New but old

[voyager1701e]

Hi All,

I've just rejoined OpelAUS forum after a break(!) of 15 years. I live near Maitland NSW, over the last 3 years weve been a VW family (I love DSG). I work in Dealership land in Finance.

I've had 3 Astra's over the years, original 2000 Astra City which I slightly modified (exhaust, suspension, wheels and pod filter hahaha)
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, next was my Arden Blue SRi Turbo (Vauxhall badges :) )
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and then an AH SRi
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I've just placed a holding deposit on an Arden Blue SRi T just as a run-around as Im only travelling limited KM way down from the 40000km I did last year. Overall its in good condition for its age, but I think a previous owner has upped the boost, as its reporting on the boost gauge up to about 18psi at times.

Anyway, thats about it for now

cyas
Ashley

[dutchy]

Welcome Ashley, would love to know and see more of the new car mate.

[guy 27]

Welcome back to OA

[voyager1701e]

Thanks Guy and Dutchy. Ill post some details when Ive collected it - scheduled for Monday.

Itll need a little work, the timing belt is almost an immediate - Ive got the parts just gotto get a mechanic to fit it. The interior is in excellent condition for its age....thats where I spend most of the time anyway :)

[voyager1701e]

I have the car now :)

The exterior is bog standard (which I love anyway). It needs a bit of paint restoration, especially the roof where the clear-coat has deteriorated - thinking I might just wrap the roof. The wheels have Opel logos, so I'm on the search for a front Opel grill and rear Opel badge. No luck on Ebay yet. The interior is in really good condition for its age, just alot of wear on the drivers side seat back.

Ill have to find someone to look at the car, its been modified. It has a 3 inch mandrel exhaust, but....its boosting well above standard. The fitted boost gauge reports boost of up to 18psi, but confusingly the torque app via OBD reports boosting up about 28psi. Either way, its easily overwhelming the 30% tread on the front Khumo tyres. I've ordered some Potenzas to help alleviate that, but I'd rather the boost be wound down a bit. I'm no longer the boy racer I was :) Curiously as best I can tell all the induction hoses look standard to me, can anyone recommend a replacement kit (dont know if I would just have to get generic parts and fit them now the car is too old?). Previous owner fitted some EBD Yellowstuff and slotted/dimpled rotors which is nice :)

Ill do a search on the forum in a moment, but anyone have any tips on removing the headlight unit? I suspect its a bumper off job.

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[dutchy]

Car looks great mate. Always loved these and still do. It wouldn't be boosting that much unless you have at least a remap. Can you post a picture of the engine bay ?

[voyager1701e]

Car looks great mate. Always loved these and still do. It wouldn't be boosting that much unless you have at least a remap. Can you post a picture of the engine bay ?

I haven't had one for so long, and I know the front tyres need attention - but I'm pretty sure there wasn't the same issue of traction with my original TS Turbo compared to this one. As you said Dutchy, I know to play with boost on these you have to use electronics so I'm not sure visually boost mods would be identifiable. Despite the louder exhaust, I am sure I can hear the release of boost pressure on throttle modulation under load and sometimes gear changes (I would normally say from the "blow off vale", but I'm not sure this car has one).

Here are 2 photos that may point to what you are interested in seeing? I'm really not too technical, but it all looks pretty standard under the bonnet. Other than the exhaust, and the front pads (and suspecting the boost is higher than standard), nothing else seems modified.

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[dutchy]

wondering if your actuator (canister looking thing in the top picture) would actually be functioning correctly as it looks like it can't open pushing against that thread in front of it.

[voyager1701e]

wondering if your actuator (canister looking thing in the top picture) would actually be functioning correctly as it looks like it can't open pushing against that thread in front of it.


Yeah I see what you mean from the image, though it may just be the photo angle. Ill check out the clearance around the actuator pivot on the turbo this evening when I'm home.

Been doing a bit of reading about the Torque app - may have been some settings that were wrong causing it to show a higher reading, so I'll check them out tonight. I've found that some cars (not many) will report the actual boost + atmospheric pressure - although Mitsubishi is the only constantly mentioned model to do this....but its just very close to what torque reported with that figure (18+14 = 32, I think Torque reported almost 30 - I'm thinking that is just co-incidence).

I think factory standard is max at about 12-13 psi right? Ill do some googling to see what remaps take it to about 18 psi, I'm starting to believe the boost gauge is the accurate reading and it the car is remapped, (boost gauge is topping out at about 18 psi - but it gets there so quickly its time to change gears before you know it LOL). Once I get satisfied with the accuracy of Torque, Ill try log the min and max.

[voyager1701e]

I had a closer look at the actuator, and there is clear evidence it is impacting what looks to be an expandable exhaust clamp between the turbo and the start of the exhaust - so well spotted Dutchy! When I have more time Ill put a dab of paint on that spot to see if its still impacting, hopefully the clamp is easy to rotate a few degrees if thats the case

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[dutchy]

Guess that prevent the valve to open and let off boost. That clamp can be rotated though, standard it's never in that position. Tighten up the actuator, if I remember well, is between, bottom nut, 4 to 6 complete turns up as standard setting when the valve is held closed by hand.

