My 3.0ltr V6 Project

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My 3.0ltr V6 Project

by Raydelta » Mon Aug 15, 2011 12:36 am

Hi people, you could say I'm pretty new here as I'm not as active as other members and for those of you who don't know me from .com I thought I'd best introduce myself.

I've had quite afew Calibra's now to say the least! Idea's for my latest Calibra Adventure all started about 6-8 months ago, I had a nice SE5 and wanted something abit quicker without losing my car. After doing some research I thought theres no Way i'm gonna be able to do a full V6 conversion and was put off by the Interior Loom change.. Ironic as just today my brother said its Easy! :evil:

So afew months back I sold the SE5 on in the family and bought myself a 3.0 Litre V6 off a member on this very forum. Flew up to Glasgow to get it and drove it back. Epic journey back and the car was spot on. The car wasnt up to show standard or as clean as I liked however and after being quoted ?800 by bodyshops to fix it all I've ended up buying another V6 as a donor

So this is where I'm at, its not a HUGE project but the end result should be satisfactory.

Sat on my brothers drive is this car below on the right (Northcape V6 next to my old SE5) ... its a 3.0 litre V6 with a standard F25 and SE9 Alloys with a Full Gmax Kit.

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And just before Billing with .com I picked up this Beauty. ?495 with 11 months MOT, 2.5 V6... AUTO...

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Now i'm on abit of a budget with other things going on in life at the moment so unfortunately I'm not going to be able to rebuild or refurb the 3.0ltr.

Luckily it all looks good and I've been told that the engine was only put in the car just over a year ago and I assume work needed would have been done. Timing belt is due in the next 10-15k so I have Geffd hopefully doing this pretty soon

When the engines out, if theres any obvious problems or leaks I will obviously fork out and address the issues.

The project for the next two weeks is basically going to involve stripping my Northcape Cally, Engine/Gearbox out, Gmax Kit off, Interior out and Wheels off and then putting all the good bits and Interior into my new Calibra. The Northcape shell will then be broken and scrapped and I'll have a spare V6 engine, Manual F25 and Auto F25 up for grabs.

My brother (the brains behind the whole thing) will then check the 3.0 litre engine over when its out and once we are happy. We will then start on removing the 2.5 from the Donor and removing all of the Auto stuff. Hopefully changing the car from Auto to Manual isn't going to be such a huge problem. Has anyone had any experience with this and can anyone give me any advice???

I will definitely put up a photo guide when we get to it as I haven't found one single guide when I looked.

Before we put My 3.0 litre into the Donor it is going to be mated up to a F28 Gearbox, Let Flywheel & Clutch and I also have all of the Spacers required and a custom made linkage to fit it to the V6 gear shaft, courtesy of Phils late Calibra

I've also got a Cat to back Stainless Steel Magnex Exhaust that used to be on Phils car so Hopefully the end result is going to be pretty good

Work on it started earlier today.

Mods wise, I dont have alot planned yet.

Engine:
The 3.0ltr currently has a 3.8 bar FPR and a Plastic lower divider. Thats it, Future plans will be to get a decent cold air feed to the standard Box and a good panel filter, Remove the TC and TC butterfly, Enlarged Throttle body and Enlarged Inlet Manifold...

Interior
I'm probably going to go for something like I had in my first SE4 below, WITHOUT the Polished Speedo Surround, Momo Wheel and Bucket seats... I've grown up since. Although I do like the look of the VX220 Steering wheel in the Calibra and I'll be having one of those in 2012 I think :twisted:

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Outside

The car is Ceramic Blue, its going to be dropped on a 40mm GMax Kit, I've got brand new Mtec Drilled and Grooved discs to go on and it will be driving on SE9 Alloys which I love! I think the calibra looks great as it is, i'm possibly going to be putting a Irmscher Spoiler on it and if I can get my hands on a set, I'd want the bigger version of the BBS rims from the Astra Coupe! I would love it to have a Irmscher front and back splitter too but that won't be happening in the next 12 months.

I'm still wondering what colour to paint the new Mtec Drilled and Grooved discs and Calipers to stop them corroding? Any Suggestions people?

I'm also up for suggestions for colours of the Engine Block and Cam Covers...? The Car is Ceramic blue and i'm stumped.

Also, Hopefully 2012/13 will see me swapping the 3.0ltr for a 3.2.

Thats it for now and i've posted up the idea's I have for the near future, which will probably change knowing me but for now I'm pretty excited about the end result.

I'll keep this updated with progress pictures and any Questions I have if I get stuck :D
Raydelta
 

Re: My 3.0ltr V6 Project

by Raydelta » Mon Aug 15, 2011 12:40 am

I've had abit of trouble with the Donor Car tonight... Anyone who can help, please do!

