Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

GTE valver fast road/track car project

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • I thought it was about time I gave my Astra some loving having not been used since Sep 2021. The bonnet was showing signs of paint wear so I booked it in with my local painter in Nov last year. The damage is hard to picture but it started like this with a worn patch, yellowing blemishes and a scratch on the front edge.







    I then removed it and stripped all the hardware attached to the bonnet before tucking the car back under its cover.







    Popped over to see progress and was greeted with lovely fresh glacier white paint.



    Collected the bonnet and the finish was perfect.



    The bonnet was then left in my garage as I didn’t get chance to refit until earlier this month so all the hardware was cleaned up and refitted prior to bolting it back on.



    Hardest part was getting the new Griffin sticker perfectly centred and 17mm up from the lower edge for anyone doing the same according to TIS documentation.



    All finished and I’m very happy to repot its ready for some fun time later this year.



    Huge thanks to Ben at Fleets Ahead, top job as always. They specialise in smart repairs but are more than willing to do my kind of job.

    Comment


    • I dug the GTE out of its hibernation last month and give it the once over prior to an MOT as I thought I’d do some uncomfortable road miles in it this year.



      It fired up lovely so I got it up to temp and checked for leaks, fuel pressure was bang on, temps and other pressures were good and no elec gremlins but more on that later.




      MOT was a pass so good to go for 2023.



      Coming back from the MOT the speedo decided it wanted to display KPH only which isn’t useful when you’re in the UK and it’s MPH. I stripped the dash and cleaned the contacts as it had 15+ years of dust which wasn’t very pretty. Had the same issue on another car years back so knew exactly what required fixing.



      Bench tested and it was working fine when MPH was selected via a twist clockwise of the odometer reset push button and KPH anticlockwise.



      Scooted over to see a mate the other evening and MPH were working lovely meaning all sorted.


      The GTE has a couple of niggly dents plus loads on the roof skin, been there years so through it was about time I had them fixed. If you squint you can see them but very hard to picture.




      I contacted Dean at Speedy Dent Repairs who waved his magic spoons and pure skill then banished them to the bin of no return. As you can imagine his van was dent free as was my GTE when he’d finished!


      Comment


      • total convert to PDR now (well admiration at the skill of it!)

        Comment


        • I had the GTE out on circuit a few weeks ago on 3rd June and as it had been a while I thought Blyton Park would be a nice place to dip my toes again. A couple of mates joined me with a GBS and Nova and we all had a great day with no major issues, although I discovered a problem late morning but still made the whole day.

          Unloading the cars after the wife and I erected our huge event shelter, good job as the sun was intense the whole day.


          A few Pro pics which are all free from Javelin Trackdays.


          Now back to my problem on the day. I found my clutch folk lever was fractured so when I pressed the clutch pedal the cable was pulling less and less on the level as it was bending to the clutch pressure plate wasn’t releasing the clutch to allow smooth gear changes. A temp track side fix was applied, I’m sure you’ll like it, which just lasted the day after a few cable shortening tweaks to give a greater pull.


          After getting home I checked the clutch fork level with the yellow arrow clearly showing the fracture/split with the red line showing the straight path it should be following if it hadn’t happened.



          I formulated a plan for a proper fix and a few days later started work. Luckily the F20 Vauxhall transmission has a lower cover plate which allows access to change a clutch without box removal by pulling the input shaft. Removing the cover plate allowed me access to the clutch folk lever bolt but not enough room to remove the bolt in full. I opted to split the engine and box without removing either as it was less hassle and I figured just enough room to do it.


          The bolt that needs removing to take the clutch level out.


          A while later after removing 20+ other bolts I had just enough wiggle room so out came the clutch level.




          After straightening the fracture I noted it was nearly the whole width and had fractured on the opposite side so decided to replace and not repair.


          I luckily had a spare box so robbed the lever off that.


          As you can see in the above pic the fractured lever had already been plated by a previous owner but they didn’t plate the whole length which would have stopped the split. I decided to make an insert and plate the whole thing tying into the rear of the fork section where the cable attaches.



          A whole later with the MIG welder on full power I had created this Frankenstein never to break again.


          A clean up with the flap disc, a few layers of etch primer and satin black and I boshed it on and bolted everything back together. A pleasing job but not something I really wanted to be doing.


          Just as I was packing up from fixing the clutch issue I noted this in the drivers footwell.


          Did you guess it?…the heater matrix had developed a leak. Alas, it had lasted 32 years so can’t complain. As most of the interior is already stripped out it only took me about 5 mins to remove it. I decided to double check it was actually leaking and spliced together a pressure tester using my Ryobi inflator.


          It was a wee teey hole but bubbles were coming from the matrix and after chatting with a local specialist he informed me this type wasn’t repairable, oh dear.


          At this point I opted to go hardcore and matrixless as I only use the car in Summer months and it’s weight saving lol. Blanked off the holes inside and refitted the lower covers.


          Purchased proper silicone bungs and trimmed them to length as they come overlong.


          Feed to the matrix from the head and feed from the matrix to the rear water bar both bunged. Doing so has no effect on the engine cooling and simply stops the flow and return to/from the heater matrix.


          While I was at it I replaced the front fog to air filter cold air feeds with brand new dusting as I found some splits on the old stuff.


          Fully road tested and once again I’m pleased to report all is good and happy in GTEland.


          Comment


          • After installing the Astra GTE coolant bungs to bypass the heater matrix I had an idea to tidy up a couple of other fittings on the GTE so ordered 6mm and 10mm non-reinforced silicone bungs. First was the 10mm which is a vacuum take-off on the cylinder 4 throttle body for servo assist brakes which I don’t have due to the pedal box setup that I use. It looked like this before I started.

