My project cars thread. Maestro fettling

[JMotor]

37 minutes ago, AnnoyingPentium said:

Think ye've got ma Vectra beat! 😂

Comes at a cost mind.

It's a small shitbox. The Vectra will do miles without fuss. 

Can see the Corsa being hard work at distances with the bigger wheels and suspension.

[AnnoyingPentium]

3 minutes ago, JMotor said:

The Vectra will do miles without fuss. 

Funny man, you are.

First name terms with my local AA patrolman now.

[JMotor]

You know what I mean! 😆 

Still shocked at how well the Corsa works for something I threw together with leftover shite.

[JMotor]

Today's job.

Cambelt replacement.

Strip down was quite quick. As my aux belt only drives the alternator. No removal of engine mounts or any shite in my road.

That's a surprising amount of room. It was more than the donor car had without half the hassle too.

This is the second belt I've done on this engine. I only did at a push 5k on this after the first one I fitted. So replacing it could be seen as a waste, except I did this four years ago. Long enough to want to at least have a nose at the belt and pullies.

That's when I noticed the bearings were leaking grease. Maybe not a big issue. But I wanted to play it safe.

The kit was less than £40 too. Cheap enough to just replace the lot. Water pump was fine, so left it. I replaced it on the last belt job anyway.

Span the engine over a few times, then reset the belt tensioner as per the HBOL. Started and ran with no issues.

Oil change tomorrow and some fannying about with making bumpers and arch trims fit better.

[JMotor]

Friend suggested about heading out for a drive and some photo taking.

Need to put miles on this anyway.

Car drove mint. Bar the temp gauge would sit at just over mid way. Strange. Should sit bang in the middle. Ach no loss of power or any other issues. 

Stopped the car when I got back. Started up again, misfire when you blip the throttle. Fudge! That'll be an new issue to fix. Fuel pump is noticeably noisy too. So that'll not help either.

Still have time, just hope it's plenty of time before my trip down south to have it fixed.

[JMotor]

Quick drive tonight to get everything warmed up.

Discovered three things.

Plugs were all the same. Been a tad hot. Wonder if it's running a tad lean?

That would be a YES! 😄

Fuel pump is NOT happy. That should be reading 3.8 bar running. It was random pump from another Corsa that had been used as an Auto test car and then left sat for years. Amazing it runs and drives at all. 

Front right brake caliper is binding on. So I'll just find the the cheapest reconditioned one on eBay to replace it. 

Overall. I can not be mad at the little car. It works! It bloody works 😁!

[JMotor]

Dug more into this weird fuel pump and running issue.

Swapped pumps for the one from my Spares Corsa. I used the exact same pump set up as the the spares car. Long story short, it's up to the job. No worries there.

Still the same weird noise out of mine. Spares car is silent as before. 

Time to pull the fuel reg apart. It's an EFi bypass one to over come the deadhead system the 1800 uses. Fuel can return to the tank.

It's not bad for an eBay special. But not fantastic either.

Then I found what spring they fitted in it. Well it nearly fucked the top of the reg off down the workshop!

That's some spring there! No wonder I couldn't adjust it at all. The screw was doing nothing. Too heavy of a spring and far too long. 

No expert. But I wonder if the pump was surging due to the fact it couldn't bleed off the excess via the return?

Threw the thing in the bin and have another name brand reg coming. 

Felt I needed to do something to justify my time. Went about swapping steering wheels.

Originally fitted this wheel from a Cavalier MK3 CD.

I liked it. Until I spotted an FB for sale post for another wheel. My lack of restraint caused a purchase to happen.

Been after one from either a Corsa B Flair or SRi. Not a very common wheel at all as it was only available for a short time until they started fitting airbag wheels to the sporty ones as standard. They kept selling non-airbag equipped cars. But only with the povvy two spoke steering wheel.

[Dyslexic Viking]

I can't remember what engine does the Corsa have?

[JMotor]

12 hours ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

I can't remember what engine does the Corsa have?

X18XE1 (1.8 twin cam 16v) from a Vectra B. 

[grogee]

On 27/06/2024 at 13:06, JMotor said:

Friend suggested about heading out for a drive and some photo taking.

Need to put miles on this anyway.

 

Look at that sexy high performance machine! Imagine the fun you could have in that. The wee Corsa's not bad either.

[AnnoyingPentium]

23 minutes ago, grogee said:

Look at that sexy high performance machine! Imagine the fun you could have in that. The wee Corsa's not bad either.

Having been in that LDV, I can confirm it's fantastic (if you're not in a rush). However you do look like an extra from Balamory.

[JMotor]

41 minutes ago, grogee said:

Look at that sexy high performance machine! Imagine the fun you could have in that. The wee Corsa's not bad either.

It's a machine and a half. All the fire breathing performance from the Banana Di!

That LDV is actually quite fun to be in. Reminds me of trips out when I was at school.

 

[grogee]

13 minutes ago, JMotor said:

It's a machine and a half. All the fire breathing performance from the Banana Di!

