Vauxhall Vectra VXR

[djgritt]

Took it out again, mostly to get fuel... Couldn't resist taking the long route to get there.

It is quite pokey now. The Full Map isn't as smooth as the Soft map, I can feel it a bit better now compared to yesterday.

Throttle planting in 2nd whilst already doing 30-40mph results in a burst of wheelspin and it taking off...

It will try to torque steer too, but the Quaife tries to minimise it - however, already learning not to apply heavy throttle on the bends - it may induce Clarkson-esque 'Catastrophic Understeer'... Ha.

[maurauth]

Lovely motor, been obsessed with these ever since I had a 2.0T Signum back in the day.

Have you been to Regal recently as I'm sure I saw a silver VXR around here with a small front plate and PH sticker!

Is that the silver lightning? IIRC there were only something like 30 of them made, rarer than a veyron amirite haha

[djgritt]

maurauth said:

Lovely motor, been obsessed with these ever since I had a 2.0T Signum back in the day.

Have you been to Regal recently as I'm sure I saw a silver VXR around here with a small front plate and PH sticker!

Is that the silver lightning? IIRC there were only something like 30 of them made, rarer than a veyron amirite haha

Thanks,

I haven't been to Regal, ever. I was out in the New Forest over Easter with this, but that's the closest I've been to Southampton in it for a long time.

There is a guy on the VXR Forums that seems to have copied a lot of my changes, including the small plate and wheels... I think his is Silver too?

Mine is Star Silver, but I would have liked if I could have found a Silver Lightning one - it's a darker shade, looks much nicer. )

[djgritt]

Trying to arrange a visit to a RR at the moment - hoping to visit Surrey Rolling Road this week as I have a day off, if they can fit me in anyway.

If not, I'll be looking a little closer to home - maybe Janspeed in Salisbury.

Car still seems to be running well. The extra power/torque is addictive though...

Anyway, got a small parcel this week;










Not as much of an extension as I expected, but seeing as I run the current bolts with 5mm Spacers without issue, I should be able to remove them and go to 10mm or so instead.

[griffin dai]

I saw my first VXR last week!! That's how rare they are, first I've seen! In red, they look lovely. Got a nice mean looking road presence about them and sounded great on chat, pity he was going the other way though I'd have had a quick play! Missus thought I'd gone mad pointing at it shouting Vectra VXR, Vectra VXR!!!!!

What's your thoughts on polybushing these? This 9-3 needs a few suspension jobs sorted, I think they're identical chassis wise? so I'm getting it fully polybushed with Black Powerflex, maybe a bit hard but it's not used much these days so not too bothered about a stiff ride. Quaifes also still on the cards but the spec clutch upgrades been put on hold again

Also did you go for the rose jointed drop links in the vxrol group buy? I missed out but will be getting a set when they're back in stock. I've asked on the forum but no reply.....no love for the Saab!

[djgritt]

griffin dai said:

I saw my first VXR last week!! That's how rare they are, first I've seen! In red, they look lovely. Got a nice mean looking road presence about them and sounded great on chat, pity he was going the other way though I'd have had a quick play! Missus thought I'd gone mad pointing at it shouting Vectra VXR, Vectra VXR!!!!!

What's your thoughts on polybushing these? This 9-3 needs a few suspension jobs sorted, I think they're identical chassis wise? so I'm getting it fully polybushed with Black Powerflex, maybe a bit hard but it's not used much these days so not too bothered about a stiff ride. Quaifes also still on the cards but the spec clutch upgrades been put on hold again

Also did you go for the rose jointed drop links in the vxrol group buy? I missed out but will be getting a set when they're back in stock. I've asked on the forum but no reply.....no love for the Saab!

They are a rare sight. I haven't seen many out there away from any Events anyway. But, I'm trained in on them now, can spot them quite easily now.

