my new mk3 astra gsi...... turbo ;)

[rc]

took my down pipe/turbo support into work to smooth the edges and some of the welds off





re welded the top it cas who ever made the twin pipe made a bit of a bess of it lol perfectly functional, just bloody messy lol

before



after





got a four day weekend now with the bank holidays, and was really hoping to crack on with the astra, but the weathers not looking too hopefull!



but will try all the same

[Steve!]

weather is supa bad for this coming weekend, snow and warts

[rc]

went out this morning cold n blowing a gale



decided to make some breakfast to warm me up



fitted the downpipe and brack on for a line up





all looks good,
ive got a couple of lotus exeige exhausts that im gonna use ther corners and the joins as they're the right size!



ones got a sports cat too if anyones intrested

but didnt start on the exhaust today as decided i want to put a flexy in the down pipe so will have to get one of them first

did a bit of a swap with the dump valve hose, as my mates converting his corsa to LET at the mo and he's ruuning all red hoses, but got a blue dumpvalve pipe, and im running all blue hoses but got a red dumpvalve pipe, so we've swapped lol

red



to blue



started plumming it all in properly now, plummed in all the water pipes exept the radiator, did the heater matrix and header tank today, and plummed in the power steer returns too



plummed in the oil cooler just about, just need to know which is the feed and which is the return for the oil cooler so i can put my temp sender inline



anyone any ideas?

and then a monsoon started



so ive come in while it passes through!

[Gaz86]

the stat is in the left pipe if that helps?

how much you looking for the sports CAT? very interested if its cheap enough.

[The Simps]

getting close!

loving the slammed van.

[Benn]

Love that manifold.

[rc]

getting close!

loving the slammed van.

cheers simps, its got its own project thread on here, check it out!


carried on with the astra a bit this evenin, but me ol mum's on the computer at the mo so i'll have to upload them tomorrow!

[Steve!]

kick her off! lmao

[rc]

right, pics from last night as me mum was hogging the computer lol

started on the equil length shaft



i got it from the scrappy (9 quid wahoo) and at the time we didnt have a scocet deep engough for the hub nut, so we had to hacksaw the end off



so im just gonna swap the cv joint of the gsi shaft



not changed a cv joint for years

and i remember why - the mess lol



broken one off



gsi shaft



good cv off



and good cv on equil lengh shaft



and all painterd up of corse



then in a bit of a scool boy error i dismantled the hub last week to knick a bit for the van (scool boy error bit was the vans small block hubs lol) so had to replace the wheel bearing in the gsi now



new bearing in



who needs a bearing press pahh

hub in



and all painted up



then off to bed zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz


this morning i woke up and started again, checked the weather and was gale for 20,000 winds, but dry



started on polly bushing the new bottom arms!

new gm of corse



first had to get the old bushes out (couldnt buy them without buses unfortunatly)

but with no hydraulic press or oxy ceteline at mine had to improvise

best way i found was to hole cutter the rupper bush out



and then hack saw through the outer ring and bash out



hey presto



and then new bushes in, much easier



and did the other one the same



then went and got some lunch and a hair cut and came back to bright sunshine



fitted the bottom arm (fit in so much better than the pattern one)



got the drive shaft out of the airing cupboard nice and dry, and warm lol



and fitted





and got the leg on





looking like a car again (-ish lol)



not put the brakes on yet as im still waiting for a desision from another member! you know who you are lol

packed away as off out tonight!

will carry on tomorrow

[Adam]

fair play never seen such an in-depth thread like this! u defo kick my arse in taking pics AWARD! lmao brill matey brill!

[Melv]

Hoping for the brakes adapted from a certain Jap saloon off a fellow Scot by chance?

Top work Ronnie.

[astra16V2004]

good work ronnie!!!

[rc]

yea the reason for so many pictures is every pic means another break for me lol

and as for the brakes melv, you maybe on to something there lol

[dearing5]

good work matey

[Brian Stirrup]

Nice work there Ronnie. Just one observation though. You painted the front of the hub where the brake discs will sit, these are supposed to be totally flat and could cause brake and wheel vibration, especially with the brushed on paint.

I recon the paint will also cause the disc to becaome stuck on and impossible to remoe later.

[rc]

cheers brian, i'll bear that in mind!

[rc]

bit of a half day update as i'm tryin to have a bit of a warm up lol

woke up today to see christmas morning! great!





so fitted the bottom wishbone the other side



and got the otherside leg out



had left this all as one unit when i took it off, so fitted it all together too, very heavy n awakward on ya own, but got it all in



then got the steering arms out, with new track rod ends



and all fitted





the snows dampened down to a cold rain now



but its cold and wet so ive come in for a warm up lol

[Steve!]

lmao

I'm cold and I am indoors.

[Benn]

How come you dont have it in the garage?
Good work for such a cold day.

[Steve!]

You do know It's illegal having a Garage and using it for storing anything other than car related items

[rc]

How come you dont have it in the garage?
Good work for such a cold day.

the garage is a workshop, has been since i was born so dont have much say in the matter lol



used to be my dads hidy hole, till i got cars that is lol

and another reason why its not in there is which ever rocket scientist designed it, measured it out to be wide engouh to drive a car in there, but not open any of the doors

[Benn]

Ah i see, did wonder if that was the way. and some like my garage..

[astragsi]

looks like my garage and shed with all sorts of stuff (my dad thinks its his) although we have a pit and can get a car in when you can see the floor lol

car is coming along very well now

[Mark_F]

A good garage makes it so much more pleasureable to work on the car Ronnie, get on at the old man. I built my Mk2 in the rain and it was no fun.

Much better this time round:



(M3 was promptly kicked out.)



Can't wait to see what you have in store for the brakes. Big brakes do it for me.

[rc]

yea i am gonna start looking for a small workshop soon, just engough room to work comfortably working on the car! i'm sick and tired of years of working outside in the cold and rain and dark!