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[ajax]

Some of you may recognise this from ABS but apologies to the rest of you if you don't approve but it was done for a reason.

I bought this from Ebay in March with dead engine, in fact the bottom end was seized solid, it had black syrup for oil.



I also had this left over from an abandoned project to fit it in to an Opel Monza....



So I'm afraid my Omega now has 23DTR engine from a late Carlton and a 4 speed auto gearbox from an Opel Monza.

It kind of looks like this under the bonnet now.....



I realise this may be deeply offensive to the die hard Omega fraternity but it's actually not a bad car. It will cruise at 90mph + all day long and is saving me a fortune in fuel costs.  

[JueV6]

See I was right, It has been reborn

[VXL V6]

Followed the story on ABS   An Omega that escaped the crusher has to be good news!

Is it going around Marham in the future???  

[HNO3GOH]

Looks like a good job done How long did it take.

[ajax]

Looks like a good job done How long did it take.

Surprsingly not that long, probably about 6-8 weeks of maybe 3 evenings a week. Unfortunately the first gearbox I fitted was dead so it took me a while to find another, ended up getting one from another ABS member in Scotland.

The only down side is that there's not quite enough slip in the TC so you have to get to 10mph or so before the turbo spins up. Excellent on the motorway though, especially with the CC on!

Followed the story on ABS   An Omega that escaped the crusher has to be good news!

Is it going around Marham in the future???  

Well the Monza won't be this time round so possibly! Hopefully the Monza will be back for next April though, as long as there is another Marham in April! More welding to be done though!

[FRE07962128]

Hello Ajax, and we all warmly welcome someone who can resurect a neglected miggy and save it from an early death!

Well done, keep it going and you will have a car to be proud of. 8-) 8-)

[The Red Baron]

good job that, i had a carlton 23dtr, that engine seems to go forever. well done.  

[Brian T]

well done...and to think I was worried about changing a cam belt on a 4 pot!

[ajax]

well done...and to think I was worried about changing a cam belt on a 4 pot!

Well I wouldn't mind doing a cambelt on a four pot but would rather do a cam chain on a C30SE engine than the belt on a V6!

I mean, how much do you have to remove just to get to the damn thing. That said, now I've been there I guess it wouldn't be half as bad next time.



Opel do seem to have tried their best to make it as difficult to work on as possible though, especially considering it's very, very similar to the Carlton underneath the pretty bits.

good job that, i had a carlton 23dtr, that engine seems to go forever. well done.  

Well I used the Carlton for a month before the MOT ran out and I couldn't believe just how well it pulled in top gear, I was really shocked, that and I was used to 20mpg on a run from my Jeep it was a winner all round.

[HNO3GOH]

I do take my hat off to you with what you have done
It's one thing to go from a petrol to a bigger petrol but to go from a petrol to a diesel good job.

[ajax]

I do take my hat off to you with what you have done
It's one thing to go from a petrol to a bigger petrol but to go from a petrol to a diesel good job.

Thanks. TBH because of the type of old school diesel it is it's a lot more straight forward than you would think.

It took some frigging around with the flexi-plate and the V6 starter motor to make it all work though. Yee har, ride em cowboy!

[nickomega]

good job mate glad u saved her

[DaveDempsey]

Thats awesome, legend.

[ajax]

Well it's been a long time since I updated this but thought I'd add a few more details for those that have nothing better to do in their lives than read my drivel! :lol:

I have been wanting to restore the A/C for quite a while on this but until recently hadn't seen a good way forward as the engine was only ever manufactured using the old fashioned V belts as well as having the alternator on the passenger side. So I decided to bite the bullet and attempt to convert it to serpentine belt which also required swapping the alternator and compressor to alternate sides of the engine, mainly so I could use the original plumbing and wiring for the A/C.

The switch was a bigger job than I expected as being a diesel it also has the brake servo vacuum pump on the back of the alternator which is oil fed from the engine sump. So I had to re-route a few cables and pipes as well as sorting out fixings for the compressor and alternator. Anyway, I got it done but on starting the engine the tensioner was vibrating in a destructive sort of way. I couldn't leave it like that as it would destroy itself in no time. So I've added an adjustable stabiliser bar.



So the set up is now using a machined down gold top (30NE) crank pulley and drivers side ancillary bracket. A C30SE water pump, V6 Omega PAS pump and compressor. I've also used the A/C plumbing from a 2.2L Omega so just needs a re-gas and testing!

Unfortunately it's recently started spitting water out of the header tank which I thought was caused by a crack round the filler hole. After replacing the tank and cap it's still doing it so I suspect a crack in the head. I've managed to source a replacement head from a nice chap in Kent so when the weather improves I might have a crack at it. It only causes a problem when cruising at above legal speeds and has never actually over heated so is liveable for now.

I've also fitted a 3.45:1 diff from a diesel Omega so it revs nice and low now. It's done about 9000 miles since being built and is now my daily driver, and I really like it!

[Diamond Black Geezer]

I dont know if anyone else has noticed this, but it seems that there is not shortage of really nice roadworthy Omegas, quite a lot of them facelifts, that get stripped for parts. Everyone always says 'worth more as parts, mate' fair point. But absolutely fantastic to see someone tackle a project that most of us would have run away crying from!

