Lowrider Dave's V6

[Lowrider Dave]

Cheers, I'll have to assign sometime to take the appropriate parts off to inspect the oil cooler, if it is duff then I'll look at doing the flush and replace oil cooler and 'stat as the same time. Oh yeah, best get that hose extension first!

[Lowrider Dave]

Coughed up the cash and got the cambelt & tensioner done and the A/c regassed. As it probably hasn't been used for over a year the compressor is noisy. Hopefully that'll subside with use or it may just die, in which case I'll enjoy the sunroof ventilation instead.

Got to summon up courage to take tools to engine and examine oil cooler. Whilst I'm there I'll replace thermostat, clean breathers and replace rocker cover gaskets. The gathering of parts starts...

List of things to do:

√ Pick up Vectra steel wheels
√ Get timing belt/tensioner kit done
2. Check oil cooler - probably just flush system and refill 50/50.
3. Clear the crankcase pipes
4. Clean off rusted surfaces under car and waxoyl
5. Wash and photos
6. Hunt for parts
7. Wait until September and the rally.

[Lowrider Dave]

Just collecting parts for the oil cooler inspection and rocker cover gaskets replacement. New thermostat and oil cooler turned up the other day, may not need the oil cooler but thought it prudent whilst I had the cash! Roll on pay day and the gaskets.

[Lowrider Dave]

Gave the old girl a quick wash.



I now have all parts for the oil cooler change, flush, etc. Hopefully start this on Friday and continue over the weekend with a slight break for touring cars at Thruxton!

[humbucker]

nice pic! look forward to the weekend updates.

[Lowrider Dave]

Started the cam covers and oil cooler replacement today.

Bonnet off:


Took headlight out to get to bumper bolt:


After 3 hours - the front bumper took ages many bolt rusted or just plain awkward to get to.


The A/C doesn't look too good - It makes a fearful noise since I got it regassed, I wonder if I could replace it?





Bonnet cable catch need replacing, rusting away.


Top slam panel also rusting away in places.


Finally got the inlet manifold/throttle housing out of the way.




Want to remove the fuel rail but it seems connected to the injectors - how do I get this & injectors off? Is it connect to the metal they sit in (held in by Torx)?


This is as far as I got ( I did flush engine through with hose) and called it a day at 16.00hrs, best part of 6 hours and my back aches!

[Lowrider Dave]

Want to remove the fuel rail but it seems connected to the injectors - how do I get this & injectors off?
Is it connect to the metal they sit in (held in by Torx)?

[humbucker]

why did you take the bumper off? to inspect a/c items? fuel rail is attached to lower inlet manifold, you dont need to remove it. after you take upper inlet manifold off you can take the middle inlet manifold off, complete with fuel rail and injectors. your slam panel looks fine tbh, probably just needs rubbing back.

[Lowrider Dave]

I took the front bumper of to inspect A/C, the fan and see if there had been any leaks or water pooling in any areas. As I wanted to fit an in cabin switch for my forthcoming 'rally', I wanted to look at the wiring loom as well. The bumper has been gouged in several places, I'm sure there's a way I can repair that as I don't know how easy it would be to get a better condition one.

I'll battle on today and hope I don't break anything!

[humbucker]

heheh you'll be fine! just make sure you observe the correct Nm when tightening everything back up again. are you doing a full flush of the system as well as the oil cooler replacement? good luck with it all dave!

[Lowrider Dave]

Fcuksocks.
Took the fuel rail off - fine. Looked at the oil cooler and didn't like the look of the two hardlines that go into it, so I thought I'd start with the thermostat. Undid the bolt that holds the thermostat tube to radiator hose and part of it snapped off (Hambucker had the same experience I think) so I thought 'oh well I can slide it out' - nope, rad is in the way. Spent an hour undoing this and that and pulling and tugging and I got to the point where I want to start cutting the slam panel away 'cos I can't get the damn thing out. I simply cannot see how to get it out, there is damn all space on these cars and it p1sses me off the design is so poor regards to maintenance access. I have left it like this and will probably go back and hacksaw off the battery tray to get some kind of room:









Now just arsed off with it all.

