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Project Cars
Old Project - 2000 W Vectra CD Nothing special here - I bought this from a work colleague who hates selling his old cars. As it was a Vauxhall and reasonably priced, I took this on to see if the missus will drive it instead of the estate. Cheaper to run, and manual, which means it could make a better tow car. The plan was that it could make a cheaper to run alternative to the wife's estate. It was dirty, but a very straight car with 119k miles on the clock, even the air conditioning worked. The engine seemed to be good, although somehow was still running at least 70k miles after its last cambelt change. That had to be my first job. I missed the chance to take some photos of it exactly as we took delivery, as was dark during every moment of free time since until washed the outside of it (yeah, in the dark...) so I suppose the first pictures will make it look good. What started out as a quick job to clean the insides of the windows got a bit out of hand and I got a bit drawn into cleaning some of the accumulated gruft (a technical term) from the dashboard and controls. Having spend a short time with it at home so far I've listed the following observations and jobs that need doing before I'd really consider it to be one of the family fleet, but I'm impressed so far. Despite not having a cambelt change in the last 70k miles, the engine is running surprisingly sweetly and the service history shows that it's been pretty well looked after, with a recent exhaust and new front discs and pads etc. Even the air conditioning worked, which with all things considered makes it a good basis as a project. The job list below was kept updated as I got on with the car and other items were added and dealt with as I found them.
Major Service - started 29 Nov 08 Although there's plenty of service history with the car, I thought the best way to get to know it was to assume everything needs checking and so I've started the major service. First a kit of cambelt, rollers and tensioner was sourced from eBay for £45 and fitted on 29 Nov 08 at 119,917 miles. The old belt looked pretty original (shock!) and the tensioner and roller bearings were dry and free, but smooth and serviceable. All in good condition. Exhaust rattle diagnosed to be from the heat shield becoming detached from the front pipe ahead of the catalytic converter - a couple of tack welds will sort this. While the OSF wheel was off and the inner wing splash guard removed, I took the opportunity to change the oil and filter - no problems encountered, filled to one mark below maximum on the dip stick after running. The locking wheel bolt key was missing - luckily I had a set from an old car, which with some gentle persuasion from a hammer got the old bolts out. Now replaced, but noted that all wheel bolts are over tightened. The front brake pads and discs have recently been replaced and are in good condition, OSF hub dust cap doesn't look like it has been disturbed since new. No perished or split gaiters on lower ball joints, track rod ends or CV joints, although there is some observable play in the steering joints and this will need closer attention to diagnose properly - this is unlikely to get picked up on the MOT as there's less slack here than on our Other Vectra, which passed it's MOT three days ago.
Rain stopped play in the end - rear suspension and brakes can wait for another (drier and warmer) day. NSF headlamp aim appears to be high in fog - noted on list for checking and adjustment.
Bearing diagnosis, and wheels - 9 Dec 08 and 15 Dec 08 What could have been a pain of a job turned out not to be. Knowing that the NSR tyre was at best illegal and two of the others were getting to be borderline, I started out by fitting the old CDX wheels that have been lurking in my trailer since the old CDX was dismantled to donate its engine into Mark T's Mk3 Astra estate. Removing the NSR wheel brought home just how beyond bald the tyre was, if you're interested, look at this photo. With the whole set of wheels changed, the first test drive (checking mainly for wheel balance) brought home the fact that the suspected bearing noise was simply the imminent failure of the NSR tyre. Job done, almost. Of course I'm a bit of a purist, so having CDX wheels on a later CD car wasn't something I'd have chosen to do but seeing as they were serviceable, there was little reason to change them, until I found the NSF flat a few days later on account of it leaking around the bead. A Kwik Fit visit later and a small donation to their beer money fund saw the CDX tyres transferred to the CD wheels and all is now good again.
With the car raised I got the chance to check the rear rose joints for wear and found that the NSR upper one was indeed well worn, accounting for the clunk over bumps, so that will be changed hopefully at the weekend. A special puller tool is required, so I bought one from eBay for £55 complete with four new bushes. Hopefully it'll be a painless job, as I've done these before.
Job list:
So with these jobs done I sold it. A chap from down the road had it for a bargain £800 and obviously happy with it, still waves as he drives past.
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