Welcome to Valvers.co.uk! This site has been written by myself - an amateur DIY mechanic who gets pleasure from maintaining and modifying my own vehicle, in the hope that any information I have gained in the process might be useful to someone else.
Everytime I solve a problem with my car, or perform a worthwhile mod, I will put it up on the site, and you never know it might come in handy to someone else.
I believe the Vauxhall Astra GTE 16v is something of a classic, and certainly still has a big following. The beauty comes from the simplicity of the car to work on, and the fun gained from driving it.
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Last updated: 06-02-03 |
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News:
Last updated: 02-01-04
 02-01-04 - The car has been a lot of fun with this cold air around at the moment. I am thinking about getting throttlebodies, but using a closed plenum design so I can use my mappable chip I bought, and benefit from cold air run from the front. Even with my current power its easy to wheelspin the car, but it really takes off nicely, so throttlebodies and a Quaiffe limited slip differential are my New Years resolution for 2004. The Quaiffe isnt cheap, but Im really warming to it big time. If you want a faster car without tuning the engine and incuring insurance charges, then fit a Quaiffe ATB differential, they are seriously good and a standard GTE 16v will benefit massively let alone a tuned one.
With the throttlebodies and the Quaiffe the car will be very quick indeed, and I will definately go on some trackdays this year.
01-01-04 - Went clubbing with some mates last night, I drove four of us there. Great evening, began well with no rubbing from the arch. With 2 of my mates in the back the car had gone down another inch, it was now in -60 to -80mm territory, looking seriously low at the rear. However, for the first few miles there wasnt even the hint of the wheel rubbing on the arch. The wheel did catch slightly on a 50mph bend, but Im pretty happy with it, and when the weather warms up a bit I will take a little more off the arch - might need a new flapdisc first as they wear down quickly.
27-12-03 - Went to Halfords and bought a Flapdisc for my angle grinder. Its essentially a sanding disk. I wanted to take some of the lip off the rear right arch as it starts rubbing the wheel on some bends with 1 or 2 people in the back of the car. The disk works really well! I held the grinder on the inside of the arch for 10 seconds at moderate pressure and then inspected the arch. It had taken 2mm off already! Within 10mins I had taken off 3mm all along the arch. This probably leaves about 1cm lip which is plenty - I will see how it goes.
17-12-03 - Car is still running great, Dampstart is great, its been raining barrel loads and the car sits outside and Ive have no misfire or starting problems at all.
I reckon the underbonnet insulation soaks up a lot of damp, which would explain the moisture on the bottom of the bonnet and on top of the engine as I dont have it anymore.
Oh well, its a trade off and the car has been so quick in this cold weather, it really shows up the summer performance when it gets hot.
10-12-03 - I was driving the car today when a major misfire suddenly came into play. I had no choice but to continue on my way, but when I got home I checked the dizzy cap and rotor arm for wear. They seemed ok, a little worn, but nothing excessive which was good because they have only covered a maximum of 6000 miles. I decided to replace them anyway, which wasnt cheap but I wanted to get rid of that stuttering misfire for good. I then purchased some dampstart and went mental with it. I sprayed the lead ends of the plugs, a little down each plug bore, both ends of the leads, inside the dizzy cap, both ends of the coil to dizzy lead, and the dizzy and coil contacts.
hey presto! it worked, no more damp problems. I think I found the main culprit though - on one of the leads, the plug contact end had some greenish corrosion/oxidation on it showing that it wasnt sealing out the damp properly. However, these Beru leads are extremely expensive and wont be replaced as the car is running great now.
02-10-03 - Great news the oil leak was simply the oil pressure switch again - must have shaken a bit lose. There isnt much I wouldnt use threadlock on now - its definaltey needed!
Also got broadband so now I have a reasonable connection I can probably update the site more - all good.
20-08-03 - How boring, Ive got another oil leak. Last one was a lose oil pressure switch, so hopefully it is something equally simple. I will do what I did last time, jack up the car, switch on the engine and go underneath and see where its coming from.
Its used 1 litre in the past month/1000 miles so it isnt too chronic, but will be looked at on the weekend.
19-08-03 - Ive been looking at the V6 engine from the Calibra and Cavalier, namely the C25XE.
Very tempted. Engines can be picked up quite cheap. Nice extra lashings of torque and power, very reliable, and it would be smooth and quiet so I can still keep my ICE interest.
In the Vectra (and I assume the other V6 cars) the V6 is cursed with a 15Kg flywheel. This really reduced the responsiveness of the engine as it is so heavy, and the only reason such a heavy one was used was so the engine could idle at 400 odd rpm for America.
Over here that isnt a requirement, yet [I]our[/I] V6 cars are still cursed with this. Its a bit silly really, Vauxhall could have simply fitted a more sensible flywheel for elsewhere.
Anyway, I have been talking to a friend of mine on MIG called Paul and he reckons the flywheel doesnt fit in the F20 anyway so it will be changed definaltey!
With a short ratio box (my F20) and a light flywheel it will be pretty responsive, and is a very tempting prospect.
There is of course the handling issue, but I have plans to deal with this, and although heavier than the C20XE, the C25XE is still manageable and with some stiffening up of the front end handling and a little weight relocation I think it will be fine.