[humbucker]

HAMbucker?! who's he?!

yeah you need to get the rad out before you can remove the coolant transfer pipe. looks like you found that out! getting the rad out is a bit push and shove but you'll get there. dont be afraid to use a bit of brute force on the bugger. make sure you detach the pipe at the bottom drivers side too thats a classic for being overlooked and continually tugging at the top of the rad not realising its still fixed at the bottom! at the risk of repeating myself, check my thread as ive taken so many pics with accompanying descriptions of this stuff that it might save you a lot of work.

if the bracket of the coolant transfer pipe has broken off there is no choice but to order a new one. should be a tenner give or take a pound or two from your dealer. sometimes they get fused onto the thermostat housing (if its an original item) and can be very difficult to remove, but again, perseverance is required!

[Lowrider Dave]

Thanks HUMbucker

I found the hose on the drivers side after a while, but I also have one on the passengers side (on rear of rad) that I can't get off as it has one of those horrid spring clips - can't fit anything down the gap at the back of rad. Hoping to free lefthand side and twist it to give me room to get pliers in. I'll reread your thread/how tos to check things.
I'm always worried about brute force approach as this often leads me to break something further!

Anyway, giving myself a break from it tomorrow to watch touring cars. Then will compile a list of things I need, starting with a coolant transfer pipe and some gaskets - see another thread for part number requests!

[Lowrider Dave]

Oh yeah, to get the oil cooler out do I have to loosen both ends of the union pipes? Bottom end looks a biatch to do.

[humbucker]

yeah you'll probably need to loosen the pipes at the bottom of the block for the oil cooler to give them some form of flexibility. as for the rad, if memory serves there is a fiddly pipe you'll need to remove that sits between the air con rad and the main rad, or at least thats the most direct way to approach whichever union it is, can't quite remember. either way it should be obvious which bits need undoing...

[Lowrider Dave]

Spent only an hour on it today. Got radiator out, only by brute force and some alarming noises, hopefully I haven't damaged it in the process. Now to order bits and sort out cleaning areas before reassembly.

[humbucker]

with the rad off now is a prime time to start your flush. attach a hose pipe to one of the heater matrix pipes and put it on full blast. you should be able to pump all the loose crap out of the system that has settled in the matrix (lowest point of the coolant system) and push all the bulk of the cak out of the block exit pipes. i think i have some pics in my thread when i did the same thing, might be worth having a look for reference.

[Lowrider Dave]

I've been running the hose through the rad, block and all the hoses I think hold water! Will double check if I've missed anything. I'm sure I remember seeing your thread with a hose in a pipe!

I've ordered a bunch of stuff from the stealership near work, they didn't understand (or didn't want to) the gasket that goes under the manifold which holds the fuel rail.
It's poor that I have to go to them with numbers rather than them doing the detective work...will go to another stealership and see if they are any brighter!

[planetc]

Rads are pretty resilient to a bit of pulling and tugging, the biggest thing to remember is not to twist it diagonally, this can split the seams between the ends and the cores.

[Lowrider Dave]

Haven't twisted the rad as they wasn't really room for it, only up and down!

The bottom bolt of the heatshield is refusing to move, in fact it is now 'rounded' and I can't get it off - not enough room to drill it out so should I just leave it 'as is' or should I try further to remove it?

Hope to pick up parts today so can get cracking again over the weekend as long as Mrs Lowrider doesn't have other plans!

[Lowrider Dave]

make sure you observe the correct Nm when tightening everything back up again.

Silly question, where can I find a list of the correct torque values for the V6? (as the Haynes book of lies doesn't cover the V6).

[TurboSteven77]

the calibra v6 is same if you get that book

[Envoy CDX]

Just an observation, but you'll probably find things alot easier if you disconnected the engine bits and stored them out of the engine bay - I used to do what you've done here and I spent more time catching bits as the slipped, or moving them again to access another bolt / nut.

Good progress though

[Lowrider Dave]

Can anyone answer this please - the bump strips down the body side, are they stuck on or clipped in place?

[planetc]

Can anyone answer this please - the bump strips down the body side, are they stuck on or clipped in place?

Self adhesive, awful things to remove iirc