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[DaveDempsey]

Thought it best to say Hi seeing as Im now in Omega ownership once again. Below is a Cut/Copy/Paste effort from my PH thread:

Okay, Ill give a quick over view of how this came to be bought.

 In 2005 I bought an Ex-Lincolnshire Constabulary Omega estate 3.0 v6 manual from Paul Mimmack Cars in Blackpool with just 101,000miles on the clock. This was to be used as a general hack and dog carrier to keep the toys clean. However as time went by I really began to get attached to the old girl, and despite by far being one of the roughest looking cars Ive owned (no reconditioning had been done, ariels still in the roof, rusty tailgate etc), it was just truly an epic car. I spent a little tidying it up, painted the roof & tailgate, fitted some Vectra SRi alloys and got some MV6 Recaros's & roof rails.
 She plodded away for 4 years, done pretty much anything it was asked, and spent a large amount of time hooked up to a Brian James trailer towing cars all over the place.

 Sadly despite having been hassle free through the 4 years the time came where the full exhaust system required replacing (which was around £1k), it required a rear ABS sensor and a few other bits.......stupidly in early 2009 I decided to scrap the car and bought a Vectra SRi estate instead, a decision I still regret to this day:

 The old girl in action:




 So, fast forward from 2009 to the present day, and I was on the look out for a new project to keep me entertained through the summer. I looked at lots of varying Astra;s and  travelled to Chester to look at an early SRiT which had issues, again travelled to Newcastle to look at an Astra coupe Turbo (shed), and then went off to look at something different in the form of an Omega. Main criteria being a V6 (3.0 or 3.2 preferable), and it had to have a sunroof. Sadly they are becoming harder to get now being nearly 10years out of production. I travelled through to Glasgow to look at a 75k mile Elite 3.2 which despite the sellers best 'its immaculate' claims was not......it was a shed.
 So back on Ebay, Autotrder, Gumtree etc. I went where upon I found a 3.2 Elite Auto Saloon for sale in Leeds. I originally ignored due to the travelling again, but the more I looked at it the more I was convinced it was an epic idea. So a few calls to the seller and a bank transfer later and I had an Omega, I just had to work out the logistics to get it back which due to work was proving challenging. Thankfully my good mate Dave stepped in, jumped on a train and brought it back, legend.

 So here it is, a 2002 Elite 3.2 Auto saloon, 123,686 miles, 3 owners from new (Vauxhall fleet management 12months, Drive Vauxhall 12 months 1 private owner since). It has full black leather, Sunroof, Sat nav & Bose system as options its a little rough around the edges but bodily is solid and is a great base to start from.......all for less than £700













Heated rear seats:



Stack of paperwork that came with the car, along with service history (more or less full history, car has been serviced on mileage rather than time):



So last night was time to make a start, and start making lists.
 Into work she went and onto the ramp:



small bit of rust on the near side rear door:



off side rear door has soome blistering starting



near side rear arch starting to go a bit:



Has an oil leak from the cam cover, atlest the gearbox wont rust



It had both sentre sections replaced recently and there is a slight blow where the left bank cat is bolted:



Tailgates....well its fooked, however the garage it was bought from assures me if I take the trim panel off and give it a few chaps with a hammer it will come out perfect.....eh naw:



Off side mirror broken



Sat nav & on board computers in German

[DaveDempsey]

So I made a list of all the defects I could find:

Interior:

Sunroof not working - repaired that last night, now works perfectly
Rear sunblind doesnt work
Sat nav in German - now sorted despite the manuals lack of help
There appears to be a speaker not working on the drivers door, however the door card lookos to have been of before so some investigating there
Drivers seat electric height adjust not working - now sorted
Key fob not working - new key fob ordered

Mechanical:

Xenons have a fault with the levelling system - stuck the diagnostics on and it recorded a fault with the front level sensor, found the small bar had popped off, still not working so may be completely caput or just need re-programmed.
Steering - some issues there
2 front tyres bald, 2 rears of differing makes (all branded though)
N/S exhaust blow
Rocker cover gaskets leaking
Looks like there is a leaking aircon pipe judging by the illuminous liquid over the engine bay
Needs serviced

