A cheap VXR8 - WCPGW?
Discussion
As it turns out, lots.
Last November I bought a VXR8. LS2 manual, No. 56 in Sting Red. It was a bottom of the market car, and I was already prepared to put money in to bring it up to a decent condition. I took it for a test drive where I found a drop link had come adrift on the N/S/F, the suspension was a bit rattly, the exhaust was blowing and the steering a bit odd. Still, a fool and his money are easily parted, so on a biblically wet night I drove 60 miles back to my place with a VXR8 that had an ABS fault, ESP inactive and no speedo.
Plus points: engine seems good. Interior needs a good clean but otherwise ok.
Er, that's it.
Negatives: ABS light on, broken drop link, suspension rattling like a skeleton orgy in a shipping container, blowing exhaust, rear wings bubbling along bumper join, clutch on its way out, radio randomly switching on/off...
And this was before I started taking it apart.
First order of business was to start accumulating parts. A big order went in to Rock Auto for loads of suspension bits and an alternator, which had died a few days after getting the car home. A set of Superpro (Fulcrum/King) springs and dampers from MWP, lots of small bits from Walkinshaw, some Superpro polybushes, plus a few extra tools, mainly expanding the provisions for dealing with 18mm nuts and bolts.
Then, with all that assembled, it was time to get on with sorting the car out and bring it back towards being a half-decent example.
N/S/F first, because I could also do the steering rack bush and alternator change. It took a little while mainly because it was a steep learning curve, but no nasties found, all of the suspension got replaced, the brake dust shields got cleaned and repainted, and all back together. At this point I was confident that the car was being compliant, I wasn't fighting seized fittings, everything came apart ok, all the new stuff fitted, all good so far. It all went back together easy enough, though I did spot that the brake flexi line had evidence of rubbing against something, and the ferrules looked a bit iffy, so a set of braided lines from HEL were added to the shopping list.
O/S/F next, and done much quicker having learned how to get everything apart and in what order to reassemble it.
Around this time a friend made me aware of a local performance car dismantler that was breaking a VXR8, and knowing that the exhaust wasn't great I went and collected the Walkinshaw cat-back exhaust from them, and stored it for once the suspension was finished.
Then, the O/S/R. Here is where the easy, steady work ended.
Looking at the rear end it became clear that the subframe was fairly grim, not rotten but very much in need of removing, stripping, powder coating and rebuilding with new bushes. So it was back to Torque Motors near Oswestry for the rear subframe off the breaker, with the intention of refurbishing it as a summer job. With that in mind the work for the rear end was reduced to changing the springs, dampers and rear drop links. The ABS problem had also been tracked down to an issue on the O/S/R (no reading from the sensor in live data mode), so the plan was to change the sensor.
It was about this time that everything turned to s
t.
The ABS sensor was stuck in the hub, so I had to drill it out. Except that the 10mm bit out of the nice new set I'd bought snapped the tip half way down, so I had to take the whole hub and driveshaft off. Then looking closer I realised somebody had really fked up the threads on the driveshaft itself, so it was back to Torque Motors for the complete O/S/R hub and driveshaft. This was the first clue about the fkery that I was going to find elsewhere. Still, old spring and damper off, topmount transferred to the new spring and damper, and all reassembled, but still with an ABS fault to rectify. Around this time I looked at the exhaust, which I already knew was blowing:
The other side was just as bad. Luckily I'd already got the replacement.
Anyway, onwards to the N/S/R. Usual start, wheel off, caliper off, disc off-what the actual fk?
The whole handbrake mechanism was missing. Not broken, just missing. The cable maintained tension by being hooked around the lower rear trailing arm. The driveshaft nut wasn't even seated properly on this side, as though the shaft had been partially pressed backwards though the hub. Back to Torque Motors again, this time for the N/S/R hub and driveshaft assembly. Far easier to just replace the whole lot.
On the home straight now though, or so I thought. N/S/R spring and damper replaced, rear ARB links done, rear ARB stripped and painted, so all that I needed to do was refit the disc...
bks.
Luckily Torque Motors to the rescue once again, for a set of nearly new rear discs.
Next it was solve the ABS fault, which turned out to be an iffy wire on the rear sub-loom.
After all that, it's now booked in to get the exhaust swapped, braided brake lines fitted, tracking adjusted and MoT'd, and hopefully it'll be back on the road. The clutch bites well but has vibration issues pulling away, so that needs replacing at some point, and the tyres are all cheap no-name things which have no place on a 400+ bhp car, so they're probably the next things on the list to replace.
