my GTE 16v project!

[astrasteve23]

My GTE 16v project.

I purchased a GTE 16v about 3 weeks ago, I found it on ebay and won it for £315! the car was quite local which was handy, thanks Simon (stt) for picking it up and delivering it for me!
The car wasn’t running right when I got it which I was told about before I bid for it.


The GTE was stored at a friends farm about a mile away from me until I decided what I was going to do with it. me and Brett looked over the car and we were very surprised at the condition of it, its a bit tatty round the edges but over all it is pretty solid! it has had a new n/s sill (done badly) and the only rust we have found so far is on the o/s sill. whilst it was at the farm we sorted out the idling problem, we cleaned the idle control valve, and replaced the split piece of pipe between the afm and sfi box and fitted another afm and that sorted it! I then took it for a drive down the lane (Sunday 24th April) and the head gasket went between cylinders 2&3!

I had been talking to my mate Craig about putting it in his garage and doing the project there and he was up for that as he wanted a project to do! he is 18 and works for a welding firm. he has also done mechanics in the past and he has also been working on motorbikes for years! when the head gasket went he was with me at the time, he said well we might as well take it to his that night which we were thinking of doing anyway. so I drove it about 2 miles to his. we had to get his clio out of the garage that he has just
done an engine swap (1.2 to a 1.4). we needed to get the exhaust fixed on it first. we fixed the exhaust and got it out and stuck the GTE in.

I have decided to do it as a track car and use it on the road at weekends (if i can get a V5 for it), and keep my 5 door 1.4 and maybe put a 1.7td engine in it. the project is going to take me a while to finish it as I don’t earn enough money! all progress will be recorded here though.

I will list things below of what we have done to it so far.

Sunday night.(24/4/05)

Me, Brett and Craig took off the bonnet, front bumper and wings. we also got the
locking wheel bolts out. (didn’t get the socket for them)

Monday night.(25/4/05)

Me Brett and Craig took off front susp. legs, took out abs crap and pas crap and rad.

Tuesday night.(26/4/05)

Me and Craig disconnected loom, water pipes, oil cooler, gear linkage etc. and took
the engine and box out and tidied up the garage.

Wednesday night.(27/4/05)

didn’t do any work on it tonight, had a rest from it.



I will put up some pics of the progress on thursday night.

[astrasteve23]

just about to go and take the steering rack, brake survo etc off and prep the engine bay ready for stitch welding on the weekend!

[Brett]

aye its been a manic few days on that beastie.

I'll pop over later and lednd a hand if I can be arsed!

[Sipo]

lol good stuff, sounds like a lot of work, so good luck :D

[astrasteve23]

tonight (Thursday 28/4/05)

i went to craigs after work at 6ish. we went to look at a mk2 fiesta XR2 for craig as a first car for him. we then went on to his dad's house to pick up a welder his dad gave him as he doesnt use it any more. its a mig welder that will do ally, steel & stainless, i dont have a clue what make or model as i dont know much about welding but aparently its a goodun! we put all the kit and the bottle in the back of the car and drove home very sensibly! we set it all up and craig started setting it up and practicing and getting used to the welder by making a de-cat pipe for his clio and seam welding the underside webbing of the bonet. (was dented etc. and was just gonna get chucked out!) whilst he was doin that me and brett stripped out the engine bay completely. loom, rack, servo, arb etc. everythin came out!

tomorrow night me and craig and possibly brett plan to get some cans in at craigs and start cleaning and preping the engine bay ready to stitch on saturday! staying at craigs and gettin an early start on the welding.


on saturday when craig is welding i am going to strip out the interior completely.

i am very pleased with the progress so far! its going well. i am also going to sort out all the bits i want powder coated and craig will get them blasted and coated at work in the week!

