Went back to the standard wiring behind the front ashtray mate so still uses the same fuse etc
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Dave b's VXR Powered Gsi Diary
- Thread starter DavebGsi
- Start date
Went back to the standard wiring behind the front ashtray mate so still uses the same fuse etc
Yea they are good out this way! Can see why the bikers love them!
Finally time for an update, the astra has been off the road for a bit sorting the clutch... and another project..... 
So first of all, the clutch. shortly before ripping the box out I change the clutch cable for an old OEM cable I had laying around. It made the clutch pedal incredibly light! I had a brand new borg and beck cable on there, obviously pants compared to the OE cable! It didn't fix the biting point issue, but its staying on there now as it feels lovely.
So I ripped the box out. Everything looked ok, no low fingers or anything.
Clutch removed and I compared it to the new clutch.... fingers are alot lower, lower means less release power/leverage.... hmmm
But it was when I turn it over, It was obvious something wasn't right....
As you can see, The sand paper marks from before I refitted it, to freshen up the face, but in one spot, the cover has been super heated! It is pretty obvious this is the source of the clutch judder, but also this is the part of the cover which has been dragging! You can really see how hot it has got!
I can only assume the finger have gone weak in that spot as it is not releasing that side of the clutch properly! At least I found something!
New clutch
New bearing
Nearly back together!! It was then, I got itchy fingers for a project I have been wanting to do for years.... So i got the car to this stage and stopped.
I then got very side tracked....
So first of all, the clutch. shortly before ripping the box out I change the clutch cable for an old OEM cable I had laying around. It made the clutch pedal incredibly light! I had a brand new borg and beck cable on there, obviously pants compared to the OE cable! It didn't fix the biting point issue, but its staying on there now as it feels lovely.
So I ripped the box out. Everything looked ok, no low fingers or anything.
Clutch removed and I compared it to the new clutch.... fingers are alot lower, lower means less release power/leverage.... hmmm
But it was when I turn it over, It was obvious something wasn't right....
As you can see, The sand paper marks from before I refitted it, to freshen up the face, but in one spot, the cover has been super heated! It is pretty obvious this is the source of the clutch judder, but also this is the part of the cover which has been dragging! You can really see how hot it has got!
I can only assume the finger have gone weak in that spot as it is not releasing that side of the clutch properly! At least I found something!
New clutch
New bearing
Nearly back together!! It was then, I got itchy fingers for a project I have been wanting to do for years.... So i got the car to this stage and stopped.
I then got very side tracked....
So first of all, because I'm going the nurburgring in the astra in June, I'm having visions of smashing round the track and then coming to a standstill to queue to get off the track.....
So to keep the head in check, I wrapped the manifold and downpipe
That should help a alot. I am actually thinking I am going to get the manifold and turbo house ceramic coated over the winter, I always thought O wanted to leave the manifold raw, but it gives off insane amount of heat which is never a great thing to be honest, so it may have to be function over form!
So to keep the head in check, I wrapped the manifold and downpipe
That should help a alot. I am actually thinking I am going to get the manifold and turbo house ceramic coated over the winter, I always thought O wanted to leave the manifold raw, but it gives off insane amount of heat which is never a great thing to be honest, so it may have to be function over form!
Next up...
Wonder if you can see where this is going, I have gone on about it for years lol
Got myself some chinese projector lights with the bi-xenon main beam actuator in.
SO these run on dip beam, and flashing the main beam or going to main beam actuates a solenoid which moves the beam cut off flap upward, exposing the whole bulb and lifting the beam skywards!
So as this is an experiment, I got some second hand headlamps and chucked them in the oven
Wonder if you can see where this is going, I have gone on about it for years lol
Got myself some chinese projector lights with the bi-xenon main beam actuator in.
SO these run on dip beam, and flashing the main beam or going to main beam actuates a solenoid which moves the beam cut off flap upward, exposing the whole bulb and lifting the beam skywards!
So as this is an experiment, I got some second hand headlamps and chucked them in the oven
Todd100
Club Member
Really looking forward to seeing how the lights turn out!
