Omega Owners Forum

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  

News:

Search the maintenance guides for answers to 99.999% of Omega questions

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 [7] 8 9 10 11 12 13   Go Down

Author Topic: Frank the Ramshackle Omega  (Read 43295 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Entwood

  • Omega Queen
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Male
  • North Wiltshire
  • Posts: 19566
  • My Old 3.2 V6 Elite (LPG)
    • Audi A6 Allroad 3.0 DTI
    • View Profile
Re: Frank the Ramshackle Omega
« Reply #90 on: 17 August 2010, 22:05:57 »

Hope the trip goes well ... you deserve a good time after all the effort so far.

Take care and enjoy ....  :y :y :y :y
Logged

donut82

  • Junior Member
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Male
  • Lincoln
  • Posts: 80
    • View Profile
Re: Frank the Ramshackle Omega
« Reply #91 on: 19 August 2010, 16:36:43 »

How the hell can you see where your going!? Or is that what the buffers are for  ;D

I'd love to do this just haven't got the time or the spare cash, think I'd want to go in comfort and use a Jag XJ6 and paint it up like a cow.

I don't know why  :-? :D ;D
Safe trip mate.
Logged
Faster, faster...........thats broke it!!!!!
2005 Veccy SRi V6 CDTi now for sale........GOING MV6 HUNTING!!!!!!

mattg

  • Junior Member
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Male
  • Northants
  • Posts: 121
    • View Profile
Re: Frank the Ramshackle Omega
« Reply #92 on: 26 August 2010, 11:25:51 »

Thanks for all the comments guys. I'm pleased to report that Frank covered the 2970 miles there and back with no major issues and scooped the coveted "Best car" award. I'll get the full write up done in the next couple of days and will then get Frank ready for his winter hibernation!
Logged

Lizzie_Zoom

  • Guest
Re: Frank the Ramshackle Omega
« Reply #93 on: 26 August 2010, 13:31:25 »

Quote
Thanks for all the comments guys. I'm pleased to report that Frank covered the 2970 miles there and back with no major issues and scooped the coveted "Best car" award. I'll get the full write up done in the next couple of days and will then get Frank ready for his winter hibernation!


That is wonderful news Mattg!! :) :) :)  Congratulations!! :y :y :y :y :y :y :y 

You and the team obviously put a lot of work in and that award reflects that 8-) 8-) 8-) 8-) 8-) 8-)

Looking forward to the pictures :D :D :D

Once again, a big well done!! :y :y :y :y :y
Logged

Mr Skrunts

  • Get A Life!!
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Male
  • Skruntie Land.
  • Posts: 25475
  • 3.O Elite Saloon with all the toys,
    • 2003 CD 2.2 Auto
    • View Profile
Re: Frank the Ramshackle Omega
« Reply #94 on: 26 August 2010, 18:43:22 »

Well done matey.

Excellent news regards the "Best car" award, all the teams efforts have been rewarded well   :y
Logged
Ask yourself :  " WHY do I believe in what I believe?"

Remember that my opinions expressed here are not representative of the opinions of other members on the OOF Forum.

mattg

  • Junior Member
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Male
  • Northants
  • Posts: 121
    • View Profile
Re: Frank the Ramshackle Omega
« Reply #95 on: 28 August 2010, 10:25:15 »

So, as promised, see below my account of the Rally!

Thursday

Todays task was to get down to the registration point in Calais and get registered so that we would be ready for the off on Friday morning.

We set off from my house at around 8am stopping off at AsteelFlash (my work) before picking Pete up from Silsoe and then heading in to Luton to visit Anachem (Neils work) and Vauxhall for some publicity shots for “Torque” magazine. A quick pit stop to collect some more fluid for the smoke machine and we hit the M25. Lots of quality attention on the roads was had and we soon arrived at the Egham headquarters of Future Electronics (my previous place of work) who had raised some good donations for our charity of choice.

With all our visits done we had a spot of lunch, Pete got to work on his fat controller look by having a whopper meal with an extra cheeseburger on the side.

We cruised on down to the ferry with no issues at all. We passed the rock and roll team and the MJ tribute team on the way. Once at Dover, the other teams started to roll in and the party spirit began.

Once on the other side we dropped Frank off at the Formule 1 and met up with another load of teams including “Pit Lane” The A-Team, Team Stag and the Smurfs. We decided the best way to registration was for us all to pile into the back of the A-team Transit so we did. With “Slash” on navigation duties we drove round in circles for an hour before returning to the hotel for a Sat-Nav. We eventually got registered and got on the beers. When we returned we spent a couple of hours sticking the balls back on the pit stop car that had fallen off that day and it was off to bed at around 3am.