Haven't touched my Donor car today apart from plum my Alpine Stereo into it using a Alpine Iso Adapter that doesnt look like the ones you'd usually get its got a "power pack" looking thing on it, anyway, I've used it in two calibra's in the past 6 months with no problems. It was replacing a Kenwood Stereo with a Kenwood Iso Adapter.

Now I fitted it and it didnt turn on as it did with my others, so my brother took a look and swapped the Red/Yellow Wires on the ISO lead around and it powered up. He then realised there was no constant live and got a multimeter out and still couldnt find one...

I said i'd stick with it and just reset the settings when I need to as I didnt have time to mess around with it.

Anyway, on the way Home I realised my Clock had reset to 00:00 at some point, also, when I switched off the ignition the Dashboard clock went out?! Like it does when there's no battery in the car...

So I took the stereo out... left the standard vauxhall plug hang behind the dash out the way.

My interior light that you turn on by pulling out the headlight switch no longer works, the check lights flash at me like the mexican wave as the starter motor is turning and the car is firing up. Then! opening the passenger door causes my clock to reset, Water level warning light to go out (its ALWAYS on, faulty sensor) and then when you close the door, it causes ALL the check lights to come on again, whilst the car is running?!

Please see the video below... listen out for when the door opens and closes and watch carefully.

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Raydelta
 

Re: My 3.0ltr V6 Project

by v6 steve » Mon Aug 15, 2011 8:00 pm

sounds like you have a bit of work in front of you I know that northcrap cally pritty well you'll find it has been well looked after by the last owner anyway,
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Re: My 3.0ltr V6 Project

by big_gordy » Mon Aug 15, 2011 8:58 pm

:whistle: i thought you said you had CRASHED it!!!!! :think:
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Re: My 3.0ltr V6 Project

by Raydelta » Wed Aug 17, 2011 11:57 am

big_gordy wrote::whistle: i thought you said you had CRASHED it!!!!! :think:



Haha, I did! I drove into the back of someone, its the Front bonnet/bumper thats damaged. Engine and the rest of the car is A OK.
Raydelta
 

Re: My 3.0ltr V6 Project

by Raydelta » Wed Aug 17, 2011 11:58 am

Raydelta wrote:I've had abit of trouble with the Donor Car tonight... Anyone who can help, please do!

Haven't touched my Donor car today apart from plum my Alpine Stereo into it using a Alpine Iso Adapter that doesnt look like the ones you'd usually get its got a "power pack" looking thing on it, anyway, I've used it in two calibra's in the past 6 months with no problems. It was replacing a Kenwood Stereo with a Kenwood Iso Adapter.

Now I fitted it and it didnt turn on as it did with my others, so my brother took a look and swapped the Red/Yellow Wires on the ISO lead around and it powered up. He then realised there was no constant live and got a multimeter out and still couldnt find one...

I said i'd stick with it and just reset the settings when I need to as I didnt have time to mess around with it.

Anyway, on the way Home I realised my Clock had reset to 00:00 at some point, also, when I switched off the ignition the Dashboard clock went out?! Like it does when there's no battery in the car...

So I took the stereo out... left the standard vauxhall plug hang behind the dash out the way.

My interior light that you turn on by pulling out the headlight switch no longer works, the check lights flash at me like the mexican wave as the starter motor is turning and the car is firing up. Then! opening the passenger door causes my clock to reset, Water level warning light to go out (its ALWAYS on, faulty sensor) and then when you close the door, it causes ALL the check lights to come on again, whilst the car is running?!

Please see the video below... listen out for when the door opens and closes and watch carefully.

Image



Well I have to say I'm a abit of a tool for posting this!! If I had checked the fuse box It would have been sorted :roll: :D
Raydelta
 

Re: My 3.0ltr V6 Project

by Raydelta » Wed Aug 17, 2011 12:12 pm

v6 steve wrote:sounds like you have a bit of work in front of you I know that northcrap cally pritty well you'll find it has been well looked after by the last owner anyway,


He doesn't believe that I believe that He did infact look after it :)

I have no grumbles with anything mechanical on the car :)

I'm hoping to get all of this done before Saturday the 10th September.
Raydelta
 

Re: My 3.0ltr V6 Project

by Raydelta » Sun May 20, 2012 11:01 pm

Well, I think I really should update this project thread!

I got there in the end! After numerous problems with nosy neighbors and work commitments getting in the way I actually completed this conversion in October 2011.

Theres a lack of Pictures because I was in work alot and forgot the camera to be honest, you're so busy working on the thing I don't know how some people remember to take pictures :)

The only major issue I ran into was the Auto to Manual Conversion, heres some quotes from the thread I put up so you can see how I got on:

Raydelta wrote:Hey guys,

The 3.0litre is in today and the engines plummed in with the F28 and we have put in a Clutch pedal and brake pedal from a Manual V6 Cally.