Gareth
Club Member
Good work as always Dave..nothing worse than pulling a car apart after you just built it 
So a quick test fit inside the lamp, bare in mind, I have put the wrong lamp in the wrong headlamp, the side light goes the other way if u get me.
and this is the resulting beam pattern, with the glass back on the headlamp
It actually better than I thought, it has scattered the beam somewhat, but it has kept a good-ish cut off line. That is all the matters. Infact, I don't know how good the OE cut off line is, it's probably the same lol
It's a snug fit, but that is good really cause it keeps it secure. This is how they secure at the back, with a little plate which fits in the H4 slots and a nut. I had to trim the cut outs a bit so the lamp sat level and nice and so did the beam pattern.
So I pulled the chrome part of the lamp out and sprayed it satin black.
Refitted
Put the glass on, which is in appalling condition, but I didn't want to butcher brand new lights untill I knew this would work, and look cool.
So I polished the glass up as good as I could.
Siliconed the lamp
So I next, I did a comparison between my old angel eye headlamp and the new OE projector. The old angel eye lamp had a cheap HID kit in it which caused me loads of issues and never seemed that bright.
Angel eye
Measure with a lux meter we have at work which measure the Useable Light output. out in the open workshop, measures....
The max light output from the lamp
1624
New lamp, cut off look good doesn't it!
Now I failed to take a phot of the output from the new lamp, but it was 4300 and something!!! They are massively brighter! I put most of that down to the new HID kit which was £100 rather than £30. But It means the lamp is actually brighter, and not worse which is what I was worried about.
Get them fitted time!
and this is the resulting beam pattern, with the glass back on the headlamp
It actually better than I thought, it has scattered the beam somewhat, but it has kept a good-ish cut off line. That is all the matters. Infact, I don't know how good the OE cut off line is, it's probably the same lol
It's a snug fit, but that is good really cause it keeps it secure. This is how they secure at the back, with a little plate which fits in the H4 slots and a nut. I had to trim the cut outs a bit so the lamp sat level and nice and so did the beam pattern.
So I pulled the chrome part of the lamp out and sprayed it satin black.
Refitted
Put the glass on, which is in appalling condition, but I didn't want to butcher brand new lights untill I knew this would work, and look cool.
So I polished the glass up as good as I could.
Siliconed the lamp
So I next, I did a comparison between my old angel eye headlamp and the new OE projector. The old angel eye lamp had a cheap HID kit in it which caused me loads of issues and never seemed that bright.
Angel eye
Measure with a lux meter we have at work which measure the Useable Light output. out in the open workshop, measures....
The max light output from the lamp
1624
New lamp, cut off look good doesn't it!
Now I failed to take a phot of the output from the new lamp, but it was 4300 and something!!! They are massively brighter! I put most of that down to the new HID kit which was £100 rather than £30. But It means the lamp is actually brighter, and not worse which is what I was worried about.
Get them fitted time!
The Led side light in this projector has a driver, look how bright it is in comparison to the old ones!
That's probably 15 years of development in LED's right there lol.
In the bright spot, Noticeably brighter
Beam comparison.... I am super super impressed
All fitted and bumper refitted! Damn I prefer the look of the OE lamps and with the internal tint, they look smart as!
Then a few days later, off german ebay, my tinted indicators turned up......
Now that looks seriously OEM+ and seriously cool!
I am MEGA happy with how they have come out, over the winter I'll find some new headlamps and probably just swap the glass over so they are mint.
Thursday the 16th of June I am off to the nurburgring in the Astra to do some laps! So I heat wrapped the exhaust manifold
and downpipe
All cleaned and ready to go
and downpipe
All cleaned and ready to go
Nice one Dave!
Love the headlight conversion using OE housing, top work.
I've used heat wrap on a few of my cars and if you want it to last you really need to seal it with VHT over the top otherwise it just disintegrates over time. If you do go down the ceramic coating route, highly recommend, simply ignore me as you'll be ripping the wrap off in six months anyway.
