1998 Vectra CD 2.5 V6 (in Australia)

those manuals are a great find, if they are anything like the calibra ones i have, insanely detailed

A couple of minor updates on the Vectra. I surgically removed the old giffer spec warning klaxons that had been wired in to the indicator circuits and made the car sound like the cockpit of a crashing Boeing 747 every time I was waiting at a junction:



I also replaced the tatty old handbrake gaiter...



...with a pleathery eBay special...



Somewhat annoyingly I also managed to crack the plastic brake light on the spoiler when changing out a couple of the blown bulbs. It's an ICC spoiler with a Hella light unit just in case anyone reading this has one lying around. Otherwise I'll just have to keep an eye out at the breakers and hope one comes up:



The cracked piece is underneath so it's not that obvious unless you're kneeling down and looking up at it but it was in perfect condition until my fat fingers ruined it 

Other than that I took it for a 25km drive, some of which was on the motorway, and it drove really nicely. Whilst I'm sure it's not the hottest of hatches, it is by the far the quickest car I've ever had and is tremendous fun for someone like me who's only used to driving 70s Triumphs and bland Japanese SUVs until now 

I finally found the time to give the Vectra a wax, and to treat the black plastic trim to some surprisingly pleasant-smelling Autoglym bumper gel. Scrubbed up pretty nicely for an old girl!











Next step is to give the interior a vacuum and a clean and to install the NOS mats I picked up. It's pretty good overall but there's a few makeup marks from the previous owner which need to be cleaned off.

I've also got a NOS seatbelt to fit as the driver's one doesn't retract very well. Looking at the belt I think it's a makeup-related problem as it's pretty caked in what appears to be heavy foundation (I'm no makeup expert though) and has made the belt a lot stiffer than it should be. I've got it working a bit smoother after giving it a good clean but it's still not great so replacing it is the easiest course of action - I'm not that keen on a breakers yard special of unknown provenance.

The replacement sump seal has also arrived so I'll pluck up the courage to tackle that at some point. I'm not too worried about the sump part of the job, I just don't want to strip any manifold bolts when I remove the downpipes as that'll be a right nightmare to sort out given the very limited access to them...

Have just bought a new radiator for the Veccy as the existing one is leaking - I should have sorted it earlier but I've been trying (and failing) to build up the enthusiasm to spend a whole day of my life stripping down the entire front end just to fit it...

Once it's done however it should be fairly finished on the mechanical front, other than the oil leak from the oil level sensor. We've got family coming over to visit for a few weeks at Easter so it will be pushed into daily service for a while so I want it to be pretty much sorted by then.

The impending arrival of family from the UK meant I finally had to pull my finger out and attack the leaky radiator on the Veccy. A job that I'd been putting off for as long as possible - not because it was particularly difficult but because of the crammed nature of the V6's engine bay it, like most other jobs at the front of the car, required a significant amount of stripping down just to gain access. Spoiler alert - here's a work in progress pic from mid-change:



I've owned a lot of 'pre-loved' (read: pre-scrapyard) cars in my time and have changed my fair share of radiators but the Vectra wins hands down for the biggest number of un-related components I've ever had to remove in order to complete the task. Here's a reminder of just how tight things are in that general area:



There are various different methods of attacking the job banded around on forums etc but seeing as I have access to the factory manuals I decided to take the recommended approach of removing the rad from above. Another method is to remove from the front after swinging the AC condensor out of the way but I'm loath to put too much strain on 20+ year old AC components given that a functioning AC system is pretty important out here and the one on the Veccy currently works well.

The first step is to remove the battery and the front intake plenum (the easier of the two plenums luckily), followed by the front bumper and grille. I've got the front bumper removal down to a fine art now - by unclipping the very front edge of the wheel arch liners I can just about get my hand and a small spanner through the gap to undo the fixings. Saves faffing around with removing the arch liners completely, athough it comes at the expense of slightly shredded hands.

Next comes a whole heap of disconnections - power steering reservoir, top radiator hoses, multi plugs for the secondary coolant pump, AC system, cooling fan etc and being an auto the transmission fluid cooler pipes too (luckily there are quick-release connections at the mid point of the hoses so a pretty easy task). With respect to the latter I made sure to give the connectors a good clean before uncoupling and wrapped both ends of the pipes in plastic to prevent any dirt getting into the transmission.

At this stage the radiator fan housing complete with secondary coolant pump etc can be carefully liberated upwards from the engine bay:



Things get a little easier at this point as without the fan assembly there's something approaching a viable amount of room for someone with human-sized hands to work.



The bottom hoses and fixings can now be disconnected and the radiator removed upwards and outwards. Here's the offending article:



I couldn't see any obvious holes or damage, it just appeared to have a small leak around one of the seams. Still, I've had small leaks turn big quite quickly in the past so it had to go regardless. Before it went to its new home in the bin I swapped the thermo switches, AC cooler pipes and mounting hardware on to the replacement rad:



Replacement was the reverse of the removal - although I took a bit more care not to damage the fins than I did during disassembly.



After everything was buttoned back up I refilled the cooling and ran up to temperature to bleed it and check for leaks. I'd already replaced the transmission fluid with the same volume which was lost during the radiator change, but I fine tuned this over the next few drives when the transmission was up to temperature. Once it was roadworthy I had four new Kuhmo tyres fitted to replace the 11 year old but virtually unworn set of Kuhmos it came with. A bit of a shame but I don't like the idea of running around on very old rubber.

So far so good - we used the Veccy almost daily when the family were with us, including for a 100 mile round trip to Port Elliot south of Adelaide and it didn't miss a beat. Other than the trademark rock-hard seats it was a joy to drive. 

The last remaining job is to address the leak from the oil level sensor. Whilst this is just down to a simple o-ring, replacement requires the sump to come off (and therefore opens the possibility of shearing manifold studs etc) so I'm reluctant to do anything about this right now. Next time I've got the oil drained for a change I'll stick a smear of sealant around the outside of the sensor and try to keep it at bay that way. If it gets worse I'll have to bite the bullet and change it out but I've got bigger fish to fry with other projects so I can live with it for now.

Going back to the post about wheels on page 1, the ones you pictured are sri wheels, These are the ones you need, the star ones are ph1 gsi and the second ph2 gsi.

astra keyring is weird, its 70s early 80s griffin on a 1990+ roundel. probably aftermarket (there used to be a halfords-esque chain store in uk called charlie browns that had aisles and aisles of car/brand specific stuff like this)

And on that subject - I was lucky enough to fit in a trip back to the UK in early 2020 before the COVID struck and sadly noticed that VKM has closed and is now a tyre fitting place. It's a real shame, it was a proper old school place which had been there for 40-odd years, the staff knew everything and there was nothing they couldn't get (and usually within a day if they didn't have it in stock already). It seems the local independent motor factors is becoming an increasingly rare species these days

I think the situation is similar here in Oz but I'm lucky to have a great example just down the road from me in the form of Ian Jones Auto Parts:



A visit is like stepping back in time 20 years - two blokes behind a counter, both smoking, shelves full of random 80s car accessories in yellowing packets, the counter's covered with tins of random o-rings, paper parts catalogues etc. Everything a motor factors should be. Service is great - if they haven't got it they can get in quickly and their prices are pretty reasonable to boot.

I hope it stays open for many years to come.

Still going strong and being used regularly for the commute