AnnoyingPentium's an Vectra: Business as Usual.

11,223 · October 10, 2023

Just spotted it's going to be 1deg on Sat...

First 'one' of the year..... likely be hearing clatter of 'rusty dust' overnight 😵‍💫

Ah well......

🚙💨

8,822 · October 10, 2023

1 hour ago, tooSavvy said:

Just spotted it's going to be 1deg on Sat...

First 'one' of the year..... likely be hearing clatter of 'rusty dust' overnight 😵‍💫

Ah well......

🚙💨

I'll be sweeping it up come morning 😂

8,822 · October 16, 2023

Update - it survived the cauld.

Further update - death rings aff. That 2001 Michelin wasn't far off bombing itself. Smooth as butter now with some Falken All-Seasons on it.

Farthest update - spoke to one of the guys at the bodywork place who have done jobs for me in the past. Quoted £250 for replacing the whole rear arch plus paint to get rid of the crusty section. Won't argue with that. As a result, the car will be going for the work in a few weeks.

In the meantime (Spacehog intensifies), I've paid a man to valet it. Ex-Arnie Shark colleague did the job for me. It's perhaps the cleanest Vectra B I've ever seen now.

Overall, not bad. Needs a few wee things to tidy it up, like a replacement centre cap for that rear wheel, the rust tended to, and I'm going to look into some replica dealer plates as those ones are just starting to delaminate. Beyond that, I'll be laying it up sometime in November and the Skoda can take over until March or so, hopefully.

If anyone is interested in the goings on with the Skoda, then I'll put another post up on the 'adventures' thread at some point, but for now it's just plodding on as usual.

3,074 · October 16, 2023

You know mate I could be sarcastic about selling double glazing, or Windows 95 conferences but your so into this motor and you have saved a car that most wouldnt. So gawn yersel, you got a mix tape from the metro, give it large to q-tex and ttf...(Ask your mum)

5,330 · October 16, 2023

1 hour ago, AnnoyingPentium said:

Update - it survived the cauld.

Further update - death rings aff. That 2001 Michelin wasn't far off bombing itself. Smooth as butter now with some Falken All-Seasons on it.

Farthest update - spoke to one of the guys at the bodywork place who have done jobs for me in the past. Quoted £250 for replacing the whole rear arch plus paint to get rid of the crusty section. Won't argue with that. As a result, the car will be going for the work in a few weeks.

In the meantime (Spacehog intensifies), I've paid a man to valet it. Ex-Arnie Shark colleague did the job for me. It's perhaps the cleanest Vectra B I've ever seen now.

Overall, not bad. Needs a few wee things to tidy it up, like a replacement centre cap for that rear wheel, the rust tended to, and I'm going to look into some replica dealer plates as those ones are just starting to delaminate. Beyond that, I'll be laying it up sometime in November and the Skoda can take over until March or so, hopefully.

If anyone is interested in the goings on with the Skoda, then I'll put another post up on the 'adventures' thread at some point, but for now it's just plodding on as usual.

Looking good mate! Wish I could have got a quote that good for the Senny’s arches!

8,822 · October 16, 2023

23 minutes ago, big_al_granvia said:

give it large to q-tex and ttf...(Ask your mum)

Cheers Al, and I don't have to ask her - that's what she brought me up on.

8,822 · October 22, 2023

As per @JMotor's thread of associated Vauxhallery and BL pain, I stopped by today to have him swear at my car for a bit while changing a cam sensor for me. The car runs a lot sweeter now, didn't quite realise how much the limp mode was impacting it, besides having to change up far too early, as it'd headbutt a limiter at ~4500rpm. Can go up hills without having to change gear now too. It's a nice touch, to be able to actually move this lump of metal out of the way a bit quicker.

Oh, and we got some photies of our varying degrees of 90s/00s giffer.

Also, note to self, make sure @JMotor isn't in charge of valet parking.

