A butch four-seat coupe... and a Monaro
Discussion
Hello all, quick introduction to my pair of curvy 1990s GM mutants. I picked up my Monaro CV8 in June 2018 and it was always the plan to buy a Tigra as well, partly because I'd need a backup car and partly because, well, look at it! I use the Monaro most days and the Tigra lives in my rented garage 30 miles away from my house. When I want to get some work done on the Monaro, which is often, they swap places.
The Monaro came from a trader called TCS in Oldham. It had a new MOT but only one piece of paper by way of service history (a bill for a replacement key). Driving it though, it was clear somebody had looked after it. The engine was silent apart from chirpy belts and the Milltek stainless exhaust with sports cats and minus mid-boxes grumbled and chuffed very pleasingly. Originally KV55WRC, it now goes by V500VXM, a throwback to Vauxhall showplates I remember seeing as a kid and to the Bathurst 500 in 1968 where the Monaro took 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th places.
My major concern was an underbelly that was starting to look distinctly orange. The brake lines were new but the fuel lines looked, and still look, past their best. There was surface rust everywhere, the car having spent the last 6 years in Edinburgh. However, a few stints in the garage with wire brushes, rust converter, rustproof primer, stonechip shield etc soon had it looking somewhere near respectable. I also replaced the rusty fuel tank straps with stainless steel numbers, replaced the propshaft centre bearing, which comes shot to pieces as standard on most Monaros these days, and totally eliminated a very distubing clunk from the diff just by putting in the right oil, Castrol Syntrax 75/140.
Then came the clutch. Nothing wrong with it but on a 115k car with no history I had no idea whether the pilot or release bearings had ever been changed and I wanted to get in there and see what was what. I also had a lot of oil on the bottom f the bell housing and the occasional slip when moving off from cold which to me spelled rear main seal leaking and causing clutch contamination. When I took it apart I found an LS7 clutch, the updated default replacement for the original LS1 type, but I also confirmed the seal was toast. I replaced the seal using a rear main cover alignment tool from Sac City Corvette and fitted a new clutch, flywheel, release bearing and pilot, plus a remote bleed line from Tick Performance and a section of master to slave cylinder pipe I'd made myself.
The scariest part of this job was when the pilot bearing defeated my slide hammer/puller and had to be Dremelled and chiselled out. Fortunately once I'd removed a fair bit of it, the remnants started to spin.
Meanwhile the nearside cat/downpipe join had cracked. I found an engineering shop opposite Brands Hatch and it was welded up for 30 quid. I hear Milltek are having their welding done on the mainland these days, aka China!
Apart from the exhaust, the only modification is a set of VXR brakes. I don't plan anything fancy or cosmetic just yet, just steady improvement. It's an everyday car and I look forward to being sent on long work trips, but no trip is long enough in this car. It loves galloping around the country in 6th gear at little more than a fast idle and when hustled around it will roar and gurgle and pop. I will upgrade the stereo at some point but only if I can have something that approximates the Borg Green backlighting!
I found the Tigra in December, bid successfully on Ebay, caught a train to Alsager near Stoke and walked country roads for nearly an hour to pick her up. A 38,000 mile car and the owner's husband had changed the head gasket at about 30k, and many other parts including complete new Bosal exhaust. The service folder was fat and despite a few cosmetic issues it was clearly a pampered car. This is the 1.4 twin cam with an auto box.
Now the weather's a bit warmer, the sill covers will come off both cars for some scrubbing and rustproofing, with Krown or Fluid Film type stuff sprayed around and topped up regularly.
I love them both and whichever one is in the garage is missed. Looking forward to moving somewhere I can keep them both together but for now they're a tag team.
The Monaro came from a trader called TCS in Oldham. It had a new MOT but only one piece of paper by way of service history (a bill for a replacement key). Driving it though, it was clear somebody had looked after it. The engine was silent apart from chirpy belts and the Milltek stainless exhaust with sports cats and minus mid-boxes grumbled and chuffed very pleasingly. Originally KV55WRC, it now goes by V500VXM, a throwback to Vauxhall showplates I remember seeing as a kid and to the Bathurst 500 in 1968 where the Monaro took 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th places.
