If you really got to have a vector....

I've always liked the W8. Never cared to much for the later model. Saw it and the Roadster version in Geneva 12 or 13 years ago. ANy videos of the W8? Would like to hear the sound.

I remember the yellow w12 and the one with the american flag sitting at Auto Panache. Where did those guys end up? Was the w12 really as bad as a lamborghini kit car?

http://nthimage.com/photoshoots/Vector_W8_..._chassis_15.htm

I remember the yellow w12 and the one with the american flag sitting at Auto Panache.  Where did those guys end up?  Was the w12 really as bad as a lamborghini kit car?

 

 

Literally the cheapest POS I have ever seen.

Was this you?

 

 

 

Michael's car in CA. That is chassis 008. A dead give away between his and my car is the mirrors. I have the later vented mirrors, his car did not.

This is Michael:

 

 

Nice guy..

at the photo shoot for Automobile mag:

 

 

This is Michael:

 

 

Nice guy..

 

Anymore pics of the Red Diablo?

 

-James Miller

This is Michael:

 

 

Nice guy..

 

Anymore pics of the Red Diablo?

 

-James Miller

 

The Diablo is his VTTT

I remember the yellow w12 and the one with the american flag sitting at Auto Panache.  Where did those guys end up?  Was the w12 really as bad as a lamborghini kit car?

 

 

Literally the cheapest POS I have ever seen.

 

VectorW8015,

I'm interested to get some info about W8.

How much boost is it running?

what kind ot turbos?

what is the difference btween W8 engine vs c orvette engine?like connecting rods,piston,valves and more?

If I bought one who would service in CA?

I saw 3 W8 at a party in Beverly hills on Loma vista.The bodies looked like they were modified?Do you know anything about their car?

Is there an upgrade for the transmission?

From what I understand they use electromotive Tech 1 or Tech 2 for their ECU.Are you happy with tech 1/2 or do you recommend an upgrade?

What upgrades are available and which one do recommend?

Thank you

Tony

Tony,

 

I would recommend you visit with David Kostka. He is the California resident Vector W8 expert and was the Vice President of Engineering for Vector when the W8's were produced. He lives and breaths all things W8. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND leaving the cars stock. They run 8lbs of boost normally and that is good for over 625 horsepower. Each W8 has a boost control in the dash that can adjust boost levels up to 11lbs. This is not recommended for 93 octane fuel. You need to run race fuel of 114 octane to increase the boost level or you will detonate and melt a piston. NONE of the components in the engine are Chevrolet. All are High Performance components that are much stronger than anything inside a POS engine. The engine block is a Rodeck Y-Block. A Resleevable race block.

 

As for the cars on Lomavista, if they looked different, you may have seen AWX3(Aqua Blue in color) and AWX3R (Purple) those cars were the next generation cars created by the original Vector Aeromotive in Wilmington CA. Jerry owns them and takes them to shows still. They are one off cars. He had a red W8 that was PP002 one of the first W8's produced that had older body parts on it that were a little different from the later cars.

 

As for the turbos, they have Garrett T3 center sections with aircraft specific impellers and housings. They are not off the shelf turbos..

 

As for any W8's being modified, all of them still have their stock bodies. Only one car has been altered by its owner mechanically and that car does not run properly. All of the other owners still enjoy good running cars with no mechanical issues.

 

The transmission was developed for the torque curve and powerband that the engine produces. There are hundreds of custom parts in the transmission and drive system. Messing with any of that will create issues with your shift patterns and could potentially starve the system of lubrication.

 

If you buy a Vector W8, LEAVE IT 100% original. The car is one of the fastest cars on earth in its stock form. You will enjoy the car a lot better if you get to drive a lot of care free miles with it. Modifying it and having it sit broken in your garage is not really the point of owning one of these animals. As for the ignition, The Electromotive Tech 1 is an excellent unit. I would not recommend changing it out.

Oh man , i dont know. Back in the day in sunny South Fla, I knew of 2 Vectors, one that was owned by a guy who was  a dealer on Sunrise and used to tool around in it occasionally. I saw that car broken down 2x on the side of the road, and I spanked him hardcore in my Porsche. Then a second which was yellow with Ostrich skin interior, and it also never ran right at all. Being 6ft tall I tried to drive it, and could only fit inside with my head tilted completely sideways. Put it this way, my Countach which I had at the time felt like a Cadillac compared.  Power was so-so, but fit and finish inmo, made the Countach look good. Everyone I knew, and i mean everyone, felt the Vector was like a big kit car.