Bodywork

Fuel flap broken
Tailgate dented
Rear bumper scuffs
Near side rear door rust
Off side mirror broken
Paint flaked off sunroof surround
Front bumper scuffed
2 rear wheel scuffed
Offside rear wheel arch little scabbing
Near side rear wheel arch scabbing
Near side rear light cluster holed

 By far and away better than expected, and as Im currently trying to buy another silver Omega to donate its none rusty door etc, the bodywork side will be sorted in no time......famous last words



 Then continued trying to remove the old Drive Vauxhall sticker from the rear window. Unfortunately as its been on there for around a decade, it had dried out and went brittle and as such was stubbornly stuck to the window only coming off in very very small bits. Total time is now just over an hour at it having used a heat gun, razor blades & T&G remover, now on the last leg........Im just not looking forward to the next time I use the rear demister as despite my best efforts I cant see the top 3 heater lines fairing well

Well not a massively productive time with the Omigod this week due to work and it seems to be one step forward two steps back. The tyres that were ordered from Camskills never arrived due to them only being able to supply 3 of the 4 ordered so ive had to change the order and now have 4 Bridgestone RE050's en-route this week.
 Ive also replaced the key fob as the one supplied never worked due to the solder's inside having broken so ordered a new fob and programmed it in the other day, this however has led to another issue as when the car is started for the first time the engine management light flashes and it cuts out, re-start again and its fine. I also had the xenons re-calibrated to sort the fault with them however thats not worked so looks like it will require a new sensor....grrrrr

 In better news, Ive got it booked in over the next few weeks to have some of the bodywork painted, primarily both bumpers, the nearside rear arch and the bonnet, with any luck Ill be acquiring a second donor car shortly in the same colour which will donate its rear door and tailgate to the cause.


So the question is, when you have one Omega what do you do........well you buy another:



Picked this 2.6 V6 MV6 manual up last night for not a lot of pennies. The steel wheels make it look more sheddy than it is. It does come with the origional MV6 alloys and has the full leather Recaros as well as some coilovers.

 This one is not here to stay however, its purely as a donor for the Elite. The likes of the coilovers will all be sold off and hopefully should cover the cost of the car.

[DaveDempsey]

Made a bit of progress with a free afternoon yesterday:

 First off it was time to get rid of the old damaged tailgate and swap it with the one off the donor car (which being an MV6 also had the Prodrive lip spoiler),

 Old tailgate off:



New tailgate on:



Next up it was the broken rear light:

Old one:


Light off:




Next up it was replacing the wing mirror as well as trying to re-secure the door card and look at why the locking on the drivers side was not working as it should:

so door card off:


Wing mirror off:



So had a look at the door card, it appears this one has been off previously, there is a plastic strip runs along the lower edge of the door card, with age the glue that holds this on has dried out and flaked away:



 Have made a temp repair with some silicone sealer, however Ill be buying a glue gun and removing all the door card to re-do them.
 Also appears that the solenoid for the door locking is faulty (given someones been in this area before it was the suspect), rather than mess around swapping it at the moment Ill hang off as the full door from the other car will be swapped over at a later date as this one has some rust under the bottom door seal.

 Next up the broken fuel flap was swapped:





and fixed:



and finally I replaced the pollen filter:




 Ive also swapped 2 of the MV6 wheels across temporarily as the two fronts were worn through to the canvass on the inside edge, it will also help decide which wheels will be staying on (now have 2 Elite wheels on one side and 2 MV6 on the other, regardless of which set stay they will need refurbed), that and re-fitting the drivers side sideskirt was enough for the day.

 This however revealed something else, the eagle eyed mate noticed the front wheel on the drivers side is sitting further back in the arch than on the passenger side which would suggest theres possibley a kink in the arm, so this will get looked at along with the wheel bearing on that side being replaced.

[OmegaAnglesey]

Was going to see that Elite when it was on AutoTrader for around £675 if I remember correctly. Glad I didn't too much work for me 

Looks like a good project car though. Keep up the good work Dave 

[DaveDempsey]

Yes its the one on Auto Trader, mechanically its fine, bodywise it need some work a lot of it is just niggles but for under £700 its definitely not bad, especially given that the other Omega is supplying the bulk of the bits required and both cars together stand me at less than £1k.

[omega3000]

Nice work , looks a good project for little £s . Price of omegas are coming down so maybe by the time i get another it will be buy one get one free