I've used heat wrap on a few of my cars and if you want it to last you really need to seal it with VHT over the top otherwise it just disintegrates over time. If you do go down the ceramic coating route, highly recommend, simply ignore me as you'll be ripping the wrap off in six months anyway.
Haha thanks mate, I'm really happy with the lights!
Yea I definitely won't be keeping the wrap, I know this manifold is stainless, but I had wrap on an old mild steel manifold and it rotted it out in 2 years!
Come winter ill rip the manifold, down pipe and turbi apart and get them all coated
Todd100
Club Member
Nice work mate, I'm really not sure what to make of the look of fully blacked out lights, they probably look better in person so I'm not going to say I don't like them I'm just not sure if they are too dark on a red car
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glad youve thought of heat getting off the ring as its a major issue these days sadly. lines of traffic back to the last corner!
Those headlights look awesome Dave! Proper cool they are 
joycey
South Central Co-Ordinator
Those headlights are seriously cool!
Gareth
Club Member
One man and his machine
So I've finally got 5 mins to sit down and update this diary!
So on June the 16th I took a trip the Nürburgring! I had managed to do 1000miles in the Astra so it was defiantly run in and all the teething problem. So I set off, made it there and managed 5 Laps! Car was going really well, softened the dampers off a touch and it was actually very impressive how good the car was round the track, really happy.
It was at the end of lap 5 things went a bit wrong
As I came off the final bend and was flat out down the straight there a sudden lack of power and a smell of fuel and I knew it wasn't good! I made it back to the carpark before there was a loud bang and a lot of smoke, I jumped out the car, grabbed the fire extinguisher out the boot, popped the bonnet and there were some BIG BIG flames under the bonnet! I managed to put the fire out twice before it went up a third time and a marshal turned up with his extinguisher and put the fire out for good! Pretty scary moment but a testament to having a fire extinguisher in the car, as well as being a very very lucky boy that I was at a race track and there was more fire extinguishers!
Big drama very far from home
Now I know this Fire Extinguisher Powder is incredibly corrosive so I raced back to the hotel, got bottles of water and microfibre cloths and quick detailer and got it off the paint on the outside of the car within half hour
Still looks fresh lol
Thanks to Kev_mk3 and his contacts, the car was in secure storage the day after and I used the guys pressure washer to clean the engine bay properly
Looking closely, you can see blackness all over the place and some charring but it's already very obvious, It been a lucky escape!
The car almost looked drivable apart from the fuel line had got very hot, and I still couldn't tell where the leak had come from.
12 days later, the car was delivered to me at home from germany on a trailer and I was a lot poorer
So on June the 16th I took a trip the Nürburgring! I had managed to do 1000miles in the Astra so it was defiantly run in and all the teething problem. So I set off, made it there and managed 5 Laps! Car was going really well, softened the dampers off a touch and it was actually very impressive how good the car was round the track, really happy.
It was at the end of lap 5 things went a bit wrong
As I came off the final bend and was flat out down the straight there a sudden lack of power and a smell of fuel and I knew it wasn't good! I made it back to the carpark before there was a loud bang and a lot of smoke, I jumped out the car, grabbed the fire extinguisher out the boot, popped the bonnet and there were some BIG BIG flames under the bonnet! I managed to put the fire out twice before it went up a third time and a marshal turned up with his extinguisher and put the fire out for good! Pretty scary moment but a testament to having a fire extinguisher in the car, as well as being a very very lucky boy that I was at a race track and there was more fire extinguishers!
Big drama very far from home
Now I know this Fire Extinguisher Powder is incredibly corrosive so I raced back to the hotel, got bottles of water and microfibre cloths and quick detailer and got it off the paint on the outside of the car within half hour
Still looks fresh lol
Thanks to Kev_mk3 and his contacts, the car was in secure storage the day after and I used the guys pressure washer to clean the engine bay properly
Looking closely, you can see blackness all over the place and some charring but it's already very obvious, It been a lucky escape!
The car almost looked drivable apart from the fuel line had got very hot, and I still couldn't tell where the leak had come from.
12 days later, the car was delivered to me at home from germany on a trailer and I was a lot poorer