InsaneSwede's Astra MKI

[wkd astra van]

hi insaneswede,good job mate,do you think on throttle bodies is better than a single throttle body mate,and what different results are there between the 2 mate.
and anothere thing are the throttle bodies on a turbo engine good for circuit racing or for drag racing mate

[GeorgeGt]

With big cams , engine is a lot more civilized at low rpms with ITB`s.

[daddy cav]

Awesome as usual .

[InsaneSwede]

Starting up tomorrow =)

[InsaneSwede]

Update: I DID start it,,, but now it´s down in pieces again *lol*

The problem: one of the pianowires in headgasket failed, somehow the head didn´t seal completely so i filled the oilpan with water.
The engine was just running for about a minute on 2000rpm.
Lucky me i never use antifreeze in my racingengines.

first impressions: engine needed a LOT less fuel to start. and it ran much smoother.

but now there will be a paus, i need to work on some Audi heads and Saab heads.
As i´m about to buy a dog:


Not the actual one on the pic, but one just like it

[GeorgeGt]

Good to hear its works , and that little leak is only a minor setback. And big cams and ITB`s , damn they can idle like a s-class merc

[sbd16vastra]

i cannot for the life of me understand how an engine that is running lumpy because of the cams can be cured by changing to itb's

[GeorgeGt]

Try it yourself if you dont belive

[sbd16vastra]

Try it yourself if you dont belive

i wont ever have the need for that lumpy a cam as i dont want more than 400bhp

but id love an explanation of why it works

[GeorgeGt]

Dont know hot explain this , mabye Insane can. But thats the thing i noticed too with messing with warious intake plenum setups and itb`s. 4 litre irmcher engine idled quieter at 600rpm and 3" exhaust , 288cams with 12.5 lift solids , than it did in stock form in senator , and damn smoooooth.And driveability was improved a lot. And power at WOT remained pretty much same when comparing plenum vs itb`s, only improvement probably came from headwork and bigger diameter runners.

[InsaneSwede]

Yes,, just a minor setback,, one have to calculate with this when putting special parts together, no problemo.

and why it runs smoother,, easy.
You get isolated pulses. in one throttle inlets you get pulses messing around and disturbing the other cylinder.
Especially with big cams as the opentimes are longer.

[Gary_808]

just one quick question reguarding the adapter plate you made up for the toyota box,
did you copy the toyota bell housing flange, then make it so it picked up vaux mounting holes?
or have you got a drawing/pattern for another one?
just sourcing a box and transfer box to have ago at using them

[InsaneSwede]

somthing like copying on a wooden plate.
never had any drawing.

just bear in mind that toyo gearbox is very wide, to have some steeringright ability left you have to move whole package to the right as possible and modify the lid on gearbox for clearing for left wheel.
and inside the lid there are a small guide to control oilflow, little bit tricky to modify.

You know,, the toyobox has built in oilpump,, cool thing actually =)

[InsaneSwede]

also i have received my head from machineshop.
might be putting it togehter again in a few days.

[Gary_808]

somthing like copying on a wooden plate.
never had any drawing.

just bear in mind that toyo gearbox is very wide, to have some steeringright ability left you have to move whole package to the right as possible and modify the lid on gearbox for clearing for left wheel.
and inside the lid there are a small guide to control oilflow, little bit tricky to modify.

You know,, the toyobox has built in oilpump,, cool thing actually =)

lol how much did you move it over in the astra?

slightly worring as i want to shoe horn it into a corsa :|

thanks for the info

[InsaneSwede]

been adjusting little bit on compression ratio.
it was 11-1
I´m going to run 10.5-1 again.
i can always rise it again taking a spacer away from headgasket.

I´m chickening out *lol*

[jnthn]

i really loved your thread mate, i woke up at 3am as i couldn't sleep now it 7.30am and i just finished reading it. i really loved it, it a shame we didn't see some drag times as at that hp i think it should run low 10s high 9s. did you change the standard valve seats to put in the bigger valves?? also how much bigger are the valves apposed to standard ones, for example 2mm intake 2mm exhaust?? (wkd astra van) is building my engine he ran 10.9seconds quarter mile in his mk3 astra van. also i'm intending to run 9:1 compression c20let with garrett gt3582r .82ar. what cams best to use?

[InsaneSwede]

Hello Jnthn.

glad it inspired you to read for hurs
Yes it should be able to run in the high 9ths area.
but the setup on the car is more capable of running round and round, straight forward isn´t the car´s main purpose.

I got 34.5mm on inlet and 31mm on outlet.
and it´s very very tight, but one can use std seats.

Camshafts is hard to recoemnd, i say the main thing that decides the camshafts is the turbo.
but mild one´s with great lift is always a winner.

Rgds

[jnthn]

thanks mate really looking forward to see you astra up and running. what i really admire is the times you took off the engine or the head during the project, i believe more than 7times, and what you do is always something pushing the vauxhall scene forward. here in malta the same cossies and evos are the most tuned engines though we have quiet some fast hondas and wkd astra van mk3
YouTube - honda civic malta -- honda civic
YouTube - Cosworth Monte @ Halfar raceway -- wkd astra van

thanks a lot and hope to see some more english people investing so much money in the vauxhall scene. tc and happy christmas

[InsaneSwede]

Cool astravan =)

tody i have been mounting things together again.
tested compression:

'dry' cylinders
1 - 12.0bar
2 - 12.5
3 - 12.5
4 - 12.0

'three pumps on oilcan into each cylinder'

1 - 14.5bar
2 - 14.5
3 - 14.5
4 - 14.5

as my pistonrings aren´t run in yet this rise of compressionpressure is totally normal.
the cool thing was the even scores.

Startup tomorrow perhaps.

Rgds

[corsakid]

good work patrick

[joe joe]

hey mate
i've just spent the last few hours reading this all and i gotta say your work is amazing
you truely are insane and i love it
keep up the good work

[InsaneSwede]

started engine again today.
this time no problems.

and FOCK!! how smooth the engine runs with new inlet.
before i couldn´t idle at 1600rpm had to be around 1700-1800.
now with some fast adjust in map the engine ran silksmooth at 1100rpm

[corsakid]

well done

[InsaneSwede]

just a ****video, was meant for mms on phone.
YouTube - 2010-1.mp4

sound is distorting and resolution is crap..
but it´s a sign of life

In the clip it idles at 1100rpm and very low on Voltage in battery so the fuelpumps didn´t perform like it should.
this means the fuelpressure is lower,closed loop gains fuel, but bad spray.
this ends up in a little bit of shaky idle.
I promise,, when correct voltage the engine runs silksmooth at 900rpm
really cool for my nasty 272cams(0.05")

Edit:
the metal rattle you can hear is my 2disc sachs racing clutch.