Gsi_Ire
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Registered: 9th Aug 04
Location: Republic of Ireland
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Well loads to update, so little time.
Quick update for now, more to follow tomorrow.
Got down to Listowel at lunch time and collected the car. Some teething problems within the first 4 miles (to be expected) and one new wiring loom later I set off for a second time.
151 miles later and I got back to Carlow without incident. Last few miles were a blast!! Some of the hardened rubber had worn off and the tyres started to come back to life.... Man does it grip!!!!!!
I cant wait to get 4 new tyres on it and get the tracking done 
[Edited on 08-03-2009 by Gsi_Ire]
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Gsi_Ire
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Registered: 9th Aug 04
Location: Republic of Ireland
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Well, bit more of a filler on yesterday.
Another early start yesterday.
I left Carlow @ 5:45am in the Astra to drive to Dublin to get public transport to Listowel (PUBLIC TRANSPORT!!!!). The Astra was picked up later on by the other half.. The weather was... changable to say the least. I left Carlow to clear cold skies to driving through heavy snow near Naas.
The choosen route was a train from Dublin to Tralee and a bus from Tralee to Listowel.
I got to Listowel arounfd 13:30 to be greeted by the GSi pulling up.
We got back to Kieran's very quickly and had a once around the car. Everything was fitted bar the front strut. Its an adjustable OMP jobbie, but its catching the expansion tank, any idea's?
So the car was running fine I was hoping to get home with the sun still up, so I left Kieran's around 14 0. Unfortunately I didnt get to far. About 4 miles up the road the Engine Management Light start to flash on and off. Forunately it was so close and not 100 miles up the road!
Back to Kierans and a fault code check found it to be the idle control valve... Although we could have guessed at this point as the car idled... at nearly 3k!! The problem is that this was already replaced last week.
So after some close investigation by Kieran it was found that the mouse that chewed one of my HD leads got at the bloody loom too.....
A quick phone call later the guy who's engine I was buying agreed to lend me his perfect loom on exchange... (If anyone has a loom for a C16XE in very good condition PM me ASAP).
So Kieran went about the task of swapping out the loom in his driveway.... Fortunately the very changable weather we had yesterday including freakish hail storms held off while he did this.
160 and I am back on the road.
So, first Impressions after 150 miles driving from Listowel to Carlow??
* I forgot how comfy the GSi seats are!
* Handling wise its hard to tell. With a mixture of 4yr old rubber and a car that needs to be tracked it was hard to know, but I think it will be a weapon once its done. The suspension is stiff, but no too stiff, I like it! There is a very obvious improvement on body roll, at least I think so.
* Engine wise it seems to be running sweetly. Being parked up for so long I never really pushed it. Maybe its me, but the more miles I racked up the more "free" the engine felt.
* Over the last 2 miles before I got home, as I hit more roads that I knew, the engine was running sweet, and the tyres were performing a bit better. All I can say is... I missed this car!
Then to make my day a bit better. I stopped off to get a drink in a filling station to have someone offer to buy it... My reply was short and simple "you must be mad!"
No pictures. It was just too cold!
At this point I have to say a massive thanks to Kieran!!!
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Gsi_Ire
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Registered: 9th Aug 04
Location: Republic of Ireland
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Progress Pic's of the work from last week to follow. Kieran has uploaded them to photobucket, which is blocked here in work. Either myself or Kieran will post them later (maybe Kieran so he can actually say what he is doing in each pic )
So plans for this week are:
* Passenger side skirt, L Piece, and rear arch off getting sprayed to be fitted for the meet on Sunday
* Car to have the tracking done Saturday
* Proper wash, polish and buff for the exterior
* Possibley getting the interior fitted. The drivers side seat is just dangerous.
* Pick up my 2 new GSi16v badges from Opel
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Gsi_Ire
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Registered: 9th Aug 04
Location: Republic of Ireland
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bit of an update for the work done last week by Kieran
quote:
Originally posted by Kieron
Here's how it was looking under the bonnet day one. Unloved for a few years with the evidence of a mouse or two living on top of the throttlebody 
Decided I'd start with the timing belt and water pump side of it first.
A new timing belt kit with all the pulleys and a water pump were fitted to get it off to a good start.
