Corsa B X14XE Sport

[brad35]

Well really missed my old blue Corsa B 5 door i had completed some years ago which unfortunatley got smashed up a few days after having a C18XE fitted and passing an mot



3 months before. Had just rebuilt the original X18XE that started it all off for me many years ago.


Corsa B 1.8 ecotec

It could of been repaired The insurance company put it as a cat C so decided to break it and get a larger car.

Then a mate of mine wanted me to do the same but he wanted the C20XE put into his.


Corsa B C20XE

It was in my eyes a dream build. No expense spaired. Everything was replaced and painted.

Which leads me to this month

Always loved the sports. And a black one came up here. Adz had it up for sale and a deal was done.
So the plan was to put another 1.8 into it. Its insurance friendly and isnt to bad on fuel either.







But on the drive home i had a change of heart. I fell in love with the 90bhp 1.4 engine. It had an amazing sound and was very good on fuel.



So im going to keep it. But will be pulling it out some time in March and will be painting the engine bay, engine and gearbox. And will be changine the head gasket and a load of seals. The head gasket is on its way out but will be fine until March.

It was on a 60mm drop. Way to low for my needs, so spoke to a mate at work who also has a B with a 40mm drop and we decided to swap springs. He wanted his low and i wanted mine raised. Perfect





After swap



Another thing i like about my new car is the brake set up



Uprated to 2.0 which is uprated further by having grooves in the disc.

Ive had to fit a stereo as it didnt have one. £10 bargin ebay Clarion got that sorted.

So the body work will also be sorted with the bonnet being bad boy'd
And semi smoothing the boot

Have started the ball rolling by ordering
alarm with boot popper
debadged grill
Gas struts for the bonnet

Am trying to find a cheap second hand set of rear shocks as the ones on the car are so hard.

And at some point it will be fully undersealed underneath and in the arches.

Ive seen a few of these and the car overall is in good shape. No rust at all, and is perfect base for what ive got planned for it.

Im also thinking of buying a new 40mm kit at some point.

I dont intend on this ever being a show car. But boy is it fun to drive

[brad35]

Well got woken up this morning by the postman
Alarm, bonnet lifters and debadged grill arrived











Pretty good considering it was all orderd yesterday morning.

On fitting the alarm i lost a bolt so had to go under the carpet and wasnt pleased at what i see





You will have to excuse the poor pictures. Will have better ones tomorrow when my mate comes round and sorts it for me.

On close inspection looks like the jacking point has taken some abuse and bent up damagine the floor.
The other side has a small hole the size of a 50p.

Dispite this the floor is in great shape.

[brad35]

Well ill let thge pictures do the talking
















Am a happy boy. Thanks jim for the welding.

[corsakristian]

your right mate, the x14xe is a cracking little engine, pulls like a monster for what it is. I downgraded from a c20xe for fuel economy but i have to say, other than not having the same kind of power, i really enjoy the 1.4 all round youve made a good choice with that.

[brad35]

Well i had hoped the head gasket would last till end of March but the engine had other ideas

Engine breather


Water wise, it was using half a litre every 120 miles
Not disasterous but can turn nasty very quicky

So no messing about and get the head off



The engine has apparently done 50 thousand miles. Id have to agree

Well here is one damaged gasket





New and old


The car had been treated to new timing belt kit and water pump prior to me buying it.

The head has been stripped down and is at the engineers having the head skimmed and washed.

Hope to have it back on the road Sat due to work commitments

[GaryVaux]

good work so far! There cracking engines the small block 16v's.

[brad35]

Well managed to finish it this morning.
Changed the oil and filter then filled it with coolant, and then turnt the key

Initial start up (sorry mobile phone video)


All finished, fitted the beauty board after a quick clean up.

The engine is lovely and smooth.

Once its been motd ill be pulling the engine out ans sorting the engine bay out as its a mess.

[brad35]

Well what a week ive had. Mot was up so booked it in at my local express mot centre. I love these guys

Failed on NS Headlight aim to low
Emission exessive. High CO Max being 0.30 and the car after the test was 0.59 Lambda and HC being well within limits.

