Adam_B
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Registered: 13th Dec 00
Location: Lancashire
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Hello, lets go back to the beginning.
Its the 22nd February 2000, a sunny tuesday afternoon. I am skiving off college as Brian Monaghan of Ormskirk Network Q has rung to tell me my car is ready.
Its a 1997 Corsa Vegas, with 32691 miles on the clock and one previous owner. I have worked at Matalan and VA signs for the last 18 months to save up an obscene amount of money to buy my first car. It comes with 2 years free insurance (fantastic for an 18 year old) rear spoiler, velour door cards, sunroof, 13in alloys, a tachometer and 44 raging horses from the 1.2 8v engine.
I picked it up with the most ridiculous grin on my face and drove straight back to college to show everyone  The next day me and my mate chris pulled the 1.2i badge off the back and the vegas badges off the doors and i distictly remember him saying 'it looks just like a GSi now'
niiiiiice!
For the next year or so the car stayed as is, then I discovered this website called CorsaSport. I fell in love with an Australian smoke grey GSi on the homepage, couldn’t afford one so forgot about it. The modifications came and went along at similar time to my student loan payments, funny that. They included a piper back box, g-max 40mm lowering springs, sparco strut brace and some rather sexy (gay) chrome M3 mirrors.
I discovered lift off oversteer was a little too easy with the 13in alloys and 175 remoulds, time for some proper wheels. After a lot of head scratching and a bit of posting on cs help and mods (I really wanted OZ super turismos, but soon learnt about offsets,) a set of 16 in Wolfrace Voodoos were purchased from Autosport in Bolton.
After looking on here a bit more I binned the mirrors in favour of some DTM cup style ones, I also bought some cobra clubman bucket seats and harness from AFL autofactors and stripped the rear seats out. Around that time I also managed to hit a postbox outside Asda and put a little dint in the front wing, had seen this company on here called PVD selling some vented wings, so purchased one to replace my dented effort along with a big fat rear strut brace, which I have only ever seen before on one of PVDs cars.
[Edited on 27-03-2008 by Adam_B]
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Adam_B
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Registered: 13th Dec 00
Location: Lancashire
User status: Offline
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And that was it for the next couple of years, I sacked off doing graphic design at college as my dad pushed me into it and I hated it. So I got a job in retail, which was fine till I decided to go back to college and do something I wanted to do, HND Motorsport.
Now you cant study motorsport and drive a 1.2 corsa, had a look at selling the car but it wasn’t worth anything, so an engine conversion was decided. Looked at everything from Nova GTE engines to V6s, even nearly went for a 1.8 8v from a tatty old cav we had at college Decided the best BHP per £ option for me was a 2.0 16v XE. Spoke to a few people about it, some where helpful, some not, some full of shit. Along the way with trying to decide on an engine I realised I would have to uprate the suspension and brakes so some FK coilovers were bought again from PVD and some Astra 2.0 16v ATE callipers and 256mm discs bought from v-tuning.
After a bit of piss farting around I started speaking to Lee Mitchell about doing the conversion as he seemed to know what he was on about and he was actually willing to do it. He gave me a list of what I needed and I started collecting bits, M-tech shafts and hubs, 1.6 16v rad, header tank and fuel pump etc…
Also around this time I came into some money so I purchased some 17in Dare alloys, put them on the car and drove to my first Performance Vauxhall Show. I hated the wheels, the car was even slower and the handling was shite, so when I got home I put them up for sale and lost about £150 on them
The voodoos went back on but they were looking old and tired, kerbed 2 of them as well. So I got on the phone to my new best mates at PVD and ordered a set of Team Dynamics Pro Race 2s.
While I was waiting for them to arrive I drove down to kent to give my car to Mr Mitchell, had a boot full of conversion parts so just left it with him and went on holiday to Ibiza with my mates for 2 weeks. When I got back I nagged Lee pretty much everyday for a week till it was all done, deciding I wanted a rear disc conversion doing as well. Lee was fantastic, sourcing all the parts for me and fitting it all as well as doing the engine 
I got the train to Milton Keynes, and lee met me at the station in his very nice pearly white GSi. I remembered my love of the Australian GSi I saw years ago….that went firmly on the to do list.
Lee finished off a few bits on my car and we went out for a blast, about a mile from lees garage I went to overtake a bus, without realising there was a traffic island in the middle of the road, I missed killing me, lee, my car, a bus and the traffic island by about 3 inches Then shortly after that I booted it again on a quieter road this time and a lead fell off the back of the dizzy, I shit my pants once more thinking I had blown it up
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Adam_B
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Registered: 13th Dec 00
Location: Lancashire
User status: Offline
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The drive home was intresting, it involved a MK2 golf GTi and the Dartford tunnel. The golf lost and after my big headed txt to lee about my first ever race I was surprised by the reply of a swift bollocking telling me not to rag the car as it was still on the 1.2 exhaust 
The next day I went to Top Gear in Burnly for them to sort the exhaust, on the way there the car started misfiring so Laurence looked at it for me and after electicuting himself found the problem to be with some crappy magnecore ‘performace’ leads. After purchasing some proper leads from Vauxhall, my Pro race 2s turned up from PVD, even tho every other post on here seemed to be someone saying how PVD had or was ripping them off. For a while, all was good….
