The other 2.2 van?

V3trox

Member
As I'm finding myself on here more and more I thought i would put up a build thread on my 2.2 converted van.

Thought I would have been the first but apparently 5M1THY got there long before me :D My van had a 1.7dti in her but at 260000 miles the head gasket was going and I wanted to do something fun. Initially I was gonna drop a z20let into her but thats what everyone does. My mate mentioned that people often supercharge the 2.2 and I decided that was the project for me.

Heres the van as it started at 260k miles
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I waited patiently for a cheap donor to come up (a lot easier and cheaper than finding a full gsi or coupe turbo) and after a month or so a good one came up locally for £500 so I swooped in and grabbed it

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Promptly got to work forcing the cabriolet to puke up an engine for me
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Interior half stripped
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Finished stripping the donor and sold her off to the highest bidding scrap merchant. Probably the sketchiest group of lads i ever did see :confused: I dont think they know what health and safety is
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Xmas prezzy to myself
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Then the project got held up. It was supposed to be completed before i went on my holiday but that never happened due to this captive nut on the vans subframe deciding not to play ball.
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Some time went by before my brain finally cam out of holiday mode whilst i was un bolting one of the drop links. What a moron.
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So after that, old diesel was out and new petrol was in
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Next step, spaghetti junction
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After that There were a few things thattook a fair amount of time. The thing to remember is that the coupe/cabriolet have the same floorpan as the van (so i was told). I'm so sick of taking the fuel tank off of this thing too XD

Things that look the same but are ever so slightly different that they need to be swapped over after you have installed them.
-Fuel filler neck+pipe. This had me stumped for hours. Staring at it wondering why it was barley fitting. Comparign them side by side etc. I had to swap them in the end. They still look the same to the naked eye but they are deffinatley different.

-Fuel lines. The petrol fuel filter sits slightly higher than the diesel fuel lines. Hours spent wondering why the fuel line wont make it to the front of the car. Swap over, job done.

-STEERING COLUMN. This has held me up for so long its not even funny. Its has ever so slightly different mounting points. This wouldnt be a problem if all the immobiliser wasnt attached to it. IT also didnt help that I completley butchered it trying to get the transponder and barrel off. Long story short,"**** this it can all be on switches" So Yet more time has been spent wiring in relays and the like so i can start and run the car. No one seems to know if the immobiliser uses an ecu cutoff. Im hoping its just fuel and spark cut.

-Charcoal canister. Ok so the diesel doesnt have one but i completley forgot this. Scratching my head wondering what the 3rd outlet on the fuel tank is for. Then i went in the garage and saw this black box that i salvaged from the inner wing of the cabriolet and my stupidity hit me in the face. Still need to run the fuel lines for this but Its a squeeze so I may not bother for now.

When doing this sort of conversion its definatley a good idea to have a full donor car to salvage parts from. Unfortunatley I have managed to lose one of the handbrake guides. Can i buy one of these seperatley? Can i ****. Trying to explain what it is to people over the phone (it basically attaches the handbrake cable to the caliper so you can put the retaining spring clip thing in).

Bad weather then halted me for some time. At this point i struggled to get the car actually running. Turns out...I didnt swap the transponder round...Swap that over and hey presto. She started.

Then the real bad stormy weather came. Next door has had scaffolding up for moths now. My house got damaged...but its ok, the timber narrowly missed my van. (Well, it did hit the van but i didnt notice until a week or so after a few small dents and grazes on the bonnet. I plan on getting a cf one so not to bad

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Then the boring "put stuff back" part. Exterior done
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That awkward moment where u get this far into putting the dash back together then you discover that the heater controls are set to "face/air" and you forgot to pop the little ball joiny thing back in its place. Oh well, face and windscren is fine. I aint taking the dash out again.

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Quick test fit of the switches on my spare center dash piece. I dont really like them there so I'm going to put a blanking plate over the hole above them (currently a tray in there) and move them up and get some fighter jet style ones
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Also this happened to the exhaust manifold which set my MOT date back a week whilst waiting for a new one to arrive. This car didnt have a pre cat.
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Cable management. AKA: Bunch it all up, slap a cable tie round it and hide it behind some trim. I should have cut this all down to a more manageable size. When i was testing switches and stuff after ruining the ignition barrel I couldnt be bothered to take all the wiring out again and trim it down. You cant see it and doesnt really do any harm .Just a bit untidy
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Im sorry guys. Normally my projects are picture city but I think where i've been working mostly at night and after work I've just been too focused on getting it done. However now we are getting to the end of the first phase of this project I wil start taking more pics.