 

I remember Jose at Turbowerkes working on that Yellow One with the Ostrich interior. I didn't know what it was untl I saw it. It was an impressive looking car in its time.

Oh man , i dont know. Back in the day in sunny South Fla, I knew of 2 Vectors, one that was owned by a guy who was  a dealer on Sunrise and used to tool around in it occasionally. I saw that car broken down 2x on the side of the road, and I spanked him hardcore in my Porsche. Then a second which was yellow with Ostrich skin interior, and it also never ran right at all. Being 6ft tall I tried to drive it, and could only fit inside with my head tilted completely sideways. Put it this way, my Countach which I had at the time felt like a Cadillac compared.  Power was so-so, but fit and finish inmo, made the Countach look good. Everyone I knew, and i mean everyone, felt the Vector was like a big kit car.

 

I remember Jose at Turbowerkes working on that Yellow One with the Ostrich interior. I didn't know what it was untl I saw it. It was an impressive looking car in its time.

 

 

 

Yes Jose showed his performance modification skills off on that particular car. This particular car is a perfect example of what happens when you allow a professional mechanic to work on a car he knows nothing about. The end result in theory was to modify the W8 to produce 1000hp in street form.

 

Unfortunately what this mechanic did not understand is that the car as it sits factory stock will do this with high octane fuel and the boost dialed up. So instead Wayne gave him orders to do what ever it took to make this the fastest Vector on earth. I am sure that Wayne paid a large sum of money for the modifications. Unfortunately the combination of Jose skill set and his idea of what would work to obtain this end result backfired.

 

He added all sorts of nifty items to this particular car, like a blow off valve, Different injectors, removed heat sheilds,(this cauesd the rear window to crack from turbo heat)......... and the list goes on and on...................

 

What was created was the most heavily modified Vector engine on the planet. The result...............................................A car that no longer runs.................................................An owner that could not figure out why the car was no longer reliable and broke down every 200 miles.

 

A good example of Jose's handy work would be the addition of a HKS EVC to the car where he handily cut the interior of the car up to install this boost control device just below the Electroluminescent display panel. Destroying the leather work inside the car and altering the interior pannels.

 

Now if Jose were to know how the Vector W8 was built and he were properly trained in servicing such an animal, he would have known that the Electroluminescent display panel already had an HKS EVC built in to it. Vector worked with HKS using their products. But since he was too stupid to understand this, he added a second one to the car. Very nice touch.

 

Thus leaving a car out there that needs a major overhaul to get it back in to operating order.

 

Gentlemen, this is why you dont let a YUGO mechanic service your Lamborghini, just because he has ASE certification does not make him a expert mechanic on any car on earth. It provides him with a basic skill set that will help him diagnose issues with a vehicle. Working on a particular vehicle, especially a HIGH PERFORMANCE EXOTIC takes years of proper training.

 

If someone tells you they work on HUMMERS and therefore they are an expert on your Lamborghinis E-Gear transmission, RUN LIKE THE WIND.

 

 

There are about 4 people on EARTH that have the proper skill set to work on a Vector W8. If you let anyone else work on it and they make a mess of it. David Kostka and I will be the ones eventually cleaning up the mess. Please do not buy a W8 unless you are looking to preserve the vehicle.

 

They are amazing cars to drive and enjoy in their stock form. 0-60 in 3.9 seconds while no world beater by todays standards, is still one hell of a quick ride. 1/4 mile trap speeds of 124mph at 12.0seconds flat is no joke either for a 14 year old car. Top speed well over 220mph is still damn good even by todays standards.

 

These cars are meant to be enjoyed, not modified.

First off. Jose is a Porsche Mechanic, turbo specialist, and a good friend of mine and he is definately not a stupid mechanic. He works on a pit crew for the AlexJobRacing team, and is well versed in Porsche, Lamborghini, Ferrari, BMW, and almost anything else that has a turbo. He has done things with cars that I couldn't believe. The guy wanted 1000hp out of a car thats not made for 1000hp. He did what the owner wanted. Had you given it your 4 specialists, the car would have probably done the same thing.

 

He has built some of the fastest cars I have ever had the pleasure of riding in, and definately knows what he is doing. Like you said if this owner was smarter he would have left it how it is.

Personally, I always loved these growing up... and still do. - :supz: :heart:

First off.  Jose is a Porsche Mechanic, turbo specialist, and a good friend of mine and he is definately not a stupid mechanic.  He works on a pit crew for the AlexJobRacing team, and is well versed in Porsche, Lamborghini, Ferrari, BMW, and almost anything else that has a turbo.  He has done things with cars that I couldn't believe.  The guy wanted 1000hp out of a car thats not made for 1000hp.  He did what the owner wanted.  Had you given it your 4 specialists, the car would have probably done the same thing.  

