Ronnie's project RWD :D - mk3 astra gsi turbo rear wheel drive ;)

[rc]

well throught it was about time i actually started a proper thread for this. well over 6 months of thinking about it every day and night, running everything through my mind, dazeing into black holes, its finally time to turn my thoughts into actual-ness.

in a nut shell what its going to be is a front engined, c20let powered, rear wheel drive mk3 astra.

if youve seen my other threads and the work ive done on the astra you know how important attention to detail is to me, how maticulas everything has got to be, parrel, everything has to work together and the most important its got to look right, i'll be the first to say my mini engine bay project last winter really did esculate out of control, when i removed one thing, another thing looked messy, and couldnt have that, so moved/smoothed that, then another bit looked messy, so moved/smoothed/re-routed that, and it went on and and on untill the result you see here happened. i remember how impressed everyone was with my work, and it did make it all very much worth it, made me very proud indeed. the most important thing is it looks right,

so think how customised my engine bay is, how many unique touches and ideas there are and how you can look and each part seperate and think, wow that looks cool, and, oh yea didnt even know that was suposed to be there..........................

now imagine a car built from scratch to that spec

welcome to project RWD

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im going to write it out in word then upload a bit of my plans a day so not to have one collosal opening post of my plans full of millions of pics to crash every time you open the page :lol:

[Steve!]

first subs

[Spinbitch]

Adding my subscription as well. Good luck with the project Ron. Don't mind lending a hand if you need it.

[Dan Boyes]

HOORAY!! it begins! can't wait to see this develop

[astrasaloon]

Sounds Like One Sweet Project Mate

[EY]

Whoop! Subscribed.

[Spankee]

Subscribed as well looking forward to this project ........all the best mate

[Beenie]

Good luck mate, will be following this closely!

[chip]

Nice one.

Subscribed

[vauxmaster]

Subscribed...

[buzball]

Will be keeping a close eye mate

[JonRizo]

here here.... eyes peeled

[rc]

cheers for the comments everyone

good start

just wrote out the intoduction, and it apears to be 3000 words and millions of pics long got a bit carried away :lol:

[Jimbo]

I think I speak for a few off us when I say "For the love of god show me the pictures!!"

[rc]

work hasnt actually started yet lol!

[rc]

this thread is now going to take over from my colossal mk3 turbo thread, which I put a hell of alot of time into, which resulted, in I think, amazing results and I don’t regret doing it for a second, its nearly two years ago January that I brought the car, seems such a long time ago now, and so much has been done, here’s the thread, a very good read I think! well 117,180 views and 2,565 posts over 103 pages speaks for its self

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

and for those that hadn’t been following progress over the last few years here are some shots it at the total Vaux mag photoshoot last year









and the one show it did make this year billing







and the bit i’ve really changed and am most proud of



359.9bhp


the plan was to convert this now iconic car to RWD, but as shiny as this is and as mint as it looks, underneath its not all to healthy, the vaux rot has really got its claws in, the arches have been repaired before, and its been a modified car for well over 10 years now, and over that decade everyone has put there bits on taken bit off, cut things bashed things and broken things. a Re-Shell was needed!

after a bit of a search a found a shell that had undergone a restoration, had new complete quarter panels and full sills, it is a mint shell and a perfect starting point for this big project, and at a real bargain price ( the same as just a quarter panel would be lol)









I also have a full calibra turbo 4x4 floor pan and full rear transmission assemberly



I will be using the rear half of the floor pan in the astra

the only bit I was worried about is putting all the power permanently through the rear diff, as the vaux 4x4 system is predominantly front wheel drive, then just feeds a bit of power to the rear if the front starts spinning, I will be putting all my power through the rear diff, aggressively! I found some useful info that the monaro v8's use calibra turbo rear sub frame, suspension hubs etc, the only bit that differs is the rear diff and drive shafts, and then a diff conviently came up for sale



so will be using that as it will easily handle the power, and it had a LSD too, whereas my original plan was to get a quaife one, so two birds with one stone

the engine will be mounted inline and I was originally going to use a omega V6 R28 gearbox, but after alot of looking into it I have decide to use a sierra cosworth T5 gearbox, this is something I am still to source, with a sbd bellhousing converter. then through a custom prop shaft into the calibra 4x4 rear drive train.

