Janosh's VXR8

[Janosh]

The culprit



Lovely new BTR dual springs and pushrods fitted:

[Janosh]

Yeap! I was very lucky that the valve didn’t drop.

I’m already running a mild cam, the (broken) beehive springs were fitted when the cam went in but it turns out that they don’t last long!

Currently just under 500bhp (at SRR) so happy enough with the power

[Janosh]

Treated the OTR to a bit of a clean this afternoon... ready for a road trip to the Peak District next weekend:



I’m impressed with how effective the K&N recharge kit is, helped flush out the debris and almost looks like new again.

[Janosh]

Running perfextly and holding her own in the Peaks today:

[Janosh]

One thing that became clear over the run out in the Peaks, was the quality of the coilovers. I’ve had them for a while now but rarely get the chance to drive as hard as I did on Saturday.

For day to day driving, they’re a great kit. Height and damping is fully adjustable giving lots of options to dial in the looks and comfort you want but when really pushing on a B road, they have completely transformed the car, in a good way!

It’s now much more composed and confidence inspiring, happy to keep pace with my friends in cars that are more suited to B road blasting. Happy days.

[Janosh]

The ride is perfect, can be setup from anything that’s potentially softer than stick to rock hard!

There’s 30 clicks of damping adjustment and I think I’m running +7.

I’ve only had them on about a year (few thousand miles), I procrastinated a lot before having them fitted!

[Janosh]

Another clean MOT pass, the upgrades are almost paying for themselves

Edited by Janosh on Thursday 17th December 13:45

[Janosh]

A little video of the VXR8 working perfectly as family friendly transport

[Janosh]

Sometimes it’s the little jobs that are most satisfying:

Cabin filter (a little past it’s due date!)



And a new washer filler cap which had annoyed me for years!



She’s running well and ready for some more adventures...

[Janosh]

The VXR8 doesn't come with a cabin filter from the factory, initially you have to remove a plastic 'leaf catcher' which enables you to install a proper cabin / pollen filter. The genuine GM cabin filters come supplied with instructions on how to remove the OEM plastic mesh so it's not just an aftermarket upgrade.

Not sure if that might be the same for the Monaro?

[Janosh]

Took the old girl for some oversteer practice at Thruxton where they operate a decent sized skid pan…





After spinning out lots of the first run, I completed a good few full laps on the lock stops…. Great way to spend the morning

[Janosh]

It’s all fairly low speed so helmets aren’t required and I didn’t notice any tyre wear at all… polished wet concrete is slippery!!

[Janosh]

Took delivery of a nice little modernisation upgrade today, it’s a replacement hvac control unit that enables you to fit an aftermarket double din head unit:



Looking forward to having DAB, CarPlay, etc

[Janosh]

You have to remove both sides of trim in order to remove the oem head unit but it’s easy enough:



I’ll post some finished pictures tomorrow as I ran short of time getting it all back together…

[Janosh]

Fitted and working

[Janosh]

I love the Senator spoiler as it adds to the understated ‘family saloon’ looks… makes it a little more Q car in my eyes.

I had originally planned to have it body coloured but instead added the black side stripes. I still ponder over adding more back / removing all the black but generally my conclusion is to leave it as is..

[Janosh]

Back in the Peaks this week, good times with family and awesome roads everywhere

[Janosh]

Back home after 1000 miles of excellent trouble free motoring, still puts a big smile on my face

[Janosh]

A little over 5 years since I started this thread, which means the battery was near the end of its service life… the S5 010 is not the cheapest but it is pretty much the best option for these cars.

She’s going to Carl for a service next week and aside from the usual maintenance I’m going to try the ‘less loud’ Wortec plates. I must be getting old…!

[Janosh]

Carl’s new workshop is pretty spectacular….



The good news is that my magnetic sump plug and plugs are all looking perfectly healthy as she passes 110k miles