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[Wessex_Electric_Nutter]

I thought I’ll start this thread as I set myself a new years resolution this year (well, more of a target, to put my dads old Vauxhall Omega on the road, I’ve had it since 2014 in exchange for an Audi A6 (which has a 4.2L V8 engine). He did pay me for the Audi. Plus I worked on it before, changing bits like the rear brake calipers and even this part that I used my travel entitlement to go and collect (actually went to Farnham to get it.)

Its not the first car part to go by train either.


The car was best described as a wreck. Its not been looked after at all in the last 9 years of owning the car, quite simply because he kept going in and out of jobs and I guess really, he lost interest. It was a means of transporting the dogs from A to B and that’s it. For me, It won’t be used for that, it would be used getting mainly to and from work. I work currently with trains at Guildford station. I know another person and I suspect they are staff as well has/had a Miggy (if only I knew who they were), trouble is, being the railway industry is almost shift work based and the hours are anything between 06:30 to 22:30, plus its 9 ¼ hours a day (37 hours a week + 2 Sundays), then don’t expect progress to be quick, particularly my 3 week roster.


I started as soon as it was parked on the drive, back then I was working on the Gateline at Guildford station, a Customer Service Assistant as we call them, which my progress suffered from the lack of money, plus I had another car to get back on the road, a Corsa. When I got it however, I got a leather interior straight away and ditched the old seats. That was £260 down straight away(!), considering its black Elite leather as well, then found a SatNav system, the original Phillips CARiN system, which I was surprised to see, I brought that, but I haven’t fitted it yet, plus some of the wires have been cut back because it went into a Vectra, so I need to extend them again.

After that, I gave the car a good clean, finding more and more dirty stuff, even an old railway ticket for car parking, back in 2002. Car parking tickets look a lot more different, so does my SWT staff pass!



Then went quiet for a bit, I have had issues with the seat belt, but my dad and myself got fed up with getting nowhere, I set myself a target with budgeting and getting the cars on the road. I got a different job in October 2015, much to my surprise, but it allowed me to earn more money, which then allowed me to sort my tasks out. (Everything turned out to be money in the end.) The biggest stumbling block was the shock absorbers, they were hard to find! I eventually rang around as I knew they were knackered and found some for about £192 a pair which required a bit of saving. Of course, the biggest issue I had, my girlfriend likes to go to Wales (270 miles) a lot and my diesel Espace which I’ve mentioned in another thread, had not being playing ball. So, a lot of petrol (used the Corsa at the time) and a £60 lighter made a big dent in my account all this after the massive amount of overtime I did in December 2015.

So I saved and saved, then got the shocks. Only minor problem, I wanted the car working by February 2016. It wasn’t going to happen, the weather has been against me and I’ve done lots of overtime, or I get my girlfriend going to Wales again. After this, I wanted just 2 days to get something done. Finally in early April, I did, which started things going. I started by replacing the now 17 year old shocks and they were awful. I also found that getting them off was a pain, but luckily I have an impact wrench for that! One side came off easy and got put back on easy, except I couldn’t use the torque wrench due to the distance I had. Then the other side was done 2 days later (after going to central London for another job interview and assessment!) This time I suffered more and more problems, the car kept shifting on the jack. If that wasn’t bad enough, I thought I better move the car to do the other side, but could I get it started? No! New battery time, luckily I had a spare from the diesel Espace (can you tell it’s got an electrical issue somewhere? I can’t! The Espace that is) which also very luckily fits and is considerably shorter than the old one which kept tripping the alarm.
I realised what I did wrong afterwards, the handbrake wasn’t on! So the car kept shifting. I did that and now the back doesn’t bounce around.

(To be continued)

[Wessex_Electric_Nutter]

Continuing:



The 2 shock absorbers laid beside each other. Consider this, one you could compress fully by hand, the other needed force but was well on its way out as the dampening effect was nothing basically. The rusted one came off the passenger side. After II started the car and ran it a bit, I found 2 problems.
1)   Water coming out of the back of the engine by the drivers side
2)   Water coming out at the drivers side of the centre console
2 I know what it is, now have to wait for 5 days off to strip everything out and put it back in. The heater core is blown! 1, took some searching and after searching the forum, I saw “heater bypass valve.” Or could it be a split hose? Either way, not good.
As of current, I then went on a shopping spree over a week, which is just where my pay day is. Where the budget for the last 4 weeks against the next 4 weeks end. So far, this is what I got and there is a lot more.

[BazaJT]

You were doing shocks on an Omega which was perched on a jack?

[Wessex_Electric_Nutter]

You were doing shocks on an Omega which was perched on a jack?

No, used 2 axle stands. When I was trying to move the car up high enough to get the axle stands underneath, it kept shifting, luckily it landed on the axle stands. I'm surprised you didn't comment on the shocks though. I knew there was an issue, so I wasn't willing to put the car on the road in THAT condition

[BazaJT]

Ah,I see fair play then.

[Wessex_Electric_Nutter]

When I wrote the above, I also tried 2 things:
Firstly, remove the dashboard and find out if the GID (yes, I have a half height GID lying around) would work with the car and it does, but I can’t remove the “Check” lights with the indicator stalk. Nor does it like my CCDR800 (IIRC) which means, my MID works, but my GID doesn’t. Do I need to change modes with "My Naff Code Reader" (since I have one of those lying around.)?

