The 3.0 V6 Calibra :)

[BAD63R]

Right, as i've now had a chance to get christmas out of the way i'm now starting my modding up again on the Calibra so thought i'd get a thread together as this will be an ongoing thing.

As a few of you know she already has a shed load done to engine to get it up to 237.2bhp Which isn't bad at all considering its normally asperated and theres loads of room left for improvement. But in the size car it is, a 0-60 of 5.54 seconds isn't bad at all.

I bought the car from 200 miles away from where I live as I knew there was something special about this old gal. From the advert I already knew it had a 3.0 engine conversion from Courtenay Sport, plus a few other bits and since i've had it have done roughly about £2000 worth of work to get it up to the bhp mark it is now.

So when I set off to collect the car I had already convinced the chappy to come down from £1200 to £900. So I arrived and convinced him to let me pay £850 due to the fuel flap being broken and the piece of body kit missing. Jobs a good'n I thought.... until it came to TRYING to get it back home. Got on to the motor way about 5 miles down the road, and she chucked out so much smoke i lost my friend behind me. So drove back to the chaps house and we found out the engine had 2ltrs too much oil in So we drained it off, i made a call to see how much the damage was going to cost and told the chap to give me £150 back or he could forget it. So he did and haven't had a problem since. £700 bargain

So just to recap for you that haven't seen my thread, heres the list of the things that have been done so far:-

Tuned 3.0ltr engine from Courtenay Sport
Courtenay Light weight Flywheel
Courtenay uprated clutch
Courtenay 4 bar fuel pressure regulator
Uprated fuel pump
uprated injectors
Courtenay panel filter
Courtenay centre section
Equal length drive shafts (next best thing to a LSD)
Cool running thermostat
Larger radiator
25mm lowering springs
And remapped at Courtenay to 237.2bhp and 261lb of torque ( I love the Vauxhall 3.0 for the torque lol)

And heres what the old gal looked like when I first got it. Pretty much a wolf in sheeps clothing.

Soo, as i've now had my Kent Cams delivered (it's gonna sound incredible when it's done) I decided I want to start finding bits for the outside of the car. So after a bit of web hunting I found a red Calibra thats was being stripped and was 5 miles away. Went to have a butchers and ended up stripping most of the car for him if he would pay me in parts. So I ended up with a genuine Irmscher spoiler worth a few £££'s, a Rage back box which fits really well and also managed to buy his red fuel flap to replace my snapped one. Oh and the body kit pice.

You can't see very well but heres a shot of the spoiler in place aswell as the fuel falp on, I love the spoiler to bits a fortunatly is part of the Irmscher body kit I want.

I'll get some better picks tomorrow when the back box is fitted aswell. I just need to find a set of 45mm drop coilovers and a set of genuine Irmscher 17" wheels which are not easy to come by for under £300 second hand.

 

[MasterAuron]

I don't like Calibra's but there's no denying that's pretty quick and there's some monies gone into it!

 

[BAD63R]

Th reciepts all add up to £10,560 then there is a bill from when the last owner bought it 11 years ago for £13,999. The last owner is responsable for the engine conversion , flywheel, plugs, leads and it's first remap, everything else and its second remap was me.

It's been very very well cared for before me so i'm going to seriously look after it and get some seriously good normally asperated horses out of it. This is my 4th Calibra and by far the best condition one i've had so i'm going to do this one extensivly and retain the good looks.

I'm going to have black wheels on my car when I eventually source a set of pre-facelift Vectra GSi wheels which will look like so:-

But i'm going to aim for the overall looks of this little beauty, to which is the spoiler I've just got is part of:-

 

[dpsubaru]

looks fantastic with the full kit (last photo). love the white wheels in the snow but for regular use agree that it will look good with the black ones,

 

[BAD63R]

Well i've just spoke to my friend who is coming down for a bit to give me a hand fitting a couple of bits so expect piccies and a vid with the new exhaust on

 

[herb]

ive always liked the calibras and have gone as far as saying they are the best looking car vaux have made to date!

bad63r is the calibra flame red??? cause i have had 2 flame red/pink vauxhalls and these put me of from ever owning another red car

 

[BAD63R]

Yeh its the original paint work and yes it's flame RED not pink lmao. It's been very very well looked after.

