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46

Omega General Help / Re: Left foot braking

« on: 13 January 2008, 21:08:57 »

I don't do it as a matter of course, but the trail braking effect described by The Doctor can be used for a bit of fun. I can brake properly using my left (it's something you need to practice a little if you've never done it, cos you won't have the level of feel and control required) but in normal driving in RWD cars I just heel-toe.

I must say I'm surprised if the DBW engines in the Omega have this "feature" where it won't allow you to apply power while the brakes are applied. I've heard of this in VAG cars, and it would drive me insane to not be able to blip the throttle on downshifts, it's much smoother than just dragging the clutch to pull the revs up. If this is true then I'm definitely not buying a 3.2 Omega in future, something I have considered.

47

Omega General Help / Re: New gearbox time?

« on: 09 January 2008, 14:05:21 »

sounds like your syncro is on its way out bud !!

That would be my first thought, but as the problem is on multiple gears surely that's unlikely? Mine is on 175,000 miles and the box is like new apart from some slight play in the selector, so unless it's had some serious abuse I doubt several synchros would be gone at that mileage. Anything's possible though.

48

Omega General Help / Re: Looking to buy an MV6

« on: 10 January 2008, 00:31:58 »

Had mine two years, and yes they're great fun. Know a mate who has an ex cop MV6 (mine is the full retail version) and he got it really cheap as an auto and converted it to manual -- fair shifts and is great fun to drive.

Depends how much you want to spend really, I'd always go for the retail model myself as they're much better specced (sports seats are particularly nice) but can be double the price of an ex-cop. Easier to find ex-cop models in manual, but there are retail ones out there (like mine) although they will fetch a little more than autos.

I'd expect an ex plod with high miles like that to be going around the £5-600 mark, even as a manual. Don't expect it to be mint, it will probably need a bit of work!

49

Omega General Help / Re: Just half a thought for LPG conversion owners..

« on: 09 January 2008, 14:11:50 »

My guess is that it's not significant enough an improvement, otherwise, LPG kits would take over control of the ignition in the same way that they do for the injection.

The problem with that is that it's easy to clone the petrol ECU's injector behaviour, and just modify the pulse widths to suit, you're not advancing the injection timing any. Advancing the timing based on the ECU's timings isn't so easy -- it would need non-causal signal processing which is obviously impossible, so it would take some other kind of trickery to get the signals out of the ECU earlier. Of course you could bypass the ECU altogether and do your own timing, but LPG ECUs are a lot more basic than the car's ECU, so without developing a system that can tap into all the sensors (MAF, MAP, knock, temp, etc) it would be a backwards step.

Old style distributor ignition is obviously a lot easier to advance, and this is exactly what many people do when running on LPG. You just have to remember to drive gently on petrol

50

Omega General Help / Re: What shox are best up-grade ?

« on: 09 January 2008, 14:02:53 »

I'd go for Bilsteins, but they're not cheap! Budget on £400+ for the set.

51

Omega General Help / Re: Knocking from suspension

« on: 08 January 2008, 16:35:02 »

Thanks guys.  I dont have a Haines, so quick question:

Is the drop link fixed under tension by the anti roll bar?  I dont want to undo it and then find it impossible to re-fit.

Is the suspension on my 2002 model the same as can be found in the pre facelift Haines workshop manuals?

It's probably pretty similar. There's nothing fancy there, just one nut on either end. The drop link will be under tension if you jack one wheel up, the solution is to also jack up the other side to the same height (basically so the wheel is just off the ground) and there will be no torsion on the roll bar and thus no tension on the drop link.

Very easy job, as long as the nuts haven't seized.

52

Omega General Help / Re: Heated front screen

« on: 04 January 2008, 19:29:31 »

Personally I think they're great, it's one of my pet hates in almost all cars that the time your windscreen is most likely to be steamed up is when the car has been parked up overnight and it's cold outside, and that's the one time the heater is completely useless. I don't care so much about frost/ice, I'm quite willing to clear all the windows with a scraper, it's the condensation on the inside I hate. I refuse to wipe it with a cloth as it always leaves smears that are impossible to remove until the window is completely dry again. So I have to sit and wait for 10 minutes with the engine idling until the heater is warm enough to demist it... ah the wonders of modern technology

I'm amazed there hasn't been some other technology developed to solve this issue, I remember back when I was a kid and long before I was old enough to drive (think it was 1991) my dad had a Ford that had a quickclear windscreen. 17 years later (god I'm getting old) and we're still sitting in brand new cars idling our engines to demist the windscreen using the heat from the engine

Got one of those on my Sapphire Cosworth , hate it, especially at night with on-coming headlights, they really shows up at night and do your eyes in, especially at high speed which is something you really don't need when your trying to read the road!

Daytime not too bad until you switch it on, distorts the vision until it’s fully warmed up.

Chris.

I've never owned a car with one, but I have driven a few, and I found I quickly got used to it and after a while my brain just filters out the extra glare so I don't notice it. It would be nice if it were possible to have the same functionality without the wires being visible though.

