Lugy's Astra Coupe Edition 100

Lugy

Member
Here's my project thread from another site, to bring people up to speed on my Coupe...

As a select few know, I bought an Astra Coupe 2.2 Edition 100, it had come into my dad's work as a non runner (guess why :face::face:) having just had about £500 spent getting it through it's MOT the week before. It was a bit of an impulse purchase but it looked good and that was plenty good enough for me!
So, I got it down to my work (the unit was a bit full :eek:) and left it....

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The plans at the moment are to get it running, then spend a bit time on getting it very shiny, possibly lower, burn the s**tty grille and just use it as a bit summer bling before punting it on.

Now, onto why it doesn't run....
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So I pulled the head off it.....
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Doesn't seem to be any piston damage which is nice, but seems to be quite a lot of carbon which isn't nice.

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Quite a few valves damaged, think I'll just be replacing them unless I can get a good head for cheapness but valves are cheap enough anyway.

That's where I am up to now, just need to get the parts ordered and hopefully get the car ready for Billing!

It lives!

Got the head rebuilt last night and got the engine built and timed today. It's the first timing chain I've done but it was actually fairly easy once I'd called up the Autodata sheets and found a very useful link on z22se.co.uk. It did take quite a while to start, I'd packed everything up and was just about to leave when I tried it the final time but it fired up, needed a bit throttle though.
It sounds good when it's held at about 800rpm all the way to high in the rev range but idles lumpy and will die sometimes. I'm hoping it's a combination of lying for a couple of months, needing a service, the battery totally goosed and the gay universal air filter. The small road test at work showed that it does drive nicely though and pulls well though.

No pics I'm afraid, seems I get more done when the phone is left in the pocket!

Well the great success was short lived, the idling issues were solved after a service and I was about to start getting the thing machine polished, glazed and waxed in time for Billing only for it to get a bit rattly, so off to the unit to see what the score was.

Cam cover off and find this on the exhaust cam.....
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The far away screw has snapped inside the head and the nearest one was working itself loose. The head's a bit goosed by the looks of things as is the cam cap. From what it looks like the cam has been bent from the timing chain going.

Picking up another engine on Monday that the big end's away in, so will get the head off that and try again! Meanwhile Ubu needs to become shiny for her visit to Billing......

More to follow!
 

Lugy

Member
Right, I've got 5 mins so I'll carry on....
So, the head was replaced but still we had some running issues and a severe oil use becoming apparent, after asking on here it seemed that it was likely the rings had gone, which to be fair probably wasn't the response I wanted. Nonetheless I ordered up some new parts and got on with getting the engine out.....

I did the out the top removal method which took around 2 hours or so then got the engine on a stand.....
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Another few hours and the engine looked like this.....
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The bores weren't badly damaged but there were a few marks so it seems I caught it in time....
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I set about deglazing the cylinders which left me with this.....
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The pistons were cleaned up and the new rings fitted. These were then fitted back to the block along with new big end bearings.....
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That's where the photos end, I normally forget to take them when I'm in "the zone"! The head was torqued down, the timing gear was reattached and the inlet put back on, then after much swearing and cursing the whole thing found itself back in the car!

So far I've done about 40 miles so still a while for it to be run in but it seems fine, there's still a bit of a misfire but I've got some sensors to swap in and try cure it. I'll keep my eye on oil use over the next wee while too.
 

Lugy

Member
Well, after another set of rings, the car found itself back on the road. The success was short lived however......

So far I've done about 1000 miles, general running and I've got to say I couldn't fault it, so last night I stopped off at the local motor factors and bought an air filter/plugs. Air filter went in as it's meant to, the plugs however turned into a disaster. Plugs 1-3 no problem, plug 4, got close to being tight going in then "crack" and the plug hole filled up with coolant.

Needless to say I was majorly peeved off, this car has just become a nightmare and I'm really regretting not fitting the B204 from the SAAB I had a few months ago. Even more annoyed that we had hoped to go over to France next week with it.

So in the mean time the trusty Cavalier has been put back on the road and will hopefully take us on our adventure. As for the Poop Coupe I guess I'll need to find (yet) another head and take it from there.
 

evocarlos

Stupid Bollocks
Staff
that is a real shame :( it is new head time

i looked at the torque settings of the plugs its 25nm i can't even register that on either of my torque wrenches lol
copper slip the threads and wind the plug backwards to find the start of the thread before fitting i do that every time just incase
 

Lugy

Member
Yup, definitely a s**te thing to happen!

Still, all is not terrible, I've managed to acquire a head in exchange for removing an interior for someone so will get that on Monday. If nothing else I can remove a Z22SE head in record time now!

In the mean time I need to get the Cav ready for a continental adventure!
 

Matt

Administrator
that is a real shame :( it is new head time

i looked at the torque settings of the plugs its 25nm i can't even register that on either of my torque wrenches lol
copper slip the threads and wind the plug backwards to find the start of the thread before fitting i do that every time just incase
25nm on the VXR as well, and I had mine set to 22nm, and even then, that felt really tight.
 

Lugy

Member
Well, Poop Coupe is back on the road, we're now on the third and hopefully last head, I could probably take a head off in the dark now! To be fair it's never ran as good as it does now though.

Anyway, now it's working I thought it was time to start getting it looking better.

Products used; Elite Snow foam, Autoglym shampoo, G101, CLB Cherry wheel cleaner, Autoglym tar remover, IronX fallout remover, Menzerna FG800, Poorboy's SSR2.5, Poorboy's Blackhole, Dodojuice Blue Velvet wax, Megs glass cleaner and Megs Endurance tyre gel.

Not the best pics from my phone! Starting with a dirty Coupe.....
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Obligitory foam shots....
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And as we stand....

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Still needs some more machine polishing but I need to order more pads. The wheels also need refurbed quite badly!
 

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evocarlos

Stupid Bollocks
Staff
so when you going to clean it lol J/K looks fab
glad you got the engine sorted :)
i was going to start buying heads and repairing them but cba lol
 

Lugy

Member
Aye, I'm glad too! I'm not really sure how you could repair the plug threads cost effectively, I did look into it, would be good if you could come up with something that didn't need the head to come off too.
 

Lugy

Member
Cheers, I'll get some better pics with a proper camera when I finish it properly! I love the Blue Velvet, goes on and off nicely. Smells great too!
 

Lugy

Member
Well it's been about 6 months since the last update and things have been going quite well, or at least they were until 3 weeks ago when a simple rear brake pad and disc change turned into needing a couple of rear calipers. Because I needed it on the road ASAP I had to pay local motor factor prices which was a bit crap. The next week it needed a new centre section which was only £32 delivered so that kind of made up for it!

I also decided to finally get a new tool box, I was going to go for a secondhand Snap-On but saw Halfords were doing a deal on the industrial boxes so went for one of them and spent more on tools:rolleyes:....
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I also decided to buy a BMW, it was really really cheap so I had to go for it. Plus it's got one of the best engines ever made IMO....
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Apart from the above Poop Coupe hasn't really needed anything apart from a weekly clean to keep it looking decent.....
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The inside also got George'd and the leather cleaned/fed....
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Oh, and on Friday we reached a major milestone (for a 2.2 Astra anyway!)
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Plus I may have just gone and bought some Astra VXR front brakes.
 
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