Vectra GSi estate MSD#1575 (proper thread)

Right o then guys, starting this thread frsh for the Veccy rather than keep posting in the MG thread :)

If you've read the reprevious posts from said MG thread, you'll know that i've gona and got myself a right bargain of beast.

So to catch up, i have a 1999 Vectra GSi estate which was MSD build number 1575 which turns out according to the MSD register, that it's one of the last few pre-faclift estates which is cool. And heres the pics from previous post =

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But we have and update aswell (i can't keep my hands off cars lmao) Fitted my air filter form the 2.6 Sri as I just love the sound, took it for quick spin and hasn't affected the running of the car unlike it did when I fitted one to my old 2.5 Calibra before the exhaust was done, that just sucked too much air and couldn't get rid quick enough, but not the GSi i'm happy to say.

Picked the car up this morning and have already given the car a clean aswell as it hadn't been done for a couple of weeks and living next to the beach doesn't do your paint job any favours lol. Came up better than I thought (excuse the misserable weather lol) =

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And here the good old SRi sitting in the background =

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More spec of the car are Irmscher double D back box, cruise control mod, lower part of the chrome grill has been sprayed the same colour as car so may get an Irmscher grill to remove the chrome "V" part. Also has a removable tow bar which is always handy I suppose. Oh and a private plate.

I'm going to get the Meguires 3 stage system and a clay bar kit later or in the morning as the paint is not very smooth and covered in particals and tarmac so will get some pics done of it down th ebeach as soon as the weather down here turns good again (supposed to be in the next 2 or 3 days) so watch this space.

So what do you reckon to my new "bargain of beast" then peeps?
 
you said that you are going to change the grille, in the first pic it has the irmscher grille on it already? have you gone back to the future? :lol:

Nice car though bud, it sits really well on those wheels
 
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There was a few bits the bloke took out. The tints because it was what got the chap pulled in the first place and the grill was swapped back so he could sell it seperately. Wish I'd known at the time as i'd have bought the grill but it sold straight away ;)
 
And there's me thinking you'd took up surfing.:lol:

Neh i'm more into body boarding to be fair. Easier lol.

But we have another update already lol.

1- Air filter replaced with a nice twin cone (one is cone shaped with another cylinder shape around it to give a big area of filter for more suction)

2- replaced split intake hose where it meets the throttle body.

3- throttle body now enlarged from 67mm to 72mm (proven it adds about 5bhp accordning to Courtenay)

4- New FK coilovers ordered, went for the pro race ones this time :)

5- Full 10 speaker replacment with Bose from my Green Vectra GSi I had before the 3.0 Calibra.

6- £400 headunit installed.

7- degreased the car this morning as the wash yesterday didn't quite do the job so is now ready to clay bar once the rain stops lol.

8- Roose Motorsport complete silicone kit in dark blue to match car ordered (18 hoses in total)

9- Tiger seal and self tapping screws purchased this morning ready for fitting the skirt back on (weather permitting again lol)

At the moment i'm having a coffee break from completely doing all of the interior. All of the mud is off now and is just drying off excess moisture before I go at it with the dash gel :) Roof liner was a pain in backside though lol.

Oh and it's booked in this weekend to have it totally undersealed :)
 
Another update with pics :)

Managed to get the interior done yesterday and fitted the drivers side skirt back on. For anyone thats never used Tiger Seal before, watch it, it's a pain and can get everywhere if your not carefull lol.

Managed to finally get a shot of the MSD sticker as it had worn away the black numbers so had to rub a bit of grime into it to see the number and turns out it's the last but 26 of the pre-facelift so a little more special.

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The drivers side skirt was a bit of a pain to be fair as I didn't have big enough clamps to hold it so parked my other vectra next to the GSI so I could put cut lengths of wood to hold the skirt in place as theres only one screw that holds them on originally. Came out better than I expected.

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So she's coming along very nicely for a such a short period of time :):):)
 
Another update already hehe and this is a good one. The heart of the beast is getting changed :) I've decided rather than getting the cambelt done on the GSi engine, i'm going to be dropping a 3.0 with all 4 cams being G cams. Straight through exhaust and a remap. Should see the 215-220bhp easily. This is going to happen as soon as the 2.6 SRi sells so I have some funds. Listed it on PH so fingures crossed for a quick sale.
 
Little update today guys. Going to fetch a genuine Irmscher rear splitter, quite hard to get them fr an estate and also pickng up the exhaust system so will get some pics up later or tomotrrow when i've fetched them.
 
Right o then peeps. Things are happening quite quickly now lol. Straight through exhaust now fitted whilest I was in the midlands. I've got to prime and spray the rear valance before that goes on but will get a pick to show you tomorrow. And have also picked up a Irmscher grill so that will do away with the "V" part of the grill.

Gonna get a vid of the exhaust and a pick of the other bits I got sorted in the morning ;)
 
It sounds completly different to any set-up i've had before, the CAT was alreaady a Sports CAT with 125cpi instead of the 300 on a standard one. The rest is straight through with a 2.75" bore, the back box is the totally standard "double d" you find on the GSi's so it still looks strandard, but the sound it makes it lovely, just having a coffee at the mo but will get a vid of it in the next hour.
 
And here we go....