[astrasteve23]

tonight (Thursday 28/4/05)

i went to craigs after work at 6ish. we went to look at a mk2 fiesta XR2 for craig as a first car for him. we then went on to his dad's house to pick up a welder his dad gave him as he doesnt use it any more. its a mig welder that will do ally, steel & stainless, i dont have a clue what make or model as i dont know much about welding but aparently its a goodun! we put all the kit and the bottle in the back of the car and drove home very sensibly! we set it all up and craig started setting it up and practicing and getting used to the welder by making a de-cat pipe for his clio and seam welding the underside webbing of the bonet. (was dented etc. and was just gonna get chucked out!) whilst he was doin that me and brett stripped out the engine bay completely. loom, rack, servo, arb etc. everythin came out!

tomorrow night me and craig and possibly brett plan to get some cans in at craigs and start cleaning and preping the engine bay ready to stitch on saturday! staying at craigs and gettin an early start on the welding.


on saturday when craig is welding i am going to strip out the interior completely.

i am very pleased with the progress so far! its going well. i am also going to sort out all the bits i want powder coated and craig will get them blasted and coated at work in the week!

thanks for the help tonight brett!

[astrasteve23]

pics of the GTE when i got it.

[astrasteve23]

sunday night pics. (24/4/05) donor clio on its side to remove exhaust and GTE with front wings, bumper and bonet removed.

[astrasteve23]

monday night (25/4/05) the inner wings are mint! the other one is just as good! struts etc. removed.

[astrasteve23]

Tuesday night.(26/4/05) engine coming out!

[astrasteve23]

i will update with thursday night pics and tomorrow and saturdays pics on sat night. sorry if the pics are a bit poor quality, they were taken on my camera phone. i have some on my digital vid cam that i will upload on sat too, they are a bit better quality.

[caul pope]

Great stuff Steve! Your mate Craig sounds like a bit of a legend aswell.

[astrasteve23]

Great stuff Steve! Your mate Craig sounds like a bit of a legend aswell.


yeah craig knows a lot of people that will be very useful in helping with the project.

[Jon S]

so you stripped it out much yet?

[astrasteve23]

on friday night when craig was welding i took out the front seats and door cards and thats about it. i couldn't be bothered to do much to it yesterday, had a bit of a bad back. not doing anything to it today as craig is out racing on his bike all day.

[astrasteve23]

i will do a proper update with pics when i get my camera back from craig tonight.

[astrasteve23]

thursday night pics.

[astrasteve23]

friday (29/4/05)

craig finnished work at 1pm. he went home and started on the car. he preped and stitched most of the engine bay by the time i got there at 6pm after work. he had done both wings and just had the bulkhead keft to do. he had chiseled out the battery tray, he had punched a few holes in the arch when he did it so he was cutting out a section and welding in a new section when i got there. i then preped the bulkhead and craig finnished the welding. we just put a coat of matt black paint (only paint we could find) on it for now to protect it. i was very pleased with the job craig had done! we finnished working on it at about 11:30pm.

[astrasteve23]

didn't do any work on the car on saturday or sunday.

[Ross_Mk2]

Looking good mate keep up the good work

[astrasteve23]

cheers ross. hopfully gonna do a bit more to it tomorrow night.

[Gander]

Thats some nice welding there, looks like a lovely little workshop you have to store it in too:)

[astrasteve23]

yeah we have plenty of space in there. i would of put it in my garage but its full up with astra junk and a mini. craig only lives a mile away so thats quite good.

[astrasteve23]

the weather was too good to be in the garage working on the car today so no more progress yet. will do some more to it tomorrow night.

[Ian T]

Quite a pace you're working to there...

Be nice to watch this one progress.

Are yougoing to replace the badly fitted sill at the same time?

Ian.

[astrasteve23]

yeah i will let craig loose on the bad sill and also weld a new one on the drivers side as it is rusty. the project will slow down a bit when i have to start spending money as i have to save for tax, mot and insurance on the 1.4! they all arive in the same week! all the work so far has been done for free! :)

hopfully going to take the rest of the interior out tomorrow night.

[Brett]

We're going to strip the interior out tonight so if anyone has any suggestions about anywhere we copuld set craig to work inside steve would problbely be interested in it.

