Right then, it's been nine months but I'm going to pick this up right from where I left off.
As I was hinting at in my last post, the V6 wasn't exactly running all that great; it was severely down on power.
I just about limped around on my holiday in Germany. I still had a good time, but things just weren't right.
I still got a few nice comments from people while I was queuing up to get on the ferry though, which was nice.
Here's a few pics of the ol' girl larking about on the continent:
On the ferry next to all the bland euroboxes:
On arrival at my cousins house in Jugenheim:
On the way up the mountain to Auerbach castle (lovely roads by the way):
On the way home somewhere near Belgium, possibly The Netherlands (actually don't know):
On the way back, disaster struck, just as I was coming off the ferry a lorry didn't check his mirrors and pulled out into my lane.
Instant karma though as it happened right next to a police check point! So I instantly had the aid of 4 very nice police officers all of which were very happy to see a Cav V6, one of then even had an SRi as a squad car.
Anyway, they were very helpful and I was soon on my way again.
At the time, I thought the only damage was the wing mirror, which was broken off.
This is a photo taken at the scene:
At the time I was quite relieved that I'd only lost a wing mirror considering I'd just been pushed off the road by a 10 ton lorry!
On closer inspection however, there was other damage. The door bump strip had been scraped...
...and I think the door has been ever so slightly pushed inwards as the next time I opened the rear door...Crunch!
Not such a good end to an otherwise wonderful holiday. Still could have been worse.
In the weeks and months that followed the lack of power got worse.
I tried everything I could to solve it, changing sensors and tinkering with the Tech1 but nothing worked.
I fitted a brand new GM air flow sensor:
A new Delphi crankshaft position sensor (sorry no photo of that one)
And a new Delphi camshaft position sensor and Bosch front knock sensor:
All of this made no difference at all and it got to the point where it was totally un-driveable.
It struggle to start and wouldn't even rev above about 1500rpm and I lost faith in ever getting it fixed.
So there it sat on the driveway, until last week, when I finally got to the bottom of what was going on!
I noticed that there was a hissing sound coming from somewhere around the exhaust downpipe.
At first I thought it was just another problem but then I realised the exhaust must be blocked. It's the only thing that could cause these symptoms and not give any error codes on the Tech1.
I got a local mobile mechanic to take the converter off and sure enough, the innards had turned into a solid block of unholy matter:
Right, time for a new cat then!
The mechanic also noticed that one of the springs had broken. This was really rubbing salt in the wound as I have always loved the stock GM suspension and knew it would be hard to keep it feeling the same way using parts that are still available.
Never the less, these are the parts that were fitted, just front springs and shocks:
I also got some top mounts but these weren't used as the originals were still in excellent condition.
Here's the original components that were removed;
New cat fitted:
Turned the key and hussar! I was greeted with that familiar V6 burble that I had missed so much.
A test drive confirmed that the problem was solved.
Incredibly the suspension is bag and the ride feels just as it did before, if not a bit better.
The ride height is perfect too.
My girlfriend Lizzie took it out for a spin after the new Cat was fitted and I think she loves it more than I do. She has never driven a car this powerful before.
So at last it's back on the road.
It's not over there though as sitting for so long has really taken its toll on the nearside sill:
I knew there was a bit of rust there but never imagined it was this bad!
The offside wheel arch isn't that great either:
So I've been ordering some parts to spruce her up a bit.
I had already sourced these last year, brand new GM door strips, very lucky to find these:
Another lucky find, genuine carpet floor mats. These turned up on eBay.
Need a bit of a clean but very happy to find them:
Finally, these turned up today. Complete set of sill and wheel arch panels.
Yep it's off the work shop to get that rust sorted, hopefully in time for its MOT in September:
Other than that, I'd like to officially announce that I have moved into a new flat with my girlfriend Lizzie. (another reason for my lack of activity recently)
I actually moved in two months ago on the 1st of May but what the hell.
It's been an absolutely brilliant move, I don't know why we didn't do it sooner to be honest.
Here's the new flat with a cameo from the V6 and Dippy:
Thanks everybody, till next time.
-that's a nice looking place you've got there.
. Nice to see so many panels being replaced 