I haven't considered Polybushing mine - it is a hard ride as it is TBH. I will get some of the Poly Engine Mount inserts though soon enough, just to help take up any slop now with the extra slug of power/torque.

Quaife is an excellent piece of kit - best thing I've done to it by far. Highly recommended!

I haven't bothered with the Rose Jointed Droplinks either. The Meyle HD ones seem ok for me.

[griffin dai]

Tried changing the front engine mount earlier for a Powerflex yellow bush I've had the last year! Jeez its welded on there! Just won't budge, gave up after an hours struggling and swearing so will try again tomorrow with some wd40! Easiest bush to upgrade and I fail at the first hurdle

Pretty sure all these are original bushes so the garage's gonna love me next month!

Yep Meyle are my 2nd choice if the rose jointed ones aren't in stock next month.

[djgritt]

Not quite the day I wanted.

The car has a couple of running issues that were identified on the Dyno unfortunately.

Yesterday I ended up putting the 'Soft' variant of the Map back on - I was getting a little occasional blip on throttle application, like hesitation. The 'Soft' map seemed to not be doing this so felt it was better to run on for the checks.

I got the Surrey Rolling Road, had delays getting into their workshop (due to a lorry parking across the entrance to unload) but eventually got in and setup. Good. All well so far.




Discussed the possibility of running checks on both Maps, as they take ~5 mins to swap over and they were happy to do it. Great, exceeding the plan now.

I got their Boost sensor plumbed in in place of my Gauge, bit hot on the rear bank for access, but still easy enough, and then it was time to run, on the 'Soft' map.

Then it went downhill...

Seemed to be going well, but the power was under my expectations and the tuner claims, by quite a margin. They ran it another 3 or so times, with consistent but below par results.

We had a chat, and their diagnosis was the Boost not holding - like Actuator bypass, with the Boost gradually tailing off and taking the power with it. Bummer.
They did spot an AFR blip/spike as the boost initially builds, but it then dropped and stabilised to a normal level throughout the rest of the curve, and they said they were happy with it in general (discounting the spike) but advised on trying to get the spike tuned out, something to mail back to JZW anyway.

The boost is definitely increased over standard, and the increased power is over a far longer band than before - with a nice slug of torque at lower revs, which is why it feels more powerful than before, even though it may have not been...

I then put the 'Full' map on and we started a test - I got a spike on the AFR again, same place, but then it ramped up to quite a lean mixture and they aborted. They didn't want to run it again on that Map, understandably.
Another chat, and as soon as it hit a lean AFR, the ECU cut back and dropped the power. It was on course to make more, it was clear on the graph. The boost was higher again and was also tailing off like the other map.


So, some frustrating graphs;

'Soft' Map - Power & Boost;




'Soft' Map - Power & Torque;




'Soft' Map - Power & AFR (Red lines) / 'Full' Map - Power & AFR (Pink Lines)




'Soft' Map - Boost & AFR (Green Lines) / 'Full' Map - Boost & AFR (Pink Lines)





All there to see.

Frustrating, but there you go.

Positives from today?
Other than a spike, the AFRs on the currently installed, 'Soft' map, seem Ok.
Powerbands have definitely changed over the last RR profile
Evidence is present that a Power/Torque increase is on the cards of the Boost levels can be maintained rather than tail off.

To Do List for now;

- Email JZW with Graphs and ask for retune for tweaking low speed AFRs on the 'Soft' map
- Email JZW with Graphs and ask for views on the 'Full' map AFRs altogether
- Price up / Source Electronic Boost Control Solenoid - in case of an issue - common issue on Vectra VXRs, can be worse when Mapped
- Price up / Source Actuator - if it can't be adjusted atall
- Install above changes
- Return to Dyno and keep fingers crossed.

[Crafty_]

imhoo, cut your losses, go visit the folk in Norfolk.

[Mr Happy]

There's someone on ecuconnections with a very similar looking graph - afr goes massively rich after 4,500rpm: http://www.ecuconnections.com/forum/viewtopic.php?...

