The Continued story of a GTE Convertible

[Paul]

Good read this.

[Benn]

Good work on the tb. That will help alot.

[tonyo]

I suspect, like me, you'll just wind the throttle up a bit and ignore it idles at about 1000 ish. Unless we rip the head off and have a good old look at the inlet etc.

As you could see on Saturday, It looks like the head gasket is going to need doing soon to stop the oil weep.. Whilst the Inlet is off, I'd already considered giving the inlet a good old cleanup and maybe deburr any airways and ports I can get to. OK, its not going to make any real difference to the performance, but I hate putting dirty parts back on a car when a few minutes of cleaning may help or lengthen life.

Oh, and I discussed the roof with Kelly last night, I'm about to get a little cash from a company shares thing. I think some of it is gonna be diverted from the 'extension and new garage' fund to the 'get a new roof for the GTE' fund.. Of course, that's nothing to do with having the Astra watertight meaning she can have the Vectra more often, no, never, not at all..

[tonyo]

Good read this.

Thanks, glad it's enjoyable.

Good work on the tb. That will help alot.

I hope it'll get sorted eventually, I hate having something mechanical that doesn't work correctly and not understanding why..

[tonyo]

I've just given it a darn good fiddling with Fnar-fnar..

As suspected the extra vacuum inlet helped, giving it an interesting little 'shcripp' as you rev it. tick over was low and rough, but - squeezing the ICV hose stalled it!

Put the little red Dan-Cap back on, and it will only start with throttle, but dies when foot taken off..

Unplug the ICV Hurrah! It starts with a turn of the key, and ticks over nice and cleanly.. Squeeze the hose, and it stalls!

Feels like I'm getting somewhere..

[RodOGW]

Epic stuff - good luck with it..

[Astra Dan]

I think we need a way to feed metered air past the ICV. Hmm.

[Benn]

A tap? Like Mr F did.

[tonyo]

Not exactly a car part, but decided that I would look after it over the winter with a battery charger/conditioner. Getting ready to tuck it up for the winter in the garage.

The missus thinks it looks like its on life support.

It took a few hours to bring the battery up to full (I trickle charged it rather than hitting it with a fast charge), and now the unit has gone into 'float charge' which keeps the battery topped up, whilst monitoring condition.

[Astra Dan]

Simple and effective. When we ripping the head off?

[tonyo]

Simple and effective. When we ripping the head off?

Yer, it's on the list.. Need to get it done, it's looking very wet under there..

Spotted tonight that the front of the sump also appears to be leaking



Took the plunge and signed up to e-bay as well for those little bits I've been meaning to get.. New OSF wishbone ordered - New Fuel Pump mounts ordered..

Got fed up of the boot falling on my head this year as well, so I've ordered a replacement strut. Looking at the manufacture date on the existing one, it may well be the original to the car..

[Astra Dan]

Ooh the dangers of eBay are now open to you! Which is where the car came from in the first place!

[tonyo]

Ooh the dangers of eBay are now open to you! Which is where the car came from in the first place!

That's why I've resisted for so long. I am going to have to be so careful otherwise I'll be buying all sorts of stuff..

[tonyo]

A day later... Two little surprises when I got home..

[Astra Dan]

Ooh where'd you get the stru- oh. I see!

[Paul]

Re battery conditioner.

I have a C-Tek one and it comes with a great little adapter that can be hard wired in

On the race car, i'm going to install this as a permant socket

[tonyo]

Ooh where'd you get the stru- oh. I see!

Too obvious?

I fitted it last night - result. Although the old one didn't seem worn (couldn't budge it by hand), the new one is so much better. The boot doesn't try to eat you when you have the lid open.

[Astra Dan]

Re battery conditioner.

I have a C-Tek one and it comes with a great little adapter that can be hard wired in

On the race car, i'm going to install this as a permant socket

This is something Pete has done on his Esprit and I keep meaning to with the GTE, although my memory just keeps up enough to remind me to put the charger on every 2-3 weeks.

[Paul]

Get her in doors to get you one for christmas

CTEK Multi XS 3600 Battery Charger | eBay

You can see the little lead you get with it as well. Extra ones are a fiver I think, from Halfords web site.

[tonyo]

This is the one I'm using..

RING RSC506 Car Van Lorry Motorbike BATTERY CHARGER | eBay

Although from COSTCO it was about half the price this seller wants for it..

[Pitstoppete]

i'm on the Optimate jobby, much the same that one, on a quick release military type connector, with an extension wire to reach anywhere in the garage. great investment.

[SimonP]

Nice work Tony! Enjoyed reading this; reminds me of my old blue MK2 cabrio from my ownership over a decade ago. Think I bought mine when I was 19 or 20! I know you remember my white MK3 from our days at DERA Malvern, but the blue MK2 I had was the same colour as yours. Have you broken a roof latch yet? Think that was the worst design of the MK2 cabrio, especially since Vauxhall wanted (at the time) about £70 each!

Hope all is well.