1989 Opel Vectra GT

[Robsey]

I don't think there is a How 2 for removing the front bumper.

It will help to have the front of the car raised.
There are a lot of self-tapping screws underneath.
You need a Philips size 2 screwdriver.
Remove all of the screws around the bottom of the bumper.

Then remove the self tappers from the wheel arch liners.
(Only those pointing forwards into the bumper.)

On the underside Opel driver's side. (Vauxhall passenger side) is a temperature sensor probe.

Detatch that from the bumper skin.
Make sure the wire is free from the bumper.

Move to the front, and ensure that any front fog-light wires are unplugged from the lights

Finally - from underneath - or reaching in from each side -
in front of the arch liners...
You will need to undo the M8 bolts (13mm socket).

The M8 bolts hold the bumper iron into the front chassis rails.

When the bolts are out, the last job is to pull off the bumper.

Working one side at a time.
Pull the rear of the bumper skin outwards to release it from the wheel arch -

and then push / pull / slide the bumper forward a little from the car.
Then repeat for the other side.

Now move to the front / centre of the bumper skin.
Pill it forwards away from the front of the car.

Refitting the bumper is a matter of working backwards through the comments in this post.

[vectra1903]

Thanks for the guide!
It will be helpful when I finally have the time to rip the car apart.
It'll probably take me a lot of time to figure it out but I guess once it's off I'll know how to put a new one on.

[Robsey]

I have just read the Haynes manual.

It says a lot less than I did.

But where it says different, it recommends removing the M8 bolts from the top / front.

So to do this, it recommends removing the air cleaner assembly, the radiator grille and both headlamps.

The pictures are very poor, and did not help to explain what they were saying.

Also - I must remember that you have a pre-facelift car.
There are differences for cars before and after 1992.

[vexorg]

The biggest problem will be that the self tapping screws turn into blobs of rust. The best thing new cars ever done was to change to the plastic scrivet things

[vectra1903]

Yes, the haynes manual isn't very helpful when it comes to removing the bumper.
But with the resources I have now it shouldn't be a big problem I'm no mechanic though, so some steps may be a bit "scary" for me. I will try though.

[Robsey]

The thing is to read the whole lot before starting.

Print out the bumper removal process, and make notes on the print-out as you progress.

It looks harder than it is.

Being old parts, go gently and take your time -
you should not need to force things apart. Being too forceful or rushing could break or crack something.

[vectra1903]

Progress with the car has slowed down for now, the very next things on the list are remounting the radiator and messing with the bumper. That is highly important, as the bodywork professional secured the radiator semi-permanently with black silicone. This will be a nightmare to remove, and it will definitely require removing the bumper, but it has to be done. First of all though, I have to source the bottom rubber bushings which hold the radiator in place.

Also, the next time you'll see the car, there will be some small visual changes

[vectra1903]

It's time to start working


I'll post updates soon.

[vectra1903]

Day one.

I started by taking out the headlamps.
Routed cables differently, secured a radiator hose properly.

Next up, I loosened all of the bolts for the bonnet hinges and tried to adjust it's position - it's better now but far from perfect.

And the scariest step was taking off the bumper.
It turned out to be very easy, as the only things holding it after the very professional front end rebuild were 4 self tapping screws.

After taking them out the bumper slid right off.


Now I have to buy the bolts for the bumper and put that in place.

After that I'll re-mount the headlamps and grille, which will probably require making new mounting spots or holes to close up the gaps.

Next update coming soon!

Oh, and also, I realized there is still much space to adjust the throttle cable, so I'll try doing that to fix my low idle rpm problem.

[ilovedmymantas]

Nice progress, keep up the good work

[vectra1903]

Second day of work.

I started by trying out my M8 bolts on the front bar in the bumper and...
the bolt snapped.

So the next 30 minutes were spent trying to drill out the very stuck bolt, it didn't even budge. So, 8mm drill bit it is.
And that did the trick - the hole was clear and the bolt went in without any problems.

While the bumper was still off, I took the opportunity to screw the foglamps in properly with enough force. Now I'm sure they'll never fall out.

I lifted the bumper, slid it in and realized I needed to make some small adjustments.
I also realized I couldn't put in the right (Opel passenger, Vaux driver) side bolt with the air cleaner box installed.

I removed the air cleaner and adjusted everything, slid the bumper in, bolted in the left side with no problems... but the right side...
The bolt was too short!

So I only finished the left side of the car for now.

I also had to replace my new indicator for the old GM unit as it didn't fit properly.

What you can see in this photo is my new radiator grille, painted mirror casings and headlamp bottom rubber seals. I obtained these some time ago.



So.. plans for the next day are:
Finish the right side of the car, install the air cleaner box and take the car for a spin as I installed a freshly cleaned ICV and cleaned the throttle body. I'll also replace the seal between the throttle body and intake.
I did this because I got yelled at by my mechanic friend for thinking I can just adjust the throttle. So I'm still fighting the low idle rpm issue.

I need to do all of my work before winter as I'm planning to have my door cards and headlining reupholstered, also I want to get the interior detailed after that.

[vectra1903]

Day three.

I bolted on the bumper with longer bolts, installed the air cleaner box, cleaned out the throttle body thoroughly and replaced the seal.