I got caught speeding twice in as many months, racking up 6 points. I remember spotting a post by Pruple B (ian) on here about something called a trackday. It was £99 and you get to nail your car round a track laid out on an airfield all day, awesome!
Was a brilliant day, even if only me and ian went after a thread 2 pages long of people interested. Best bit was chasing a brand new impreza for a few laps, he was a complete girl in the corners, so stayed with it easily. untill he braked halfway round the fastest corner on the circuit causing me to spin onto the infield, never liked imprezas since
After that I wanted more power, so bought some cams off AK, all was good till the headgasket went. So while it was apart I gave the head to protect in Preston to be ported and polished, cue the start of 6 weeks of hell. They fucked me about giving me excuse after excuse, then when I did get it back they took too much off when they skimmed it, didn’t tell me so I put it back together with my fast road cams and a standard thickness gasket and what do you know, pistons and valves made not so sweet love. Twats.
While the engine was in bits I decided to strip all the interior and move the battery to the boot. Drove it for a bit but it was a bit too much as I was using it everyday, so the front doorcards and carpets went back in.
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Adam_B
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Registered: 13th Dec 00
Location: Lancashire
User status: Offline
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I needed the car back on the road, I had already missed Trax that year due to protecs fuck up so wanted to get it back asap. Was browsing migweb one day not looking for anything inparticular and stumbled across a complete c20xe with gearbox, loom and ecu. The asking price was reasonable and it was only an hour away so I robbed works van and me and my girlfriend at the time went for it one night.
On the way back it was really dark and foggy, were trundling along a dual carriageway at 60mph and this roundabout suddenly appears out of the fog! There was nothing coming but I still had a brown trouser moment and buried the middle pedal into the carpet, my lovely new 65k mile XE came flying forward and neary ripped thru the bulhead into the front of the van, scared the shit out of us Luckily there was no real damage and managed to get it home.
I hired an engine crane and me and my dad planned to drop the new engine in. We decided it was easiest to leave the gearbox and shafts in place and just pull the block out of the top, dead easy. Then we came to drop the new engine in, after about 3 hours of swearing it finally went it. Wont be doing that again!
Met Stuyw off here from wigan, he had a 2.0 16v Corsa GSi and was after a rollcage and I think I put up an post asking where to get them. So after a bit of hunting we did a deal with MPS performance in stoke and got 2 nice shiney bolt in rear cages, we also made a pair of mdf false floors in my kitchen one night 
Few little niggly problems over the folloing months, ended up changing the AFM, ICV, TPS and the distributor till it was running sweet. Did another trackday at Elvington Airfield, it rained all day but it was still fun. Had the new engine RR’d with the cams in at 168bhp. I still had the old engine and I made a half arsed decision to rebuild, proper job, 2.1 tbs, decent headwork etc as and when I could afford parts, I took the cams out of the car so I could use them in the old engine and bought an engine stand. That was about as far as I got
I spotted a full GSi bodykit on here for sale and had to have it! Only I was short of cash so couldn’t afford to get it fitted, so I drove round with just the front bumper on for ages. I couldn’t afford it as I had also just ordered a carbon bonnet
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Adam_B
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Registered: 13th Dec 00
Location: Lancashire
User status: Offline
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PVS 05 was looming, and my car was looking, well shite. So with help from Wayne, we set to fitting the GSi skirts, car was ready about 1am. We set off the the pod at 6
Nov 05 I bought a MK1 MR2 with my mate with the sole intention of using it as a track car, was a proper shitter from the outside but it had only done 60k miles, it was a MK1a coupe. So no t-bar, best one that isn¡¦t a sc for a track car as it¡¦s the lightest, 1.6 16v 125bhp, Mid engined RWD, koni adjustable suspension, magnex exhaust, 1 bucket seat and no interior! We called it Mac ƒº
Was amzing little car while it lasted, highlights include spanking a CRX v-tech at santa pod , pushing a supra twin turbo out of the way at bruntingthorp and drifting at Elvington But it was just a bit too rusty, so when the MOT ran out it got scrapped. We sold all the good bits off it and binned the shell, at the same time I cleared all the crap out of my garage, including the old XE that I was supposed to be re-building. Still got the protec head and the engine out of the mr2 tho, migh come in usefull for something.