to give it any sort of handling the engine will have to be mounted as far back as possible, most properly use a sierra transmission tunnel and bulkhead, welded into the astra shell.

all these different floor pans, with the engine in the front, driving wheels at the rear there is going to be alot forces around the shell, and give the astra some help for this I decided to get one hell of a sexy roll cage full on man cage

http://www.customcages.co.uk/Rollcag...ype=Multipoint

managed to pick one up second hand



engine wise my current spec in a nutshell is

86.5 wossener early pistons
steel conrods with Arp rod bolts
z20let oil pump
stage 3 ported and polished big valve head
Xe inlet cam
vxr injectors
enlarged top hat
front mount intercooler and oil cooler
cometic head gasket and Arp head studs
standard motronic management with EVO5 chips
modified 200sx manifold
Garrett GT2871r turbo
plus other bits and bobs

and made 359.9 bhp with the hold back being the management, as it’s got a dizzy

shall be upgrading to aftermarket management and coil pack, with a few trick bits, launch control, full throttle gear changes etc

I will also be changing the inlet manifold to jenvey throttle bodies, I know the standard inlet has been proven over 500bhp on a few occasions, with the engine inline you will be looking at it from the normal 'back' view, and dam is it ugly!! the reason I’m fitting individual throttle bodies instead of just separate inlets on a custom plenum with one big throttle body on the end is all the linkages of the independent throttle flaps look so dam cool like on a M3 when it revs and you see it revved with the bonnet open, all the linkages moving together, super cool the main feature of this build the ‘wow that’s cool’ factor! and also replacing the standard inlet manifold to separate throttle bodies keeps everything in the engine bay parallel, this is very important too

on the other side is the turbo, my GT2871r is an amazing turbo, spools up so quickly and produces very good proven power. I must admit I have been sucked in to the so called 'pub talk' bhp figures, Internet numbers are everything, so I decided to upgrade

I got hold of Richard Phelps turbo technics T38 Hybrid, its as new condition, barely used, made 440bhp at the wheels on his 4x4 cav turbo, his limit was the 550cc injectors were maxing out. so this is capable of some serious power





manifold wise I am going to have to go top mounted turbo as there won’t be clearance between the block and chassis leg. I am going to use a Nissan 200sx manifold again like with my GT28 but turn it the other way up, this will put the turbo right up the cam belt end exactly where I want it,

other upgrades will be a block/crank 'girdle' and going to have to research into some fuelling

don’t know what to expect 400-500bhp?

Exhaust wise I’m going to have to loose the twin tailpipes at the back, look cool, nice and symmetrical, but sapping valuable power L not sure how I’ll do exhaust, might have it stopping it the front of the car

and that’s going to need some stopping, for that I got hold of some modified EVO 8 brembos 330mm with custom bells and brackets to fit Vauxhall

need a bit of work, but came up at a bargain price so will work out nicely when done





two of my favourite things of the car that I am going to have to sacrifice are the technomagniso Detroit F1 wheels and the calibra heated leather interior, I love the wheels I think they suit the mk3 astra so well, and when I refereed them I had them resprayed BMW reflex silver wheel colour and is so subtle and classy, but as it will all be 5 stud they’ve got to go, most properly replaced by some 18inch compromotive 6 spokes, in bright white
I am really gutted to have to loose the leather interior, for much the same reason as the wheels, its so subtle and classy, especially with the rear head rests I love it, doesn’t give away one bit the true power of the car, so subtle, can cruise past someone at 160+mph in heated leather arm chairs, you can take a girl out and its just like a normal car to drive round in, but I want this to be a fast car so all unnecessary weight has to go, i.e. interior. And that’s the thing i'm not going to like about the full of WRC roll cage, just doesn’t give the image I like about the car, the subtle and classiness, but it need to be there!