I've said about reinvoriceing the floorpan where the rear front wishbone mount is, maybe stich the inside of the bluckhead in places?

[astrasteve23]

yeah any suggestions welcome! craig keeps nagging that he wants more welding to do!

[astrasteve23]

Tuesday night (04/05/05)

me brett and craig worked on the car. craig took the cam and cambelt cover off of the engine ready to take to work for powdercoating and got any other bits i wanted coated sorted. then craig and brett started stripping the interior whilst i sorted some of the junk out. the dash came out, rear seats, seat belts and carpet. then i had the job of disconnecting the bloody alarm!! wires everywhere! took a while but its done now. that is about all we done tonight. still got a lot of the plastics to take out.

[astrasteve23]

no progress tonight!

[Tom]

Keep up your good work matey, like to see it all finished :)

[astrasteve23]

i haven't touched the car since tuesday night but hopfully will do some more work on it on sunday afternoon after the meet. i have also just got a pretty decent digi cam so i can take some decent quality pics to put up instead of the crappy quality ones from my phone and vid cam.

[richie00boy]

Looking good :) Looks like you got a tidy motor. Sills are quite easy to sort, it's round the headlight/inner wing bit that's the awkward place, and yours looks sound there.

[CraigGreen]

I've said about reinvoriceing the floorpan where the rear front wishbone mount is,

Is this a weak point Brett?? How does it fail??

craig.

[astrasteve23]

a little more work was done on the car last week, took off all the brackets that hold the back seats to save a little weight. all of the tar stuff has been chiseled off of the floor. i have more pics to put up but my internet at home is still down.

[Brett]

craig, the floorpans often rot out around there. Lift up the carpet in the car and have a look.

[CraigGreen]

Lift up the carpet......? Thats like saying 'pull off the sideskirts & have a look'!

[astrasteve23]

sipo is coming over in a bit to check out the project. might get a bit more done tonight. haven't worked on it for a while with other things that have happened. will upload more pics tonight.

[george124uk]

thats the worst part of rot on my car right on the curve of the floor directly under the pedals

[george124uk]

sorry to hear about the 1.4 steve its a bugger when ure pride and joy gets smashed,good luck with the real mccoy mate.

[astrasteve23]

thanks. yeah im so gutted it was just starting to all come together and look good!

[astrasteve23]

i have added some pics to some of the replys. here are a few more general pics. no more work done tonight.

[astrasteve23]

no work done for quite a while. cant remember if it was last week me and brett started to take the rear beam off ready to fit the polly bushes. got all the abs, brake lines, shocks etc dis connected. hopefully do some more next week!

[astrasteve23]

right i forgot to update that the ream beam came off, abs removed, and burnt the old bushes out! then kinda didnt touch it for a while until last week when i went to fit the new bushes which i had trouble with. (i didnt take the liners out)

tonight me and craig got the liners out, pushed the new deflex poly bushes in by hand with no grease fairly easily like the instructions said, and then i cleaned the beam up and fitted the lower spring seats (deflex polly) and then brett poped over and we got the rear beam back on! we sat the standard springs on and sat the polly top spring mound on top and lower the car and that one fitted ok. rear beam is now on with standard suspension for now so it can be mooved until i can afford some decent suspension. just gotta connect the handbrake cable. i took a few pics on my phone, will get some better quality ones on wednesday night when i go and put the front struts back on so the car can be mooved.

[astrasteve23]

here are some better quality pics of various poly bushes. the front legs are on now just to get the car so it can be pushed about. i need money now to be able to do more!

[astrasteve23]

right as i am very short of money lately i went to see what work i can do on the car that will not cost anything or very little. gonna tidy up all the loom inside, also craig is going to bring home some sheet ally from work and we are going to make a custom dash (free), will also get a reel of copper brake pipe and run the brake lines through the car.
i also measured up all the glass for perspex windows and im am going to go to the local builders merchant soon and get a price for it all (including sunroof as i want to keep it to draw hot air from inside the car) apart from windscreen. i expect that this will be quite expensive even with trade discount so probably wont get done for a while.

