Vauxhall Vectra VXR

[kayzee]

Looks really nice, the wheels are a vast improvement now they've been refurbished. Only thing for me is the smaller plate; doesn't really work as it has the larger cut out on the front bumper! Either way, don't see many of these modified and I think you've made some good decisions

[GregK2]

The refurbed colour is way better. One of my favourite style alloys, they just look so good on just about anything.

[lickatysplit]

great job

[djgritt]

Cheers all.

Saving for mapping now...

[hutch85]

Hi Dave,

Lovely VXR you have there

Apologies in advance for sending the thread back in time a bit, but I see you've taken part in at least two AFL conversions on these and would massively appreciate any pointers you might have (or a how-to, if there is one!). I'm in the process of importing a British VXR to France and I'm looking to upgrade the standard xenons to AFL, as I travel a lot between France and the UK and a full AFL setup would allow me to switch the lights between RHD/LHD beams just by plugging in / removing the fuse from slot 38 in the engine bay.

Adjusting the standard xenons each time I cross the channel sounds like it's going to be a bumper-off-and-headlights-out job, and even then I'm not sure the self-levelling will be fully compliant in both RHD and LHD countries. Downgrading to bog-standard headlights and sticking deflectors on them is the other option, but it seems a bit of a shame do to that on a VXR.

As the car's already fitted with self-levelling sensors, could an AFL conversion be achieved just by transplanting the relevant headlight parts from a set of AFL headlights, adding the control module and wiring it up to the engine bay fuse box, or is there more to it than that?

Feel free to reply by PM if you don't want to divert the thread off-course!

Thanks in advance,

Hutch

[dancole90]

Love the wheels now, wasn't so keen on the black. Look more standard tot he car rather than black looking overly modified like someone else said.
I'd lose the BBS caps, there's nothing wrong with having decent quality copies on wheels, especially when they cost so much but I wouldn't badge them up to look genuine. That's just my opinion ofcourse.

+1 for some VXR caps.

[djgritt]

hutch85 said:

Hi Dave,

Lovely VXR you have there

Apologies in advance for sending the thread back in time a bit, but I see you've taken part in at least two AFL conversions on these and would massively appreciate any pointers you might have (or a how-to, if there is one!). I'm in the process of importing a British VXR to France and I'm looking to upgrade the standard xenons to AFL, as I travel a lot between France and the UK and a full AFL setup would allow me to switch the lights between RHD/LHD beams just by plugging in / removing the fuse from slot 38 in the engine bay.

Adjusting the standard xenons each time I cross the channel sounds like it's going to be a bumper-off-and-headlights-out job, and even then I'm not sure the self-levelling will be fully compliant in both RHD and LHD countries. Downgrading to bog-standard headlights and sticking deflectors on them is the other option, but it seems a bit of a shame do to that on a VXR.

As the car's already fitted with self-levelling sensors, could an AFL conversion be achieved just by transplanting the relevant headlight parts from a set of AFL headlights, adding the control module and wiring it up to the engine bay fuse box, or is there more to it than that?

Feel free to reply by PM if you don't want to divert the thread off-course!

Thanks in advance,

Hutch

Hi, sorry for the late reply, I've been abroad on Holiday and haven't been coming online for the duration!

I'll PM you the details I have from doing my swaps, and the details for a couple of people who have done this as well, with better access to the GM Tooling & parts to enable a 100% Factory Finish type of conversion.

My swap is one that works fine for the UK and for the bendy lights etc, but isn't suitable for the Continent as it's not been done quite the same as if they were fitted during the car build...

[Patch888]

Fantastic effort, really nice VXR.

[djgritt]

Update time.

Not done much with this as been on Holiday with the Mazda and working. Little taster of what the Vectra missed out on doing...

IMG_7228 by djgritt, on Flickr

IMG_7446 by djgritt, on Flickr

StelvioPassPanoramic by djgritt, on Flickr

IMG_7666 by djgritt, on Flickr



Anyway, one night last week I scraped my wheel whilst I was out dogging, sorry, driving down a narrow lane. Balls. Having a custom colour is now maybe not such a good idea? :LOL:





Wheel is booked in for Refurb again on the 12th, just in time for me to go to Castle Combe on the 13th.


Also, whilst the car was on stands, I decided to do something I'd been meaning to do all summer, but just couldn't be arsed to.

The Yellowstuff Pads I fitted earlier this year have a thin rubber (it appears) backing to help reduce/prevent brake squeal. I gave them the benefit of the doubt and relied on these bonded shims to keep the pads quiet. Shouldn't have bothered, as they have squealed a bit since fitting, albeit not all of the time.
So, with the front wheels off (I've taken the undamaged one off too to take to the Refurb place so they have a colour reference from when they painted them originally), I whipped the pads out and slapped a bit of Copperslip on their backs and then refitted them. Untested as yet, but hopefully they will eliminate the squealing completely. Easy job too, ~10 mins on each side.









Now the car just needs another wash and polish ready for the weekend, oh, and the wheels refitting. Ha.

I'm still putting the money aside for Mapping, so getting there. I just need a good overseas trip to come up through work to bring it a bulk of extra pay and it'll be sorted!

