I suppose its only fair I share my 16v GTE part restoration with you all

[BlackBox]

Re: I suppose its only fair I share my 16v GTE part restoration with you all

I wouldn't buy any strawberries from Tesco at any time of the year ... they have no taste, don't taste like strawberries anyway?

The rest can be frozen and still taste better

Anyway ..

[easytrans]

Re: I suppose its only fair I share my 16v GTE part restoration with you all

Sad but true there comes a time when you have to start thinking really hard to remember what car your are working on and when parts turn up what the hell you bought them for (of more's the case of what car!).

Anyway, these arrived today from Car Parts 4 Less £17 post free, and I'll think about fitting them in the near future (rear wheel bearing kits for the 16v) shame they don't provide a drop of grease as my pot lost the lid and ended up being used to paint on the horses feet to stop the snow balling in that bad weather. You remember all that snow?

So time to order some clean grease



Lucas ones too ... not that it means a hoot these days probably still made in China!

Laurie.

[DarrenH]

Re: I suppose its only fair I share my 16v GTE part restoration with you all

closer inspection might reveal timken though !

[easytrans]

Re: I suppose its only fair I share my 16v GTE part restoration with you all

closer inspection might reveal timken though !

Actually they are stamped Lucas, and still sit on my desk ... must remember to do them when I think about it

Anyway a little bit of work this afternoon on the 16v after spending the morning in the forest walking the dogs while Denise had a nice horse ride, though we discovered that the horse is just not happy in our old horse trailer and it was a 20 mph journey home as he just did not like right handed bends, Denise rode back in the trailer relaying his strange leaning behaviour via the intercom (Doh I feel a new horse box truck project coming on in the near future ) so we all arrived home basically hot a sweaty but unscathed anyway and surprise surprise the dog was not sick either (and that's a first too!) lol

]



So after lunch and a cold drink I decided as the brakes had been a bit lumpy (well juddery) last week and the wheels show lots of disk dust I thought it was time to fit the new disks and pads ......




Typical that the camera battery then went flat so I cracked on with fitting the disks and pads and though the old disks looked reasonable the pads were very tired and breaking up a bit ........ camera charged and ......





And the new Brembo disks and (12 year old) genuine GM pads ..........



Then I took the wheels to the tap and with Gunk and a good scrub followed by a pressure wash they cleaned up a bit .....







Had some really funky running this last week too and the old problem of needing to let it warm up a little before driving off or suffer the flat spot and worse in town when I let the foot of the throttle the rev's would sore up and take seconds to drop that was fun I must say so as a first test I got this .....

Temperature sensor ....


and fitted it in a jiffy .....





So next week I'll give it a run and bed in the disks and see what cold start is like but I suspect the TCV will need cleaning out as it really felt like the throttle was just not returning

So that was it for today ...........

Laurie.

[1800turbogte]

Re: I suppose its only fair I share my 16v GTE part restoration with you all

Nice to see the valver still gets some TLC, the wheels came up well

Chris

[Vinci]

Re: I suppose its only fair I share my 16v GTE part restoration with you all

It's not always only the car that catches my attention in your pictures, LMFAO!

[easytrans]

Re: I suppose its only fair I share my 16v GTE part restoration with you all

Nice to see the valver still gets some TLC, the wheels came up well

Chris

I wish I could find a source for the nylon dust disks that I'm sure were a 90's after-market item that sat between wheel and disk to stop all that crap building up on the wheels.

It's not always only the car that catches my attention in your pictures, LMFAO!

I try to keep it entertaining as love them as much as we do there is only so much one can stomach when it comes to reading about my mundane repairs ......

Speaking of mundane repairs .....

Last week I must have had a geriatric moment as soon after driving the car off the ramp I had the sound of metal on metal from the O/S front and guess what? ... I'd slipped a pad in backwards !!!! Yes really !!! I remember it dropping out as I offered the calliper up and quickly popped it back in and nipped up the calliper bolts ... even took a picture but totally missed it ... lol



Lots of shadow but if you look close you can just see it at the top of the calliper (if you know what your'e looking for.


So on to something really mundane. I had a couple of work colleagues over from Belgium for our project closing down meal and one passenger was not familiar with the seatbelt storage buttons and so I found a belt clip with the seat stud attached and a hole in the seat

So anyway an easy fix really with a piece of nylon thread and a needle .......



Used a small open ended spanner and a small screwdriver to gently pry the three-prong button backing clip off and then made a small hole in that clip and threaded some button thread through that small hole so it would not disappear into the seat never to be found again ....



I then popped the button clip and thread in through the hole and darned the hole with big'ish stitches to reduce the hole and stiffen it up a little ......



Finally once the hole was reduced I secured the thread (over darned) and then inserted the button while holding the button clip with the needle and another small spike (bradawl) through the fabric .....





Job done ......



