2 new projects........

[Kev Read]

Since striping and selling the gold champion turbo I got myself a calibra turbo to strip and use the engine in the champ.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v393/Kevread/calibra001.jpg

But this would make the champion a weekend runner, so I got myself another 16v off ebay (pics to follow).
Had I knowen it would be as rottern as this I would not of got it!!
The bloke said the rear arches where rusty, but they are fuc*ed!!
Its also done 149,000 miles! but that dont bother me as it runs like a dream.
I didnt have the heart to scrap it and knew that if I sold it, it would end up being stripped for its engine and scrapped anyway.
So I got two new arches and have taken it to work for a full re-paint.
I also kept the champion leather interior out of the gold one, so thats going in also. And seeing as the champion im LET'ing has now got O.Z superT GTs im putting the champ wheels on it too. Im also going to get champ graphics made up for it!

Meanwhile Im carless, as the champions bottom end is proper fu*ked (as some of you may have heard when I pulled up at retro cars!).

Lots of pics to follow.

[Sipo]

You just seem to love working your arse off Kev :D :D

Fair play matey, keeping yourself busy as always, keep us posted ;)

[Kev Read]

Started chopping off the rottern arches on the red one today -
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v393/Kevread/Doingthearches001.jpg
My mate Glen the panelbeater doing his stuff.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v393/Kevread/Doingthearches002.jpg
How rotten!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v393/Kevread/Doingthearches003.jpg
Yes, all astras will have disintigrated by the year 2010.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v393/Kevread/Doingthearches006.jpg
Glen burnt the angle grinder out, so I coverd the arches in cheese & onion pie and he eat them off.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v393/Kevread/Doingthearches009.jpg
The sh1ter in all its glory. I want you all to remember this picture and compare it to the end result.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v393/Kevread/Doingthearches004.jpg
Meanwhile I prepare the champions new LET lump.

[Kev Read]

Never been keen on silver wheels so desided to get my new super Ts painted dark grey. Think they will look good on the champ.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v393/Kevread/Image646.jpg
Orkid the painter.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v393/Kevread/Image648.jpg
They where a arsehole to prep and paint, but orkid is probley the best painter you will ever meet.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v393/Kevread/Image650.jpg
While painting the base coat I liked the matt finish, so instead of just putting the lacquer straight on for shine we put a matting agent in with it to give it a rock hard matt race look. AWSOME!!!

[Daza]

Looking good Kev. Look forward to seeing it finished.
Have you got any plans for this engine, or is it staying stockish?

[Orange Peel]

Damn you lol.. I need to possess some of your skills :)

Great work mate. Looks like you've done a few arches in your time.

[Sipo]

After 17 Astras i'd imagine kev had done more than a few arches :D

Fair play matey, you definitely like getting stuck in there ;) Wheels look really good as well, im sure this will be another fine example when finished ;)

[orkid]

kev has no skills, he just get`s his mates to do the work :p
only joking mate

[Kev Read]

Daza - Standard! c'mon man, you must know me by now :D

Orkid - Thats not true! absolutley no one in this world can lash like me.

[Tony K]

...as LSD kicks in, they go forth with angle grinder and paint gun....

The crazy looks on their faces tell it all!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v393/Kevread/Doingthearches006.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v393/Kevread/Image646.jpg

[astrasteve23]

lmao! the wheels look good in a matt finnish! i still have that scrap GTE lying around kev if you need any more random bits for either of them!

[Kev Read]

Managed to get the arches on at work today, bit of a rush job but it will look good in the end. Used about a tin of wax oil and stone chip!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v393/Kevread/Doingthearchesx2003.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v393/Kevread/Doingthearchesx2001.jpg

Meanwhile the poor old champ just sits around waiting for its LET.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v393/Kevread/Doingthearchesx2002.jpg

Neither car will be ready for USC, so Im jumping in with a mate or taking the missus M3.

Also managed to get a FULL calibra intiror to fit in my mates mk2!!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v393/Kevread/Image656.jpg

[Anthony]

Good work! :cool:
How easy do calibra door cards fit the mk2 then? :confused:
:)

[Tony25]

What arch pannels did you use?? Did you rebuld the inner arch or just weld it up a bit higher??

[Ian T]

They look like Hadrian outer panels to me.

Ian.

[Kev Read]

Ian - I dont know if hadrian owned them before me but they are my arches now.

And no the calibra intirior dont fit a astra mk2 one bit!! complete lash :D

[Jon S]

wow at that inteior

[Ian T]

Kev,

Can you get detailed pics of how good the fit was of the Cally door cards? That's something I've been thinking about for a while (Cally interiors being so cheap).

Ian.

