My Cars Update

astra22bertoneauto

mazza 2.2 said:
It looks brilliant! I''d love to hear it now (y)

Sjdickso said:
What is the sound like? Any improvement with performance?

Thanks, It sounds really good and different now. I noticed an improvement in performance when i fitted the 4-1 manifold and exhaust couple of weeks ago. After fitting the plenum it ive not noticed much gain in performance but i have noticed a steady consistent delivery of power/torque throughout the rev range. When you press the pedal the power is there without any fade off or holding back if that makes sense. Idle is also a constant note with the rev counter at 750rpm with the tiniest of twitches (and i mean Tiny like <10rpm).

As for the sound ill upload a video later next week after i have a RR session. It will be interesting to see what it produces with a standard unmolested engine and ecu.

Thursday I also fitted some Bilstein B4's with the eibach spring kit, replaced my lower arms for some with powerflex bushes (the old wishbones were very worn anyway), & added some new metal drop links. It felt so nice to feel a good suspension setup again! That was untill 1 of the metal droplinks decided to break after hitting a bloody pothole 🙁 so think ill just stick some plastic ones back on.

Matt

I've seen a few people fit the metal drop links, and almost all go back to the plastic ones.

astra22bertoneauto

Matt said:
I've seen a few people fit the metal drop links, and almost all go back to the plastic ones.

As of this morning myself included o_O The metal one on the drivers side was knocking like a grannys knee, but when i checked it it was solid :unsure:
Only thing i can think of it was knocking on metal somewhere......

Matt

I almost bought a set of the metal ones, but after reading about them snapping / knocking, I've always gone for plastic ones. The VXR comes with metal ones if you have IDS suspension fitted.

astra22bertoneauto

It did sound like it had snapped after an hour of use but all was intact when i peeked thru the alloy. The plastic ones are more rounded at each end when i compared them both whereas the metal ones were more squarer in design. I can only guess thats why Vx designed the plastic ones more rounded so it misses something by couple of mm when fitted.

astra22bertoneauto

Small update; Changed the drop links back to plastic ones. Fitted my new Powerflex ARB bushes and whilst had it on the ramp i decided to take a look at the reverse switch. Took old switch out and whilst it looked very clean it wasnt working when fitted to the box. Tested the switch for continuity which it had when depressed so connected it back up to the car and the reverse lights worked when I pushed the switch. But after refitting and selecting reverse no lights. So i assumed worn switch and ordered a new 1 from Vx. However after picking up a new switch that evening on way home, the old switch started working again when i had to turn around down my road. Could see the white light in the rear view mirror reflecting off another car and immediately said "you ba****d!"

So at least ive got a spare in case it plays up again......

evocarlos

my reverse switch got changed 2 years ago it was very slow to work put in reverse back up and park then it came on lol new switch was fitting and its been fine ever since

astra22bertoneauto

Thats what I was going to do, just fit a new 1 and forget about it. But now the old 1 is working perfectly as soon as i select reverse. Bloody typical lol

Daz

Same happened on my old coupe. Lights not worry. Scare car by buying new switch and they worked 🙂

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

astra22bertoneauto

More progress........

Today I changed my headlamp washer jets for the smaller gsi ones.

Old

New

Took off cam cover for first time and fitted breather mod

Seems the chain was a little bit slack so def at top of list to replace but for now I cranked engine by hand to TDC making sure cams were in correct position then removed the chain tensioner.

All looks ok no scoring and the pin is not broken so cleaned it out, reset the mechanism filled with a bit of fresh oil and refitted. Engine sounds a little bit quieter now so all good. There was not any rattles on cold startup or nowt but when running you could tell there was a slight chain noise when running.

But still just a temp fix and new chains will be going on soon!

astra22bertoneauto

Well its been a while since i updated this. First 1 of my roof latches broke. So after the cheapest i could get a new latch mechanism was £300+ I managed to do a repair which cost pennies, involved using grip fill & 2x screws and an hour! 3 months later and no problems 🙂

Next I bought a set of 18" Astra G multi spoke wheels which came off another convertible. Gave them a treat of some Hankook v12 225/40/18 tyres for now. Later ill get them refurbed and painted.

Another small mod was the bonnet lifters from LMF. Sooooooo glad to ditch that horrible bonnet stay!

My next mod was the climate control, with inspiration from Evocarlos's thread and based on how much I like the one in my black coupe. So far I have bought the whole dash loom, blower motor box etc & panel for £50 from a local scrappy. I had to remove it myself but within 2 hours I was leaving very chuffed :happy:. It was removed from a 1.8 convertible but should be an easy conversion!

So far im building up a collection of parts ready for the big build planned later this year. Just a few more bits to get. I also fancy trying out a WR box so Ive been reading up on these so I might get a couple and have a play 😉 I also managed to get a balance shaft bearing installer & removal tool from the states for £52 inc postage.

Ive also picked up ANOTHER 2001 zafira 2.2 manual in silver for £290 off fleabay..... it's burning oil but the plan is to strip it for lots of spares.

astra22bertoneauto

Mumbo Jumbo - can you work this 1 out? :LOL:

All ready for the conversion 🙂

evocarlos

astra22bertoneauto said:
Mumbo Jumbo - can you work this 1 out? :LOL:
[ATTACH]13554[/ATTACH]

All ready for the conversion 🙂
[ATTACH]13555[/ATTACH]

easy peasy 🙂
when you get suck give me a holla and i'll pop down and help 🙂

ps white wire from controler not used if going in a non cab 🙂
90% of the wires can be picked up at the mfd plug and the speedo plug

astra22bertoneauto

evocarlos said:
easy peasy 🙂
when you get suck give me a holla and i'll pop down and help 🙂

ps white wire from controler not used if going in a non cab 🙂
90% of the wires can be picked up at the mfd plug and the speedo plug

I live near Stanstead Airport lol - not exactly round the corner but thanks for the offer thou, appreciated.
Ill be using the white wire, its going in my cab. I noticed most of the wires on the other loom were very close to the blower unit, some of which were joined to other wires.

Q: Is it worth doing the wiring for the auto level headlights whilst the dash is off? Or is it easy to do at a later date?

evocarlos

astra22bertoneauto said:
I live near Stanstead Airport lol - not exactly round the corner but thanks for the offer thou, appreciated.
Ill be using the white wire, its going in my cab. I noticed most of the wires on the other loom were very close to the blower unit, some of which were joined to other wires.

Q: Is it worth doing the wiring for the auto level headlights whilst the dash is off? Or is it easy to do at a later date?

yeah the speed and rpm outside temp are joined in by the glove box
all i did was unpack the loom form its tape and then trace each wire back from the controller to its joint on the loom then marked down the color and and where it lead to
then when refitting just found the wires from the traced ones spliced them in and soldered

the auto level i did after with the lower left trim removed and the glove box out 🙂

so was that loom from a cab or a shell ?
edit:- cab loom i can see the relay for the roof that the white wire goes to 🙂

astra22bertoneauto

evocarlos said:

so was that loom from a cab or a shell ?
edit:- cab loom i can see the relay for the roof that the white wire goes to 🙂

Yep a 1.8 cab loom. Donor loom was slightly different because it only had 12pin MFD but did have cruise control. It does look really easy now but at first glance you think "ok where to start lol"

evocarlos

yeah i had the oh shit moment

evocarlos

151 mi, 2 hours 39 mins thats closer than simons house 🙂
i willing to come down and help if you want to arrange a date and time 🙂

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