2004 Vectra 2.0 Turbo Daily Shed Driver *Picture Heavy*
Discussion
I've been browsing Pistonheads for some time now, thought I might as well start a thread on my shed... A "lovely" 2004 Vectra C 2.0 Turbo SRi (Z20NET 175PS Saab engine)
The Vectra has had a few mods, a full SS exhaust with twin exits like a V6, lowered on springs and been remapped (previous owner says 230bhp), but I am skeptical. However I have driven a standard version of the car and it is less powerful, but significantly less torquey, mine feels like a diesel the way the boost comes in about 2k rpm, but unlike a diesel it holds out to almost 6k rpm before tailing off- so I'm happy with it.
Anyway here are a couple of pictures:


Its not it grear condition but it's not too bad, however I do want to tidy it up the best I can, without spending a lot of money (read hardly any money haha)
Luckily the iPhone camera doesn't show how badly the car is stone chipped, it has done 150k, pretty much all of it on the motorway behind a grit truck from what I can tell. So first on the list (there's quite a list of things) is to try and sort it out on the 'cheap' as I'm not forking out for a respray on a high mileage shed
To fix the stone chips the best I can, I've bought a paint pen set from Halfords (including the primer and lacquer ones), wet and dry sandpaper (1500+2000 grit), some rubbing compound, polish and a bit of elbow grease. Then set out to see what I could do :-).
So far I have polished out some really bad scratches on the bootlid

De-stonechipped the N/S doors

Made a start on the worst part... The bonnet
At this point, the stonechips have been subjected to the primer pen, thats why they stand out in the photo:



Also working on the front wing

I also found an A4 piece of that eBay fake carbon fibre vinyl that I bought a couple of years ago, thought I would try to improve the look of some of the very worn plastic bits around the car, I only took pictures of the door handle and the key afterwards so not too much to look at..



Well that's it so far, but I have a whole list of things that need cleaning up, so will keep this updated as I go :-)
Lee
The Vectra has had a few mods, a full SS exhaust with twin exits like a V6, lowered on springs and been remapped (previous owner says 230bhp), but I am skeptical. However I have driven a standard version of the car and it is less powerful, but significantly less torquey, mine feels like a diesel the way the boost comes in about 2k rpm, but unlike a diesel it holds out to almost 6k rpm before tailing off- so I'm happy with it.
Anyway here are a couple of pictures:


Its not it grear condition but it's not too bad, however I do want to tidy it up the best I can, without spending a lot of money (read hardly any money haha)
Luckily the iPhone camera doesn't show how badly the car is stone chipped, it has done 150k, pretty much all of it on the motorway behind a grit truck from what I can tell. So first on the list (there's quite a list of things) is to try and sort it out on the 'cheap' as I'm not forking out for a respray on a high mileage shed

To fix the stone chips the best I can, I've bought a paint pen set from Halfords (including the primer and lacquer ones), wet and dry sandpaper (1500+2000 grit), some rubbing compound, polish and a bit of elbow grease. Then set out to see what I could do :-).
So far I have polished out some really bad scratches on the bootlid

De-stonechipped the N/S doors

Made a start on the worst part... The bonnet
At this point, the stonechips have been subjected to the primer pen, thats why they stand out in the photo:



Also working on the front wing

I also found an A4 piece of that eBay fake carbon fibre vinyl that I bought a couple of years ago, thought I would try to improve the look of some of the very worn plastic bits around the car, I only took pictures of the door handle and the key afterwards so not too much to look at..



Well that's it so far, but I have a whole list of things that need cleaning up, so will keep this updated as I go :-)
Lee
I am very pleased with the bits that are done, but the pictures of the bonnet and front wing were taken this afternoon, so that's how it looks at the moment - not great! Haha! Plus it's really dirty from all the polishing and wet sanding, so to most it looks like a scrapper!
Will get some more done tomorrow if I can, will remember to take plenty of pictures on the way
Will get some more done tomorrow if I can, will remember to take plenty of pictures on the way

The Spruce goose said:
What you bought a VX over a 'drivers' car, such as a BMW stupidio x10 msport m tech multi fast sport bodykit diesel.. The shame 
Refreshing change to see something different .
Looks good nice sound?
Looks quite sleepperish, how does it really handle on b roads?
Annoyingly it's not much louder than standard - other than it pops quite nicely on overrun.. may have to have a play with the exhaust 
Refreshing change to see something different .
Looks good nice sound?
Looks quite sleepperish, how does it really handle on b roads?

It's not the last word in dynamic driving... Steering is a little light and a bit slow - however like a lot of newer Vauxhalls it has a surprising amount of grip. The brakes (F:302mm & R:296mm both dual rotor) are really good, and the lowered suspension makes it feel a little bit sporty too.. add that to the almost instant torque that pulls reasonably hard out of tight corners, it does make B-Road driving fairly fun.
I also use my girlfriends Alfa 147 2.0 a lot (I had no help in the choosing of her car.. honest ;-) Haha) so I get to have fun in that.
Small update of the progress...
Second layer of paint for one side of the bonnet:

Also wanted to see if I could do anything with the exhaust tips:

So far I've only wet sanded them, will do a bit more another time and polish then up again, vast improvement already though:

Wet sanded most of the car now.. O/S doors need penning and sanding properly, then the roof.. Then whole car sanded with 2000grit- then I can start polishing :-)

Second layer of paint for one side of the bonnet:

Also wanted to see if I could do anything with the exhaust tips:

So far I've only wet sanded them, will do a bit more another time and polish then up again, vast improvement already though:

Wet sanded most of the car now.. O/S doors need penning and sanding properly, then the roof.. Then whole car sanded with 2000grit- then I can start polishing :-)

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