 

[obi_waynne]

Nice work. I poured myself a coffee before i started reading . You really know how get the prices down on cars.

 

[MasterAuron]

ive always liked the calibras and have gone as far as saying they are the best looking car vaux have made to date!

bad63r is the calibra flame red??? cause i have had 2 flame red/pink vauxhalls and these put me of from ever owning another red car

That's not saying a lot though with Vauxhalls track record, don't exactly make the prettiest cars

Don't let that put you off Herb, a good cut and polish will bring it up spanking red 99% of the time. My mate had a Mk1 MR2 for a bit and the bonnet was virtually white but it looked like brand new after a polish with an DA and Megs #83.

 

[one in a million]

calibras are the dogs boooooooolaks, but it hard to find a genuine one, most of them now have been suped up and have been ragged, i would love to get me one when i can get insured, but that will be another couple of years yet. but sounds like your one is doing nicely, let me know when you sell it lol

 

[herb]

That's not saying a lot though with Vauxhalls track record, don't exactly make the prettiest cars

Don't let that put you off Herb, a good cut and polish will bring it up spanking red 99% of the time. My mate had a Mk1 MR2 for a bit and the bonnet was virtually white but it looked like brand new after a polish with an DA and Megs #83.

this is true but they have done well with the new astra though!!

tbh mate im not really a car cleaning fan! mine probably gets a few washes a year and a couple of good polishes and a wax at a push:embarrest:

 

[BAD63R]

Every time i polish my car it gets the Meguires 5 step treatment. start with a wash with Meguire dust and film remover, then wash with Meguires Gold system wash and conditioner, then the 3 step polishing which is paint cleaner, then polish, then wax.

And another thing that I dont boast about too much is this little piece of info I found on the receipt from when the previous owner bought it second hand. It's one of the rare V6 SE9's and heres the proof lol:-

But as far as what 'one in a million' said, it's hard the find a genuine one so with this beasty, every single thing that has been done to it, has been done at Courtenay Sport So for those that know their Vauxhalls where money is no object, know that Courtenay is the place (other than Regal) to have your Vauxhall tuned. So with that in mind and with Courtenay being one of the oldest Vauxhall tuning companies, I believe that everything in the future should therefore be done at Courtenay to retain it's genuine-ness

 

[herb]

no wonder the car is still red not pink:amuse: i could not do that every time i cleaned my car


and forgive my lack of knowledge but what is so rare about a se9???

 

[BAD63R]

Only 308 were imported to the UK

 

[BAD63R]

Right got the spoiler and new fuel flap on properly now. Looks really good and is alot different from the flatter Turbo spoiler.

I think it's gonna be wheels and suspension next on the list. The wheels are starting to look way too small for the car, especially now the spoiler is on lol

 

[herb]

Only 308 were imported to the UK

but what was the difference between these 308 imports and the uk specked ones??

im not to keen on the front bumper the build quality looks very poor to me but i think the spoiler suits it well and i think white wheels would look great on your motor

 

[BAD63R]

The Irmscher front bumper/splitter is actually one piece. It can tend to look like the bottom of the bumper is cut off then another pice stuck on but this isn't the case as with the other 2 Irmscher kits. This kit is actually the lightest, best ground clearence at the front and also has the best Areodynamics as it follows the similar lines of the original bumper.

