Matt's Coupe Turbo

mattcoupturbo · 23-12-2007, 19:15

Right nothing major or breath takingly awesome modifying within this, but i thought i would stick a little history of my coupe up, have quite a few pics, plus i still have a few things planned for it.

Picked it up in Autumn 2005 from the Vaux dealer in Cardiff. Was my present to myself for finally getting rid of my mental ex missus. I don't have any pics of it in its completely standard guise, but it pretty much looked like any other star silver coupe turbo. Was drawn to this particular one as i loved the interior. Here's the earliest picture i have of it......

As you can see its been lowered, this was one of the first things i did, mainly because as standard the coupe suspension is comparative to that of farmer giles's tractor. So was helped no end by the addition of some FK automotive coilovers. Unfortunately the only picture i have of them in situ is of them in a very rusty state a bit later on.....

Around this time i had a few other things fitted too, went down to regal to have a phase one map flashed on, they also fitted a Kmac rear anti roll bar and a new downpipe to replace the front catalitic convertor. They also raised the front of the coupe a bit as it wasn't right, too low. Also had a Powerflow exhaust fitted. Only pic i have is of the arb in its current form.....

Although doing this has reminded me to sort it rusty arse out

. I was also getting a bit of a fetish for shiney stuff at this stage so hence this happened.......

I also had my new alpine headunit at this time, plus i got a good deal on some screens so thought wtf....

After buffing the engine up a few times i got sick of the elbow ache so thought it would look better in its original black/silver guise.....

Hadn't bothered to change the water hoses back to black at this stage mind. I also fitted a X20XEV air box too. Fitted some blue led's to the dash and switches too....

The gauges you see on the dash have since been replaced with an Innovate AFR gauge and a SPA Design dual oil pressure/temp gauge. I then went on a bit of a jaunt to Courtenays as i was having problem with my clutch, turned out to be the release bearing was shot, so a new one was promptly fitted. They also fitted my fmic, which was a bit of a bitch of a job as it turned out to be a prototype for a zafira so wasn't exactly the best fit. While the gearbox was out it was rude not to fit a better clutch, so one of their ones was chucked in, along with a lightened flywheel as that also would have also been terribly rude. Also got myself a 200 cell sports cat too, so all was well at this point. Shortly after this, i got it all rubbed up with some of megs finest putty and gave her a good polish and wax, then went down my local park to show it off

.....

Things pottered along nicely, i added a oil catch tank to my breather system.....

Also started to make a monaro guage holder blended into the top of a centre console (this is still an on going thing even now)....

Decided to cut the slat on my front bumper too, open it up a little bit....

Then decided to re fit my front strut brace, but wanted it black rather than silver so got the mat black rattle cans out and gave it a spruce before refitting it, also did the catch tank to....

Again still hadn't changed the hoses back. My mate gave me a hand as my sump was seriously rusty, due to catching it in its previously very low state. Also threw on a front engine poly bush to get things a bit stiffer, ow er missus. Around this time as well somebody hit my rear bumper and when it got resprayed i had the irmscher spats fitted onto it.

As for 2007 the car was mainly on my parents drive as i was deployed out to Iraq, which was a barrel of laughs. But have finally changed the hoses for black ones, whilst also adding a star silver rocker cover....

I also did a little mod to get rid a known problem in the loom of Z20 LET's, as mine was idle funny. Came down to this bad earth point which simply needed replacing....

The bit of chunky red cable is my replacement, obviously didn't need to be so big. Here's the most recent pic of it parked up on my parents drive....

Future plans are to fit heated seat pads to the inside, im attempting to retro fit them to the rear seats, will bring that up soon when the pads arrive from Autovaux, most likely in the new year. Also will at some point fit a VXR turbo and get it remapped, hopefully going to go to Motorsport developments in Blackpool to have that done.

**Benn** · 23-12-2007, 19:24

mmmmmm i love those seats, Does look very nice.

**RobJenko** · 23-12-2007, 19:44

i love matts coupe it is very nice in the metal! goes like **** off a shovel too!

***Andy_L*** · 24-12-2007, 20:36

Looks good chap.

300 brake for 2008??

mattcoupturbo · 27-12-2007, 12:34

Maybe not that high, new gearbox is the first thing major as the turbo is still going strong. Got a spare one in my locker in work, that going to be going to CTS (www.gearboxman.co.uk) for a going over, including a buff and polish of the gears.

mattcoupturbo · 27-12-2007, 14:56

(Thought i would add this)

A while ago i bought a sandwich plate with the intention of fitting oil temperature and oil pressure sensors. When i got round to doing this, i had it all fitted but wasn't happy with the way the sensors stuck out near the driveshaft and the fact the oil filter was so close to the wishbone. So whilst i had my head under there i decided to brainstorm.

Just behind the oil filter you have the pipes that run to the oil cooler underneath the inlet manifold. Thought that would make a nice little spot. So removed the plug and tried it up to the pressure sensor and it all looked good, so re fitted.

Then i went to an engineers shop and had them drill and tap a hole suitable for the pressure sensor, this cost me a couple of quid, winner. Turns out the size of the sender was exactly the same as the internal diameter of the plug, again winner.

So got round to fitting it tonight, here's the old plug....

and here's the new one with the hole in it, its a bit out of focus but you get the idea.......

Piping with plug removed....

and new plug tightened up nicely in there....

And here's the sensor in and all secure....

The wire is secured all the way up so's not to clip the belt or alternator pulley.

