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Vehicle Tests > The Incredible Hulk: Commodore Ute
The Incredible Hulk: Commodore Ute
Issue: May 2006
Words by Glenn Torrens Photos by Mark Bean
It's named 'DA HULK' but with a Commodore body and Nissan chassis, Gary Gibons' creation is more like Frankenstein's monster.
Question: What do you get when you mix a Holden ute with a Nissan Patrol? Answer: A 4WD Holden ute... like this one built by Queenslander Gary Gibons.
Like many modified 4WDs seen in Overlander 4WD, Gary's is built for competition. But instead of winching over rocks and crawling up rain-rutted slopes, Gary's 'Hulk' has been doing the rounds of modified car shows such as Australia's biggest, the Summernats in Canberra. But a look underneath this monster Holden - plus an offroad drive with Gary - proves this largely self-built truck is more than just a show pony.
This 2003 VY SS is Gary's second highsteppin' Holden ute. It was preceded by a 1991 VG V8 ute plonked on an MQ Patrol chassis four years ago. Knowledge gained from the previous project - plus an unhealthy addiction - gave him the confidence and knowledge to screw this one together right the first time.
Body building
Gary bought the Hothouse Green SS ute brand new in May 2003. It racked up several thousand kilometres over a couple of months as a 'stocker' work truck in his landscape supply business before Gary unplugged the wiring harness, stripped out the mechanicals, winched up the body and rolled a Nissan Patrol chassis underneath.
"I cut every mounting bracket off the Nissan chassis," says Gary, who bought the chassis from Southside 4WD Wreckers at Acacia Ridge, Brisbane. "Then it was just a matter of fabricating new mounts for the body to sit on." He explains it like a kid playing with Lego, but the measuring and welding between Commodore shell and GQ Nissan rails soaked up an estimated five months of after-hours time, spread over nearly two years, in his big backyard workshop. As far as possible, Gary's new mounts were designed to transfer load into the strongest sections of the Commodore's shell and required surprisingly little chopping for its new role as a 4WD. A HiLux steering shaft mates Commodore column to Nissan gear. Good mate Brad Owens helped out - as he did with the first of Gary's first hybrid Holdens.
After the body was cut and shut over the wheels and wheelbase, Gold Coast-based Fabtech manufactured the wheel arch extensions. The front mudguards are one-piece fibreglass replacements - with the guards cut and dummied into place over the new wheels, very little steel remained. The nose, tail and sills are also Fabtech pieces and were colour-coded by Gary's mate Buddah. If you want to build a similar truck, there might be some problems as unfortunately Fabtech are no more. Well-regarded car artist Wayne Harrison from Sydney's Advanced Air Brush applied the amazing graphics.
To really poke eyes out at shows (and to make it more capable offroad) the Holden has been lifted using a catalog of Rancho and King suspension components, further enhanced and installed by 4WD specialists Wizard Performance on the Gold Coast. Just about everything in sight - and with the height of this Commodore, there's plenty to see - has been painted in either black or Hothouse. No one could miss those 15x10-inch American Racing wheels, either, wrapped in 39.5 Super Swampers. Soon to come is a bank of Lightforce day-makers.
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Muscling up
There's not much comparison between a cast-iron Nissan diesel and Holden's 5.7-litre all-alloy LS1-spec V8. This relatively light and punchy engine, shared with the US Corvette, has a solid reputation with vehicle modifiers, including a growing number of 4WDers who transplant them into Patrols and LandCruisers. The engine isn't a 'transplant' in this body, as such, but its fitment to the Patrol's five-speed transmission and chassis rails is. Off-the-shelf, Mark's 4WD Adapters adapter plates were used for the engine/gearbox interface. Gary made the mounts to shift the transmission forward and up by several inches for engine to firewall clearance and the Patrol's shifter required work to enter the cabin in the right place. New driveshafts were required, too. Apart from the second lever up through the floor, the interior is the SS's standard plaid green and black cloth.
As if being powered by one of Australia's healthiest factory V8s wasn't enough, Gary's has a supercharger. Designed in Melbourne and installed by Michael at Elite Performance the Harrop Engineering upgrade uses a replacement intake manifold, complete with intercooler, to mount a positive-displacement 'charger in the 'V' of the V8. Harrop's design mounts the blower back-tofront, driven from a jackshaft within the standard LS1's accessory drive loop. This layout eliminates the need for extra pulleys and retains the throttle body in an almoststandard location at the front of the engine. Local Gold Coast performance specialists ChipTorque tweaked the Holden management computer to deliver the extra fuel required to stack around 50 percent more grunt onto the 250-ish kilowatts of the factory SS.
And yep, it goes. Despite his desire to keep it clean for shows (judges deduct points from dirty cars) Gary showed no hesitation in blasting us around the roads near his rural home and out into a nearby 4WD/motocross park. Gary was keen to keep his custom body panels away from damage, so avoided deep ruts, but stabbed the big green monster up a couple of loose, rocky hills.
Onroad, the Swampers whine and rumble and there's bit of shimmy through the steering wheel ("They haven't quite got the balance right yet," says Gary) but the grunt is addictive. One of Gary's favourite tricks it to pick up the inside front wheel by nailing the throttle half-way through corners... In fact, onroad or off, the Hulk performs exactly as you would expect a supercharged V8 Holden 4WD ute to...
