Well the Mazda needs a fair bit of work doing to it, so thought I would get the Astra back on the road which has been collecting dust and rust since the beginning of the year. I find this sort of stuff a lot of fun so thought i would share my diary!
12/11/06
It is being resurrected...perhaps not in the slightly bonkers way that it was before, but at least it is coming back!
The engine I have in there is in bits and completely knackered anyway, so searched for a donor car. And found this little number....
General faffing around:
Going to post some more pics of the donor tomorrow and will post progress of the engine swap, and more than likely, the 10s of other issues that will arise!
First thing to do will to get the GTE running. Hopefully it will just be a battery. Will be a big sigh of relief once I hear it purring over!
Then its out with the old engine...in with the new...with a bit of unknown in the middle!
13/11/06
They know their destiny:
The GTE engine bay (quite tidy really)
The SRi as it is at the moment....messy!
All sorts of stuff in the boot of the GTE!
18/11/06
Well, progress was pretty good today. Not quite as far as I expected as a few things held me up. Getting bolts undone was the most pain the the ass thing as always. In the end for the engine mounts used metric bits and a big old bar to get them off.
Decided to leave my old loom in as this one has extra bits on it for the ABS and such like. Bit of a pain in the bum as some of the connectors are different so will have to do a few chops tomorrow. The ABS was easier than I thought to get off.
Bottom end is out of the SRi. All plugs and hoses and bits and bobs are disconnected from the GTE and all marked up so I put them back in the same place!
I havn't decided yet if i want to use the gearbox and clutch from the SRi as I know it's good or to use the one on the GTE. Last time I took the engine and box intact out by supporting it with the hoist, jacking up the car, then lowering the hoist and sliding it out sideways! Seemed to be very easy but I am thinking it might be best to take it out the top to avoid the chance of damaging the sump and anything else when I lower it.
I have some outlet holes in the front of the inlet that I am not quite sure about....hopefully i will figure them out!
Hoping the rain stays back tomorrow for me!
20/11/06
I am doing yet another rocker cover. Bad habit of mine I think. Last time I did it with brush-on high temp paint. Which looked very shiney, and nice with the writing brushed in black, but I think I layered on the paint too much so bits have chipped off. This time I am doing a high temp matt spray, then doing a high temp gloss over the top. Will post the results!
Ahh brilliant, there is a sandwich plate there Actually, I may just go make myself a sandwich. Crisp sandwich. Crunch crunch crunch, yum, yum yum.
The oil cooler was a complete pain in the bum. Leaky bits...general seized annoyingness. Rather take it out and be done with it than try to find pipework to get it working again so took it all off and binned it.
25/11/06
Well. Didn't ger very far at all in terms of the engine. Got the dash and interior out....nice seeing you again richie
Got bored of the previous methods of taking engines out....so thought of a different way. Previously have taken engines out from the side (easier than it sounds) and out the top (bit of a pain when you don't feel like taking the gearbox off)
This time....supported the engine with the hoist, unbolted from mounts, lowered onto a bit of wood. Unbolt engine from hoist. Then used the hoist to lift the car up (by that centre section at the front of the car). Roll car backwards with the hoist over the top of the engine. Sorted! Must say, looks rather biazarre!
Now that the interior and engine is out the GTE it seems a real shame to take it to the scrapper. Simply because how solid it is! Yeah there is a big hole in the passenger arch, but it is solid once that is hammered out. The whole rear wuarter looks like it has been recently welded in. Floor perfect, engine bay around the struts etc perfect. Sills solid. Ah well, it will be off to the scrapper soon.
26/11/06
Put the engine in the SRi (reverse process of above) and connected up some of the bits and bobs, quite happy with progress today. As the driveshafts are off I am going to change the boots as they don't look too happy.
01/12/06
£15 for a complete set of drieveshaft boots, can't be bad.
Got this too...I know I said I wasn't going to spend money on performance but I couldn't resist this. Seemed rude not to considering I have a nice ashley system and previously had a decent manifold...sort of bringing it partially back to it's former self I guess.
03/12/06
Engine ran first time on the key. No leaks or anything, all looks well I am impressed by the rocker cover I painted
04/12/06
Need to make up another bracket for the AFM (who knows where they keep going, I loose them as fast as I can make them!) and need to find some exhaust studs, put the new manifold on when it comes, find a Y-Piece for the coolant (don't ask!) and do the driveshafts.
