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Post by mekon on Sept 1, 2019 12:09:43 GMT
Those cars aren't gay as such but are certainly butt-ugly. It's as if Vauxhall tried to create a fairly angular aggressive car but half way through some other utter cunt in marketing got worried and they applied the generic blob filter to the concept renders. I was put off the VXRs when they were on Top Gear and compared to their competitors they ploughed on with massive understeer. I remember in the prime hot hatch period of 80s/90s the Vauxhauls always seemed to have the most powerful engines but handling was at the bottom of the pile compared to the Golf Gti. Then again I can imagine Droog bossin it circa 1990 in one of these  |
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Post by Droog on Sept 1, 2019 18:32:10 GMT
I had several XR3i's. I loved them at the time. Cheap and cheerful back then. Mine were all around 9 years old back in 1996. Some better condition than others. I wrote one off in spectacular fashion one night. Never paid more than £800 for any of them.
The Astra is growing on me. But I can see myself doing the head gasket and putting on a new timing belt plus a service, driving it about for a while and then trading up for something else.
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Post by Droog on Sept 12, 2019 19:48:43 GMT
Car is proving to be a bastard. I have had the head off and on 3 times this week. Takes fucking hours to do this. No matter what I do it still leaks oil into the water system. When it's running it is really quick and smooth for a lowly 1.8 SRi. Going to persevere with it but if I can't do it this weekend by using copious amounts of bodging gasket sealer as well as the gasket, I'm going to admit defeat and pay to have it done. This has never happened before but I'm fucking drained of energy. I've already wasted the best part of £150 on oil and head gaskets for every failed attempt.
Not sure if head is warped but I did block it on a sheet of glass and it seems fine.
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Post by mekon on Sept 13, 2019 8:44:59 GMT
Sounds a nightmare. Maybe the head has some fractures in it somewhere?
I was going to have a crack at doing my timing belt but looking at the room in engine bay some other cunt can do it.
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Post by Droog on Sept 13, 2019 16:48:06 GMT
I finally worked out what was wrong just now. Head bolts are stretch bolts and a one use item. I measured up the old bolts to the new ones and the new ones are about 4 mm longer! No wonder it wasn't torquing down. Bearing in mind the old bolts are already stretched, the new ones could be almost 5mm too long! got a new gasket coming tomorrow from the local motor factors. Spent most of today facing up the head and block thinking there was imperfections but a straight rule showed no issues. That's four fucking times I have had this head off inside 3 days! Bastard of a job. Drinking beer now. I'm fucking exhausted. Hopefully tomorrow I will post a video of me using the sport button!
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Post by mekon on Sept 13, 2019 17:11:36 GMT
LOL. It's always some stupid minor shit you should have spotted......and it usually costs you a strip down again.
My TT subframe had stretch bolts in but after looking on the forums some bloke had reused his 9 times so I measured the threads and they were still on spec and the bolts were pretty chunky 19mm spanner jobs so I reused them with a load of threadlock on them. It actually passed it's MOT under it's new ownership with no advisories, I just gave up when the TC and MAF kept dying but he must have know what he doing.
Now go out and do a handbrake turn into Asda.
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Post by beefus on Sept 14, 2019 16:01:55 GMT
Where’s Edd China when you need him! ;-)
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Post by paulg on Sept 18, 2019 11:27:17 GMT
Forgive my mechanical ignorance, but if you're replacing a head gasket, shouldnt you have the head skimmed too?
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Post by mekon on Sept 18, 2019 19:47:38 GMT
I'd guess it depends on whether there's any warping. Last time I replaced a cylinder head was about 25 years ago though so what do I know! I took the head off to decoke and recut the valve seats and I didn't have a leak beforehand.
Think some modern engines can't even be saved like old ones when they start to mess up as the tolerances for things fitting together are so fine. Shit used to be less reliable but easy to fix but now stuff will do 200k miles easy but once they mess up you may as well by another engine off ebay.
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Post by Droog on Sept 20, 2019 13:35:00 GMT
Still working on it but I'm convinced the head and gasket are fine. I've had it off so many times now. Checked it with a straight edge and feeler gauge and it still looks good. The car runs excellent and no 'smokey head gasket gone' trail of smoke is coming out of the exhaust. Yet the oil is mixing with the water. I think I have found the issue but I won't know until I take it apart over the weekend. There is another way for the oil and water to mix on this engine. There is a plate behind where the timing belt goes and it is also bolted onto the sump. Behind this is a gasket called the timing plate gasket. It seals both water and oil. I think it might be where my issue lays. Another bastard of a job though to remove.
If you are that interested, here is a quick youtube video showing you what a bastard it is to do:
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Post by mekon on Sept 21, 2019 10:57:17 GMT
Get that engine hoist bought! Pull it out!
Just been reading about doing the valve clearances on KTM RC390s and people are saying it's actually easier to take the engine out. Watched a video....and the guy had already taken the engine out. Modern shit problems!
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Post by Droog on Sept 21, 2019 16:13:20 GMT
Got it all disassembled. Need to clean it all up and then order the parts. If this doesn't cure it I will buy a recon lump and fit it myself. Gasket did look fucked though. I'm fucked myself. Will not rush it and take a couple of weekends to do it all. I'm too burned out to get it all done ASAP.
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Post by mekon on Sept 21, 2019 16:56:35 GMT
You must be at that 'cheaper to buy one that worked' tipping point?
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Post by Droog on Sept 21, 2019 20:15:22 GMT
Not really. I got the car for £480. I've spent exactly £319 on it so far. Only some of that £319 is wasted money. The rest is on plugs, filters, new VVT pulleys, cambelt kit, head gasket kit and solenoids. All things I would swap over onto another engine if I had to go that route. The wasted money was on oil and two head gaskets. I reckoned £150 was wasted before but when I just added it all up it was closer to £85. Same model car in my spec and 2010 year is averaging between £1950 and £2450 with mileages close to mine and in similar condition. My car has had one owner from new and is Vauxhall dealer serviced from new with all stamps until April this year. Had 11 months MOT on it when I got it also. I reckon I would need to spend another £1000 on it before I get close to it being cheaper to buy one that was working fine. And even then, who is to say that wouldn't start having problems?
What you can't forget is that I lost about 30 hours or more of my life working on this and the stress and disappointment. Plus I'm knackered. But on the plus side I'm now an expert on doing a head gasket and timing plate gasket on this model and I've seen a couple of similar ones for silly money that I could buy, fix and make a good profit on lol.
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Post by Droog on Sept 29, 2019 17:09:00 GMT
I'm waiting on a crankshaft seal to arrive and then I can finish bolting the rest of it up to see if I have finally fixed it. It was a bastard of a job to do but I made far shorter work of it then they did in that video. Plenty of parts you could just unbolt and move to one side rather than completely disconnect them. For example the air con pump only needed to be unbolted and moved to one side not completely disconnected. Laying on your back on a gravel drive that is already soaked in oil and coolant in the pouring rain is not my idea of fun for a Saturday. Shame about the seal not arriving on time as it would have been done the same day.
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