humbucker's 2004 Irmscher MV6 #irmscherMV6

[humbucker]

What paint did you use for the lower inlet manofold? It looks exactly like freshly cast alloy, absolutely bang on OEM look (which I very much like/aim for myself)

I cleaned all surfaces with either carb cleaner or Hellshine 'The Fire' degreaser (depending on surface type) before painting with Hammerite 'Direct To Rust'. I used the same stuff on the engine block and the car's soon-to-be-installed manual gearbox. Incidentally, yellow DTR is a perfect match for Bilstein's OE paint! I'll post pictures to prove my claim later today.

[humbucker]

What paint did you use for the lower inlet manofold? It looks exactly like freshly cast alloy, absolutely bang on OEM look (which I very much like/aim for myself)

I cleaned all surfaces with either carb cleaner or Hellshine 'The Fire' degreaser (depending on surface type) before painting with Hammerite 'Direct To Rust'. I used the same stuff on the engine block and the car's soon-to-be-installed manual gearbox. Incidentally, yellow DTR is a perfect match for Bilstein's OE paint! I'll post pictures to prove my claim later today.

My mistake. It was Hellshine 'The Demon' that I used on oily/mucky bits 

[humbucker]

DTR silver and black metal paint used on/in the gearbox and propshaft:

[humbucker]

I'm going to go out on a limb and make the argument that the Monaro is essentially a high-powered Omega coupé (after all, the Aussie brute was based on the Omega's antipodean siblings, the Holden Commodore VT and VX). A similar train of thought led me to consider the possibility of fitting Monaro parts to my MV6, and it ultimately resulted in the purchase of Whiteline polyurethane front top mounts designed for the VXR edition Monaro and its successor, the utterly bonkers VXR8.



My pondering paid off – the brilliant black bushes are exactly the same shape and size as my car's factory top mounts. Hoorah! Whiteline claims that installing these performance parts improves the host vehicle's steering response and handling abilities under load, primarily thanks to top-notch build quality, a strengthened integrated bearing and polyurethane's resistance to fatigue. I look forward to putting the parts through their paces.







I promptly removed the MV6's Bilstein B8 Sprint shortened dampers and Eibach Pro-Kit lowering springs in order to fit the seriously solid top mounts, and I took the opportunity to replace my car's tired top mount covers with freshly powdercoated parts at the same time. The sparkly silver stunners were intended for my Cavalier Turbo 4x4 (http://www.vauxhallcavalier.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=14720) , but I was encouraged to make use of them sooner rather than later after noticing that GM had used the same factory parts on the Omega.





The Bilstein kit's nearby drop links had seen better days, and they certainly didn't want to be budged without putting up a fight. This gave me all the excuse that I needed to free them with a hacksaw before contacting TFS Motorsport with a request for a pair of the firm's 'Aluminati' anodised adjustable drop links. These made-to-order components offer a 40mm adjustment range with a larger-than-OE uprated ball joint in a bronze housing designed for smooth, precise steering transition on lowered street or track cars. Hardened cap head bolts, anodised washers and nylock nuts are also key features of these radiant red parts, and full adjustment can be applied after fitting without the need for removal. Top banana!









The keen-eyed among you will have noticed the chipped paintwork at the top of my offside front Billy (pictured in an earlier post on this project thread):



For anyone that is looking to tidy their own Bilstein dampers, Hammerite 'Direct To Rust' yellow metal paint is a perfect match for ze German manufacturer's signature colour. I've used silver and black DTR to great effect on various engine and transmission components (see my earlier posts), and I thought I'd take a punt on the yellow variant in the hope of it being a good colour match for the chipped paint. I wasn't disappointed:



Front Bilstein dampers built back up with their powdercoated top mount covers, Whiteline polyurethane top mounts, Eibach Pro-Kit lowering springs and TFS Motorsport anodised adjustable drop links. Oh, and nice new yellow paint: 



THANKS

TFS Motorsport
http://stores.ebay.co.uk/TFSMotorsport

[humbucker]

Reassembling the B8s also allowed me to remove the car's new front wishbones and refit the Mk4 Astra GSi brake cooling ducts that I attached to them a short while ago. I wasn't happy with the way that the Astra parts were sitting, resulting in a 12.5mm drill making its way through each wishbone so that I could hold the ducts in place with heavy duty stainless bolts, washers and nylock nuts.