I bent the bonnet slam panel a bit so the passenger side lamp fits better and when I tried installing the grille the mounting point snapped, so I had to make my own solution and bolted the grille on. It isn't pretty but it doesn't stand out. It's almost straight, much better than before.

I also found some weird wires from an old alarm so that needs to be ripped out.

This is the car now:


Plans for next day are:
Remove the alarm and unnecessary cables and take the car for a ride. I wasn't able to do that today.

If my idle rpm issue doesn't go away I'll rip out the car computer and try to diagnose that, maybe some capacitors have leaked and it doesn't set the rpms correctly.

[Robsey]

It is looking very nice and tidy.
The grille looks close to level.

Maybe you could put a rubber electricians grommet around the bottom location peg on the passenger side (uk driver's side) to lift the grille about 5mm on that side.

Good progress. Take your time removing any old alarm wiring - be sure that you do not remove anything that stops the car from working.

[vectra1903]

It seems that I have problems with shifting to reverse and fifth gear, the gears seem like they are misalligned with the rest and you have to move the gear stick around bit to shift into them. I know there is a procedure to adjust the linkage with a bolt and drill bit, but I don't know where this bolt and drill bit hole is located under the hood. Can someone give me a clear photo or some instructions?

[Robsey]

I did a bit of a write up here.

viewtopic.php?f=70&t=16866&p=170880&hil ... ge#p170880

See the last post for the gear lever position.

And earlier posts for the rest.

The usual weak-spot is this link in the two lower yellow circles.



The pin often snaps or the joint becomes very loose

See here.

viewtopic.php?f=70&t=5156

[ilovedmymantas]

Looking much better already

[vexorg]

I've never had any problem with the gearbox alignment, except on the F28, that never seems to line up any any I've done, there is a veryfine area that lets you get reverse and 5th/6th

[Robsey]

I've never had any problem with the gearbox alignment, except on the F28, that never seems to line up any any I've done, there is a veryfine area that lets you get reverse and 5th/6th

It is not so much alignment, but usually excessive side-to-side movement in the linkages at the gearbox end.

When my pin broke up, I could only get 3rd and 4th. No lateral adjustment. A total arse to drive, but I was not leaving it there... it was a very rough part of Manchester close to the Etihad (Manchester City) Stadium.

[vectra1903]

Thanks for the help. I'll try the basic alignment first, I'm too scared to do the linkage refurbishing. It's not that bad, and to be honest, my grandpa rarely used the gear shifter so it shouldn't be very worn out. That was one of his favourite things about this car, not having to ever shift out of third gear because of the torque of the engine. The clutch probably got quite worn by this, but oh well.

[thomas]

This is looking nice, I like the Opel styling touches that differentiate it from the SRi VX models over here, think this better. And the Silver.

I remember replacing a hollow pin or two, about an inch long, 8mm or so diameter on my last Cav -think they were corroding, ugly looking but not really worn enough to cause issues. On this one I found the gears a bit notchy and stiff until I had cleaned up and greased most of the linkage and also the rod, and white nylon bushy bits inside the car, under the ashtray/console. A clean out, blast of brake-cleaner, might dislodge a small bit of stone/grit stuck in. A good greasing once clean and set up right might be enough here.

Think it's bad, you ought to have seen comedy-gold gear-linkage on the Citroen BX, the recommended (but still temporary, get you 1/4 of the way home) fix involved the wire-clip from a Grolsch beer bottle-top.

I fiddled for ages getting my front grille dead straight, think a rubber washer was used to lift one side. That was without a broken lug. It bugged me from the day the car got here, until sorted and I was happy with it. Likewise a slight (about 2mm) misalignment of one or both tail-lamps relative to the tail-blazer, or vice-versa. It still torments me much.

[vectra1903]

A quick update.

I ripped out a bit of wires from the old alarm system, left only the parts that are connected together because I didn't have enough time to rip out the interior and find where they come from. There were a couple of cables coming from the engine bay to the back of the glove box, from there to the fuse box and they seem to go into the left side kick panel so I have to take that off and search for the rest of the alarm. I found one small box with wires under the steering wheel, seems to me like it was an immobiliser of some kind, possibly one that has a magnetic key to activate. All of the keyfobs are long gone so can't test anything.

This relay panel under the bonnet caught my interest though, what is it for? Why is there one relay missing? I remember a long time ago there was a busted relay laying in this box but I took it out and misplaced it.

[Robsey]

The supplementary fuse and relay box is often fitted to cars with the V6 engines...
And cars with air-conditioning.

The relays control the engine cooling fans (two-stage cooling fans)
And alternator cooling fan on V6's.

The air compressor clutch control may have a relay here too.

Later cars with factory immobilisers will have the supply fuse for the siren inside,
and the bonnet contact switch is often mounted off the side of it.

[vectra1903]

The supplementary fuse and relay box is often fitted to cars with the V6 engines...
And cars with air-conditioning.

The relays control the engine cooling fans (two-stage cooling fans)
And alternator cooling fan on V6's.

The air compressor clutch control may have a relay here too.

Later cars with factory immobilisers will have the supply fuse for the siren inside,
and the bonnet contact switch is often mounted off the side of it.

So that missing relay shouldn't be a problem, right?

[Robsey]

If everything on the car works,
Then it should not be a problem.

[vexorg]

The v6 has about 6 relays and 5 extra fuses in there.

What engine and spec is the car (air con or not)