My First Monaro....

[djgritt]

Sold my old Vectra VXR in August last year, to help fund a house purchase. Regretted ever since, as on reflection, I probably could have kept it...

Skip everything from there; house bought, engagement, new job blah blah.

With losing a Mazda 6 Sports Tourer company car, I needed to sort out replacement transport - doing 50 miles a day commuting dictated that I needed to get something that was relatively sensible on fuel, relatively practical in lieu of losing the large estate car, comfortable enough for racking up the miles, reliable enough to not worry too much, and relatively cheap to repair should anything need attention over time**...

I found this advertised on Autotrader, with a vague headline on the advert, but plenty in the description, called the seller and arranged a visit. A drive semi-north to Aylesbury in the rain, and I completed the necessary/recommended checks, had a ride out in it (couldn't drive it as my work insurance didn't cover me to drive other vehicles) and promptly negotiated some money off and left a deposit. As my Gf and I were on our way out to a wedding reception in central London that day, we couldn't take it with us, so agreed to pick it up a week later...

Yesterday, we went back to Aylesbury, and within 20mins of arriving, I was heading home all excited.






Anyway, enough chat, here it is;

2006 Vauxhall Monaro 5.7 CV8.....

Supercharged.


IMG_4249 by Dave Gritt, on Flickr

IMG_4241 by Dave Gritt, on Flickr

IMG_4238 by Dave Gritt, on Flickr

IMG_4242 by Dave Gritt, on Flickr

IMG_4246 by Dave Gritt, on Flickr

IMG_4237 by Dave Gritt, on Flickr

IMG_4235 by Dave Gritt, on Flickr

IMG_4233 by Dave Gritt, on Flickr

IMG_4231 by Dave Gritt, on Flickr

IMG_4228 by Dave Gritt, on Flickr

IMG_4229 by Dave Gritt, on Flickr

IMG_4250 by Dave Gritt, on Flickr


Spec is as follows;

2006 Holen/Vauxhall Monaro CV8
Odyssey Blue
5.7 LS1 V8
Harrop 112 Supercharger/Intercooler - 9psi Boost
Wortec/Powerflow Exhaust System
K&N Intake
LS7 Clutch/Flywheel kit
Ripshifter
AP Racing Brakes - 6pot Front/4pot Rear inc. braided Brake Hoses
Pedders 'Low' suspension kit
Pedders Drop Links
Pedders Quickrack kit
Monkfish 'Road Response Pac'
Monkfish 'Rear End Pac'
'Holden Design' rear Spoiler
Monaro VXR style rear light clusters
Sony aftermarket HU

Dyno print out from a couple of years back show it at 485hp with a big old chunk of torque.... It pulls, pulls, pulls and then pulls some more. Also, that whine...

It also has had an LPG conversion ~5yrs ago, of which I am generally unsure - it runs fine on it, other than a slight change of engine tone it feels no different atall. However, LPG adds a wedge to the Insurance... I am going to see a specialist about the disabling/removal of the system, ie what is involved, cost etc; after this I will consider my options.

It cost me £69 to fill with Tesco 99 today, from as good as empty (15miles on the Trip Comp) which is really not that bad. It does get through it some though - probably be good to get 250 miles to a tank with sensible driving. The attraction of the supercharger means it will rarely achieve that. :lol:

It has had a frankly crap install of Audio equipment - 2x Amps, a Sub, a pretty crap Sony HU and some questionable wiring in between... I have already removed the Sub & Amps and made some wiring repairs/rectifications but it's still not complete. I will be looking for an OEM Headunit over the coming months as it will be far easier and more suited. This work is in progress now.

I was also given a pair of Wortec backboxes, as the previous owner had some Powerflow boxes installed to the remainder of the Wortec system - I am going to 'overhaul' the Wortec boxes as they have the ability to add in electric cut-out valves to be fitted to them which will allow switchable exhaust volume - why you ask, because it is currently fking loud, and it drones horrifically at 1100-1400rpm, ie right where the revs sit when you are curising at ~70mph in 6th. :lol:

Also, some additonal 'Supercharged' badges have been added, I am not a fan, it is intended to bin these, however the one on the dash looks like it may have been superglued on... FFS.

