dethstar's gte 16v

[dethstar]

Probably wont be as interesting as everybody elses stories of upgrades, but for my benefit as well, the history.

Bought the car from a really enthusiastic guy up outside peterborough a year and a half a go. He said hed looked for ages to find a reasonable example that hadn't been spanked. Although he claims it had had new rings the previous month. £700 and it was mine :D

So on the way home im private testing on what i lovingly call the A1(m) (just my pet name not a real road), and after filling up only 30 minutes a go, the fuel guage drops off to a worrying 1/4 tank indicated.

anyway i get home and theres loads in it, dodgy fuel level sender, woo.

this is what it looked like

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/dethstar/newcarfront.jpg

After some wallet inspections i decide to leave the fuel sender for a while.

But as things go the car cuts out on my girlfriend on her way to work the next day. Being a newbie i didnt know it was just the Fuel Injection relay which took a good 4 hours to diagnose and replaced.

Then i notice oil leaking. again being a newbie i replaced the lot Oil cooler pickup o rings sump gaskets etc etc (still weaps a little).

Next job came as more of a surprise, "in a yea im doing that now moment", the old astra that the gte had replaced had to go, but the interior was in better nick than mine so i transplanted the seats and half of the trim in an hour before the other one was picked up (i was in a rush).

In situ in old car:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/dethstar/inside.jpg

and now the parcel shelf didnt fit so i fitted the rear speakers into the newly opened space.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/dethstar/speaker.jpg

[dethstar]

So next i thought i would get round to fitting a new fuel sender which was handy i was ordering parts because the thermostat stopped working too.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/dethstar/fsback1.jpg

Now came MOT time so i binned off the laguna splitter so it would go on the tester thing without hitting and thought it looked better. amazingly it failed
because i hadnt connected the rear seat belts back up. :rolleyes:

Now the next problem, radiator decided to shed its load in the middle of epping forest on the hotest day of the year. luckily i came prepared and limped home after filling up with water.

with the header cap off. Upon removing the old rad it was so rotten you could litrally put your finger all the way through with no effort.

Replaced for a new item.

After some reading and getting some advice i decided on cold air feed to airbox mod, to aid breathing a little, i swayed away from drilling the airbox as i wasnt bothered about the noise, just ditched the resonator thingy.

bit of ducting from B&Q later

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/dethstar/air1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/dethstar/air3.jpg

Then i moved house so progress was hampered.

[dethstar]

Until i got an OMP strut brace for christmas. All was great until the PAS pressure hose rubbed through against it, (thanks for all the help those that replied to my problem).

Having removed it i didn't like the design it looked like an afterthought.

out of Rack
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/dethstar/PASpipetopsm.jpg

Down inner wing
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/dethstar/PASpipeinnerwingsm.jpg

And along front crossmember
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/dethstar/PASpipefrontsm.jpg

where it rubbed
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/dethstar/PASfluid.jpg

and what it looks like off
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/dethstar/PASpressurepipe.jpg

Even though the cooling loop is there and im sure for a reason, me and the guy at a really good hydraulic hose place couldnt see any great value in it so i decided to get it done in flexible hose so i could choose the route. The guy cut the original fittings and soldered them to some universal fittings and gave
me the rest to put together myself.

Heres the lot (overbraid fits over the hose)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/dethstar/PAShose.jpg

and the fittings

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/dethstar/PASfittings.jpg

to be fitted at the weekend.

also found a whole load of rust behind the headlights to be fixed, which i need a non rainy weekend to, which is added to the list of new brake lines, brakes, rear wheel arches and back panels, still havent had the bottle to look under the skirts yet, drivers door pins.

The story unfolds further as the guy i bought it off said it hadnt been crashed but i found a minty looking parts sticker on the crossmember which brings me into doubt

[REMUS]

Nice work Dethstar, I find when ever you get a new car its a learning experiance. But you will also find that by doing this type of work service work yourself you will get to know the c20xe very well.