Possibly a missed map or missed limiter maybe? I'm not a tuner though, I have dabbled with CDTI remapping but that's as far as it goes with me.

[amstrange1]

Hope JZW can help you sort things. Did you run it back on the stock map? Just wondering whether it's a map issue, or hardware failing?

[amstrange1]

Any news on this OP?

[djgritt]

amstrange1 said:

Any news on this OP?

Been speaking with the Tuner. Being quite co-operative at this point.

I'm going to do some data logging for him on the move for both maps (as requested), then go from there.


The graphs are similar in shaping/appearance to his other Stage3 tunes which is kind of reassuring; the AFR blip could be just that, possibly due to Dyno loading (hence being asked to get some road logging)

However, in the meantime, I am having thoughts to either change for an Astra VXR or to sell up and have a couple of years without a tinkering toy to help save some money towards Property. Selling up will free up at least £200 p/m hence the uncertainty at the moment...

[djgritt]

I got a new Boost Solenoid and fitted it. Didn't really notice any difference. Won't do any harm anyway.

I've had many discussions with JZW since my last updates, so things are progressing.
I received a new 'Full' power map this weekend which I am currently testing and logging data from with the Torque app.

It feels better, smoother, stronger than the last 'Full' map I had anyway...

[LukeST]

Awesome car and great thread!

Glad you get to keep it a bit longer, bookmarked!

[griffin dai]

Do you think it could be the plugs holding it back a bit?

[djgritt]

griffin dai said:

Do you think it could be the plugs holding it back a bit?

I've regapped them to 0.7mm from the 0.8mm that they were bought/installed - on inspection at the time they all looked in good condition too. I'm not getting any hint of misfire or hesitation either, so can't see them being at fault...

I am wondering if Injectors coukd be something to consider? Maybe maxing out on full load, hence the AFRs on the RR print out?

Hopefully the logging figures I'll get this week will give some answers. Once I work out how to use the Torque app.

[djgritt]

Not many updates for a while...

I was doing some data logging with the new map, it appeared to be doing ok, did a few trips of 15-20 miles and AFRs etc seemed to be ok.

Before I could get it back on a Dyno for more checks though, I had a slight lapse in concentration whilst running late for work, and then drove into the back of someone - no major damage, but enough.






Bugger.

Priced up a new Upper skin (Splitter and lower parts were undamaged) - new was ~£500 unprimed. Mental.

Decided to get my skin repaired instead - got a favourable quote, and sent it off. I would also get the V-Grille repainted at the same time.

Stripping the while thing down was a CRAP job. Too many clips. Annoying.






However, I needed to order some parts;

Upper Honeycomb
Chrome Grille stripe
Griffin Badge
VXR Badge (couldn't be fussed to remove and refit with new sticky stuff)
3/4 Scale Reg plate

I also got some tint film for the foglights, rather than new Tinted pattern units.

Also, whilst the car was off the road, I did a few maintenance and tidying up tasks;

Repainted the Calipers;










Stripped and rebuilt the Headlight washers, as they were not always closing fully;






Araldited a damaged bracket on the Drivers Headlight, which was made worse after the shunt;




Did an Oil/Filter change;










Received parcels;








Tinted the Foglights;




Received my bumper, this week, 2 days prior to leaving for Billing....
Rebuilt it, but my cheapy pattern Chrome trim would NOT fit. Atall. Instead of raging and forcing it and possibly damaging the paint, I refit the old snapped strip for now (luckily it was a clean snap and not chipped etc, so not toooooo noticeable) - it's not perfect being a repair, as it wouldn't plastic weld so has been bonded/bracketed instead. Ideally I need a replacement bumper...




After it was rebuilt, I spent a morning giving it a good wash and polish, and now, I am parked up at Billing for the weekend.

[griffin dai]

[KillerHERTZ]

Tinted the foglights? you any idea how hot they get?!?