the mothership

[humbucker]

thought i'd post these pics of my other v6: the mothership, my 3.0i 24v V6 omega elite

a couple of months ago she was featured over a two page spread in autobahnstormers vx v6 magazine 'straight six news', and has just been featured in total vauxhall magazines 'vaux'hall of fame. i was surprised the car was featured in the mag at all, but imagine my surprise to see she was awarded 'car of the month'! that put a smile on my face!

she's a late 1997 model, which must make her one of the first mini-facelifts of the production line. colour is deep metallic jungle green mica, full cream leather interior, chocolate brown dash and surrounds, pretty much emulates the classic jaguar colour scheme. i've had her for 5 years, and i'm third owner from new. every option seems to have been ticked with this car, fully integrated carphone (pre CCRT700, this car has the CCR600 and CDC2 unit), integrated factory satnav, all the xenons, irmscher kit, the usual electrics and a/c, self levelling rear suspension, rear blind, etc etc, all the toys basically.

she's my every day car racking up 400+ miles a week so while i've spent a lot of time and money keeping her in tip top condition, i've kept her completely standard with the exception of some clear side repeaters and a harmon kardon ipod integration kit.

since ownership ive never had any problems with her at all, just regular servicing, but being such a workhorse, the past 12 months have seen a great deal of work undertaken to restore her to former glory. almost all of this work has been undertaken by myself using genuine new GM parts where possible, a feat made possible by the trusty GM trade card hehe. many of the jobs on this car were made a lot easier by the assistance and help of oof members and the handy guides on the forum, so i thank fellow members and admin for all your advice!! had i known how much i was going to have to do i might have been browsing the pages of autotrader again, but hey ho...

i'll add a list below of recent work undertaken which should help illustrate what ive been keeping busy with over the past few months and how she's ended up in her current condition. of course, the work is never done and i'm sure i'll be adding more pics and info in the not-too-distant!

for now anyway, enjoy the pics (some new, some not so new). more to follow, and i'll keep 'em all in this thread from now on.

[humbucker]

[humbucker]

Recent Work Undertaken:
New Front Shock Absorbers
New Self Levelling Rear Shock Absorbers
Harmon Kardon Drive and Play iPod ICE install
Replacement HK Drive and Play Click Wheel
Replacement BOSE Passenger Door Speaker
Replacement backbox
Full Front End Respray (Bonnet, Wings, Doors, Grille, Mirrors)
New Oil Sump Pan and all new screws
Replacement Sat Nav Screen
Replacement Sat Nav GPS Mouse and loom
Recent Sat Nav Disc
New Irmscher Chrome Badge
New Leather Gear Gaiter
New Leather Handbrake Gaiter
New Clear Side Repeaters
Replacement Drivers Door Locking Solenoid
Replacement Passenger Back Door Locking Solenoid
Replacement Boot Locking Solenoid
Replacement Rear Bumper Supports
Replacement Rear Bumper Chrome Trim
Replacement Plenum Bolt Covers
New Cam Cover Gaskets
New Inlet Manifold Gaskets
New Heater Matrix
New Coolant Bridge and Sensors
New Coolant Header Tank
New Coolant Header Tank Pressure Cap
New Oil Cooler Channel Bolts and Screws
New Oil Cooler
New Oil Filler Neck Gasket
New Waterpump
New Thermostat
New Heater Bypass Valve
New Radiator Valve and Gasket
New Radiator
Full Thorough Coolant Flush inc. Forte BioDegreaser Flush
New Pollen Filter
New Bosch Windscreen Wipers
New GO Battery
New Front Brake Pads
New Front Brake Pad Sensors
New Cambelt Kit and tensioners
New Spark Plugs
New Fuel Filter
Replacement Secondary Air Injection Pump
Replacement Drivers Side Fog Lamp
New set of Wheel Locking Nut covers
2 x Replacement alloy wheels
Replacement set of dash switches
Replacement Illuminated Sun Visors
Breathers Cleaned
Plenum Cleaned
New ECC Climate Bulbs
New Dash Bulbs
New Rear Bulbs All Round
New Headlamp Bulbs
New Front Splitter
Replacement Key Fobs and Batteries
Oil Change Every 4 - 5000 miles
Head Gasket replacement both sides
Heads skimmed
Valves reseated
Stem seals replaced
Lifters cleaned
Exhaust manifold gasket replaced
HT Leads bank 246 replaced
New Automatic Transmission Fluid
New Automatic Transmission Gaskets
New Automatic Transmission Filter
New Air Filter
Replacement rear bumper chrome strips
Replacement ECOTEC breather cover
Replacement battery protection shelf
Replacement radiator protection shelf

[FoxyCav]

I love that Always wanted an Omega, but certain people keep telling me to stick with the Cavalier as there's nowt wrong with it Do love the Cavalier , but i love the look of Omega's and yours is gorgeous

[humbucker]

you could always do both?!?! that's my current situation anyway!! hehe maybe i shouldn't be encouraging you! but go on, you know it makes sense! hehe

here's another tight rear end shot for you. this is the one printed in total vauxhall and straight six news

[Squig]

I love the omega meself too... but having driven an auto one, I would have to go for the manual box.

[cav cdx]

very nice mate,harmon kardon ipod integration kit????????? where did you get that an how does it work?

