Corsa Merit with C18XE

[Melv]

Evening all.

For a while I have been thinking about a proper project. After being at Crail and seeing how much fun can be had from a cheap XE corsa I decided I wanted in on the action.

The Brief Plan

Some form of boggo spec Corsa, standard to look at, some form of XE, get a gearbox with 5 gears, better suspension, 256mm brakes, lack of interior and..... err....... that's about it. Well apart from not spending a lot of money!

So Far

I spotted this Corsa on ebay local to me. Gen 38k miles, plenty of service history, good condition and most importantly cheap lmao

After going to see it and everything being in order I handed over the cash and made my way home. Feck me I forgot how slow a 1.2 was. I even went to try for 5th gear in the way home not realising when I looked at the car that it was only a 4 speed box lmao

Enough typing.......







I then fitted some Mk3 Astra sport 15" steel wheels I had lying around as one of the 13" wheels was a bit dented and another had just legal tread.



new sunvisor clips liberated from a vectra in the scrappy



Now I have 2 sets of 15" Astra sport alloys (8 spokes), a set of Phase 2 MK3 Astra GSi 15" twinspokes and some other wheels that I have forgotten about in the garage so I may change my mind on the wheels.

As I'm using the car as a daily runner until after my wedding and because I broke the bit that goes into the back of the stereo, I have also changed the short Ariel cable. I then fitted a glove box I bought from the scrappy as crappy merit spec means you get absolutely nothing.

Today I took advantage of the fine weather and removed the rear seats, rear trim and some other gubbins. Tomorrow I'm going to do some more and get some pics.

Parts waiting better weather and more time to fit

Supersport springs and shocks - cheers to Rick Draper
Opel 200tS steering wheel - cheers to Drizz
256mm brake set up - from Gra11 *need to collect*
Pollen filter - bought from a motor factors
GM oil and filter
6k H4 Hi/Lo HID's - currently on my Mk3 Astra Sport

Future plans

*Source and fit either a C20XE or C/X16XE. Prior to that I may just pick up a 5 speed box and fit it while using the car as a daily driver.

*rear ARB and look at getting other suspension components uprated or renewed

*Fit the Astra Sport style seats I found in the scrappy

*Polish the bugger back to red and maybe fit new standard badges

*Post 97 bumpers either plain black to stick with the merit look or some half colour coded ones

All suggestions, comments and piss taking welcome.

Cheers
Melv

*ps. Remember, more pics coming tomorrow.

[keithcdb]

Get the XE in there, joe from down here has an xe and f20 for sale

Looking good tho, fun times ahead

[Benn]

Nice start, looks like a clean shell.

[Melv]

I know Keith. I really want to crack on but at the moment all monies need to go towards my wedding which is fine by me as I'm in no hurry and there is loads of little free things I can do at the moment.

Cheers Ben. I can't complain Just need to keep it that way. The bonnet is starting to do the usual Corsa thing with flaking paint under the front lip so I will have to attack that soon.

Right...... as promised some more pics.

Glovebox from the scrappy



The back of the car (might have went a bit far with the foot fetish attempt lmao )



Flame red paint




Today involved refurbishing some 14" steels I have as the Astra sport steels will need tidying eventually too.

So I prepped the shed


Wire brushed the steels and took a wire wheel to them too then washed them and let them dry.


started with the insides of them. Stonechip stuff then used up a couple of cans of random paint



then onto the fronts of them. Don't worry they will be black not purple / blue



That's it. Washed my astra in between coats so didn't do much else with the Corsa.

Next on the list. Removing sound deadening. Yay!

[dose]

Good base mate

[neil105]

nice starting place get a time on it now,should be easy to beat as you progress lmao

[Melv]

nice starting place get a time on it now,should be easy to beat as you progress lmao

Don't know if the timer at Crail goes past a minute though lmao lmao

[Melv]

Finally some more progress.

After Ivan had finished putting Ellie's MGZR back together......... yes........ head gasket lmao it was the corsa's turn for some lovin' I bought supersprint springs and shocks off Rick Draper aaagggeeesss ago so we got those fitted.

The spings and shocks and the MIG foot fetish



Getting started (under the gazebo as it was pissing it down)



The front arch. Some rubbing and painting to be done



The finished product. Hoping it will settle further




Also bought a genuine Opel 200iS steering wheel from Drizz ages ago so thought we would get that fitted too



I should have some 256mm discs and relevant calipers coming soon so that will be next on the list. Fingers crossed they fit under the 14's so I can continue the sleeper look when I get round to changing the engine.

Big thanks to Ivan and his battery gun.

