Engine Harvest - 2001 Vectra GSI (6th February 2005)

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

This was fun.  I got a message from Mark T to say that Autobreak had a Vectra GSI in, which hadn't yet lost its engine.

A quick call the next Monday morning had it reserved in my name and a large lump of metal was placed over the bonnet to stop would-be parts salvagers until we got there.

Mark T, James McBride and myself turned up around 10ish and began stripping it.  First job was to make sure the engine ran with no faults, so a battery was hooked up and it started second time.  As the car had been rolled, there was oil in the inlet tract (thru the breathers) and this puffed out at the exhaust.  First run saw the PAS pump screeching as the cooling pipes under the front crossmember were flattened, so I removed the aux belt and restarted.  All was fine this time and it sounded lovely, so I switched off sharpish to save cooking the engine with out drive to the water pump.

This was a bit of an epic job and had to be complete before 4:30 as the scrappy bloke wanted to go home.  I had bought a trailer the previous week (from eBay) and miraculously the engine fitted in it still on its subframe, although Mark had to cut off the rear end of it to fit the footprint of the trailer.  A makeshift wooden frame was then built around the engine to hold it level, but it was fairly secure as it was (being heavy and still mounted on the subframe).  A big thanks go to Mark and James for their help, there was no way I'd attempt this on my own.

The Vectra got quite comprehensively stripped - all of the suspension was included in the price, together with F23 gearbox, drive shafts, brakes and hubs.  I also got all of the main loom for the central locking ECU in case I decide to adapt it for the Mk2.  Many of these bits are for sale, including the F23 which has all the bits to convert an early Vectra to the later cable driven gear selector.

While it was still in one piece, I read off the mileage - 68k.

For those that don't know, the Vectra GSI engine is the X25XE, with MSD cams fitted (same as 3L Omega V6)  It's purported to generate 194BHP with 194ftlb of torque peaking at about 4,400rpm.  The plan is generally to get the GTE on the road, drive it to get an idea what the XE is like as an engine, then fit this.

Before anyone asks, to cut down on the number of cars I need, this plan lets me have a Mk2 GTE and a V6 at the same time.  Having this engine waiting in the garage is keeping me keen, as it should be a little bit special when it's finished.