Ten out of ten!

[cruisetopoland]

Yeah-great work and technical expertise 

Can you do mine? 

[ajax]

I dont know if anyone else has noticed this, but it seems that there is not shortage of really nice roadworthy Omegas, quite a lot of them facelifts, that get stripped for parts. Everyone always says 'worth more as parts, mate' fair point.

There are still a lot of good cars out there so even cars with relatively minor faults are still worth more in parts. The same thing happened with Monzas, Senators and Carltons but they appear to be coming out the other side now. It's surprising how fast Omega numbers are dropping when you look at Autotrader though.

But absolutely fantastic to see someone tackle a project that most of us would have run away crying from!

Ten out of ten!

Thanks, but not as difficult as you might think once you have the momentum going with the project.

[Slurpy]

Very impressive indeed.

A project where I would certainly run away from. [smiley=laugh.gif]

[ajax]

Well I finally bit the bullet and replaced the cylinder head and gasket this week and it seems to have cured it. I still don't know whether it's a crack in the head or gasket failure though. I will get the old head pressure tested at some point just out of curiosity.

I suspect the head had been off before though as it all came apart very easily with the gasket staying completely intact. The only odd thing was that No. 2 cylinder seemed to be a whole lot cleaner than the other but I don't know whether that was me gripping it to lift it or something else. There was also evidence of water contamination around one of the bolts and the gasket area around it but it didn't seem to penetrate to any of the bores. Anyway, a few pictures.

Damage to No.4 piston from an unknown cause.



Head bolts, notice the one rusty bolt.



The head, notice the rusty bolt hole at the top second from left, also the clean valve faces of No.2 cylinder.



It now appears to be cured, no pressurised coolant and normal running temperatures (which it had before).

This was a challenge though as the engine has been modified so much that I had no timing marks to set the valve timing by. You shouldn't need to I know, but whilst trying to hold a 37Kg head at virtually arms length I broke the cam sprocket support off the top of the chain guide. That allowed the sprocket to drop and the chain to fall off the crank. Then I discovered that the timing mark for the cam sprocket is also on the bit I broke off. So it's been timed by feel, eyesight and guestimation.

The broken bit!



So after all this effort I'm going to run it for a while and see how it behaves. If it goes wrong again I will drive it down to the crusher myself!!

I even got round to adjusting the head light height and replacing the batteries in the alarm power sounder, still doesn't make any noise though!

Anyway, now this is done it gives me the chance to build the engine that I need to bolt my twin turbos to for my Monza!

[Dishevelled Den]

A very enjoyable and interesting thread  8-)

[ajax]

Woo hoo, working A/C.

So what plonker designed the location of the face lift A/C dryer then? I ended up popping out the two little plastic plugs in the side of the fan housing so I could pass a socket extension bar through to get to the bracket bolts. It's like a fridge in the car now, well when I switch it on it is!

It doesn't seem to mind that the HBV is longer in place either although we will see how it does when high summer gets here.

[Will B]

Total respect for effort that must of been to change it all, I'm bitching cos I have to replace a tensioner on mine but you have re-designed the whole belt system lol crazy.

wish mine had the nice mod you made to it 

hope you get the head sorted soon

[PhilRich]

You have my total admiration & respect mate! Awesome!!!

[ajax]

Total respect for effort that must of been to change it all, I'm bitching cos I have to replace a tensioner on mine but you have re-designed the whole belt system lol crazy.

It did have me scratching my head for a while and I had a problem with bolts working loose but all sorted now!

wish mine had the nice mod you made to it 

hope you get the head sorted soon

Ah, the head is now well and truly sorted, replacement head and gasket sorted it over 4000 miles a go.

You have my total admiration & respect mate! Awesome!!!

Thank you! 8-)

Just the bottom arms, discs and drop links to do now.

[Sixstring]

Have followed this with interest.......did something similar years ago with a 2.9 V6 granada to a perkins turbo-diesel. Fantastic piece of ingenuity and perseverence, buddy, my conversion took me £700 and 8 months of (part time) fettling, but was a worthwhile conversion in the end, making an expensive luxury car relatively cheap to run (45mpg) with good performance. (only 100mph max, but all day long regardless of hills, etc.)

you are to be congratulated, mate.

[ajax]

Have followed this with interest.......did something similar years ago with a 2.9 V6 granada to a perkins turbo-diesel. Fantastic piece of ingenuity and perseverence, buddy, my conversion took me £700 and 8 months of (part time) fettling,

Well the engine went in nearly two years a go and quickly became very stable, but then I wanted to get the A/C working and that opened a whole world of problems that have taken me a while to resolve. It now owes me around £500 but that includes buying the car.

but was a worthwhile conversion in the end, making an expensive luxury car relatively cheap to run (45mpg) with good performance. (only 100mph max, but all day long regardless of hills, etc.)

This is the same. The interesting thing is that it has the same gear ratios as a 4 speed automatic 3.0L Monza GSE yet in top gear from 60mph to 100mph it accelerates far better than the Monza.

you are to be congratulated, mate.

Thank you....

[Del Boy]

Glad it's all still going well