Alloytec Engine
Product Information
HOLDEN ENGINE MANUFACTURE: 1940 – 2004
Engines of War
General Motors-Holdens was the first company in Australia
to mass-produce internal combustion engines. In 1940, with the
outbreak of World War II and subsequent isolation from US and
European supply sources, plans for a foundry and engine shop at
the GMH Port Melbourne site were accelerated to support the war
effort. The new foundry produced a wide range of cast components,
among them cylinder heads and engine blocks for the GM-designed
165hp Gray Marine diesel unit, the same engine that later powered
Normandy landing craft on D-day. More than 1300 Gypsy Major aero
engines and spares and four-cylinder radial engines for naval
torpedoes were also built at Fishermans Bend.
At war’s end, GMH had acquired many of the skills and capabilities required to turn its attention to automotive engine manufacture, and funds were injected into upgrading plant facilities in preparation.
Six Cylinder Engines
The Grey Engine
Full-scale manufacture of the first Holden engine commenced at
Port Melbourne in the second half of 1948. The six-cylinder, 2.15
litre, 45kW ‘grey’ engine, so named for the colour
of its painted block, powered Australia’s first mass-produced
car, the Holden 48-215. Noted for its torquey performance, high
cruising speed, exceptional fuel economy and durability, the overhead-valve
grey engine continued, with minor engineering changes, to power
successive Holden models through the 1950s and early 1960s.
The Red Engine
In June 1963, a newly completed £11,000,000 engine plant
began operations at Port Melbourne, producing two new and significantly
more powerful six cylinder ‘red’ engines. They were
the 2.45 litre ‘149’ (also available in a low compression
version) and the 2.95 litre six cylinder ‘179’, introduced
with the EH Holden model range. With a shorter stroke and larger
bore, these engines operated with a higher compression ratio and
featured such advancements as seven bearing crankshafts, hydraulic
valve lifters, external oil pump and filter.
Over their long life, the red engines benefited from numerous re-engineering programs to improve performance and fuel efficiency.
A two-barrel single carburettor ‘186S’ version introduced on the HR series in 1967, with a 3.05 litre displacement and 109kW of power, featured Holden’s first automatic choke.
A 3.3 litre ‘202’ unit, with a longer stroke increasing capacity, and a 2.84 litre ‘173’ were introduced with the HQ range in 1971.
In 1978, the 2.85 litre ‘173’ red engine provided the basis for the first four-cylinder engine to be designed and built in Australia, the 1.9 litre, 60kW ‘Starfire’.
Production of Holden’s red engines ceased in 1980.
The Blue Engine
The launch of the VC model Holden Commodore in 1980 saw the introduction
of a new range of six and eight cylinder engines painted GM blue.
Comprehensively upgraded to XT5 specifications, they were up to
25 per cent more powerful and 15 per cent more fuel efficient
than their predecessors.
Six-cylinder engine features (2.85 and 3.3 litre versions) included a new 12-port head, new manifolding, a two-barrel carburettor and electronic ignition. The 4.2 litre and 5.0 litre V8s benefited from new heads, inlet manifold, electronic ignition and a four-barrel carburettor for the 4.2 litre V8.
An air-pump air injection system introduced on the upgraded XT6 2.85 litre engine in 1981 improved fuel economy by a further 14 per cent. In 1984, a new 3.3 litre EFI engine was introduced with VK Commodore and the 4.2 litre V8 ceased production.
The EFI unit, fitted with a Bosch LE-Jetronic fuel injection system, was the most powerful Holden six to date (with the exception of a specialised XU1 unit). Also produced was a 3.3 litre six-cylinder engine with an electronic spark timing engine management system and air pump air injection.
Production of blue six cylinder Holden engines ceased in 1986 with the introduction of the VL Commodore, which was powered by a Nissan-sourced 3.0 litre unit.
The ECOTEC V6
In 1986 Holden made the decision to choose a U.S. designed and
developed Buick V6 engine for the upcoming next-generation VN
Commodore, due for release in mid 1988.
Following an intensive engineering program, assembly of the V6 commenced early in 1988 at Port Melbourne on a production line manufactured in Australia and designed in flexible, modular form.
The 3.8 litre, 127kW, EFI V6 – a fuel efficient, light, compact, torquey performer – was localised to suit Holden requirements, a process which included fitment of an Australian-developed electronic engine management system.
In 1995, after a $9 million investment in engine design improvements and manufacturing facilities by Holden’s Engine Company, the original unit was replaced on the assembly line by a radically revised second generation ECOTEC V6. Utilising low friction technology for improved all-round performance, it was smaller, lighter and more fuel efficient. All major components were upgraded, engine management system computing power and memory doubled, hot wire air mass metering and sequential fuel injection fitted. Maximum power increased to 147kW, full consumption dropped by six per cent.
In 1996, assembly of a 165kW Supercharged V6 variant commenced. For the introduction of the all-new VT Commodore in 1997, this engine was modified to produce 171kW of power.
With the VX Commodore debut in August 2000, normally aspirated V6 engine power was increased to 152kW and fuel economy further improved. HEO employees celebrated production of the millionth V6 engine one month later.
