Heres an update with pics i promised i'd put up.
A while a ago i put on here that i wanted to change the rear brakes to lose the crappy handbrake system the turbos have and so i went for the Astra VXR 278mm rear discs and calipers. I measured and drwan out a bracket and went to my local metal profilers and they cut me 2 of these out for a nice price of £15!
They came as just a piece of metal and so i had to drill the holes out i needed and Tap 2 of the holes for a threaded bolt to screw into them. Heres a pic of the brackets on the car:
Both of the threaded holes on the rear leg have to be drilled threw but other than that they will go straight on. I tried a wheel on and they fit well
The main reason for it being off the road was to do ALL the bushes on the back and wheel bearings too so thats what i did, every single bush, bearing and anything else that could be replaced has been replaced. I did plan on haveing it all lovely and shiney underneath and so i painted everything in black hammerite paint but even while its been sat in my garage they have just gone rusty again so now its just a case of getting it back on the road and all mechanically mint again. Yes i should of powder coated everything but due to the cost i didn't (if i ever do it again i will get it all done).
So with the subframe all built back up and ready to go back on i phoned up my brother and Gaz off here to come and help me get it bolted back up as it is very heavy and arkward on your own to do.
We had abit of a problem with the rear end of the propshaft which ended up in that being broke and so needed a new one. Basically i put it on wrong and hammered it on the spline where as i found out later that it only goes on one way and so it was now broke. I managed to source a new one and was waiting for it in the post but Squig off here kindly donated me his until my new one turned up in the post. This way i could get on with it rather than waiting. So thanks to squig for that!
So with that finally back on i could then crack on with getting the rest of the bits done. I got the fuel pump setup ready with new filter and pipes etc..
I even changed the little rubber fuel pump mounts as they were only cheap.
I ordered some new vxr brake discs and pads and got the brakes all mounted on finally
I then got on with the new brake lines for the new calipers as the old lines were totally differant. I had to convert the brake line connection onto the caliper to a banjo bolt, these were a pain to find but got them in the end:
And so the solid brake line was made and joined to the braided flexi hose
The exhaust was fitted back on along with new clamps and all rubbers fitted:
I made sure it was nice straight before i tightened the clamps up and also gave the boxes a good polish before it went on ( yes i am a nerd!) lol.
With not much else left to do now i got some more bits together and got them on. Rear diff Oil, Transfer box oil, A box of jubilee clips, Brake fluid (supplied by my brother), 10w40 Oil and filter, Some 8mm rubber fuel pipe supplied by gaz and some 8mm copper fuel pipe which i blagged off a heating engineer at work! Bargain!
So all the fluids went in, all went well with new copper washers fitted except for the transfer box fluid, i managed to spill most of it all over the engine as it is a complete pain to get it into the tiny breather pipe that it needs to go down, especially with a makeshift funnel that didn't work at all and it was very windy! So i may have to get some more of that and do it again as its supposed to have a specific amount in and no more or less (0.6litres).
I then fitted new fuel lines under the car and new clips to hold them to the floor as the old ones were knackered. I took the old ones off and copied them with the new pipe, dead easy to do really. The old ones were pretty rusty!
All fitted:
And thats as far as i've got so far, i did fit the front braided hoses onto it too as the whole system needs bleeding and so i thought i might aswell while i'm at it. One of the rear calipers has issues though and so i need to get a replacement off ebay and i also need to buy a handbrake cable for it too and make that work, thats the last bit to sort out and make fit. But to order them bits i need money which at this very minute i haven't any spare to do it so hopefully next week i might be able to get them. Then thats it all done and should be up and running again!
Will keep you posted