That LDV is actually quite fun to be in. Reminds me of trips out with the school.

 

I've definitely got a Sherpa/Pilot/Cub fetish. My ultimate one would have the sought-after* Freight Rover badge on the back. 

[JMotor]

Had the new fuel regulator delivered to me.

An AEM brand one. Night and day difference in the quality. The pressure spring inside was nowhere near the same size as the valve spring they used in the last one.

Both regs use -6 AN fittings (finer machined JIC hydraulic fittings), made the swap over easy without the need to change the fuel lines. Picture shows how the reg is plumbed in for a deadhead system. So this serves as my return to tank too.

I'll need to knock up a bracket for mounting this to the car. Nothing fancy required.  

For testing purposes. I plumbed it up set the pressure to the stock pressure of 3.8 bar. Started it up and it's running at idle quite happy. The racket from the fuel pump has gone. Really glad it's worked to solve a few issues at once. 

Did have one major issue. It's an American brand, so it's all imperial hardware. Had to borrow some imperial Allen keys to set the pressure screw 😆. Have bought a set now.

[JMotor]

Couple of things happened.

Washed Corsa. 

Tried to free off a sticky R/H brake caliper. Didn't work. I ordered another caliper off the Bay. Took an age to come. 

 

Quick swap over and bleed, done. Car rolls freely now there isn't a dragging brake on that corner.

Hopefully there isn't anymore issues or nothing that isn't quickly fixable. 

Gonna tempt driving to work this Saturday. 

[Matty]

On 10/07/2024 at 10:16, JMotor said:

Couple of things happened.

Washed Corsa. 

Tried to free off a sticky R/H brake caliper. Didn't work. I ordered another caliper off the Bay. Took an age to come. 

 

Quick swap over and bleed, done. Car rolls freely now there isn't a dragging brake on that corner.

Hopefully there isn't anymore issues or nothing that isn't quickly fixable. 

Gonna tempt driving to work this Saturday. 

I have the same hero's tub as an oil drain pan as well 🤣

[Matty]

On 02/07/2024 at 10:29, JMotor said:

It's a machine and a half. All the fire breathing performance from the Banana Di!

That LDV is actually quite fun to be in. Reminds me of trips out when I was at school.

 

I had a hi top panel van for a while. Mine was a DI with a turbo though as befits a performance orientated motorist 😆. Apart from the whistling you wouldnt have been that aware a chuffer was present in all honesty. Grand old bus though.

[Cavcraft]

On 10/07/2024 at 10:16, JMotor said:

Gonna tempt driving to work this Saturday. 

It'll be fine. Corsas don't brake down, they just sometimes stop at the side of the road so people in inferior cars can admire them for longer.

[JMotor]

On 13/07/2024 at 17:05, Matty said:

I have the same hero's tub as an oil drain pan as well 🤣

It's the drain pan of winnArs! These are the automotive equivalent of a Danish cookie tin! 😆 

On 13/07/2024 at 17:08, Matty said:

I had a hi top panel van for a while. Mine was a DI with a turbo though as befits a performance orientated motorist 😆. Apart from the whistling you wouldnt have been that aware a chuffer was present in all honesty. Grand old bus though.

Offfta! Turbocharged hai! Some beast! They move, just have to plan ahead. By at least six miles!

On 13/07/2024 at 20:23, Cavcraft said:

It'll be fine. Corsas don't brake down, they just sometimes stop at the side of the road so people in inferior cars can admire them for longer.

Exactly! Didn't drive it to work in the finish up. Still battling some niggles. Did manage to take it a "spirited" run at the weekend.  

[JMotor]

On to the exhaust system on the Corsa.

It's been a pain in my assholes for a while. Silly fitment issues mostly, thanks to the exhaust being made up from random shite.

Found a broken exhaust manifold stud in the head. Deep joy! 

Ignore the play button. I screenshotted this off a video I had sent to a pal.

This is common on these 1800's to break. I was lucky it was only one! Plenty lucky I was able to snotter some weld on it for extracting the remain of the stud out. This discovery only came about after taking the the exhaust manifold off to fix my previous fuck up of breaking a bolt in the downpipe to manifold flange.  Tried drilling out the bolt, to find my drill bits are blunt. New bits and cutting fluid bought. I'll go canny this time round, instead of setting the drill to malky and sending it.

Got the wheels re-balanced to try and cure a wobble at speed issue. 

Really glad I got the car to a point I can drive it to pick up on these little issues. As I can do with this thrown together pile of shite taking me down to Northamptonshire next weekend.

[JMotor]

*Just wakin' up in the mornin', gotta thank God

I don't know, but today seems kinda odd.*

As I got this little bugger back together today. Exhaust back on and sat to my liking. Wheels back on and readjusted the drivers rear brake as it was dragging a little bit. 

Tore up the road in it to find it still goes like fuck and drives just fine. 

Tomorrow can now be cleaning the interior up and do some more silly little jobs. 

