MK3 Astra GSi Rallycar Rebuild

[Novasport1400]

Hi

Being a newbie to the forum I thought i'd make my first proper post a rebuild thread on my Mk3 Astra rally car .

Up until February 2008 I rallied a 1400 16v Corsa I built from a road car, it was a pretty good spec with all the right bits including a 185 bhp 1400 16v. For reasons I still cant quite fathom I decided I fancied a go at rallying a 4wd turbo car so sold the Corsa (bad mistake) and replaced it with a good spec Subaru Impreza (even bigger mistake). After over 2 years of heartache and near financial ruin I finally got sick of the Scooby, when it worked it was awesome but unfortunately it didnt actually work that often!!! After yet another calamity It was sold to a guy in Poland with the view that it was good riddance to a serious error of judgement!!!

So as im far to young to retire from competing I decided to go back to what i knew, didnt really want to drop back to a 1400 (after 300bhp and a turbo I had kind of got used to the power) so started looking for a 2.0l engined Vauxhall and that led me down the path of the Mk3 Astra.

After spending a couple of weeks looking I came accross a car in Somerset with a blown engine. It turned out it had previously belonged to a member of my Motor Club and I knew the car from its previous life.

So we hitched up the trailer and headed down south. Closer inspection revealed the car had more than a few issues, but the shell was strong (despite having been over onto its roof, the price was right and it came with a van load of spares.



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Once we got it home the idea had been to give it a quick spanner check, chuck a new motor in it (the old one had 2 large holes in the block and most of the internals were melted) and get out and do an event or 2 before giving it a full rebuild, however closer inspection revealed that wasnt really an option and project rebuild commenced.

Spec wise it had a lot of the right bits on it, the motor had been giving 198bhp at the wheels from twin 45 Webbers, DTA management, accralite pistons, QED cams etc. The gearbox was an F16 CR with a tran x lsd and a 5.1 final drive, The shell had a full weld in cage and the interior was as in the second picture. It had Hockley legs with Bilstein Tarmac inserts and adjustable Leda rear shocks


I quickly purchased a Quaife 5 speed F20 straight cut box to replace the F16, shipped all the engine parts off to my engine builder (along with a donor C20xe) and then set about stripping the car, thats when we started to find a few things we didnt like.

Once we had it down to a bare shell it was sent off to be blasted.


While it was there we decided we didnt like the fact the cage had a double door bar my side and a single on the co-drivers side so we added a second door bar on the Navs side to match up, the seats were not mounted in the way we liked so new seat mounts were added, various weak points were plated and strengthened, A sealed box for the fuel pumps was built into the rear, some of the cage welding was re-done and it was finished in etch primer.

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Whilst the blasting etc was going on I started looking at some of the components. The suspension was not what i'd hoped. The front inserts were far to short and the rear Ledas were desperately in need of a rebuild (no wonder the guy said it wouldnt handle!!!) so i purchased a set of Adjustable Avo front inserts (the rears are still in debate but will probably end up being AVOs to match the front even thought the Ledas are re-buildable).

I also managed to get my hands on a group A sumpguard to replace the pathetic one the car came with, some 288mm brakes, a new tank (thats a later story), a carbon/Kevlar tank guard and a roof vent.

I decided I wasnt happy with the seat seat mounts so added some new ones



and while we were at it we added a box in the boot for the fuel pumps



We knew the car had been over on its roof so I decided i had better have a bit closer look, it was a good job I did as some of the cage welding was awful



Problem was we would have to remove the roof to get at it, so thats what I did



Once the roof was off I looked closer at the roll damage and found the A pillar was full of filler and had been very badly repaired



Fortunately the damage wasnt structural and was limited to the outer skin of the pillar, so i removed that as well



Next problem was that no one listed a repair panel for the pillar and Vauxhall wanted £400 for a non-sunroof roof panel (the car originally had a sunroof roof skin that had been plated and filled) so we I started looking for a donor Shell. I was fortunate enough to come across a phase 2 GSi shell that was going to be scrapped so £100 later I had my donor car.



Todays job has been to remove the roof skin from the donor



and thats the progress to date.

We have also shipped all the engine bits off to my engine builder Dave Baines who has sent blocks and cranks etc off to be polished, bored, balanced etc and we have ordered a set of Gp A Wossner pistons.

To top it off i managed to buy a GpA rear beam and a set of proper front legs on wide platform springs so even though actual progress has been sedate the financial progress has been quite painfull!!!

[kennybarbour]

just found this. how is it progressing? any updates?

[Astraliam]

Quality!! Going to be a animal when done going to keep a eye on this

[Novasport1400]

Im afraid I've been a bit slack with updating this and Ill sort some photos out over the next few days but the roof is on, pillar repaired, underside, engine bay and interior are painted white and we have now decided that the outside is having a colour change (a bit of a blast from the past lol).

Engine block has been acid dipped and pistons have been matched to the bores and we have a set of matched rods.

Ill sort some more photos out asap and post them over the next day or two.

[Rallycorsa]

Always good to see rally projects on here and much easier to follow unlike BRF, looking forward to seeing how the car develops.

[BazW]

Nice to see my old GSi shell living on...bits of it anyway

[Novasport1400]

Kev, BRF makes project threads very fragmented, this is far easier. Did see you on Sunday but we were having a few gearbox/Clutch issues so didnt get a chance to come and speak.

Baz, its thanks to your shell that this project is still proceeding, there are a few more bits of your shell on there than you might think lol

[Novasport1400]

Due to work, family and trying to get a bit of stuff done in the garage i've been a bit slack in updating this, apologies.

So we have finished the bodywork, primed, stonechipped and painted the underside and primed and painted the inside in Vauxhall Glacier white. Not the most pleasant of jobs but its done now.

Next job was to drop the old girl back onto her wheels and set about the exterior. On Monday we bar coated the exterior



After leaving that for an hour or so it was Primer time -



Primer was flatted down yesterday and we are ready for the big moment lol.

As the inside had consumed more paint than we expected and we needed to purchase extra it allowed us to have a bit of a think about colour, we decided white was a bit boring but as its a rally car and repair needs to be pretty easy we needed a colour that is easy to patch up. Paint has been purchased and top coat will go on this Friday Morning. Ill not let on what the colour is but wait to see what people think.

Hopefully now we can start to make some progress as so far the cost seems to have been very high and the progress incredibly slow, but it has been 9 years since i last did a full build of my own so I guess the memory plays tricks on you!!

Once its finally painted I'll post a photo or 2.

[Rallycorsa]

Blue with a hint of green fading into orange I reckon :-)

[Novasport1400]

If that were the case I'd be spending nearly as much on paint as some Corsa owners spend on trick bits lol

Im afraid its not even close to that interesting Kev