Put a new rad in while I was under the bonnet aswell:
And changed a rather clogged looking pollen filter:
And the airfilter
Gave it all a quick wipe down after putting it back together to make it look a bit fresher
Onto the front brakes:
Had visions of me having to battle with the little screws that hold the discs in place on the hubs, but thankfully they came off with very little effort.
And the rear brakes:
Evidence of the rear cylinders starting to give up the ghost
No problems anymore though
New wheel bearings were fitted and then the brake system was flushed out with some new dot4.
Then moved onto the suspension upgrade from John H's legendary Corsa:
Front shocks and springs
Tiebar mount lowering brackets to help increase the castor angle slightly:
Here they are in situ:
The front end also has polybushes on the TCAs and tiebars and antirollbar.
At the rear end, more springs and shocks and an additional antirollbar:
Also drained the gearbox and tipped in some new oil, flushed the coolant system and ran the engine with fresh oil for a while before draining that and tipping in another 3.5litres of fresh oil again. And fitted a new oil filter of course.
It all went pretty smoothly considering the car had been laid up for the last 4 years. Someone had been fiddling around with it under the bonnet at some stage because the earth connections on the ecu loom weren't in the standard places, tut tut I'd cleaned the ring connectors off during the week and put a different (known to be working 100%) throttle position sensor into it. It had been driving ok on the test drives I gave it. It didn't spit it's dummy out until it was on it's way home and a bit of peeling away of insulating tape revealed 3 or 4 earth wires half chewed by one or two of the car's lodgers from the past few years. There were a couple of other dodgy looking areas on the loom too so a replacement was the only way forward. No pics of the loom replacement as we were working as quickly as we could to get Jamie home before sunset, or most of the way home anyway Bit of a mission replacing the injector part of the loom on these engines as the top part of the inlet has to come off and it's a bit tight for space down by the throttlebody that you must disconnect in order to get the inlet off. Lowering the engine off the front driver's side mount gives you a bit of extra space though 
So that's my side of the story
[Edited on 09-03-2009 by Gsi_Ire]
[Edited on 09-03-2009 by Gsi_Ire]
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Gsi_Ire
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Registered: 9th Aug 04
Location: Republic of Ireland
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2 quick pics taken this evening.
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Gsi_Ire
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Registered: 9th Aug 04
Location: Republic of Ireland
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UPDATE :
Tracking done today and rear wheels balanced and moved to the front. The car seems much better at all speeds.
There was very little down pull that last few days. It appeared to be missing slighly on 3. So 4 HD leads later and that all seems to be sorted.
!!BUT!!
It appears the headgasket is gone (maybe gone all the time??)
In less than 200 miles almost all the coolant has been lost.
Lots of air bubbles coming back into the expansion tank.
Today there was a large amount of white smoke coming out of the exhaust.
But.... the heaters are still blowing hot and cold....
The head will be coming off during the week.
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Siberia
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Registered: 9th Oct 03
Location: Leprechaun Land Drives : Zafira GSI
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hrm... and i tought id get an update.... = not impressed... 
i have lots of vauxhauk/opel bits around these parts you know...
[Edited on 15-03-2009 by Siberia]
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Gsi_Ire
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Registered: 9th Aug 04
Location: Republic of Ireland
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quote:
Originally posted by Siberia
hrm... and i tought id get an update.... = not impressed...
i have lots of vauxhauk/opel bits around these parts you know...
[Edited on 15-03-2009 by Siberia]
Sorry Richie, havent been updating anyone in particular unless I see them on MSN. Sure its posted here, Driver.ie, DTDIRL and now on MIG too... So I assumed anyone who wanted to see would have by now
Sure I didnt think you would have much interest in my little corsa anyway
I think I am all good for parts. All thats left now is to sort out the headgasket. Waiting to get the head off during the week and inspect everything. I am hoping it just a gasket and getting the head skimmed. My pick up a set of uprate headbolts in preperation for trying to get a mantzel at some point in the future.
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Marc
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Registered: 11th Aug 02
Location: York
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I'd have thought you would have changed the filter for something better than a paper replacement!
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Gsi_Ire
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Registered: 9th Aug 04
Location: Republic of Ireland
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by Marc
I'd have thought you would have changed the filter for something better than a paper replacement!
the likes of a K&N replacement aren't readly available over here and with the pace I was going with regards sourcing parts and getting the work done I wasn't waiting around to get one posted.
