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Author Topic: humbucker's 2004 Irmscher MV6 #irmscherMV6  (Read 100879 times)

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humbucker

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humbucker's 2004 Irmscher MV6 #irmscherMV6
« on: 15 January 2015, 10:50:38 »

As some of you will already be aware, my 2004 Irmscher MV6 project has (finally) kicked off and is being featured in the 'Staff Cars' section of Total Vauxhall magazine. Each month, a detailed report will highlight the ups and downs that I experience as work progresses. Needless to say, I'm hoping for more good than bad!

I have a dedicated Facebook page and a Twitter feed active with sneak peeks and short updates (details that follow magazine publication). Follow/like 'em if that's your bag:

http://www.facebook.com/irmscherMV6
http://www.twitter.com/irmscherMV6

Click here for digital and print subscription options for the magazine.

« Last Edit: 06 January 2016, 11:16:44 by Kevin Wood »
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Re: humbucker's 2004 Irmscher MV6 #irmscherMV6
« Reply #1 on: 15 January 2015, 10:52:28 »

Right then, let's get this showboat on the road... literally! #irmscherMV6

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Re: humbucker's 2004 Irmscher MV6 #irmscherMV6
« Reply #2 on: 15 January 2015, 10:52:43 »

Another sneak peek of The Dark Destroyer! The first full project update will appear in the brand new issue of Total Vauxhall magazine (in stores Thurs 10th April). #irmscherMV6

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Re: humbucker's 2004 Irmscher MV6 #irmscherMV6
« Reply #3 on: 15 January 2015, 10:53:12 »

I was hoping that attacking the car with a bucket and sponge might reveal something like this lurking beneath the thick layer of mank that had settled on the bodywork. Close, but no cigar! #irmscherMV6

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Re: humbucker's 2004 Irmscher MV6 #irmscherMV6
« Reply #4 on: 15 January 2015, 10:53:37 »

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! The first full #irmscherMV6 project update has been published in the brand spankin’ new issue of Total Vauxhall. Those of you already in possession of the magazine should turn to page 85, and those of you without one should nip to your local newsagent or supermarket, download a copy at http://is.gd/20gDTM or order one to be delivered direct to your door (at no extra charge) by visiting http://is.gd/mo5rqg. There are loads of fantastic motors in the new issue, so don’t delay – get yours today!



Notwithstanding the Holden derived Monaro and its totally bonkers successor, the VXR8, the Omega B was the last full-size rear-wheel drive car to wear a Vauxhall badge. That’s surprising when you consider that the final example left Opel’s Rüsselsheim factory almost a decade ago! Unfortunately, a fashionable move towards compact, fuel efficient motors rendered the large barge all but obsolete, and it became the victim of ridiculous depreciation as fuel duty and road tax increased with startling regularity (I’m not sure much has changed in that respect!).

Consequently, the car that had been royally appointed as fit for a soon-to-be king – and one that had worked tirelessly for Her Madge’s law enforcement agencies – was to become a stalwart of the nation’s scrapyards as many owners considered them too cost-inefficient to keep on the road. Occasional sightings of the endangered species would be reported as caravan owners scanned the classifieds for cheap load luggers or as tyre burners tried their hand at drifting, but the Omega became a relic of a pre-global financial crisis motoring world and has yet to be officially replaced by the GM big-wigs.

I’ve owned three V6 Omegas to date, so you can rightly assume that I’m a fan. If you can stomach the fact that you’ll be heading to the pumps more often than you would in your 1.2-litre ADAM, then the Elite and MV6 models can be mighty rewarding thanks to huge amounts of torque on tap, close to 220bhp from the 3.2-litre variant and more cabin space than a 5-Series Beemer. More toys and luxury trim too, and all this from a car that you can pick up for under a grand.

The Omega B that trumps them all is the facelift 3.2 Irmscher edition. Although examples aren’t badged as such, Vauxhall/Opel’s official styling partner developed a wide range of trim including a bodykit, exhaust system, alloys and coil springs specifically for the car. Perhaps unsurprisingly, few punters emptied their wallets for these cost-option extras on top of the £32k that they’d already forked out for their new ride – the upshot being that Irmscher Omega goodies have commanded a premium in recent years due to their scarcity.

I’d always fancied an Irmscher-kitted facelift MV6, but with rare special edition bumpers and steering wheels often costing more than entire cars it seemed an unlikely prospect. That was until I spotted an ad for a black 2004-plate rocking almost every item from the Irmscher catalogue. One of the last Omegas registered, it was on sale for just £500 and available to collect from a Vauxhall dealer in the New Forest. There was the small matter of suspected head gasket failure to contend with, but that wasn’t going to put me off of buying a car that came complete with so many desirable components, an exhaustive service history and masses of potential!

Loading my brother-in-law’s Jeep with a set of pre-facelift Elite rims (to replace the MV6’s apparent mismatched steelies), I trailered up and set off on the 350-mile round trip to collect my new project car. Tune in next month to see what I’ve ended up with! In the meantime, you can follow the dedicated Facebook and Twitter project pages by searching for the hashtag #irmscherMV6.



Quality steelies. Ahem...



I shouldn't scoff. The example above is pretty horrific, but Craig Evans has a nicely painted set of these same steelies on his wide body 4x4 Nova Turbo and they look great. Perhaps I should ditch plans for my staggered 18s after all?!