It was nice to have clear information for once, unlike the MID which isn’t as clear to me. I was going to install the screen into the Corsa, but then I changed my mind and got a NCDC 1100, but and this is a big one, I don’t have the loom for the NCDC 1100, so I might just use it on its own. Only if I can get it to work, or I might just sell them both. Ideas anyone?

Secondly, see what coil pack I need. Which while I did the above, I noticed the self levelling pump works. Also, I found out what coil pack I need, but in doing so, I found even more horror stories!

Like the above and the fact that in one area, the windscreen is rusted for about 2in square under the scuttle. I know its delaminating but that’s besides the point. Oh well, I disconnected the power sounder anyway.


I've also been spending whatever SWT has given me, or a bit of what is left over after a huge chunk goes into savings. Trust me, being target driven and trying to restore wrecks is not a good mix. Whatever you budgeted is guaranteed to be way more than you expect. Luckily the parts are cheap at the moment. £20 off ebay for a new heater core for example.



And here is some of the problems I am up against. How the hell am I going to deal with this scratch my youngest sister left the car with? It was worse as the door got scratched as well, blame the post to the gate.

EDIT a little later: I also ordered a glovebox vent for the A/C unit (as per this thread: http://www.omegaowners.com/forum/index.php?topic=103469.0), I can find the housing with no issues, but the hose? That's another story, apparently its out of stock and discontinued, but I got an idea.

[BazaJT]

To replace heater matrix "properly" means a fair bit of stripping out as I understand it.However it can be done without -I'm sure it's been discussed on here somewhere-HBV is fiddly to replace being where it is,but they're available quite cheaply even from the main stealers!

[Wessex_Electric_Nutter]

To replace heater matrix "properly" means a fair bit of stripping out as I understand it.However it can be done without -I'm sure it's been discussed on here somewhere-HBV is fiddly to replace being where it is,but they're available quite cheaply even from the main stealers!

I intend to do it "properly", got a whole 5 day weekend coming up so I see how far I get. I don't really want to put holes in places where they aren't necessary.

[BazaJT]

For the scratched rear wing I'd say it's a case of flat it back prime and repaint this would also be the ideal opportunity to sort the wheel arch as well.You then have a choice of "break" lines to work to,first one would be the swage line second of course and probably easier would be whole wing using C pillar and boot aperture as your "break" lines.

[Wessex_Electric_Nutter]

For the scratched rear wing I'd say it's a case of flat it back prime and repaint this would also be the ideal opportunity to sort the wheel arch as well.You then have a choice of "break" lines to work to,first one would be the swage line second of course and probably easier would be whole wing using C pillar and boot aperture as your "break" lines.

If you look closely, its got a nasty groove in it, I think its a case of either filling it or replacing it, seeing there is another nice dent in the C pillar which the photo doesn't show. There is also rust and the other side is just as bad. Thankfully, its not "crusty", it sounds rather solid.

[BazaJT]

Yep,I see the crease I think I'd go with filler on that if the wheel arch is as you say not too far gone.Can't make out dent on C pillar but would it be possible for a dent doctor type smart repairer to get out do you think?

[Wessex_Electric_Nutter]

So I have been working on and off this car and its been a disaster. Started with the dashboard, taking it apart to get to the heater core, now the steering wheel is stuck solid and the sunlight sensor I tried to leaver out destroyed itself instead. Not forgetting that the drivers side glovebox also shattered and the passenger side glovebox has a lug missing (I got a fix for that, a piece of steel should sort that.) Both sides now have cracks around the upper bolt holes, but I expected this for a 16 year old car. The steering wheel needs a puller (on order).
But I did remove the now practically useless trafficmaster, unless someone wants it. 



Now here is another.. "Oh god" moment, lost an E10 socket down the back of the engine while attempting to remove the coil pack... 


... replaced the heater bypass valve and, this happened - vac line to the HBV. Not sure where it goes though. 


On the upside, I've got a bit further with the Sat Nav equipment and found for certain it IS a 98.5 car. Good. But I can't see anything to allow me to plug in a CCRT700. Has anyone got a working loom anywhere that I can plug in? I am looking at replacing my CCR800 with a CCRT700 and no, I don't need the BOSE bits, the car comes with a BOSE sound system.


More things to look into, got this crash bar and washer system to reinstall, a close up of my dads clumsiness, also having a hard time finding the bumper grill inserts, so I only have one out of 3 screws holding the grill.


And the windscreen which I guess should be changed at some point.

On a side note, I found another car parking ticket! This time, it was for 2003, for the geeks into railway ticketing - I'm ex-gateline (barrier staff), don't ask how I know this stuff. My locker at work is adormed with tickets, including a RSP4407 and this ticket was on APTIS stock which was phased out around 2006/2007.

[Wessex_Electric_Nutter]

While on disasters, some garages cannot be trusted. Something I found out as the glovebox was always loose on the drivers side, was this:



The left one is the original, the right one is the one I had to buy as a replacement. The company (Swan Renault all those years ago) that had it previously sawed 2 places, then used super glue to glue the pieces together. Of course, if you look up how brittle superglue is, you easily learn that superglue isn't quite so super after all. Really, they should of done the job properly. A common theme I am finding with the Silver Espace (DCi one) and this car, is that I seem to be correcting everyone else's mistakes where someone has done a half arsed job. Another thing to note, I actually had to physically destroy the upper part to get it out, just so I could get the headlight switch unit out.