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About LinkBacksLooks like a real weapon
Very nice
Looks like a real weapon
Very nice
SVA was really harmless. I had a very small list of stuff to sort out. Mainly covering some edges that were deemed sharp. I went back for a retest a week later and it passed on everything. But, just as the tester was about to finish the handbrake cable snapped.Originally Posted by Harvey
Gutted! It was pouring with rain and it was a 200 mile round trip only to fail on a dodgy part!
On further investigation I found that the cable wasn't the issue - it snapped because of a dodgy caliper so I've been sat around waiting for a new set to arrive. They've literally just turned up so I'm going to stick them on tonight and get the damn thing re-tested asap.
Not so bad then Neil.
Looks like they need a bigger depot at SVA though, can barely swing a cat by the looks of it!
it's a C20XE not a fookin Redtop FFS
Sounds like its getting there neil, turbo time soon?
Back in the scene
Definately. I was pretty unimpressed with the speed of the car TBH. Off the line it's amazing but once you're moving it doesn't seem anywhere as near as fast as the Astra used to be. Also the gearbox is in trouble - 4th is a real pig so the engine will have to come out soon anyway... might as well just chuck the LET back in at that point.
Is the roll bar padding staying on?
it's a C20XE not a fookin Redtop FFS
No - but the rollbar needs re-powder-coating though so it's staying on until I have an excuse to pull the bar back off. I have a nasty habit of using the rollbar as a ladder and standing on it to get access to the storage space above the garage so I've made a right mess of it. I have a 'petty strut' that runs from the middle of the rollbar to down between the passengers knees. It looks pretty racey but would never get through the SVA.
Awesome project, loving the thought that has gone into it, loads of nice details. hope to see it in the flesh one day soon.
if it don't scrub...... it ain't low enough!!!
just gave myself a recap and read all the way through! very good attention to detail all round!
will be using your throttle body guide in my next project
Hi Neil,
Sorry to hear of the grief.... so close and all that!
Re the gearbox... Mine is like stiring a bucket of bricks when cold and crunches like a good-un. Ive been looking at the re-build kits on ebay and fancy having a go at re-building it myself. Have you any idea if the kits on ebay are any good?
Cheers
Mark
No idea Mark but I was thinking the same myself. I'll probably buy a new box for the moment but will rebuild the existing one too and learn a bit about gearboxes in the process... how hard can it be lol.
Replacement calipers arrived yesterday but without any of the fixings I had sent back... now I've got to sit around and wait for them to turn up...
Finally got the car road-legal on Friday.
The day almost went completely pair shaped. I noticed the battery wasn't charging just as I was about to set off for the SVA retest. I found the trigger wire on the alternator had come loose so stupidly reconnected it while the car was still running.
The dash, brake lights & indicators were taken out and I spent the best part of an hour getting to the fuse under the dash.
Anyway, the SVA guy was happy with the modifications I made so gave me my SVA certificate. I decided to stop by the DVLA local office on my way home and they were unbelievably helpful. They inspected the car and told me to come back in a few hours with my ID and they'd have my registration number ready for me (this usually takes a fortnight to arrange) - sure enough I returned a few hours ago and I got my '08 plate and Road Tax.
I've been really lucky with the weather all weekend so I've had a good chance to play with it. I even convinced the wife to come for a drive in it earlier today. She took some shots of the car for me too.
It doesn't feel too quick to me (I guess that's because I've been used to turbo'd cars), and so the LET will follow as soon as I can get some time to do it. The gearbox also doesn't like 4th at all which is particularly annoying. Besides that it's insane fun. You can get the back end flicking out when you want, but there's incredible grip through the bends when you feel like being sensible.
Sounds great Neil! Glad it's SVA'd, that was what put me off a few years ago! lmao
www.shonkyopels.de
Get the turbo in!
Looks great though Neil.
Back in the scene
Looking good squire, get that turbo lump in asap!
Oh btw, your wife has an eye for photography...
Ginge
www.virtualseason.net For all your sports streaming needs
Congrats. Now time to enjoy the Summer!
Love it!
good timing, summer is here!
awsome youve done a superb job there.
www.wix.com/vxlgsi/zxr-750-r
The run of wet and miserable weather has given me an opportunity to pull the engine and gearbox out. The 3rd and 4th syncros seem to have gone which is really limiting my enjoyment of the car.
There was also an issue with the way I used just 2 inlet ports to draw a vacuum for the map sensor. It wasn't strong enough, which will obviously prevent the car from being mapped properly when it's running the turbo. To rectify this I tapped in 2 additional take-offs into the outer 2 ports.
Seeing as the engine and box are out for a couple of weeks, now would also be a good time to think about moving forward with the engine setup. Up until now the car has been running a bog-standard XE on TBs to see it through the SVA test. The intention has always been to drop my heavilly modified LET into it. Chip suggested an intermediate setup of simply turbo-charging the XE, which makes a lot of sense. I tussled with the options for some time and finaly dicided to pull the LET out of hibernation.
The XE was built using my LET's dizzy and leads, flywheel and clutch setup, exhaust manifold, alternator and pulley, crank breather and dipstick, Oil sensors, as well as having the shallow sump which all needed moving back over to the LET
The turbo then needed to be modified slightly to shuffle the actuator out of the position the crank case breather wants to be. The result is a turbo that fits nicely in position.
I need to shorten the oil return line, buy an adaptor for the oil feed line and move the flywheel and clutch over and then when the gearbox comes back I can drop it all back in.
sweeet, should be great fun
i miss my vauxhalls breaking down
Can't wait to see this one finished. It'll fantastic at shreading tyres I suspect...
Clicky link for the longest (11 years and counting) rebuild thread..
Chip says..Bunch of jokers the lot of them, wouldnt know a good map if you stuffed an AA road atlas of great britain up their arse and set fire to it..
I've not seen this thread for ages, so i'm well impressed.
Last time i read it you were just putting the XE in to pass the sva, whilst it was just a frame.
Paid up member of the TXT SPK Prevention Society!!
Does look great Neil. Glad to hear you have been out & about in it.
Will be funkin daft with a big spec LET. Looking forward to reading about it.
it's a C20XE not a fookin Redtop FFS
Thats stunning and will be a weapon with the LET.Whatl be the 0-60??About 3secs??
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