[GaryVaux]

Good to see your making progress with it

265 breaks do fit under 14"s..... with fag paper clearance (I put the std sri steels on the nova when its parked up over winter)

[Melv]

good stuff Gary. Just going to do little bits and pieces and they will soon add up. Quick question - What box, shafts and hubs are you using on your Nova?

I polished the roof yesterday just with some autoglym super resin stuff (the white bottle with the red bit) just to see how it would come up. Very surprised that it is now looking better (not brilliant) and fairly red. Think I will have to use some sort of cutting compound (any suggestions that are not friggin Tcut?? )

Brakes have just arrived. Big thanks to Candyman. Top seller. Have a look at his for sale thread here

More updates soon(ish)

[GaryVaux]

Im using an F13 CR gerabox (3.94 final drive) Which is what came fited to the nova sri. And std sri shafts and hubs. Im guessing yours is an F10 4 speed wide ratio box.

As for the paint, id borrow a machine polisher, and get some Farecla G3 (cutting compound) G10 (fine cutting compound, removes the swirl marks etc) Then hand poilsh with the autoglym, and wax.

Its always the worst cars that come up best, as they probably havent been polished in years, so paint is full thickness

[M4rtin]

Melv....Corsa??

If you want a real engine for it i have a C25XE here

[Melv]

Yeah, 4 gears of raw 1.2 8v power lmao I'm just thinking of my options for when I XE it. F20 is obvious also the F16CR is a popular choice but I am getting a F15 from Rick @ crail. Will have to see what comes up at the time when I am looking for an engine and box. Plenty time yet lol

G3 and G10 would be available from hellfrauds or my local motorfactors I presume. Will have to keep an eye out for that. I have a machine polisher but not one of the professional £100 ones. I just use it for applying polish and then buff it off by hand (ooh er!!)

[Melv]

Melv....Corsa??

If you want a real engine for it i have a C25XE here

big heavy V6 in a wee corsa merit? Nah...

Out of interest though how much lol?

[Melv]

some pics I forgot

[GaryVaux]

Doubt you will find Farecla stuff in motor factors (its really a trade product) i got some off ebay a while back, is good stuff. Aye your polisher will probably be ok, better than by hand anyway.

[Kev_G]

get a move on ginger nuts! even emailed you today and got a STANDARD out of office........... god your lacking these days

[Melv]

256mm brakes arrived this week and will hopefully be getting fitted once the impending vodka redbull hangover wears off lmao

[Melv]

got them fitted. It certainly stops well now. Need to get a better pedal feel though.



will have to get a better pic of the clearance between the 14's and these. There aint much lmao

All I need to do now is give them a quick lick of either hammerite silver or black. Red aint very sleeper

[GaryVaux]

not painted before fitting lol,

Nice one, pedal feel is a grey area, general opinion is you will never get it perfect due to the piston being a biger surface area, hence same volume of fluid exerts less presure. so feels a bit spongey, but as long as its bled well, will be just the job

[Melv]

nah couldn't be arsed lmao Only see a wee bit of red behind the steels at the moment but black or silver will be better I think.

Probably have to ghetto bleed them some more. Irn Bru bottle and a bic pen (for the fluid to flow through it) was used along with some pumping.

[GaryVaux]

ha ha ha, now that is gheto!!!

[Melv]

A deal has been done on an engine for my wee Corsa Merit, however, not the usual 20XE / LET route.

I have arranged to buy a C18XE from brad35 on here.

C18XE as found in the 1.8 mk3 Astra GSi and Astra Cesaro. Known to push out more than the 125bhp (IIRC) they are quoted to have. Kev_G on here had one which was 141bhp with only an exhaust I think.

Got the C18XE Engine, Loom, Ecu , All mounts, Air filter, Coolant hoses and Bottle, Radiator, Drive shafts, Hubs, more valver Calipers, 256mm Discs, gear linkage and dash Clocks for a great price. No box but it should be easy enough to get an F18 or F20. Couldn't really turn it down to be honest.

The drawback - It's in Stevenage just North of Londonshire. However.......

Mum and my step dad stay about 15mis from there so they are handing over the cash and picking it up for me, storing it and taking it up the road when they move back to Scotland.

Good thing about the C18XE is that I have a raft of parts fitted to my C18XEL astra that can be transferred straight over. Lexmaul SS manifold, regal sport cat, magnecor leads. I have a spare Tb at home that I am going to look into modifying and the spare set of Cams I have in the shed might just get sent away for re-profiling at some point in the future.

Probably still going to be the least power at Rolling Road days but who cares. lmao

[TINTIN]

NO F18...... no no no no no

[Melv]

not a fan of the F18 then Mark?