[MV6Matt]

Continue to really enjoy this, and loking forward to seeing in the flesh.
Will you be at Billing or PVS this year?

Keep up the glorious work!
Matthew

[Diamond Black Geezer]

Thanks for the info, the silver has a lovely 'matt' look to it, which is very pleasing on the eye, and I'll be looking into it when I come to my silver underneath bits 

[humbucker]

Continue to really enjoy this, and loking forward to seeing in the flesh. Will you be at Billing or PVS this year? Keep up the glorious work! Matthew

Yes, that's the plan (although I'm not sure what I'll be bombing about in due to each of my cars racing to be finished first!).

Thanks for the info, the silver has a lovely 'matt' look to it, which is very pleasing on the eye, and I'll be looking into it when I come to my silver underneath bits 

Glad to be of service. The silver works particularly well on mottled finishes (like that of the lower inlet manifold). I've just painted various pulleys, the car's a/c pump, mounts etc. in the same stuff. I think you can buy DTR in rattle can form too.

[humbucker]

My recent spat of suspension fettling finished with the addition of more polyurethane joy in the form of Powerflex exhaust mounts. Subscribers to this thread will recall seeing the rear end of my car already littered with these red bushes, but I noticed tired factory rubber located half way along the MV6's exhaust system while I was working underneath it. The reduction in pipework movement after fitting the Powerflex parts is extraordinary, so much so that I've decided to continue the theme of playing with polyurethane bushes and parts for V8-powered Vauxhalls by ordering a set of Pedders Monaro VXR rear subframe mounts and a matching set of rear offset camber reduction bushes. Bonza!



Old and new side by side. Can you tell which is which?!

[humbucker]

Judging by the number of forum, text and Facebook messages that I've received from interested parties who want to know how to equip their pride and joy with a fridge, my guess is that many of you are already aware of the fact that my latest Irmscher MV6 project progress report has been published in the new edition of Performance Vauxhall magazine. For those that haven't seen it, click here to download/subscribe 

[MV6Matt]

....blimey! Where on earth did you get that from?

Catera? (it looks like somethingh the americans would do.........)

[Diamond Black Geezer]

The fridge etc? Simply found in (some) Signums. Some clever person in marketing thought they could replace the Omega with a Vectra with an Astras bum. They were wrong. 

Definitely the best thing to come out of the Signum project from a design perspective. (Not knocking the Signum per se, just suffered from over-hype. If they'd called it the Vectra mini-estate, or Vectra Lifestyle, or something and priced it as such, then I'm sure it'd have sold well, instead they touted it as some kind of Lexus-beating super-luxury limousine to tempt people from their E-Classes - which simply did not happen.

There's a how to on here somewhere about wiring it in. Very nice bit of kit, with cupholders, tables etc...perfect for keeping back seat passengers entertained.

[05omegav6]

The travel assistant is relatively readily available, however, the fitting kit is not. This fitting kit is essential as it contains the means of securely mounting it to the floor...

[biggriffin]

The travel assistant is relatively readily available, however, the fitting  is not. This fitting kit is essential as it contains the means of securely mounting it to the floor...

Couple self tappers and a cable tie should do 

[05omegav6]

The travel assistant is relatively readily available, however, the fitting  is not. This fitting kit is essential as it contains the means of securely mounting it to the floor...

Couple self tappers and a cable tie should do 

Right upto the point when it becomes a 15kg missile in the back of your head...