After the MR2 went my attention turned back to the corsa, as I had booked a trackday at Anglesey with IMOC. I used to money from mac to buy some nice new bits,
Front and rear whiteline anti roll bars
Reyland 4 pots replaced my ATE setup
Koni coilovers to replace the fucked FKs
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Adam_B
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Registered: 13th Dec 00
Location: Lancashire
User status: Offline
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I was a bit worried about doing this trackday, as I knew my old mr2 would have whooped the corsa around the twisty Anglesey circuit. But as it turned out the new suspension and brakes worked really well and although I rekon a properly driven MR2 would still have the corsa in a corner, the advantage of an XE in a light car proved enough to make it quicker than most of the MR2s there.
http://www.corsasport.co.uk/board/viewthread.php?tid=270584&page=1
The off at Anglesey caused more damage than I thought, so I got a new rear beam, wheel bearings and some poly bushes and carted everything over to Graham at Top Gear, he did a boss job as always 
Then my mate Pye organised a trip to the Nurburgring, how could I say no! So did a few bits on the car to make sure it would be ok, cambelt service, front bearings etc
http://www.corsasport.co.uk/board/viewthread.php?tid=287763
vids-
http://www.corsasport.co.uk/board/viewthread.php?tid=288416
The car was looking a tad scruffy, so after Germany she went into the bodyshop for a respray.
Before
during
after
http://public.fotki.com/Adamski/car_stuff/cars/my_corsa/fresh_from_the_bodyshop/
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Adam_B
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Registered: 13th Dec 00
Location: Lancashire
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Next came another trackday at Elvington airfield, this time with the boys from topgear. Graham in his 200sx and Phil in his Mk3 Astra V6.
http://www.corsasport.co.uk/board/viewthread.php?tid=302355&page=1
After that I spotted jaycarr selling a throttle body kit, so I snapped it up. Ive always said I would get them if they were cheap enough, and these were! So cheap im actually considereing selling them as someone has offerend me £200 more that what I paid for them, dunno yet tho.
At the same time I got the tbs I also aquired this oil cooler in exchange for a david hasselhoff t-shirt. No really
but I keep having problems with it leaking as I don’t have the proper ends from Vauxhall, will keep on trying tho.
Bought some proper track tyres, Toyo R888s and some really lightweight 15s to use on track
http://public.fotki.com/Adamski/car_stuff/cars/my_corsa/new_track_wheels/
Most recent trackday ive done is this one at Oulton park a few weeks back, fucking brilliant, deffinitly the best one yet.
http://www.corsasport.co.uk/board/viewthread.php?tid=319716
DAy after Oulton acar was RR'd at 155bhp, standard bar airfilter and exhaust.
Currently the car has no skirts, so I need to sort that. Also I found my fast road cams from the first XE that I thought I had binned, so I will probably stick them back in over winter along with the new gearbox I have and a new baffled sump.
[Edited on 13-11-2006 by Adam_B]
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willay
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Organiser: South East, National Events
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Registered: 10th Nov 02
Location: Roydon, Essex
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good read
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Wayne
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Registered: 19th May 04
Location: Haslingden, Lancashire
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Excellent thread I remember doing them skirts and cleaning your car
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Iain M
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Registered: 18th Aug 05
Location: Wigan - Drives 272bhp corsa ZLET
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top thread adam
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Pop
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Registered: 8th May 03
Location: Reading
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really good read that
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Ojc
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Registered: 14th Nov 00
Location: Reading: Drives : Clio 197
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Excellent, those Koni Coilovers are beautiful. I need a set.
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Mattb
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Registered: 2nd Feb 03
Location: Under your sisters bed
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something worth reading on corsasport for once
Top stuff adam
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SXi_Tim
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Registered: 11th Mar 03
Location: South Yorkshire Drives: RS3, LET B
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Enjoyed that, good read
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rob_zetec
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Registered: 8th Sep 06
Location: wigan
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gr8 car, and a superb read, prob the best read on here lol
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Liam
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Registered: 19th Jan 06
Location: Stafford
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Great read. Nice car too 
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richysport
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Registered: 15th Apr 05
Location: Flintshire, north wales
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it's come along way since you first got it hasn't it it looks amazing now top work
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Gregor
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Registered: 28th Nov 03
Location: Paisley, Renfrewshire
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Loved reading that !
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Gaz
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Registered: 24th Aug 03
Location: Widnes, Cheshire
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always loved this car mate, and after going round the track with you @ Oulton (top day out BTW thanks) it made my opinion of it even more greater!
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danward
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Registered: 14th Nov 06
Location: Northants Drives: C Exclusiv
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Just read the whoooollee lot. Good thread dude! 
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Cupra Steve
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Registered: 7th Nov 06
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good read, brakes look tight in 15's!!!!!!!!!
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R Lee
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Registered: 15th Aug 03
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Adam, thats some good shit there
Stick the TB's on asap... don't be gay.
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Robin
Premium Member
Registered: 7th Jan 04
Location: Northants Drives: Clio 182 Cup
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great thread Adam
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Adam_B
Member
Registered: 13th Dec 00
Location: Lancashire
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update-
broke down tonight, think its the coil, got fuel but no spark.
[Edited on 28-11-2006 by Adam_B]
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Adam_B
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Registered: 13th Dec 00
Location: Lancashire
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got iot running but its overfueling like a twat
http://www.corsasport.co.uk/board/viewthread.php?tid=324374
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