JMotor's project car thread. Misery loves company.

[Matty]

Excite 😍

[JMotor]

11 hours ago, grogee said:

Am I right in thinking that engine is non-standardly large for a wee Corsa? And the wheels and ride height a little... provocative? 

Is it?

I thought no one would notice about the wheels and ride height. Only as it's OEM wheels off an Astra with slight drop. Perhaps it is? 

Found this picture from the start of the thread to show what it'll look like when it's back together. So it could maybe raise an eyebrow or two?

She is indeed a little fruitier under the bonnet. 1800 out of a Vectra B I had years ago. About the same power as your Maestro. So it felt spritely to say the least.

Nearly the same physical size of engine as the 1.4/1.6 16v engines used in Sports or GSi's. This one is easier to work around, as they don't have the big stupid inlet manifolds like they did. 

[grogee]

4 minutes ago, JMotor said:

Is it?

I thought no one would notice about the wheels and ride height. Only as it's OEM wheels off an Astra with slight drop. Never thought it could be.

Found this picture from the start of the thread to show what it'll look like when it's back together. So it could maybe raise an eyebrow or two?

She is indeed a little fruitier under the bonnet. 1800 out of a Vectra B I had years ago. About the same power as your Maestro. So it felt spritely to say the least.

Nearly the same physical size of engine as the 1.4/1.6 16v engines used in Sports or GSi's. This one is easier to work around, as they don't have the big stupid inlet manifolds like they did. 

Don't get me wrong, I like it a lot. The colour is great. I should imagine it is lively with a 1.8. I like the fact it looks bASe 3-door at first glance. 

What else has it got to stop it tearing itself apart - anything trick on the suspension or brakes? I imagine a brake upgrade can be cobbled using GM parts, no? 

[JMotor]

Just now, grogee said:

Don't get me wrong, I like it a lot. The colour is great. I should imagine it is lively with a 1.8. I like the fact it looks bASe 3-door at first glance. 

What else has it got to stop it tearing itself apart - anything trick on the suspension or brakes? I imagine a brake upgrade can be cobbled using GM parts, no? 

Nooo, I didn't think anything bad by it. I just couldn't type what I wanted to say properly. Sorry if I came across strongly.

Aye, it would make someone wonder if it was stock or not.

You're bang on with brakes. Been upgraded to front brakes you would find on a Cavalier or big engined Astra. From 236mm non-ventilated to 256mm ventilated with fresh fluid and braided lines all round. Suspension is now Bilstein B14 coil overs. Keeping it basic for now. 

I will be looking at registering it as an 1800 too. Well try and jump the hoops....

 

[Matty]

That's going to be superb. Sell it to me for nothing when you're done please! 

 

 

Or at least make a good driving video and post it on here!

[JMotor]

Oh I will be doing a video for sure.

I'd love to take it to a tarmac auto test. That be a good way to give it a thrashing! 

Shame you weren't a bit closer. I'd happily let you have a go it when it's done.

[JMotor]

Busy again.

Nova has left the building! Wanted to be sad, I wasn't in the least bit missing it.

With the space freed up. A quick move about of shite allowed this to happen. Can now fit a car in there with heaps of room about it. 

Definitely worth getting shot now.

The Altezza will be moved and my Astra Saloon will end up there for it's impending turn of fibreglass, newspaper and glue gun action. 

Wondering if I should start a separate thread for that cars resto? 

As for the tidy up operations. I still have this to contend with. 

That's the next job in the future. Sick of moving shit about. 

I'll put up with it for now. As the Corsa needs away shortly. Again freeing up space I can drag stuff out and go through it. With a strict keep or fling policy, that'll not work.

[JMotor]

Busy busy.

Nipped about getting small bodywork jobs done. Drilled and fettled holes for the arch trims. New wheel arch panels don't have holes drilled.

Then checking for those pesky rust blebs.

With my new found hateful task. Wire wheeling window sealant out of the surrounds. 

Had new found appreciation for why a paint job costs as much. You can easily waste days chasing issues down. 

I'm not doing everything, hence me paying someone else to do it. But felt I would at least make it less of a shitty job to do.