[Kev Read]

21/08/05 Update

Desided this week to leave the house and do a bit more to the champ.
Wedensay I dropped the XE out and changed the brakes over for the wilwoods that I kwpt off the gold one. Also cleaned 15 years worth of s**t out of the engine bay.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v393/Kevread/nobbag001.jpg
Ready to drop. Lost count how many times ive done this. Didnt beat my personnal best of getting a XE out in 40 minutes :D

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v393/Kevread/nobbag002.jpg
You can eat some parts of a GTE. This bit was only 34 calories.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v393/Kevread/nobbag006.jpg
Bye XE!

Got the Quaifed up 6-speed on with 4-paddle, got the turbo off and waiting for a gasket to come in so the new hybrid can go on. Bloke who owned calibra turbo where engine comes from was even more of a lasher then me!!!
Lots of bolts are missing from everywhere.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v393/Kevread/nobbag012.jpg
Im going for a black/chrome under bonnet theme this time

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v393/Kevread/nobbag011.jpg
New and old. kkk's are such a rip off!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v393/Kevread/nobbag014.jpg
4-pots and bigger brakes on from gold one. Also got all the front end bushes changed to powerflx polys.

Thats about it for last week. Ill post some pics up next week when it will all done hopefully.

[astrasteve23]

nice one kev! cant wait to see it finnished!

[orkid]

remeber to use the right sized washer on the ball joint this time :p :p

[Sipo]

remeber to use the right sized washer on the ball joint this time :p :p

:D :D


Fair play matey, you definitely just get on with it dont you! Looking forward to seeing it all done ;)

[Kev Read]

Just Got the engine in!!!!!

[Kev Read]

After getting the engine in I needed to get the exhaust to fit. It was origanaly made for a T3 so Im using the standard LET downpipe, so it will need welding. I desided to get the car trailered down to my mates place and get him to do it. I also desided to pull a sickey at work so I could finish it off down there. Got it all done friday, ready for the mig meet down the front on saturday night. Anyway took it to work with me on saturday and all seemed well apart from a few teathing problems like no rev counter or speedo and low boost so it was a bit slow. Put a bleed valve on at carnoisseur and took it out for a blast. Pulled away.............then BANG!!!!! the gearbox split in tyhe same place as before!!! jamiming it in 4th. Boll*cks.

I had to tie a seat belt round the strut brace to the gearbox so I could get home! No mig meet for me.

Im taking it to work with me tuesday to make a frame around the box so this wont happen again.
Heres some pics.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v393/Kevread/championturbo005.jpg With the new O.Zs it sits ultra low! So low infact I had to rise it up with some spring assisters becouse it was rubbing so bad. Also 4" tailpipe is now fitted which Im not so sure about, its a bit to loud.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v393/Kevread/championturbo004.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v393/Kevread/championturbo003.jpg
Engine looks a bit of a mess at the moment so ill just put some external pics up for now.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v393/Kevread/championturbo002.jpg
Belive it or not the red one is lowerd 30mm!! look how much lower the champ was!!.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v393/Kevread/championturbo001.jpg Willwoods look at home in O.Zs

More pics to follow.

[Sipo]

Looking well funky Kev ;)

[Kev Read]

Since getting the champion finished ( sort of ) ive started doing a bit more on the red one. Im trying to get it all painted asap so I can get my moneys worth on the tax!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v393/Kevread/astrabitspart1000001.jpg
Lot of filler!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v393/Kevread/astrabitspart1000002.jpg
Biege crap has been ditched for black to match leather.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v393/Kevread/astrabitspart1000003.jpg
All the rears in.
And thats about it for now, slowly coming along.

Meanwhile the champion has done a poor 6sec 0-60mph and a even poorer 222bhp!! (dont know why?) and No.2 piston has shot its oil ring!!
But saying all that it drives fine (and VERY fast) and looks nice.
Managed to plumb the NOS in, just need to get some now.
More paintwork and bottom end re-build coming next year.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v393/Kevread/Trax2005017.jpg
Lots of Wheel spin.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v393/Kevread/Trax2005031.jpg
Sexy Biatch!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v393/Kevread/Trax2005024.jpg
Its Me!!

[BazW]

looking well the pair of em :D

how long did it take you to do the let conversion?

[gteturbo]

what intercooler is that off, the one on the champion?

[Kev Read]

Baz W - about 12 hours.

Gteturbo - Its a allard universal intercooler I got off ebay for £200. It needed a bit of ally welding to fit thou.

[gteturbo]

why is 222bhp poor, is it not a standard engine apart from the intercooler?

[Kev Read]

It has phase 2 chips & hybrid turbo. Should be at least 250bhp.
Funny thing is torque was 301lbft!!! nothing wrong there.

[gteturbo]

good torque!!!!

are you using the regal software??? that ed's stuff?

[Kev Read]

It is a copy of the EDS phase 2 chip.

But yea, same thing.

[gteturbo]

what they like, any good?

i am building a C20LET and was thinking of the regal phase 3 software, but dont really know what it's like? any idea?

