An average GTE 8v....

[teej]

Have owned this for a couple of months now. Had been off the road for a little while, but didn't need too much work to get it sorted. Although it's a competition car it had been running Roadsaloons so there was a bit of uprating still to be done.

Engine: Originally 1.8, increased to 1998cc using the Astra GTE 2.0 block and crankshaft, competition conrods, Mahle race pistons, Blydenstein head, Enem 292 duration “stage rally” cam, competition valves with 3-angle valve seats, bronze guides and de-shrouded ports, Gems-Omex ECU, Ashley competition 4 branch manifold feeding to Ashley 2 ½ inch system, lightened and balanced flywheel, competition clutch, low ratio box with f20 diff.

Koni adjustable damping, Stancombe springs, poly-bushed all round, adjustable front camber, 288mm grooved and drilled discs with Vectra V6 calipers, rear discs conversion to be completed with Harry Hockley rear beam and ARB, adjustable f/r bias, all lines run in-board; runs Speedlines with dunlop slicks or yoko ao21s.

Fully stripped, Sparco race seat and harnesses, occasional omp passenger seat when i find the right sub-frame for it; full safety devices cage, plumbed in and hand-held extinguishers, battery cut-off, fia pulls for battery and extinguisher.

With previous owner - 174bhp @ 7294rpm with 121lb ft torque, 0-60 7.1 with full interior.
I've got a harsher enem cam that will go in after a bit more headwork, and a set of bike t/bs on a custom manifold to experiment with, which should see enough power to make the car competitive, even tho i won't be.

[Charlie1984]

Nice Mk2, looks in good nic to,

[richie00boy]

Cool car, like the spec. Nice to see an 8V doing well!

[Dan Gliballs]

Great spec matey :)
More pictures please ;)

[Daza]

That looks the dogs danglies! I love it :D

[Anthony]

Looks good and nice spec :cool:
More pics please :)

[Sipo]

aye, as above, nice spec, looks great and looks in a good condition too! More pics definitely ;)

[astrayorkie]

nice spec mate
like the idea of a ajustable brake bias
are you going to make it a road car?

[Jon S]

splendid m8

[teej]

It's road legal now, taxed, tested and insured. It's been a roadsaloon racer for most of it's life - i think it was in the first circuit race i ever saw - part of the regs for that was the car had to be driven to and from the circuit. The guy who owned it had a 205 as well, and this one kind of fell by the wayside - it had a couple of class wins last year before he put it up for sale. Because he was only using it for trackdays he let the MOT etc lapse, so i had to do a bit of remedial work.

Here's how it looked when i got it -

[teej]

And a few more of it now..... it's being prepped for the Classic Thunder Touring Car series.

[teej]

It's a bit tatty, but solid enough. Apologies for the poor quality engine pic, haven't got the best camera! And the bike bodies that will go on sometime this autumn......

[astrasteve23]

looks very nice! the wheels look good. any idea of how much they weigh? similar spec to what i want my 16v to be. where are you from?

[teej]

Brentwood, Essex - the home of Ford :lol
Wheels are quite light, tho they're not the magnesium ones. They came from the guy down in Cornwall who was breaking his rally Mk1. I've got a couple spare, i'll weigh one if i remember tomorrow.
It's taken a lot of work and money to get it to this - i'm glad i've only got the finishing to do.

[astrasteve23]

i would like to have a good look around that car when it is finnished! pinch some ideas for mine and see how it has been done.

[teej]

You might have a while to wait - took it to snetterton today and someone (not me) missed 3rd, grabbed 1st, and the results might be terminal. Gutted as it was so good to drive. :(

[richie00boy]

Ouch :( Hope it gets fixed.

[GTE16v]

ouch.. thats one hell of a weapon mate, hope its ok

[astrasteve23]

You might have a while to wait - took it to snetterton today and someone (not me) missed 3rd, grabbed 1st, and the results might be terminal. Gutted as it was so good to drive. :(

oh dear! i bet that nearly chucked you through the windscreen!?

[teej]

I don't know - i did two sessions, then let my mate drive it as his racecar only has one seat and he needed one with two for an instruction session; i watched it go by for a couple of laps, then stepped off the pitwall to go talk to someone, and missed him kill it on the pit straight.
On the plus side it handles superbly, could outbrake anything else there, and the throttle bodies should give it a bit more power. Soon the only weak point will be the driver.

[astrayorkie]

i did that but instead of 5th i got 3rd belt jumped a tooth

[teej]

We thought it might have been that, had a look and it was fine. Took the head off and 3 of the inlet followers were smashed - we drove to Kings Lynn and back (2 hours) to get some new ones, fitted them, still wouldn't start. Got the sump off and there's a couple of screws sitting in it - timing gear has spun itself off. Sorry if the above doesn't make sense, i don't understand engines that well, so i'm going off what i can remember of my brother saying. Not sure if it's done more internal damage. Hope not, as i like the 8v and already have all the kit for the t/bs!

I could probably deal with it easier if i'd done it..... last time i do anyone a favour when it comes to cars!

[cielo20]

hi mate shouldnt he pay for the damage after you made him the favour??? :mad:

[pajero1]

if it comes to it i have a 20ne up for grabs only done 85k

[teej]

hi mate shouldnt he pay for the damage after you made him the favour??? :mad:

I'm sure we'll come to some kind of arrangement. Not sure whether we'll rebuild this one or move on to an XE, or do both and have a spare. Pretty likely it won't go back on the road again as i'll need the insurance money to pay for either option! That's a shame too as i liked having an extreme road car.

[dangte8v]

I have an 8v engine head if you want it in good condition and also a Coscast 16v engine up for sale - essex isnt too far away from me. Let me know if you are interested!