            Next job was to trim the new bung to length as they come with plenty of extra.

            Fitted and looking tidier. I suppose I could just buy a grub screw fitting to blank it properly but it’s not in the way as it is.

            Next bung was the ikle 6mm ID engine breather which started like this.

            New silicone bung trimmed.

            Fitted and way neater, it's the little touches that make me happy

            Comment


            • I booked a couple of Javelin track days earlier this year and after completing Blyton Park in June see here with my clutch lever issues I was determined to enjoy my second instalment at Donington Park a few weeks ago.

              Hitched and ready for the 30 min drive to the DP circuit.


              I didn’t bother booking a pitlane garage having rolled the dice that the weather was going to be kind and it was perfect so grabbed a spot in the pits.

              After two red flags in less than an hour of the circuit being opened, caused by the ‘pro’ racers testing I finally got everything up to temp and really enjoyed my day. Here’s a couple of snaps the wife took on her mobile.


              These are some of the Javelin free pics that you can download from their Flickr site.






              With only a dodgy starter motor to report I loaded the GTE and headed the short tow home.

              Once home I checked the sump and it must be self-healing as the previous weep was no more…WTF

              I also gave the engine a visual once over and noticed the brake booster vac feed was missing its silicone bung which I spotted hiding next to the speedo drive. It must have popped off during the track day but I hadn’t noticed.


              A week later I fixed the inlet manifold brake vac feed properly with a 1/8NTP threaded brass bung.

              Thread locked in place and job done.

              Comment


              • As I mentioned at the end of my last post my 20 ish year old Brise starter was causing me a few headaches at Donny as it simply refused to work, even after a whack, then it was suddenly fine again. It had been playing up for a while but normally works after a gentle tap but enough was enough so it got removed for good.


                I toyed with the idea of refurbing the Brise but after contacting a few firms and Brise themselves it wasn’t a viable option. Then I thought I’d replace it with a stock OE starter but then again……after researching I bit the bullet and purchased a Wosp LMS086 which is exactly the same unit as the Powerlight RAC471. Managed to get a cracking no brainer deal through Demon Tweeks who had the Wosp starters on discount.


                Free sticker and chewy tasteless green sweets (warning: packaging is not for consumption!)


                The beauty inside the box, yummy, useful and not at all annoying like normal Wasps.


                My curiosity got the better of me so I weighed the Brise 3.1kg and Wosp 3.7kg for comparison. Looks like I’ll have to cutdown eating Haribo and shed 600g to equal things out, noooooooooo.



                I trial fitted and spun the starter on its fixing plate for a neater fit as they offer a useful multiple hole mount, then thread locked the bolts and torqued to 10Nm as they were only M6.



                Next was to make and adaptor loom from an old battery cable so I didn’t need to cut the factory loom on the car.



                All done and working as expected, should it last as long as the old Brise starter I’ll be very happy indeed.


                Another minor annoyance after swapping over to my road wheels post Donny track day while I torqued my last wheel nut this happened grrrr, a stud snapped!



                As they are pressed in from the rear the hub flange must come out which means you need to replace the wheel bearing, what a pain.


                A short time later the offender was removed along with the other three studs as there was no point just replacing the one.



                New Febi wheel bearing installed.



                The four new studs and hub flange were pressed in using my extremely versatile Record 35 vice.



                Strut, brake and wheel refitted prior to a nervous wheel nut torque, nothing to see here and all now fixed.


                Comment


                • Good work with the Wheel Studs Harvey, don't know where the hell you sourced them, but a top drawer repair. As you said, a good old school bench vice is good for pressing in most car size studs and Bearings.
                  Pressing the old ones out is always harder but you managed it no problem.

                  Love the track day photos BTW,,

                  Comment


                  • Originally posted by AndyGee View Post
                    Good work with the Wheel Studs Harvey, don't know where the hell you sourced them, but a top drawer repair.
                    The front wheel studs are from Grayston Engineering click me who supply the majority of motorsport outlets in the UK with wheel fixtures. My front press fit studs are model SS39 and rears SS38, you need to drill a 14mm hole to accept these studs. My wheel nuts are the SNA15P black aluminium open head see here.

                    Comment


                    • Popped up to a local car meet the other week at the GBS factory. Decent meet and lots of funky cars there including my GTE and mates Nova.



                      Mates very shiny GBS with a Duratec lump (RH of pic)




                      Even gave the old girl a bath when I got home



                      After stripping the GTE heater matrix and pipework out I was left with this monstrosity in the engine bay holding just the clutch cable, I thought I can do better than that so…


                      I found I had a genuine clutch cable holding device pre-painted that never got used on the Astra mk3 V6, perfect I thought.



                      Now doesn’t that look much better and no more scratched limbs when poking about in there.



                      Comment


                      • So peeps, things just happened and I’m no longer the custodian of my GTE having now sold it. As part of the sale I agreed to deliver and last Saturday morning was greeted to this awaiting it’s final road trip with me after 19 years 5 months and 1 week of ownership.



                        The new owner seems very happy with it and I’m sure will put their spin (not literally I hope) on things so all the best as I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time with the car. I now have a space to fill but haven’t yet found what I’m looking for.


                        Comment


                        • At some point in life you have to do what you think is right, hope its gone to a good home and the new owner enjoys it as much as you have done

                          Comment


                          • forbidden !

                            honestly didnt think i would see the day
                            Last edited by DarrenH; 18-10-2023, 10:28 PM.

                            Comment



                            • Well, replacing wheel bearings is a moderately complex task that requires some mechanical knowledge and specific tools. However, it can be done at home with careful planning and execution.​

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X