You win some, you lose some . . .

[Steve]

Two cars due for MOT this month, so spent the day ferrying Vauxhalls back and forth from the test station.

Astra passed with flying colours

Vectra failed, steering tie rods excessive play both sides (I thought Vauxhall built them that way anyway!)

Two repair kits on order, £16+vat each, so not too bad. Also got an advisory for light corrosion on the rear brake pipes, so that'll be me getting under the back of the car and doing a Scott with the Hammerite and paint brush.

So now we only have one road legal Vauxhall in the fleet

[Smudge]

I'm sure you'll get it sorted soon

[Scott]

oh dear....wots up wi the SXi?

[Steve]

oh dear....wots up wi the SXi?

Been driven into the floor by the owner

Few minor jobs needed for the MOT, but money's headed elsewhere every payday, so it has to wait for some TLC. The Vectra's rock hard suspension/rubber band tyres and factory fitted random/vague brakes might force the issue though

I'm happy though, the SRi works fine apart from the odd puff of smoke from the overworked turbocharger

[Jimmer]

the mot test, is prob the worst than going to the dentist lol

Hope you get all sorted

[Steve]

Had the shock of my life today. Got the car up in the air yesterday and thought it looked tricky, so I left it and pressure washed under the arches to get all the crud out and soaked the track rod ends in WD40 to free them off.

Thought I'd read up on the job before I started it. Procedure is like this:

LOOSEN TRACK ROD ADJUSTING NUTS
DISCONNECT TRACK RODS FROM STEERING KNUCKLE

All good so far

DISCONNECT LOWER BALL JOINTS Errr OK???
REMOVE FRONT SUBFRAME AND LOWER ONTO SUPPORT What???
REMOVE STEERING RACK Nooo!!
REMOVE TIE RODS AND REPLACE

Text to Scott, confirmed this is what you have to do. Bugger

Throw book in bin, get large adjustable spanner, brute force and ignorance instead. One side done, one to go . . . .

[Steve]

Two of our Vauxhall collection now have a ticket for another year

And the Vectra has one less rattle from the underpinnings. It almost doesn't feel like a proper Vectra anymore