Planes, trains and a Vectra GSI estate...
Discussion
Bit of a story coming up...
Since May we've the daily driver fleet has consisted of the Volvo V70 TDi estate and the Audi A4 2.5TDi. The latter of which barely moved and racked up a mere 3,000 miles since last January. With its MoT looming and it in need of four tyres, a cambelt kit, front brakes and a few other things it was time to cut the losses and sell it before it ended up costing us dearly. It sold quickly and left us with the Volvo, which was fine as we didn't really need two cars... plus my long term Cavalier Turbo restoration and a Cavalier SRi hiding in the garage.
Thing is, I've always had a hankering for a Volvo V70R estate having had both an S70R and an 850 T5 in the past. I looked at a few and whittled it down to two and was all set to buy. The sensible head kicked in and I decided that it wasn't the right time to buy, plus the better half was none too happy at the thought of two Volvo estates on the drive. Whilst doing the daily classified browse, I happened across a tidy Vectra GSi estate that was for sale due to ill health. I spoke to him, asked the questions and the price then decided that it actually ticked alot of boxes for us.
Saturday morning we left the house at 4am, drove to Edinburgh airport and parked up the Volvo, jumped ont he first flight to Gatwick followed by the train to Croydon. Quick look round the car, drive round the block and handed over some Shed of the week money and headed to the post office to tax it. From there it was the M25, M40 and A5 to an overnight stop at a mate's house before heading the remainder of the way north on Sunday. 625 miles all in and thankfully, it never missed a beat and even managed a reasonable 33mpg over the whole trip.
So, what is it... a 2000 (V) Phase 2 Vectra GSi estate with the 2.5 V6 MSD engine so that's about 200bhp and reasonable performance. Whilst it's standard cosmetically, it's clearly had money spent in the right places as it has a Courtenay Sport lightened flywheel (much quicker up through the gears) along with an uprated clutch, 30mm brake conversion with Redstuff pads, uprated dampers and it's also just had a service, the cambelt kit replaced, the oil cooler renewed and a new coil pack fitted. It's also had the wheels refurbished and a set of Goodyear Eagle F1's fitted.
Given it's an 11 year old Vectra, there are a few niggles to address but nothing that will pose any issues or problems. Mostly cosmetic... removing the yellow badges, Ring sticker, replacing the door piller stickers, realigning the front bumper and then giving it another full service, replacing all the fluids and filters and sttripped, cleaning and painting the brakes. Given it's been off the road for a year (ill health) it's actually in really good shape and came back north without any issues plus she's happy so that's a bonus. As for the plans, tidy it up and basically run it alongside the Volvo as a second car for the time being and depending on when my Cavalier Turbo hits the road, it might end up doing a few Vauxhall related events over summer.
Quite chuffed really, plus there were only a handfull of these built so these days, it's a rare bit of kit.
Cheers
Since May we've the daily driver fleet has consisted of the Volvo V70 TDi estate and the Audi A4 2.5TDi. The latter of which barely moved and racked up a mere 3,000 miles since last January. With its MoT looming and it in need of four tyres, a cambelt kit, front brakes and a few other things it was time to cut the losses and sell it before it ended up costing us dearly. It sold quickly and left us with the Volvo, which was fine as we didn't really need two cars... plus my long term Cavalier Turbo restoration and a Cavalier SRi hiding in the garage.
Thing is, I've always had a hankering for a Volvo V70R estate having had both an S70R and an 850 T5 in the past. I looked at a few and whittled it down to two and was all set to buy. The sensible head kicked in and I decided that it wasn't the right time to buy, plus the better half was none too happy at the thought of two Volvo estates on the drive. Whilst doing the daily classified browse, I happened across a tidy Vectra GSi estate that was for sale due to ill health. I spoke to him, asked the questions and the price then decided that it actually ticked alot of boxes for us.
Saturday morning we left the house at 4am, drove to Edinburgh airport and parked up the Volvo, jumped ont he first flight to Gatwick followed by the train to Croydon. Quick look round the car, drive round the block and handed over some Shed of the week money and headed to the post office to tax it. From there it was the M25, M40 and A5 to an overnight stop at a mate's house before heading the remainder of the way north on Sunday. 625 miles all in and thankfully, it never missed a beat and even managed a reasonable 33mpg over the whole trip.
