Marky Mark's Astor 6

[mackat]

Thought I'd put up a little project thread, might be a little stop/start all depends on funds, but here goes:

Managed to pick up a P3 Astor GTi6 back in November (2014) for what I thought was an ok price, for sure it needed some TLC but thought why not.

Since then I've had a run in with a bus, a couple of Chavs took to it and finally on Christmas day one of the valves broke.
And like any sane person, rather than cracking the head and having a butchers, off I went and got myself a low mileage engine from a VTS

Something to note, I've never done anything like this before and I'm learning as a go

After the drive home
[attachment=22042]

Bus=1 Mark=0
[attachment=22043]

A clean up after the Bus:
[attachment=22045]

New (ish) engine arrives
[attachment=22046]
[attachment=22048]
[attachment=22047]

Clean out the back to store the car in
[attachment=22049]

Work begins:
[attachment=22050]
[attachment=22051]

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I really didnt expect it to take so long:
[attachment=22053]

Will need a clean!
[attachment=22054]
[attachment=22055]

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Bits that have arrived:

-Upper and lower strut braces
-MOMO boss
-13" Rally Steering Wheel McGill Motorsport
-Gaskets
-Oils (engine and gear) + oil filter

On order and fingers crossed should be arriving soon:
-Bilstein B8 front
-Bilstein B6 rear
-Eibach springs
-Engine mounts
-Meyle wishbones

oh and I managed to pick up one of these:

[attachment=22056]

[Niall]

Looking good mate! Apologies for not being able to pop over last weekend. As i said, unfortunately other things took priority . We will get something sorted soon though!
Does look good though and you're making good progress. Seeing as the engine thats in there is buggered, it would be a good one for you to mess about with and if anything goes wrong, its not a major deal! Also, get loads of small plastic bags and mark them up with where all the bolts come from. Nothing worse than putting it all back together and thinking what bolt held this on?! lol

[mackat]

Thanks Niall - Dude no apologies needed, I'm appreciating any help
If it's easier, could rent the lift off you?

Re the air condenser, I gingery unbolted the connectors.. and there was no gas!
Will put it back together again once the other engine is in and have them refill it.. see if it works?!?

Not sure which bit it tackle next, thought I might try cleaning up the throttle body and inlet manifold as it's looking like a nice day

[PocketFighter]

Looking forward to see this complete!

On another note, thought I recognise the pair of pugs, I drive past everyday, caught the corner of my eye when sat in traffic! If you need a pair of extra hands mate give me a shout, probably deemed useless working on cars lol but would be interesting and good for me to learn lol

[7057sam]

Astor fwend

Keep up the good work mate,you going to paint the engine whilst it's all exposed?

[Niall]

Thanks Niall - Dude no apologies needed, I'm appreciating any help
If it's easier, could rent the lift off you?

Re the air condenser, I gingery unbolted the connectors.. and there was no gas!
Will put it back together again once the other engine is in and have them refill it.. see if it works?!?

Not sure which bit it tackle next, thought I might try cleaning up the throttle body and inlet manifold as it's looking like a nice day

Its up to you man. If you want to battle on on your own, you're welcome to borrow it but you are also welcome to my help if you want it. Dont mind helping (maybe a mini meet with a few of the locals to get it smashed out lol) but may not be for a few weeks yet. Taken on a new project at work which should see a lot of my free time gone

You're air con isn't going to work for any period of time unless you replace the receiver dryer and all the seals not to mention the lower hoses probably leak. Once they get air in them, it just destroys the system slowly from the inside out

[mackat]

Busy day so far..!

haha.. bought my first drill today, at the ripe old age of 30 <cough> something!
My arms where aching from using the wirebrush, thought it might help speed things up

When it came off the engine:

[attachment=22065]
[attachment=22066]

After a little elbow grease:
[attachment=22067]
[attachment=22068]

OK so I might have gone a little overboard with the wirebrush and drill
[attachment=22069]


Also picked up some metallic red paint, thought i might use it on the manifold - not sure about it:
[attachment=22070]

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Looking forward to see this complete!

On another note,  thought I recognise the pair of pugs, I drive past everyday, caught the corner of my eye when sat in traffic! If you need a pair of extra hands mate give me a shout, probably deemed useless working on cars lol but would be interesting and good for me to learn lol

Drop by anytime and say hello - It's all new to me so we're in the same boat

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Astor fwend

Keep up the good work mate,you going to paint the engine whilst it's all exposed?

Thanking you!

I'm certainly going to give it a good wash down, plus I've spotted a few rusty patches which will need looking at.
So probably once I've cleaned it that'll be a yes

[PocketFighter]

Will take you up on that mate!

[mackat]

Thanks Niall - Dude no apologies needed, I'm appreciating any help
If it's easier, could rent the lift off you?

Re the air condenser, I gingery unbolted the connectors.. and there was no gas!
Will put it back together again once the other engine is in and have them refill it.. see if it works?!?

