Has anybody used an Omega

[lister]

Looking around for a donor vehicle there seems to be loads of Vauxhall Omegas for little money. Alot more common than Sierras.
Has anybody used one???
Does anybody know anything about their rear axle set up??
I know Saab turbo engines fit the gearbox, which would make a powerful roadster.

Cheers

Rob

[fabbyglass]

Go for a BMW 3 series as nobody wants them anymore especially the big engines. Even an orthopeadic (sorry the English translation is automatic)1600 will hit 120mph in such a big lardy car so in a Roadster would be a giggle

[lister]

Go for a BMW 3 series as nobody wants them anymore especially the big engines. Even an orthopeadic (sorry the English translation is automatic)1600 will hit 120mph in such a big lardy car so in a Roadster would be a giggle

I have a thing about BMW's .....

They don't seem to like me, they always go very wrong so don't want to doom my project before its began:D

Plus the Saab turbo i mentioned costs next to nothing and you can use the original ecu.

[Chris Gibbs]

I've had a look at the Omega bits as a possible donor.

Starting at the back, the differential is quite large but useable. The rear hubs are part of the trailing arm and so it would be necessary to make up a new bearing carrier to take the Omega bearings.

The gearbox and engine are quite large but not so big that they would be unusable, using similar modifications to the MT75 details in the announcements section.

Up front the hubs are "rear stearers" i.e the steering arms face backwards, not forward like the Sierra/BMW ones. This puts the steering rack where the sump needs to be. This might be solvable by swaping the front uprights side-for-side, but I would have to do some work to make sure good geometry can be maintained.

If anyone fancies trying to use this donor I'd help where I could as this will help me with future editions of the book.

Cheers

Chris :)

[ash_pearce]

Hi Chris,

this has been my plan all along as I'm a vauxhall man never been in to fords ... each to there own.

I'll be starting in the new year, I'll post some pics and details as soon as poss.

Merry christmas