[astrasteve23]

no progress on this for a while now. i got it back on its wheels and got it our of craigs garage to make room for a car he bought that we are working on. i have bought some 15" vaux alloys for it, i got them cheap in crap condition and craig is going to get them shot blasted and powder coated anthricite or gloss black at work soon. they weigh 6.4 kgs each without tyres which isn't too bad. i got a nice anodised black fuel cap today on ebay, also picked up a brand new 'OMP' alloy front upper strut brace for it on ebay cheap last week.
i need to get things together to fit and do to it and get it back in the garage sometime and do a bit of work on it.

[astrasteve23]

as soon as the carlton and the mini go from my house the GTE will come home! will carry on with the project slowley. will spray the engine bay, replace head gasket and cambelt and water pump and put the engine back in. im looking out for polly engine mounts. also need to sort out the loom in the car. dont want the leccy windows or mirrors.

[astrasteve23]

been searching the DVLA website and i have downloaded the form to apply for a V5c as i didnt get one with the car. its gonna cost me £19.
i am gonna try and get the car home over christmas as it is parked up on grass which isn't ideal at all! i am gonna get brett to help me chop unwanted bits from the loom like he has done to his, gonna clean and spray the engine bay myself and do the head gasket, and fit new cambelt kit and get the engine back in.

working on bretts the other day has made me want to get on with mine again now. there is plenty to do to it that wont cost me anythin, i dont have any spare money at the mo but when i do get some extra cash i need to get suspension and perspex and look for a cage and seats.

[GazJevs84]

how come i cannot see any pics they are just loads of colours

[BazW]

how come i cannot see any pics they are just loads of colours

it's from when the site went tits up, they need uploading again

[Brett]

good Im glad steve. We should blitz the harp one day and get rid of that then put the GTE in the garage!

[GazJevs84]

it's from when the site went tits up, they need uploading again

agh right so it's not my pc lol
it seems to happen on quite alot of threads and avaters lol

[astrasteve23]

just re loaded all the pics.

also got another set of 15" 6 spokes, they are mint! got them very cheap. so i can have a set of wheels with road legal slicks (yoko A048) and a set with some toyo proxy T1-R's.

[GazJevs84]

thanks looks great mate keep up the good work

[astrasteve23]

hopfully picking up a 6 point bolt in cage and a fibreglass bonnet up for it on saturday. really need to get it home soon and get working on it!

[Belmont turbo]

perspex bonnet isn't that clear plastic,is that alot lighter than standerd bonnets

[astrasteve23]

perspex bonnet isn't that clear plastic,is that alot lighter than standerd bonnets


LMAO! sorry i ment fibreglass! was looking and perspex on the net at the same time. lol. i'v corected it now.

[astrasteve23]

picked up the bonnet and cage a while ago, its a 6 point roll centre bolt in one with a and b pillar mounts i think.

also the car came home tonight so i can start work on it again! need to prep and spray the engine bay.

need to get some of the heavy duty cnc alloy billet engine mounts from TJM
also got a hub stud conversion, boot clips, and fire extinguisher t pull coming from TJM.

need a head gasket set, cam belt kit, and an alloy crank pulley before engine goes back in.

still waiting for the quickrack from RSC! its only been a year now!

also might be going to scrappy and chopping off a merit sunroofless roof to go on it!

[astrasteve23]

just bought a short shift for it, also got a stud conversion kit so wheel changes are quicker.