[humbucker]

very nice mate,harmon kardon ipod integration kit????????? where did you get that an how does it work?

yeah, its called 'harmon kardons drive and play'. you get a bunch of components with it. they all plug into the 'brain unit' (the big unit at the back of the image below). a cable goes from this to your ipod. then the screen (backlit at night) mirrors whats on your ipod screen (apart from album art) and the click wheel and other functions is performed on the illuminated click wheel. a junction box goes between your radio and the brain unit and you assign a radio station to the brain unit (important to note it does not 'transmit' on a frequency like the itrip, instead this is the equivalent of pressing 'auxillary' or something similar).

the ipod sits happily in the glovebox or wherever and you just use the clickwheel to control it and you can see what would be on your ipod screen on the display unit.

version 2 is out now with full colour display, but at 300 quid i would probably go buy a new ipod friendly head unit instead. the older versions, like mine, are monochrome *like the older ipods* and i got mine clearance argos stock for 20 quid! they pop up on ebay a lot so worth checking there.

my ipod is 5th gen video version so has full colour screen, but this doesnt matter, the older version of drive and play is fully compatible with all ipods past 2nd gen i think. and i dont need my ipod menu to be full colour so this works out fine for me. hope that helps you, a neat addition to your car!

[humbucker]

ah i forgot, you can also hook up a third party to the brain unit too, so another audio source like your phone or a minidisc player or something. neat.

[humbucker]

clarification on the compatibility :

The Drive + Play works with 3rd, 4th, 5th generation iPods, iPod mini and iPod nano

[cav cdx]

Thanks mate, I might have to get one coz thay look sooo cool, I love my gadgets

[humbucker]

brand new factory sealed first gen units go on ebay for about 25-40 quid inc postage. thats not bad really considering what you get (and the fact that 2nd gen ones are 300+). theyre pretty cool, although everyone thinks its a sat nav hehe

[Colorado]

A superb machine really like it.

[FoxyCav]

you could always do both?!?! that's my current situation anyway!! hehe maybe i shouldn't be encouraging you! but go on, you know it makes sense! hehe

i cant afford another car lol I've already got 2 (the Cavalier and my mint Capri). I'd be living on baked beans if i owned 3 cars
though if you keep the pics coming i might change my mind

[Squig]

Baked beans aren't so bad...
beans on toast, one meal; beans with potato and cheese, meal 2; meal 3, beans with BBQ sauce; meal 4, beans plain... etc
just buy bedsheets with weighted corners

[FoxyCav]

yeah squiggy but dont think the dog would be too amused, with all the extra air fresheners i'd need
ahem back to the omega

[Squig]

yeah squiggy but dont think the dog would be too amused, with all the extra air fresheners i'd need
ahem back to the omega

Feed the beans to breeze... if only for the look of mild surprise mixed with confusion and a sprinkle of guilt... dog owners KNOW what I mean... indeed back to the omega...
Great looking car fella... intrigued as to which is quicker, would say the cav myself, but not by much.

[andysri]

blinding motor. making me miss my omegas more and more. ive never had the pleasure of a v6 though, i did drive my old 2.0 manual the other day as i pinched it back of my mum for half hour, very slow compared to the sri but still always a pleasure to be in.

[humbucker]

Great looking car fella... intrigued as to which is quicker, would say the cav myself, but not by much.

off the mark there is no contest, it's the cavalier every time. the omega might have 215 bhp or whatever, but it is hauling all that bodyweight around. cavalier is a proper pocket rocket in comparison. thing is, in the cavalier you feel like you're shifting. in the omega you look down and suddenly you're doing 100 and it seems like you're ambling along. its a good job it's got cruise control fitted, i'm not sure my license would last much longer otherwise hehe

[Adamw5433]

Weldone Dan.

Nothing like getting your own piece in a (fairly) major mag, eh?
Thought i reconised the omega, but didn't know whos it was lol.
Might put my Cavalier in for a laugh once i get the CDX bumper and fogs on.
Doubt they'd publish it, but always worth a go, eh?

Weldone again

Adam

[humbucker]

thanks all, your feedback is appreciated!

well, small update. as you know, the mothership was 'car of the month' in total vauxhall not so long ago. i bought the new issue this weekend and was flicking through looking for the feature which shows DVLA records of how many performance vauxhalls are left on the road. tvx provided a pic of each vehicle with some stats next to it. naturally i looked for the omega stats and was bowled over to see the mothership featured again! the pic below has been published along with stats on how many 3.0 3.2 2.5 2.6 MV6 and Elites are left on the roads, saloon and estate. there are literally thousands of 3.0 elites, but not so many 3.2s it would seem (under 500 if memory serves). stats cover uk, germany and belgium i think. the new issue is out now if you're interested in specifics. they have sri, gsi and turbo cav stats too.

[humbucker]

believe it or not we're heading for the 170k mark this week and still running like a dream (although i'm the first to admit how much work has gone into her this past year!). a good advert for the vauxhall v6 engines methinks!

[humbucker]

couple of pics taken at billing, more to follow. blue mv6 is a mates, green elite is mine:

[humbucker]

car was misfiring quite a bit and as a consequence of a process of elimination i have replaced the ht leads, fitted a brand new dispack, new plugs, and new cam cover gaskets.

the passengers cam cover leaked again after the last change so i stripped it again and checked the cover itself. it is showing a slight bow in the plastic, what others might refer to as 'warped' i suppose. as i recently fitted metal cam covers from a vectra to my cavalier (see here: viewtopic.php?f=21&t=2581) i had the original plastic ones kicking around in the shed, even if they were super-filthy. so i cleaned up the cavalier passengers side cam cover til it was as good as new and fitted that in place of the original omega cover (they're both the same part). it was definitely in better shape, so to speak.

all back together again and we're hunky dory; quite literally firing on all cylinders! wahey! happy motoring! and now i can keep the miles off of the cavalier as i was using that as the daily driver until i could cure the misfire on the omega!

Thumbs Up!

[andysri]

the omega look's great, got to be the best colour in that green, my omega was that colour and looked great all polished up.
i see you were with the autobahn stormers at billing, my dad is a member with them with his 1986 opel monza gse, very good club to be a part of by all accounts