Guy's 02 Astra Hatch

guy_27

I guess i should put updates into this thread instead of in the gallery.

Previous pics can be found: https://z22se.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=14915

I've owned the car for a little over 5 years now and shes never skipped a beat in her 225k km of use.

At present here is the complete list of mods done.

Engine:
2 ¼” cat back exhaust with HKS twin tips
Pre cat removed
Port and polished Throttle body
Egr blocked and cheater hard wired in (Thanks to z22se 🙂 )
Powerflex front engine mount
Polished cam cover

Gearbox:
Breather and catch can modification

Brakes:
Brake cooling ducts.
Front; Astra H Vxr 321mm rotors & Calipers
Courtaney Sports braided brake lines
Textar Pads
Rear; Stock calipers with DBA rotors
Bendix Ultimate Pads

Exterior:
Tinted windows
Heko wind deflectors
Full colour coded (door handles, bump strips, front splitter)
Sri-t side skirts
Sri-t rear arch spats
Short antenna
Sides debaded
DTM Opel grill
Opel rear badge
Ruby red/clear tail lights
Silvertec indicator globes (f&r)
Diamond vision globes (main & fog)
wing mirror covers in matching paint to 17” wheels.
INXX bonnet lifters
Faux cf battery cover
Colour coded engine dress cover
Polished front tow eye
Rear tow hook painted red
Exhaust heatshield painted blue
Underbody of car painted satin black

Suspension:
Eibach sportline springs
Bilstein B8 shocks

Wheels and tyres:
18” Lenso elegance with 215/35 Pirelli pzero nero and P7000
17” Sri-t custom painted with 215/45 Kuhmo Ku36

Interior:
Front heated seats and door cars from Convertible
Rear seats and door cards retrimmed to match front
Linea rossa steering wheel
Richbrook handbrake handle
Opel badged airbag
Matching red handbrake and gear gaitor leather
Full colour coded interior (full centre console, rear ashtray, air vents/headlight surrounds & door grab handles)
Chrome heater dial rings
White heater dials
OPC scuff plates
Sri-t alloy pedals
Fiber optic star light roof lining.
Irmscher door pins
Tinted zafira interior light
White leds in roof lighting
Front footwells white CCFL tubes
Rear foot wells white led strips.
Fuse compartment led lighting
2x led strips for boot lighting
Traction control switch
Floor mats
Custom Iphone mount

Stereo:
Alpine CDA-9847
Alpine Ipod AI-net connector
Alpine remote control
Alpine type s rear speakers
Stock front speakers
2 x JBL amps
2 x 12” JBL GTO subs
Qmax box
Motorola Bluetooth unit
Stinger power cable
Stinger RCA cables

I'm not sure if i'm going to be going down the ITB setup or S/C way. All will come down to if I can find someone to tune it here in Australia which is a major issue for us here.

Next things on my to do list:
Whiteline camber bolts
White line wishbone bushes (caster and solid)
Ecliptech Shift-i shift light
Oil pressure guage
Custom bonnet (design will depend on which upgrade i do so I can increase airflow and also for clearance)
Scan guage 2 (will be when I do the engine upgrade)
Zafira gearbox swap

I have a zafira I purchased a year ago with a snapped chain. I will most likely end up rebuilding that motor with whichever upgrade i decide upon so my car will not have to be off the road for any great length of time.

My ideal aim with the car is to get it to be within 2-3 seconds of Porsche GT3's on track days. At present its around 10 seconds off the mark but I know there is room for driver improvement in there as well.
And also for it to be used as a comfortable daily driver.

guy_27

Quick update.

I found a footrest pedal that matches the OEM pedals fairly close so thats been put in to stop carpet wear.

I've also installed a vxr intake scoop which has made the car seem to pull a little nicer. No more flat spots in acceleration (although tb and precat took care of most of it).

Yesterday I ordered some more goodies from Whiteline

Front wishbone bushes (caster adjustable and solid)
Front camber bolts
Rear sway bar.

Next track day is in 2 weeks so hoping to drop my lap times by around 2+ seconds.

guy_27

quick pic of the (muddy) rear underside of the car looks now

Tomorrow wishbone bushes are going in. Camber bolts already done.

guy_27

Had an awesome day at the track yesterday.

Wasn't pushing the car as hard and found the surface a bit slippery so didn't go as quick around the corners as in April.

BUT... I still went 3.8seconds quicker 😃 . So faster than both the mk4 turbos that were out as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNqvfSufrLo

I know there is still improvement to be made as a driver.
I'm also going to play around with the tyre pressures and set rear sway to hardest setting for the next one.