So, what is it... a 2000 (V) Phase 2 Vectra GSi estate with the 2.5 V6 MSD engine so that's about 200bhp and reasonable performance. Whilst it's standard cosmetically, it's clearly had money spent in the right places as it has a Courtenay Sport lightened flywheel (much quicker up through the gears) along with an uprated clutch, 30mm brake conversion with Redstuff pads, uprated dampers and it's also just had a service, the cambelt kit replaced, the oil cooler renewed and a new coil pack fitted. It's also had the wheels refurbished and a set of Goodyear Eagle F1's fitted.
Given it's an 11 year old Vectra, there are a few niggles to address but nothing that will pose any issues or problems. Mostly cosmetic... removing the yellow badges, Ring sticker, replacing the door piller stickers, realigning the front bumper and then giving it another full service, replacing all the fluids and filters and sttripped, cleaning and painting the brakes. Given it's been off the road for a year (ill health) it's actually in really good shape and came back north without any issues plus she's happy so that's a bonus. As for the plans, tidy it up and basically run it alongside the Volvo as a second car for the time being and depending on when my Cavalier Turbo hits the road, it might end up doing a few Vauxhall related events over summer.
Quite chuffed really, plus there were only a handfull of these built so these days, it's a rare bit of kit.
Cheers
DanielJames said:
Really like these! Does it have those shexy Recaro seats?
Yes chap, electric Recaros up front which make a huge difference. I've had a three Vectras in the past... an 02 plate DTi (taxi... no really) followed by a V6 Super Touring (not the ST200, just the crap version) and finally an 01 plate SRi150. I hated them all as it felt like you were sitting on the car and very removed from the actual task of driving it however this is totally different, you sit much lower, right down in the car as it were and they're also extremely supportive. Bit hard, numb arse after 500 miles but it won't be doing that sort of mileage again anytime soon! Cheers!
twazzock said:
Does it sound good? Been in a Vectra with (I think) the same V6 a few times and the engine note is superb. Don't really know much about them but it's hard not to like the growl they make. Bit of a bargain for the money too I imagine. 
It'll never rival Ferrari in the noise game but it's not too bad. This one has an aftermarket Remus centre section with the standard Magnex rear silencer so sounds ok when it's being hustled along but also is nigh on silent on the motorway... or perhaps just can't be heard over the tyre noise! The 2.5 V6 is pretty much the same basic lump as found in the base and SRi models but the GSi model was tweaked by Motor Sport Developments, part of which was fitting the slightly more aggressive camshafts from the 3.0 V6 which in turn took the power from about 175bhp to 195bhp. I wouldn't say it's fast but it does go ok, plus this one has a lightened flywheel (standard is 15kg, this is about 6kg!) which drastically improves the way it revs... although it can get a bit pissed off if you try and make it drive at low revs, ie in traffic or doing 30mph through a village in 5th.
Some research would suggest that only 317 GSi estates were ever made (including the phase 1 and phase 2) so it's safe to assume a good few of those have since lost the fight... unsure how many will be left though. The issue is, the V5 states "Vectra GSI V6" which is what the saloons and hatchbacks were also logged as and there were about 4,000 of those. So, sadly the DVLA can't tell how many of the 3100 GSIs left are actually estates.
Either way between this, my Cavalier Turbo and my Cavalier SRi 16v.. it's a fairly rare collection?
Cheers!
Edited by Davie on Tuesday 31st January 14:06
Nice car, I also have had a few Vauxhalls in the past (Cav turbo, gsi, Sri etc) and including a couple of Vectra gsi's (inc an estate) and I was told that they are actually the rarest vauxhall produced, in actual production numbers. With a decent exhaust and a modified air box (3 pipe) pulling in third they sounded Awsome! May even look for another now and change the E39!
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 (Vauxhall gold tech) 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 s
t 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
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 (Vauxhall gold tech) 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 s
t 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
Edited by Davie on Sunday 5th February 18:30
Edited by Davie on Sunday 5th February 18:31
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!
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!
Fond memories of the vectra. Back in 2003 when I was a student, I bought a 3 year old bottom spec one which had windy windows in the front, but an electric sunroof. It had a lowly 75bhp and was the slowest thing in the world. However, it saw me well for about 110000 miles and throughout my first full time job.
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