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Author Topic: humbucker's 2004 Irmscher MV6 #irmscherMV6  (Read 100859 times)

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05omegav6

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Re: humbucker's 2004 Irmscher MV6 #irmscherMV6
« Reply #75 on: 16 January 2015, 17:27:38 »

Coming along nicely 8)

One question though... why go to all that trouble and fit an early rear seat instead of the facelift one :-\
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Re: humbucker's 2004 Irmscher MV6 #irmscherMV6
« Reply #76 on: 16 January 2015, 17:53:45 »

Coming along nicely 8)

One question though... why go to all that trouble and fit an early rear seat instead of the facelift one :-\

Thanks Al! Regarding the seats: my donor car was a mini-facelift MV6  :y
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Re: humbucker's 2004 Irmscher MV6 #irmscherMV6
« Reply #77 on: 16 January 2015, 17:56:51 »

Aaaaah a little 'spoiler' alert there then :)

The cat's out of the bag...!

The new issue of Total Vauxhall has hit newsstands, and with it comes the latest #irmscherMV6 project update! As ever, the magazine is filled with cracking motors and brilliant builds. This month's edition features a mint Manta, an Irmscher-kitted Nova, a C20LET-powered Silk Violet Corsa B and a veritable assortment of VXRs. Visit http://is.gd/SqxHFz to download/subscribe etc., or pop along to your local newsagent. Well, go on then!  :D

« Last Edit: 16 January 2015, 18:02:15 by humbucker »
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05omegav6

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Re: humbucker's 2004 Irmscher MV6 #irmscherMV6
« Reply #78 on: 16 January 2015, 20:03:58 »

Coming along nicely 8)

One question though... why go to all that trouble and fit an early rear seat instead of the facelift one :-\

Thanks Al! Regarding the seats: my donor car was a mini-facelift MV6  :y
Fair dos :y Rear leather is the same for both optional Sports and Elite, so the rear bench from a '99-'52 car will match the fronts (latest cars have grained leather), plenty of CD and CDXs left the factory with leather, but needs to be Elite if you want the heaters...
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Re: humbucker's 2004 Irmscher MV6 #irmscherMV6
« Reply #79 on: 16 January 2015, 21:45:40 »

geat project  :y :y

Thanks Sew :y It's funny to think that I bought the car over four and a half years ago! Then again, £500 for a six-year-old MV6 kitted out with a load of Irmscher gear and a stack of brand new genuine parts was impossible to ignore, even if I didn't have the time to do anything with it ;D

Lovin this....Hey if you ever come across an opel irmscher grill for a mini facelift and at a good price please let me know as your doing a great job of finding parts....I can't find a fart in a bucket lol not that you would want one. ;D ;D

Thanks matey. I'll let you know if I stumble across the part that you're after.

Great update - again.... Whats the oblong piece of bodywork underneath the lip spoiler...?

It's a dismembered facelift Cadillac Catera 'trunk' panel. More on that to follow in my next update.

.............hello again Dan, I've already told you that I like this thread and have meant to ask you frequently why none of the posts you made next door aren't on OOF......... Having seen you OOF name, I realise you've been on this forum for ages anyway. Keep the good stuff coming...... Matthew :y :y :y

Mr Corbeau!  ;D :D Thanks again for the encouraging comments. I hadn't been posting updates on OOF as this forum doesn't allow for the retrospective editing of posts (unlike ABS, MIGweb, CavMk3OC etc.). In retrospect, I don't think it's going to be as much of a concern as I first thought, although it would be a handy bit of functionality for admin to introduce anyway  ;) ;D

Thanks that would be great. :y :y
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Re: humbucker's 2004 Irmscher MV6 #irmscherMV6
« Reply #80 on: 25 January 2015, 10:47:34 »

GM’s enthusiasm for badge-engineering has seen many of its European models adopt new identities before offering themselves for sale in faraway lands. On the whole, this practice has been a huge (financial) success for the company. Contrary to its earlier efforts, however, the decision to slap a Cadillac badge across the front of the Omega before firing it at unsuspecting Stateside car buyers is widely regarded as one of the biggest fails in American automotive history.

Launched as the ‘Catera’, “the Caddy that zigs” was pitched as a sporty alternative to the Detroit motor giant’s portfolio of big, V8-powered luxury barges. Unfortunately, the demand for such a car didn’t really exist, and the Catera’s reputation as one of the smallest Cadillacs ever produced – coupled with the fact that it was ‘missing’ two cylinders – ensured that its future was over before it began.