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Gsi_Ire
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Registered: 9th Aug 04
Location: Republic of Ireland
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Well the car was delivered to a friends garage yesterday.
With all the signs pointing to headgasket failure the head will be off in the next few days to be skimmed, pressure tested and a new gasket fitted.
There is evidence that the thermostat is sticking as well, so that will be replaced while I am at it for possibly a cooler running one...
And then depending on the quote and whats left in the budget (NOTHING!!) I might get the head ported and polished.
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Gsi_Ire
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Registered: 9th Aug 04
Location: Republic of Ireland
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UPDATE :
The head is off and with a local engineer company.
Pressure test came back good.
Its going to have the head skimmed today, all valves reseated and new gasket kitted.
The cylinders have been checked. No marks or scarring etc.
The car should be back on the road on Thursday,
[Edited on 24-03-2009 by Gsi_Ire]
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Gsi_Ire
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Registered: 9th Aug 04
Location: Republic of Ireland
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Well folks.
Been ages since I put up an update.
A full update will following in a few weeks probably. My laptop is dead with all the recent pictures (I manage to lose my charger!).
So the head was skimmed, 2 exhaust valves replaced due to signs of fatigue, a new head gasket and one of the tensioners on the for the timing belt had to be replaced as it was loose or something.
All I can say now is that is pulling like a train! I forgot how much I enjoy this car!
Not so good it the white smoke coming out of the exhaust, petrol leak, and some clip in the rear drums popped out when braking from 120kph!
The car was burning some oil, but I have changed to 10W40 from the 5W40 that I was told was put into it. This has cut down the smoke a fair bit and it hasnt burnt much/any oil since, and after reading somewhere on the web that I should be using 15W40 I plan on a change to that before the RR on Saturday.
There is still some white smoke and a carbon/sooty dirt coming out of the exhaust when its cold. There is the usual tapping on cold start but nothing unusual. Its been suggested that the CAT is sh!tting its self. Opinions?
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Gsi_Ire
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Registered: 9th Aug 04
Location: Republic of Ireland
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Well Folks,
More of a visual update with some RR figures from Saturday in Westward.
So the car has been in and had all 4 wheels balanced, with the front tracked etc.
I think you will agree its sitting at a nice height!
A nice side shoot showing the newly painted and fitted skirt, L and rear arch
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Gsi_Ire
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Registered: 9th Aug 04
Location: Republic of Ireland
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So no less that 20 minutes after the above it became very clear I was having headgasket issues.
So the car was dropped off to my mate who got the head off and sent off to be skimmed, pressure tested, so light port and polishing (apparently) and the valves reseated.
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Gsi_Ire
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Registered: 9th Aug 04
Location: Republic of Ireland
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Well 800 miles later, and a bit more oil burnt than I would like and it was off to Martin Treacy in Westward Engineering for a run on the RR.
Anything above 95bhp considering the age and oil burning issues and I would be happy....
And the results
105.1 Bhp @ 4845 Rpm
123.0 lb ft @ 3404 Rpm
The power curve it not bad. I am no expert but the torque just doesnt look right??
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Gsi_Ire
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Registered: 9th Aug 04
Location: Republic of Ireland
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Well thats about it for now.
The well is dry and I can't find anymore change down the back of the sofa. So while I plan on finding out whats causing the oil burning I won't being doing much to fix it for a while at least!!
Plans for the future include a Mantzel, ARP bolts, CAMS and a Unichip with remap for higher RPM. But with 2 wheeled fun planned for the summer, thats all going to wait till the winter at least!
All the pictures to date including a few not posted can be found here : Pictures
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Craig P
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Registered: 9th Mar 08
Location: Carlisle,Cumbria
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Mate,I am so Jealous of this thing i really Love it.
The Work that has been Done and what has got planned sounds Exciting.
I will be watching.
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Gsi_Ire
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Registered: 9th Aug 04
Location: Republic of Ireland
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quote:
Originally posted by Craig P
Mate,I am so Jealous of this thing i really Love it.
The Work that has been Done and what has got planned sounds Exciting.
I will be watching.
Cheers. Its been a love hate relationship for a long time. I am really happy to have it back, but already pissed off with the oil burning!!
As for the rest of the work. Its planned, but when I will get to do it is a hard question!