 

He has built some of the fastest cars I have ever had the pleasure of riding in, and definately knows what he is doing.  Like you said if this owner was smarter he would have left it how it is.

 

The engine is built from the factory to produce 1200HP (detuned for day to day driving, but no less capable of producing these numbers with a little boost and reprogramming of the timing curve and injector dwell oin the Tech 1), so Jose did not know what he was dealing with. He may be an incredible Porsche Mechanic, that I do not deny. But his Vector skill set is lacking. I would not profess to be a Porsche Turbo specialist even though I have built many Twin Turbo engines, My brother owns a RUF 930. And I have played around with that car to an extent, but with the CIS plate injection set up on that car I dont even pretend to understand that old Bosch system. I would rather leave that up to Jose to play with.

 

Leave the Porsches with the Porsche specialist, Let the Lamborghini mechanics work on Lamborghinis, Ferrari Mechanics to the Ferraris, McLaren with their beast.

 

But let the Vector experts maintain their vehicles they built.

 

Jose made a mess of Waynes W8. It will take a lot of money and time to correct the problems he created in that car.

 

I will stay out of Jose's Porsche playground. I would really appreciate it if he would stay out of mine.

 

http://www.alexjobracing.com/team.htm

 

I must have missed Jose's mention on the crew.

 

By the way he has done things with cars that I could not believe either....You were just more impressed by what he did than I was.

Interesting history lesson. Thanks. If I may ask, how did the m12 come along. Its the only Vector I know anything about, probably because I work on Lambos for a living and have had a couple Vectors in the shop.

 

Thanks for sharing some of your Vector knowledge. It really is too bad that there was not the money, without outside investors, to complete the development. What could of been

 

Welcome to L-P

Interesting history lesson. Thanks. If I may ask, how did the m12 come along. Its the only Vector I know anything about, probably because I work on Lambos for a living and have had a couple Vectors in the shop.

 

Thanks for sharing some of your Vector knowledge. It really is too bad that there was not the money, without outside investors, to complete the development. What could of been

 

Welcome to L-P

 

Thanks vmanaktala, happy to provide accurate information regarding the Vector W8. Happy to be here.

First off.  Jose is a Porsche Mechanic, turbo specialist, and a good friend of mine and he is definately not a stupid mechanic.  He works on a pit crew for the AlexJobRacing team, and is well versed in Porsche, Lamborghini, Ferrari, BMW, and almost anything else that has a turbo.  He has done things with cars that I couldn't believe.  The guy wanted 1000hp out of a car thats not made for 1000hp.  He did what the owner wanted.  Had you given it your 4 specialists, the car would have probably done the same thing.  

 

He has built some of the fastest cars I have ever had the pleasure of riding in, and definately knows what he is doing.  Like you said if this owner was smarter he would have left it how it is.

 

The engine is built from the factory to produce 1200HP (detuned for day to day driving, but no less capable of producing these numbers with a little boost and reprogramming of the timing curve and injector dwell oin the Tech 1), so Jose did not know what he was dealing with. He may be an incredible Porsche Mechanic, that I do not deny. But his Vector skill set is lacking. I would not profess to be a Porsche Turbo specialist even though I have built many Twin Turbo engines, My brother owns a RUF 930. And I have played around with that car to an extent, but with the CIS plate injection set up on that car I dont even pretend to understand that old Bosch system. I would rather leave that up to Jose to play with.

 

Leave the Porsches with the Porsche specialist, Let the Lamborghini mechanics work on Lamborghinis, Ferrari Mechanics to the Ferraris, McLaren with their beast.

 

But let the Vector experts maintain their vehicles they built.

 

Jose made a mess of Waynes W8. It will take a lot of money and time to correct the problems he created in that car.

 

I will stay out of Jose's Porsche playground. I would really appreciate it if he would stay out of mine.

 

http://www.alexjobracing.com/team.htm

 

I must have missed Jose's mention on the crew.

 

By the way he has done things with cars that I could not believe either....You were just more impressed by what he did than I was.

 

With that I cannot argue....If he created problems with the car, it is probably because he is used to dealing with other exotics.

 

He is on the crew, he is not a crew chief or director. If you don't believe me, go to the contact section and call them. I have no reason to procure unfounded claims. I am simply defending a friend from a harsh statement.

