Astravan Z20LET Turbo - sleeper
Discussion
Hi all
Haven't posted up for a while as the van's seen the last year or so being used to lug my various mountain bikes around
Anyway, I've just treated it to 4 new toyo Proxys which has really transformed the handling and grip after the last tyres were perhaps a little past their prime
Also, it passed it's MOT last week with no advisories and I treated her to an oil service and some loving tinkering
Pics
This is it performing it's normal duty of lugging about my mountain bike having just had the new Toyo proxys fitted ;
I wanted to try and get some graphics for it to keep it's Sleeper image, but after looking around at a few 'builders van' types, which is what I was trying to get the look of, I decided to get the just removed decal look, which meant applying stickers and letting them bake on for a couple of months in the sun and then peel them back off again when they were nice and cold so it left the adhesive on the side. It came out quite good, and with the bolted on drainpipe on the roof and the increasingly worn looking steel wheels, it's keeping that sleeper look quite nicely
The tyres have helped out quite a lot, but it's still not super great off the line as you either get bogged down in wheelspin (it'll also spin its wheels at 70 in third in the dry on the old tyres) or you just miss the boost and get stuck in the lag of the turbo spooling up.
However, from about 40 in third, it's proving to be a real weapon and as childish as it is, I've had great fun in getting a bit of a roll on with fastish sports car and then boosting away from them as they're left staring behind trying to work out how they've just been beaten by a knackered looking astra van,
I had it on the rollers again recently, and it made 321bhp and weighed in a 1045kg, which make a power to weight ratio slightly better than a 991 C4S
Haven't posted up for a while as the van's seen the last year or so being used to lug my various mountain bikes around
Anyway, I've just treated it to 4 new toyo Proxys which has really transformed the handling and grip after the last tyres were perhaps a little past their prime
Also, it passed it's MOT last week with no advisories and I treated her to an oil service and some loving tinkering
Pics
This is it performing it's normal duty of lugging about my mountain bike having just had the new Toyo proxys fitted ;
I wanted to try and get some graphics for it to keep it's Sleeper image, but after looking around at a few 'builders van' types, which is what I was trying to get the look of, I decided to get the just removed decal look, which meant applying stickers and letting them bake on for a couple of months in the sun and then peel them back off again when they were nice and cold so it left the adhesive on the side. It came out quite good, and with the bolted on drainpipe on the roof and the increasingly worn looking steel wheels, it's keeping that sleeper look quite nicely
The tyres have helped out quite a lot, but it's still not super great off the line as you either get bogged down in wheelspin (it'll also spin its wheels at 70 in third in the dry on the old tyres) or you just miss the boost and get stuck in the lag of the turbo spooling up.
However, from about 40 in third, it's proving to be a real weapon and as childish as it is, I've had great fun in getting a bit of a roll on with fastish sports car and then boosting away from them as they're left staring behind trying to work out how they've just been beaten by a knackered looking astra van,
I had it on the rollers again recently, and it made 321bhp and weighed in a 1045kg, which make a power to weight ratio slightly better than a 991 C4S
Edited by graeme4130 on Sunday 2nd March 19:18
aspirated said:
Loving the 'just removed decal' look 
So what other metal have you been embarrassing?
It's been a real mix. it's obviously not GTR fast, but it's a bit faster after about 40 than say an E46 M3 and will easily pull away from your Golf GTI / civic type R boy racer BrigadeSo what other metal have you been embarrassing?
I went out in it recently and we did some rolling comparisons against my RS4 and a mates V8 Vantage, and although my Audi would pull away from it, it wasn't by as much as I was expecting and not far off the AM at all, which made for an interesting spectacle
I've looked at perhaps swapping out the Bilsteins for a slightly better damping solution, but as I mainly use it for lugging my mountain bike about, it still needs to retain some compliance so as to keep comfort.
greggy50 said:
Really cool car OP out of interest what injectors/turbo is this running and where was it mapped/dynod?
As that is a real impressive power for only 9 psi!
Hi greggyAs that is a real impressive power for only 9 psi!
It's not actually 9psi, but 0.9 bar which is around 12.5 psi.
The injectors are standard, but I believe if I'm to go anywhere higher than .9b then I need to upgrade to the VXR solid injectors
The turbo is a turbo technics hybrid VXR unit
Original RR and stg3+ map was made by Regal through RAW Motorsport
Engine & turbo unit are rock solid and cooling is decent, so could handle much more pressure with new injectors, but then wheelspin would be a joke if it was up to 370-80 bhp
That looks fantastically crap (in a really good way!) for the performance, it must be great fun to bumble around looking for unsuspecting prey!
You should put a 'how's my driving, please call XXXXX' on the back and see if you can generate any calls from stunned sports car drivers asking what on earth is under the bonnet.
You should put a 'how's my driving, please call XXXXX' on the back and see if you can generate any calls from stunned sports car drivers asking what on earth is under the bonnet.
graeme4130 said:
The wife's pressuring me to sell this now, so if anyone's interested, drop me a mail
I'm using the browny points gained for selling the van, so that she's not so annoyed when an R8 V10+ turns up in the garage as a weekend toy later this year
Screw selling it! Stick some decent internals in and a bigger turbo on there! I'm using the browny points gained for selling the van, so that she's not so annoyed when an R8 V10+ turns up in the garage as a weekend toy later this year
graeme4130 said:
The wife's pressuring me to sell this now, so if anyone's interested, drop me a mail
I'm using the browny points gained for selling the van, so that she's not so annoyed when an R8 V10+ turns up in the garage as a weekend toy later this year
Get a well specced V10 manual instead! Will be one of the last manual supercars, plus you already have your automatic estate I'm using the browny points gained for selling the van, so that she's not so annoyed when an R8 V10+ turns up in the garage as a weekend toy later this year
Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff