Planes, trains and a Vectra GSi estate...

[Turbodave]

Well we've dropped the membership fee so it's an even better deal...

Hey, the amount of "bigging up" I do for the site, I should be charging you boys...!

Cheque or BACS to the usual address my good man.

[Spinbitch]

[Turbodave]

A week into ownership and it's been challenging to say the least.

First up it drained the battery overnight which I quickly sussed was due to the trip computer screen not switching off. I posted on one of the Vectra sites asking for help and got a few suggestions with most suggesting it was the barrel not 'seeing' the key being removed. Though that didn't make sense as the stereo was shutting down correctly. A call to a mate (Kev... cheers!) and tried a few more things to no avail.

I figured as temporary measure, I'd just unplug the display so removed the stereo and found about 23 miles of wiring and adaptors for the Traffic Master system (doesn't work) and the CD Changer in the glovebox (also doesn't work) I removed the Traffic Master control unit and wiring and then removed the CD changer loom and plugged the stereo back in and everything started working again. So, can only assume the fault was within the wiring or the changer or the control unit.



From there, a trip down to the local scrappies to get a few bits and pieces that were either missing or broken. A reasonable Vectra SRi donated its aerial, drivers side door seals, indicator stalk, dash button blanks and a Clio also donated its rear wiper as they're a much neater design than the Vectra's original. I did manage to forget to get a glovebox so trip back next week.



From there, to the workshop to start swapping some bits over and also change the oil and filters. Then I remembered how crap the V6 is to work on. No space, bits everywhere, bolts in obscure places so much swearing and skinned knuckles later I had the oil changed and the throttle body removed, cleaned and refitted in a vain attempt to cure the rough idle and slight stutter it has. The latter of which helped slightly but there's still a few issues.



There's also the obligitory clunks from the front suspension and the steering has a bit freeplay and I get the feeling the brakes are dragging, plus despite bing almost new, there's a slight brake vibration at speed plus it's got EBC Redstuff pads all round which are really rather **** from cold. They're almsot new so I think I'll removed them, sell them to some wannabe track hero and fit a set of standard GM discs and pads agin as they car won't get driven hard enough to warrant fast road stuff. Plus it's got the 308mm disc upgrade, same as fitted to my old 280bhp astra GSi (on GM parts) and it stopped fine.



So, plan is to set aside a couple of days this week and basically go through it fron nose to tail and first make a list and then attack said list. Being fair on it, it's sat for almost a year so a few niggles are to be expected plus it was very cheap hence, spending a few quid isn't the end of the day.

Only other thing I've done is give it a wash, buff out some marks and give it a couple of coats of polish along with removing the yellow badges and stickers and then made a start on the engine bay... though the latter will be coming to pieces shortly to access various sensors and vacuum pipes that Vauxhall have hidden in the most rediculous places. Great!







On the plus side, the old diesel Volvo estate hasn't missed a beat...

Cheers

[Stewartvec]

The vectra looks minted all cleaned up Dave, wheels look in very good condition.

[Turbodave]

Update time... and long story alert!

Since coming north, the car has hardly moved for a variety of reasons. First being the weather, second being the fact the Volvo is still the number one choice for general abuse and third, the Vectra had a few little niggles running wise. The temperature gauge was erratic, it had a very lump idle, it would stutter badly under load at low revs and it also was managing a thoroughly impressive 15mpg average. Bad times.

Yesterday I found some enthusiasm in the cupboard behind the kitchen cleaning stuff and then headed for the unit for a few bits and pieces followed by a trip to Dingbro for a thermostat (minus the housing, bugger paying £30!) and a set of spark plugs. Came home, rolled the Cavalier SRi outside (under a car cover obviously!) and then rolled the Vectra in to the garage at the house and set to it. Now, I make no secret of the fact I'm not a V6 fan... I just don't have anything positive to say about them! They're too heavy, too complicated, poorly designed and not actually very quick. Why did I buy it... it looks nice plus a 2.0 16v turbo will slot in if my hate gets too overpowering to bear.

Anyways, grabbed the tools and set about the task in hand...



Removed the airbox, inlet pipework, battery, fuse boxes, disconnect the throttle cable, removed the vacuum box, disconnected the EGR pipe at the rear plenum, disconnected the two water pipes at the throttle body, remove the flappy actuator things on the centre plenum and removed all the bolts that hold the plenums in place. At that stage, again questioned why I'd even bothered buying it but got the centre plenum lifted...



...and immediately found the first issue. The breather that feeds into the bottom of the throttle body has been rubbing on the throttle flap mechanism and has worn right through. In turn this would be drawing unmetered air into the engine (ie after the mass air flow meter) which in turn wouldn't be helping matters. Removed the breather pipe and set a new one aside ready to be fitted when the time came.



Removed the rear, centre and front plenums and found issue number two. The front plenum lower rubber joining section wasn't clamped down tightly. Granted they're a tight fit but even still, another area that could be drawing unmetered air into the system. I also managed to tear the three from rubber joining sections removing the front plenum. They're meant to be fairly pliable but after many year of heat and oil, they've gone a little brittle. I did manage to glue then seal and tape them as a temporary measure until I get new ones.



