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[Valentin]

Hi folks !

As described in my presentation I bought this blue whale in March and so far it's a really really good car. I never thought it would be so good at any levels.

All started when I was with some friends in Millau for a trip, and we where talking about a Vectra GT (SRi) that I missed to buy because the owner changed his mind every week, and finally increased the price like 3 times... But as we say here (and maybe over there) misfortune of some, makes happiness of others. Because the same day one of my friend found this Omega. I sent a message to the owner to have some more info, and the deal was almost concluded. The car was sold by the owner's wife as he passed away few months before. The car was 600kms away, in the city my father was born, how funny! By searching the names and dates, we found out that maybe my grandfather and the Omega owner could have been friends, because they lived in the same street as kids. We will never know, both are no longer here to tell us

We set a rendez-vous at the end of March, I called a friend to come with me and come back by the road with the two cars.

Here we are, we stopped over my friend's family to sleep overnight before going home.

First impression of the car : it's comfy, seems heavy compared to my GTC, and I can feel something is wrong with the diff. After the diff is up to temperature, we can feel the teeth vibrating in the car when we make 90° turns while accelerating. I was not aware of the LSD at this moment, then I found that every 3.0 and 3.2 had one. My friend was jealous because he doesn't have one on his 996 3.6
We took care of corners after that, trying not to put any gas while turning. It was a bit tricky but it worked. Green light, accelerate enough to have inertia, release, turn, accelerate again same story in the roundabouts.






Journey to come back home was lovely, weather was great, we drove over Paris external peripheral area. It was great until we found out the stop lights never worked... And so was the cruise control disengage function while braking 
My friend who was driving the Omega at this moment, had a moment of panic because as he was braking hard arriving near trafic jam, the car downshifted and accelerated harder to reach the set speed. As he was not familiar with the stalk button, he shifted to neutral. Sounds like a movie, right ?

Another small annoying thing was the sample fan in the central dashboard. It was so noisy! I didn't know what it was at first, fearing something very bad in the climate control unit. In fact... no

Finally arrived home around 7pm. Oh I forgot to say, there was no mention of timing belt replacement in the last years on the bills history (the Great Book of Bills, 273 pages) I got with the car  Last replacement seemed to be in 2013.

[Valentin]

What has been on the list in April / May :
- Timing belt kit - OK with Gates
- Water pump - OK with SKF
- Oil diff change - OK with Castrol Transmax Limited Slip 85W-90
- Oil engine change - OK with ISOTech 10W-40
- Replace the stop switch - OK
- Fix the sampler fan - OK, just the small axle lubrication
- Replace the 4 speakers door, they were completely torn - OK
- Replace the climate control unit bulbs - OK
- Recharge the AC gas - OK with EazyKlima cans
- Clean the leather - OK
- Install a bluetooth receptor wired on the R/L CD changer input at the back of the radio - OK

Some pictures of what has been done until today :
Diff oil


Timing belt, it was clearly TIME TO CHANGE!!! (this one was at least 12 years old and more than 80.000kms)




Stop switch, that little thing was worn inside, and never went back to its normal position. New one fixed all the issue linked to it.


While working on the timing belt, I checked the cooling system and I think it needs to be fixed as well. Too much coolant build up in this area...




I bought a pair of '98 headlights without xenon. The goal here, totally refurbish the units and properly fit bi-led lenses. Something I already did on my Calibra and the result is astonishing.
For now they are waiting, I need to make the spacer for the new bi-led lens.


Talking about cleaning now, first time with leather seats, first time with clear leather. I just took a medium polishing pad with a soft leather cleaner, cleaned gently and the result is perfect!






Then the carpet with an injector/extractor


Nice and clean


And one of the last big work this car deserves : body work / painting / detailing. Just to see what's possible on this nice Polar Blue. And I can't wait to be at this special step of the revival. Dent puller, paint, DA polisher they are all ready
The bumpers are in pretty bad shape, as well as the front left fender. The rear passenger door is completely rotten on the bottom, maybe I'll have to replace it.
Just a try on the hood


Next steps :

- Unclog scuttle drain underneath the cabin filter - already done
- Fit z20let injectors to convert the X30XE to ethanol
- Replace spark plugs
- Replace front discs and pads
- Replace rear pads
- Replace the oil cooler with specific stainless steel custom parts from ACS
- Replace the thermostat
- Replace both complete tie rods
- Replace the blinker's stalk

And that should be good to take the road and drive 2400kms for the next trip

[STEMO]

That's a beautiful car, love the colour
You seem to be familiar with the omega, as well as other Vauxhall models, so it's good that you can do the work yourself. Paying someone else to do it would probably make it unviable. It will still be a money pit but, if you go into it with your eyes open, it will bring you years of comfortable cruising.

[Valentin]

To be honest I was absolutely not familiar with the Omega. It was clearly out of my scope a few months ago. Actually, I was looking for a C5 Hydractive HDi. I make the Nantes - Nice journey once a month, and even if the GTC is very comfortable and has a lot of nice features, I wanted to preserve it from high millage.

But, you're right, I'm familiar with other Opel / Vauxhall and I can admit that the Omega is really in a higher level regarding the quality of fabrication.
Clearly, this car would cost a lot if I would bring it to the service repair. Doing it myself is an unexpected learning experience.

At the end, when the Omega will run on ethanol, it will cost the same as my diesel GTC, with the V6 sound and smoother suspension 

[Clarkey]

Fantastic looking machine and very satisfying to see one in such good hands. You have a real solid car with a great spec and are doing everything the right way to get many more years motoring from it and with way more comfort than any other Opel model on the road. Health to drive.

[Rangie]

What a lovely example & a great colour your car is , they were a very good looking car & still are in my opinion, always regretted selling mine I was tempted by a V8 Mercedes but in all honesty the Omega was a much better car, keep it for as long as you can.

[Doctor Gollum]

That scrubbed up nicely.

I'd probably go and buy a lottery ticket after surviving 600kms on that cambelt