I can appreciate that the sensor is small than most other varients but this may be an option for other people and is actually cheaper than buying a sandwich plate. Im afraid i don't have any pics of the temp sensor in the block but i will try and get some up some time.

kyle_sxi · 27-12-2007, 20:04

loving the coupe matt you wanna sell the interior

mattcoupturbo · 27-12-2007, 20:54

Erm............ nah

mattcoupturbo · 08-01-2008, 12:28

Happy days today as my heated seat pads turned up from autovaux today, nothing like next day delivery

....

Im also trying to de rust this so i can respray it in black, was looking horrible being the onyl rusty thing in my engine bay....

Will update the rear seat situation as i go, need to go to my local breakers to get some plugs from under some of their mk4's and then i can get wiring them in.

Nemesis · 08-01-2008, 13:24

I have a couple of spare Vaux heated seat switches (Calibra) if they are any use to you? Pay postage and they're yours boss.

andyj775 · 08-01-2008, 13:47

''Picked it up in Autumn 2005 from the Vaux dealer in Cardiff. Was my present to myself for finally getting rid of my mental ex missus.''

i did exactly the same thing when i bought my sri turbo! no regrets now though!!!
looks good mate, really like the intercooler too.

mattcoupturbo · 08-01-2008, 14:02

Already have the switches cheers ben.

mattcoupturbo · 15-01-2008, 17:11

Right got up early today, well i say early, 8:30am, so that i could do a little bit of work on the car. Bought some reversing sensors a week or so ago along with a scangauge off ebay.

So today was the day they got fitted. Thankfully despite an intial downpour the rain held off.
First thing i did was give it a test in roughly the postion they were going to be fitted...

All was good so then it was time to take the bumper off, was bit of a ball ache doing it on my own but got it done....

Then i measured the length of the black gap that runs down the bumper, came out to roughly 42 inches which was spot on so could gap them 14 inches apart. Bit of fiddly marking and measuring and a session with the drill they were done....

Bit more fiddling and the bumper was back on, i ran the wires through the grommet that the number plate wire comes through. Time to start on the scan gauge, lot less involved but had some sanding to do as i wanted to fit into my ashtray as that way it could be concealed when not using it and revealed when i did.....

At this point it decided to absoltely p*ss it down so had to chuck everything in quickly before getting too wet, so didn't finish everything, will have to do that tommorrow. Everything works though which is cool. Will update this with more pics tommorrow too.

Fow16v · 15-01-2008, 17:54

looking good mate like the way that the bumper was made to convienetly hide the reverse sensors lol.

donvaux · 15-01-2008, 17:56

yeh as fow said purpose built i'd say

good work matt that rain was a bit mad today i was only in it for seconds and i was soaked through bloody weather lol

AK_LET · 15-01-2008, 18:07

All it needs is a GSI front bumer

mattcoupturbo · 15-01-2008, 18:22

I still had half my boot lining apart when it hit so got properly soaked, funking torrential.

**Benn** · 15-01-2008, 18:40

Looks good dude, and the beeping will drive you mad soon!

mattcoupturbo · 15-01-2008, 21:34

forgot to mention i have a VXR turbo on the way now too, should be a bit better than my old one thats coughing and wheezing its last breaths.

Bazza_84 · 16-01-2008, 00:37

how much were the heated seat pads, are the universal vaux fit?

mattcoupturbo · 16-01-2008, 00:40

Around £34 for the base and £20 for the back. Not what other seats they would fit but yu can trim them if neccesary as the actual heating element within them is very small.

mattcoupturbo · 16-01-2008, 17:27

Right, rain finally stopped at 2pm allowing to finish what i started yesturday. I didn't get to finish the wiring of my scan gauge or my parking sensors so everything was left in a bit of a mess as you can see......

It was only when i took the lower dash apart yesturday that i realised what mess the various wires were down there from things i had added like my gauges. So quick session with the black tape tidied that lot all up....

Didn't get a chance yesturday to show how the reverse parking stuff was wired in, very simple, just snipped the reverse light wire and soldered it back together with the parking sensor wire attached, like so.....

As you can see i am using one of the rear light clamps as my earth, have sanded the paint down around the hole and use the clamp to hold the ring connector to it. Here's a pic of were i mounted the speaker, had room as i had moved my obd port to attach the scangauge plug......

Regards the scangauge, sorted that out today as well, needed to remove a bit more of the back to allow the wire to move freely as the tray opens, once that was done it slide in fine....

Once that was done i put everything back together after a damn good hoovering, here's a shot of the scangauge inside the dash....

My mum had recently bought some dry shampoo for our alacantara sofa off ebay, this stuff....

So figured whilst im giving the inside a hoover i might as well clean my seats as they were starting to get a litte grubby. This stuff was a right pain to apply as it was powdery and went everywhere when i was rubbing it into the back rest part of the seats. 20 min alter and another hoover and it was looking rather tasty if i don't mind saying so myself

Happy as larry its all sorted only thing left to do is get some more black tape to tidy the reverse sensor wires up as i ran out.

Fow16v · 16-01-2008, 17:45

looks real good, lovely looking car and the best interior availible imo, always fancied a mk4 coupe

mattcoupturbo · 21-01-2008, 12:12

These arrived this morning, brand new VXR turbo....

And an autoleads steering adaptor so i can finally use my steering controls with my alpine stereo...

Last of the spending for a little while, got to save up for the remap before i fit the turbo.

donvaux · 21-01-2008, 16:42

lovely looking turbo there mate is it a straight swap??