My Brother removed the old engine along with the Auto wiring and cut the wiring coming from the Auto Gearstick.

When we tried to turn it over earlier it made no noises, and acted just like a Automatic Car would act if you had it in drive and tried to start it... the Sport mode Icon was flashing on the dashboard too....

Have we missed something? Is there a Automatic box ECU plummed in somewhere? We are using the Engine ECU that was on the 2.5 Auto instead of changing the keys etc... as I thought these were the same as the manual ecu?

Any ideas? I bet its something obvious...


Raydelta wrote:Well the cars now starting like a manual!

The last time I worked on the car on Sunday, it had the 3.0ltr running off the original Auto 2.5 ECU, with the auto wiring cut out of the engine bay, shifter wires cut out and it had a Manual Engine loom.

When we tried to start it, the starter motor didnt fire at all, just like having a Automatic in gear and trying to start it.

So when I got there today, I changed over the ECU's to the Manual ECU to match the Manual Engine loom. I then removed the glovebox and ripped the Autobox ECU out of its hiding place on the bulkhead above the passenger footwell. As we had already cut the wiring in the engine bay for the auto box the wiring came straight out with the exception of a little 6 pin plug which you need to undo behind the passenger kickpanel.

So After getting that out, I changed over the Immobilizer reciever and the Key chip to match the ECU and gave it a go at starting! The first thing that got me was that the ECU was now flashing in 1 second intervals and when cranked the starter would kick once and then die off just like it did before!

At this point I was pretty stuck as I was so confident that once I had removed the Autobox ECU and changed the Engine ECU to a manual one that it would all fire up! I knew I didnt have to fiddle with the Inhibiter wires (which I'd butchered) as the car is using a Manual cars Alternator/starter loom, Manual ECU and manual engine loom.

So after afew google searches, I was prompted to check for a bad earth for the 12v to the engine... So off I go, looking around the car. Jumps underneath and theres a huge earth strap off the main engine loom dangling in mid air! lol. My brother forgot to attach it to the block!!!

And with that attached she started like a manual!

Tomorrow we just have to fill it with fluids, fit the heater pipes, fit my Magnex Stainless catback system and fit the rear suspension and brakes

And she'l be done!

Thank you to Mark, David and everyone else that helped me get this sorted :D


Heres some pictures of it throughout the time we were working on it.

Davids old car gutted :cry:
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Nice new brakes and painted legs 8)
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X30XE with the F28 Attached ready to go in...
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Since then I've just driven it, serviced it and made some small changes.

Its now a X30XE with an F28, spaced 23mm to the passenger side, superchipped (superchips.co.uk...got it cheap) and a SS Magnex catback oval tipped system.

Ended up painting the Calipers Silver and kept the brakes red, fitted the SE9 alloys to the car too, I think they looked great!

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Also got bored one day and painted the Inlet red! its not staying though, when I get a chance I'll polish the spare inlet I have in the garage.

Heres a before and after:

Before:
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After:
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Was really pleased at this point :dance:

Onto more recently...

Most recently, two weekends ago I went up to Northampton to Triggers house and bought a Black leather interior to replace the Cream interior, Mind you on the day I chose, typically its p*****g down. So I pull up outside Triggers after a 2 and a half hour drive, Lock the car, pop the boot and put my coat in the boot and slam it shut. I then remembered my keys are in my coat pocket! Various ways to gain entry are tried, eventually a hammer through the near side rear window does the trick. Then the neighbour comes out and starts moaning about the glass on his drive. He asked why the car wasn't moved up the road before the window was smashed. We tried to explain it was because the f*****g KEYS WERE LOCKED IN THE CAR :lol:

The modified calibra:
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Trigger was kind enough to lend me one of his windows from the Ecowreck (it was ready for the scrap :lol:) so I made it home with that! once I got home I replaced it with a better condition one from my stockpile in the garage.

Really pleased with my choice to change it to black leather interior, for £30 it was a complete bargain! I think it looks miles better! I've also trimmed some dashboard bits in Carbon fiber and fitted Blue LED's into the Dashboard to complete the look. :wink:

The interior Before:
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And after:
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For a long while I had a issue with the EML light being constantly on! Paperclip test showed Code 46 iirc, Secondary Air Injection code, because the Auto Calibra didnt have the relay in place. So I went on ebay at the end of April and bought myself an Early PN code ECU that came with two Superchips from Superchips.co.uk.

That solved the EML and I think, its made the car smoother and gave it slightly more pull through the low/mid range. Not bad seems I only needed the ECU 8-)

I've also had an issue with the coolant pipes being over pressurerised but that was solved with a Sniffer test and a new coolant cap! :D

So really, I've not made any major changes other than cosmetic ones and maintenance since fitting the 3.0ltr and F28.