[astrasteve23]

done some work on the astra today for the first time since its been home,
brett came over and we started to strip out unwanted wires from the wireing loom, when brett done his he got rid of 10kg's of wire! we made it so the reverse lights are now the fog lights (use red bulbs) and where the fogs were in the rear bumper i am going to get some front fog lights and put in so i have nice bright reverse lights for road rally events, when i need to reverse my way out of a ditch! lol. also started to cut the webbing out of the boot to save a bit of weight, and drilled the spot welds and removed some more of the rear seat brackets. might start rubbing the cage down tomorrow ready to spray as it is multi coloured at the mo.

we took out the c/l, e/w and e/m loom and i am going to legnthen it so the c/l will reach the boot of the van, fit rear c/l motor and the GTE doors with all the electrics to it. dont want the electrics on the car but will be handy on the van.

[stt]

you need to have rear seats fitted to comply with RACMSA road rally regs, so theres not much point removing the brackets!

[astrasteve23]

how do i get a copy of the regs? should of thought/asked about that first.

[astrasteve23]

work has started on the GTE again, decided i am going to used it for sprints and hill climbs now so i dont need interior but i will be put in non road car class.

the last few days i have been cleaning the engine bay up, taking it back to bare metal, because when it was stitch welded we just put some black paint over it and then it was stored outside and it started to rust, today i put a few coats of 'zink 182' on it to prevent rust, now i can spray the engine bay and fit the quickrack and competition engine mounts.

brett has also been picking his way throught the wireing loom removing any stuff that i dont need like abs etc.

[astrasteve23]

also primered the rear part of the roll cage today. i want a bit more stitch/seam welding and stregnthening done in the engine bay before i finnish spraying it and putting things back in. my mate craig is going to pop in sometime and take a look at what i want done.

http://xs305.xs.to/xs305/06340/P8270017.JPG.xs.jpg (http://xs.to/xs.php?h=xs305&d=06340&f=P8270017.JPG)http://xs305.xs.to/xs305/06340/P8270018.JPG.xs.jpg (http://xs.to/xs.php?h=xs305&d=06340&f=P8270018.JPG)http://xs305.xs.to/xs305/06340/P8270019.JPG.xs.jpg (http://xs.to/xs.php?h=xs305&d=06340&f=P8270019.JPG)

[astrasteve23]

not much progress recently, i finnished putting the 3 coats of zink 182 rust primer on the engine bay. waiting for craig to get hold of a welder so he can weld a bit more for me.

[astrasteve23]

i have finnished spraying the engine bay now.
today i picked up a 2 1/4" bore exhaust system for it and an ashley 4-2-1 ashley manifold.

[astrasteve23]

last week brett poped over and sorted out a bit more of the loom. i borrowed a welder last night and my mate craig set to work doing a bit more in the engine bay, seam welded a few bits and boxed and gusseted the o/s steering rack mount. i cut the plates whilst he was welding the other bits. he has done a top job as usual! now got to spray it in the week, fit the servo and get the brake lines done, fit the quickrack and then get the engine out of the white one straight into this one.

http://xs413.xs.to/xs413/07100/P3110290.JPG.xs.jpg (http://xs.to/xs.php?h=xs413&d=07100&f=P3110290.JPG)http://xs413.xs.to/xs413/07100/P3110292.JPG.xs.jpg (http://xs.to/xs.php?h=xs413&d=07100&f=P3110292.JPG)

[Tom]

Good job on the rack mount ;)

[astrasteve23]

i have it all sprayed up now and servo is on and brake lines done in the front, i cant find my polly rack mounts tho so quickrack cant go on yet. brett came over today and tidied up the loom in the engine bay and took the dash out of the white one i am breaking and fitted it in this one. have mounted oil cooler & coil and air box. i hope to fit the engine that i took out of the white one (20XEJ) in the next few weeks, gonna clean it up first. when i borrow a welder again i will get craig on the job of fitting the roll cage. then i need to sort out suspension & tyres.

[astrasteve23]

here are a few more pics.


http://xs413.xs.to/xs413/07123/P3200313.JPG (http://xs.to)
http://xs413.xs.to/xs413/07123/P3200314.JPG (http://xs.to)
http://xs413.xs.to/xs413/07123/P3200315.JPG (http://xs.to)
http://xs413.xs.to/xs413/07123/P3200316.JPG (http://xs.to)

[Tom]

Steve I just noticed that you havent notched that front reinforcing plate youve put on the rack mount.