We always change the head gasket and cambelt when ever we get a new car, its just the safest way. A nice & clean GTE but if I where you I would dedicate a weekend or two and sort out all the little patchs of rust in the engine bay, it just makes the car so much more presentable.

[dethstar]

Nice work Dethstar, I find when ever you get a new car its a learning experiance. But you will also find that by doing this type of work service work yourself you will get to know the c20xe very well.

We always change the head gasket and cambelt when ever we get a new car, its just the safest way. A nice & clean GTE but if I where you I would dedicate a weekend or two and sort out all the little patchs of rust in the engine bay, it just makes the car so much more presentable.

I knew how the interior all came to bits since ive had a few mk2's to start with the engine was a steep curve.

Ive got the stuff to sort the rust it just keeps rainin on me whenever i start. Also gonna invest in a welder and grinder towards the summer, that will be learning.

Its just a matter of cash at the moment, i dont mind putting effort in, doing it in short bursts.

[dethstar]

That reminds me the head gasket looks like steel one id love to investigate inside to see the condition but have not the time or space.

i'll take a pic when i get chance.

[tomstickland]

I've enjoyed reading this. It's always a gradual process from buying a car and slowly sorting all the bits out until you know it inside out.

[george124uk]

well ure in the rite place theres always someone who knows how to to do ,or give you advice on how to go about sorting the problem out.good luck mate.
nice car

[Jon S]

braidied PAS line ,very posh , tidy

[dethstar]

braidied PAS line ,very posh , tidy

the word you are looking for is "cheap" looking good is just a bonus. function over form all the way, plus the braid will hamper any future rubbing through problems.

[Jon S]

yeah function over form i beleive in that, chrome bits n bobs is vain

[dethstar]

Pipe is in, also replaced all the pump mount bushes, one of the clips is a little lose on the hose but aside from that seems to work even better than before, without all the funny squeeky noises, pictures to follow when it stops snowing.

[dethstar]

Ok got round to doing some rust removeal at the weekend and took a pic of the PAS hose i made too.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/dethstar/pashose2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/dethstar/pashose3.jpg

Then i set about removing rust from the front panel.

Here she is with her naughty bits out

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/dethstar/nakedfront.jpg

[dethstar]

So im working on thje drivers side inner wing area as it looked pretty shite.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/dethstar/Showingrust.jpg

Then after a few hours and some bloody elbow grease back to the metal (went up the inner wing but didnt take photos of that).

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/dethstar/backtometal.jpg

Then i Krusted the lot

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/dethstar/krust.jpg

Also if your observant you'll notice some tape on the wiring loom i found a dodgy bit of wiring, and repaired.

Then tucked in for the night.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/dethstar/tuckedinforthenight.jpg

[dethstar]

Then zinc oxide

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/dethstar/primer.jpg

Then grey primer

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/dethstar/undercoat.jpg

two pictures look the same much? anyway my camera then knackered and didnt save photos of colour and clear coat. I did this more for practice than to make it look spanking good, as i hadnt done it before and thought this a good place to try it out, the colour match was off but i expected that. Learned quite a bit, and impressed myself.

more photos when i put the bumper back on later as i broke the bracket off i had to wait to get one today.

[Ian T]

What a pain that must've been to do! All those complex shapes!

When mine gets that bad I'll repeat the cut and weld I did on the sill. Looking good though, Love the colour! ;)

Ian.

[Kris]

Making some good progress dude ,nice to see it coming together .

[dethstar]

.....

[dethstar]

What a pain that must've been to do! All those complex shapes!

When mine gets that bad I'll repeat the cut and weld I did on the sill. Looking good though, Love the colour! ;)

Ian.


Thing is it was only surface rust after i cleaned it up, i wanted to catch it before it spread. Will do the other side soon.

Good spraying practice too, turned out well for a first go, shame the camera went funny and i didnt get the final spray job.

Im doing the list of jobs for the MOT now though so "doing up" is now taking a back seat to checking and fixing.



Making some good progress dude ,nice to see it coming together .

Yea feels good to get something done. Shame its such a long process.