My major concern was an underbelly that was starting to look distinctly orange. The brake lines were new but the fuel lines looked, and still look, past their best. There was surface rust everywhere, the car having spent the last 6 years in Edinburgh. However, a few stints in the garage with wire brushes, rust converter, rustproof primer, stonechip shield etc soon had it looking somewhere near respectable. I also replaced the rusty fuel tank straps with stainless steel numbers, replaced the propshaft centre bearing, which comes shot to pieces as standard on most Monaros these days, and totally eliminated a very distubing clunk from the diff just by putting in the right oil, Castrol Syntrax 75/140.
Then came the clutch. Nothing wrong with it but on a 115k car with no history I had no idea whether the pilot or release bearings had ever been changed and I wanted to get in there and see what was what. I also had a lot of oil on the bottom f the bell housing and the occasional slip when moving off from cold which to me spelled rear main seal leaking and causing clutch contamination. When I took it apart I found an LS7 clutch, the updated default replacement for the original LS1 type, but I also confirmed the seal was toast. I replaced the seal using a rear main cover alignment tool from Sac City Corvette and fitted a new clutch, flywheel, release bearing and pilot, plus a remote bleed line from Tick Performance and a section of master to slave cylinder pipe I'd made myself.
The scariest part of this job was when the pilot bearing defeated my slide hammer/puller and had to be Dremelled and chiselled out. Fortunately once I'd removed a fair bit of it, the remnants started to spin.
Meanwhile the nearside cat/downpipe join had cracked. I found an engineering shop opposite Brands Hatch and it was welded up for 30 quid. I hear Milltek are having their welding done on the mainland these days, aka China!
Apart from the exhaust, the only modification is a set of VXR brakes. I don't plan anything fancy or cosmetic just yet, just steady improvement. It's an everyday car and I look forward to being sent on long work trips, but no trip is long enough in this car. It loves galloping around the country in 6th gear at little more than a fast idle and when hustled around it will roar and gurgle and pop. I will upgrade the stereo at some point but only if I can have something that approximates the Borg Green backlighting!
I found the Tigra in December, bid successfully on Ebay, caught a train to Alsager near Stoke and walked country roads for nearly an hour to pick her up. A 38,000 mile car and the owner's husband had changed the head gasket at about 30k, and many other parts including complete new Bosal exhaust. The service folder was fat and despite a few cosmetic issues it was clearly a pampered car. This is the 1.4 twin cam with an auto box.
Now the weather's a bit warmer, the sill covers will come off both cars for some scrubbing and rustproofing, with Krown or Fluid Film type stuff sprayed around and topped up regularly.
I love them both and whichever one is in the garage is missed. Looking forward to moving somewhere I can keep them both together but for now they're a tag team.
I found them ok. Wouldn't budge on the price but they'd already had it months and reduced it by over a grand, then they kept it for another month to give me a head start selling my car. Picking it up was a few hours on a train followed by a long walk as well. I'd be disappointed if I bought a car that didn't involve a little expedition!
I had little love for the Tigra, until earlier this week. I have no idea what motor it had, but there was a heavily modified Tigra Silhouette racing at Castle Combe on Monday in the GT Championship. It finished third behind a Noble and Viper beating an Evo 9, Westfield Race Aero and several Ginettas amongst many others. Looked great fun.
Best of luck.
Best of luck.
YES, I knew some Tigra love would come along. In one of my photos there are traces of grease and bread, that method failed me too.
The garage needed to be big enough for a Monaro without costing as much to rent as my house costs to mortgage. Dartford council had a few but all too small. Mine is in Sittingbourne, very reasonable and about 8 foot by 20. Car jobs have to be planned in order to make every trip worthwhile but having a place where I can just shut the door with tools all over the floor and the car up in the air has been great, don't now how I ever managed without it!
The garage needed to be big enough for a Monaro without costing as much to rent as my house costs to mortgage. Dartford council had a few but all too small. Mine is in Sittingbourne, very reasonable and about 8 foot by 20. Car jobs have to be planned in order to make every trip worthwhile but having a place where I can just shut the door with tools all over the floor and the car up in the air has been great, don't now how I ever managed without it!
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