With the plenums removed and the 'thing' in the middle that holds the injectors and other erm... stuff removed, I removed the temperature sender and the coolant temp sensor and gave them a buff back. I had planned on fitting a new coolant temp sensor and thought a C20LET would fit but turns out the plug is different the V6 is oval) despite lots of places stating they are the same. Popped both back in and then set about the thermostat.



Those of you who have had the misfortune of working on a V6 will know the designers were a bunch of sadist tossers and thus the thermostat sits between the heads and under a top cover. Fair enough but said cover extends from the centre, forward and under the cylinder head and pops out by the dipstick. Removing the two bolts and the front brace will allow the inner part to move up about an inch and also to rotate about 30degs. Ie, not enough. I removed the front plenums mounts, bent the dipstick back and swore for hours. No way was there enough space to manipulate the thermostat out. Great design, well done guys!



An impossible task... perhaps not.



Managed to get the pipe turned through 45degs which meant just enough space to get the old insert out, clean up the faces, fit the new O ring and then put the new thermostat insert in (standard 92deg effort) and then after drying the area, bolted the housing back down into place. How was this possible? Easy… just snap bits off… though I doubt that’s the correct procedure but at 23:40hrs, I didn’t care. I was too busy swearing and bleeding everywhere.





Next, remove the original spark plugs and have a look at them. They seemed fine, nice uniform colour so cleaned the bores and popped six new NGK plugs back in then wrestled with the chav spec blue HT leads before loosing my temper again, swearing more and then having another crack at getting them to click down correctly. From there, cleaned up the inlet faces on the heads, refitted the sandwich plate things followed by the injector/inlet manifold assembly and bolted it all down.



At this stage I figured I’d be as well cleaning a few areas as I went so wiped down the plenums, checked the rocker covers were tight and not seeing oil, checked the bolts on the oil cooler (between the heads) and had a good check of all the pipes, hose and connections that are basically inaccessible with the car built back up. I removed the throttle body assembly as it was choked in crud…



Nice! With limited chemicals to hand I started thinking outside the box. Oven Pride… that makes short work of the baking trays and the BBQ so hell, why not eh? So, time now midnight and I’m stood wearing her washing up gloves and pouring Oven Pride into a V6 throttle body. That’s un-teachable talent that is. Was it worth the effort and the oily fingers prints everywhere…



Seems so. All clean and also all the breathers now unclogged which again will help matters. Reattached the throttle body with some sealant (and bolts obviously) and then set about refitting the plenums, all the vacuum system, the water pipes, EGR pipe, throttle cable and the freshly bodged plenum connections which touch wood, have held out fine. Granted I did have to stop, admit defeat and go to bed for a few hours whilst the sealer cured plus figured leaving the thermostat housing to cure would be an idea too. Fitted the front plenum this morning, plugged everything in, refitted the battery, topped up the coolant and turned the key and hoped for the best.



Slight blow on start up from the EGR so I suspect I may have a cracked pipe or manifold (Chemical Metal will sort that!) but aside for that, idled quite happily. Took it a run and it’s definitely much smoother, pulls so much harder now and also gets up to and holds temperature as it should. Perhaps not 100% yet but I still need to change the fuel filter, air filter and perhaps pop some injector cleaner through it and give it a good run. Benny’s coming over on Sunday with his Opcom and his ST200 (same engine) so we’ll run a few diagnostic checks and make sure there are no underlying issues with the air flow meter, coolant temp sensor, lambda sensors and so on.

Had I done all this on a C20LET, it would have taken about 20mins!

Hey ho!

[8valve-craig]

I feel for you. I take apart at least 2 a week to get the metal cam covers off. I have permanent badies on every finger.

Its also a right bastard if your T45 comes off the extension and goes down inbetween the centre plenum.....

And why the hell are the rear plenum brackets AND the loom housing held in place by the exhaust manifold studs? !!!!

[Turbodave]

Ha ha, thankfully every tool that fell down the back or side of the block did a great pinball impression and landed on the deck. I did however loose a bolt for the front plenum mount, fook knows where plus dropped a torx bit down behind the radiator so had to remove the grille and squeeze my hand in with long nose pliers... which I then also dropped.

This morning I can barely lift a cup of tea or pick my nose... fingers are killing me.

Bah!

[GaryVaux]

I just dont get why theres sooo many wiring plugs on these engines!

Looking good tho

[Ardenblueroy]

Turbodave....I feel for you dude, before the Zaf I had a phase 1 Vec GSi saloon...said to a mate not long after buying it.."I'm gonna service it myself at the weekend, oil n filter, plugs..change the thermostat ect" his reply..."hahahaha..good luck". Vauxhall took the piss when they designed this engine...it's a ba$tard to work on.

[Turbodave]

Quick update...

Some family stuff and potential changes saw me having a daft half hour and putting the car up for sale and to be fair, I'm still humming and hawwing here, trying to figure out a plan for the next few months. When I bought this, the idea was to sell the Volvo and just run the one car (plus the Cavaliers as projects) but then I decided there's more chance of me slicing my nuts off and deep frying them than selling Helga. So, whilst the GSI remains tentatively for sale... I've also decided that running it through summer makes sense as it's a nice bit of bling to drive whilst the Cavaliers are still very much work in progress. On that note, got a nice little list lined up for the Vectra from sorting an iffy electric window to repainting the calipers. Roll on Billing!

But yes, it's still a barsteward to work on!