1970s turbocharging - The Holden Strata 186 turbo | fullBOOST 

I had one of these for 13 years in an LJ, you had to be a left handed spastic with a collection of modified spanners to get the manifolds on and off every time that gasket needed replacing, which was pretty often at the stupid boost levels I was using.

I installed a Strata 2 kit on a HX 202 on a ton ute which had been strangulated by upgraded Australian Design Rules. 8,000km was about all one could expect out of exhaust valves on a ton ute with 4.44 ratio final drive on long journeys. After two patch-ups by the dealer, I was out of warranty and heading for a third set of exhaust valves. Somewhere along the process they had been replaced with what turned out to be XU1 exhaust valves. The valve seats had been cut about 8mm across. The kit came with a decompression plate. Fuel economy improved. Performance improved. I was mainly after the fuel economy. The kit came with a British SU carby which was next to useless and chronically flooded. The carby was continuously heatsoaked and a cute plastic float would deform. I replaced the carby with a Zenith Stromberg and had to go through that exercise of slowly and patiently reforming the jet needle. A modified oil pump with longer gears was recommended to improve oil flow. Strangely, that made a difference to the operating temperature of the engine. I got 40,000km out of the kit then there was a small disaster. I ran and extension from the aircleaner intake to the front ahead of the radiator for cooler induction air. In the hot Pilbara summer weather that may have been okay but might have been a mistake for cooler conditions. There was a blowback as I pulled out of town on a long trip in the cold of a really chilly midyear night. That had never happened before. It did not spit like engines usually do, just went sort of "mooff" and picked up again. It had popped the brake booster line off. I did not realise. Things were going nicely enough until I glanced in the rear vision mirror and saw a shower of sparks following me down the road. I backed off and the engine stopped and would not restart. I opened the bonnet and glowing brightly in the darkness was the turbocharger with little bright spots moving around on it. I soon worked out it had been running very lean and the turbine had roasted. It did soldier on for another trip from the Pilbara to Perth but the turbine bearing and intake seal were done for and the engine was sucking oil on deceleration. I finally took it apart when I saw the intake wheel was working against the aluminium. There were little corners missing off the exhaust turbine blades and huge laminations flaking off in the annulus. When I enquired about how long one should have lasted, I was told that at 40,000km I was well in front. As it was going to cost a fortune to replace, I reverted the engine to normal and then realised how much I had become accustomed to the available power when overtaking long trucks or road trains.

What a great glimpse into the old aftermarket. And it’s refreshing to see someone who wants to keep the old mods and work with them, despite the rarity of parts. Thanks fullboost.

I absolutely love to see this. Draw through setups are horribly inefficient but super simplistic and nostalgic. Setups like these were very popular in the late 70s and early 80s on Volvos here in Scandinavia, way before I was born. Both the B20 (2 liter inline 4) and B30 (3 liter inline 6) pushrod engines were popular. You would find these in the Volvo Amazon, 140 series and 160 series. They sold various kits for different horsepower levels, the biggest kits would bring the engines from around 80hp to just over 220hp, which was good power in the early 80s in a car that weighs 1100-1200kg. Some used SU carbs, some used Stromberg carbs and some would use a 40mm Weber DCOE. They used Rajay or Rotomaster turbos.

Its nice to see the little holden 6 getting some love ,a bit of screen time 🙂👍🍻

It’s stories like this that keep me coming back, always something different 👍

A friend of mine had one of those kits in his LJ gtr 20 odd years ago

I knew a guy in Victoria years ago, who had a turbo 186S HG Monaro and a 350 HG Monaro. He couldn't get past the 350 and the 350 couldn't get past him. He reckoned the power of the 6 was equivalent to a mild build small block running around 330 hp. Crazy thing is, both the cars came from the same estate and were originally built in the early 80s. And the job of fitting the turbo and associated plumbing etc would quite easily stand up to anything built today. The guy is no longer with us and I have no idea what happened to his car collection.

I did this to my A14 datto with a SU carb and a CB black box. The black box allowed mapped timing to intake pressure and it drove amazing and was economical. Loved it

Ah that sweet sound of a Holden six! Loved modifying them. They are so underrated.

Cool Bananas. I've still got the Oz magazines from the late 70s with an Escort on the cover ripping 2 black stripes, with one of these turbo kits. And another with a red UC Torana Hatchback with one of these on the 3.3. I think they tested the A9X in the same issue and the turbo 3.3 was faster....though the A9X had 2.7 moonshot gears, from memory. The old man put a HKS turbo kit on Mother's near new 78 2.0 Astron Chrysler!! Scorpion auto in 1980. Was a real blast.....stirred up most stocky V8s back then too. Fun times.