 

You have given me a lot of info on a car I knew nothing about. Not that I doubt your claims, but if it was such a great performing, low maintenance vehicle, then why is it always looked at as a less than worthy automobile. If it was a great track car with the likes of a McLaren F1, then why don't you see them running with the Mclaren, or enzos, or carrera gt's,etc. I know it is a very dated car, but if those numbers are true as stated, I think it would have made a much larger impact on the auto community than it did at the time.

Jose made a mess of Waynes W8.  It will take a lot of money and time to correct the problems he created in that car.

 

I too know Jose very well, even before he opened up his own shop, while he was a mechanic at Gulf. While Jose was running his shop with his brother and sharing space with Johhny they were some of the best Porsche engine builders of the day, but THATS IT. Some of the cars they built had very nice motors but were otherwise laughable.

 

Regardless, he does well enough with Alex Job that he had the luxury of closing his shop all together.

First off.  Jose is a Porsche Mechanic, turbo specialist, and a good friend of mine and he is definately not a stupid mechanic.  He works on a pit crew for the AlexJobRacing team, and is well versed in Porsche, Lamborghini, Ferrari, BMW, and almost anything else that has a turbo.  He has done things with cars that I couldn't believe.  The guy wanted 1000hp out of a car thats not made for 1000hp.  He did what the owner wanted.  Had you given it your 4 specialists, the car would have probably done the same thing.  

 

He has built some of the fastest cars I have ever had the pleasure of riding in, and definately knows what he is doing.  Like you said if this owner was smarter he would have left it how it is.

 

The engine is built from the factory to produce 1200HP (detuned for day to day driving, but no less capable of producing these numbers with a little boost and reprogramming of the timing curve and injector dwell oin the Tech 1), so Jose did not know what he was dealing with. He may be an incredible Porsche Mechanic, that I do not deny. But his Vector skill set is lacking. I would not profess to be a Porsche Turbo specialist even though I have built many Twin Turbo engines, My brother owns a RUF 930. And I have played around with that car to an extent, but with the CIS plate injection set up on that car I dont even pretend to understand that old Bosch system. I would rather leave that up to Jose to play with.

 

Leave the Porsches with the Porsche specialist, Let the Lamborghini mechanics work on Lamborghinis, Ferrari Mechanics to the Ferraris, McLaren with their beast.

 

But let the Vector experts maintain their vehicles they built.

 

Jose made a mess of Waynes W8. It will take a lot of money and time to correct the problems he created in that car.

 

I will stay out of Jose's Porsche playground. I would really appreciate it if he would stay out of mine.

 

http://www.alexjobracing.com/team.htm

 

I must have missed Jose's mention on the crew.

 

By the way he has done things with cars that I could not believe either....You were just more impressed by what he did than I was.

 

With that I cannot argue....If he created problems with the car, it is probably because he is used to dealing with other exotics.

 

He is on the crew, he is not a crew chief or director. If you don't believe me, go to the contact section and call them. I have no reason to procure unfounded claims. I am simply defending a friend from a harsh statement.

 

You have given me a lot of info on a car I knew nothing about. Not that I doubt your claims, but if it was such a great performing, low maintenance vehicle, then why is it always looked at as a less than worthy automobile. If it was a great track car with the likes of a McLaren F1, then why don't you see them running with the Mclaren, or enzos, or carrera gt's,etc. I know it is a very dated car, but if those numbers are true as stated, I think it would have made a much larger impact on the auto community than it did at the time.

 

 

Hi Mike,

 

I don’t doubt your friend’s ability; I don’t doubt that he is a mechanic on the race crew. I don’t doubt you. I am actually glad to see you stand up for him. It shows you have character. Ask him if he has a box of W8 parts in his garage (heat sheilds, valve covers etc.....) I would love to have them.

 

I am simply stating that there are specialists in each venue of care for a particular car. I am no Porsche expert. But I live and breathe Vector W8's every day of my life. The numbers I posted for the W8 are known numbers, tested and documented. There are other items that are less known about the W8 but non-the less true. The car is one of the safest in the world documented by DOT as such. It takes car manufacturers 5-7 automobiles to pass front, each side, rear, off set and roof crush tests. At Vector we accomplished this same task with a single W8. Earning the highest crash test rating ever seen from the DOT lab that we tested at.

 

As for power numbers and speed the Vector is listed in Car and Driver as accomplishing this with their test gear on board, they are not unfounded numbers.