First of all, fitted the grill. Needs a lick of body coloured paint but is good for now :) So heres a shot of the car as standard =

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So needed to remove the 3 bolts that hold the grill to the chassis, easy job just needed a star rachet piece =

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Old and new grill=

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Once the bolts are out it just lifts up out of it holders then simply replace with the new grill, refix the 3 bolts and jobs a good'n =

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For now all I could do was lay the rear splitter by the car to give you an idea of what it looks like but it needs a sanding a lick of paint =

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But this is the splitter fitted to another Vectra so it will give you an idea of what the finished product will look like =

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And heres a quick vid of the new exhaust sound. Started it from cold so wasn't revved very high but you'll get the idea :) and as you can i've stayed with the original Irmscher double d back box to keep the styling completly Irmscher

(JUST CLICK THE PIC BELOW!)

 
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So, what's the difference between an MSD version and a normal version?

The Pikey they got to stamp the numbers in has made a right pigs ear of it!
 
All GSi's are MSD, it stands for Motor Sport Development. Thi is the company that Vauxhall sent the Vectras to be turned into the GSi's and the ST's. So the answer to your question is, the difference is an extra 25bhp as standard, bigger brakes, better suspension, recaro interior, cd mulitchanger, Irmscher body kit, Irmscher exhaust and 17" GSi wheels all standard.
 
Right so why is this one MSD badged and numbered and you other GSi not if they are all MSD? You have lost me completely!

What brakes did they give it then? 4-pots? No LSD or widened track anything like that?
 
My other GSI was, it was MSD# 90204. The SRi that I still have isn't MSD as it's an SRi not GSi.

As far as the LSD and 4 pots go, only the ST200 had them, Quaiffe diff and AP Racing 4 pots. The GSi's just have the bigger disks and same suspension as the ST200's, but the ST200 is a totally different beast to the normal ST Vectra.
 
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Nope lol, as I just said in the above post, AP Racing 4 pot brakes :) There was quite alot of GSi's made but not as many as you think. The numbers go in stages. The first 1500, then it starts at 4000 up to 5000, then 6000-7000 and so on. But there were only 319 GSi estates made :)
 
Well if you look at the times you edited your post with the AP info pretty much bang on when I posted so I couldn't possibly have seen it ;)

Wow the ST200 sounds like the real deal, didn't fancy one of those? Why send the car all the way to MSD for some bigger discs LOL.
 
They didn't just go for bigger disks. I explained properly in the above posts lmao. The ST200 was based on the Touring car so had all the goodies. The GSi was the next best thing with the same power, just no 4 pots or LSD. Everything else is the same as the ST200 apart from different style 17's. The normal ST Vectras look like the ST200 but only have 16" wheels, normal interior, normal brakes and less power, they did the normnal one in a 2.0 16v and a 2.5V6, the ST200 is a tuned 2.5 V6 like the GSi's
 
I was referring to the brakes as a single entity you plum not what was done to the car as whole lol. Using a larger disc but kept the same single-pot calipers and same pad area makes no sense at all? Slightly greater heat disappation is about all you'd achieve.

Just read only 38 ST200's made apparently!
 
Yeh thats about right with the amount made. But if you want the ultimate rare Vectra, try searching for the ST3000. Only 3 were made and came as a 3.0 as standard with all the goodies :)

As far as the brakes, the disk size is bigger with bigger pistons in the caliper and also there isn't 1 pot, they are 2 pots so not that bad at all :)
 
1 thing I would like to do is try and turn mine into a i500 Vectra. Very rare but beautifully designed, especcially the newer shape vectra. But the i500 is pure Opel and wasn't available in this country. Bascially a ST/GSi Europe version but with a few differences. Need a set of genuine i500 BBS wheels for a start and they are like rocking horse poop lol. One thing they do have though is 194bhp instead of 192bhp and also has a few more pounds of toque than the british GSi model but not sure whats been done to achive this as info on the m is hard to come buy.

Heres a couple and the estate is what i'd like to make...

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And this is what the newest version looked like which I think is the mutt nutts...

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i like your car! got any pics of the twin induction, ive wanted to do this for ages just never had the money for two cones and piping :lol:

think i prefer the older gsi, new one looks akward with that bodykit
 
Ah I'm the opposite, those older ones do nothing for me but I think the new on looks PHAT. Only thing is the wheels don't suit it imo but that's easily changed.
 
Ah I'm the opposite, those older ones do nothing for me but I think the new on looks PHAT. Only thing is the wheels don't suit it imo but that's easily changed.

Think the wheels are called Irmscher Soft Stars iirc

i like your car! got any pics of the twin induction, ive wanted to do this for ages just never had the money for two cones and piping



think i prefer the older gsi, new one looks akward with that bodykit

The cone filter isn't like the Jap twin mushroom filters you see on alot of Evo's, Skylines and Supras. It basically a cone filter, but has another slightly smaller cone filter inside so goves virtually double the area for the air to get sucked through. But this is what it looks like...

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The twin mushroom ones that look like this...

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these are ok but are not as efficient as they suck in more hot engine bay air as they cover a larger area. The twin cone one is the same smaller size as a K&N etc and suck in air from a much smaller area and there fort is alot easier to cool via cold air feed etc. (hope i've explained that ok, bit confusing lol)
 
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i know what they are :roll: meant you got a pic of it fitted two your car :roll:

love the hks one :o

plus i was thinking of fitting an intercooler, as i may plan to super it in the future so if they suck in hot air, it gets cooled anyway

ive always loved the look of hks filter but they are pricey and i think they would look out of place on a Euro car? what you think?
 

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