[Matty]

When's it in for paint? And more importantly when's the MOT booked??

[JMotor]

Very good questions....

Paint. Very shortly. Biggest hurdle is getting it to the body shop. Then it's there for a month.

Test, well. That'll be on me to thrash after it comes back. Luckily it's 90% there mechanically. Still a little welding to do. All on the front crossmember, bugger all really. 

VBOA show is 173 days away. I want it back together and shook down a good while before July.

In practice...

I'll be hoping it passes the day before I'm due to drive down 😆.

[Matty]

Brilliant. I'm struggling to keep tabs on all the builds on here I'm excited about. Your corsa, Si's midget, joeys minor, scrubworks minor, tommyboys mini. I'm fuckin worn out if I'm honest 🤣

[JMotor]

4 minutes ago, Matty said:

Brilliant. I'm struggling to keep tabs on all the builds on here I'm excited about. Your corsa, Si's midget, joeys minor, scrubworks minor, tommyboys mini. I'm fuckin worn out if I'm honest 🤣

Ditto.

Thank fuck for the follow button! 😆

I enjoy the same builds (I'll need to check out a few you've mentioned!) and your A40 project. Again that thing is cool as fuck!

Glad you and other people like the Corsa. First car I've done a hell of an amount of work too. It has really helped my skills no end!

[JMotor]

Thought I'd take a moody shot of the Maestro.

Well, I had no choice about it's parking at that spot. It's FTP'd.

It lost power heading home. Unfortunately I knew exactly what the issue was. Had the exact same problem with a MK2 Polo I had.

Fuel pump has carked it. Fudge! Joys of a diaphragm mechanical pump.

Thankfully, my Mother was at work this evening. Borrowed her car to get dog and father home. Then returned back.

Autoaid has been phoned and currently sat in said Maestro waiting for them. ETA is 10.30 😢.

Oh well. I'll use the time to get a pump ordered 😆.

[grogee]

7 minutes ago, JMotor said:

Thought I'd take a moody shot of the Maestro.

Well, I had no choice about it's parking at that spot. It's FTP'd.

It lost power heading home. Unfortunately I knew exactly what the issue was. Had the exact same problem with a MK2 Polo I had.

Fuel pump has carked it. Fudge! Joys of a diaphragm mechanical pump.

Thankfully, my Mother was at work this evening. Borrowed her car to get dog and father home. Then returned back.

Autoaid has been phoned and currently sat in said Maestro waiting for them. ETA is 10.30 😢.

Oh well. I'll use the time to get a pump ordered 😆.

Ah BAWS. Easy fix I guess, are they a jelly bean standard BL part? 

Mine's an electric pump which eBay sellers pretend is unique and £££ but is actually used on loads of early EFi stuff across the board. 

[JMotor]

@grogee

Yeah a fairly standard lift style pump. Bolted to the front of the block. Getting fuel into it maybe a pain, however I'll worry about that later on.

I've ordered two pumps. Genuine Rover NOS one and a aftermarket jobber just in case. 

Not surprised yours has a standard for the time pump. Couldn't of been many suppliers making EFi pumps for those at time. Or it was a license made one from another company?

[Matty]

I put a facet pump on mine. Seems reliable but then that's only over 4 thou miles so who knows.

By the way, a series powered cars don't fail to proceed. They only pause at the road side to allow lesser cars to catch up 😆

[JMotor]

1 minute ago, Matty said:

By the way, a series powered cars don't fail to proceed. They only pause at the road side to allow lesser cars to catch up 😆

🤣🤣🤣

Brilliant! 

Tempted to buy a clicky clacker anyway. Would be handy for pumping fuel out of my other projects if I need to drop the tank.

[Matty]

5 minutes ago, JMotor said:

🤣🤣🤣

Brilliant! 

Tempted to buy a clicky clacker anyway. Would be handy for pumping fuel out of my other projects if I need to drop the tank.

They are noisy. I mean really fucking noisy. Tbf, mines in the boot which is open to the car so every journey is ticky ticky.  Rest of the car is so bloody loud you don't notice though. They do seem to just work mind, and they aren't dear.