 

The Vector produces numbers that are significant. The car was published in over 200 books and magazines (collecting Vector memrobelia is a side hobby of mine). Time has not been kind to the W8 and I believe that over time with only 17 production cars produced in a sea of other extreme exotics her staying power has diminished. Not so much because she was not a capable car, but because there were never enough produced to keep her out in the public eye. Most of the cars are squandered away in private collections, rarely seen by public eyes. There are so few of us to defend her you just don’t hear much about the car anymore. But magazines don’t forget, Automobile did an article on the Vector W8 in its August 2004 issue. Which was nice to see that they have not forgotten about her. The Vector was the worlds first "Supercar". Dubbed this back in 1990 by Car and Driver. The hottest cars you could get out of Italy at that time were a Diablo with 490 hp and a Testarossa with 388hp. The Vector W8 was producing 625+hp at that time. Numbers way beyond any other exotic for that time. Ferrari had specialty cars like the F40 but the power was no where near the Vector. Light sure, fast, not bad, as outrageous as the W8 not even close.

 

The Vector W8 engines were extremely detuned. There is a lot of room to go in the twin turbo V8. It was dynoed at 1200hp and then boost, timing, injector dwell were all adjusted to a conservative 625+ hp. This was done for longevity. The car was meant to last the life of its owner. To have an engine wound up tight at 1200hp is great, they dont live long in that state of tune, 10,000 miles before a major rebuild would be a long life span for a 1200hp V8 but 200,000 miles on a 625hp engine is a much better approach when selling a half million dollar car. In my writings I state horsepower ratings with a + because each Vector has a personality. Some run a little wilder than others. Car 013 and 015 just happen to put down a little more power than the stated 625. They are closer to the 725-750 mark. They both go like scalded cats. PP001 has a purpose built engine in her and is a wicked bitch. Putting down well over 850hp. She frightens her current owner on an occasional basis.

 

Each Vector has a boost control on the dash. If you were lucky enough to maintain the original owners manual you would see that it states power based on boost and octane ratings. The Vector produces its stated power of 625+hp on 92 octane. It will get wild and hairy with 114 octane in it and the boost cranked up to 11lbs with the dash control. Up to 1200hp.

 

No one is more disappointed than I am regarding the Vectors status and how soon people have forgotten how significant the vehicle was in the history of Supercars. Companies like Jaguar came after it with the XJ220, Bugatti with the EB110 and McLaren with its F1. Make no mistake, the Vector W8 was the first one at the starting line in the Supercar bonanza.

 

Just not properly recognized for its achievements. During the Vectors Jestation period there was a bit of a war between Jerrys previous employer and their sadistic way of trying to belittle anything Vector was doing. GM would continuously make statements at car shows like " it looks just like the next generation POS", so why spend $450,000 when you will be able to get the exact same car for $45-50K. All done to belittle and discredit Vector and what it was trying to achieve.

 

I am just here to keep the scales a little more balanced as over the years I have grown tired of listening to all of the people discredit the car based on what they read in magazines. They are great cars and should be remembered as such. It was Americas Supercar. Its nice that we never treated it as such.

dear god there is a LOT of info in this thread.

 

Thanks for all of it! i will enjoy work tomorrow now! lol

 

shade

VectorW8015,

Thank you for responding to my post.

I think you are correct about GM and other manufacturers bad mouthing the vector.The vector was using highest quality parts like aerospace technology.

I know Andre Aghasi bought one but he was not happy with it.Can you shed some light into the story?What happened?

When you say 114 octane,do you mean leaded or unleaded?Becaue it's very hard to find 114 octane unleaded.And using 114 leaded could damage the O2 sensors and the cats.Can you explain further.?

Thank you

Tony

Vector,

 

I truly appreciate the fact that you have responded as a gentleman, and this thread hasn't turned into bantering and bashing. Thank you for all of your knowledge and wisdom about this automobile. I appreciate it.

 

Ill ask Jose if he still has the parts. We both know he worked on that car a loooong time ago.

 

-Mike

btw I just found this....

 

That year he sold a black W8 to famous tennis player Andre Agassi. Since Vectors were hand built, it took time to build one, but Agassi demanded that the company deliver his W8 regardless.

 

They delivered the car as promised. They told him that he could display it, but warned him not to drive it until the final work was completed. He ignored the warning, though, and drove it hard around his yard. As a result, the car's 600+ hp engine backfired, causing the destruction of the exhaust system and the rear interior.

 

He complained to Vector Aeromotive, causing Wiegert to give a US$455,000 refund to Agassi so he could avoid any negative publicity from the media. This attempt failed, however. Top Gear published an article comparing Wiegert to Peter Pan and compared the Vector headquarters to Never-Never Land.

 

Full article:

 

http://www.answers.com/topic/vector-supercars