So MEMO to self ... back seat is out-of-bounds until I release the belts from storage buttons

Finally spent an hour out in the heat washing the car down and cleaning the bloody wheels "again"!,

Just a bit of polish needed during next week and a hoover out and we are ready for the trip to Billing Friday evening (typical I opted out of camping again this year and booked the hotel back in January expecting rain again .. looks now like it will be a heat wave instead, ah well I guess I can look forward to Air-Con in my room ...... lol).

Laurie.

[gte 16v]

Re: I suppose its only fair I share my 16v GTE part restoration with you all

:respect:

And now he can sow as well, is there no end to this man's talent, lucky my missus don,t see this thread, my work load would go up tenfold.

I'm also a dab hand with a needle and thread after my army days, just don't tell the missus.

Nice work mate.

Paul.

[DarrenH]

Re: I suppose its only fair I share my 16v GTE part restoration with you all

ah man, my dad got in the back of the astra the other day and i heard that familiar CLAACCK of "i've just put all my body weight on your neatly secured seat belt clasp". luckily it slid sideways out of the clip, christ knows how these cars get to this age with them intact lol

good work on the seat repair after that !!

[Vinci]

Re: I suppose its only fair I share my 16v GTE part restoration with you all

Yes, on mine some catches have broken the housing where it slides in, so no cure other than to replace I'm afraid... Good work!

[easytrans]

Re: I suppose its only fair I share my 16v GTE part restoration with you all

:respect:

And now he can sow as well, is there no end to this man's talent, lucky my missus don,t see this thread, my work load would go up tenfold.

I'm also a dab hand with a needle and thread after my army days, just don't tell the missus.

Nice work mate.

Paul.

Well my dear old mum was a seamstress so its got'a be in my blood

ah man, my dad got in the back of the astra the other day and i heard that familiar CLAACCK of "i've just put all my body weight on your neatly secured seat belt clasp". luckily it slid sideways out of the clip, christ knows how these cars get to this age with them intact lol

good work on the seat repair after that !!

Yes indeed Darren I remember even back in the 90's I was always worried they would get torn out but they remained intact despite some serious overloading in the back in those days ...

I was thinking of adding a disk cut out of a Marge tub to spread the area (excuse the pun) but then thought of the stitching as being the best option.

Yes, on mine some catches have broken the housing where it slides in, so no cure other than to replace I'm afraid... Good work!

Are those rear belts unique to our models or can they still be found on newer motors? I guess they could be repaired / re-fabricated with a little bit of plastic welding work?

Thanks for comments all.

Laurie.

[Vinci]

Re: I suppose its only fair I share my 16v GTE part restoration with you all

Astra F and Astra G have the same kind, so shouldn't be too bad to get a new one...

[NormW]

Re: I suppose its only fair I share my 16v GTE part restoration with you all

Yes, on mine some catches have broken the housing where it slides in, so no cure other than to replace I'm afraid... Good work!

Had the same thing happen on my vectra, ham fisted idiot pulled it straight away from seat instead of sliding sideways. Broke the back of the housing and as you say no option other than to replace

[easytrans]

Re: I suppose its only fair I share my 16v GTE part restoration with you all

So following the run back from Billing yesterday I decided to pop the car on the hoist and change the gearbox oil ... Only because I can't remember doing it and I had a new diff cover gasket ready.

So I dropped the under-tray off and then whipped the bolts out and with a little tap the gasket seal allowed the oil to start draining, I was pleased to see that it was lovely and clean .

Anyway, once drained I gently wiped the inner casing with blue paper towel to remove the slight residue, washed off the diff cover, fitted the new gasket and bolted up.













I measured the old oil as I decanted it into my waste drum and there was 1.4 ltr so it was about 0.6 ltr down so worth doing (checking) anyway.

Also the bushes in the alternator bracket are a bit worn and hence the reason I had to adjust it at the weekend before leaving Billing and it was loose again today so I've ordered bushes, new alternator belt and the transmission fluid from the dealer (not all in stock so car is in limbo on the hoist for a couple of days till they have all the parts in).

Oh some may remember that the temp gauge had stopped between home and Billing Friday, but I unplugged and wiggled the terminal a bit and refitted before leaving Billing Sunday and its working fine so I probably disturbed it when I fitted the blue temp sensor last week. I'll fit a new spade terminal anyway while I'm about it.

BTW: the car ran a treat all the way home, roof open and a good breeze ..... The only disappointment was as I was reaching 70 on the A14 I noticed that I had not pocketed the little Billing 2013 plaque that Alan had left for me on the driver side wiper and as I slowed a bit to reach out and grab it, it took off and vanished over the top probably spinning in the MK2 vortices and probably it's now embedded in someone's tyre

To be continued ......

Laurie.

[1800turbogte]

Re: I suppose its only fair I share my 16v GTE part restoration with you all

Nice update Laurie, nice to see you again over the wk end. and thanks with the help with the dreaded tent

Chris