[djgritt]

Car went up to Castle Combe, fault free.

Got parked up at the back of the circuit near a hedge, like so;

IMG_9113 by djgritt, on Flickr

Probably got called a Diesel replica or similar, if it was even noticed by anyone atall.

Car got driven back home, fault free.

Car then got put in back into it's tiny garage, and is now awaiting it's MOT, Tax renewal and not long after that, Insurance renewal. Tedious and expensive times ahead. Yay.

[djgritt]

At the end of September, I took this off the road - SORNed it, parked it in the garage and generally forgot about it.

I had been through a quiet spell at work, and didn't have enough spare funds to Insure it, to get it MOT'd and for ~£500 of VED, all within a week or so of eachother.

I insured it though, (after getting a reasonable discount on my previous years rate) mainly in case my GF drove her car through the garage door and into it over the winter. Don't tell her that...


Anyway, a couple of weeks ago, I decided that it needed to be brought back into use - I am currently trying to change job, which will mean I lose my company car and this would need to be available to me.

Squeezed into the garage to check all the fluids etc, then fired it up. No problems atall, not bad considering it had been sat for a while. Gave it a couple of minds of idling and then got it moved...



Still nice and shiny in daylight.

Spent a short time swapping the Catalyser back onto the Car this morning.



Then did the basic checks - lights, tyres, screenwash/wipers, seatbelts etc. All good. Then it was time to get it booked in for test.
Managed to get it into a local MOT Garage on the same day as getting it out and ready, which was handy. So off I went...



It failed.

NSF Lower Balljoint had excessive play.
Both Front ARB Droplinks were knackered.

The Droplinks were advisories on the last Test, but, I kind of forgot about them...
The Balljoint is a new issue, and unfortunately, is built into the Arm, so a whole new part was needed.

All of the parts were ordered that day and due to arrive at the garage on The following Monday. I was going to be working abroad from the Sunday night, so left the car with them for the week to get it all sorted for me.

I returned on the Thursday; and £260 later, plus the set up of a £42p/m Direct Debit to the DVLA, I was taking it home, and out for a little run in the evening.

I used it for an 80 mile jaunt to an Interview the following day, in crap weather. Great fun, even though I was taking it easy. I have missed having decent overtaking power on tap massively, and I forgot how comfortable a cruiser this is. On the downside, it's now minging. Hate rural roads in the winter! Ha.



I am back abroad now, so it's back in the garage awaiting a clean up on my return. Lucky me!

Oh, some may notice the Wind Deflectors are gone. Wasn't sold on them atall, so off they came. They won't be going back on.

Also, when I next have free time, the Decat section will be going back on, along with maybe a couple of other Exhaust modifications to up the noise a tad more...

[djgritt]

Bought some cheeky bits... And went out in the cold (after returning from 11days in the Desert...) to play with them.

Random Steel things;




Backed the car to the garage, on the flat, ready to lift up. (Actually a reused photo from after I finished here);




Whipped off the Tailpipe Trims;




What was left;




Have a look down the actual Tailpipe - backbox Baffles exposed;




Insert received metal items;




Give them a little tap to make sure they are nicely seated, and now look inside again - no more exposed Baffles;




Refit Tailpipe trims, level off and tighten. Put car back on the ground;





Finished.

[griffin dai]

Looking good mate. Did you get it mapped in the end?

.....Ive still yet to see one on the road!! Must be mega rare!

[djgritt]

griffin dai said:

Looking good mate. Did you get it mapped in the end?

.....Ive still yet to see one on the road!! Must be mega rare!

Not yet. May have a job change which would make me a commuter, so it may need to be swapped for something a bit more frugal. I hope I can manage to run it for a while instead though!



It's received a lot of attention recently, in an effort to tidy it up some more. It's also had it's first deep clean and polish for the year, so I took some pics at a stop on our way home from a Family lunch today...

IMG_0949 by djgritt, on Flickr

IMG_0951 by djgritt, on Flickr

IMG_0953 by djgritt, on Flickr

IMG_0958 by djgritt, on Flickr

IMG_0960 by djgritt, on Flickr

IMG_0963 by djgritt, on Flickr

IMG_0964 by djgritt, on Flickr

[insanelewis21]

What a lovely looking car. I had a vectra b GSI for about 5 and a bit years and loved it.

[Mr Happy]

Where did you get the exhaust inserts from? if you don't mind me asking

[djgritt]

Updates.

Didn't do a lot with the car recently, mainly due to trying to sort out a role change at work which would have seen me start using this as a Commuter car (and probably selling it) - however, upon recently receiving my new contract, I got a nice suprise, so it's staying for a while longer yet now.




So, with that in mind, it was time to get the next step done with the car - Remapping.

In preparation for it, I bought a new set of Spark Plugs - Denso IKH24 - Iridium and already gapped to 0.8mm.




Got to fitting them within a day of delivery. It wasn't a bad job atall, but just a bit fiddly at the Rear Bank, requiring quite a bit of dismantling to get the access required. Some have had issues with breaking Vacuum pipes or Multiplug clips, but I just took my time, and it was all good.