You will have to notch it like in this pic so that the rack will still bolt up as the rack actually wraps around the mounting.

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b302/TomGTE/gte15.jpg

[astrasteve23]

yeah i noticed that after we had done it! it will get modified so the rack will fit.

[Tom]

Good man :thumbsup:

[astrasteve23]

i found the rest of mu polly bushes in the week and tonight i was going to fit the front arb and quickrack but its a bit cold outside and for the last month every spare second i get iv been working on my cars so i decided to have a rest from it tonight. might do it tomorrow if im not working on the manta or taking the engine out of a mates civic or helping my cousin fit new brakes to his accord type 'R'

[astrasteve23]

little update.

steering rack fitted, front perspex windows in doors fitted, front arb fitted, all billet engine mounts fitted.

also purchased a straight cut close ratio gearbox with LSD, has a 5.1:1 final drive ratio, on standard rev limiter 1st - 36, 2nd - 50, 3rd - 62, 4th - 74, 5th - 85 mph so its ideal for the sprints and hillclimbs i will be entering in.
also purchased some front coilovers from an ex-works tarmac rally car made by GARTRAC, 190lb springs fitted. car is coming together now. will get some pics soon when i do some more work on it.

[astrasteve23]

brett came over tonight and carried on with sorting out the wireing loom.

[mick g]

Pictures please.. Need to see the progress

[astrasteve23]

purchased some superflex polyurethene bushes for the front wishbones, superflex are a much better design to other manufactures, they have a metal locating washer in the rear mounting bush which stops the movement under brakeing which causes front chassis mounting to wear away. i have had these bushes fitted to the van for 4000 miles now with no signs of wear when i had them off to check.
i have ordered some faulkner race springs for the rear (450lb) which should be here by the end of the week. just need to fit them and measure up for some shorter shocks that i will get made by GAZ suspension.
next week i will get the straight cut gearbox bolted up to the XE ready to drop the engine in.

[astrasteve23]

new springs turned up today, 5" free legnth 2"id 450lb, standard spring is nearly 9" free legnth! will get them fitted soon and get some pics of all the progress.

[astrasteve23]

done a couple hours work on it tonight, got rear springs fitted, front wishbones with poly bushes fitted on with lower strut brace, front coilovers on, new goodridge braided brake hoses on and front brake lines finnished, swapped brackets fron standard rear glass into perspex so they will still open to draw hot air out of the car.

[astrasteve23]

finally i have some pics that my cousin took when we were working on it the other night.


http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z60/astrasteve23/GTE%2016v/05082008795.jpg
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z60/astrasteve23/GTE%2016v/05082008793.jpg
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z60/astrasteve23/GTE%2016v/05082008792.jpg
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z60/astrasteve23/GTE%2016v/05082008791.jpg
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z60/astrasteve23/GTE%2016v/05082008790.jpg
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z60/astrasteve23/GTE%2016v/05082008789.jpg
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z60/astrasteve23/GTE%2016v/05082008787.jpg

[astrasteve23]

done a bit more work on it tonight, got the engine in the air to swap gearbox for the straight cut one and swap the standard manifold for the SBD one, removed gearbox and clutch and clutch it just about down to the rivets so ill order a new one up tomorrow. removed manifold and old studs and put all new studs in, new nuts and gasket and 'o' ring. also mounted piper exhaust system. hopfully clutch will be here tomorrow and i can drop the engine in on the weekend.

[Brett]

could we be driving this by the end of the weekend?!?!

Saturday is supposed to be the worse day at the moment!

[astrasteve23]

dont think we'll be driving it. got no seat or gear linkage or brakes yet. hopfully running sometime next week, im waiting for gearbox oil.

[Ian T]

Looks good Steve, unusual colour too. :)

Ian.

