chris_r
Member
Registered: 3rd May 13
Location: Adelaide, Australia
User status: Offline
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Hi everyone,
My name is Chris and I'm from Adelaide, South Australia. I own a 1994 Corsa B GSi (even though we called them Holden Barinas) that I've owned for about four years now. In that time, I've ditched the C16XE (as it was on it's last legs) for an Astra G-sourced Z18XE engine. It uses the C16XE ECU and sensors and a few bits stolen from a 1.8L Holden JF Viva (Chevrolet/Daewoo Lacetti), fitted with a Tomei fuel pressure regulator, Hurricane Extractors and 2" exhaust system. Got the stock flywheel in there with an Xtreme Heavy Duty clutch fitted.
Most of the suspension is original GSi parts (that's next on the mod list). It has 16" x 6" Corsa C SRi rims, which I had powdercoated in white with Sailun 195/45R16 tyres fitted. Braking is currently handled by a set of 2.0 Calibra 256mm x 24mm rotors and calipers up front with EBC Greenstuff pads and stock drums at the rear. Inside it's all pretty much standard GSi fare, except for blue LED dash lighting and a JVC KD-DB56 head unit.
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taylorboosh
Member
Registered: 3rd Apr 07
User status: Offline
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Looks cool, could have a oz corsasport meet on here soon the way its going.
Nice car by the way, not keen on white against silver personally, more of a gunmetal man.
Few on here here have 18xe engines, warreng even turbos them
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taylorboosh
Member
Registered: 3rd Apr 07
User status: Offline
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Also jacking covers an issue there too?
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big eck
Member
Registered: 20th Apr 03
Location: Tullibody. Drives - Audi B8 S4 & Fiesta Zetec-S
User status: Offline
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Welcome mate. The car looks good. Same as my old one actually.
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GB123
Premium Member
Registered: 21st Nov 11
Location: Kent
User status: Offline
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Very nice
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Christopher
Member
Registered: 14th Oct 10
Location: Eastbourne
User status: Offline
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Welcome mate! A fair few people popping up in aus now with gsi's! As said I'm not a huge fan of the white but cars looking good buddy
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GB123
Premium Member
Registered: 21st Nov 11
Location: Kent
User status: Offline
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I guess rust is less of a problem there?
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corsadonk
Premium Member
Registered: 4th Jul 09
Location: Marlborough, Wiltshire
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Fairplay, I'd say it wants silver wheels, but other than that it looks great.
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chris_r
Member
Registered: 3rd May 13
Location: Adelaide, Australia
User status: Offline
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Thanks. Yeah there's a few popping up of late on Opelaus (local meet in that last pic), where I'm also a member. It's good to see how people on the other side of the world do things.
Only a handful (3 other people I know of) have done this swap here. I have to say it's a highly underrated conversion and something that should be done a bit more.
Jacking covers are hard to find here too. As are most are GSi body parts, including the front bumper. We can get dodgy knockoffs that look like crap with foglight cutouts, but nothing beats the original bumper.
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chris_r
Member
Registered: 3rd May 13
Location: Adelaide, Australia
User status: Offline
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As for wheel colour, when I got them they were badly scratched so I looked at getting them powder coated. I wanted something different and I didn't want black. But I guess it's all personal opinion.
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Danny W
Organiser: East Midlands Premium Member
Registered: 14th Nov 05
Location: Northamptonshire
User status: Offline
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Welcome to the site car looks great, i like the conversion too. Have you any more modifications/changes planned ?
Smoke Grey 5 Door
EastMids Regional Events
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chris_r
Member
Registered: 3rd May 13
Location: Adelaide, Australia
User status: Offline
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Well, I'm looking into some suspension upgrades at present. The 19 year old suspension could probably do with an overhaul. I was thinking of going with a rear sway bar and thicker front sway bar to start with, followed with new springs and shocks.
Engine wise, I'd love to go with a quad throttle setup and uprated cams. I've already got a VEMS 3.6 ECU laying around that I should put to use at some point.