Sod it.



Puny brakes for such a big car. Will be beefing these up in the not-too-distant future:



16-inch mini-facelift Elite five-spokes at the ready. Temporary rimmage:





Looks pretty tidy under there...



...apart from all that mayo! Here's a handy tip for the GM V6 owners and fans among you. Head gasket and oil cooler failure symptoms on these engines are often mistaken for one another, but as a rule, oil in the water is oil cooler failure and water in the oil is head gasket failure. So now you know! Guess which one I was presented with...



Time to set sail for home:



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Re: humbucker's 2004 Irmscher MV6 #irmscherMV6
« Reply #5 on: 15 January 2015, 10:54:15 »

Are you planning to head out this weekend with the intention of taking some fresh photos of your pride and joy? If so, the boys at Fast Ford magazine have some top tips that might help you to get better results. Check it out: http://www.fastfordmag.co.uk/2013/06/25/27136/ #irmscherMV6

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Re: humbucker's 2004 Irmscher MV6 #irmscherMV6
« Reply #6 on: 15 January 2015, 10:54:38 »

Excellent service this morning (as usual) from the parts team at Murketts Vauxhall Cambridge. I ordered a new battery for #irmscherMV6 (among other bits) as two juice boxes between seven cars has proved to be a royal pain in the arse. Picked up a Z20C paint stick while I was at it. Everybody knows that a paint stick adds at least 20bhp to a car.

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Re: humbucker's 2004 Irmscher MV6 #irmscherMV6
« Reply #7 on: 15 January 2015, 10:54:51 »

Here's a photo from the original #irmscherMV6 classified ad. Note the odd choice of 16-inch Irmscher Soft Star alloy wheels in place of Omega-specific 18-inch Sport Stars. I left these rims behind despite their fantastic condition (they were virtually new). This move also dropped the price of the car down to just £500. I was offered more than that for some of the car's limited edition trim before I'd arrived back home! That's a pretty impressive purchase price when you consider that the car was just six years old and had thousands of pounds worth of Irmscher gear bolted to it.

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Re: humbucker's 2004 Irmscher MV6 #irmscherMV6
« Reply #8 on: 15 January 2015, 10:55:20 »

This snippet (lifted from a recent issue of Total Vauxhall magazine) makes #irmscherMV6’s £500 price tag seem like even more of a bargain. And yes, that’s a photo of another one of my Omegas (details in my next post).

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Re: humbucker's 2004 Irmscher MV6 #irmscherMV6
« Reply #9 on: 15 January 2015, 10:55:38 »

A few pics of my first Omega. It's a mini-facelift 3.0 V6 Elite. I bought the car in 2004 and still own it today. I don't think I'll ever forget how exciting the test drive was; I'd checked out some real rot boxes, but this one was super clean, very quick and it felt as though I was cruising around in my living room. Such a lot of car for the money. It was low mileage, well maintained, only a couple of owners from new etc. Keeping that cream carpet clean was a bit of a challenge as time went on (and the V6 became expensive to run as petrol prices increased while my journey to the office exceeded two hours each way), but it was a great car regardless. I'm using past tense as I doubt that the ole barge is likely to see the road again now that the Irmscher project is up and running. A shame really, it was/is (delete as appropriate) a bloody good motor, but you've gotta draw the line somewhere.









Cheeky iPod integration on non-aux OE head unit:



The council paid for a respray following my six month campaign to get them to shell out after the car suffered damage as a consequence of an encounter with a salt spreader. The front and side panels were battered with perfectly round holes spread across the otherwise mint paintwork. The incident was ruled as being totally avoidable and the car got a fresh lick of Jungle Green Mica. It looked fantastic:

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Re: humbucker's 2004 Irmscher MV6 #irmscherMV6
« Reply #10 on: 15 January 2015, 10:56:07 »

Here, have an Omega cutaway diagram. You're welcome.

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Re: humbucker's 2004 Irmscher MV6 #irmscherMV6
« Reply #11 on: 15 January 2015, 10:56:21 »

More pics of #irmscher MV6 at the point of purchase. Drab cloth upholstery, automatic transmission, crap in-car entertainment system. Each of these 'features' will be replaced with infinitely cooler upgrades.



Tailored mats have seen some action:

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Re: humbucker's 2004 Irmscher MV6 #irmscherMV6
« Reply #12 on: 15 January 2015, 10:56:39 »

Ditching weight from your car is the quickest way to make it go faster. Losing this V-badge somewhere along the line has, therefore, made a huge difference to potential 'Ring lap times.



Then again, adding a shark shaped badge to your motor should add at least 20bhp. Hmmn...

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Re: humbucker's 2004 Irmscher MV6 #irmscherMV6
« Reply #13 on: 15 January 2015, 10:56:54 »

Facelift MV6 alu-trim is all present and correct. It's in need of a good clean, but the door cards, centre console and dash trim pieces are in tip-top condition. Note the cloth insert below the alu panel. Each of these will be replaced with leather effect panels to match the rare Recaros that I hope to source.

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Re: humbucker's 2004 Irmscher MV6 #irmscherMV6
« Reply #14 on: 15 January 2015, 10:57:10 »

Willow had a few suggestions for the direction of the #irmscherMV6 project following a read through the 'library'...

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