One other immediate change, is a set of reg plates - these have bottom line slogans saying 'Rear Wheel Fun' - pretty ghey TBH, in the bin.

I bloody love it already.

Subsequently, I've found a fair amount of info for this very car from the owner before last by searches on here - a user called 'Boggie' had it, did a fair amount of the Mods too.

• sensible old Diesel 'daily drive' in progress, TDCi Focus a likely contender... :lol:

[ARAF]

Frankly, I'd leave the gas on this and use it daily. I can't think of a better way to get to work.

[globalfish]

ARAF said:

Frankly, I'd leave the gas on this and use it daily. I can't think of a better way to get to work.

I'll happily second ARAF's comment
Only thing is, although I work 10 miles away from home, the journey back is strangely 35 miles or more in the VXR8

[maccavvy]

nice looking car mate.. and great spec .rare colour too.

but id leave the gas on.. mine has it.. 240 miles to 25 quidish .

makes no difference to my policy too .

[ArnieVXR]

That really did have the full Monkfish catalog thrown at it

Very nice...

[mfp4073]

That is a lovely looking car with a fantastic spec..I dread to think how much that cost?
I see you have the pedders low suspension fitted, how does the car feel on our typical crappy UK roads? the reason I ask is I am trying to decide if I should fit that same set up on my car.

John

[SturdyHSV]

Lived in Aylesbury nearly 7 years and didn't see this thing around once

If you get a replacement factory head unit, you'll probably need the radio code. To be honest I'm not sure if you need the one stored in the BCM so that it matches up, or if you had the one for the OEM head unit then that'd overwrite the stored one...?

[mfp4073]

That is a lovely looking car with a fantastic spec..I dread to think how much that lot cost?


John

[rytaylor]

Looks a superb spec.

They make excellent long distance cruisers, keep the gas and use it for commuting. Beats a diesel focus any day.

[vxr2010]

nice car nice spec and a good colour won't ever look dirty , I did not read all the bits about the head unit , I kept my original style head unit , the code is specific to the head unit try the code that came with the car and original head unit if not pm as I've have a code that may work depending on the year of the head unit

[djgritt]

Cheers all.

I will give the Gas a go for a bit before I decide - I'm not really wanting to put ~12k+ miles on it every year so won't be commuting in it all the time...


It was an absolute steal of a price IMO, a friend with a 6.0 VXr helped with some info and the advice given was 'just bloody buy it'.
I will say, it was bought for nicely under £10k.

mfp4073 said:

I see you have the pedders low suspension fitted, how does the car feel on our typical crappy UK roads? the reason I ask is I am trying to decide if I should fit that same set up on my car.

John

I have no comparison of a standard Monaro, however it is not crashy and is surprisingly smooth.
My partners unmodified Abarth 595 is a hell of a lot worse for firmness, put it that way...

[Janosh]

Great buy and it sounds like you've got some good plans for it - welcome to the club

[L33 LEG]

Welcome to PH gritt (I'm the fellow monaro owner on CS). Still can't believe you got this for that price with all those mods.

Before taking off the gas double check if your insurance is bothered. Half seem to not add any extra and the other half of companies won't touch you with it at all.

[blue666uk]

I had LPG on my last Monaro (an earlier CV8), plenty of mods - it was fine, but I only used it when doing longer runs on the motorway, for shorter stuff, i couldn't be bothered, and just used it on petrol.

[Fluffsri]

Nice one matey!

[Afroman]

Very nice! My first GTO was Cyclone Gray in color too! It is interesting in the US all 05-06 GTOs are LS2 powered.

[siovey]

Nice one , mate. Almost an exact replica of mine...