Stopped at a bit on the way home, just like I did with the Skoda, and took this as well.

Once driven, forever smitten, and aw that. Few more jobs on the cards yet for this, and the Skoda. No rust/rest (delete as appropriate) for the wicked.

2,821 · October 22, 2023

I still can't get over the fact yours was the oldest in terms of actual age.

But it's definitely light-years ahead of the fleein erse hol mobile.

It really is a nice car. Plus, it makes a nice change to see a non sporting model being given attention. Be a grand example when it's been tidied up.

8,822 · October 22, 2023

2 minutes ago, JMotor said:

I still can't get over the fact yours was the oldest in terms of actual age.

But it's definitely light-years ahead of the fleein erse hol mobile.

It really is a nice car. Plus, it makes a nice change to see a non sporting model being given attention. Be a grand example when it's been tidied up.

Aye makes a change from the SRIs and GSIs being saved.

Frankly, I'm loving having this one, I'm never one for a sporting model of a car so this slots in nicely... Although that white pre-facelift 2.0 SRI that was floating about on Facebook some time ago I'd do bad, bad, bad things for.

I digress.

That Maestro of yours, it's a strange yin, but oddly a very attractive prospect (although I'd like to state for the record that I don't want it! :lol: ).

2,821 · October 23, 2023

12 hours ago, AnnoyingPentium said:

That Maestro of yours, it's a strange yin, but oddly a very attractive prospect (although I'd like to state for the record that I don't want it! ).

Best idea.

Does fine as a car to runabout in. Can be used everyday with ease (as Vug's one has proven), however the Vectra is more sensible choice.

36,798 · October 24, 2023

£250 sounds extremely cheap for welding a wheel arch in and painting it. Is he able to show you previous work as I would be a bit dubious it would look a tit for that money.

8,822 · October 24, 2023

Just now, sierraman said:

£250 sounds extremely cheap for welding a wheel arch in and painting it. Is he able to show you previous work as I would be a bit dubious it would look a tit for that money.

Aye it's not a bad price. I've seen the work he's done, and he used to weld up my Mum's Jap Scrap back in the day too. It was always done to a good standard.

Only jobs I've had done by him is a mirror cover being filled and then resprayed after it was hit by a bus, and the standard of work was excellent. 👍

13,523 · October 24, 2023

Some old school places seem to charge bugger all for some reason.

A friend of mine is supposedly having a very crusty spaceship civic welded up for £350.

Might be a case of being a one man band with low overheads.

8,822 · November 16, 2023

So this is my daily now, after the Fabia's choice to eject some coil spring the other day there.

Quite enjoying driving it still, seeing anything between 30 and 38mpg depending on usage, which isn't bad going at all. Managed to get just shy of 42mpg out of it on a decent run too. It's a very willing car, and just keeps going.

I've got all the servicing kit here, I'm just waiting for a dry day (a bit of an ask in Scotland in July, never mind November) so I can get servicing it, since I'm outdoors (sans garage) and a bit of a fair-weather shiter, in many senses.

Oh, also, I got a new phone, which means better camera. Always a bonus. So what's a man to do? Take it to somewhere rough looking and get photies. More photos can be found on my Flickr, in this album.

Above, some may notice a change in head unit. Which, if you know me, is nothing new. However, this is due to the sudden and unfortunate death of the original Car 400 unit (it requires belts and motivation to change said belts - I have neither). I've kept it, and will put it back in for shows and suchlike, but yon Alpine will do the job nicely for now. My Dad had a similar one in his Celica back in the day, which is nice.

Below, is a period sticker I got from a chap on eBay, along with a few others, which I've yet to fit. I'll get around to it eventually. In the meantime this'll do.