The battery tray was quite rusty, so cleaned it down, treated it and gave it a lick of paint. Much nicer
Ahhh thats nicer, doesn't look so empty and lonely in there now
I have a thing for painting rocker covers. Decided a spray for this one rather than brush. Rubbed it down to get the old flakiness off and then Sprayed a few layers of "Hicote High Temperature Engine Paint Red". Didn't doo it too thick this time as last time it started to chip off because of it.
I knew it would come out matt like that, which is quite cool if you like the primer look, but also bought some "Hicote High Temp Engine Paint Clear" and gave it a few thin coats of that. I like it
Tried to take a pic of it, but it was too shiney and bounced the flash back!
That's all for now!
06/12/06
Old water bottle = 2 outlets on right hand side. GTE water bottle = right hand side. New engine = needs 3. Relocating GTE bottle to the right hand side = difficult.
Solution: 3 outlet water bottle from a diesel astran van which fits perfectly on the mounts on the right hand side. Sorted
10/12/06
There was so much curse word in that bottle! Got most of it out now and fits a treat. Driveshafts in which were certainly easier to get in that out (manual says put them in the engine end first, but it's far easier to do the wheel side first)
The GTE is no more! Phonecall to scrappy monday. What do you think to using standard GTE alloys on my SRi by the way? Yay or nay? Perhaps a bit too low with the smaller wheels as the mudflaps scrape the gravel!
Cheers for helping lewis...thought I would add a pic of you in your weird hat
13/12/06
Well, my brothers interpretation of the events unfolded....
"Not actually of the rebuild. Somehow, Alex managed to get his insurance company to recover the remains of the car, with most of its engine in the boot, from the performance tuners in Scotland who diagnosed the engine as dead. Fault report: "MISSING ENGINE".
"
"Alex ****ing around under the lifted GTE. Basic safety FTW!"
picasaweb.google.com/lewiscollard/AstraRebuild
Well, made me smile anyway
GTE went off to astra-mk2 heaven.....SRi went in for its MOT....failed on a few silly things like wipers, a bit of welding and a brake pipe. Not bad considering it has been sat there since early this year
12/11/06
It is being resurrected...perhaps not in the slightly bonkers way that it was before, but at least it is coming back!
The engine I have in there is in bits and completely knackered anyway, so searched for a donor car. And found this little number....
General faffing around:
Going to post some more pics of the donor tomorrow and will post progress of the engine swap, and more than likely, the 10s of other issues that will arise!
First thing to do will to get the GTE running. Hopefully it will just be a battery. Will be a big sigh of relief once I hear it purring over!
Then its out with the old engine...in with the new...with a bit of unknown in the middle!
13/11/06
They know their destiny:
The GTE engine bay (quite tidy really)
The SRi as it is at the moment....messy!
All sorts of stuff in the boot of the GTE!
18/11/06
Well, progress was pretty good today. Not quite as far as I expected as a few things held me up. Getting bolts undone was the most pain the the ass thing as always. In the end for the engine mounts used metric bits and a big old bar to get them off.
Decided to leave my old loom in as this one has extra bits on it for the ABS and such like. Bit of a pain in the bum as some of the connectors are different so will have to do a few chops tomorrow. The ABS was easier than I thought to get off.
Bottom end is out of the SRi. All plugs and hoses and bits and bobs are disconnected from the GTE and all marked up so I put them back in the same place!
I havn't decided yet if i want to use the gearbox and clutch from the SRi as I know it's good or to use the one on the GTE. Last time I took the engine and box intact out by supporting it with the hoist, jacking up the car, then lowering the hoist and sliding it out sideways! Seemed to be very easy but I am thinking it might be best to take it out the top to avoid the chance of damaging the sump and anything else when I lower it.
I have some outlet holes in the front of the inlet that I am not quite sure about....hopefully i will figure them out!
Hoping the rain stays back tomorrow for me!
20/11/06
I am doing yet another rocker cover. Bad habit of mine I think. Last time I did it with brush-on high temp paint. Which looked very shiney, and nice with the writing brushed in black, but I think I layered on the paint too much so bits have chipped off. This time I am doing a high temp matt spray, then doing a high temp gloss over the top. Will post the results!