Sorted the head light first. Common problem, on these is the plastic clip the bottom of the headlight clips to the body. Pulled the headlight out and the clip was missing and also the attachment on the headlight. So new headlight £34 and a trip to Vauxhall for 2 Clips £1.18

Next was emisions. The tester had a hunch the Cat wasnt working. With the failed head gasket a few months ago and the car using water he may be right.
So new cat and fitting kit £50 and i also changed the oil and filter and put new spark plugs in it then took it back for a retest.

Headlight was spot on and it passed the emissions too with the CO now being 0.00.

Now to start sorting the bodywork out.

[wkdkris]

excellent, engine looks very tidy!! Love the XE's

[brad35]

Well decided its time to pull the engine out. Want to sort the mess that is the engine wiring loom. Will be easy with the block out the way



Pulled the sound deadening off and gave the bulkhead a clean ready for paint tomorrow



Wiring loom in question



Will also be cleaning the engine and gearbox. And checking the clutch too

[brad35]

Well day off today. Time to get the engine bay finished.



Got rid of the battery tray. Will be living in the boot from now on. And all painted


Gave the engine and gearbox a quick degrease and a quick lick of silver paint


And engine back in the bay.

[corsaXEV_chris]

good progress mate, i used to have a 1.6 sport which was loads of fun to drive so i can see why you stuck with the 1.4 engine.
so what are your plans for it now that your not fitting the bigger engine??

[brad35]

Really just to tidy the car up. When i picked the car up i had every intention to rip the 1.4 out, throw it in the bin and fit a 1.8. But the engine is an amazing performer. Is a real treat to drive. I do like the roar it gives you

Tonight the whole engine wiring loom is going to get sorted. Just to tidy it up and check all connections are ok.

Well plans to finish, got my welder mate coming sunday to sort the crusty cross member out and hopefully weld in the bad boy bonnet extensions

Also while stipping down i noticed on the drivers side one of the three anti roll bar bolts to crossmember had sheared at some point. That will need sorting

Have also treated it to new ball joints as they were in a terrible state.

Just got to get some amp wire and distribution block to relocate the battery too.

[Mr_GSi]

You've been busy lol looks like you've had some fun there

[corsaXEV_chris]

how did the wiring come on?? thats a decent plan, shame to hear about the crossmember and anti-roll bar bolts.

[brad35]

how did the wiring come on?? thats a decent plan, shame to hear about the crossmember and anti-roll bar bolts.

Yeah all is well. All the wiring was buzzed at each end to make sure we have no bad joints. It passed with flying colours.

The wiring loom will get shortend where possible sunday when its back in the engine bay, and then get wrapped back up.

Im in good hands with my mate who has promised me it will get sorted out.

[brad35]

Well managed to get the metal cut for the bad boy bonnet.

My mate in action with his new metal cutting tool



Roll on Sunday.

[brad35]

Well it was raining this morning and i honestly thought my welding buddy would let me down but 10am he phones to say hes outside

So first job was to tackle that rotten crossmember and to pull out that sheard bolt for the arb

Body work all stripped and crossmember wire wheeled





You can see there remains of the shearded bolt



So we grinded the threaded part of the tube out and out it came



Then we welded a nut back on top

The rust on the cross member we cut out



Then plated



By this point my mate was on fire asking next



I decided to leave the rear wiper on



No point attemting to fill it so just put some black paint down. Will be fine to tackle another day

Then came the part i had been looking forward to



Welded inside and outside.

again just some black paint. Will need filling when i have some nicer weather





A big thanks to Jim

[brad35]

Well managed to get the front undersealed and built back up.






New track rod ends and lower ball joints.

Then started wrapping the wiring loom.

[GaryVaux]

progress looks good!

[brad35]

progress looks good!

Thanks.

Well day off today and the weather was perfectr for a bit of spraying
Very worried about spraying black as its very unforgiving. So called my decorator mate to help with the prep.















Have also been slowly stasrting to build the car back up. Gearbox filled and started to move the battery into the boot.

[nibnob21]

Good effort on all that rust removal. Looks like you've done a good job of the badboy bonnet and bootlid.

[brad35]

Managed to get the battery relocation complete

[corsaXEV_chris]

good progress m8, not bad work with the painting

[brad35]

good progress m8, not bad work with the painting

Thanks. Its all down to my mates prep work. Hes handy with the filler