I've also been getting people telling me I have flames coming out my exhaust.

my nice chome exhaust is no longer silver 8-)

Theres not much left to do to make it handle or stop better so its time to get onto bringing the power up. I think the engine and gearbox are getting a bit tired after 1/4million km's.

guy_27

Well some would say a lot has been done in the past couple of weeks.

I had a bit of an incident which ended up looking like this
[img]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrTSGLYk6n0

The engine from my old car will go into the zafira i purchased last year so that can be put on the road as a run about.

Shaneczapski

(1st Clip) Holy shit i almost crapped my pants when that F1 looking car over took you :o . They say our mk4 Astra can handle the track pretty well. I see you took your time with it but how does she handle?

Shaneczapski

(2nd clip) Much better driving! How did it feel? i want to do this one day but i know i would wreck my car as i am to foot heavy! How does the astra handle?? cheers..

guy_27

The astra goes great around the track. Times I'm running now are the about the same as stock new wrxs and evos. Really suprises alot of people out there.
My entry corner speeds are no less than full race bred cars but I just don't pick up the speed on the straights as quick.
My next track outing is at winton motorway in a little over a month then 2 weeks after back at the track in the videos.

I too still worry I'm going to wreck the car so I don't use the full track and am very careful with how I drive but it's still a lot of fun. Especially when astra turbos can't keep up with my times.

I've done a couple more updates to the car in the last couple of weeks. Will update when I get some decent pictures to show.

Shaneczapski

I have to do it some day 🙂 Tell me, when you blocked the EGR and installed the EGR cheater, how much of a difference did it make? When you put the branch and exhaust (decat) how much difference did that make?

Thanks

guy_27

Shaneczapski said:
I have to do it some day 🙂 Tell me, when you blocked the EGR and installed the EGR cheater, how much of a difference did it make? When you put the branch and exhaust (decat) how much difference did that make?

Thanks

Egr made the engine run a bit nicer but no real big difference as far as I could tell. Just did it as a prevention.
As for pre cat removal. My old car it made a massive difference but I did the intake scoop and throttle body at the same time. My new car didn't have a precat from factory. I still have the main cat although parts of it have gone missing 😉

guy_27

Latest mods:

Angel eye head lights with 6000k hids
DBA street series slotted front rotors
Fire extinguisher mounted in passanger footwell on custom bracket
OMP 4in1 safety tool under drivers seat.
swapped plastic cam cover for metal type and painted flame red.

Also added some new leds lights to boot, inside amps, ashtray & fuse compartment.

I've been having an issue with cruise control and also the car was hesitating on acceleration so far i've swapped tb, acc pedal assembly, spark plugs, coil pack and indicator stalk. the hesitation has dissappeared but still have an issue with cc. I'm thinking its a duf clutch or brake switch or a bad earth somewhere. its going to have to wait as I'm going for a 1800km drive in the next few days and won't return for 6 weeks.

Went to do the timing chain but didn't realise i didn't have a balance chain kit in stock so thats on order and will get done on my return.

Will get some nice pics done when i'm down in Melbourne and will update this thread. 🙂

kfet

swapped plastic cam cover for metal type and painted flame red.

Hi, I'm about to do this swap. Am I correct in assuming that the plastic cover attachment screws can't be used on the metal cover? What about the thick rubber washers? Are they also used with the plastic cover? I got the alloy cover from a wrecker but realise that I'm missing some of the bolts and some rubber washers.

Could you please advice if I need to source these bits before I bother taking off the plastic cover?

Thanks, Kristian

guy_27

Bolts, washers and gasket all have to be swapped. (use a new gasket ofcourse)

guy_27

sorted out cruise issue and acceleration issue by running additional earth cables.

Latest modifications:
Stainless Opel scuff plates
3000K Yellow fog light bulbs.

couple of updated pics.

Also took the car to Winton raceway yesterday. Lots of fun but didn't get the time I was hoping for. I'll just put it down to being unfamiliar with the track as I was taking terrible lines.

Will get some videos up soon.

in the mean time

guy_27

Got rear ended today. Possible write off 🙁

Sjdickso

That's not good news at all car was looking great 🙁

mazza_2_2

I dont know what's worse; the inconvenience of not having a car and having to find a nice new one or the fact your pride and joy is knackered!

Hope its not as bad as it looks tho :thumbup:

guy_27

The car is still drivable and i'm still 2000km away from home. Will get it repaired as I want to get on the track in 2 weeks time.
Just very annoying.

Matt

That's bad news mate, hope you get it sorted, as it was looking really good!

guy_27

got a quote today for $4100 for repairs.(about 2500pounds)

it will get repaired.

heres another pic from the track day of me chasing my mate.