Words by Glenn Torrens Photos by Mark Bean
It's named 'DA HULK' but with a Commodore body and Nissan chassis, Gary Gibons' creation is more like Frankenstein's monster.
Question: What do you get when you mix a Holden ute with a Nissan Patrol? Answer: A 4WD Holden ute... like this one built by Queenslander Gary Gibons.
Like many modified 4WDs seen in Overlander 4WD, Gary's is built for competition. But instead of winching over rocks and crawling up rain-rutted slopes, Gary's 'Hulk' has been doing the rounds of modified car shows such as Australia's biggest, the Summernats in Canberra. But a look underneath this monster Holden - plus an offroad drive with Gary - proves this largely self-built truck is more than just a show pony.
This 2003 VY SS is Gary's second highsteppin' Holden ute. It was preceded by a 1991 VG V8 ute plonked on an MQ Patrol chassis four years ago. Knowledge gained from the previous project - plus an unhealthy addiction - gave him the confidence and knowledge to screw this one together right the first time.
Body building
Gary bought the Hothouse Green SS ute brand new in May 2003. It racked up several thousand kilometres over a couple of months as a 'stocker' work truck in his landscape supply business before Gary unplugged the wiring harness, stripped out the mechanicals, winched up the body and rolled a Nissan Patrol chassis underneath.
"I cut every mounting bracket off the Nissan chassis," says Gary, who bought the chassis from Southside 4WD Wreckers at Acacia Ridge, Brisbane. "Then it was just a matter of fabricating new mounts for the body to sit on." He explains it like a kid playing with Lego, but the measuring and welding between Commodore shell and GQ Nissan rails soaked up an estimated five months of after-hours time, spread over nearly two years, in his big backyard workshop. As far as possible, Gary's new mounts were designed to transfer load into the strongest sections of the Commodore's shell and required surprisingly little chopping for its new role as a 4WD. A HiLux steering shaft mates Commodore column to Nissan gear. Good mate Brad Owens helped out - as he did with the first of Gary's first hybrid Holdens.
After the body was cut and shut over the wheels and wheelbase, Gold Coast-based Fabtech manufactured the wheel arch extensions. The front mudguards are one-piece fibreglass replacements - with the guards cut and dummied into place over the new wheels, very little steel remained. The nose, tail and sills are also Fabtech pieces and were colour-coded by Gary's mate Buddah. If you want to build a similar truck, there might be some problems as unfortunately Fabtech are no more. Well-regarded car artist Wayne Harrison from Sydney's Advanced Air Brush applied the amazing graphics.
To really poke eyes out at shows (and to make it more capable offroad) the Holden has been lifted using a catalog of Rancho and King suspension components, further enhanced and installed by 4WD specialists Wizard Performance on the Gold Coast. Just about everything in sight - and with the height of this Commodore, there's plenty to see - has been painted in either black or Hothouse. No one could miss those 15x10-inch American Racing wheels, either, wrapped in 39.5 Super Swampers. Soon to come is a bank of Lightforce day-makers.
read on below advertisement
Muscling up
There's not much comparison between a cast-iron Nissan diesel and Holden's 5.7-litre all-alloy LS1-spec V8. This relatively light and punchy engine, shared with the US Corvette, has a solid reputation with vehicle modifiers, including a growing number of 4WDers who transplant them into Patrols and LandCruisers. The engine isn't a 'transplant' in this body, as such, but its fitment to the Patrol's five-speed transmission and chassis rails is. Off-the-shelf, Mark's 4WD Adapters adapter plates were used for the engine/gearbox interface. Gary made the mounts to shift the transmission forward and up by several inches for engine to firewall clearance and the Patrol's shifter required work to enter the cabin in the right place. New driveshafts were required, too. Apart from the second lever up through the floor, the interior is the SS's standard plaid green and black cloth.
As if being powered by one of Australia's healthiest factory V8s wasn't enough, Gary's has a supercharger. Designed in Melbourne and installed by Michael at Elite Performance the Harrop Engineering upgrade uses a replacement intake manifold, complete with intercooler, to mount a positive-displacement 'charger in the 'V' of the V8. Harrop's design mounts the blower back-tofront, driven from a jackshaft within the standard LS1's accessory drive loop. This layout eliminates the need for extra pulleys and retains the throttle body in an almoststandard location at the front of the engine. Local Gold Coast performance specialists ChipTorque tweaked the Holden management computer to deliver the extra fuel required to stack around 50 percent more grunt onto the 250-ish kilowatts of the factory SS.
And yep, it goes. Despite his desire to keep it clean for shows (judges deduct points from dirty cars) Gary showed no hesitation in blasting us around the roads near his rural home and out into a nearby 4WD/motocross park. Gary was keen to keep his custom body panels away from damage, so avoided deep ruts, but stabbed the big green monster up a couple of loose, rocky hills.
Onroad, the Swampers whine and rumble and there's bit of shimmy through the steering wheel ("They haven't quite got the balance right yet," says Gary) but the grunt is addictive. One of Gary's favourite tricks it to pick up the inside front wheel by nailing the throttle half-way through corners... In fact, onroad or off, the Hulk performs exactly as you would expect a supercharged V8 Holden 4WD ute to...