Not sure which bit it tackle next, thought I might try cleaning up the throttle body and inlet manifold as it's looking like a nice day

Its up to you man. If you want to battle on on your own, you're welcome to borrow it but you are also welcome to my help if you want it. Dont mind helping (maybe a mini meet with a few of the locals to get it smashed out lol) but may not be for a few weeks yet. Taken on a new project at work which should see a lot of my free time gone

You're air con isn't going to work for any period of time unless you replace the receiver dryer and all the seals not to mention the lower hoses probably leak. Once they get air in them, it just destroys the system slowly from the inside out

LOL mini meet, my neighbours will love me!
..but thinking about it that's not a bad idea. Anyone local who hasn't taken an engine apart, seen whats what or just a little hesitant on doing a job on their own car. It's a thought?!?

Same boat with work, I may have a free day next Sunday then that's until the 28th/29th - Half of me is saying fly solo, but the other half is saying I have no idea what I'm doing

[PocketFighter]

Lol yeah sounds good, had the same last summer with the bikes, had about 7 of them on my drive all revving up lol neighbours werent too pleased!

But definitely up for learning a thing or two

[7057sam]

If you use autosol the manifold will eventually polish up really well failing that i'd go for a gloss grey or somthing along those lines which hasn't been done before

[mackat]

lol.. the old man has suggested racing green..

OK, fun one - Spot the difference:
[attachment=22112]



looks like I need a gasket and not the O-ring.

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Ohh one question I forgot to ask, is the actual engine removal a one man job?

[Niall]

Yeah its a paper gasket you need. Good luck getting just the one though. My local wanted to sell 5 at a time!
Yeah engine removal can be done by one man. Moving the crane with the engine swinging on it can be a bit of a PITA but can be done

[PocketFighter]

No.18 is in a different position... Looks like the ICV?

[mackat]

The diagram highlighted in red is apparently mine in service box, but it's the diagram in Russian which is actually correct with the paper gasket.
I'm assuming post 99 it's the O-ring.

and 18 is the idle regulator motor.

Managed to find the gaskets on ebay: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/330476207939

Niall - Will pm you chap

[mackat]

The B8's arrived this morning along with some other goodies.
Have also just checked email, the B6's and springs are with the couriers

The pile of parts is slowly stacking up

[7057sam]

You should de aircon con it at the same time rich w flywheel would be nice and easy whilst it out aswell

[mackat]

You should de aircon con it at the same time rich w flywheel would be nice and easy whilst it out aswell

haha ..but it's sooo hot here in the summer months :p

Liking the new wheels on yours!

[mackat]

Aha.. the rears arrived this morning

[attachment=22150]

[PocketFighter]

Nice nice nice! Where did you get them from mate?

[Niall]

You'll love them mate. I love the way my car handles with them on! Still relatively comfortable but sticks to the road so well.

[Paul_13]

Did you use the HG etc I sold you?
I may be tempted to buy them back

[7057sam]

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You should de aircon con it at the same time rich w flywheel would be nice and easy whilst it out aswell

haha ..but it's sooo hot here in the summer months :p

Liking the new wheels on yours!

 did yours actually work though,thought everyone's pipes had corrode by now  

Cheers mate,its my Friday car and it's Friday tomorrow

[mackat]

Did you use the HG etc I sold you?
I may be tempted to buy them back

No not yet - check ya pm chap as I could be heading in your direction on Sunday

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Nice nice nice! Where did you get them from mate?

Got them from demon-tweeks in the end. Cheapest place I could find, plus with an extra 10% off

[PocketFighter]

Give me a shout next time mate, I work at ECP Croydon

[mackat]

You'll love them mate. I love the way my car handles with them on! Still relatively comfortable but sticks to the road so well.

hopefully the springs should be arriving any day soon.
was thinking about going koni, but having a read about how everyone rated the B6/B8's I though I can't go wrong.

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You should de aircon con it at the same time rich w flywheel would be nice and easy whilst it out aswell

haha ..but it's sooo hot here in the summer months :p

Liking the new wheels on yours!

 did yours actually work though,thought everyone's pipes had corrode by now  

Cheers mate,its my Friday car and it's Friday tomorrow

The previous owner said yes, but I'll take that with a pinch of salt!

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Give me a shout next time mate, I work at ECP Croydon

haha now you tell me!!

[PocketFighter]

Lol yes sorry, anything else you need though gis a shout, will sort something out for you

[mackat]

Lol yes sorry, anything else you need though gis a shout, will sort something out for you

Jesting with ya

..but might have to take you up on that.

Well the eibachs arrived this morning. As the rear is a torsion bar, how much do the B6's lower the back?

Managed to give the manifold a quick polish:

[attachment=22158]

[Niall]

The shocks won't lower the rear. The lowering is done by removing the torsion bars and repositioning the trailing arms then reinserting the torsion bars. In theory very simple but in reality, it's a bastard if the beam has never been apart!!

[7057sam]

What did you use to polish it with?? looks very dark,almost black which is weird

Yeah my beams had alot of upgrade but is seized and dreading the day we have to rebuild it