Omega Owners Forum

Omega Help Area => Omega General Help => Topic started by: Albatross on 04 February 2008, 15:02:38

Title: Elite 3.2 "Fly By Wire?" can you tune them?
Post by: Albatross on 04 February 2008, 15:02:38
Having just bought my 2nd Omega; a 3.2l facelift Elite. (The 1st one was technically a Carlton CDX 2.6l 24V 1991 on a J-Plate) I called the people who tweaked my Carlton, Courtenay Sport, and the man on the phone left me a bit disspointed.

Apparently the later 2.6 and 3.2 engines are fly by wire rather than cable throttle operated, so there is a lot less scope for the type of tuning I'd had done before. On the old Carlton I did have a reworked stage 2 head, high lift cams and a chip. (As it was a '91 plate I had the CAT taken off too) All he can suggest on the 3.2 is a better air filter, lightweight flywheel and a nice CAT back exhaust.

Are those really my only options?

I don't want to be letting any "back street chipper" near my new pride and joy, but is there any serious and creditable place out there who can do work on these engines?
Title: Re: Elite 3.2 "Fly By Wire?" can you tune them?
Post by: TheBoy on 04 February 2008, 15:23:00
The fact that its drive by wire makes absolutely sod all difference.

The fact it has 4 lamdas means the cats probably have to stay, unless system software modified, rather than just the map.

A remap may well help. Its a flashable ECU, so can easily be achieved if you can find a map.  I have access to the flashing equipment, but have no 3.2 maps.

Air filter won't help - OE part is plenty big enough, and cold air fed.

Title: Re: Elite 3.2 "Fly By Wire?" can you tune th
Post by: sounds2k on 04 February 2008, 15:43:03
also given that it's a 3.2 elite, it will have an auto gearbox as only plod models had a manual gearbox, so there isn't the facility to fit a lightweight flywheel (to my knowledge!!) ... ??

... so a cat back exhaust is probably most of the improvement you can make ...
Title: Re: Elite 3.2 "Fly By Wire?" can you tune them?
Post by: omega18 on 04 February 2008, 15:48:22
I would have thought you would be looking at serious money to get even minor gains from the 3.2
The mods I can think of would be port and polished cyclinder head, custom manifolds, sports cats and a stainless exhaust system. Which would be expensive and not worth while ( Just my opinion on modding cars)

HTH Karl
Title: Re: Elite 3.2 "Fly By Wire?" can you tune them?
Post by: Dazzler on 04 February 2008, 15:50:52
A re-map of the ECU is probably the best money spent verses engine improvement.
Title: Re: Elite 3.2 "Fly By Wire?" can you tune them?
Post by: Albatross on 04 February 2008, 16:07:39
Mmm, doesn't sound promising. Maybe I've bought the wrong car.

Still I like it as it is, but it would have been fun to do similar to what I did to the Carlton 2.6. Perhaps I should have bought an older 3.0 Elite?

There's so many of the 3.0 and 2.5 about that places like Courtenay Sport have reams of "off-the-shelf" solutions to tune them. These later (rarer) 2.6 and 3.2 seem not to have the volumes about to make it worth the investment in developing the solutions. I've kind of limited myself a bit here haven't I? BUM!

Title: Re: Elite 3.2 "Fly By Wire?" can you tune them?
Post by: TheBoy on 04 February 2008, 21:15:28
Quote
Mmm, doesn't sound promising. Maybe I've bought the wrong car.

Still I like it as it is, but it would have been fun to do similar to what I did to the Carlton 2.6. Perhaps I should have bought an older 3.0 Elite?

There's so many of the 3.0 and 2.5 about that places like Courtenay Sport have reams of "off-the-shelf" solutions to tune them. These later (rarer) 2.6 and 3.2 seem not to have the volumes about to make it worth the investment in developing the solutions. I've kind of limited myself a bit here haven't I? BUM!

Bear in mind Courtney make a load of overpriced junk ;)
Title: Re: Elite 3.2 "Fly By Wire?" can you tune them?
Post by: omega18 on 04 February 2008, 21:22:54
Now the real way to tune the omega imo is to put a V8 in it as vauxhall/gm were going too but then gave up on rather than paying courtenay sport thousands for over priced "tuning" parts
Also what parts do courtenay have for the 3.0l that aren't available for the 3.2l?
Title: Re: Elite 3.2 "Fly By Wire?" can you tune them?
Post by: TheBoy on 04 February 2008, 21:31:26
Quote
Now the real way to tune the omega imo is to put a V8 in it as vauxhall/gm were going too but then gave up on rather than paying courtenay sport thousands for over priced "tuning" parts
Also what parts do courtenay have for the 3.0l that aren't available for the 3.2l?
A turbo.
Title: Re: Elite 3.2 "Fly By Wire?" can you tune them?
Post by: Danny on 04 February 2008, 21:33:39
Quote
Quote
Now the real way to tune the omega imo is to put a V8 in it as vauxhall/gm were going too but then gave up on rather than paying courtenay sport thousands for over priced "tuning" parts
Also what parts do courtenay have for the 3.0l that aren't available for the 3.2l?
A turbo.

is the courtenay one any good? are they pricey? are there any downsides apart from fuel economy?
Title: Re: Elite 3.2 "Fly By Wire?" can you tune them?
Post by: omega18 on 04 February 2008, 21:43:11
Quote
Quote
Now the real way to tune the omega imo is to put a V8 in it as vauxhall/gm were going too but then gave up on rather than paying courtenay sport thousands for over priced "tuning" parts
Also what parts do courtenay have for the 3.0l that aren't available for the 3.2l?
A turbo.

Just had a look on the coutenay website (just out of curiosity you know!) and they don't appear to do a turbo for the V6?
Although there is a lot of expensive reworked parts on there! That you can easily do with a compressor and a die grinder for a lot less money
Title: Re: Elite 3.2 "Fly By Wire?" can you tune them?
Post by: TheBoy on 04 February 2008, 21:56:22
Quote
Quote
Quote
Now the real way to tune the omega imo is to put a V8 in it as vauxhall/gm were going too but then gave up on rather than paying courtenay sport thousands for over priced "tuning" parts
Also what parts do courtenay have for the 3.0l that aren't available for the 3.2l?
A turbo.
Only one I ever saw have well fooked bottom end...
is the courtenay one any good? are they pricey? are there any downsides apart from fuel economy?
Title: Re: Elite 3.2 "Fly By Wire?" can you tune them?
Post by: Phelan65 on 04 February 2008, 22:20:36
Just a thought, have you looked on the continent for any mods that say the german tuners have done to the opel versions??
Title: Re: Elite 3.2 "Fly By Wire?" can you tune them?
Post by: bigdods on 05 February 2008, 11:46:46
I coudnt find a 3.2 Elite when I bought my 2nd Omega before Christmas so i had to settle for a 3.0 faclift 2000 model instead

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