Picked the car up last week a 2002 Astra 888. As you can see shes a bit tired and needs some tidying....

Plans are 280/300bhp already has a 1k old vxr turbo and sports cat and downpipe on.```





Had the car a day and i've broke it already loud tapping from cylinder 1 compressions are 110,170,170,170. This happened after i put a generic ph1 map on from a kmp200... i know probably serves me right for going cheap but as i read it worked on lots of others i thought what harm can it do

oops Drives fine off boost and misses and coughs on boost. tapping sounds top end and its very loud and im hoping this is possible a valve spring or hydraulic tappet...

Started to strip down the car to loose some weight and tidy it up.

-Forge recirc in the post
-Airfilter fitted
-Intercooler fitted and hardpipes
-Fit boost gauge
-Desperately need to refurb the wheels to black or anthracite











plenty of work to do!!!

 

 

Dont see many of these about. cool project mate!

 

i love these!!!!!!

theres 1 round by me, loooks standard other than the wheels have been powder coatd black

 

Ive got one matey, takes abuse day in day out, it does get serviced regulary and cooled down properly mind you, just fitted a vxr turbo unit and forge recirc, goes alot better, it has a st1 map and full exh, recon it would take a vxr, also fitted switchable traction control, i must say these cars handle very very good.

Mine is no 17/100

 

phase 3.5 was the plan before it started tapping really loudly... praying its just a hydraulic tappet stuck and a cheap fix. has the standard map back on and its still not running right missing and coughing on on boost higher up, again hoping this is te same issue.

Regal are only down the road but i've seen a few of there customers cars in the past...

 

Im sure it will be a cheap fix, z20let/leh are good solid engines, check you boost hoses ect matey mine was missing and spluttering but that was due to a 2" split in bottom int hose, but im still running standard setup.

 

all hoses are fine now as i've just put on the fmic. front bumper is the next issue properly bodged on. bits of wood bonded to it to the bolt to car the lot. mostly held on with cable times

 

nice car mate, not keen on the spoiler tho looks a bit fast and furious for my taste

 

i really fancy one of these
always liked them, spoiler looks abit chav tho :/

good luck with the fix

 

Great Project. What are the next Ups ?

 

Nice.... ive got an Astra Coupe atm... was a 2.2 but spat a rod the otherweek, droppin a 2.5 V6 in her with some 3l cams!

but the 888's are sexy! she should go well with that power!

 

They were bonded on from factory matey, they also cut and trimmed the front bumper to fit the splitter and arch extensions, had the front of my car replaced mid last year due to hitting a badger, sides also bonded on, was going to fit after market intercooler but noticed it would be a mare to remove bumper, not going to bother.

 

yeh makes sense just mine have bits of wood bonded to the sides of the front bumper trimmed down the front bumper and the cooler fits nicely.

changed all 16 hydraulic tappets last night just need to time it up from scratch tonite due to a little ballse up last night.

Just praying it gets rid of this rather nasty loud tapping and backfire/high up hesitation from cylinder 1....

-new Crank Sensor fitted
-Boost gauge fitted
-Irridium NGK's fitted
-Oil and filter changed after i dont think it had been down for at least 18 months...

 

what are these things worth roughly , always liked the look of them .

 

Nice car, if you let regal do any work in your car your a brave man

 

Im sure if these things go low on oil and get drove hard, it can make the top end rattly....could that have been the case?

 

changed all tappets timed it up and its still down comp on one and making a tapping noise not sure where to go next.......

the thing hadnt had an oil change on 18-20 months and putting that map on pushed it over the edge i think. having to read up on them and see what to do next

-Cost wise they go from 5-8k but thank fully i paid well under that!!

 

my missess has got a mk4 convertible turbo watch out they have a bad earth somewhere under under the boost pipe from intercooler.

quite common lights used to come on the dash every day! and drove like crap no boost misfired reved all over the place.

nice car tho. she was gona get a 888 looked at 1 running phase 3.5 pretty rapid, but it was pissing oil. no others about.

