ghetto mods on the vectra taxi

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inlet manifolds on the way out ;(


stolen from vectra c owners club

The car started chugging really bad when started in the morning for a few seconds and then seemed to be ok apart from a few “limp mode” episodes.So time to pop the bonnet up and have a look.
Whipped off the engine cover and had a peer around the engine and spotted that the linkage on top of the inlet manifold was laying there and obviously feeling very sorry for itself! So I fished it out and could see straight away that the inside of the four black thingys attached to this rather odd shaped linkage were in fact badly worn hence not rocket science to see why it had parted company with the four actuator pods in the manifold.
While investigating this I had of course been to many VX dealers to be told that this linkage is not available to buy as a separate component and is part of the manifold which in my view is an abject disgrace and why I asked the question as to what this recent “field remedy” 2065 was about cos I reckon it is this linkage that you cant buy unless you buy and have fitted the entire manifold at approx £500!.
Essentially this linkage is attached to the pegs by a plastic ball and socket arrangement and its the socket on the linkage which has worn. The pegs on close examination appear not to be worn at all and are although difficult to see similar to a pear shape i.e slightly wider at the top than lower down.

the ghetto repair method rather than forking out £500 quid(well trade price is 160+vat for the manifold and another 100 for the actuator

The majority of the wear is at the edges of the sockets so I have trimmed about 1-1.5mm off the sockets using some emery cloth placed on a flat surface,it’s important to ensure that this is trimmed off to leave a flat face to attach the rubber washers scientifically purchased from B&Q Ha!
These washers are rubber but are quite stiff but are still flexible enough to push fit over the pear shaped pegs and then sit comfortably round the thinner part of the peg, these rubber washers have a 3mm hole in them which is the perfect size to just fit snuggly over the pegs.
Once you have the sockets trimmed down simply superglue the washers to the sockets and that friends is about it!,the washers cost me about a quid and I have included the label from them here.

carried out the mod today guys







all parts assembled a bit of sandpaper to key the plastics

sand the linkage side down to ensure a nice flast surface- i dont it on the desk that way i can be sure i get a flat surface for working with

some sanding today

gave the washers a quick keying

applied glue to linkage and washers and allowed to go off

all glued in and drying, will stick it on in the morning and report back [/QUOTE]

 

[tigerstyle]

good luck