[voyager1701e]

Guess that prevent the valve to open and let off boost. That clamp can be rotated though, standard it's never in that position. Tighten up the actuator, if I remember well, is between, bottom nut, 4 to 6 complete turns up as standard setting when the valve is held closed by hand.

You could be a genius Dutchy! I couldn't budge the clamp easily, however in my effort I managed to bend the screw shaft a little, not ideal but it worked. A bit of tape on the thread confirms its not impacting the actuator. It now feels a bit more controlled in the boost...its seems that the max boost is a lot more limited (ie its staying at max less often)...there is less traction loss on the same crap tyres in 2nd, with no loss in 3rd so its definitely had an effect - which I'm pleased at.

I'm getting the Potenzas on tomorrow, I expect that to make a further transformation in the grip.

[chris_r]

Just a note, on the Z20LET engines, Torque doesn't read boost correctly. Somehow, my Corsa/Barina allegedly pushes 83psi when trying to read it through the app, when the gauge on my dash says it peaks at 28psi (Yes, not good for internally stock Z20LET, I know).

[voyager1701e]

Just a note, on the Z20LET engines, Torque doesn't read boost correctly. Somehow, my Corsa/Barina allegedly pushes 83psi when trying to read it through the app, when the gauge on my dash says it peaks at 28psi (Yes, not good for internally stock Z20LET, I know).

That would explain that part then. It seems to overboost a little to 18psi on full throttle then return to around 15 consistently (reading from the boost gauge). I've checked the install of the gauge and it seems all in good order, so I'm trusting that rather than Torque. The Potenzas have helped grip significantly, but full throttle in first is heaps of wheel spin and 2nd is better but still loses grip.


I've got some stuff on order from Courtenay's in the UK - just the crankcase oil breather hose (mine has a small hole in it), and replacement turbo to inter-cooler and inter-cooler to plenum hose - both of mine (especially the turbo to inter-cooler) are intact but not in good enough condition. I was thinking of importing a diesel air box to delete the over engine intake arrangement, but that'll have to wait - its all so expensive from the UK!


I've replaced the front sway bar pins, they were knocking, thats fixed that but now I can hear some smaller knocking - maybe the sway bar bushes, or possibly even the exhaust is having a bang on something. Oil / filter change is done, I put in some treatment to try help keep the valve guides going a bit longer - a mate said it puffed a little blue smoke on startup (although I haven't seen it)


I've replaced the headlights, and fitted LED globes with good results (although the aim is a little dodgy - I am sure its not blinding other drivers in normal conditions thought), and fitted LED interior illumination - heap more light and hopefully less current draw. But fitting the interior interior passenger light was a saga! I didn't know how to get the rear passenger globe out, so I removed the whole fitting. The handle/light fitting has a pain in the butt way of mounting to the car, and one of the mounts fell into the car between the inner shell and outer shell. I damn near disassembled the all rear passenger and boot trim just to find the little Fn thing - took me hours but I got it. Now I know how to replace the globes without pulling the car apart! :RollingEyes:


With determination you can remove the rear door card without removing the rear seats (hahaha), though I wouldn't recommend it - bends too much (they are too fragile at their age). At least I know how to replace the rear speakers (Ive already replaced the front with new Pioneer splits - it has improved the sound quality). And because I removed even the tailgate trim I also figured out the rear demister is definitely OK ( I thought it wasn't working after the tint was replaced, it just works slower than modern cars hahaha), and I suspect the rear wiper (which isn't working) is OK....it looks like the stalk is faulty as it wont push forward to activate the rear wiper. Ill just get one off Ebay.


I pulled apart the front dash center console as the LCD display was faulty - I got one from a wrecker. But of course that didn't work! I pulled mine apart, to find the very common fault of the LCD ribbon cable separation to be the reason. I just had to take apart the replacement, and really that one kindof fell apart in my hands with basically the same fault. Its going to annoy me not working so I've paid a huge sum of $200 for a newly made replacement from a Czech guy, but there is also a different replacement / repair service (unfortunately in Hungary - http://www.pixelfix.net/eng/index.html) or they just sell the ribbon cables. So I'm thinking of getting both repaired and selling them - wont be cheap - but they are just too hard to get working to let it go un-repaired. I'm waiting on a new stereo with a 4inch LCD (cheap Chinese thing, but Might be OK). I replaced the faulty cigarette socket with a dual USB/voltmeter - pleased with the result. I'm thinking of painting the centre console with a similar blue to Arden, maybe with some flecks in it


I've got an Opel logo for the steering wheel, so Ill have to pull the airbag out at some stage to fit that. If the previous owner hadn't changed the centre wheel caps for Opel ones, I wouldn't have bothered, but now Ill have to source a rear Opel badge for the tailgate and an Opel front grille as well! I could get a blank front grille....but I like the flash logo of Opel. I had Vauxhall badges on my original new TS Turbo - they were cool too, much better than the Holden Lion on a Euro car.


I've had the front bar repainted, and the drivers mirror - so much happier. Next I've got to fix the roof. I was thinking wrapping it, but in 2 minds about getting it properly painted, maybe in a dusty black


I know I'm spending waaaay to much money, and effort, on this car. but I'm loving it!


Sorry for the long post....just sharing, and never know if someone in the future will stumble across this info and find it useful

[dutchy]

:popcorn: thanks for the update mate.