My 1999 Vectra GSi 2.5 V6 complete change (PIC HEAVY)...

Hi guys.

Been a while lol But from a request or 2 I am popping up a build thread of my Vectra GSi.

Now for those that know me will know I am a Vauxhall man at heart. Had a couple of scoobies but never again! lol. Plus, i'm a buggar for not being able to resist a bit of modding.

This time is no exception and is probably the furtherst I have ever taken a V6 engine and i'm not quite finished yet hehe. There are 3 main things left but will list those later in the post.

After getting fed up of the last Subaru costing a fortune to run, I decided to go back to Vauxhall and as I was using the Scooby to part ex, the ball was in my court for being able to find a special one. Didn't take me long to settle for an ex-press car (1 of 9 vectras used for What Car, Top Gear, Auto Express etc). Very well looked after and the engine had been rebuilt only 20,000 previous to me buying it so knew all the major bits and bobs of the engine were sweet.

I also had never had a black car and really wanted one this time round and was very tidy but covered in swirl marks when the sun hit it which did make it look a it's age. That didn't take me long and within 3 days I had done a full paint restoration

When I got the car it had a few nice touches here and there like blue silicones, VXR wheels, blue brakes and couple of other bits and I really liked it but had to make my mark of course. Heres the old girl the day after I picked it up...

And as mentioned first things first was the paint restoration...

More to come momenterally...

 

[Yugguy]

I dunno. My 3.2 revs quickly and willingly, doesnt feel sluggish.

 

[Loz]

Great work, this will scare the daylights out of some newer cars when its done, especially on ITB's!

 

[BAD63R]

I dunno. My 3.2 revs quickly and willingly, doesnt feel sluggish.

Stick a billet flywheel on it mate, you will knock a minimum of 3 quarter of a second off your 0-60 and thats on a 2.5, your will knock off a decent 1 - 1.2 seconds off yours if you do. Best £300 you will ever spend

 

[BAD63R]

Great work, this will scare the daylights out of some newer cars when its done, especially on ITB's!

Already does mate. I love playing with turbo cars of similar power i.e. uk spec scoobies etc. They just dont expect it when they have to wait for their turbo in each gear and the fact mine will hit 115mph in 3rd if it's needed so. My mate has a 240bhp Scooby and I inch away from him every time, drives him nuts lol.

 

[BAD63R]

Well, heres some more for you lol. I decided before I strip the red paint and respray, to go a bit further. After watching a few more vids and a bit more reading up I suddenly realised something.

If I have taken all that metal off the throttle body end to allow more air through, how is all that air going to get out the other end. So rather than just skimming the exit ports and polishing them, i've decided to take them back a fair bit further to help with the air flow. This is also going to be done with the side plenums alot more that I did originally so not finished with this amazing mod yet guys.

However, how about some more pics lol

Here in this first pic you can see how i've skimmed the surface and starting the polishing...

I did originally take a bit of metal off but sitting looking at the port something struck me. The larger important port is NOT centre to the outer part of the metal !?!?!? The inner port sits to the bottom right of the outer metal???...

I thought this can't be a design feature to get the ports to match up with the outer plenums so nipped outside and took off my front/side plenum and low and behold, the ports of these are central. So instantly alarm bells rang and realised this is yet another ledge that needs to be blended in. Also, it this next shot gives you an idea of how bad the imperfections can be inside the plenums. The welding of the tubes has left a nasty unsmooth surface...

This next one you will see the metal is highly polished and the wall is now starting to look even and again, there is alot of metal coming off to make this happen. So have started major work making the wall the same thickness all the way round and will be enlarging the ports on the side plenums alot more to match...

You can see aswell the welding lines that need to be removed on every port on every plenum piece...

So thats it for the mo, but when I come back from having lunch at the old dears with the misses and kids i'll get the paint for the plenum, and also i'll be grabbing some spares for the drimmel and will continue work a little later on as there is still a fair bit more to come off yet

 

[BAD63R]

Starting to get somewhere now hehe. Bought myself a new set of accessories for the drimmel to finish off the plenum and also replace what i've used. Whilst I was out I got the paint for the top and side plenums. I have decided to remain with silver but have bought alloy wheel paint as I quite like it.

I also had some metallic black enamel paint which after a bit of thinking decided to put an old Vibe sticker I had lying around to some use and has made it look like a kind of heart beat lol. So sprayed the desired area with the black, and the layed the sticker over and sprayed the whole plenum in silver, remove sticker and hey presto (Iwill be replacing the MSD sticker st some poitn as some of the letter have started to come off but still looks ok) ...

 

[BAD63R]

Another update guys and its really starting to look the part now Been busy this morning opening out the last of the throttle body area and enlarging the ports at the opposite end. The off centre ports are lookign great now and the wall all the way round is almost perfeclty even

You can see the inlet port is pretty much done now, just needs a polish...

I've now taken off roughly 1.1mm on the centre of the nasty ledge thats just after the throttle body and blended to the side at about 0.4mm. I have also taken loads off the side walls to compensate and now after measuring, the size of the inlet port on the plenum is no longer 5/8th's the size of the throttle body, it's now 7/8ths the size so talk about de-restricted lol. This is done with alot of work to the nasty ledge, the side walls and the port matching to the enlarged throttle body but well worth it...

Due to the amount I was taking off, and the fact the ports on the opposite end were not even centre to the outer metal, these have had to have a major bit work done and they are looking sweet now, just one more to go and it's done ...

And here is in all it's glory in better light lol...

 

[Yugguy]

Cant wait to see some power figures off her once you're done.

 

[BAD63R]

Niether can lol ! Right then peeps. Heres the final process

Started off by standing looking at the engine thinking "god, i can't believe i'm taking this apart again lol!!" So made a start and got the side plenums in a couple of coats of primer followed by the alloy wheel paint. But heres the old top plenum coming off...

Here you can see the 2 sitting side by side and now i've actually got the chance to compare the 2, the new one is almost a totally different plenum as far as un restricted goes...

Old plenum off and this will give you an idea of just how restricted the smooth flow of air actually is. Also take note of the size of the throttle body port...

And here you can see how much it's been opened out and smoothed...

 

[BAD63R]

EGR got a nice coat of the metalic black enamel...

So once the throttle body place back on you can really see now how much it has been opened out to match the size of the 69mm throttle body. The liquid gasket you can see was wiped with a wet clotch so is totally smooth ...

And here she is all built back up ...

Video will be on here either later or tomorrow morning depending how the internet is (slows right down with use at this time) so keep ya eyes peeled.

So what ya reckon then peeps ???

 

[gummy]

Nice car!! keep up the good work!.

 

[TommyTwinCams]

Great looking car, and I find them interesting. Being in the states, we never did get the Vectra, but we got a variant of it sold here as the Saturn L-series (basically a Vectra underneath). American engine options were either the 2.2L ecotec I4 (L61 to us, or Z22SE to you Europeans), or a 3.0L variant of that V6. The V6 came exclusively with an automatic. The only way to get one with a manual was to order the 4 cylinder. Anyways, NO ONE here customizes them and the L-series is somewhat of a running joke here, so I find it cool to see Vectra V6's customized. Keep up the great work!
Saturn L-series V6: