Gentle Ben
Vee-Man
Well I'm taking the Vectra to PVS this weekend. So a couple of weeks ago I made a list of jobs to do to get the Vec ready. I was spurred on after winning a job load of bits for £40 on eBay, namely some rocker covers and cylinder head gaskets, and a throttle body.
First job I tackled was the throttle body, giving it a port and polish. The V6 standard throttle body has a sharp ridge just before the throttle body, meaning you don't actually start to get any additional induction until after around 15 degrees of opening the throttle. By machining the step out you can achieve maximum throttle and a wee power gain in the process. This was filed out, then using a die grinder it was refined until completely smooth. Then finished off with wet and dry and ended in using some chemical metal polish.
Final polishing:
End result:
Fitted:
Then last weekend I turned my attention to the rockers and manifolds.
First they were degreased throughly, then the surfaces prepped by rubbing down in wet and dry from 320 to 1200 via 800. I was struggling to decide colours. I already had red calipers, so didn't want to add any new colours. So I decided to do the rockers red to match the calipers, and the manifolds and plenum in white - you'll see why I chose white later!
Anyway, pictures - manifolds:
Rocker covers:
Preview of final look:
That was that until this weekend, as I wasn't confident enough that I would have time to strip the car down and rebuild it in time for work again.
In the week though I got a load of other jobs done.
One night, I moved over the twin 12" subwoofer setup from the 19 to the Vec. Had to make up some new cables to the subs, thankfully I had some uber large size oxygen free cable - just the job!
I also removed the wanky 'ABS' badge from the tailgate and the new number plates I ordered at the weekend arrived so I fitted those! Pics:
Front
Back
Last night I made up a thin metal blanking plate to blank off the EGR valve. This is a cheap and worthwhile mod, supposedly adding driveability and smoothness afterward. This is attested to by the fact that the later Vectra's V6's and all the Omega V6's don't have an EGR valve.
Not CNC-quality I know, but it does the job although I can't really report any noticeable difference sadly!
I had booked today off work, to give me extra time to fit the painted covers and the manifolds. It's taken a long time (longer than I'd have liked to be honest) but the results were worth the patience I think! Some pics of my work today:
Front cam cover off:
New front cover on:
Rear cover on:
Omega V6 lower manifold fitted (flows more air than the V6 manifold)
Pic of both covers fitted:
Manifolds back on:
Earlier in the week on Tuesday I dropped off my 17's for a refurb at a place on the estate near where our firms office is. They were bent, kerbed, scuffed, and the paint work was peeling. They were pretty much scrap, but they had a decent set of tyres and they suited the car, so rather than let a set of rims go to waste I decided to spend some money on a refurb.
Well this afternoon I got a call to say they were ready. So off I went to get them and bring them home:
All sprayed up, chap even fitted the tyres back on and balanced the wheels for me! Now you can see why I did the manifolds white!
Today's work fitting the intakes has not been without fault. I managed to snap off the cast EGR pipe from the exhaust up to the manifold, which now makes a nice popping noise from the engine bay.
I have also managed to lose a rubber elbow, meaning I couldn't fit a vacuum pipe back on the throttle body, causing it to hunt on idle. So tomorrow I'll be setting off for a scrappy hoping to get hold of a rubber elbow and facelifted Vectra rear tailgate badge.
Then on the way home I'll call in the factors for some chemical metal just to bung up the end of the cracked EGR pipe to stop the noise.... it's fecking annoying!
First job I tackled was the throttle body, giving it a port and polish. The V6 standard throttle body has a sharp ridge just before the throttle body, meaning you don't actually start to get any additional induction until after around 15 degrees of opening the throttle. By machining the step out you can achieve maximum throttle and a wee power gain in the process. This was filed out, then using a die grinder it was refined until completely smooth. Then finished off with wet and dry and ended in using some chemical metal polish.
Final polishing:
End result:
Fitted:
Then last weekend I turned my attention to the rockers and manifolds.
First they were degreased throughly, then the surfaces prepped by rubbing down in wet and dry from 320 to 1200 via 800. I was struggling to decide colours. I already had red calipers, so didn't want to add any new colours. So I decided to do the rockers red to match the calipers, and the manifolds and plenum in white - you'll see why I chose white later!
Anyway, pictures - manifolds:
Rocker covers:
Preview of final look:
That was that until this weekend, as I wasn't confident enough that I would have time to strip the car down and rebuild it in time for work again.
In the week though I got a load of other jobs done.
One night, I moved over the twin 12" subwoofer setup from the 19 to the Vec. Had to make up some new cables to the subs, thankfully I had some uber large size oxygen free cable - just the job!
I also removed the wanky 'ABS' badge from the tailgate and the new number plates I ordered at the weekend arrived so I fitted those! Pics:
Front
Back
Last night I made up a thin metal blanking plate to blank off the EGR valve. This is a cheap and worthwhile mod, supposedly adding driveability and smoothness afterward. This is attested to by the fact that the later Vectra's V6's and all the Omega V6's don't have an EGR valve.
Not CNC-quality I know, but it does the job although I can't really report any noticeable difference sadly!
I had booked today off work, to give me extra time to fit the painted covers and the manifolds. It's taken a long time (longer than I'd have liked to be honest) but the results were worth the patience I think! Some pics of my work today:
Front cam cover off:
New front cover on:
Rear cover on:
Omega V6 lower manifold fitted (flows more air than the V6 manifold)
Pic of both covers fitted:
Manifolds back on:
Earlier in the week on Tuesday I dropped off my 17's for a refurb at a place on the estate near where our firms office is. They were bent, kerbed, scuffed, and the paint work was peeling. They were pretty much scrap, but they had a decent set of tyres and they suited the car, so rather than let a set of rims go to waste I decided to spend some money on a refurb.
Well this afternoon I got a call to say they were ready. So off I went to get them and bring them home:
All sprayed up, chap even fitted the tyres back on and balanced the wheels for me! Now you can see why I did the manifolds white!
Today's work fitting the intakes has not been without fault. I managed to snap off the cast EGR pipe from the exhaust up to the manifold, which now makes a nice popping noise from the engine bay.
I have also managed to lose a rubber elbow, meaning I couldn't fit a vacuum pipe back on the throttle body, causing it to hunt on idle. So tomorrow I'll be setting off for a scrappy hoping to get hold of a rubber elbow and facelifted Vectra rear tailgate badge.
Then on the way home I'll call in the factors for some chemical metal just to bung up the end of the cracked EGR pipe to stop the noise.... it's fecking annoying!