[JMotor]

Ach, that's it's own way of letting you know it's working.

From half a county away 😆.

Will look at them this week 👍.

Managed to get recovered. So the Maestro can sit for a bit, while I wait on the new pump to arrive in. Went for a same again pump wise, just to get mobile again.

Autoaid was helpful and got me sorted quickly with details on someone arriving. The recovery driver was spot on. He said it made a change from the more awkward jobs he's had of late.

[Noel Tidybeard]

On 28/10/2023 at 21:37, JMotor said:

 

Had a laugh* at the inner CV bolts while taking it off. Like a VAG product they are held with six bolts in three pairs.  

I found at least three different types of bolt used. All drilled and lock wired, which was a good thing as all of them were about bloody finger tight!!

So I'll add bolts to the list too. The poor thing will be stuck on stands until I get the parts in 😔.

GAH! Starting to feel bad for a bloody Maestro! Think I need to give me 'ead a wobble! 😆

there may be a good reason for that!🤣

[grogee]

52 minutes ago, Noel Tidybeard said:

there may be a good reason for that!🤣

Wait until he sees the stamp on the gearbox... 

[JMotor]

Hands up moment here.

Already knew it was a VAG gearbox. I just was surprised that BL didn't BL the driveshaft flanges to make it awkward for no reason.

There wasn't much thought put into the post. I tend to post and edit afterwards. 

#stunnedasfuck 🤣

[grogee]

14 minutes ago, JMotor said:

Hands up moment here.

Already knew it was a VAG gearbox. I just was surprised that BL didn't BL the driveshaft flanges to make it awkward for no reason.

There wasn't much thought put into the post. I tend to post and edit afterwards. 

#stunnedasfuck 🤣

Honestly it's such a weird chain of events. They pull apart a Mk1 Golf and basically put it through the photocopier. Then they go and ask VW if they can buy their gearbox for it! 

It's not as if it was the best box either. But it may have been the cheapest. 

I guess the attitude at VW was, "if they sell 20 Maestros it's equivalent to our bottom line as selling one Golf". 

[JMotor]

Yeah, it was a grainy copy and paste job. 

The fact certain Golf suspension parts do fit with a little modification is telling.

Think the prototypes/mules just worked good enough to abandon any ideas of developing their own in house gearbag. Must of cut a good bit of guesswork out as well. 

BL/Spen King totally played it safe with the Maestro and Montego in the engineering side. It was all proven gear that would work and cause little bother.

Though I hope the gear shift quality is better on the PG gearboxes. It's not fantastic on the VAG ones.

[grogee]

1 hour ago, JMotor said:

Though I hope the gear shift quality is better on the PG gearboxes. It's not fantastic on the VAG ones.

It's excellent. Best bit of the whole car. 

[Noel Tidybeard]

my facelift '89 montego had such a sweet pg gearbox you really found it hard to believe it had 134,000 miles on it!

[JMotor]

New fuel pump turned up for the Maestro.

Might be a job for this evening. Could do with the car running again sooner than later. 

 

[grogee]

9 minutes ago, JMotor said:

New fuel pump turned up for the Maestro.

Might be a job for this evening. Could do with the car running again sooner than later. 

 

Good luck. We're all counting on you. 

[JMotor]

2 minutes ago, grogee said:

Good luck. We're all counting on you.

Thank you.

What will happen is, I'll fit the pump. Car will still not start. Go around in circles, bang my head and cause various injuries to myself. Break something. Then stomp home like a toddler.

[grogee]

1 hour ago, JMotor said:

Thank you.

What will happen is, I'll fit the pump. Car will still not start. Go around in circles, bang my head and cause various injuries to myself. Break something. Then stomp home like a toddler.

Standard. 

Do you have a vacuum sucker thing? I'm just thinking that if the pump is the only thing pumping fuel into carb, it may take a while to draw it through from the tank - by which time your battery might have given up. 

If you connect vac thing to pump outlet after fitting then quickly push the fuel line back on, you might stand more chance of success. 

I think @vulgalour has bitter experience of slow and British fuel pumps.