[astrasteve23]

brett and my cousin kris came over this evening. got new clutch fitted, straight cut box bolted on and engine craned into engine bay then things didnt go so well.
realised that the bolts supplied with billet alloy engine mounts are 13mm instead of 10mm like standard ones so bolts wouldnt go through mounting brackets and i done have a 13mm drill bit. borrowing one tomorrow evening so hopfully it will get bolted in. also gearbox oil should arrive tomorrow and gearbox sump/crownwheel plate gasket should be here. also a mate of mine is knocking up and sump plate with a drain plug in it so no need to remove it and fit new gasket to change oil.

[Brett]

You forgot the bit where you bolted the gearbox on, then saw the thrust bearing lying on the floor and we had to take it back off!!!

[astrasteve23]

yeh forgot that. things just didnt go well last night. went a lot better tonight tho, got hold of 11mm and 13mm bits and cousin kris came over.
we re drilled all holes on all brackets (13mm on o/s one and 11mm on both gearbox ones. fitted quickshift linkage, bolted it all up.
fitted rad and fitted SBD manifold need to find the fan for it, just have to connect exhaust system and fit drive shafts and put all fluids in engine.
gearbox oil arrived today from demon tweeks, gasket also arrived but my mate hasn't dont the cover plate yet.

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z60/astrasteve23/GTE%2016v/27082008002.jpg

[astrasteve23]

little update. done a bit more to it on friday night, got drive shafts fitted (calibra equal legnth), also fitted new ball joints and the rad fan.
also took plate off of the gearbox and drilled a 11mm hole where i wanted drain plug to be, my mate welded a M10 nut to it and just have to cut bolt to size and put copper washer on it and re-fit it.
bolted front wings on and fitted front bumper too, also made a cold air feed straight into the airbox from front grillee using black guttering downpipe.
placed fibreglass bonnet on.
you can see how close lower brace is very close to SBD exhaust manifold.

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z60/astrasteve23/GTE%2016v/28082008009.jpg
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z60/astrasteve23/GTE%2016v/28082008007.jpg
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z60/astrasteve23/GTE%2016v/28082008006.jpg
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z60/astrasteve23/GTE%2016v/27082008004.jpg
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z60/astrasteve23/GTE%2016v/27082008003.jpg

[astrasteve23]

you may notice how high the ride height is even with the engine in, its about 40mm higher than standard ride height, suspension is from a rally car so a lot of travel was needed. i can only lower it about 20mm more so i ordered some mk2 escort grp 4 spring seats for 2.25" springs with spring top caps and locking rings and c-spanners from rally design as im 99% sure they will fit on my struts. i can then get a 7" free legnth spring so i can then get the correct ride height on the front and also slightly stiffer springs that what are fitted now. i will be running 275lb on front.

[Harvey]

I'm sure you need the 2.5" kit to fit over the shocker body as this is something I was initially looking at doing before I bit the bullet and ordered the GAZ kit. Loving the bonnet ;)

[astrasteve23]

2.5" is used if you weld a threaded tube over the strut, my strut has been threaded like the mk2 escort grp 4 ones, uses grp 4 escort bilstein inserts too. the thread diametre is the same as escort but he couldn't tell me the pitch of the thread but im sure it will be the same. if they fit they are for 2.25" id springs. at the end of all this its going to have cost me the same amount on the front suspension as it would of to get some gaz ones made, and with the gaz ones i would of had the adjustability. were your escentric top mounts included in the price? they quoted me £225 a side for the fronts for gaz gold i think they called it with lowered steering arm etc.etc. + vat, think it was around £530 all in but no mention of top mounts? if they were included its cost me the same but i can sell concentric mounts they came with to get some money back if not then it has worked out a bit cheaper.

[astrasteve23]

spring seats etc arrived from rally design yesterday and the thread pitch measures the same as the struts. im am away all weekend at a hillclimb so hopfully will get them fitted one evening next week.

[Harvey]

I see Steve, my confusion.