So yeah, still well pleased with this. It just does the "an car" things really well. I also now have a deadline to fix the Skoda, as it'll be required for the dreaded OMGWEEGIELEZ next month (and the Vectra is going to get the rust patch dealt with properly), but at least I have a car in the meantime. Just washing it regularly now, and it's been well sealed, which should help keep as much of the Scottish Vehicular Plague at bay as humanly possible... hopefully. 🤞

8,822 · December 5, 2023

One for @Dick Longbridge...

Put the original radio back in the end, seems to have began playing okay, but the eject mechanism won't fling the tape out so I'll have to have a word with it tomorrow.

I've got a few issues with the car at the moment, but nothing I canny sort (*Ralph Wiggum I'm in danger gif here*)...

The brake fluid is going *somewhere*, there's no sign of leaks yet. On the topic of leaks, we have oil, not much, but a wee drop, at least if its been sitting. Self preserving chassis innit. And finally the rear shock absorbers are a bit shagged, but again, that's an easy enough job.

However, it's December. In Scotland. It's cauld. Ahm cauld.

Fabia now functional, so pottering about in it mostly.

Now available in taxi driver spec.

Overall, it's quality. Air con demists in nae time too.

19,443 · December 5, 2023

I paid over £100 per side for arches on a mk 2 cav in 1993.

2,284 · December 5, 2023

Looks lovely and clean inside. And, stop press, all the digital segments on the orange Vauxhall screen-thing that never works properly are, erm, working properly. That's never happened before. Anywhere. Ever. I swear all Vauxhalls used to leave the factory with those things pre-broken; the screens used to display a smeared mess that looked like one of those coloured sand in a bottle art pieces that had been shaken.

8,822 · December 5, 2023

48 minutes ago, Missy Charm said:

Looks lovely and clean inside. And, stop press, all the digital segments on the orange Vauxhall screen-thing that never works properly are, erm, working properly. That's never happened before. Anywhere. Ever. I swear all Vauxhalls used to leave the factory with those things pre-broken; the screens used to display a smeared mess that looked like one of those coloured sand in a bottle art pieces that had been shaken.

It's basically brand new inside... although I need to give it a good hoover out.

That display works, but it's the only one I've ever seen that actually worked. :lol:

7,027 · December 5, 2023

mine had a working display

8,822 · January 7

Definitely missed driving this. It FTP'd on Christmas Eve, abandoned outside my work until the day after Boxing Day where I drove it to my local garage in first gear - thankfully its only down the road and round a corner from where the car was left sitting.

After much clutch slave cylinder borkage, I got it back the other day. Clutch changed as well, feels a load nicer to drive.

Photo from last night, where I realised I had left my ice scraper in the Fabia. Sheryl Crow's eponymous album might be alright to listen to, but it makes no fuckin' use for an ice scraper!

10,094 · January 7

Call me strange if you must, but I can get quite excited at this car. Nice old thing!

8,822 · January 7

3 hours ago, Matty said:

Call me strange if you must, but I can get quite excited at this car. Nice old thing!

Cheers! And likewise as well, it's definitely the cleanest one I've seen in a long time.

8,822 · January 15

Seems to have a sticky brake caliper, front nearside, just like the one that failed the MOT then passed. So back off the road again until its less likely to be chilly feckin baltic as I hate crawling about cars in this weather.

Otherwise, I'll pay a man, and get him to do those bloody bushes that have went as well.

It currently sounds like what I can best describe as throwing an accordion from the side of a tower block. If that makes a sound, then I imagine this is it.

There's worse places than a quiet B-road to sit and wait for your brake to cool down, though.

8,822 · January 29

Back out and about in this one, yet again. Had to put a coil pack on it since the spark would only jump across three of the leads. It's had the bushes and a caliper done as well, feels a lot better now. For a big bit of car, it's not terrible on fuel really, last tank was 38mpg, but that was mostly motorway runs in the horrible windy weather we've had. I've got proper fitted mats now, sadly not the Vauxhall velour ones since they're NLA, but just some Halfords tailor fit ones which do the job very nicely. New plates on as well (last pic) so I can keep the original dealer plates fresh, and so there's a good base for some reproduction ones to be done in the future.