I've also got my hands on a Corsa C disc brake rear axle that I plan to use the brakes off at some point in the very near future too. Apparently, they're a lot easier to find here as we got them on 1.4 SXi (non-ABS) and 1.8 SRi (ABS) models. The ABS system on my GSi is pretty much cactus, so that'll be coming out anyway. My only concern about the swap is if it'll affect the offset of the wheels or not.
[Edited on 06-05-2013 by chris_r]
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chris_r
Member
Registered: 3rd May 13
Location: Adelaide, Australia
User status: Offline
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quote: Originally posted by GB123
I guess rust is less of a problem there?
Well, not really. However, all red GSi's here seem to go pink in colour after being in the sun for a while.
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Mike
Organiser: North West and North Wales Premium Member
Registered: 20th May 06
Location: nr. Skipton, North Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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Welcome mate
Nice motor
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random dav
Premium Member
Registered: 7th Jan 04
Location: NSW
User status: Offline
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Hi mate, nice to see you over on here
WRLFC !
Project cars
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BenC1985
Member
Registered: 5th May 12
Location: Northants
User status: Offline
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Hi and welcome to the site. Nice looking car you have. What power are these 1.8's?
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taylorboosh
Member
Registered: 3rd Apr 07
User status: Offline
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125bhp iir
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deano87
Member
Registered: 21st Oct 06
Location: Bedfordshire Drives: Ford Fiesta
User status: Offline
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G'day
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corsaez
Member
Registered: 3rd May 13
Location: lincoln
User status: Offline
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hey mate, im new to the site aswell, thought id say hi and welcome. :-)
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ShEp
Member
Registered: 9th Aug 05
Location: Dingwall, Highland
User status: Offline
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quote: Originally posted by taylorboosh
Also jacking covers an issue there too?
You still need to jack a car up, no matter what country you're from.
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NathanR
Member
Registered: 6th Dec 10
Location: Totnes , Devon
User status: Offline
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Welcome
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taylorboosh
Member
Registered: 3rd Apr 07
User status: Offline
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quote: Originally posted by ShEp
quote: Originally posted by taylorboosh
Also jacking covers an issue there too?
You still need to jack a car up, no matter what country you're from.
I mean the lack of them
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Steve
Premium Member
Registered: 30th Mar 02
Location: Worcestershire Drives: Defender
User status: Offline
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nice to see these still kicking around. Have to say though whoever sprayed your bonnet and wing could have blended it
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chris_r
Member
Registered: 3rd May 13
Location: Adelaide, Australia
User status: Offline
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quote: Originally posted by Steve
nice to see these still kicking around. Have to say though whoever sprayed your bonnet and wing could have blended it
The guy who did it was a former neighbour of mine and I swapped him a half clapped out 96 Sport to do it. Not perfect, but looks a lot better than when I first got the car. Mainly, I got him to fit the side skirts and take a big dent out of the passenger side rear quarter, although I think he rushed the job a bit. For what I paid, I'm not complaining about the work. You'll probably notice my front bumper doesn't sit right, as the passenger side of it was dodgied up to make it stay on there, but as you probably know, GSi bumpers are damn near impossible to find in good nick. I have thought of just sourcing a standard facelifted Corsa B bumper, but I'd rather keep with the GSi bumper for now. To really straighten it up, I also need to replace the left hand front guard as it's out of alignment.
As for the GSi's still being around, I guess our road laws are a little bit more relaxed here. Here, in South Australia at least, we don't need to pass any roadworthy inspections to continuosly register cars on the road. Victoria and New South Wales have compulsory inspections. However also in South Australia, if a vehicle is issued with a defect notice, often that requires a trip over the pits once the problems have been fixed. Because of these relaxed laws, there's a lot of older cars still on the road. Although, I have GSi's disappearing because a lot of mechanics will not touch them and often due to broken timing belts, they're pretty much consigned to the scrap heap. If only the morons realised how easy it is to drop in a Z18XE, we'd probably have a few more on the road.
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deano87
Member
Registered: 21st Oct 06
Location: Bedfordshire Drives: Ford Fiesta
User status: Offline
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quote: Originally posted by chris_r
If only the morons realised how easy it is to drop in a Z18XE, we'd probably have a few more on the road.
Unfortunately in the UK this causes issues with insurance as the car is considered modified - is it the same in Auz?
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