So last night I took her for a test drive and snapped my quick fix (where the gearlinkage bolts to the bottom of the gearstick) So i had to make a more permanent solution. After borrowing my friends lathe I managed to get a proper metal rod cut to size and fixed it in place with hopes and dreams/superglue and filler. Saves forking out £40 for another one
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It also got pointed out to me by the same friend that I havent put a clamp on my battery. Can i find it? Hells no. One M.O.T requirement is that the battery must be secured. Whilst rummaging for the actual clamp I managed to stumble onto the ratchet strap from an old project of mine. Its a little ghetto but it does the job.
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I then went round the corner to get her washed in preperation for tomorrows M.O.T Its dark and I only have the phone camera but i must admit, night time makes a car look damn shiney!
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She then passed with the mechanic pointing out that the suspension arms are pointing upwards and catching the arb. When i fitted the coilovers (a long time ago) I forgot to get shorter drop links so i put it on my to do list. Needless to say, i forgot about the to do list.

My attempt at making the world implode
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Then after a failed coilpack, I managed to put her to work after being without her for a few months.
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And thats basically where we are today plus a mystery over fueling issue :)
 
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5M1THY

Senior Member
Good job :) finally another van on the go.. will you be bringing it to pvs?
sorry to say but mine was done 12 years ago now :) I've just rebuilt it properly over the last 2 years.
 

V3trox

Member
Good job :) finally another van on the go.. will you be bringing it to pvs?
sorry to say but mine was done 12 years ago now :) I've just rebuilt it properly over the last 2 years.

TBH im surprised there havent been more (that i know of) Ive seen butt loads of z20let and the saab turbo and a handfull of v6 converted ones.

ME? at a vauxhall show. God what will my friends think of me :) With any luck my charger should be here and up and running by then. z22 van vs z22 van up the strip seems like a larf
 

5M1THY

Senior Member
Haven't you heard there shirty chain snappers :) the let is so much more reliable lol
there is another one but I don't really know what's happening with it adam cain
I wouldn't never take mine up the strip I've spent to much money on it and until I forge it if I do its going to limited anyway as I'll blow it up lol
 

V3trox

Member
Haven't you heard there shirty chain snappers :) the let is so much more reliable lol
there is another one but I don't really know what's happening with it adam cain
I wouldn't never take mine up the strip I've spent to much money on it and until I forge it if I do its going to limited anyway as I'll blow it up lol

To be fair my chain started rattling a couple nights ago XD

That blue one has been/is being sold :( . He's on the astra van facebook owners club. Last I saw it wasnt finished. Had air ride and everything

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/231466356293?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649
 
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5M1THY

Senior Member
To be fair my chain started rattling a couple nights ago XD

That blue one has been/is being sold :( . He's on the astra van facebook owners club. Last I saw it wasnt finished. Had air ride and everything

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/231466356293?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

yeah Adams is a nice van but I think he's had enough of it I wouldn't be surprised if it's either stripped and scrapped or it will end up being another turbo either way it's a shame..
 

Dave Gilbert

Senior Member
Its a right shame about the blue van. It would have been very nice finished. It was only electrical faults wasnt it? (Not that im any good with wires haha)

I dont think it sold on ebay. I saw it get relisted witha buy it now but not seen it sell.
 

5M1THY

Senior Member
I think it just needs putting back together as far as I know it was running just no dash and the dash loom can't be put in the correct place without the dashboard in place as it hangs behind the center console
 

milo

Senior Member
I think Adam lost interest in it now which I don't blame him after the garage that done the conversion gave it back to him in that mess
 

V3trox

Member
Doesnt it just need the correct dash loom? Was browsing through old threads and i swear i read somewhere the garage didnt put the z22 interior loom in. I would have it but i think my missus would go ape s**t if i got another one after spending so much time on this one. Plus its the wrong colour
 

Dave Gilbert

Senior Member
He shouldnt have done the deal with the coupe.

he should have kept hold of the coupe untill the van was finished.

But you live and learn. Id never buy a donor car without seeing first (experience tells you these things).

I think adam cain has still got it. He just needs some motivation from us lot.
 

V3trox

Member
Well if adam cain doesn't hurry up then mines gonna end up supercharged before his!

Finally got to see what colour the smoke my van chucks out when U boot it. I assumed it was just unburnt fuel but I swear it was blue. Will give another blast tomorrow.

Better add piston rings and valve seals to the"sort these before the supercharger U impatient idiot" list

Its gonna take some real discipline not to do any forging or head work whilst the engine is apart :-S
 
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