Dog_Book's VXR estate

[autov]

There is no questioning your a perfectionist/enthusiast/slightly mad and looking at the engine bay i thought the 1.9 zdth was barsteward to work on but obviously not. I use stainless alot some on the 3 vectras but always on the motorcycles ,have you noticed the lack of quality on some of the stainless fastners due to rusting ?. On the vectras i have resorted to when near the breakers going in and removing realy good non rusted bolts from the engine bays and replacing bad ones on our 3 with them.

[Dog_Book]

Thanks, i forgot to mention in the write up any scratches to the brake pipes from yanking the downpipe out were touched up with satin black. Never had a problem with stainless but my main stock is cap heads from motorbike days. These are new just got them of eBay and if its A2 should be good otherwise they are not sticking to spec although i never checked if they conform to BS so
With the 2.8 you just have to forget how you might have worked on an engine 20 years ago and just rip everything out near the job to make space then its not to bad. If i hadnt had the stud issue it would have been all done Saturday afternoon with a total of around 10 hours actual work. I need to get some proper heat for this kind of thing.

[autov]

Iv'e had A4 going rusty on one of our vectra's and on my Moto Guzzi.

[Dog_Book]

• Fitted 4 flange stainless fixings for the heat shield until i decide if im going to protect that area further.

IMG_5080.jpgIMG_5081.jpgIMG_5082.jpg

[Jon1796]

• Fitted 4 flange stainless fixings for the heat shield until i decide if im going to protect that area further.

IMG_5080.jpgIMG_5081.jpgIMG_5082.jpg

R u trying to prevent rust or heat as apart from turbo jacket which I’m not that sure on as off, for oil seals and bearings burning out from less heat radiation to cool down not much else to do....


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[pek1]

Hmm, about "the car is getting there", I don't think that applies to your car or ST200's. I'd say "better than new", such attention to details. Would like to have those brake hoses too, looking good!

[Dog_Book]

• Originally after buying the car i found the shock boots were missing from the front struts. Genuine GM ones were fitted, and after removing the factory fit fold away tow bar the car looked higher than when i bought it. So as part of an ongoing unimportant project i asked Bilstein to provide some boots to fit under the top mount rather than in-between the coil spring and the top bearing. The boots came last year and fitting might lower the front 3-5mm and go back to exactly how i bought the car. The rear end could be dealt with later. I dont think visually anyone would notice the difference but at least i now know the ride height at the front is the same when i bought it. Spring compressors that sit further away from the spring and strut cups would make the job easier.

IMG_5194.jpgIMG_5195.jpgIMG_5196.jpgIMG_5197.jpgIMG_5198.jpgIMG_5199.jpgIMG_5200.jpgIMG_5201.jpgIMG_5202.jpgIMG_5203.jpgIMG_5204.jpgIMG_5205.jpgIMG_5206.jpgIMG_5207.jpgIMG_5208.jpg

[Dog_Book]

• For the past few weeks i noticed an odd rubbing/squeaking noise from the NS joint in the mornings on full lock. Cleaned all the boots up and lubed with ptfe spray, inspected everything related including the mounting position of the boot. Didn't find anything so pulled the boot out more and fitted it to the outer ring on the shaft so it would hopefully pull the bellows away from each other and stop the noise. Well despite all this it didn't, and the OS one is fine as they were fitted together. I now decided there must be some fault with it so ordered a Spidan one which are or should be oem as Spidan is part of GKN. When it arrives ill fit it and see if the noise goes. Oh yeah, Meyle band clamps are crap the SKF ones are fully stainless and a lot larger/stronger so dont use them use SKF or Genuine.

IMG_5190.jpgIMG_5191.jpgIMG_5192.jpgIMG_5193.jpg

[Dog_Book]

• Rolling road runs off/on sports to see how its going, power slightly up at 293 bhp and 255 off sports but torque a little lower than nearly 3 year ago at 460nm. Maybe 3 years of wear have worn things out more, shame it didn't hit 300 but the new higher boost map feels loads better on the road and is quite a bit more mental than the previous map. Sounded good being nailed on the rollers

IMG_5375.jpgIMG_5376.jpgIMG_5377.jpgIMG_5378.jpg

[Dog_Book]

• Both front jacking points replaced so all 4 are now in new condition These were sourced via my local dealer for a cheaper than anywhere else price, think it was £12 for the 2 so dont be temped by eBay fiends.

IMG_5380.jpgIMG_5381.jpgIMG_5382.jpgIMG_5384.jpgIMG_5385.jpg