12-08-03 - Been damn busy lately, so not much work been done on the site. Went to Performance Vauxhall 2003, Billing (VBOA Rally), and then the F1 race at Silverstone - what an amazing day out that was, especially as my friend Brett managed to get me a free ticket as his father works for McLaren. Couldn't believe all the Ferrari supporters though!
20-07-03 - MoT time arrived, and my backbox was blowing at the joint. This wasnt because of a weld, but the previous owner (now on a Scorpion second hand stainless system) had overtightened the U-clamp between the backbox and system and it was now impossible to put the box fully on which resulted in leakage. I then discovered that the hanger welded to the back of the box has torn a hole in the backbox aswell - this has put me off second hand exhausts for life. I wont buy another - it is new systems from now on, even if its a stainless steel system.
Halfords really came to the rescue this time, with only a week to sort it before the MoT and no time off work, going to a custom place for a new backbox to fit my system was out of the question. I bought some exhuast repair tape (a self adhesive thick foil type stuff - its great) and some exhuast putty. I then ripped off the rest of the hanger and fitted a generic Halfords one.
Between all the Halfords 'bodge' products I managed to get the system to pass the MoT.
Then with all the time in the world I looked around for a permanent solution. In the end I called Powerflow in Redhill. I was quoted £200+vat, but in Croydon I was quoted 180+vat and they could do it quick, so I went there.
A LOT of money for a backbox I thought, but when I got the car back I was not dissapointed - I think its really nice.
picture of new backbox
14-04-03 - Today I changed my gearbox oil. The gearbox is quite stiff so I wanted to see if a change of oil would losen it up at all. I only put a litre in - which means it is about half full, but have been told since that I should fill it up really to avoid overheating. I will do that before any drives to make sure.
I also fitted my modified cam cover and modified the beather system - serious joyfulness! no more jerking when slowing on the approach to roundabouts. Now the car is such a pleasure to drive around in - slowly as well as quickly.
It is comfortable, smooth and torquey, and now the dreaded 16v breather jerking problem is solved I dont have to keep putting the clutch in early all the time at low speeds! horay!
I am obviously not hardcore enough though, I am going to put some lightweight carpet in to cover the bare floor. I will still be saving weight though, and I am glad I had a chance to check the floor for rust, and even more glad to find there isnt anything majorly wrong with it.
26-02-03 - We
I have been researching superchargers more and more. The kit I am focusing on is made by Swedish company Enem. Its very similar to the Lexmaul kit sold by PVD, but its far cheaper and runs more boost: ~0.8bar instead of the Lexmaul ~0.5bar. This is due to some regulation, the actual charger is still the twinscrew Autorotor item.
Looking at the compression ratio, the kit comes with a 1mm plate that goes between two headgaskets. This takes the compression down to 9.0:1, same as the 20LET turbo engine. It seems like a bit of a bodge, but I am told from a reliable source that this works fine for upto 1bar which is more than I would be running anyway. The ECU is mapped for the alterations in shape of the combustion chamber, and I will fit water injection as a safeguard in summer.
I looked at an old page here I have refered to in the past about a guy who is tuning his Rover SD1 V8. He is very informative, and tuning the 3.5V8 is of interest to a lot of people as it is still a widely used engine.
Of special interest, he has added a Lystholm charger. The engine is running 10:1 compression, and he tried to run the charger at 6PSi, but detonation occured. This is the proof I needed that a lowered compression ratio is a must for forced induction, even when an efficient charger is running (without intercooler).
Oh well, looks like I will have to take the head off to install the twin headgaskets and plate.
23-02-03 - Went round to my mates Cemesis' house today to see his new V6 Brakes on his GTE turbo. The clearance is literally less than a millimeter between the V6 caliper and the wheel (GTE Champion 15" wheel). We swapped over one of my Astra GSi wheels and it was improved to a colossal 2-3mm. I can confirm that V6 brakes go under 15's then. I guess there are 15" wheels which wont go over the calipers so its worth checking, and the Champion wheels are so close he had to file just a tiny bit off the caliper.
V6 brakes are on the cards for the near future, they look awesome and I imagine when run-in they will perform awesome aswell.
22-02-03 - I have been considering my options for new front seats for a while now. It looked like I would be spending £600+ on seats and subframes which is obviously a fair bit of money. My origional GTE ones 'had it' quite a while ago - the adjuster wheel for the passenger seat was cracked and nonfunctional and Vauxhall can no longer supply this. Additional problems include ruined drivers seat bulsters and a collapsed base to both, especially the drivers seat.
But help was at hand, and today I would be attending to this problem. I had found some brand new Astra mk4 seats in the MIG forsale section for a very good price of £120 the pair. A quick trip to the M25/M11 Junction McDonalds and I had them in my boot.
When I got home my lower back was aching from the malformed GTE seat, - I was glad it would be the last time I would drive the car with the old seats.
It took some messing about to get the new seats in but once done I was very pleased. They are extremely comfortable and have a lot of adjustment for lumbar support and height - bargain.
16-02-03 - Today I went with some of the MIG South East crew to Kent for a rolling road day. The turnout was very good and we got loads of cars on the rollers before lunchtime. The guys at the rolling road were very helpful and showed enthusiasm whilst getting on with the business at hand.
My own result was good. I was secretly hoping for 160bhp, as the car is running great and with a few tweaks I though an extra 5bhp from the 16v was reasonable.
As it turns out I got a very nice result, see the graph here.
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