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[keithnic]

I have a 3.2 v6 Omega estate, but haven't used it for a while now.  I've been thinking about what to do and suddenly thought it would make a perfect track day car.  Questions are
1. would it be any good or would it handle terribly?  Its been a family car so I've never pushed its road holding boundaries.
2. if you reckon it could be fun, what would I need to do to it?  Upgrade the brakes?  Remove excess weight.  Flush the coolant system?

[steve6367]

I have a 3.2 v6 Omega estate, but haven't used it for a while now.  I've been thinking about what to do and suddenly thought it would make a perfect track day car.  Questions are
1. would it be any good or would it handle terribly?  Its been a family car so I've never pushed its road holding boundaries.
2. if you reckon it could be fun, what would I need to do to it?  Upgrade the brakes?  Remove excess weight.  Flush the coolant system?

I can't imagine its going to be a natural on the track - they are big heavy comfortable mile munching barges!

[zirk]

Dont think flushing the coolant system is going to help it go around the Track any better.

[keithnic]

I have a 3.2 v6 Omega estate, but haven't used it for a while now.  I've been thinking about what to do and suddenly thought it would make a perfect track day car.  Questions are
1. would it be any good or would it handle terribly?  Its been a family car so I've never pushed its road holding boundaries.
2. if you reckon it could be fun, what would I need to do to it?  Upgrade the brakes?  Remove excess weight.  Flush the coolant system?

I can't imagine its going to be a natural on the track - they are big heavy comfortable mile munching barges!

You're no fun ;-)   fair point though.  I remember in my younger years some of the most exciting drives were in a Ford Cortina mark two, thought the Omega might be similar in that its not a "racing" car so would be a challenge.

[Bojan]

Well, it's quite do-abl, if it's a manual.

Strip all unneccessary stuff.
Stiff the suspension (new shocks, poly bushes all around).
Get a 4.22 diff.

+ some sort of roll cage, or other kind of stiffening the chassis, would be nice, too.

There was a guy, Johnny A, with vauxhall carlton estate. Google it.

[keithnic]

Its an Auto 

[TheBoy]

Its heavy, and likely standard suspension will need beefing up, along with brakes.  It will never be a winner, but they doesn't mean it won't be fun

I'd suggest the Omega autobox is far from ideal though - long gears etc...

[biggriffin]

We're to start.
Strip everything out that it doesn't need, air con,carpets, door cards, sound deading, glove box, washer bottle, bumper strength, that's just a short list, 
Keep the heater.

Then you need to make it stop, and fit a decent pair of seats and belts, then a cage, possibly seam the turrets and chassis legs,

Then about 2.5'-3.0' negative on the front,  3.0-4.5' on the back,
1000-1500lbs front springs 450-750 if not more on the rears,  polyurethane bushes, strengthened front wish ones.

Just a small list to be getting on with.

[minifreek]

They are big heavy cars but a shit load of fun on a track

Strip out all unnecessary weight as has been suggested, convert to vented discs on the rear if it hasn't already got them... change pads on the front for Mintex 1144 or better, but also change the discs for new - dont go for the fancy grooved vented and cross drilled type, under heavy use they tend to warp, go for solid vented discs....

Dont worry about the drivetrain for now as you need to get used to how the car handles under track conditions, its completely different to when on the road as you have higher cornering speeds for a start....

Change the suspension for stiffer springs and better shocks...

New tyres are always a bonus but get proper make tyres not the cheap type as they will fal off very quickly under heavy loads, especially at the front...

Expect brake fade - a lot - until you can afford to upgrade to either Monaro brakes or Pontiac GTO brakes... they are bigger and have much better stopping power...

A rollcage isnt necessary unless you intend to get to very high speeds or intend racing it, track days are not for racing but to have a laugh and enjoy yourself under a controlled environment....