Arctic Project (Take 2)

[TubaMagna8]

Washer to the rescue, meant the plug didn't foul the bolt...



Sand in photo is from slight coolant/fuel spillage as didn't de-pressurise the system before disassembly.... only realised as I was about to take the injectors out.... dope

test fitted things to work out what things I needed to try and complete the project.



again another angle, after posting on the x16xe/x18xe tuning page on Facebook, many recommend removing the bits for the coolant in the throttle body, I then used one to form a connection between the two pipes.



later found from reading corsa sport guide that I needed to drill the throttle body so that the screws would just drop straight in, fairly easy to do.

and all back together...

I just need to fill with coolant, tidy the hoses and wiring up (May over the winter re-do the wiring and hide it away). for now will butcher the original air pipe onto the original airbox just to get it running and go from there...

hopefully it starts okay

 

[TubaMagna8]

Got it started last Night... but was revving to about 4.5K so need to make a gasket for the throttle body. and find any other air leaks... but at least it started

 

[TubaMagna8]

Positive Update!

So came to the conclusion there was an air leak somewhere, After taking the throttle body off of the Powerbox my dad identified that the flange to blank the bit for the EGR? I think wasn't completely straight nor flat, and that was definitely letting air into it. After looking at the parts that came off of the car, I found the gasket, and whilst I have ordered some off of AutoDoc I had a go at making my own, with the addition of some gasket seal for all the gaskets, As the Mating side of the lower inlet who ever has had it before me has hashed it up a bit so at least I could eliminate all leaks.


Traced the Original on the Gasket paper which I got from amazon.


Cut out, now as I can't get a bolt in top left I have chose to use the gasket to blank that bit off. I knew Cutting shapes at school would come in use at some point



Test fit for everything, made sure everything was secure, filled the coolant up and got it started, Started in about 5 seconds, and let it run for a few minutes to let all the sensors and the ECU adjust to the changes.


Used the original Air filter for now, Means I could get it running etc, Cable ties instead of the clamps for now, Wanting something blue and custom for the intake. The wiring NEEDS! tidying and some bits extending and protecting too.


Took it out for a drive, let it warm up etc, and then was presented with an engine management light....



Out the Opcom came and as I had feared/thought it was to do with the EGR, Which I didn't blank but all the ports to it are blanked I think, so going to look into properly blanking it, although once the code was cleared I drove it for over 25 miles today and it hasn't come back on.


Took it out for a drive this evening, went to a local car show and drove spot on, no issues and no warning lights.


Bought myself one of these, to try and tidy up the vacuum hoses, and ordered some blue hoses to go with, I hope to also do something with the brake servo hose too when I work out what fitting it needs.


Happy Days!

 

[Andy_Mk3]

Awesome work Clegg, loving how you're smashing through this. It's cool to see someone modding one of these engines again too, I miss those days.

 

[Kev_mk3]

Mega work when you sell it let me know lol

 

[TubaMagna8]

Mega work when you sell it let me know lol

She's a keeper for now lol

 

[TubaMagna8]

Picked up the Spoiler after having it sprayed....




Quick Before shot



Gave a good opportunity to clean the paintwork up behind the original one, and got some rust remover on the little patches and touched in with the touch up pen.



Rust remover doing its thing...

In the middle of removing the bracket at the ends, as I followed the guide on the forum and used the velcro.... Hate drilling holes in body work so this was a good save



Got it all lined up and made sure everything was clean and ready to go


Finished Result... Loads better and colour coded looks the part

 

[TubaMagna8]

Got a few things ordered over the past few days, I got some Boot light fittings to try and make them into footwell lights in the kick panels at the bottoms of the A Pillars. Think Gareth has done that and its something he mentioned a while back that seemed a good OEM+ mod.

Won some Tinted Repeater indicators on EvilBay so they should be coming this week, as well as some struts for the bonnet.

This evening I got on with fitting the vacuum manifold, I bought all the coloured hoses and the jubilee clips from Stoney Racing, Really good stuff, reasonable and quick delivery, LEAFLET10 gets you 10% off as well


So the before Image.....



Bought this M16 Fitting to use the port out of the manifold to a normal hose fitting to go to the vacuum manifold, however the thread didn't go all the way and it became loose and not tight, so I decided to try work with the fitting I already had on.


The Reinforced Hose fits nice and snug over the fitting that comes off the original manifold. I will secure with a Jubilee clip for security.


I went about removing the vacuum servo pipe and tried to get the hose off the fitting, this didn't work well and I really didn't want to risk breaking the plastic bit and making the car underivable until I found a replacement. I decided to cut the original pipe and jubilee the new hose to it.



I found I could just use this one piece below to connect between the servo and the vacuum manifold, make it look a lot neater as well.

All the pipes attached, except the one that comes off the oneway valve on the brake servo, I just had to attach that to the end port on the manifold.


I've looped the two unused vacuum ports back on themselves, as I had no need for them now.



All Done, Just need to order the longer bolts to fit the vacuum manifold to the inlet manifold, I need blue tie wraps I think lol


Hopefully new rear calibers and brake on at the weekend

 

[TubaMagna8]

New bolts arrived to mount the Vacuum Manifold...