If anyone has any history on this car I'd be interested to read it, and if you're the chimp responsible for mangling the driveshaft threads, bodging on the back boxes and getting shot of the N/S/R handbrake mechanism, may your pubes be on fire with the stings of a thousand angry wasps.
More pictures to come once it's back on the road.
Last November I bought a VXR8. LS2 manual, No. 56 in Sting Red. It was a bottom of the market car, and I was already prepared to put money in to bring it up to a decent condition. I took it for a test drive where I found a drop link had come adrift on the N/S/F, the suspension was a bit rattly, the exhaust was blowing and the steering a bit odd. Still, a fool and his money are easily parted, so on a biblically wet night I drove 60 miles back to my place with a VXR8 that had an ABS fault, ESP inactive and no speedo.
Plus points: engine seems good. Interior needs a good clean but otherwise ok.
Er, that's it.
Negatives: ABS light on, broken drop link, suspension rattling like a skeleton orgy in a shipping container, blowing exhaust, rear wings bubbling along bumper join, clutch on its way out, radio randomly switching on/off...
And this was before I started taking it apart.
First order of business was to start accumulating parts. A big order went in to Rock Auto for loads of suspension bits and an alternator, which had died a few days after getting the car home. A set of Superpro (Fulcrum/King) springs and dampers from MWP, lots of small bits from Walkinshaw, some Superpro polybushes, plus a few extra tools, mainly expanding the provisions for dealing with 18mm nuts and bolts.
Then, with all that assembled, it was time to get on with sorting the car out and bring it back towards being a half-decent example.
N/S/F first, because I could also do the steering rack bush and alternator change. It took a little while mainly because it was a steep learning curve, but no nasties found, all of the suspension got replaced, the brake dust shields got cleaned and repainted, and all back together. At this point I was confident that the car was being compliant, I wasn't fighting seized fittings, everything came apart ok, all the new stuff fitted, all good so far. It all went back together easy enough, though I did spot that the brake flexi line had evidence of rubbing against something, and the ferrules looked a bit iffy, so a set of braided lines from HEL were added to the shopping list.
O/S/F next, and done much quicker having learned how to get everything apart and in what order to reassemble it.
Around this time a friend made me aware of a local performance car dismantler that was breaking a VXR8, and knowing that the exhaust wasn't great I went and collected the Walkinshaw cat-back exhaust from them, and stored it for once the suspension was finished.
Then, the O/S/R. Here is where the easy, steady work ended.
Looking at the rear end it became clear that the subframe was fairly grim, not rotten but very much in need of removing, stripping, powder coating and rebuilding with new bushes. So it was back to Torque Motors near Oswestry for the rear subframe off the breaker, with the intention of refurbishing it as a summer job. With that in mind the work for the rear end was reduced to changing the springs, dampers and rear drop links. The ABS problem had also been tracked down to an issue on the O/S/R (no reading from the sensor in live data mode), so the plan was to change the sensor.
It was about this time that everything turned to s
t. The ABS sensor was stuck in the hub, so I had to drill it out. Except that the 10mm bit out of the nice new set I'd bought snapped the tip half way down, so I had to take the whole hub and driveshaft off. Then looking closer I realised somebody had really f
ked up the threads on the driveshaft itself, so it was back to Torque Motors for the complete O/S/R hub and driveshaft. This was the first clue about the fkery that I was going to find elsewhere. Still, old spring and damper off, topmount transferred to the new spring and damper, and all reassembled, but still with an ABS fault to rectify. Around this time I looked at the exhaust, which I already knew was blowing:The other side was just as bad. Luckily I'd already got the replacement.
Anyway, onwards to the N/S/R. Usual start, wheel off, caliper off, disc off-what the actual f
k?The whole handbrake mechanism was missing. Not broken, just missing. The cable maintained tension by being hooked around the lower rear trailing arm. The driveshaft nut wasn't even seated properly on this side, as though the shaft had been partially pressed backwards though the hub. Back to Torque Motors again, this time for the N/S/R hub and driveshaft assembly. Far easier to just replace the whole lot.
On the home straight now though, or so I thought. N/S/R spring and damper replaced, rear ARB links done, rear ARB stripped and painted, so all that I needed to do was refit the disc...
b
ks.Luckily Torque Motors to the rescue once again, for a set of nearly new rear discs.
Next it was solve the ABS fault, which turned out to be an iffy wire on the rear sub-loom.
