what would you do? calais troubles

[aussie_muscle_6]

hi boys i recently brought a vn calais, but it has a few electrical problems.
it was a 5ltr but converted to a 5 speed v6 before i brought it. worked rebuiilt engine the bodys in decent conditon and body kited i just brought a monaro bonnet for it.
but i broke down on the way home due to the thermo fan not working so rang the RAA and he had a quick once over of the car and "bridged" the thermo relay just to get me home but he also said that that under the dash has melted melted fuses in the fuse box and engine bay. the wirings a mess and the dash isnt working right speedo is fine but thats about it it wont come up with how many km its done ect and have the engine check light (red) one coming on and off. he also said the engine management system is stuffed (ECU right?) the car runs fine but on start up it idles high but you give it a rev and it settles down. also it gets real hot inside the car? heater stuck on?? and the rear passanger elcetric window isnt working?

just wondering what you boys would do get a other calais and swap all the running gear into it as well as body kit ect or get this one fixed? any ideas on costs to do this?
anyhelp would be tops cheers

[MasterOfReality]

Personally I'd get rid of the entire thing. Its probably worth less than when it had the V8 in it.

Who knows what sort of abortion job the previous owners did on it - I'd strip the dash and looms out and start from scratch. If you have the patience to do this then it might work out well.

[Darcon666]

OMFG... +2 what MasterOfReality said...

God only knows what the issues coud be.... but if you really like the car as well as having the time and/or money to spend on it, go for it.

Personally why would you someone go from a V8 5Ltr(Auto/Man, who cares) to a V6/5spd...

[Shearer]

Personally why would you someone go from a V8 5Ltr(Auto/Man, who cares) to a V6/5spd...

Someone possibly brought the car mainly for the engine as a donor for another vehicle. The vehicle was sold off as a wreck and someone brought it and decided to 'fix' it up by putting a V6 in.

This occasionally happens with Statesmans too

[Coast_Calais]

get another car, put any good bits from the 'wreck' into the good(er) car..

[aussie_muscle_6]

yeah i was planing on putting a v8 back in it once im off my P's but this is my first car and i brought it as a bit of a project didnt find out how bad the electrics were till we were on the road heading home.
so now i really dont know what to do. if im ripping the dash out and starting a fresh i wouldnt mind putting a vr/vs dash in while im at it. is this going to be much harder seeing as i allready have to pretty much rewire the whole thing??. if i got a wrecked shell with most of the wiring still in it could i just swap all the wiring that way??

[david dubbo]

melted fuse boxs are pretty common in vn/vps can get after market ones or get one out of a differant model and wire in. You will proberly find most issues will be fixed if not start with one issue and work your way through it before you know it it will be fine and you will know more about how it all works

[the_boozer]

pop the dash out and go through the wiring on a circuit by circuit basis until you get everything to work a couple of trips to a pick a part to find the parts you need. Don´t crack the shits and throw things around you will want to .
determine what ecu and wiring you have .find the diagrams and start checking its wired right fixing any dud joins or melted wires as you go.

[bogan_vk]

if it was mine id fix it, as already stated above just go over all the wiring and fix anything that looks dodgy.

[aussie_muscle_6]

thanks for the help, ive decide to have a crack at fixing it, to day i worked out my fuse box was full of the wronf fuses 10amp in 5amp 15amp in 10 amp 25amp in 15amp ect most of them being blow this would have something to do with it right?

david dubbo im pretty keen on hereing about the other fues boxes ect do vr vs one fit? or hard to wire in?? is there a "how to" anywhere?
thanks for the help so far really apprecatie it cheers

[pjdm1980]

If your going to all the trouble pulling the dash out and messing with the wiring you may aswell put a VR/VS Statesman dash and trim in?
If it's been chopped and change with different looms and dash parts be prepared for a long investigation and check it's a real Calais that might just be a Calais dash?
P.S it good looking car dude!

[aussie_muscle_6]

yeah thats what im thinking about doing, the vr/vs dash looks 100X better and alot newer and cleaner
yep checked out the vin a it a calais (6H8VNX) X meaning calais.
ive worked out its got a complex arfter market alarm set up on it, box under the dash sensors in the floor, and mobile alert in the boot ect im guessing a this would be some of the messy wiring and none of it seems to be working, or i dont know how to use it. just rip the lot out? it was also on gas but the tank has been taken out when the v6 went it but the rest of the gas set up left in the car (pipeing, gas electrics ect) pull all that out aswell?
does anyone have a engine bay wiring diagram? i seem to have a fair few extra wires in the bay?.

[aussie_muscle_6]

dose anyone know anything about the heater being stuck on?? ive got no controll over it nothings working. someone said it could be the heater tap ?? but where is the heater tap?

[Budmulla]

With that project your best investment will be a workshop manual!

[pjdm1980]

The heat tap is near the bottom of the drivers side strut tower and has three water hoses and one vacuum hose.

[Warranty Void]

Depending on where you are there are a few options, If you are in melbourne I'd get the commodore frenzy boys to sort it out with a replacement calais v6 loom. If you want to do the work yourself I'd buy a front calais v6 loom from the wreckers and fit it over a weekend. If you pull it yourself then you can label it as you go, make life a bit easier or take lots of photos of a stocky. It wouldn't be that much harder to put in a VR VS dash but I personally prefer the VN VP dash. As stated above, the factory manual is your best friend, blow up any pages about the front wiring on a copier and go nuts. Make sure you have a half decent soldering iron and heaps of heatshrink if you make any mods, if you go for the factory standard loom you shouldn't need to make changes anyway.

[Andrew426]

Why not just pull the loom out of a wrecked VN calais and put it into yours? Its not a huge job, certainly a hell of a lot easier than converting to vr/vs gear

[2DIE]

Did you get a new ecu?

I had ECU problem with my VN when I first got it, was a nightmare and made many things stuff up. Replaced the ECU and its been trouble free ever since.