dewismotorsport's Astra coupe

dewismotorsport

Senior Member
Made a start on fitting the kit on, had to modify the rear bumper to allow removal once the kits bonded on and to allow me more tyre clearance and better air flow
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Drilled and rivnut’d the side skirt holes as more secure than the plastic fittings
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All bonded on apart from the front arches and splitter, that’s a Monday job. Used windscreen sealant to bond them on as it’s quick drying and is as sticky as s**t to a blanket.
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Love the look of it now
 

dewismotorsport

Senior Member
Finished bonding the kit on and it’s all done, put some rivnuts in the middle of the bumper instead of the plastic clips.


Loving the contrast of the grey against the blue, just need to fit the semi slicks


Got some hoses through but can only use two of them lol, will use the rear water hoses at a later date when I re visit the heater box routing
 

milo

Senior Member
Love to see this in the flesh! Plz plz dont bin this beauty into the barriers! Great job bud nice to see all the time and hard work u put into making this an awesome track weapon! Big changes from when we meet at pvs many moons ago :)
 

dewismotorsport

Senior Member
Few pics from the day at Silverstone GP circuit on Monday, had a good day, Track was very cold and in the shade had little grip until later in the day. Used the morning just to get out in the car and change the damper settings. By the afternoon I’d started to push the car a bit more 80-85% and I’m pleased with the inlet temps, after a 20 minute session they were no higher than 31 degrees (2 degrees ambient) so the intercooler is working well compared to the old charge cooler system.

Front tyres weren’t the best as they are old and have gone slightly hard so struggled with front end grip but handled very well other than that and feels really planted so I’m happy. I’ll get a new set of tyres before the first race.

Only issues on the day were a blown fuse so speedo and revs didn’t work all day, I don’t look at them tbh and just use my ears for the revs but would of been handy to know some of the entry speeds for future reference.
Also destroyed a passenger side out cv joint, that exploded on the last session so called it a day at about 3pm just as the snow started to fall.

 

dewismotorsport

Senior Member
Not updated this for a while but I fixed stripped the shaft down and it turns out all the grease had gone and the balls were practically an interference fit together hence the horrible noise whilst driving. Bought a load of spare joints and shafts sonthat I can keep spares to change out at the track. Go some spare track rod ends and ball joints too.


Also modded the catch tank as I wasn’t a fan of it breathing into the bay right next to the air filter or worst case creep into the car


Racing at Oulton Park at the weekend so just doing the final prep
 

dewismotorsport

Senior Member
So had rounds one and two of the AFRC at Oulton park on the 14th of April. If I'm honest I had a awful weekend, out in qualifying and car felt down on power and had developed a new whistling noise so only managed 15th out of 32. Had a check of hoses and couldn't find any obvious leaks but my needle bearings have got very loud now so maybe thats bringing the boost down as well as a leak. I assumed it was the engine breathing hard so just had to do with what I had for the day.
Race one was a right off as car bogged and stalled off the line so was a sitting duck as the rest of the pack past me thankfully not hitting me. Car wouldn't re start due to my stupid battery so had to get a push off the marshals by which time I was half a lap down and despite catching a fair few back markers and lapping some I only managed 19th. Some pictures of the day:















Race two I got off to a decent enough start but on the 3rd lap after lining up and over taking a 306 I broke for the chicane and he decided to use my car as a brake and punted me off onto the grass tucking the rear bumper up and wedged against the back tyre ending my race, he was later called to the clerk of the course for slapped wrists and I think some penalties points on his race licence.
Damage doesn't look too bad now I've pushed the dented bumper back out and loosely put the spat back in place, its cracked the bumper in two places and cracked the seam inside the car but nothing that I can't make race ready again. already made a start on the spat and fixed the chip and re sprayed. I plan to get some qwick latches like I have on the front bumper to prevent it happening again.









With the car back in the workshop I compression checked the engine cold, hot and wet and with good results engine despite having 148K on the clock still has strong compression which has actually really surprised me. I've ordered a needle bearing puller so will rebuild the charger and pressure test the boost hoses. Car has been overfueling as the tips are brown and the Wideband sits in the 10's so will check the exhaust manifold for leaks as thats often the cause or it was the map compensating.






Other things to fix are the battery cables need to be changed for larger and trial a different battery to hope it cures starting issues. Fit a swirl pot and sealed box to prevent the fuel starvation on long bends.
Check passenger side cv joints as I seem to have a knocking noise on right hand bends and the camber seems to have dropped off despite the damper being in the normal position.

Next race is on 5th of May so need to pull my finger out.
 

dewismotorsport

Senior Member
Borrowed the battery from my mates race car and tried it on mine, it’s a better spec and starts the car every time without issues so I will get one on order


Only cable works got, it’s a little large at 35mm2 but will be fine and it’s free


Got the spare passenger side shaft made up so I know have both sides ready for replacements track side


Blead the brakes all round and did a full nut and bolt check on the front drive train and can’t find anything loose or broken so re set the camber back to max (until I geo it) as I’m hoping the noise may have just been the tyre hitting the arch after it stood itself up. When I re do the geo and tracking I will double check to see if the anti roll bar has any pre load on it as that can get very close to the subframe which may also cause a knocking.

Also re attached the rear spat, will add some rivits to the bottom part to hopefully stop that coming off again.
 

dewismotorsport

Senior Member
So finished off re attaching the spat, I’ve added more bonding and a couple of large head rivits underneath to at least stop it falling off when hit from the rear


Stripped the charger down, the oil is less than 2k mileage old I think as that’s about when I rebuilt the snout, I think the oil can’t handle the high temps and is burning. I’ll add some high temp gearbox fluid in it instead I think. As you can see the rotors have been flapping about by the scoring on the bores and rotors themselves


Bought a needle bearing puller kit that came with a slide hammer but decided to use a nut and plate method as you get a more progressive pull, they were in there solid so got the OA kit out and with lots of heat they came straight out


Knocked the new bearings in with a alloy bar and finished them off just below the surface with socket and extension bar


While it was in bits I decided to port the neck out
Before:


During:


After:
 

dewismotorsport

Senior Member
So stripped the front end off and everything is caked in mud so had to dig it out and clean everything off before re fitting


Old boost pipe set up, wanted to remove the silicones as they suck flat under closed throttle, can’t find any 3” to 2” tight 90’s so they will stay for now


After



Also removed the twin fan shroud as wasn’t really needed, free’d up a bit of space too


Added some rivits to the bottom of the splitter mounts in case I go off roading again


All back together, just waiting for the other puller to turn up so I can finish the charger
 
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