Mounting the engine will be on fully custom mounts, have looked into m3 and cossies and taken ideas of how they’ve done it. Gearbox will be the same. Rear suspension and drive train is all on a sub frame, so that will just bolt straight onto the new floor.

I’ve got almost every detail of the project worked out and thought about but there's one thing I haven’t been able to work exactly out yet…. The steering, this is going to be the biggest headache of the whole thing as the engine will be mounted right back in the bay, possibly in the bulkhead a bit, so there is no chance of the standard rack being used at all, the rough idea I’ve seen and looking towards is something like a mk2 escort or bmw steering rack which are meant for RWD application, and go under the engine in front of the wheels, and have the steering arms coming off the front of the hub, this is going to be the biggest are of research and development (trial and error lol), as its not been done before I have no idea where any of the clearances are, where pockets of space are, nothing, lots of ‘development’ to go in this area. This is the only bit on the whole build i’m not sure on lol

Interior wise is obviously going to be mostly roll cage, I think when an interior ‘strip’ goes too far and they loose the dash it looks really messy, and this is a big no for this project, it will still have a gsi dash (all be it just a hollow shell) but will be there, and two bucket seats, possibly carpets in the front, don’t like it when its bare floor in the front, especially as its bright red lol

same with door and quarter cars, looks so messy and unfinished when people take the door cards off and just leave it all open, with be nice carbon replacements for that as these are coming up quite cheap now.

also will be a nice big interior stainless fuel tank, with matching perfect shiny swirl pot, all lines fixed properly and popping through where needed, with also prob do interior brake lines, with a line lock to the rear

Wiring loom wise I am going to completely make my own car loom from scratch, its just going to have headlights, indicators, brake lights, horn wipers etc, just the bare minimum. And will be hidden too. The engine bay will be even smoother and even emptier than it is now, I want to hide as much as possible can, all the wiring round the engine bay and entire car will be hidden, only popping out where its needed, the inner wings will all be smoothed out the same as before, all joins welded and filled, but will be doing all the bulk head this time too. Going to simplify everything I can in the engine bay, throttle bodies and standalone management will get rid of a lot of the nasty ‘unparallel’ bits in the bay and lots of wiring. Will just be an engine inline down the middle, throttle bodies with a 90degree plenum one side going to intercooler, and turbo 90 degrees the other, nothing much else is needed in there!

Suspension wise was looking at fitting vectra hubs on the front, nice and easy 5 stud and it has separate suspension making coil overs much more available than the gay one piece astra items, the rears will be going coil overs also. As with all this weight moving around the front is going to sit much higher than when the engine and gearbox was actually in front of the rear wheels. So will need lots of adjustment!

I have done a lot of researching across the whole internet abroad and in the uk, the two main Vauxhalls that stuck out are off here are Neil Adams Westerfield and MONTD-D’s (cant remember his real name) Cav, spend weeks looking through their threads studying every single picture, I recon i’ve got them both memorised off by heart!

These are the ones I mean (I’ll take them off if anyone’s not happy with their pics being on here)

Neil Adams’ Westerfield




and ‘MONTY-D’s cavalier (paid very special attention though this thread in particular)





and another thread that has caught my attention lately is Robert Kassner corsa rally car build, stunning attention to detail



his is actually going to be rallied I believe, where as mine will just look like its about to be, track days and quarter miles are more my thing lol





I love the attention to detail on race cars, where the bare minimum is required, everything is brand new and on show, all the trick stuff like all the fittings going through the bulkhead, the kind of stuff u see when u walk around race cars and think **** me that looks cool carbon inserts and things just cool as ****

That’s how I want mine to look, I want it to be a full on racecar, but on the road

And another important thing to the project is it looks exactly how it does now from the outside just different wheels and interior, I love the way my car looks, I don’t want massive wide arches, or graphics all over, I want it to keep it subtle style (as much as possible) I still want it to fit in at a local meet, still look cool at shows, but be an aposloute firebreating monster when the loud pedal is hit!