On the latter point, I notice a similar thing on the rear window of my BMW. It has a very similar setup to the quickclear for the rear window heater, lots of very thin wires laminated between two layers of glass. Only difference is the wires are straight instead of wavy, and a few wires are used for the aerial so don't heat up. Normally you can't see them in the mirror, but after it's been switched on for a while you can see some distortion. It actually serves as a reminder to switch it off, but I've no idea why it does that as it's still visible after the glass has completely cleared

Oh and I've no idea why they decided to use such a system on the rear window... it costs £800 for a replacement should you need one :-/

53

Omega General Help / Re: Headlights

« on: 04 January 2008, 19:39:53 »

I had a bit of time on my hands over Xmas so I decided to tackle the dismal headlights.  I replaced the earth cables and connectors and wired the new ones straight to the battery -ve, one from each headlight.  I used 17 amp cable.  Then I fitted a relay, using the old headlight dip beam (off side) wire for the relay coil  and fitting new 27 amp cable back to the battery +ve and to both headlights on the switching contacts. My God, the lights actually work now, and although they are still only 'quite good' they are a long, long, long way better than they were.  Only one minor niggle to sort out, the lamp failure warning, but I can live with that now I can see where I am going at night. I can now see signs, the road edge, white lines, cats eyes and even with oncoming traffic.
The old connectors on the earth terminals were 'blued' from heat or poor connection causing resistance and therefore heat I presume.  All fixed now.
This helped me lots, I hope it helps someone else.
Incidentally I am using the Osram Nightbreaker bulbs and they are very bright (now).

Ah the old relaying the lights trick, this can indeed provide a good improvement depending on how good (or bad) the original wiring is. I have HIDs on both my cars (wouldn't be without them now) but I used this trick to great effect on my old Audi, which had terrible lights. One of the major flaws with that was that the power for the lights actually goes through the switch, no relay. So by the time it's went through all the rather borderline thickness wiring to reach the lights, there had been a voltage drop of a few volts.

Relaying with heavy duty cable means the lights will be getting full battery voltage, which can make a significant difference if there is much of a voltage drop with standard wiring. Easy enough to check with a multimeter. I'd expect the standard Omega setup goes through a relay or two though, but there can still be benefits in adding a direct relay to the battery. Don't forget to add an inline fuse as close to the battery as possible though.

Doing this also allows you to run higher wattage bulbs safely, at least as far as the wiring goes. There's no guarantee the lights themselves will be able to handle the extra heat, if the lenses are plastic I'd seriously doubt it. It's also illegal for road use of course so not really recommended. Stick to good quality road legal bulbs, like the Xenon gas filled type, but avoid blue tinted ones like the plague!

54

Omega General Help / Re: How to operate the  Aircon ?

« on: 19 December 2007, 16:47:44 »

Yep, press the snowflake and AC will come on. However it won't come on if it's too cold outside (around 4 degrees or less), or if there is a problem with the system such as the gas pressure being too low due to it needing a service.

55

Omega General Help / Re: MV6 Supspension

« on: 15 December 2007, 00:42:16 »

I've heard good things about Bilstein dampers on the Omega, haven't got them myself but I had them (along with Eibach springs) on an Impreza WRX STi I used to own and the handling on that was excellent. If it were me uprating the suspension on my MV6 I'd probably combine the Bilsteins with Irmscher springs. Two things to consider though -- Bilsteins are bloody expensive (around £400-450 for the 4 dampers) and the Irmscher springs are about 20mm lower than standard MV6.

I'm not aware of any uprated springs that don't lower the car I'm afraid.

BTW If you're going for handling over looks, avoid 19" alloys. The increase in unsprung weight will give the springs and dampers more work, losing some of the benefit of uprating them. I'd be inclined to stick with 17s, but 18s probably won't be too detrimental. Alternatively try to get forged wheels, which are lighter, but usually a fair bit more expensive.

56

Omega General Help / Re: Manual gearbox oil?

« on: 17 December 2006, 18:53:31 »

Never drained the gearbox oil on my Omega but the BMW box uses Dextron III ATF so it's not unusual. Gives a better shift when cold apparently. To be honest the stuff that came out looked as good as the new stuff that went in, and I didn't notice any difference with the shift so not convinced it was worth the effort. Won't do any harm though.

57

Omega General Help / Re: LSD , what are they fitted to..

« on: 18 December 2007, 22:30:27 »

The quaiffe is a torque sensing diff, similar to the Torsen centre diff used by proper Audi quattros (not the Haldex rubbish used in the A3 and TT). The Omega one is a viscous coupling, so it acts like a normal diff until there is enough slip to lock up the coupling, hence it will behave like a normal diff when turned slowly.

58

Omega General Help / Re: LSD , what are they fitted to..

« on: 18 December 2007, 14:36:52 »

BTW forgot to add, my MV6 doesn't have a slipper even though it's a manual, so it seems they're pretty unusual on retail models.

59

Omega General Help / Re: LSD , what are they fitted to..

« on: 18 December 2007, 14:35:57 »

Spare a thought for my task coming on Friday -- I left my car at my folks' house last weekend (well actually all 3 of them lol) in anticipation of taking the bike down there on Friday to park it up for the winter. Long overdue I know. What I didn't anticipate was the weather hovering just above freezing all week, not exactly ideal conditions for a 70 mile ride on an R1 with semi-race tyres I'll just have to try my utmost to ride like a pussy, easier said than done!

60

Omega General Help / Re: Anyone done *rear* suspension geometry?

« on: 18 December 2007, 14:13:28 »

Digging up an old thread here, but it looks like I'm going to be following the same procedure took mine in to get the alignment done and was told the rears are well out, but adjusters are seized. The guy didn't fancy heating them on the car due to the proximity to the fuel tank, so basically he advised me to remove them and free them off in a vice and grease them up with coppaslip before taking the car back in.

What's involved in removing these rods? Do I need a ball joint splitter or similar? Trying to anticipate any unwanted suprises before I start.

Cheers.