 

Wheels back on, rear brakes changed and greased up. Also amanged to trim down the front bumper and refit around the cooler with no rubbing.

Now my issue is the problem has been diagnosed as a Bottom end either a big or little end. So i've decided to go for a new engine.

Options are either a new Z20let from Vauxhall for 2k or i've sourced a 37k Zlet for a grand.... think im going to go for the lata..... new sports clutch on order desperately trying to get it sorted for the 10th so i can have some fun on the strip on thorney island..... times ticking

 

not a fan of vauxhalls but thats one nice car, but id lose the spoiler
shame about engine but always a good time to improve i suppose

 

i know what your saying about the spoiler but its part of the special bttc edition. thankfully it looks better in the flesh! my first vauxhall too

 

Little update

New Engine is in and fitted running perfect! boosting to a whole 9psi . Fitted by me mate at his garage ''RAW Motorsport'' so if anyones in southampton and needs motorsport preping or any car work give Rob a call. ok the plugs out the way now lol.

uprated clutch working a dream and new discs and pads to the rear.
AEM AFR Wideband is on order and i'm trying to decided whether to diy map again or take it to regal!!

whilst checking everything i think i've realised why the car popped the actuator was wound right up to say 16turns on the new vxr turbo. when it should have been mre like 3-4 turns showing so it ran a shite load more boost than it should DOH

looking to get a cage and uprate the brakes then we're going to attack Combe asap

pics to follow tomorrow!!!

Crowds

 

 

Looking good

Was it you broken down on Thomas Lewis Way lastnight?

 

Nice car

I quite like the spoiler

 

Not a bad little project, have you got any suspension plans? If it's a trackday car.

 

Err err yeh.. fuel issues on way to shell garage, never belive a vauxhall trip computer that says u have 5miles left lol.

 

yeh for sure cage suspension and brakes are next, I'm Reading up atm on what's good and what's not in the suspension stakes with arb to go for etc and freshen up all the bushes!

Bit of an update it went to regal for a map and they wouldn't map it die to a long list of apparent faults

-turbo water hose perished
-coilpack ends perished
-no manifold heat shield wtf?
-no external second metal gasket between the manifold and nuts... Although it didn't leak..
-boost leaks from intercooler map sensor
-low compressionon engine.. Showing 140 across 4

so charging me an hours labour for this I decided to take it away as they wanted 4 hours plus parts + remap cost + setup fee + rollers fee

got it home sorted water hose and map housing decided to put a stage one on it and it didn't run well due to the coilpack dying strange that after they had fiddled with it?!?

Fitted the afr and a new coilpack and she's starti g to run nice albeit a bit rich top end on boost showing 11.5-12 on wot in 4th. Remap is only running stage 1power aprox 14psi holding, until I get it raised to 18-20!

Had a nice play with a new green focus rs lovely car and the 888 sat wth it lol.

 

Well I've done some stuff to my vxr and I've used it for a few trackdays. You can get the front anti roll bar from a astra twintop which is 24mm. You can buy polybushes for the bottom arms from courtneysport (including whiteline castor adjusting ones), they also sell a whiteline rear anti rollbar.

Brakes-wise I think the 343mm ap racing vxr kit fits. But alcon sell a 365mm 6 pot brake kit which I have fitted and with pagid rs29's it's very good!

Will keep an eye on this thread.

Also if your looking for some cheap dampers the OEM astra vxr shocks fit your car.

 

Nice I'll remember that. I had read about the whiteline kit. Twintop sounds a plan defo needs some brakes as they're sponge and pretty poor tbh. Bushes first up and lower mount I'll order this week I think for starters and road track tyre suggests? I usually ft yoko paradas. I know the r888 is good but they're wear in no time on road?!

 

Well I use Pirelli Corsas which don't wear down that quickly on the road and track compared to the R888's. Paradas are shit IMO.

I've got some vxr calipers with 322mm discs and ferrodo pads if your interested.