As far as the Se9's go hers a little bit of info on them:-

SE9 V6 : '96-'98 (308 produced)

Last of the V6's; produced in 'Flame Red' only

16" BBS Alloys with champagne finish (std V6 wheels are 15" which mine replaced the BBS wheels about 3 years ago according to it's history)

Irmscher rear spoiler brake light (Irmscher part no:27 01 405) mine never had a spoiler

NO Sunroof option - this saves 15kg in weight (but has got one)

Black 'anthracite' leather & aircon as standard

Alarm & Immobiliser (Cat2)

Some have Vectra V6 front brakes (slightly larger) mine has these

May have X25XE engine number (used X25XE short block only)

25mm Irmscher Lowering springs as standard (V6's and Turbos come with 20mm springs)

Irmscher backbox

Some came with BOSE sound system as standard.

The Calibra V6 is getting quite a rare car as it is really as there were only 3216 made. Heres how many in each year and the 3 different models (standard V6, V6 SE9 and the V6 DTM which is stuidly rare) When speaking to Vauxhall they reckon that over half the V6's are scrapped or rusted off the road. They believe that there is roughly 1200 left.

1993: 134
1994: 755
1995: 746
1996: 738
1997: 740
1998: 103

Total V6 DTM's imported : 34
Total V6 SE9's imported : 308
Total Production Number (all UK V6's) : 3216

 

[herb]

good bit of info their mate!

and it is a shame so many calibras have been scrapped. but most of the ones i know of that have been scrapped. the shells weren't in that bad nick my mates had just bought them for the engines, interiors and brakes

 

[BAD63R]

Yeh thats understandable. There were only 2 cars in Vauxhalls history that had the C20LET 2.0 16v Red Top Tubo which wer the Cavalier 4x4 Turbo and the Calibra 4x4 Turbo. So as the interior fits straight into most Astras and the engines go in pretty much any Vauxhall, it;s hardly suprising that there isn't many decent ones left. The V6 however are getting even arrer as people have started to realise they get far better 0-60's running the V6 engines.

 

[herb]

Yeh thats understandable. There were only 2 cars in Vauxhalls history that had the C20LET 2.0 16v Red Top Tubo which wer the Cavalier 4x4 Turbo and the Calibra 4x4 Turbo. So as the interior fits straight into most Astras and the engines go in pretty much any Vauxhall, it;s hardly suprising that there isn't many decent ones left. The V6 however are getting even arrer as people have started to realise they get far better 0-60's running the V6 engines.

you missed 1 the opel kadette 200ts i know its a opel and made in south africa but its still part of gm so technically still vauxhall:amuse:

v6's arent getting rarer there are plenty of vectras out there waiting to donate

 

[BAD63R]

Sorry mate, I meant V6 Calibras are gettin rarer. I know there absolutly loads of Vectra's Omega's etc but the Calibra is gettin rarer.

 

[BAD63R]

Ok the Mods continue as always...

And here are the wheels hehe. Managed to find a set of genuine Irmschers, 17" by god knows what width, all I know is they are wide! Had a look on the Irmscher website, now I payed £140 with tyres and no marks on them at all and loads of tread, Irmscher site lists the 15" versions of these for just over £500 each ... BARGAIN!!!

So anyway, heres some of pics of old gal and whats shes starting to look like. Sorry for the state of it, I drove down a lane when testing the wheels lol.

What ya reckon then peeps?

 

[BAD63R]

Gave the car a bit of a spring clean today. It hasn't had the normal 5 or 6 steps I usually do but it came out well enough. Oh if you are thinking why the spoiler is missing again, it's becasue i'm still waiting to get the 4th hole tapped as I only rested it on the car :embarrest: But she still looks good.

I also took the wheels of to clean and noticed that there was a 3mm spacer stuck to each one. So took them off and they sit alot better.

 

[pgarner]

ts came up really well for what a 15 year old car

 

[MasterAuron]

Aye cracking nick. Wheels are the wrong colour though :bigsmile:

 

[BAD63R]

What colour do you recomend then chaps? I can recolour any part of the picture in 3 mins max, so let me know your thoughts

 

[herb]

What colour do you recomend then chaps? I can recolour any part of the picture in 3 mins max, so let me know your thoughts

well from the pic of irmscher kitted 1 i would say white they really suit the red car!!! but im not 100% sure on your style of wheel do a chop and lets see:bigsmile:

 

[MasterAuron]

White. Those wheels look a little too big for your car though.