Got 100mm and 110mm


ended up just using the 100mm but the 110mm will come in use at some point im sure...

Wasn't too happy on the bit of movement in the fittings on the vacuum block so I used some PTFE tape on them, should give a decent seal.


To avoid any issues with the two manifolds together I used some of my gasket paste and the gasket paper to make a gasket for the vacuum block.


Test Fit....





also got a little too excited and carried away with my nano polisher and the top cover, will finish at some point, but nice to see what can be achieved.



My dad had suggested getting the Allen cup screws for the top bit as well, so measured them, M6 and will order some from the same place I got the others.



Finished for the night, Someone pointed out that I had connected the rocker cover breather to the vacuum block and shouldn't be connected there so ive disconnect that until I find a way of making an adjustment to the inlet bit before the throttle body.

 

[Gareth]

No harm in leaving it the cam case pipe off for time being. We will look at it tomorrow

 

[TubaMagna8]

Got the new Side repeater lights the other day, quick before and after...




After


I need to get some orange bulbs for them.


Started fitting my footwell lights. 4.5 cm by 1 inch is the hole in the boot, so used that as a template



Test fit


Nicely finished off, will put some halogen coloured LEDS

 

[TubaMagna8]

These Turned up today, so fitted those to the Dark Repeaters.



Also got a front & Rear Dash Cam with amazon prime days..... will fit that before VBOA.

got on with the passenger footwell light... had to change the position to the drivers side due to having the shelf under the glove box.



whilst I had the glove box out I remembered the Air Con pipe for the glove box has been broken for a while... so some left over tube came in good use for that, as well as the old brake servo pipe.






Used the end of the old pipe to connect to the car side of things.


ready for glove box


and footwell light working on the passenger side.

 

[TubaMagna8]

Massive thanks to Gareth for his time and patience on Saturday, Despite the rain he plowed on with fitting the rear brakes to the Mk3, I had attempted to build the brakes up but was struggling on getting the springs to compress... later turned out why...


New pin was a fraction too short.


plowed on with the old pins but new springs. The brake shoes are just a generic one from Mtec


went with the Mtec grooved discs, will get some for the front when I decide what im going to do, did think of some before VBOA, but that would be pushing it a tad.


luckily I had two sets of calibers, and caliber rebuild kits as we ended up stripping all of them, and making the best of what we had, a lot of heat and some ugga Duggar later we have some split calibers.



before and after the rebuild kits.



before with the originals


after

 

[TubaMagna8]

would have taken me days to do this, but was good to see how its done for future, and how to make brake pipes.


Drove it home, and makes a big difference, obviously will bed them in, the calibers have EBC ultramax in them, Used them before on other cars and they work well.


I Now owe Gareth a lot of beer at VBOA

 

[Kev_mk3]

What did you do handbrake wise as you usually need other brackets

 

[Gareth]

What did you do handbrake wise as you usually need other brackets

I supplied clegg with genuine spare set of brackets ages ago.

 

[Gareth]

I Now owe Gareth a lot of beer at VBOA

Yes you do roll on next week

 

[TubaMagna8]

Got myself a Dash cam in the Prime sales....

Its a basic Nextbase but does front and rear...

Hate being able to see the camera etc so nicely hidden behind the rear view mirror


It's Still accessible to press the record incident button if needed.


Wanted to attache the rear camera to the rear boot lid, so managed to get the cable fed through the rubber hose between the body and the lid...


Ended up using a cable rod to get the cable through, They're fairly flexible which does help...




Cut a little groove in the plastic around the rear screen just to allow the cable to come through.


Currently on a piggyback fuse on an ignition live circuit.

 

[TubaMagna8]

Got myself to the local Oil merchant and gave their own brand oil a try, they've been making it for nearly 100 years....


£19.98 for 5 litres




What a **** to get off....


Wanted an oil change before VBOA, as I had forgotten the last time I've done one, and with the recent works I did wanted it to be running at its best. Did get some new spark plugs which I have yet to change.


Made a few adjustments to the handbrake and whilst it was on the stands I gave it a good snow foam....


Quick machine polish and go over with turtle wax canuba, I just ran out of time to do a full Autoglym job, but still comes up nicely.




Also received this in the post will do something with it in the next few weeks...



Planning on getting a boss fitted for the Air temp sensor but also to feed the crank case vent back into, like on the standard intake.

 

[TubaMagna8]

It got to VBOA Day, did a few last minute things on the morning, Namely wanted to duct the engine cables up a little, as was concerned with the engine temps of the long drive....



Filled the car with Esso Supreme 99+ and headed to Wetherby to meet with the others....



Back on the road.... Next stop VBOA... after a few hiccups....

didn't arrive till after 5:30pm


Bit of roadside maintenance, thankfully id had little confidence in some of my vacuum pipes so brought spare pipe and loads of jubilee clips...


Mine was spot on, engine management light came on now and again, but I know EGR is causing that, So that is on the list to sort after vboa, did over 400 miles on the tank, not too bad considering a lot of the driving was in traffic with the aircon on and a full boot of stuff.

Bit of a sunset after we arrived:


Bit more presentable... plus a MK3oc sticker on the sun strip too