 5 liter Holden engines. Any idea how many horsepower the 84 VK Ex Chaser 4 speeds has? Were they built buy HDT ? The 84 VK Ex Chaser I owned had a HDT sticker on the distributor . That VK went like the clappers , it was quick. One night at around 1.30 am at a set of lights a Blue Meanie pulled up beside me , when the light turned green we both put the foot down , I was on its tail for about 4 km along some nice straight sections of road that also had some long sweepers on it . At no point did that Group A Blue Meanie pull away from my 84 VK Ex Highway Patrol 4 speed. How many horsepower did those Group As have ?

[@jarrynsmith]

My dad had one from SA that was built with the hdt engine, when he took it to the engine builders they said it was already built to Bathurst spec with the dual valve spings the bigger race cam ect with all the go fast bits since it was a South aus bt1 from the Nullarbor so it had a built 3 speed auto in it and would smoke through the gears if you stood on it and cruise at 200, it was white also it had a brock director kit on it with a full blue brock interior and a set of 18"s back when that was crazy lol it would of had close to 240kws at the engine and probably close to 500nm+ it was very torquey at all revs

[@bapcorp8303]

Happy New Year Glenn. I have a 74 GTS with a 253 as most are, I'd be interested in what numbers could be achieved keeping the stock look.

[@hoost3056]

Depends on how you want it to idle. Look up David Vizard, he has a computer program that is silly accurate at predicting power. The basic rule is that 1 cfm of intake airflow is roughly 2 hp. Flow your heads and induction system, and do the maths first. 60 hp/liter is a nice driver, past that and it'll be rowdy and you'll have to rev it. I could see 260-275 hp out of a hot 253 that could still run pump premium and be cost effectve. After that, $$$$$$$

[@bapcorp8303]

@@hoost3056 Thanks for the info 👍

[@GlennEverittMasterofMachines]

@BapCorp, sounds good! Happy New Year to you too! You should be able to make a 1.05 - 1.1hp per cube based on this engines results. One of my favorite little engine combo's is a 253 Stroker, the smaller bore with a longer stroke makes some great midrange.

[@chrisholmes6311]

What fuel is it running? Great numbers.

[@GlennEverittMasterofMachines]

BP 98. 👍

[@waddney4121]

340 hp from a 308 would be a great engine to run around on the street with

[@stevemcintyre4398]

Cool stuff. I"m intrigued with how they managed to get so much horsepower out of the old group C engines back in the day. They were around the 450 mark were they not?, group A moreish?

[@GlennEverittMasterofMachines]

I think a good Group C engine in the era made around 400hp plus with the last of the Bg Bangers, albeit with a lot of camshaft and compression. The Group A stuff in the Walkinshaw era onward was probably in the 500hp plus range. Great era.

[@70XU1]

@@GlennEverittMasterofMachines those figures for a Group C engine are close. About 400hp on a Neil Burns engine. The manifolds were cut open, modified, and then put back together , and carbs were free - so IDF Weber's also added power. That's a super cool result on the 308 in the video. Thanks for making the effort to show us 👌

[@ldnwholesale8552]

In their dreams. Well under 400 for the Crapadores. Closer to 450 for the Fords and Camaros but with about 50 more ci.

[@Hapkido82AUS]

Rough specs in Brock's 86 Bathurst engine was 11:1+ comp, HDT intake fully ported, big valve heads ported as far as they'd go, a modified Quadrajet, and a 254@50 solid cam, around 420hp@6500 By the end of the carby VL era in 87, the good ones were 440hp. The following year, the new EFI engines were 480hp, and over 5 -6 years of development gained another 100hp....

[@70XU1]

@@ldnwholesale8552 I have seen dyno sheets from recently built (within last 5 years) Group C engines (1983 308 and a 79 spec 351) and figures are higher than you indicate (410hp 308, 565hp 351) however I agree, back in the day these figures may have been less due to lower quality oils, fuels, and ignition systems. Camshafts have also improved and there's 30 years more experience under their belts!! :-)

[@deanharris9375]

Decent cam big ports easy 500

[@funkiwikid6106]

Impressive, but there's more ... what's with the big dip in the 5400 to 5900 range ?

[@bugproductions9050]

Kilowatts and Newton metres thank you sir. Love your vids. (Imperial is for "Seppo's").

[@ceffydriver]

255kw / 492nm