A friend build a yellow FX ute in Launceston around 1973. It had a 186 turbo engine built by Wayne Mahnken in Melbourne. HR disc front end, Fiat 2300 disc rear end, and went like the clappers. We passed a GT Falcon travelling south into Perth - it was scary at about 170ks. The GT driver pulled up at the Perth servo where we stopped and told us he was flat out no more left :) I don't remember what carby it had (maybe it was injected? ), but the one in the video could have come from an Austin 1800 which had 1 3/4" SU fitted.

Looks like (- the turbo) the engine that was in my Gran's '63 Chevy Nova... Everyone wanted to buy it and swap in a SBC☺

Fullboost keeping things interesting as always!

186 stroked to 192 , the 'Ducks Nuts'! Great video. Cheers for sharing.

love seeing this cool old school stuff!

I'm 62 yrs this yr, just finished a ferret scout car and am three parts finished a studebaker 6x6,my father had Holden's all his life in Inverell NSW, i was milking cow's there in 1976, the town was alive with thease cars.

I've got a Volvo 240 with a 175CD in a blow-thru setup with a Garrett TB0350, pretty interesting it's slightly different from an NA carb just extra seals and a different choke. Similar it was a dealer fitted option back in the day but not common in Australia. It only runs 7psi but it's a lot of fun to drive!

Always nice to see vintage stuff.

I've been running a strata turbo 202 in my gtr torana for close to 20 years. 21 pound of boost and a big ol' holley

I had a 1960 Mini 850 bodied race spec Cooper S, with a draw through system through a big SU, running methanol on 14lbs boost. The thing made 200hp at the front wheels. It was a complete beast of a car. It scared the crap out of everyone that ever got into the car for a drive. It took me a year before I had the guts to let it full wind out to its redline of 9Krpm on full throttle. I had that car in 1984 and it was about ten years old when I got it. Best car I ever owned. But there's simply not enough 'real estate' (road) around for it to be of any use now.

That's cool 😎 Heard of this never seen it

Very neat and tidy 😮

Anything not LS or BARRA is welcome. Thanks you Rangas.

the dyno graph is hilarious. Cool old bit of kit

Haha remember the old draw through set ups on rotors? Grant Williams, Dysons, Chris Dalton and Vlad were all doing it in the 1990's before efi became so accessible.

good to see the old red 6, i learnt on these things in the late 80's

Would love to see the Holden six fitted with a Coates rotary valve head and a turbo setup ... Love the Holden sizes , great video keep it up 👍

I started off with one of these draw thru setups but I used twin SUs draw thru . The engine has a alloy Yella Terra Head. All I could manage was around 270 rwhp. Then went to Vk injection manifold, custom turbo manifold, EMS and same built engine and went to 512 RWHP. This was back in the mid 90s. I still have the same setup, runs fine, couldnt break it, had alot of work done to get reliable. Like ally flywheel and heavy steel b&m harmonic balancer, alot of oiling mods like external oil lines to main oil gallery, copper head gasket could go on.

Reminds me of Peter Boardmans HR ute in Australian street rodding magazine 1984 ... Loved that ute .

Back in the 80's a dude I knew fitted a turbo to a 186 Torana. The kink was he used LPG for fuel, and to reduce lag had the LPG gas stream directed at the impeller. Car went wheel spin crazy.

A well tuned version of that engine (with a carb that's easier to tune, or even a multi-port injection standalone setup) on 14 psi with a good air to air intercooler would be really cool to see.

Hopefully more to come on this motor

damn that is a throw back like no other :D

Great to see some old iron being freshened for memories, rather than large numbers. Great content as always. Please please young fella, do NOT grow the mullet back.

There was a factory UC six cylinder Torana turbo that you could buy new from selected Holden dealers.

I will attempt to make a prediction: There will be some comment from this video that makes it on BenchTorque...I can FEEL it.

Reminds me of Kb Laser turbos, Charade, Sigma all very cool in their day. Looking at carby d15 civic turbo atm lol

I have a 179HP engine sitting under my friend's Mum's house I pulled out of a old rusty HR that went off to Simsmetal to become new LG fridges and microwaves back in the early 2000s. Or maybe HAD as I havent been past there in over 5 years, I doubt it would be worth my time pulling it out anyway everyone wants RBs or Barras.