My eccentric top mounts were from Tim at www.TJMotorsport.co.uk and are a generic version so I need to do a slight bit of chopping and filing to the front strut tops to get them on, but nothing major. GAZ asked me to sent them and they would build the front struts to take the top mounts, they then supplied the lower shims and top nuts.

[astrasteve23]

yeh so my coilovers work out slightly cheaper in the end but not much. I got top mounts from rally design as they were about 20quid cheaper. I was goin to mount the top mounts on top of the turret.

[astrasteve23]

last night i started to fit new 2.25" id spring seats etc. planned on getting both sides but the thread was so dirty and slightly rusty it took ages to get the 4" id spring seat off. i cleaned and WD40'd what i could get to but the spring seat is about 2" high and i couldnt get right down in to clean it properly, ended up taking the shock out, had to take the nut off the bottom then with allen key unscrew shock from bottom as its a mk2 escort group4 insert, then heated up the seat to expand it and managed to get a big oil filter removal tool to unscrew it, done about 10mm out of 100mmish like that then the rest chiseling it around with screw driver as i dont have 'C' spanners to fit. then near the end of the thread that i cleaned i was able to do it by hand. cleaned up the thread and put a light brushing of copper grease on it to help prevent it from rusting up again and screwed new locking ring and seat on. they fitted ok so i will be ordering up some faulkner 2.25"id 275lb springs tomorrow, will probably go for 6" free legnth as the ones that were on there were 9" and it was 40mm higher than standard so should be around -40mm with 6" as low as they will go then i will get top of turret stregnthened and mount top mounts above which should give about another 30mm so -70mm should be ideal. will tackle the other side when i get time and fit springs when the arrive and new escentric top mounts.

still waiting for diff cover gasket, i have ordered another diff cover gasket to space it out a bit more for clearance of the crownwheel as it has rubbed before. iv had a drain hole drilled in the cover and a nut welded to it and bolt and copper washer as a drain plug to make oil changes easy.

[astrasteve23]

fitted the suspension back on the side that i have done with top mount mounted about 10mm above the turret, top mount is just spaced out with nuts to see if ride height is ok, i am getting some spacer rings made up. the ride height is now perfect on a 7" spring.
all gaskets are here and hopfully it might be running tomorrow night if all goes well.

here are a few pics of ride height.

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z60/astrasteve23/GTE%2016v/16092008028.jpg
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z60/astrasteve23/GTE%2016v/16092008029.jpg
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z60/astrasteve23/GTE%2016v/16092008030.jpg

[astrasteve23]

brett and cousin kris came over tonight. we aimed to have it running by the end of the night but no such luck. checked all the wireing, hooked up fuel lines, put oil in engine, and went to make a spacer for crownwheel cover which we cut up an alloy cover from a F20 and realised that we didnt have longer bolts to bolt it on with so that put a stop to that. brett is getting me some longer bolts on saturday. when brett and kris wend home i thought id have a go at the passengers side coil over. got shock out whilst brett was there, then sprayed thread that spring seat screws onto and literally undun seat and locking ring by hand and had new ones on all bolted back together in 20mins tops! bit quicker than the 2 hours that the drivers side took! will hopfully have it running one evening next week.

here are a few more pics.

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z60/astrasteve23/GTE%2016v/18092008032.jpg
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z60/astrasteve23/GTE%2016v/18092008035.jpg
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z60/astrasteve23/GTE%2016v/18092008036.jpg

[astrasteve23]

finally got on with it and got the car running in the week, all seems ok, good oil pressure, charging ok etc.
rollcage is being fitted now, all plates etc have been cut, need nuts welded to the back of them and them welding to the car, holes have been drilled with hole saw to accept nuts into box sections where the cage mounts. the only mounting where you can get both sides is the rear arches, cage also mounts to bulkhead and to the b pillars. its a well designed cage which is going to make the car very ridged!

[astrasteve23]

iv now had some 20mm spacer rings made up to be welded on top of the turrets for mounting of the coilovers. still haven't had the cage welded in yet. hopfully will get done before the new year.