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Craig P
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Registered: 9th Mar 08
Location: Carlisle,Cumbria
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quote:
Originally posted by Gsi_Ire
quote:
Originally posted by Craig P
Mate,I am so Jealous of this thing i really Love it.
The Work that has been Done and what has got planned sounds Exciting.
I will be watching.
Cheers. Its been a love hate relationship for a long time. I am really happy to have it back, but already pissed off with the oil burning!!
As for the rest of the work. Its planned, but when I will get to do it is a hard question!
Yeah it must be quite annoying.I know Funds are a slight problem ATM But why dont you take the Full Engine out and Re-Build it?Or buy a new one?
If you keep this one though i would make sure its Bang on before modding it.
It could be your Piston Rings
[Edited on 18-05-2009 by Craig P]
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Gsi_Ire
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Registered: 9th Aug 04
Location: Republic of Ireland
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doh
[Edited on 18-05-2009 by Gsi_Ire]
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Gsi_Ire
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Registered: 9th Aug 04
Location: Republic of Ireland
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Well Sunday was NCT day (Irish version of the MOT).
I wasnt expecting much. I started the car on Friday to get a loud whining noise (I would liken it to a super charger!) that gets louder when its revved along with a nice shiney engine management light!
I got the mechanic next door over. Lots of looking around, pulling at this, pulling at that and revving of the engine to try and locate the source of the sound. Then it went away without reason. Restarted the car and engine management light was gone out.... curios!
I had some outstand issues with the car that I new would fail the NCT but expected bigger problems, so I didnt bother sorting them out.
So along comes Sunday morning (the car was booked in for 11:25am). I was up nice and early to give the car a run before I brought it in. Started the car.... the bloody whining noise was back and the EM light was back on!!!! I left the car running again and the noise went away again but this time the EM stayed on.
Well there was no turning back now. With the current wait times of up to 3 months to get an NCT date I had to attend.
I got to the test centre and the noise was completely gone but the EM light was still on. Time to sit back and watch it fail spectacularly.
Watching through the little window the first thing I notice is the tester standing in front of the car, looking under the bonnet, literally scratching his head.... 20 seconds passes and he calls a colleague over who just looks at the engine bay, looks at me and looks back at the engine bay.... So already worryìng about what has the EM light on I am starting to get ultra worried now, so I go for a walk around to have a chat with them. The only question they had was "what engine is in this??". It took some convincing that it was a standard 1.6. You dont get to many 1.6 corsa's over here.
25 minutes later and the tester calls me over. It fails (No surprises there). It failed on the 3 things I knew where wrong and could have fixed but expected more! So I need to fix the drivers seat, the release for the bonnet and clean the contacts on the rear passenger lights because the brake light doesnt always work.
I collected the car outside to take it home and EM light was gone out again!
So it going in for the retest in a week or so, all visuals so it will be a free test. The EM light wont go out now at all, so a paper clip test is due on that on Saturday!
And thats it for now.
Bloody cars, who would want one?!?!?
[Edited on 18-06-2009 by Gsi_Ire]
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Sean-B
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Registered: 1st May 07
Location: Wolverhampton Drives: 200SX S14a
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nice work mate, glad to see a GSi being looked after!
i can't believe it made 123lbft of torque though! sounds really high!
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Gsi_Ire
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Registered: 9th Aug 04
Location: Republic of Ireland
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quote:
Originally posted by Craig P
Yeah it must be quite annoying.I know Funds are a slight problem ATM But why dont you take the Full Engine out and Re-Build it?Or buy a new one?
If you keep this one though i would make sure its Bang on before modding it.
It could be your Piston Rings
[Edited on 18-05-2009 by Craig P]
I would love to rebuild. I have some mad ideas that I want to do with the car, but the funds are just not there right now.
I am in the middle of trying to buy a CBR600RR while the GF is not objecting to the idea. If I try and rebuild the engine on the corsa I would end up dead.
Plus, I am not very mechanical. I understand the basics, but would have to pay someone to build it, and that would just cost way too much over here!
quote:
Originally posted by Sean-B
nice work mate, glad to see a GSi being looked after!
i can't believe it made 123lbft of torque though! sounds really high!
Whats standard torque? I can say that the RR I was on is regards as on of the post accurate ones in Ireland.
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Sean-B
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Registered: 1st May 07
Location: Wolverhampton Drives: 200SX S14a
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109lbft, so yours is making an extra 14
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