A couple of pics

Frank at Vauxhall HQ






Friday Calais - Annecy

Up at 6.30 feeling a little groggy! A quick fluid check on Frank revealed all to be well so we headed on down to the Citie d’Europe shopping centre for the official start to the rally. We got the smoke machine warmed up and rocked in with the theme tune playing on repeat and the chimney smoking. We were feeling pretty smug about our entrance until the Rock and Roll team arrived with slash sitting on the roof playing the lead guitar through an amplifier mounted to the bonnet.. Quality! We caught up with the teams we had been drinking with the night before and gathered together our convoy which turned out to be

Team Stag
The A-Team
Pit Stop
WRC
Rock and Roll
And of course – Frank

Other teams joined the convoy from time to time including the Smurfs and the sailors but the above stayed together for pretty much the whole rally. We stopped for many faff breaks along the way but eventually headed out towards Annecy. Being a 600 mile drive we got moving fairly quickly. It soon turned out the Frank was blessed with quite a lot more poke than the other cars as apparently “I was driving too fast” a lot of the time. We slowed the pace and had a relaxed drive down to southern France stopping only to pick up some “adult material” for the now well known game of “pass the porn” and to check the the pit stop girls oil level as it was starting to leak fairly badly. Arriving at around 10pm we quickly got showered before heading into bar Munich for a few beers with the other teams.

Frank at the start point



Logged

mattg

  • Junior Member
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Male
  • Northants
  • Posts: 121
    • View Profile
Re: Frank the Ramshackle Omega
« Reply #96 on: 28 August 2010, 10:25:51 »

Saturday – Annecy to San Remo

A quick fluid check once again showed no oil or coolant use the day before so looking good! We got together with the convoy once again pulled into the local Mcdonalds for our first faff break of the day. Some of the guys decided on a dip in the glacial lake to wake themselves up. Declaring myself a “water gay” I kept dry and played on the Mcdonalds childrens slide instead ;-)
We had made the decision the day before that we were going to go up and over the Alps rather than through the tunnel so we were soon winding our way through the countryside with Dean and Craig up front with the Camera out of the back of the A-Team van. (don’t tell the HSE) Having pulled up at the roadside to gather the convoy, Pete was the first to notice that we would appear to be sitting on gravel. Cue the mother of all peel offs from the little clit, this was followed by team stag in the 520 and then of course it would have been rude for Frank not to join in with a bit of tail wagging from the line (when trying this exercise on tarmac it was soon revealed that none of us had enough power to pull the skin off of a rice pudding let alone break traction on our amazing “Accelera” tyres.

Some water balloons were also aquired which made overtaking another ramshackle car an interesting proposition. Some quality hits were scored including one of the other teams driving a convertible!

The drive up the Alps was amazing, All of the cars made it up although the WRC Astra was by now running very very warm. Karl from Team stag bridged the temp sensor to make the fan run constantly and we cut a section from the front bumper which helped a little but it wasn’t looking great. Many cooling stops ensued but we all got there in the end.

Team Stags 520 popped a coolant hose going through the towns on the way down but fortunately it was at one end which was cut off and refitted. Job done!

The trip over the Alps had seriously lengthened our day so we headed out to the Motorways and drove the distance to San Remo as quickly as we could. Rolling in at 11.30 we went for the French shower option and got ourselves to the bar for some well deserved beers.

Pics

Convoy



Convoy on one of many cooling breaks



Ladies love Frank





Chasing down team stag



Nice road!



Done it



Sunday – San Remo – Perpignan

The usual checks once again revealed Frank to be holding up well. We hit the road deciding that we would now only communicate to toll road staff via the cars PA system which went down surprisingly well. Dean and Craig were interviewed for BBC radio Essex on one of our many faff breaks with a little “help” from our PA. We headed into Monaco for a dip in the sea and a look around/some lunch. We grabbed a pic of Frank outside the Casino before completing as much of a lap as we could and hitting the Autostrada. We convoyed all the way to Perpignan without any issues (although the WRC Astra was still running hot!) We actually had time to get ready properly tonight before heading down to the meeting place for a few beers.

Pics

Monaco



Outside the Casino with team stag



Oops…



Monday – Perpignan to Valencia

The last day of the rally. We hit the road early with the convoy having decided we wanted to hit Valencia at a reasonable time. We gave the girls a bit of a side swipe which removed most of the balls from their car at one point and almost ended up with a Polish guy who decided he wanted to come to Valencia with us. A few more games of pass the porn were played along with “pass the random Thomas the tank engine merchandise” and of course some water bomb action. Rocking in at 6 we got sorted out and headed out to the final meeting point for awards night where we where over the moon to win the award for the best banger by quite some margin! Every car in our convoy had made it which was fantastic. A great night was had by all and we finally got in at 5am for a well deserved kip.

Pics

He’s still got it..