Ahh brilliant, there is a sandwich plate there
Actually, I may just go make myself a sandwich. Crisp sandwich. Crunch crunch crunch, yum, yum yum.The oil cooler was a complete pain in the bum. Leaky bits...general seized annoyingness. Rather take it out and be done with it than try to find pipework to get it working again so took it all off and binned it.
25/11/06
Well. Didn't ger very far at all in terms of the engine. Got the dash and interior out....nice seeing you again richie
Got bored of the previous methods of taking engines out....so thought of a different way. Previously have taken engines out from the side (easier than it sounds) and out the top (bit of a pain when you don't feel like taking the gearbox off)
This time....supported the engine with the hoist, unbolted from mounts, lowered onto a bit of wood. Unbolt engine from hoist. Then used the hoist to lift the car up (by that centre section at the front of the car). Roll car backwards with the hoist over the top of the engine. Sorted! Must say, looks rather biazarre!
Now that the interior and engine is out the GTE it seems a real shame to take it to the scrapper. Simply because how solid it is! Yeah there is a big hole in the passenger arch, but it is solid once that is hammered out. The whole rear wuarter looks like it has been recently welded in. Floor perfect, engine bay around the struts etc perfect. Sills solid. Ah well, it will be off to the scrapper soon.
26/11/06
Put the engine in the SRi (reverse process of above) and connected up some of the bits and bobs, quite happy with progress today. As the driveshafts are off I am going to change the boots as they don't look too happy.
01/12/06
£15 for a complete set of drieveshaft boots, can't be bad.
Got this too...I know I said I wasn't going to spend money on performance but I couldn't resist this. Seemed rude not to considering I have a nice ashley system and previously had a decent manifold...sort of bringing it partially back to it's former self I guess.
03/12/06
Engine ran first time on the key. No leaks or anything, all looks well
I am impressed by the rocker cover I painted 04/12/06
Need to make up another bracket for the AFM (who knows where they keep going, I loose them as fast as I can make them!) and need to find some exhaust studs, put the new manifold on when it comes, find a Y-Piece for the coolant (don't ask!) and do the driveshafts.
The battery tray was quite rusty, so cleaned it down, treated it and gave it a lick of paint. Much nicer
Ahhh thats nicer, doesn't look so empty and lonely in there now
I have a thing for painting rocker covers. Decided a spray for this one rather than brush. Rubbed it down to get the old flakiness off and then Sprayed a few layers of "Hicote High Temperature Engine Paint Red". Didn't doo it too thick this time as last time it started to chip off because of it.
I knew it would come out matt like that, which is quite cool if you like the primer look, but also bought some "Hicote High Temp Engine Paint Clear" and gave it a few thin coats of that. I like it
Tried to take a pic of it, but it was too shiney and bounced the flash back!
That's all for now!
06/12/06
Old water bottle = 2 outlets on right hand side. GTE water bottle = right hand side. New engine = needs 3. Relocating GTE bottle to the right hand side = difficult.
Solution: 3 outlet water bottle from a diesel astran van which fits perfectly on the mounts on the right hand side. Sorted
10/12/06
There was so much curse word in that bottle! Got most of it out now and fits a treat. Driveshafts in which were certainly easier to get in that out (manual says put them in the engine end first, but it's far easier to do the wheel side first)
The GTE is no more! Phonecall to scrappy monday. What do you think to using standard GTE alloys on my SRi by the way? Yay or nay? Perhaps a bit too low with the smaller wheels as the mudflaps scrape the gravel!
Cheers for helping lewis...thought I would add a pic of you in your weird hat
13/12/06
Well, my brothers interpretation of the events unfolded....
"Not actually of the rebuild. Somehow, Alex managed to get his insurance company to recover the remains of the car, with most of its engine in the boot, from the performance tuners in Scotland who diagnosed the engine as dead. Fault report: "MISSING ENGINE".
""Alex ****ing around under the lifted GTE. Basic safety FTW!"
picasaweb.google.com/lewiscollard/AstraRebuild
Well, made me smile anyway
GTE went off to astra-mk2 heaven.....SRi went in for its MOT....failed on a few silly things like wipers, a bit of welding and a brake pipe. Not bad considering it has been sat there since early this year