As of the 22nd of January, this was a 25 year old car, which is quite an unsettling fact. It runs extremely well, especially as my daily, running to Glasgow and back (occasionally via Johnstone on the return) twice a week. Granted, I miss some of the toys the Fabia has that this doesn't, such as the extra speakers, or the heated electrically-adjustable mirrors. However, even with the standard CAR400 system, the sound is decent enough. Plus, I can live with manual mirrors - I'm just spoiled with the Skoda.

However, this just tackles dual carriageways and motorways miles better than anything else I've driven. Easy thing to waft along in, but if you need to push on, it'll do it without any sort of strain. The 1.8 is a good match for the car I reckon. For 'peak grim' I'd like to try the 75hp 1.6 8v or the 2.0 DI (the NA one, not the turbodiesel version), just to know what real pain is. Maybe someday.

Having spoken to another guy who has an Arctic II (but in V6 flavour), it seems the emblems on the centre caps have a knack for just launching themselves at the most random of times. Unfortunately, and unsurprisingly, these are no longer available from Vauxhall, so second hand is the only route. The problem is that they're all corroding now, and they emblems come off those as well. Been thinking about this, and to try and counteract this, and keep the car looking tidy, I'll get some of those stick-on centre cap badge things from eBay, and some proper adhesive, see if it helps somewhat.

Other than that, it'll get a service when the weather is a tad warmer, and I'll get a couple of other imperfections tended to. It's not perfect - it doesn't have to be either - but I like to keep it in as fine a fettle as I can.

17,791 · January 29

Looks very clean indeed in that last photo. As if you've taken a modern day camera to 1997 and photographed your new purchase fresh out of the showroom! 😅

8,822 · February 11

All packed up in preparation for going away tomorrow. First "long" run I've done with this beyond collecting it.

Silloth ended up cancelling our booking, so I took the money elsewhere and booked a place near Windermere. So shall wait and see how the old Vectra handles the motorway run part.

Obligatory crap photo. May update tomorrow if I remember.

12,898 · February 11

39 minutes ago, AnnoyingPentium said:

All packed up in preparation for going away tomorrow. First "long" run I've done with this beyond collecting it.

Silloth ended up cancelling our booking, so I took the money elsewhere and booked a place near Windermere. So shall wait and see how the old Vectra handles the motorway run part.

Obligatory crap photo. May update tomorrow if I remember.

Hope it's not fLakey!

5,330 · February 11

47 minutes ago, AnnoyingPentium said:

All packed up in preparation for going away tomorrow. First "long" run I've done with this beyond collecting it.

Silloth ended up cancelling our booking, so I took the money elsewhere and booked a place near Windermere. So shall wait and see how the old Vectra handles the motorway run part.

Obligatory crap photo. May update tomorrow if I remember.

The Vectra will munch that journey no problem. Have a great break. Shame you’re away though, as I’ll be back at Mum’s tomorrow for a few days.

11,223 · February 12

@AnnoyingPentium.. Caliper Woes 😯.

Scratched about in the cold [no rain!☔ TF] on Jan 6. Replaced nsf, from Fleebay.

Lovely mottah, M9

🚙💨

February 13

You mention the 1.6 8v engine in these. We ran these engines on fleet in the Envoy models and being honest they were pretty reasonable. A much quieter running engine than the 16v Ecotecs, they were whisper quiet at times. Yes a little down on power compared to the bigger units but not that bad. Don't forget these cars were not as lardy as moderns so they could at least get out of their own way.

I used a spare one we had for a couple of months, was that lovely rich Green colour -Rio Verde I think. Always looked lovely when clean.

Glad to see you're putting miles on the Arctic Ryan, enjoy your time in the lakes.

AnnoyingPentium's *an Vectra*: Business as Usual.

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