[Kev Read]

I had regal phase 3 on my last GTE Turbo and it made 289bhp. But it was heavily modified ( T3 conversion ) and I was exspecting a lot more.

A mate of mine had phase 2 software and a large front mount with stainless exhaust and it made 281bhp with 304lbft torque.

On the road the phase 2 feels great. I wouldnt bother with phase 3, as it is a lot of money for a lot of nothing. Idealy you want to ditch vauxhall managment all together and go DTA, omex or something along those lines for big power.

[gteturbo]

can you use dastek on the C20LET? i have a 4x4 cossie intercooler, the engine, is virtually standard, with a 1.9mm head gasket, arp con rod bolts and stud conversion instead of head bolts, the internals are standard. have you got any internal mods??

[gteturbo]

also what boost levels can the kkk take?

[BazW]

about 12 hours.

done a few then I take it

[Kev Read]

I have a dastek for sale on ebay at the moment for a LET with wiring diagram.
It runs with the standard ECU as a piggy back ECU. My old engine had a lot of bottom end internal work which wont give you anymore power, but will be able to cope better with more power. The engine I have now is standard other then a steel layerd head gasket. Your engine sounds fine (as long as its built propley) and should be able to run 280bhp - 300bhp at 18psi - 20 psi with no problems. Any more and low comp pistons and steel rods might be a good idea.

I find the KKK to small to run decent boost, but I dont know a great deal about turbos. But I get away with running 18psi with no problems.

[gteturbo]

how much you want for the dastek? i am not a member of ebay, doh!!!!!

[astrayorkie]

theres me trying to finish one on going project

champ is looking good

[Kev Read]

Ive Been trying to get the red one done as quick as possible since finishing the champ. I need to get the engine back out of the champ for a re-build so the red one is in the way.
Anyway Got me seats back off my mate the other day and they dont look bad at all! They are from a rover 600.
He trimmed the centers for me and had the 'GTE 16v' logo embroded in too.
funny thing is, ive just fit one and the astra subframes went straight on!

Also been dead at work so got my wheels refurbed.
Hopfully get it in primer soon and then to paint.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v393/Kevread/djkhv002.jpg
They make you sit a bit high, but not bad.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v393/Kevread/djkhv001.jpg
Ready to be kerbed again.

[astrasteve23]

those seats look really nice. i like the GTE 16v in them. so rover 600 seats fit straight onto astra subframes?

is that a standard finnish on the wheels or a high polish?

[Kev Read]

Ok, I havnt been on here for a while because my computer broke. But Ive got a new one now and ive also finished 'project red astra champion'.
Well its almost finished, all I have to do is put the other seat in when the subframe arrives and put the full stainless system on (and put a M.O.T on it).
And then Ive got to sell it!! I need the money to re-build the turbo astra! so its got to go!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v393/Kevread/redastra004.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v393/Kevread/redastra003.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v393/Kevread/redastra005.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v393/Kevread/redastra001.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v393/Kevread/redastra002.jpg

[astrasteve23]

that is looking real nice kev! i love it! how much are you thinking of putting it up for sale for?

did the rover 600 seats fit straight onto astra subframes? or do they need re-drilling?

[Kev Read]

They fit straight on to the height adjustable frames. So you will need a calibra passenger side which will fit straight in to the astra.

[Kev Read]

Got my carbon bonnet on, so I thought now would be a good time to do a before and after shot of the turbo champion.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v393/Kevread/Myastrachampion002.jpg
When I got it, it was standard. And I was going to keep it that way but.......

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v393/Kevread/carbonbonnetchamp007.jpg
......I had visions of this! what do you think?

[Sipo]

Hmmm its hard to tell from the picture, but for some reason im unsure on that. I generally like the carbon fibre look and defo think black goes with the champ colour. How much was the bonnet and what weight is it?

[Kev Read]

£435, and im not sure how much it weighs. But it is light.

[Kris]

Loving the look of the champ Kev and the bonnet just goes so well with he black wheels .Just on another note were do you get your plates done as most of your mk2s have them ?

[Kev Read]

Kris - I do them at my work ( carnoisseur ). If you want some let me know.

The red GTE 16v is now gone!! sold it for £1550!! Gutted, but I needed the money badly. The champ is off the road for a while now while I re-build the bast*rd engine :mad:. But my astra driving carries on..... in the shape of a mk4 sri turbo!! I talked the missus in to selling her Beemer and getting one. Its not fast (yet) but it is a great looking car and drives really nice. Pics to follow. In the meantime heres the champ in pieces -

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v393/Kevread/engineapart002.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v393/Kevread/engineapart003.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v393/Kevread/engineapart004.jpg
Spot which cylinder had the oil problem!! All in my brand new turbo :mad:

[Matt J]

What size wheels are they? and how much they set you back? looking for something similar myself, dont seem to be much about though!