 

[dpsubaru]

white definately,

 

[BAD63R]

Ok, i've had a play with the colours of the wheels and i'm actually moving towards the black instead. It's just looks so mean lol. But I have also done them in white for you to see

Just looks so nice in black it's actully making me think of just lowering it with a Renault Laguna front splitter and leave it like that rather than getting a body kit. But we'll see. I already have my eye on 2 kits, the one from above and the other is a 12 piece wide arch kit from Reiger.

 

[turbonutter69]

Looks awesome in black IMO.

 

[herb]

yep i have to agree with tn black for the win:bigsmile:
and is this the rieger kit you mean??

if so the kit doesnt do the nice soft lines of the calibra any justice imo

 

[BAD63R]

One of my things with tuning cars is evry single one has been made as close as I could afford to an original of that motor. This 3.0 Calibra and my last 2.5 especially recieve the Touring Car treatment. The 2.5 had so much made to the same spec as the toruing car. The wide arch kit is closest thing you can get to making your car look like the original DTm touring car or the Cliff Motorsport Touring car (which only 19 were released as a Cliff Motorsport special edition. Only 7 exist now). This is why I like the wide arch kit.

I dont think the Calibra loses hardly any of the soft lines. Find some more pics and you'll see what I mean. Irmscher also do this kit for about £4000, hence me wanting the Rieger one which is about £1400 so that in itself will keep the car totally Irmcsher styling (i know it would be irmscher with the fake kit but at least it would look right)

 

[BAD63R]

Heres the exact Irmscher kit that I would prefer. It does actually look different and less over the top than the Rieger kit. Ok scrub the Rieger lmao, i'm going for the Irmscher, doesn't lose any of the lines. Oh and by the way, This Calibra is not standard by anymeans, they never made a Cabriolet (only 2 were made as concept cars using the Audi 80 roof but were never released as standard). With this Irmscher kit, again you will see I already have the exact spoiler

 

[BAD63R]

Well i've managed to get myself a half an hour on the track at Mallory just round the corner from me (as i have a friend that works there) So would any body be up for seeing a vid of my car? If so i'll take my camera and get my passanger to record it.

 

[pgarner]

of course

 

[BAD63R]

Right. I'm going down to the track in about 20 mins for the afternoon. So thought i'd leave you with a video of a basic introduction of my car so to speak lol. You will notice that even though the exhaust is straight through 2.75", the combination of the back box I have makes the car purrr... or growl if you want it to lol.

just click the video below and allow to buffer. It's only 2 mins long so shouldn't take long

 

[pgarner]

sounds lovely

no baby seat in this one ?

 

[BAD63R]

Yeh it's in the back seat lol. Not sure if you can spot in the vid but it's a black Recaro to match the interior lmao. Right i'm off down the road now. Will show ya the vids as soon as i'm back

 

[BAD63R]

I'm back. Started to rain so came back. It's great that it's literally 5 mins away. Had about 6 laps in total. Just uploading the vids now. Had a little play with an STI scooby hehe and got me excited. I do love cars. Right vids with you as soon as they uploaded

Edit: Just watched the 3 vids again while they uploading. Hehe it was fun. Played with the scooby as mentioned. after meeting him when we pulled off. He had Version 4 Sti Import running standard @ 265bhp. I just pulled away from him in second gear as he lost a bit of power through AWD and had to wait for his turbo, but was close and he liked the old Vauxhall

Also, one which really made laugh, in the first vid you will see, you will here that a couple of racers got a bit annoyed with me. Well later in the third vid, he blows his turbo LMAO!!! But I must admit, it's great fun.

Ok chaps, it's half way throguh first vid so with you in about 25-30 mins