Dirty Frank



MMMM…



Logged

mattg

  • Junior Member
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Male
  • Northants
  • Posts: 121
    • View Profile
Re: Frank the Ramshackle Omega
« Reply #97 on: 28 August 2010, 10:26:20 »

Tuedsay/Wednedsday – The drive home

Some of us from the convoy had decided earlier in the week that we would stick together in convoy on the way home. These were…

Us
Team stag
Pit stop
WRC

The Astra was still going despite being down on power and running at 100 deg constantly even with no thermostat and the fan on constantly! A good fun couple of days with only one worry on our part which was when we found a bit of oil starting to mix with the coolant at La Rochelle – yes, Franks head gasket was beginning to fail. Despite this, we made it the rest of the way home with no problems at all returning to the UK in convoy. We had one last checkover/fill up in the UK before parting company to head to our respective home towns. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t emotional for all involved. (except me obviously as I’m dead hard - sniffle) we will all be keeping in touch as we made some true friends on this epic adventure.

Waiting for the ferry home



So, that’s that for another year. Frank has been de-Thomased to a point and is heading off to be stored at a mates farm for a few months. There are a few jobs that will need doing for next year…

New head gasket.
Drivers seat where the bolster adjustment isn’t broken in the most uncomfy position possible.
Better speakers.
Fixing of the sunroof and central locking
One new/used tyre as one of ours is borderline.
Another oil change
New side repeater and trim where it fell off.

But we will get all of this sorted before working out a new theme for next year. In the meantime, if anyone has any good ideas, feel free to share. You never know, we may go with your idea!

Here he is now…





Many more pics will follow at some point and Frank will be back bigger and better next year.

Logged

plym ian

  • Omega Baron
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Male
  • Plymouth, Devon
  • Posts: 2997
    • 2.0 insignia elite tourer
    • View Profile
Re: Frank the Ramshackle Omega
« Reply #98 on: 28 August 2010, 11:11:53 »

great pics. sounds like it was a great time  :)
Logged

Lizzie_Zoom

  • Guest
Re: Frank the Ramshackle Omega
« Reply #99 on: 28 August 2010, 15:14:34 »

Well done Mattg, great pictures plus I should think wonderful memories 8-) 8-) 8-) 8-) 8-) 8-) 8-) :y.

It will be great to see our next project coming together! :D :D :D ;)
Logged

Amigo

  • Omega Baron
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Male
  • Immingham N.E Lincs.
  • Posts: 4116
  • Be objective, be selective.
    • Passat & Cortina GXL
    • View Profile
Re: Frank the Ramshackle Omega
« Reply #100 on: 28 August 2010, 22:57:52 »

Well done to the lot of you & to Frank for behaving himself..well he would do would'nt he with two girls sat on his face, lucky old so & so!!! :y 8-) :P
Logged
Curry makes the world go round!

MutantCav

  • Omega Baron
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Male
  • Gainsborough
  • Posts: 2716
  • Smoke me a kipper - I'll be back for Breakfast
    • View Profile
    • Free Giffgaff Sim With £5 Free Credit
Re: Frank the Ramshackle Omega
« Reply #101 on: 29 August 2010, 14:36:42 »

Well done mate, looks like you had a great time.

Oil in water is failing oil cooler, not head gasket...might have been over worked in the heat...cheaper and easier job to do though :y
« Last Edit: 29 August 2010, 14:37:55 by ShieldOfSteel »
Logged
http://giffgaff.com/orders/affiliate/tvpromo Get a free giffgaff sim running on O2 network
£5 free credit on first top-up
£5 gives you 60 mins, 300 texts & unltd calls and texts to anyone else on giffgaff

mantagte

  • Omega Knight
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Male
  • great yarmouth
  • Posts: 1777
    • omega bmw maverick
    • View Profile
Re: Frank the Ramshackle Omega
« Reply #102 on: 29 August 2010, 16:21:42 »

Quote
Well done mate, looks like you had a great time.

Oil in water is failing oil cooler, not head gasket...might have been over worked in the heat...cheaper and easier job to do though :y


didn't think 4 pots had this
Logged

mattg

  • Junior Member
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Male
  • Northants
  • Posts: 121
    • View Profile
Re: Frank the Ramshackle Omega
« Reply #103 on: 29 August 2010, 20:00:49 »

Thanks for all of the positive comments guys. I'd be interested in more gen on the oil cooler situation e.g. if the 4 pots are fitted with them. If not, i'll whip the head off and have a look in the next couple of months.

Did a bit more de-Thomasing as he's off to storage tomorrow (much to the delight of my neighbours) thought i'd de-sticker the body as they will be a nightmare to get off if I leave them.





We've got a whole shedload of the blue paint left so have been considering the GT40 gulf colours for next year...

Logged

mattg

  • Junior Member
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Male
  • Northants
  • Posts: 121
    • View Profile
Re: Frank the Ramshackle Omega
« Reply #104 on: 30 August 2010, 17:03:46 »

So, took Frank over to storage today where he will be laid up for a few months.

Waiting to go in with the other halfs 182..



Where he'll be for a bit...



Covered up...



And to top it off... The trophy...



This bit is going on my garage wall as a reminder...

Logged
Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 [7] 8 9 10 11 12 13   Go Up
 

Page created in 0.035 seconds with 18 queries.