Unsure if this is a show per se.......it filled the criteria of a show for me. i.e. It had VW's there. I was there. Anyone like '49 beetles? '56? '53 ? (I think) My van, as ever, ignored in posher,rarer, cooler company (still, least it wasn't openly slagged off like it was in Stanford Hall). Nice clean Blue Bay, RHD too! Car Park had some nice cars in it Not fancying Aircooled? Not wanting a Scooby? How about and all ali 2.2 Vauxhall VXR Engine: Effin Big custom wheels on this split: Am not really one for pics - but it was a good day with some cool things to look at - can't be many garages have that man people at an open day!
@Moons Can't believe your van was slagged off by somebody at Stanford Hall. Not very nice thing to do
Was a good day out, fellows were pleased with the turn out, and hopfully this drums up some more work for them, the crewcab is insane as ever
As a Vauxhall technician thats an interesting choice of engine. We've always hated it. Pretty rare and hard to work on. Noisy timing chains often snapping. Big costs for spares and imposible to get second hand. Lots of good cars been scrapped because of broken chains destroying cyl. heads and pistons. Thats how i got my leather seats for the camper. 52 plate 2.2 vectra with snapped chain.
Strange ain't it Manufacturers and chains,they went off Belts because they snapped and extra service costs, but when I was at BMW few years ago they were having even worse problems with chains stretching and guides wearing. Petrol mostly, but the 4 cylinder diesels the timing chain is at the Flywheel end....thing motors now with belts they go more miles between changes and do seem more reliable than years ago, the days of the Ford CVH engine snapping at 30000 miles seem along way back.
I had a Ford TDCi 2 litre Mondeo in a special edition Focus a couple of years back. Awesome engine, in a great chassis....that had a chain and a belt! At around 80kI took it to ford dealer in Lichfield who told me in had no belt and the chain was non service item. A while later I phoned Loughborough Ford, they stated same thing...both were given the reg and chassis no. A while later I was in Erdintin Ford buying a boot liner and thought I'd ask about the chain, transpired both were service items, I was 25k over the belt service!!
I think it came over from the states with it fitted, Stuart, Perry Fellowes brother owns it, it's in an Early splitty ( I know bobbins about splittys, it had small round rear lights). He's reworked the exhaust, it's all pretty tight in there but the guy has awesome fabrication skills.....he's partly to blame*/responsible for the earth bound guided missile which is their 350bhp twin cab splitty! Regarding this engine, he says it's really lightweight, good power and revs and revs. Have to say when I heard it, it sounded wicked, very different vibe to the boxer 4's. * this is a positive statement for those too thick to pick up on subtleties.
When i first started at vauxhall in the 80's belts got changed every 36,000m but it was a 20min job and even if they snapped it didn't matter. I even changed a few at the side of the road coz it was easier than toeing a car back to garage. Then they got more complicated and a lot less reliable. If they snapped it was goodbye to the valves. Chains came out to stop all this but they are no better and now its a 4 or 5 hour job with loads of special tools etc. Keeps me in a job though.
By general members of the public... To be fair it had no interior and was covered in cavity wax over spray inside, a few really obvious rust issue outside etc and Stanford Hall has a lot of people that think buses are only worth owning if they are fresh paint two tone pastel on chrome repro Fuchs wheels. I didn't mind....though the 3rd comment around the 'want to go fast, should have bought a Porsche ' subject got a bit boring...there are good reasons most of us don't drive Porsches everyday and it's not always cost related.
Yeh, its all alloy head and block. USA (general motors) design. Lots of the parts are made in mexico. A lot more popular in the GM cars in US.
Hard to see in the photos but they look like they are made from polystyrene. Something to do with the way they are cast. They start with a block and a head made from polystyrene then make the mold around these. When melted alloy is poured in the polystyrene just burns away to nothing, leaving the dimple marks. Sorry to be a bore.
You'll be pleased that coming to a shopping centre car park (burger king end) near you soon is the re released Vauxhall Viva!! Will be interesting to see what the yoof of today think when the Nurnberg VXR 300bhp tyre eater carries a name most of us associate with cushions in the back shelf and a Whiff of Werthers Originals/Urine/Mothballs.
5w30? that used to cost me a bloody fortune in the mrs astra, no leaks but used a litre a fortnight easy, no blue smoke just dissapeared, never did an oil change it was pointless.
Official from the factory is "up to 1ltr. per 1000 miles" normal. That could mean 20ltr. between services. I wouldn't be happy with that. The old 2.0ltr diesel was like that and people regularly seized them up. To be fare they are ok now. Not as good as a vw or merc but a lot better than anything french and not as boring as anything Japanese.
