My vx220 project

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vocky

Staff
I managed to find time to replace the exhaust U bend heat wrap the other day and also fitted a brand new NSR wheel arch liner to replace the slightly melted factory original.

I forgot to take any pics of the new parts :(
 

vocky

Staff
I decided to replace the rear tyres on my ATS dtc wheels, they were 235/45/17 AD08R and now they are 235/40/17. This should give me a bit more acceleration :D
 
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vocky

Staff
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vocky

Staff
thought it was about time to get the doors painted, not really much wrong with them to be honest, just annoying witness marks from the different mirror plinths.
I noticed a tiny amount of play in the driver hinge, so whipped the door bar off and I have ordered a pair of new bushes, only £3.50 each from lotus.

doors.jpeg
 
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vocky

Staff
F23 requires gearbox removal and the box stripping down.

I have decided to replace the bearings on the new diff with Timken (steel cage) bearings, they were the plastic cage type and were a little noisy when I span the diff in the housing.

The guy I bought the diff from said in his experience it does not matter which bearings are used or whether the uprated end casing is fitted, it's how much oil you put in the gearbox which matters the most. He recommended 3.5 litres, standard is 2.4 litres. I am going to put in 3 litres of the Dexler LSD oil instead of 2.4 litres of the standard gear oil which I have been using.
He did say that when the plastic cage bearings fail they tend to cause damage to the gearbox, whereas the steel cage just make lots of noise.
All he does is rebuild M32 gearboxes and he had several hundred gearboxes in his workshop.

I have pulled the old bearings off the diff, just ordered some bearings, so the rebuild will have to wait.
 

evocarlos

Stupid Bollocks
Staff
The SNR are the better bearing in this case altho the timken are still #1 for gearbox bearings i will never use the timken on the end case unless i have to :)
The problem with running over 2.8l of oil it finds its way out the seals you need to fit an external breather
To add ive only ever run comma 75w85 fully synthetic 3l of or 2.8l on refill in mine not had a bearing problem in either of the 2 m32's ive got
 

OAKMERE

Regular Member
Such a pitty these boxes are so expensive to install into the VX220. It would really compliment the 2.2 N/A engines.
Apart from the mount which could be easily fadricated what are the differences with the drive shafts Vocky?
 

vocky

Staff
I seem to recall the astra H z20lel and z20ler driveshafts would probably fit, however you might have to use the driveshaft support from a z22yh M32 driveshaft.

The lotus M32 shafts are one piece and the astra H has a split long shaft with the engine block support.
 

vocky

Staff
new diff bearings arrived today so I fitted them to the Drexler diff and fitted it into the gearbox. I added three litres of Vauxhall LSD gearbox oil.

timken bearings 1.jpg

timken bearings 2.jpg
 
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vocky

Staff
the replacement shims arrived, so both doors have been refitted, however the colour match between the door and rear clam is a shade out. So I am going to get the rear clam repainted as well :LOL:

I have also had the door panels retrimmed by Dave the Trimmer :D

DTT door panels.jpg
 

vocky

Staff
I spent most of yesterday rebuilding the door internals, brand new window winder mechanisms, brand new window metal guides, brand new adjuster screws and adjuster blocks, brand new mirror interior triangle trims, brand new window cheater seals, brand new window interior seals and the outer window seals were the new seals I had previously fitted. I also fitted a full set of brand new clips to the door panels.

That cleared out a pile of my new 'spares' :D

So the doors are now complete once more :)
 

vocky

Staff
I have now owned my vx220 for eleven years (and one day) :D

I have booked the rear clam in for a full respray, this is to remove a few tiny scratches and a small chip to the rear bumper caused by an engine getting to close :mad:
 
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