~Opel Lounge~

[002 Lindsay]

at least 4 of those in Nelson ive seen over the last few months.

[026 Nik]

The have 14 inch hubcaps, untinted rear lights, and a grey panel between the rear lights instead of black.

In the VL range we got both the RB20 and RB30 engines, where OZ only got the RB30.

[168 Derek S]

Looks like a euro C20 under the bonnet to me.
I would like to see one of them myself, interesting spotting there Chad, I am very surprised.
Did these get to South Africa at all?

[021 Chad]

It is a German sourced C20NE with an interesting engine mount setup. I can actually stand between the motor and the radiator.
If you found a crashed one it would provide some very good bits for a C20XE RWD project.

That 115Hp is going to feel pretty..... choked.

It's almost like the time they sold the HQ Holden in japan with a 13B Mazda rotary in it, I think it was called the 'Roadmaster' or something equally ironic.'

[168 Derek S]

Yeah RWD bits is where I would be thinking....

[127 Gordo]

Even worse were the Commerdoors with the cut down 4 from the 6 cylinder holden pushrod - think it was loosely based on a 173 bore/stroke.

[026 Nik]

Looks like a euro C20 under the bonnet to me.
I would like to see one of them myself, interesting spotting there Chad, I am very surprised.
Did these get to South Africa at all?

It is an Opel engine.

[021 Chad]

I've really been thinking hard about what to do with my car. I've come to bottleneck if you can call it that. I've spent 6 years planning and actioning little projects to make it what I wanted, but now I'm at the stage whereby I don't know what's left.

I don't want to take it racing, so that rules out caging and making it even more specialized.
I'd love to use it to do trips as it's a hoot on the open road, but my wife thinks it about as comfortable as a stab wound.
I don't want to touch the motor because it is right on that cusp of being too much for the chassis setup, any more go and I know the experience and ease of piloting would suffer, unless I fit an LSD, but there doesn't appear to be justification for that.
The suspension is right where I like it too so no reason to go fiddling there.
Also since having the paintwork touched up I really can't bring myself to fiddle with the appearance any more, it has that 'OEM+' thing going and I really like the clean profile.

SO what do you lot think? How do I keep the project alive and find motivation? Do I just accept it for what it is and enjoy what it offers as a car that gets taken out for a blat every second sunday then gets shuffled back into the shed?

[020 Brad]

As hard as it is to say this, is it worth fitting some well thought out (and light weight) sound insulation on the floors and doors, like what Graham did on his Corolla? Then a bit of carpet, and reinstallation of some of the interior?

I know it's not easy to add weight to a track car, but I did this with my Chevette and made it a much more enjoyable car overall. Just putting the backseat in turned it from a track day terror to a semi comfortable and much quieter road car. It was still far from practical, which is the main reason I sold it, but it was a big improvement.

You need to stay focussed on the end goal with any car, and a good all rounder is what your Vectra should be. You've alread said you don't want to cage it and make it too track focussed, so to me that means you need to head slightly in the opposite direction to make it a little more roadable.

[021 Chad]

You need to stay focussed on the end goal with any car, and a good all rounder is what your Vectra should be. You've alread said you don't want to cage it and make it too track focussed, so to me that means you need to head slightly in the opposite direction to make it a little more roadable.

Perhaps you speak sense Brad. I will start assembling the rear seats/ trim and see what would be ok to re-fit. I suppose having a firewall that is just a panel of steel separating the cabin from four intake trumpets is a little too Spartan. Maybe some well trimmed dynamat would stop some of the ear splitting scream from assaulting the passengers so.
I suppose if I could cancel out some of the engine and road noise, the car would be able to fill the 'open road express' function quite well.
What is really appealing to me now, is having a car that can do say 3-4hr trips without deafening the passengers but that can really open up and attack when you get to that piece of country road that is really begging for it (vinegar hill for example).

Thanks Brad, I have some thinking to do.

[168 Derek S]

with the end of Opel in AU and probably no chance of seeing us get the new Astra VXR in NZ I decided to have a test drive in one of these last week, very nice indeed (apart from the color scheme)

[020 Brad]

Cool! From reading the reviews I think that would be my choice of the new bunch of hot hatches too. Just don't like the interiors that much.

[168 Derek S]

yeah I hear you re the interior, must say its a bit different inside but once your in it and driving it, it all seems to work well.
I must say the Focus is a very very impressive car to drive, its definitely got Euro DNA
Interesting fcats I found out from the salesman
The Focus ST for NZ is made in Germany, the rest of the Focus range for NZ is made in Thailand
the new Mazda 6 is dimensional larger that the current Ford Falcon, when they are side by side you can really see it too

[155 Paul G]

yeah I hear you re the interior, must say its a bit different inside but once your in it and driving it, it all seems to work well.
I must say the Focus is a very very impressive car to drive, its definitely got Euro DNA
Interesting fcats I found out from the salesman
The Focus ST for NZ is made in Germany, the rest of the Focus range for NZ is made in Thailand

I hired this model Focus last month and thought it was great - even as a diesel. The car was well put together and was slick to drive. I'm considering a Focus ST for my next daily driver.

[168 Derek S]

we have ordered a blue one