Another C20LET mk3

[Vauxhall jim]

Hi all

Been on here a while now and thought I'd start a diary. So hi to everyone who dont know me
Well where do I start? Lol well I've owned this car for nearlly three years now, and after lots of £££'s spent on her, here she is when I first bought it.

And how it looks today

Anyway first job to do before starting the conversion was to repair the ugly LPG gas cap that had been bodged into the rear quarter The cars no longer running LPG due to constant problems and in the end resulted in exstensive bore wear and 8 burnt out exhaust valves. Its been taken off now and all that remains is the cap in the side.

So stripped the back end out, rear glass out, all boot trim and back seats out. Used a piece of card to make a tenplate, then cut a disc of metal out. Used a old astra wing for the steel as its the same thickness, and GM tin! lol

So all welded up

Then off to the bodyshop for filling and painting, not far away from my unit, and came back looking good

So next up was a major refit. The old boy who owned the car went mad with the wax oil, this car is covered! Its even under the roof lining. Looks to of done the job though, it was done when it was new and has no rust at all.... yet. So nearlly together, with new GSI de tangoed lights

Now with the backend all sorted, time to get the front end up, and start removing my X20XEV thats only done 5000 miles since a full rebuild, any takers? So up we go

And turbo coversion done, lol anyone for a X20 LET?

Only joking, new engine will be shown soon.
New engine spec
C20 LET with the following
87mm Omega low comp pistons
Forged steel rods
ARP bigend bolts
ARP head stud kit
Lightened flywheel
Coscast head
Commetic steel headgasket
Standard turbo (for now)
Gear box
Rebuilt f28 with LSD

Anyway hope everyone likes what they see so far? Comments welcome. Another update will follow this weekend, with loads of pics. Hope to meet some of you at some of the shows this year. Be good to be able to put names to faces

 

[chrishodgkiss]

that paintwork is unbelievable :O

 

[Alex]

Looks good mate

 

[jahowi]

thats my m8z old car he swaped it and a vectra 4 his astra coupe did it cum with the diary of when the other owner used to clean it it was imaculate when he got it still lookin sweet now tho loving the wheels

 

[Vauxhall jim]

thats my m8z old car he swaped it and a vectra 4 his astra coupe did it cum with the diary of when the other owner used to clean it it was imaculate when he got it still lookin sweet now tho loving the wheels

Hi mate yeh still got the diary for it, I've done my best to look after it. Any chance you could ask your mate who he had the car off? I'd like to get in touch with him as he obviously loved it. Thanks for the comments people!

 

[jahowi]

ill ask im but it was a long time a go yea the guy who had it must of loved it it was in show room condition when he had it

 

[sirusmk3]

she looks nice as she is and the wheels suit it i think as its set up now. Are you changing the bumpers etc??

 

[Vauxhall jim]

she looks nice as she is and the wheels suit it i think as its set up now. Are you changing the bumpers etc??

Hi mate thanks for the comment. No body changes at all, staying exactly as it is now just with a c20let lump. Keeping the sport look not even a intercooler on show.

 

[jay26]

ah fishy boi's old astra this was a total minter mate when my mate had it still lookin lovley

 

[Vauxhall jim]

Right, time for bit of a update

Had today off work, so I thought I'd crack on and remove the engine, ready to clean off all the s###y wax oil thats plastered round the whole engine bay

So started off by draining the fluids, driveshafts exhaust ect off.

All unbolted

Next was remove the engine mounts and brackets, then up we go

And out

Next up was to soak the inner wings in white spirit, in a attempt to soften the waxoil, took me 2 hours to get this far, bloody horrible stuff

After hours of scrubbing, I was hungry so decided to call it a day. Oh and heres a sneaky peak at the new motor

So what does everyone think so far? I am wanting to paint the engine bay again, as its looking a bit tatty. I cant decide wether to strip the bulkhead off and remove the sound deadener, it looks a mess and seems to like holding water, what do you reckon? Anyways I'l be back on it tomorow, with more pics and a update, so enjoy!

Oh and heres the new daily hack

 

[vauxhall_astra]

i want a sport like this, so clean an loved

it looks great mate, glad to see your stickin with the sport look, stick a 1.4 badge on the back lol, then it would be a great sleeper

stupid question,

how come your doin the conversion if the engine was only rebuilt 5000 miles ago?

keep up the great work an itll be a great car

 

[Vauxhall jim]

i want a sport like this, so clean an loved

it looks great mate, glad to see your stickin with the sport look, stick a 1.4 badge on the back lol, then it would be a great sleeper

stupid question,

how come your doin the conversion if the engine was only rebuilt 5000 miles ago?

keep up the great work an itll be a great car

Cheers m8 yeh keeping standard Sport look, reason for the conversion is I went out in my mates 20v T mk2 Golf GTi and I've just got to have Turbo power! Plus Im missing my old Calibra Turbo, so this seems the way forward to me

 

[vauxhall_astra]

Cheers m8 yeh keeping standard Sport look, reason for the conversion is I went out in my mates 20v T mk2 Golf GTi and I've just got to have Turbo power! Plus Im missing my old Calibra Turbo, so this seems the way forward to me

i have a mk2 golf only gunna be a 1.6 though

turbo power is the best

 

[rick151081]

nice motor mate

 

[justg]

Its going to be a nice motor when finished and when its done if your daily hack is no longer needed let me know as I could be interested.

 

[Vauxhall jim]

Its going to be a nice motor when finished and when its done if your daily hack is no longer needed let me know as I could be interested.

Nice one m8, could be yours now if you want it?

 

[Vauxhall jim]

Hi all, time for a little update

Spent my 4 days off work over easter cleaning off wax oil, got most of it off now after a 12 hour session with white spirit and rolls of rag! So stripped the master cylinder, servo, steering rack and sound deadening mat out, this is how it looks after a good clean

Then I degreased all the bay with spirit wipe, looking around found no rust at all, which is a bonus! Then I decided to re seam seal the engine bay, as what Vauxhall had applied was a bit poor to say the least. Then disaster struck, the new seam sealer decided it wanted to react with the original stuff So not a happy bunny! Spent the whole night tonight with a while wheel stripping it back to bare metal

Decided to wash my other beast after getting depressed and took a pic with my mates GT Turbo

Anyway thats it from me untill the weekend. Hope things go a bit better as I'm hoping to have it done for pod.... signing off

 

[Nathan...]

so whats occurring with the old engine?

 

[Vauxhall jim]

so whats occurring with the old engine?

Nothing as of yet mate, still for sale

 

[Vauxhall jim]

Another little update today

Got all the reacted seem sealer off today, then decided to remove the air box mounts and smooth the air intake hole on the inner wing.

So all ground back

Then I welded up the hole in the wing, then cut off the air box brackets, with a couple of skims of filler it was all good. So then I spent ages masking up the remaining wiring loom, skotched all surfaces down then give it a heavy coat of 2k primer on all the seems that I had stripped. Tomorow I will be re sealing all the joint then, with a bit of look be able to get a coat of 2k flame red on it.

How it looks after todays graft

Spent days on it and not really getting anywhere at the min
once painted the rebuild should come together fairly quick. Il keep you all posted!