After all that, it's now booked in to get the exhaust swapped, braided brake lines fitted, tracking adjusted and MoT'd, and hopefully it'll be back on the road. The clutch bites well but has vibration issues pulling away, so that needs replacing at some point, and the tyres are all cheap no-name things which have no place on a 400+ bhp car, so they're probably the next things on the list to replace.
If anyone has any history on this car I'd be interested to read it, and if you're the chimp responsible for mangling the driveshaft threads, bodging on the back boxes and getting shot of the N/S/R handbrake mechanism, may your pubes be on fire with the stings of a thousand angry wasps.
More pictures to come once it's back on the road.
so that's not even an issue. 
It’s good news!
New exhaust also fitted, it sounds mega:
Very much looking forward to getting the remaining bits sorted out, some decent tyres will help it enormously. The steering felt decidedly odd before, but properly adjusted it is now responsive and relatively light.
Thanks for the positive comments so far, it’s always good to see a car come back from the brink.
New exhaust also fitted, it sounds mega:
Very much looking forward to getting the remaining bits sorted out, some decent tyres will help it enormously. The steering felt decidedly odd before, but properly adjusted it is now responsive and relatively light.
Thanks for the positive comments so far, it’s always good to see a car come back from the brink.
Well done that man!It's encouraging to read posts like this. Thanks for sharing, it was well written.
Thankfully I picked up a fairly good example, just needed fresh undersealing (sorted last summer) and the diff would benefit from a rebuild (still saving pennies for that job). A front end respray wouldn't go amiss either, the joys of 19 years of stone chips!
Thankfully I picked up a fairly good example, just needed fresh undersealing (sorted last summer) and the diff would benefit from a rebuild (still saving pennies for that job). A front end respray wouldn't go amiss either, the joys of 19 years of stone chips!
Well it finally got a run out, but not before a few more dramas.
After the MoT I did around 50-60 miles locally just checking and making sure everything was ok, and as the miles wore on it became very obvious that the handling was deteriorating rapidly. The car became almost undriveable, with the back end feeling like it wanted to overtake the front in a straight line even when coasting, and the steering wheel settled at 2pm off centre when it had been centered when the front tracking was done for the MoT. The diff was also complaining, making various clicking noises.
New oil sorted the diff, luckily what came out was as expected for old oil, and not silvery goop. Then it was off for a proper 4w alignment on a Hunter machine. The rear tracking in particular was miles out, but explained by the new suspension settling. It now drives pretty well, it could be better but the garage had a bit of a fight with one of the adjustable arms on the rear and were reluctant to disturb one of the bolts that looked even crustier - it'll all get done again when the refurbished rear subframe goes on anyway.
I also found a set of very tidy wheels with almost new Pirelli P-Zeros for not much more than just refurbishing the spare set I have, so those have gone on. Much better tyres for the car in my opinion.
On Sunday it finally got its first proper run out, to a Cars & Coffee meet in Wrexham, then onwards to the Ponderosa near Llangollen, then back home. 150 miles without issue, and the Walkinshaw exhaust sounds mega - its too easy to give it the beans, hear the bellow of the exhaust and suddenly notice the speed has risen maybe a bit too much.
After the MoT I did around 50-60 miles locally just checking and making sure everything was ok, and as the miles wore on it became very obvious that the handling was deteriorating rapidly. The car became almost undriveable, with the back end feeling like it wanted to overtake the front in a straight line even when coasting, and the steering wheel settled at 2pm off centre when it had been centered when the front tracking was done for the MoT. The diff was also complaining, making various clicking noises.
New oil sorted the diff, luckily what came out was as expected for old oil, and not silvery goop. Then it was off for a proper 4w alignment on a Hunter machine. The rear tracking in particular was miles out, but explained by the new suspension settling. It now drives pretty well, it could be better but the garage had a bit of a fight with one of the adjustable arms on the rear and were reluctant to disturb one of the bolts that looked even crustier - it'll all get done again when the refurbished rear subframe goes on anyway.
I also found a set of very tidy wheels with almost new Pirelli P-Zeros for not much more than just refurbishing the spare set I have, so those have gone on. Much better tyres for the car in my opinion.
On Sunday it finally got its first proper run out, to a Cars & Coffee meet in Wrexham, then onwards to the Ponderosa near Llangollen, then back home. 150 miles without issue, and the Walkinshaw exhaust sounds mega - its too easy to give it the beans, hear the bellow of the exhaust and suddenly notice the speed has risen maybe a bit too much.
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