The 3.8 litre ECOTEC V6 has benefited through the years from a continuing series of refinements carried out to improve operating smoothness, performance, economy and exhaust emissions.
The Global V6
Production of Holden’s all-new 3.6 litre Alloytec and Alloytec
170 Global V6 engines began in June 2004 at its new Global V6
engine plant in Port Melbourne. The new engines will replace the
ECOTEC and Supercharged V6 right across the Holden V-car passenger
and light commercial vehicle range as new models are introduced,
beginning with the VZ Commodore, Calais and WL Caprice and Statesman
models to be introduced in August 2004. They will also power Holden’s
six-cylinder export vehicle variants.
V8 Engines
The First Australian V8
In 1964, GMH instituted a $20 million V8 engine design and development
project in response to a strong national push for a locally produced
‘bent eight’. Five years later, a new engine facility
at Fishermans Bend began producing two versions of the new Aussie
V8 – the 4.2 litre ‘253’ and 5.0 litre ‘308’.
These engines made their debut with the 1969 HT Holden series,
after the 308 was exhibited in the mid-engined Holden Hurricane
concept car.
A strong, versatile performer, this powerplant was the first
Australian-designed and manufactured V8 and the only one to have
been mass-produced in significant volume.
More than 541,000 Holden V8s were built over a 30-year period,
a record of longevity comparable to that of the venerable Chevrolet
V8.
The Holden V8 powered every mainstream model from the HT to the VT Commodore and medium-sized Torana models from 1974 to 1980. It was successively re-engineered to embrace such advances as unleaded fuel and multi-point fuel injection and constantly refined to produce escalating levels of power and torque. The ‘unleaded’ version was introduced in 1986 and the fuel-injected 5.0 litre V8 – at 165kW the most powerful mass-produced Australian engine to date – went into production in 1989. The most powerful Holden V8 was a 230kW blueprinted engine used by HSV in 1994.
In addition, the plant had the capacity to produce specialised units like the ‘Group A’ for racing homologation. Over the years, Holden V8s also found their way into open-wheeler racers, trucks, boats and 4WD vehicles, among other applications.
The last locally-built Holden V8 off the Fishermans Bend production
line in June, 1999.
It was replaced by the Gen III 5.7 litre alloy V8, developed in
the U.S. by General Motors Powertrain Group at a project cost
of $1 billion.
Four Cylinder Engines
The Family II
In 1979, GMH announced plans to enter the ‘world car’
arena with a $300 million investment in a high volume four-cylinder
engine plant and foundry at Fishermans Bend. The new facility
began producing GM’s compact, lightweight and fuel efficient
‘Family II’ Camtech engine in 1981, with two thirds
of its projected peak annual production of 300,000 units destined
for export markets.
In 1982, the facility began production of 1.6 litre Family II engines to power Holden’s new front-wheel drive ‘J car’, the Camira. By 1983, daily production rates of the Family II engine range had topped 1,000 units and the Fishermans Bend four-cylinder facility produced its 250,000th engine (export: 200,000; domestic: 50,000).
Engine and component exports helped to elevate General Motors-Holdens to the position of Australia’s major exporter of manufactured goods in 1983, when almost 150,000 Family II engines were shipped to West Germany, the UK, South Africa and New Zealand.
A further $67 million investment in plant upgrades and re-tooling preceded the start of production of the second generation Family II engine in 1985, when unit exports topped 193,000.
1986 saw the reorganisation of General Motors-Holden’s
into two GM subsidiary companies – Holden’s Motor
Company (HMC) and Holden’s Engine Components Company (HEC).
The following year, HEC passed the one million Family II engine
production milestone and exports to Korea commenced, assisting
the achievement of the one millionth export engine milestone in
1988.
HEC produced its two millionth export engine in 1994. By that stage the company was generating more than $1 million in export revenue every working day and servicing a global customer base that included Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia, Germany, India, Egypt, South Africa and the UK. Component sales in raw and machined iron castings accounted for $30 million annually, and HEC plant and foundry had the capacity to produce 335,000 four cylinder, 110,000 V6 and 26,000 V8 engines per annum.
In August, 1995, HEC announced a $200 million investment boost over a two-year period to support the introduction of four valve, double overhead camshaft (DOHC) technology, foundry modernisation and capacity expansion. It planned the volume manufacture of the DOHC Family II engines in 1.8, 2.0 and 2.2 litre displacements.
Later that year, HEC became today’s HEO (Holden Engine Operations) following its re-integration into Holden manufacturing operations, poised to make a key contribution as GM moved to develop its operations in the Asia Pacific region.
The three millionth Family II four cylinder engine was produced in 1997, when HEO shipped out more than 260,000 engines and earned export revenue of $450 million. The three millionth export milestone was reached in 1999.
In 2000 – when the foundry poured a record 50,000 tonnes
of metal – HEO shipped 264,942 engines, earning total export
revenue of $447 million. In 2002, HEO engines and components earned
$150.5 million dollars in export revenue. In 2003, 134, 412 Holden
Family II four cylinder engines were shipped to customers in Egypt,
Indonesia, Japan, North America, South Africa and South Korea.