The old OEM Iridium Plugs weren't too bad actually, but still a bit worn. I've never had them changed in my ownership, so no idea how old they may be without looking through my History folder.

My JZW Tuning USB-OBDII flash module then arrived, which needs using with a Laptop. Lo & behold, my Laptop decided to crap itself and die. Brilliant. Cue a call to the Mother in Law to see if she still had her old one that I could steal, thankfully, she did. Good. Sorted.

I downloaded the software to use with JZW - GM iFlash - easily installed and ready to use. I then extracted the OE Map and sent it to John (JZW) in the evening. He promptly replied with thanks for using his product & services, and we had some technical chat too regarding the maps. The last message of the evening was that he would work on my new Maps overnight - bear in mind he is US based so behind us time wise.

Today I woke up to another mail with my 'Stage 3' Maps - his Stage 3 is for cars with suitable Exhaust changes, which mine seem to be - the claimed/book figures for this Stage are ~335hp/~439lbft - he supplies a pair of maps, a 'Full' Power and a smoother 'Soft' variant.

Downloaded the new Map software, and got it installed - but started with the 'Soft' variant;

Connect up and select desired Map;




Let it write;




Let it verify;




Done;




Then, took it out.

Now, I didn't really know what to expect, seeing other Vectra VXR owners say the difference between Standard & Mapped is like 'Night & Day' made me expect it to turn into some violent b'stard animal. I was wrong, it is still very smooth and progressive. Not really a bad thing though!
However, it is hitting much higher Boost levels in gear, and it really is much quicker through them. It pulls along VERY nicely now. I am now hitting almost double the standard Max Boost levels in 2nd gear alone. Which is nice.

Old Peak Boost pressure for reference;




New Peak Boost pressure on the 'Soft' map;




I then popped back home, reconnected and installed then 'Full' map - again, simple to do, the same process as above.
Then, took it out again. Initially no real difference over the 'Soft' map, but once on more open routes and able to open it up more, I found most of the in gear Boost pressures to be higher than the 'Soft' map, in each individual gear. So again, definitely quicker, and still, even with higher Boost levels very smooth and progressive.

New Peak Boost pressure on the 'Full' map;




I've left the 'Full' Map installed for now, because, well, it's described as Full Power...

No clutch slipping yet, but I haven't tried any hard launches etc, so haven't expected any.

Also, Exhaust note is changed too, not by too much. Still quite loud though.

[griffin dai]

Surprised it feels that smooth mate, mine really pins you into the seat? It's pretty brutal when it kicks in but seems to tail off rapidly around 4.5k. I'm running the 'aggressive' stage 1 map though, maybe John's done a few changes on the new maps and tonned them down a bit to save the clutch? I've had it a couple years now so maybe there's new maps available? I loaded his 'revised' stg1 map last year which was a fair bit smoother (and probably quicker really) but preferred the feel of the aggressive map

Mine slipped as soon as I floored it That's largely my fault though as I booted it in 4th from around 50, chatting to john and he recommend a run up from 3rd instead, much better but still slips slightly around 3.5k.

Ref the clutch, that SPEC mini twin kit I've mentioned on VXROL is on hold for a moment. Fingers crossed it comes off next month then I can go for it, should hold 650ft/lbs so plenty of headroom here for the stage 5 tune this summer (not a lot available that will hold the torque)

Did he recommend those plugs? Double check this one but I think we all run NGK LFR7AIX on the JZW tunes? There's a post on UKSaabs somewhere and they' we been found for around 45/50 quid iirc?

[djgritt]

griffin dai said:

Surprised it feels that smooth mate, mine really pins you into the seat? It's pretty brutal when it kicks in but seems to tail off rapidly around 4.5k. I'm running the 'aggressive' stage 1 map though, maybe John's done a few changes on the new maps and tonned them down a bit to save the clutch? I've had it a couple years now so maybe there's new maps available? I loaded his 'revised' stg1 map last year which was a fair bit smoother (and probably quicker really) but preferred the feel of the aggressive map

Mine slipped as soon as I floored it That's largely my fault though as I booted it in 4th from around 50, chatting to john and he recommend a run up from 3rd instead, much better but still slips slightly around 3.5k.

Ref the clutch, that SPEC mini twin kit I've mentioned on VXROL is on hold for a moment. Fingers crossed it comes off next month then I can go for it, should hold 650ft/lbs so plenty of headroom here for the stage 5 tune this summer (not a lot available that will hold the torque)

Did he recommend those plugs? Double check this one but I think we all run NGK LFR7AIX on the JZW tunes? There's a post on UKSaabs somewhere and they' we been found for around 45/50 quid iirc?

It definitely feels a smooth curve. Saying that, I haven't done much of a drive yet, so need to go out a bit more to get more of a feel for it.
I have done some low rev throttle on in higher gears and don't seem to have felt any slippage. But that may come later... Ha

John recommended the NGKs - but I had already bought the Denso ones - the IKH24 are almost the same as the NGKs, but one step cooler (equivalent to an NGK 8)
He did say he would still recommend the NGKs anyway, but I'll keep an eye on how it goes and if issues arise that point to the Plugs, I'll change them out.

[Turbodiesel1976]