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Philplops VX220!


Philplop
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:lol:

I've already been told off for it having coilovers on!

Ok, cheers, I'll bear that in mind about the wheels. Will paint them black and see how I like it.

was gonna say, what ever you do with the wheels, they gota be black! black car n yellow wheels look sweet! al have to keep an eye out for it when am in h'pool

sully

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was gonna say, what ever you do with the wheels, they gota be black! black car n yellow wheels look sweet! al have to keep an eye out for it when am in h'pool

sully

woops my mistake, yellow car black wheels!

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:lol:

I need to get some more photo's taken, painted the screen surround black and painted all the grills too as they were looking pretty tired, been polishing up some random bits and bolts, makes quite a difference. :)

Just waiting for a call and it should hopefully be getting the lambda sensors changed and the geo done this week.

A rolling shot meet would be brilliant, need a bit of three lane motorway to get a decent distance between the cars I reckon.

Hope you don't spot it any time too soon Sully, cos if you do you'll be standing in the compost bin looking through my garage windows! :lol: Haven't been driving it.

Can't really remove the dash, it's just panels loosely stuck on to a metal framework. The top and the facia pull off pretty easily, but the grinder would be needed for the rest, which won't be happening, and it's quite possibly structural as well.

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Just waiting for a call and it should hopefully be getting the lambda sensors changed and the geo done this week.

get you with your boldness of hopefully! lol sorted tomorrow, if im not silly busy but if i am certainly this week

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Hope you don't spot it any time too soon Sully, cos if you do you'll be standing in the compost bin looking through my garage windows! :lol: Haven't been driving it.

i am ex SAS!!! ;)

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get you with your boldness of hopefully! lol sorted tomorrow, if im not silly busy but if i am certainly this week

:lol: Cheers mate, see you on Friday. :) I'll get some Plusgas on the bolts to try and loosen them up a bit before I come up.

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Something came up and couldn't get the car sorted on Friday.

Decided I was sick of it sitting in the garage in such amazing weather so drove it out for a quick little run. Pulled out of the garage to reveal a puddle of my coolant. Expansion tank totally empty. Put it away again.

So while all the coolant's gone I decided to pull out the heater and seal it up a bit better than they are standard. Had to grind some bolts holding the battery tray in, as it sits under the washer bottle, which falls off and leaks from time to time, so they were totally corroded and already rounded off. Move a ****load of wiring to get the battery out, and then get the heater box out:

IMG_7953.jpg

So that's why it was ****. It's smashed to buggery. So I've taken it all apart and fixing it back together with araldite and tigerseal, which I am currently covered in. Reinforced a bit of it with some numberplate offcuts.

Polished up a few odd little bolts the other day while I was supposed to be doing something more important. Makes a surprising difference I think, one polished, one not:

SNC00036.jpg

Here's one against my mates car from a while ago:

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And two for the black windscreen surround and repainted vents:

SNC00034.jpg

SNC00041.jpg

I'm getting more fed up with it every day. Wish I'd never bought it, had it 11 weeks now and still hardly driven it. :(

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Love it!

My mate had a Turbo in the same colour....

dsc00791h.jpg

Black Speedlines, Milltek system with a de-cat and coilovers, as well as de-badged, black windscreen surround and hard-top roof. The thing was immense, drove it once and I've never driven anything as fun in all my life. Definitely a driver's car, but not one for the winter. The only reason he got rid of it was because he was travelling to and from Wolverhampton for work twice a week and it wasn't practical enough.

I'd definitely have one. Too much badge snobbery for some people unfortunately.

Edited by cafcross
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I'll be fine. Nobody's as unlucky with cars than Crusoe! :lol:

Seriously though, that's a ****ter. What was the final outcome?

The standard wheels are 5.5J on the front, no power steering. If I did change the wheels I wouldn't go wider than a 7.5J, so I should be alright. May have to have some stretch...

:lol:

Plenty more on the vx forum reporting hub nut failure and top mount bolts corroding and failing. Mine was too wrecked for them to bother investigation, just said it could have happened in the accident and not been the cause though the police inspection agreed it was consistent with the accident investigation but were not going to take it further as nobody was injured and just dropped their claim for dangerous driving on my part. Insurance paid out and it’s back on the road apparently as a fixed write off.

Lotus recalled the bolts but vauxhall just try and avoid everything.

Edited by Crusoe
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Just read this thread from the start. All the improvements so far have made the car look much better, black and yellow really go well together.

I have done the 3/4 front numer plate and black fuel surround on the lotus, both good cheap modifications.

Regarding ride height, get yourself to Hofmanns of Henley and let Chris Randall sort you out. I had Nitrons fitted earlier this year with the spring lengths, rates, and damper valving all specified exactly for my car and then had them set the car up for all the geometry settings and also corner weighted. I did go quite low compared to many, although not as low as your car. My front ride height is 110mm (was 118mm but the springs have settled) and my rear is 118mm (was 125mm but the springs have settled). Ride height is measured floor to chassis, the front at a point inboard of the front wishbone mounts and the rear around the jacking point on the sill. If the VX is the same as the Lotus then you do want some rake front to rear, mine has 8mm, the recommended is 5mm to 10mm.

Removing the head rests was a good move as they look ****e, could you get a Lotus roll bar cover to save you having to glass fibre over where the head rests were? Might make the job easier for you?

Some Lotus sport seats would be a good modification one day, the VXR had them in, more support for your shoulders and they look nicer too.

Hope you get it sorted soon, it looks real good and with all the nice weather it needs driving.

Edited by LINCOLNSHIRESLUPOGTI
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Cheers Darren. :)

I think fitting the Lotus rollbar cover would be a pretty hard job, it's a canny big panel. Would be the best way to do it, but expensive. Keep forgetting that I need to fill the holes in actually. :rolleyes:

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  • 1 month later...

Finally got the interior back in. Took it out yonks ago to do, tried a bit and it was tricky, so left it and then could never be arsed to try again. Got home from work a few days ago and Sophie had trimmed it all for me. :) It's a much nicer place to be now with the carpet and the alcantara.

IMG_5751.jpg

Plumbed up the collant system without the heater and it doesn't seem to be leaking. Tested the heater by itself and that doesn't leak either, so I'll have to put it back in and try it.

MOT ran out in May though! So need to sort out the dodgy back light (hope it's a simple earth fault) and get it booked in as soon as possible. Got a week before the insurance runs out...

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Aye, she's not a bad'un like. :)

I got her to cover over the dash plate thing on the far end too, so you can't see the little VX220 logo, which was crap.

Only the front badge and steering wheel badge left now, and they'll be staying. Why it needed 7 Vauxhall Griffins and two VX220 logo's on it in the first place I don't know.

I'm trying to sort it out, honest! I might see one day of sun in it!

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Hopefully it'll make a DDR...

Had a go at the back lights and got it sorted, think it's just a dodgy connection. Reverse light still doesn't work, but just remembered the aren't checked on an MOT. Woohoo! Wish me luck...

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