Dan

[teej]

My brother was kind enough to have a look over (or under) it this evening.
Seems as tho the drop in revs when no gear could be found, followed by the 10k plus revs when he found first sheared off 2 of the screws holding the timing gear - it's spun on the remaining screw, slammed up into the bottom of a piston, gouged that and the area around it, wrecked the gear itself. The other 3 seem okay, rod bolts have held it all together. So could have been worse, could have been better. Got to have it out to take a look and see if it's done valves as well. (again, apologies if none of the above makes sense, i tried to pay attention but i'm not engine literate).
Have pretty much decided that i can get a decent-spec XE for not much more than i can get for selling off all the bits i've got lying around from the 8v (it came with a hella lot of spares). I'm a sheep, not a star. :(

[teej]

Bit of an update - have now bought an ex-National Saloons XE, was running circa240bhp in a Mk3 Astra before it too lost the bottom end. Most of the new parts are ordered and on the way. Seems a bit silly to buy another engine that needs a rebuild, but it was for okay money and came with a load of other bits, such as an F20 with full quaife internals, and another with an ATB.
Not sure what i'll do with the 8v.

Not sure when the car will be out on track, but I'm edging towards the Track and Race series now (same as the V8 Belmont), unless pre-93 touring cars really takes off and gets sensible (for me) regs.

http://www.astragte.co.uk/Images/astra.jpg

http://www.astragte.co.uk

[GazJevs84]

good work dude hope everything works out did your mate pay for the damage cheers gaz

[Sipo]

Glad progress is being made matey! Back on the track pretty soon now by the looks of it. Didnt read about the problems you'd had, gutted for you, especially seeing as a mate bust it!

[teej]

There's a long way to go, and winter isn't helping. Not much time to work on it. Have a huge list of things to do, and it's getting longer rather than shorter.

I got some cash, but not a lot relative to the cost - it would have cost over a grand to rebuild, I think. When the XE is fully rebuilt i'll be presenting him with a bill of how much i've spent, and asking him to have a long think about what he's done, haha! Trouble is he's skint cos he's spent more than he's got on his race car, whereas i'm trying to do mine to a (low) budget.

I've missed a couple of trackdays, and watching the T&R at Brands on saturday has made me want to get out there even more.

[dangte8v]

If you still need it, I have an 8v head and will be coming through essex way on sunday. Let me know if you need it mate. Any sensible offer accepted.

[teej]

Well, been a while since an update..... didn't get much done over the winter, tho have had an okay spec 16v engine built.

However it won't be going in the car just yet - we'll be having the broken 8v repaired, and selling the car on as ready to race (which it is apart from not having an engine!). The main reason is because I've bought another race Mk2....

http://i9.ebayimg.com/02/i/06/8a/44/a9_1_b.JPG

Unfortunately it's used up a lot of my budget for the season (along with the 16v build) so although I've got my race license I can't afford to go out to play until the white one sells.
More pictures of the new one when I pick it up....

[teej]

It's not an 8v anymore, it's now got a red-top in it, and some Jenvey bits and pieces to be fitted when they arrive from Clarkmotorpsort (what used to be Walden - Nigel has been very helpful).

To keep me from kicking it I sent it off to be repsrayed by a fella who's starting up a motorsport repair business, and I'm dead chuffed with the results. www.motorsportrepairs.co.uk

During -

http://www.astragte.co.uk/Images/astramk2006.jpg

Finished -

http://www.astragte.co.uk/Images/astramk2012.jpg


A set of polycarb windows are on order from TJM, and I'll be getting a fibreglass bonnet too, as the current metal one can't be lightened too much as it's mostly filler, apparently!

A bit of welding is needed below the a-pillar, but I think that's in hand, and I'm hoping the car will be ready to race in the DTRC at Brands, first weekend in March.

I'll be updating www.astragte.co.uk more frequently as things progress.

[Dale]

looking good, imo nothing better than a freshly sprayed white car!

[GazJevs84]

Looks excellent mate

[teej]

Aye, the pics don't really show it as bright as it is. Toyota superwhite i think it's called.

I've got a few bits to do before it's ready to race again, but it shouldn't be too long now. I probably should have started a diary on it, but I might just do that for the racing.

[Harvey]

Nice one Tim, the website looks good so get adding some more info and pics on there. Found some more pics of your car on the Motorsport Repairs website (http://www.motorsportrepairs.co.uk/news1.htm).

[teej]

Aye, they're my first (and so far only) sponsor! I hope I won't have to use them too much, but Jim gave me a good deal on the respray so I'll be carrying his logos this year.

I need to work on the gallery for my site, then get a few more pics up. A nice package turned up this morning from Clark Motorsport, so things should move quickly in the next few days to get the car up and running, then I'll update.

[teej]

Not much progress on the Astra due to holiday, job etc etc (you know what it's like) but I've received some nice goodies from Tim at TJM, namely a fibreglass bonnet and a set of polycarb windows.

Also not had much time to work on that GTE 'cos I've been race-prepping another one - this time a Nova. I'm entered in it for the Dunlop Motorsport News championship races at Brands Hatch this Sunday (6th May). My first race ever, nervous doesn't even come close!

[Brett]

good luck mate, make sure you get some pictures of that up.

ypu expecting to give it a go and be competitive or is it more of a learning thing?

[teej]

More of a learning thing - i'll probably not be much slower in a little Nova than I would be in a 200+ bhp Astra to start with, plus with less power I'll have to learn to drive the wheels off it to keep up with everyone else!

Looking forward to having the big GTE ready to go, though.

[teej]

http://www.astragte.co.uk/Images/bubble2.jpg

[teej]

http://www.astragte.co.uk/Images/bubble1.jpg