Like its earlier incarnation, the short-lived facelift variant of the Catera included USDM styling features that separated it from its Omega sibling. The most pronounced of these updates could be seen on the model’s rear end, where a redesigned ‘trunk’ housed a Cavalier Turbo-esque boot panel and a super-wide integrated third brake light flanked by LED-illuminated light clusters with red and white lenses stacked in the reverse order to those seen on the Omega.

Fitting these Yank-spec components to the Omega/MV6 isn’t possible without heavy modification to both the European and American parts. This is primarily because the Catera’s boot lid includes a dedicated recess to house its decorative panel, not to mention the fact that its inner light clusters are much deeper and much narrower than those of the Omega. In other words, they just don’t fit!

That said, not being one to take no for an answer (and in spite of being told that “it simply can’t be done”), I imported a Catera boot panel and a complete set of accompanying LED light clusters from the USA in advance of formulating a plan of action that resulted in an attack of my MV6’s boot lid with an angle grinder, splitting the boot panel into four separate parts, smoothing its Cadillac badge recesses, colour coding the altered parts and plastic welding everything back together in an entirely bespoke arrangement.

The phrase ‘trial and error’ has never been more appropriate, and it took many long nights in my garage, lots of cursing and plenty of teeth sucking until I was happy with the fit of the reassembled pieces. I don’t mind telling you that I questioned my decision to cut up these rare and expensive parts on more than one occasion, but I’m glad that I kept going - the finished article looks fantastic!

While the back of the MV6 was stripped bare, I replaced its crash bar with a new genuine GM item, and I reinforced its Irmscher dual-exit exhaust system with new joiners and clamps. I also took the opportunity to swap its tired exhaust mounts with brand new Powerflex polyurethane parts. The improvement since fitting them is nothing short of extraordinary, with no vibration or movement of any kind where the OE rubber equivalents would encourage the pipework to bounce around under load. A highly recommended mod.

More Dark Destroyer project progress to follow!

THANKS
Powerflex
01895 460033
http://www.powerflex.co.uk

An early (pre-facelift) Catera promotional poster:



My recently-acquired facelift Catera 'trunk' panel. The required recess is absent from the Omega's boot lid, meaning that the Catera part sits a few centimetres proud of the Vauxhall's metal. The only way to get around this is to break apart the boot panel, plastic weld it back together in a new arrangement, cut large chunks out of the Omega's boot lid and hope for the best!  ;D



Note the contoured Cadillac badge recess. The Body Shop did a cracking job of smoothing this on the finished panel:



The individual 'Catera' letters also sit in their own recesses:



Time to split the panel:



And then some!  ;D



Note how much wider the MV6's original inner light cluster is (left) when compared to the Catera equivalent (right). The rear housing of the latter is also much deeper than the Vauxhall's part (to accommodate the enlarged rear bulb housing etc). This is one of the reasons that the boot lid needs to be cut to suit. The light casing itself also needs to be cut and re-shaped to fit.



This was my somewhat conservative estimate regarding how much metal needed to be removed from the boot lid. Trial and error resulted in much more cutting than I had anticipated:



There are lots of mounting points on the rear of the coloured centre panel that need to be removed in order to prevent it from sitting too far forward:



I removed all of the MV6's boot badges at the same time. A combination of Autobrite Direct 'Just The Tonic Glue and Tar Remover', plenty of elbow grease and a filler applicator did the trick:

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humbucker

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Re: humbucker's 2004 Irmscher MV6 #irmscherMV6
« Reply #81 on: 25 January 2015, 10:47:53 »

The exposed rear end of the car revealed a rotten exhaust clamp on the Irmscher twin-exit pipework. New for old:



The rear crash bar was showing its age. I managed to get hold of a brand new genuine GM replacement:



It made sense to replace the flexible factory exhaust mounts with uprated Powerflex polyurethane equivalents while I was fitting the shiny new exhaust clamp. The difference that these parts have made to the rear end is very impressive; the exhaust pipework barely moves (even when pulling at it) since fitting the new mounts. I can't wait to equip the car with Powerflex lower arm and anti-roll bar bushes in the coming weeks.



Unfortunately, the offside exhaust pipe had a hanger lip that prevented its mount from sliding on without issue. Powerflex do manufacture mounts to suit, but I'd ordered three of the type that fit the nearside hangers. Out came the angle grinder!