[JMotor]

Corsa went southbound.

So as mentioned before. I was heading to the VBOA show at Sywell. This was the push I needed to at least attempt to get this car some what together for. 

I not only managed to get the car into a fit state. It also managed to drive the 600 mile round trip with three silly issues.

An over optimistic fuel guage that stayed at the full mark.

A baffle on the front bumper which caused the car to have high running temps. Soon as I "removed" it on the first piss stop at Lancaster, saw the temps stay at very sensible level. Still on a 1.2 8v radiator too mind! 

Then the last issue was more me. I'm too fricking tall to sit in it comfortably! 😆 

I'll remedy that soon enough with another set of cool seats I have sat aside.

Still in the grand scheme, that's bugger all! 

Stupid little car! Why did you have to work soooo well for what was a thrown together pile of parts! 

There is still jobs to do. Which is always the way with a project.

[JMotor]

Forgot to mention.

Yes it's sad to go hunting for at least one video with your car in it. But worth a watch for the rest of what was there. 

Or just skip to 4.39 😉.

Got a good comments and was asked about the car itself. 

Kicking myself though. I got to meet a lad with a bone stock Aquamarina Corsa Merit. But I didn't bother taking photos of the two parked together!

Idiot!!

[Matty]

1 hour ago, JMotor said:

Corsa went southbound.

So as mentioned before. I was heading to the VBOA show at Sywell. This was the push I needed to at least attempt to get this car some what together for. 

I not only managed to get the car into a fit state. It also managed to drive the 600 mile round trip with three silly issues.

An over optimistic fuel guage that stayed at the full mark.

A baffle on the front bumper which caused the car to have high running temps. Soon as I "removed" it on the first piss stop at Lancaster, saw the temps stay at very sensible level. Still on a 1.2 8v radiator too mind! 

Then the last issue was more me. I'm too fricking tall to sit in it comfortably! 😆 

I'll remedy that soon enough with another set of cool seats I have sat aside.

Still in the grand scheme, that's bugger all! 

Stupid little car! Why did you have to work soooo well for what was a thrown together pile of parts! 

There is still jobs to do. Which is always the way with a project.

I had a funny feeling it'd go there and back no bother!

[JMotor]

Now the Corsa is mostly done. I wanted to look towards another car I have

This is my Astra Saloon. Have owned this car for 11 years. I plan to start working on it soon. 

It's been off the road for nine years, because of this. 

Surprisingly that's the worst bit I've found (so far). 

I have a combination of genuine and aftermarket new old stock with some good second hand panels to repair this.

I'm not going to mess about with the sills. Both will be replaced with genuine ones. Inner sill is another genuine panel. 

It's gonna be an interesting project for sure.

[New POD]

Somewhere I have a photo of a mk3 astra saloon I wrote off in 2002. 

I would love a TS200 replica. 

[JMotor]

4 hours ago, New POD said:

I would love a TS200 replica. 

A pal of mine had built a rep with a B204. He put some work in making a rear bumper and side skirts. SA stuff is non-existant.

Wonder if importing a tS would be just as expensive, but easier to do?

Mine is just a lowly 160iE. But it has the all important body kit. But I intend to leave it as the 1600 it was built with. 

[rm36house]

Awesome projects you have there! :))

What's you thoughts about scissor lift? Is it easy working with car's body panels etc?

[JMotor]

At the moment, I think it'll get in my road for doing the sills.

However, I have a plan for that. 

As for other jobs, no idea at the moment. Only had it a week 😆. But it should be quite helpful I'd of thought.

[JMotor]

Well. 

A small update post. 

Been nipping up small jobs on the Maestro. 

One was the exhaust. Yes I've posted this picture twice already. But I was chuffed I managed to do this. 

Not sure why. But the back box had been messed with. The tail pipe had been cut short for some stupid reason and a crappy chrome tailpipe bolted on! The box hanger was a bodged mess too.  Made a new tailpipe and found a hanger to weld back on. 

Strong plan of getting another MOT on it and then sell it. I'm not using it now, no point hanging on it.

Started a new thread on the Opel. I shall be cracking on with that mostly now. 

Corsa still works. Still haven't fixed the niggles I found. That's because I haven't tried to sell it yet 😆.

The Altezza threw up an issue. Well an ignored issue that can't be ignored any longer.

The clutch release bearing isnae too happy now.

New clutch time before something more expensive buggers up. It would be an ideal time to upgrade something else while I'm in there.

The dual mass is getting replaced. This is an known mod for these 5th Gen BEAMS enjins. Even TRD offered a solid flywheel for the RS200 cars. It's also roughly half the weight of the standard unit too.

Was going to buy some fancy pants JAAAAYYDEEEEMMM clutch kit. But it was going to be savage money by the time I paid all the fees and taxes. 

Hurley race engineering in the UK who specialise in the BEAMS engine sell this set up. Flywheel is made by TTV so it'll be a decent unit.

Next update here hopefully will be me making an utter balls of installing these parts.