1.8 Turbo Pace/Courtenay Astra GTE

[CB GTE]

Hi all bit late as I'v owned this for 7 years. But the old girl needed some work so I brought her home to my garage, to perform open heart surgery. Well She was leaking oil out of the exhaust port between the manifold and head not good. So as I had managed to get hold of a re-furbished head so a straight swap was in order. If some of you have been reading my 4x4 Astra GTE project you would have seen I had cleaned up an inlet manifold and other bits.4X4 MK2 Astra GTE, Was in MAXPOWER in 1996. (I'm in two minds what to do) So it was rude not to use them...
Here's some pics
Heres my pistons which were machined to lower the compression


4X4 MK2 Astra GTE, Was in MAXPOWER in 1996. (I'm in two minds what to do)

[vxlaney]

she's back together then? and is your phone broke?

[CB GTE]

she's back together then? and is your phone broke?

Phones fine mate. Nearly back together by the end of the week hopefully...

[DarrenH]

+.50 pistons too

so technically its a 1.816 turbo pace astra gte

[CB GTE]

+.50 pistons too

so technically its a 1.816 turbo pace astra gte

So thats what that means? It goes whoosh over my headlmao

[CB GTE]

Did a little bit more this avo, Then I compared the intercooler from this car to the 4x4 project. Theres quite a difference..


Check out the difference



This is my original head it was leaking bad out of the exhaust port

[Liam1805]

What a lovely car that is, and looks to be a good choice of engine too, look forward to seeing this getting built

[CB GTE]

What a lovely car that is, and looks to be a good choice of engine too, look forward to seeing this getting built

Hi Liam it's been built and dismanteled so many times I know it inside out, i'l post older pics when I can get them off my old computer.

[Liam1805]

Hi Liam it's been built and dismanteled so many times I know it inside out, i'l post older pics when I can get them off my old computer.

Look forward to seeing it get re-built then haa, no worries get them up mate be nice to see them

[DarrenH]

So thats what that means? It goes whoosh over my headlmao

yeah about 20cc more capacity than a standard 1.8 engine. all adds up !

[CB GTE]

yeah about 20cc more capacity than a standard 1.8 engine. all adds up !

Every little helps...lmao its all back together sounds a bit like a scooby lumpy, haven't had chance to drive it yet as my boys parked his van on the drive so I cant get out. But so far so good its running. I put my dump valve back on perhaps thats screwed? may have to put the re-circulation valve back on it, It was smooth with that on but god damn ugly...


Plus no whoosh.

[CB GTE]

Its back together, Here's some pics...

[CB GTE]

Hi again I managed to sus out why it was running like a scooby or ruf for short, It took me a while I changed the injectors,then sussed that one of the power leads to the injectors had a wire broken. Iv managed to fix it until I can get hold of a set of wiring to re-wire all the injectors cos after 25years there starting to get brittle. That was yesterday. Here's some pics but only of it back together and the leads I need...



This is the state of my garage already



And these are the connectors I need..



Then today I decided to put my other wheels on for one there bigger and wider and the car drives so much better with them on.



Then I took the old girl out this afternoon for a drive she is running so well.
Really flying no smoke no fumes,two things i'v got used too. Made a refreshing change not to have either of them.
I'm over the moon

[rc]

glad to hear its all running again

i love the work thats gone into the pipework on this, from airbox to turbo to intercooler to inlet, its a true work of art

so was it an origional courtenay conversion? or did you get hold of the kit somewhere for your gte? i cant remember if you've already said lmao

[CB GTE]

glad to hear its all running again

i love the work thats gone into the pipework on this, from airbox to turbo to intercooler to inlet, its a true work of art

so was it an origional courtenay conversion? or did you get hold of the kit somewhere for your gte? i cant remember if you've already said lmao

No its original, I bought it from Norwich not far from where Courtenay are, The couple that owned it lived in Saudi arabia most of the year then came back for about 7wks to give it a good thrash around and to pee people off. Back in 1993 when hot hatches had horrific insurance premiums they decided to have the Turbo and pipework removed and thats how it stayed until the couple split up in the early 2000s,then a friend of there's advertised it on ebay with a starting bid of £750. At the time I had a near identical 1.8 GTE and the thought of having one that was turboe'd was to much to handle plus the mileage only being 52k helped. There were no bids,but I found out everyone was after the turbo conversion. So a friend of mine ran me to see it.
When we arrived it looked fantastic. The turbo and pipework were in a box she was wearing steel wheels with white wheel trims and there was a set of 5 original GTE alloys all 10 wheels had pirelli P6000 I made an offer and after some slight haggling left with the car for £625.
After that me and a mate made up some brackets for the intercooler then sussed how it all went together,we had the original advert for the conversion for reference but it was very vage.
Turbo technics collected the Turbo then after a few days sent it back to me in bits saying they couldnt fix it. So found local company (Essex Turbo) and within two days it was back looking shiny and new.
We then screwed it all together and took it for a spin. It was so quick but the tiny disc's and drum brakes let it down infact it didn't stop.
So next I sourced 16v running gear and a G Max suspension kit which it still sits on today 6 years later. After a trip to PV I met Pete from Promotasport he then made up the pipework expansion tank and catch tank. This is Pete working on it just before Christmas 2005
Before that I had a stainless exhaust system made up for it. Then early 2006 She kept dropping bolts so thats when the decission to totally restore her was made! So over the next few wks she was stripped then the inside was covered in sound dedening. Then she was shipped off to Carisma to have a make over this was when Pimp my ride was going on, if you have the live special programme you can see my car in the back ground.

Sorry to ramble rc, hope this answers your questions. She was also featured in Total Vauxhall February 2007...

Chris

[CB GTE]

Blimey i'v just realised something it still has the same HT leads.

[Joker]

Nice motor that is mate! very clean example! love it

[CB GTE]

Nice motor that is mate! very clean example! love it

Thanks mate..

[rc]

Good bit of history

[Liam1805]

Phwaaar car p*rn that is ..... loving the wheels on there too

[DarrenH]

i just noticed from the pictures that the compressor housing is piped directly to the actuator. so boost control is purely actuator spring strength, it works but its very 80's thinking.

scope there for future tweaking me thinks, i.e installing boost controller.

[CB GTE]

Phwaaar car p*rn that is ..... loving the wheels on there too

Thanks Liam, The wheels were a real find on ebay a couple of years ago now, there Calibra SE1 wheels.

[CB GTE]

i just noticed from the pictures that the compressor housing is piped directly to the actuator. so boost control is purely actuator spring strength, it works but its very 80's thinking.

scope there for future tweaking me thinks, i.e installing boost controller.

Hi Darren its set to 7psi I think or something like that. Not sure if it would kill it if I did this....

[CB GTE]

Fitted this today. Its a cheapy from ebay, the old one was ok I was just a bit bored of it.. Oh sorry the Turbo Gauge.

[Liam1805]

Good find there then, probably the nicest alloys produced by vauxhall in my opinion. Gauge looks good there how much boost are you running mate