Looks identical to what I had in a HQ wagon... Except I had the 173ci motor.... I remember giving a Commodore with a 308ci under the bonnet a very hard time.... Impressive performance for what it was!

Anything with a turbo is cool to me 👌

5:10 Correct me if am wrong but 98 octane and super are the same octane, 91 octane and standard are the same. Myself, I run Avgas 100 octane which is also leaded (when I can get it) in the old 202 and she thrives on it. Remember octane doesn't produce horse power, octane reduces pre-ignition, knocking or pinging under high compression. The "Red Motor" loved super and was a bitch on standard unless of coarse it had the optional low compression head. My first recollection of the Turbo Red Motor was in a HQ 202 which was claimed to equal a 308. Ah the memories, my first car was a HR 186 that you couldn't kill with a big stick.

Had a strata set up on a 234 stroked 186 in an LC Torana. i had a 48 Dellorto on it. ran a supra 5speed 9" combo and it easily smoked all the maloos and club sports. swapped it out for an RB30 / TKO600 5sp. combo. way less maintenance and heaps more power.

One of Dad's friends had an old Strata kit on his VH Commy. Used to boogey along in the mid 90's

Saw one of these in a then new vb commodore back in the day.

I have a 253 strata turbo kit, uses 2 of those carbs... it may be seen driving around in about 2years

I'd love one of the Strata 5 kits for my 202... G frame Garrett turbo and a Holley Sniper TBI for a bit more precise fuel control.

my xj6 series 2 Jag had 2 of these carbies when properly tuned were very good the problem was the diaprhagms they used tear plus you had to top up the oil in the top of the carbies

Of the early Holden 6,s the 186 was about the best, the 202 was more just a workhorse, you could do a lot to to the 186 in the day!!

Bruuuuh those Roadsafe alternators are junk. They’re made by Baxters, I’d rung their customer support with an issue for one, and the guy let out a sigh, followed by “I really wish we didn’t sell these” which didn’t leave a good impression. Patrolapart and The 4wd Shed sell them and would probably say the same thing too I reckon.

Did anyone run the strata kits on the EFI 202s on the VKs back in the day i wonder?

My father put a Rayjay turbo with 45 DCOE on a Cain manifold kit on his HK GTS in 1979 it was quite a bit more boost than this one. I managed to find the same kit and fitted it to my EH in 1989 the boost gauge would go over 20 psi and the 9 gallon tank would disappear nearly as quick as the water methanol tank. I later rebuilt the engine with a small chamber blue head with hardened seats and ran it on e10 compression was much higher and it flowed better so boost was lower but drivability was much better off boost due to much better low end torqueI helped a friend build one of these kits with 2x SU onto his GTR Xu1 with a Black motor that thing was wicked to drive as it was an ex race Xu1

186 bored 0.060" = 192, 161 head + Weslake pistons = 225 psi compression. Triple 1 3/4" SU's, ramped dizzy, solid lifters, can't remember the cam but luppy. 15 gallons of super to 1 gallon of menthol benzine and 250cc castor oil. Would eat 253's and 308's for breakfast. Good for 7k Rpm 3x a day.

A friend had the Australian Mitsubishi Galant turbo and carburettor draw through set up from factory. 2.4L or 2.6 4 cylinder, something like that anyway. It was a brilliant car, pale yellow and that shitty tan interior Mitsubishi used.

I always had the impression that the 186 was more desirable than the 202 due to the supposedly more reliable bottom end? I follow HSD on FB and for sure I see way more 186s getting goods than the 202s. Anyway, sounds quite nice with that setup.

There's a few things that were going on in my head that could have made that a lot nicer to tune without going EFI. I'd have popped a water/air intercooler on it, not even a very big one but just enough to bring the charge temps down enough to make it safe, maybe a DCOE carb and a modern turbo (hell probably wouldn't even need an IC if you ran something like a G25-660), and probably an MSD Ignition pack and that on its own would transform the car even more.

