Purchased the car back in February to replace my Astra GSI P1 LET as due to a job change i had to get rid of it. Me and a mate drove up to Newcastle and picked up this 1997 Astra GSI Ltd Ed in Diamond Black. Fantasic car with the only rust being on the boot, 54k on the clock and working aircon all for absolute steal
.
I havnt had time to do much to the car bar some phase 1 mirrors rigged up and working, but have been gathering parts over the months like lowere kit ect till i decided when to rip out the ecowreck and drop another lump in.
Well after i blew it up on the motorway due to oil pump failure then i have no excuses not to drop one of the lumps in lol.
Im going for a V6 with f28 to start with as it keeps me mobile and gives me more time to build the 300bhp+ LET i have gathering dust in the garage.
Got a nice 68k v6 lump from a cav dippy v6 on its way sat (as well as 2 other low milage spare v6's i have at home lol) and a good f28 box so the conversion commences.
I only get wknds and in between other conversions to work on it so its work in progress at the mo:
Plans:
Koni adj (fitted)
V6 lump (fitted)
F28 (fitted)
New clutch and wheel (fitted)
New bottom arms
New top mounts and bearings (fitted)
5 stud conversion
New track rod ends
Astra coupe turbo rims (17")
either v6 or 308mm brakes (have both)
Tidy/clean up here and there
Utilise aircon on new engine (fitted)
Rust on boot
Fit GSI bonnet
Fit Angel Eyes (2 piece) or morrettes (have these already)
maybe more lol
So far started to disconnect the engine before my mate turned up with his corsaLET that needed a little re-wire from a botched conversion he had done by someone......
Biggest pig was the ecu as the muppets rivited it to the cradle so that was fiddly to get out in one with the dash in place to drill the rivots out ready for the v6 ecu (beat me why they dnt bolt them in like on the xe's, Lets and v6s
.
Will get progress up as it happens
Nice empty engine bay ready for the v6
Another cav bites the dust:
My mate had the cav shell and building it into a stock car with a valver engine on single carb
Its been a while guys but with the xmas free time ive managed to actuall get somewhere with this beast. Ive managed to do the following:
*Fit XE flat flywheel
*Fit new f28 Sachs friction plate and f20 pressure plate
*2wd convert f28
*Fit new sachs clutch release bearing
*Drill and tap f28 for rear gearbox mount
*Fit new engine mounts
*Modify gear linkage.
*Make up engine loom - Part of v6 and part ecotech so plug and play now
*Fit Koni adj inserts and springs to front 5 stud legs with new top mounts, poly bump stops and bearings
After the above was done then the lump was ready to drop in. I bolt the f28 up to the v6 and lifted it up through the bottom into the bay. Fitted the aircon pump and plumbed back in the PAS.
Here is the fun bit tho lol. The top rad pipe is touching the cam cover so what ive had to do is move the aircon fan and rad back to allow the water rad to fit further under the slam panel. Bloody nightmare so hope its worth it now. Few pics - not quite finished tho:
Just got to make some brackets to hold the rad in place and bolt everything back up as ive had to modify the aircon brackets too as in the pic.
Next step it to plumb the engine in, wire inside the car, connect all vacuum pipes then fuel pipes. Also making some spacers for the drivers front engine mount as it seams a little stretched.
Driver side mount spacers made up from 4mm steel tube. Used some m10 threaded bar and welded a nut on the end to make the bolts as they needed to be 130mm long. Bro got me the m10 bar and cut to length at work so saved loads of time
The equal length drive shaft spacer made from a piece from an old c20let downpipe and some steel tube
Rear 5 studs now fitted with koni suspension, Subframes on and bolted up and its all running. Turned the key yest and it fired up first time so happy days. Exhaust has also been done using a GSI s/s system i had lying around, it only just 2" so may upgrade at a later date
Just got to tidy up the footwell, locate ecu behind kick panel, oil the gearbox, fit the driveshafts with new cv boots and bolt check everything.
Will get some progress pics up so far. Will give it a good megs when complete too as been standing for 6 mths now lol
Some more pics:
Need to straighten up the backbox :laugh:
Random engine shot, WIP:
I put a flexi into exhaust system:
5 stud rears - Have astra coupe turbo rimage going on her:
Cav 5 stud with Koni Adj and springs:
Modified heat shield so doesnt hit the fan:
All back together now and on the deck, test drove it and the sound from the engine is awesome lol far beta than the LET
. Just got to sort out the speedo and tidy up here and there and its on the road. Also have got my 17" astra mk4 coupe turbo rims to fit which i will get pics up when they are on:
V6 engine sound is fantastic, and very quick in the astra!