Tyres were close to the bars on the BBS so i've put them away for a while and changed them to my winter wheels until I get down to refurbing these beauty's in Anthracite:

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I'll leave this with the most recent pictures I have...

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Nice clean inner wings :wink:
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It's getting Clayed, Polished, Glazed and Sealed next Wednesday so I'll post up some real pictures then, and I'll now keep this updated with changes as I go along!

Before september I'm having the Cambelt and waterpump changed and I'm gonna have afew more mods lined up so I'll take plenty of pictures :clap:
Raydelta
 

Re: My 3.0ltr V6 Project

by Raydelta » Mon May 21, 2012 12:24 am

Really regret not having the time to update this over the past few months as the reply i've given is crap compared to what it could have been if it was all fresh in my mind at the end of each day, but i'll be sure to update this properly in future
Raydelta
 

Re: My 3.0ltr V6 Project

by Raydelta » Mon May 21, 2012 10:23 am

lol!! :lol: :lol:

Now I've been in the position I realise how hard it is to get the camera out! I'd either forget to take it with me on the day or forget to take pictures, or have it with me and my hands be too dirty to use it! :violin:

Going to be millitant about it now though :lol:
Raydelta
 

Re: My 3.0ltr V6 Project

by EddeyDancer » Mon May 21, 2012 4:55 pm

The Black Leather looks heaps better than the Cream Leather, which is usually the case!!! :clap:
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Re: My 3.0ltr V6 Project

by EddeyDancer » Mon May 21, 2012 4:56 pm

The Cream Leather, looks crap!!! :clap:
Last edited by EddeyDancer on Sun Aug 12, 2012 12:19 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: My 3.0ltr V6 Project

by Raydelta » Fri May 25, 2012 7:36 pm

Also had the urge to get the dremel out for five mins on Wednesday morning and turned this:

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to this:

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Its not perfect, just a metal brush and then a polishing pad with some T-cut Metal polish.

Every little helps :)

Also picked this up Last night, won it on Ebay for £20 and it was collection only, turned out to be a 35 mile round trip.

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... Shadow came out to show his appreciation.

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Before I put that front pipe on, i'm Thinking of heat wrapping it to help with the heat build up under the bonnet?
Raydelta
 

Re: My 3.0ltr V6 Project

by Raydelta » Fri May 25, 2012 7:40 pm

And lastly I had my MOT Today...

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Which it failed...

The reasons were:

Offside Side repeator not working (Should have checked before I went :oops: )
Offside Headlamp aim too high
Offside Headlamp insecure (Two are related, one of the mounts are broken)
Nearside Headlamp aim too far to the left
Nearside brake hose twisted (found during steering lock to lock check)
Offside Front brake hose twisted (")

Easy fixes really, need a bulb, Headlight and I need to take the front calipers off and twist them, then bolt back on.

Brakes were 204 and 208 on the brake inbalance check and the emissions were as follows:

Limits Actual
CO: <= 0.200% 0.122%
HC: <= 200 ppm 8 ppm
Lambda: 0.970-1.030 1.030

At first it failed Emissions as it was running too rich aparently, so it went on a full 3 minute test and passed... could this be down to the "Superchip" from Superchips.co.uk that came with my ECU?

Haven't noticed any drop in fuel economy to be honest.

One thing that really scared me earlier is the oil pressure reading after the full 3 minute fast idle test... This was on idle and the coolant stayed around 96-98 and it was bloody hot outside....

But look at the picture! *idle reading

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The pressure warning light didnt come on and it would shoot up according to the revs... so as soon as I raise the revs to 1,000 rpm for example it would just reach over 1 bar... I know these aren't that accurate but what should I do?

Its running 10/40 semi synthetic GM Oil and has had a recent change and regular changes previously, my last two were 3,000 miles apart... This has happened afew times after long drives since the weathers got hotter! If i stop at lights or at T Junctions it can drop that low or slightly higher if I'm on a long run on a hot day

It shot up according to revs so anything over idle would be higher but I'm worried it could be the oil pressure release valve... where is this located on the V6? I checked the connection on the sender and it was very tight, I re tightened it 3 weeks ago.

Should I raise the Idle speed? It idles at 1100 on choke when cold and 500-600 rpm when warm on the speedo, has done since I bought the engine from Scotland... whats the correct idle speed for the V6?

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Raydelta
 

Re: My 3.0ltr V6 Project

by Raydelta » Fri May 25, 2012 8:00 pm

Water pump hasn't worked since I got the car I reckon. It's not worked since I put the engine in, Not heard it work once.

Everything seems OK, i've watched everything closely and checked all the fuses after.

Everything looked alright? :think:

Anyone got a wiring diagram for the Water pump, aircon fan and alt fan?

Also, what do you think of that pressure reading? Is the idle too low at 500-600? My step fathers 2.5 GSI idled at 810 he said...
Raydelta
 

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