dewismotorsport's Astra coupe

dewismotorsport

Senior Member
So not touched the car for a while as been waiting on parts to arrive, car left bodyshop like this as needed new rear lights a bumper and bumper bracket to finish the pull out, fill and paint.
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New lights turned up and gave the centres a re paint
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Got the spare shell in the workshop and attacked it with the grinder and plasma cutter, need to still remove side skirts, other rear quarter and front sections. Also managed to salvage the dash as a spare to cut down and get flocked
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Managed to find a europa blue bumper from Torque motors, turned up and had irmsher rear spats on which is a touch, one was broke but luckily it's the opposite to the ones on mine that got smashed so I have a pair now which I can sell for more than I paid for the bumper. The sticker is coming straight off, shame it's got parking sensors but I'll live with them. Got myself some brand new headlights (these will go on the daily and the daily ones on this car), a new charger belt and a new GM rear bumper bracket.
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Love how stiff this car is, jack the back up and put it on the axle stand and the opposite side stays perfectly level
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So with the 225 semi slicks (wider than road tyres) the back arches have always been tight with the extra width from the et37 and shims so while it's getting ready for paint I decided to cut and flare the rear arches some more

Before: 20mm
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After: 30mm
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While I was in there I removed the rear tow eye and cut all excess metal to allow air flow out of the rear arch both sides, at some point I will make a full width rear diffuser
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Bumper test fitted, rear panel needs some more tweeks to pull it out to suit better but it's starting to look like a car again thankfully
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dewismotorsport

Senior Member
So I’ve not updated this for a while as photobucket decided they wanted £££’s to allow you to use 3rd party sharing.

Anyway, I’ll try to keep it in order and tbh I’ve been out the country a lot working so haven’t got as much done as I’d of liked but I’ve still got 90% done ready for next race season, just the body shop visit needed.

Found a guy selling brand new left over stock 888 kits so thought while it was in need of a re paint it would be rude not too.
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Quick test fit
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The original 888 cars had trimmed back arches in places but I decided I wanted to completely remove them which would then allow me to run a wider 235 semi slick with a future option of a 245. Out came the grinder and there was no turning back.
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I then cut back all the 888 GRP arches to allow for as much tyre clearance as possible and removed any un needed nylon blocks
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Next job was too change the springs all round, I had been running 500lb front and 400lb rears but they were just too soft on track so bought some 750lb fronts and 650lb rears.
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Removed the carbon canister and all its tubing, kept the valve plugged in and just put a one way valve up by the filler cap
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Removed and repaired the rusty tank guard, welded in a repair panel, rust treated it and sprayed it with a zinc galvanising paint.
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Modded a socket so can remove them track side without a windy gun if need be and addressed the top mount rubbing issues.
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Then corner weighted it again. The cars lost some weight which is good, 4 arch lips, some metal on the rear apron to aid air flow, carbon canister and all piping, sections of the rear bumper for air flow and the side skirts. Car has a full tank of fuel (approximately 53 litres which is nearly 53kg) so the cars weight is now nice and low but will go up slightly once I add a large front splitter.
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Managed to get perfect 50/50 cross weights and nearly 50/50 side to side with me in it. Also has a good front to back balance.
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The lad I bought the kit off also got a batch of 10 splitters remoulded by ABS motorsports so bought one to finish the kit off. Bought a coupe bumper and added some intercooler/oil cooler holes. Bumper needs modifying for the splitter to fit and again I trimmed for maximum tyre clearance. Also made some new brake ducts/inlet cold air feed.
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Bought some new button push latches to make the bumper quick release
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And all fitted, can’t wait to get it back in the body shop
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Next job was to remove the plastic shims which had distorted and replace them with steel
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Workshop has got a new laser tracking setup so perfect car to test it on.
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Before: and as you can see the plastic shims have distorted and messed the rear geo up
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New rear geo isn’t finished yet as needs more camber but it toes perfectly even
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A job I’ve been meaning to do for ages was to make a larger raiser for the gearstick, new one is 10”s high and sits the gearknob level with the steering wheel so makes gearshifts a lot easier and quicker
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Quick paint to match the interior and it’s done, nice and solid and gets gears perfectly
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And finally: Big thanks to one of my sponsors for supplying me with a car to steal the engine out of, done a genuine 53k miles and drove sweet as a nut so that will be a handy spare to have in stock
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Inherited the set up data for Turkington 2005 season with the BTCC car. 888 typically ran 400lb front 350lb rear springs at most circuits...
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dewismotorsport

Senior Member
Out of interest adam, how much 888 kit cost?

£500 for the arches and side skirts and £295 for the splitter

The guy has arches and skirts left in stock but the batch of 10 splitters sold and don't think their doing another batch unless another 10 people want one
 

milo

Senior Member
£500 for the arches and side skirts and £295 for the splitter

The guy has arches and skirts left in stock but the batch of 10 splitters sold and don't think their doing another batch unless another 10 people want one

That not a bad deal! When i first got the coupe many moons ago they was a seller on ebay doing the full kit but it worked out to nearly 2k for the full kit. I always fancy a black coupe with full 888 kit.

Look forward to seeing pics when its back from the bodyshop.
 

dewismotorsport

Senior Member
That not a bad deal! When i first got the coupe many moons ago they was a seller on ebay doing the full kit but it worked out to nearly 2k for the full kit. I always fancy a black coupe with full 888 kit.

Look forward to seeing pics when its back from the bodyshop.

Yeah I remember seeing that seller, sold it all separate apart from the front splitter, but like you say not cheap. Cars going in next week hopefully so be done before Xmas :)
 

dewismotorsport

Senior Member
Final few bits have been done on the car before it’s visit to the body shop, booked in on the 2nd of January. Put the wet wheels on and started off by finishing the rear geometry, made up some more shims and after many hubs on and hubs off I got it to -2 degrees and toe at practically zero, I’ve change the settings for this year as I have gone for much higher poundage springs (250lbs extra) so car shouldn’t roll as much and also with it being harder is more likely to rotate on bends so won’t need as much toe out. I plan to test in February when I’m back in the country so time will tell but can always revisit the settings after. aimages2.imgbox.com_9f_1a_odOUSsdL_o.jpeg

Removed the old tyres off the dry wheels and gave them a good clean and dropped them down to my good friend/sponser Nick at Nuffield Accident repair and within a few hours he sent me a picture of them baking in the spray booth freshly painted in a Ford Stealth Grey to match the interior
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Last few jobs were to fit a new charger belt just as a service item, new fuel filter, trimmed final bits off the 888 kit for tyre clearance and bought a new harness, can’t fault the quality of the Oreca stuff for the money and it’s a 3” to 2” designed specifically for use with Han’s devices.
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Jobs to do when it returns from the body shop is to fit new semi slicks, make a front splitter and reattach the rear aero catches and then go and get some seat time prior to its first race in April at Oulton Park.
 

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dewismotorsport

Senior Member
When your body shop sponsor sends you nudes..........
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Collected today and the photos just don’t do it justice, huge thanks to Nuffield accident repair in Poole, Dorset for all their help and support.
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Loving the new colour combo for the wheels (Ford stealth grey) really goes well with the europa blue.
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dewismotorsport

Senior Member
Going to look the bollocks bud! More pressure not to bin it this time ;)

:ROFLMAO: Yeah crashing has just got a lot more expensive :banghead: but tbf i’ve learnt and improved on the old setup so I’ll have more mechanical grip this time round..........hopefully. First track day booked at Silverstone GP circuit on the 26th of February so will get a thougher trashing then and test and adjust from there.
 
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