It would give a CONSIDERABLE fuel economy gain when cruising off boost

230ft/lbs.... 15 more then a bog stock single barrel Slant Six, graph of the torque 'curve' is about the same as the low compression truck version of the Slant, no wonder kits like these were popular on the Valiants! :)

My dad was better off grabbing the 186 engine from our local wreckers for his old HQ Kingswood when he needed to replace the engine but he was on his way to work on afternoon shift so he couldn't wait around to buy the engine. He regrettably bought a 202 engine to replace the dying 202 engine that he got off his workmate for mates rates ($0) but he paid $500 for another 202 engine he had a lot of trouble with. That included a blown cylinder head gasket & it just never ran right,the typical cylinder number 5 issue happened where it ran lean on that cylinder then the connecting rod snapped,it was only a problem in the 202 engine up until the black motor in the VK Commodores as I have heard of mechanics & people finding pieces of the piston crown from cylinder number 5 in the oil pan due to that carburetion issue. He bought a 208 engine (bored out 202) out of an LX Torana next which was the best engine that car ever had,he wouldn't have had that issue he bought the 186 engine but. I know that I built a twin cam Nissan RB30DE engine which was even more powerful than the stock RB30E engine for my VL Commodore,I am a Holden who built one of them which was Nissans version of the 186 engine (183; cubic inches). I know I had to do a patch up repair in my late cousins late mates (they're both dead now) 1984 model Holden VK Commodore Berlina back in 2004. It ran the EFI 202 engine which someone botched a cylinder head gasket replacement job up with,he wanted to know why it was burning oil as well. I told him that he cylinders were out of round & they had a massive lip on top of the cylinders so I just told him that it's on its way out so I just slapped the head back on properly because the person who did it previously left a chunk of cylinder head gasket on the engine block deck meaning that's why the cylinder head gasket blew. It still went pretty good for a worn out old engine that needed a rebore as well as oversized pistons and rings,it was just a bit of an oil burner,it had only done 200,000 kilometres & the previous owner was meant to be an old bloke who regularly got it serviced,it only has 1 litre of oil in the engine. It had more bottom end torque than a stock automatic 6 cylinder VL Commodore but I couldn't compare it to my VL which ran the twin cam Nissan RB30DE engine & 5 speed manual transmission as it would've flogged off the VK in a race. The EFI 202 engine when coupled to the Trimatic transmission seemed to have much bottom end torque as a Nissan RB30E engine which was coupled up to the MF5 5 speed manual transmission !

I have 186 bits, even 149 heads, for high compression fun😉👍👍

Did y'all Aussies ever fit that engine to an XU1 Torana? I love those things, my favourite Aussie car of that time, with Brocky driving it around Bathurst, legendary. Love my old I6s, my brother had an old Ford with a stroked 250cin cross flow six, with triple Webber's and a lumpy cam. Thing was quicker than most small blocks.

was this out before the sigma pull through setup?

would be great to know the difference between Super and 98….

186 engines are by far the best of the reds

Think about the possibilities if Firth/Brock and Bond had have added this kit to the XU-1 in 1969.

1:39 no water pump belt??? On a feeder or not you'd want that spinning right? 🤣

Every1 saying its vintage i thought every1 grew up playing with holden and ford straight 6s 😂😂😂😂😂

186 with Ford crank was good and 179 with 3,3 crank ❤ but 186 block is best

One only 1.75CD is next to useless. A floating needle SU would have been better. Or two better again. Or a 48DCOE all with the correct adapters. I saw one with a 600 Holley, air fuel was doing corners but seemed ok. As ofcourse were used in period. 98 octane Super was a LOT more volatile, 98ULP needs far better ignition. Though I think I saw a HEI dissy. ULP does really need MSD style ignition. ULP will keep the engine cleaner though all your plug readings go away. Oh and it is thicker by volume and will need a jet or two larger, on all carbs. Less than 98 do not even bother! But all this was b/s. Small chamber head and triple SUs were far better. Though they had to be sorted as well ofcourse

186 gettin no love anymore? What about tje venerable 2850? I can hear the keyboard clatter already...

Watch this space, I'll be back shortly with oz's highest hp boosted Holden 6.....

Plz make a FC3S rx7 and mk3 Supra I love 90s retro shirt!!! I’ll continue to post this same comment until my ridiculous demands are met.

That poor thing 🤣

That thing is poxxed.

179 and 186 superior to 202 those who know will tell you this.

Weber work better look up Mark Sinclair turbo lj 580hp lol quick in a lj 😂😂simmons plains

why bother.. same as rotory, no torque all revs.. useless project. so everybody rush out & buy a 186 chunk.. may be drive a 250 ford or 265 hemi.. no turbo required.. mate had a 250 cortina, on lpg, blowing the v8,s.. NO TURBO..NOT NEEDED.. 10 sec..