Pannelwise it’s going to be identical to how it is now, I don’t want to cut open the front end or have big air vents everywhere, subtle and understated is this cars success. I loved it at billing people were walking along the rows not taking much notice, just another gsi, until I opened the bonnet then there was a whole load of double taking going on, then coming back for a second look, first glance nothing special until you look close.

A problem with the GSi is they all have sunroofs, and I don’t want one, and cant really have one with the cage anyway, I spoke to vaux and they want over 400quid plus vat for a merit non sun roof skin, so stood out of the box and started thinking real race car, carbon roof and it turns out a carbon fibre roof is less than a genuine merit vaux roof skin! Well it would be rude not to, new M3 style

I love the colour too of the astra too, you can only appreciate it if you’ve seen it in real life, for some reason in pictures, even in the Total Vauxhall feature it always looks orange, but it is infact a real bright red red! So the whole car will be resprayed inside and out top and bottom Ford USA performance red and not a shabby job either

The big thing that will be stopping this project at stages will be money! I only spend what I have, i've never had a credit card or been in debt and I don’t intend on getting there. This, like my astra has been so far, will be built with my money, not the banks, does piss me off a bit when people leave comments like wonder how many card he’s got paying for that or wish my mum and dad were rich like his, this is all my own money I earn it hard. What’s the point of having, building a car you haven’t earn or own, where’s the satisfaction? I’ve made a good wad of money breaking a few cars lately, which is how i’ve brought these last few goodies. I am pretty tight with money, I earn it I spend it how I like that’s how I see life, I have no other hobbies apart from the car, have a monthly turnaround of girlfriends so never get to a point of having to buy them stuff, i’ve never smoked, I don’t drink alcohol, still live at home, so pretty much all money goes on cars, pretty dedicated to the cause!! Lol! Also I’ve just changed jobs, straight from school I started an apprentership in a body shop and have been a panel beater for 7 years, it got to the point I didn’t like working my arse off every single day for what is really for the work done **** all money, the motor trade is labourers money for technicians work! Just had enough, work down Felixstowe docks as a tug driver now, bit brain dead, but there’s no stress no hassle no one crazing your arse to hurry up just easy money and a lot more of it, gone from 18k a year as a fully skilled panel beater to 26k a year as a dumb arse driver, and after 3 years that will automatically go up to 35k a year, just for sitting down and steering, where’s the logic in that?? Well i’ve jumped on the bandwagon and am raking in the money!

So at the end of this project its still going to look exactly the same





people will just say oh, Ronnie’s got some new wheels, until I start spitting monster flames and going sideways down the road

oh and u will never see this in an abandoned project breaking thread! NEVER!! this will be finished, don’t know how long its going to take, diving into the complete unknown, but it WILL be completed

[tathan]

Subscribed - get a move on then

[Jimbo]

Oh yes I can't wait for this one fella...

[astrasaloon]

Just Read Entire Thread Mate , Just Wish I Had The Dedication U Got Lol Fair Play Going To Be Sweet Finished M8

[mikegray]

Wow, this is going to be superb!! Good luck chap!!

[keithcdb]

Good luck

[nuss]

Also subscribed, cant wait to see this get on the way

[philip2]

sub'd.


fair dos matey should go well.....now you've got 6months to build it in

[coupe22]

def gona watch this space!! this will be the astra GSI vaux should of made!

awesome readin ur other threads!

[Benn]

Gonna be watching this one, as you have the same kinda thoughts i do on engine bays. Souds like you have all your plans set and they do sound great. Gotta say tho i think it wuld look great in silver..
Youve got a really nice shell which is the best start. Love the brakes too.

Good work, great cracking..lol