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DaveDempsey's Vectra SRi
Thought it was about time I started a thread on the estate car.
Right, bit of history behind the car (some of this will come off as being a tad sad).
As some people maybe aware Im a Vauxhall salesman. In July 2005 the local priest came in and ordered a new Vectra SRi 1.9CDTi 150ps estate in Silver lightening. Come the start of September an ECM transporter rolled in with said car on it. As is part of my job I checked the vehicle in off the transporter (I actually remember thinking at the time 'this is a bit of alright wouldn't mind one of these'. Anyway come the 22nd of September the car was delivered (making it one of the last pre-faclift cars) which at the time after discount cost £16,798.25 (list price at the time was £20,905).
For the next 3years I walked past this car atleast twice a day whilst out walking the dog.
Fast forward to the 19th of August 2008 and the Vectra was traded in for a replacement Vectra Active estate with 29511miles. Unfortunately at the time I just couldnt justify buying the car due t having a few cars at the time including an Omega estate. The car sat for a few weeks before being registered to the garage and being given to our parts manager as a company car until his car came in (just as well I never bought it as over the next day the alternator went.
Fast forward to February 2009 and the Vectra was then given to me as a company car for the next few months whilst I travelled more than a few times to Luton, Bristol & Newcastle on Vauxhall training courses. Despite a few niggles I covered 4,000 quite happily until just before the last course I was due to attend the EGR valve went along with the inlet manifold.
As it would turn out this was actually a good thing overall as whilst travelling back from Luton in the replacement Vectra 1.8 Exclusiv I was given this happened:
So lucky escape for the SRi.
Once repaired the car then went back onto the line for sale (the SRi that is, not the Exclusiv, although it would seem that the Excluiv after being written off is now back on the road as well):
Unfortunately things hadn't changed and still had no justification for buying it, as much as I wanted to. However come the start of July my faithful Omega had came to the point of no return and whilst on holiday I decided to scrap the Omega and buy the Vectra. Unfortunately however I returned from holiday to find she had been sold. Gutted. Couldn't believe after all that she had sold. Thankfully however the buyer pulled out of the deal at the last minute, and whilst that had been going on the car had been serviced, MOT'd and had 2 new front springs fitted. So finally I stepped in and bought her and on the 1st of September 2009 the V5 was signed over (ironically nearly 4years to the day since Id checked her in off the transporter).
So from there were a few initial bits to do. After 24hours ownership the coolant fan module packed up leaving the fan on constantly, so that was replaced (£124), the tailgate interior handle was also snapped so that was replaced (£19) and I fitted a DTUK ECO 3 box (£220).
Come December and 7,000miles later she was given a full service & both front tyres were low. Luckily I had pre-facelift SRi wheels on my old Omega which Id kept and had fitted 4 new Goodyear Eagle NCT5's to shortly before its demise. So swapped the front 2 wheels over (the rear tyres still had plenty tread).
Come February and both front discs were shot (one actually shattered when removed), so new front discs & pads were fitted and the front anti-roll bar bush's were re-greased. I also fitted some Team Hecko wind deflectors and a rear boot lip spoiler (Irmscher copy from Poland, not quite as good quality but for the money hard to complain (£80)).
The start of March and I thought it really was about time I got the glow plug problem looked at, as suspected they were goosed, so 4 new glow plugs were fitted (£40)
Few weekends ago I de-restricted the airbox and popped a new standard panel filter in, no convinced theres a great difference and no sure I like the change in noise, so may swap it back over.
Car as it stands:
Yesterday was a busy day. To start we had one of Vauxhalls regional support guys in to check a few cars for there anti-corrosion warranty, mines being one of them as over winter bubbles have appeared on the drivers side rear wheel arch and passenger rear door on that side. You may just be able to see them in this picture:
Thankfully, it was passed no problem and will be in next Wednesday to have that sorted, Im also taking the opportunity to have the front bumper painted at the same time.
I also decided that as much as I like the standard CD30 headunit I really wanted a replacement which had i-pod compatibility & also bluetooth connectivity. So a quick visit to my mate at MRD in Bathgate (01506 630575) and I came away with a nice new Kenwood KDC-BT60U unit, associated fitting kit and also a set of Rainbow front components (so much for staying standard then).
Fitted the headunit last night:
Before:
During:
After:
I plan to try and use one of the blanking holes on the dash to accomodate the USB cable and run the i-pod cable into the centre armrest.
I still need to run the microphone for the built in handsfree kit upto the rear view mirror but I plan on doing that at the weekend as I have an auto-dim rear view mirror on its way in the next day or so, so will fit it all at once hopefully along with the front components time permitting.
If youv made it this far through the thread then thanks for reading, if you just looked at the pictures then fair play thats what I would have done. Will update this as and when
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