New clamp, Powerflex exhaust mounts, new GM rear crash bar, Irmscher twin-exit exhaust system:



The rear end was thoroughly cleaned before installing my resprayed Irmscher rear bumper, Cadillac Catera LED outer lights, modified and debadged boot lid, modified Catera boot panel (reshaped, smoothed and painted), modified Catera LED inner lights:



Here's a before and after comparison. First up, a photo of the rear end of my MV6 taken on the day that I bought it:



And here's how it looks today:



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Re: humbucker's 2004 Irmscher MV6 #irmscherMV6
« Reply #82 on: 25 January 2015, 11:30:39 »

Looken Good  8)

I have often thought of fitting the Catera rear end to my Omega
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Re: humbucker's 2004 Irmscher MV6 #irmscherMV6
« Reply #83 on: 25 January 2015, 17:55:54 »

Very good write-up yet again fella... Like the rear panel :)

Well done for doing something different, very impressed with the way it turned out :)
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05omegav6

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Re: humbucker's 2004 Irmscher MV6 #irmscherMV6
« Reply #84 on: 25 January 2015, 18:34:07 »

Importing the entire bootlid might have been easier... ::) hopefully the wiring will be more straightforward ;)
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Re: humbucker's 2004 Irmscher MV6 #irmscherMV6
« Reply #85 on: 25 January 2015, 21:09:26 »

Looken Good  8) I have often thought of fitting the Catera rear end to my Omega

Thanks for the vote of confidence! I added the Irmscher rear wing last night. The difference it has made to the look of the car's back end is incredible. Pics to follow!

Very good write-up yet again fella... Like the rear panel :) Well done for doing something different, very impressed with the way it turned out :)

Cheers, much appreciated! :y

Importing the entire bootlid might have been easier... ::) hopefully the wiring will be more straightforward ;)

I did consider importing a complete boot lid, but the Catera's third brake light spans the entire width of the 'trunk' and won't allow for the application of a lip spoiler. Futhermore, it forces the position of the rear wing to what seems like half way along the boot lid. It looks pretty terrible imho, so I decided to have a go at merging the USA and European parts! :)

As for wiring, I've got that sorted; I'm going to modify the existing loom so that it includes both USA and Euro spec plugs in case I need/want to revert back to the original lights at any point in the future.
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Re: humbucker's 2004 Irmscher MV6 #irmscherMV6
« Reply #86 on: 26 January 2015, 13:45:07 »

Nice job mate , just what i was going to do  ;)
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Re: humbucker's 2004 Irmscher MV6 #irmscherMV6
« Reply #87 on: 26 January 2015, 20:04:50 »

Nice to see you created a topic again here too. I am a follower of your FB page for quite a while now and really like seeing your efforts getting this MV6 back on the road. Got to give some credits for the nice photo's too.. makes it a lot of fun too. I've been reading through all these pages again.  :)

Interesting combination you are doing now with the Catera elements, liking the non-standard approach by getting it fit the way you like it. Best from both worlds.

Keep it up. :y
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Re: humbucker's 2004 Irmscher MV6 #irmscherMV6
« Reply #88 on: 27 January 2015, 20:22:43 »

Nice job mate , just what i was going to do  ;)

'Great minds' and all that jazz...  ;D 8)

Nice to see you created a topic again here too. I am a follower of your FB page for quite a while now and really like seeing your efforts getting this MV6 back on the road. Got to give some credits for the nice photo's too.. makes it a lot of fun too. I've been reading through all these pages again.  :) Interesting combination you are doing now with the Catera elements, liking the non-standard approach by getting it fit the way you like it. Best from both worlds. Keep it up. :y

Thanks for the words of encouragement, and thanks for following the project on Facebook :y There's plenty left to do (is a project ever really finished?!), but things are starting to come together nicely. Onwards and upwards!
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Re: humbucker's 2004 Irmscher MV6 #irmscherMV6
« Reply #89 on: 27 January 2015, 20:22:57 »

During its time cruising about the mean streets of the good ol' US of A, the nearside Catera rear light casing has attracted a fair bit of dirt and dust that has made its way into the lower part of the outer casing. It's virtually impossible to clean off, leaving me with no choice but to order a replacement light.

Here's the culprit:



Fresh from its overseas trip, here's the new light unit (protected by what looks like a box full of cheese-free Wotsits):



And here's the new light sitting next to the original MV6 part:



In place:

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