Ex works Vauxhall Astra BTCC track car
Discussion
Possibly the most crazy purchase I’ve ever made, but I have just bought a BTCC Astra sport Hatch (2005-06 season). It was raced a few times (Muller & Kizilirmak) but it was used mainly as a 2 seat demo car by 888 engineering. After its racing career it was used by Vauxhall as a show car to celebrate 100 BTCC race wins, they have never attempted to start it!! As far as I can tell the car is complete and should run after renewing & flushing all fluids. Bonus – it has 2 seats & a silenced exhaust.
I can’t get any info from 888 or Sodemo (engine supplier) so any advice (mechanical or driving) before I press the starter button welcomed 
Cheers!
I can’t get any info from 888 or Sodemo (engine supplier) so any advice (mechanical or driving) before I press the starter button welcomed 
Cheers!
Thanks guys for the positive reaction, real heart v's head stuff for me so that helps loads!
Good thinking I'll get a 4 wheel alignment done to obtain current chassis settings prior to suspension strip down.
It's a chain driven engine so no belt issues but as based on Z22SE engine (chain muncher) probably worth doing
Bought the car from our heritage dept, I work for VX.
And yes thread to come with build...
Cheers
Good thinking I'll get a 4 wheel alignment done to obtain current chassis settings prior to suspension strip down.
It's a chain driven engine so no belt issues but as based on Z22SE engine (chain muncher) probably worth doing
Bought the car from our heritage dept, I work for VX.
And yes thread to come with build...
Cheers
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CABC said:
wow, this will be one swift track car! What are your plans for it?
Get it running for next year then drive as many BTCC tracks as possible + trip to Spa in spring.Jury is out about keeping current powertrain - could be impractical for a track day car. Need to learn more about warm up and starting procedure.
Mickey - thanks again for your call last night, really useful stuff!!!
Firstly a big thanks to all who have offered me their time and input - what a great community this is!!!
Spent most of yesterday getting to know the car, cleaning it and compiling quite a large shopping list!
The Hawker SBS 30 battery was completely dead (expected), no voltage what so ever so got another on order. In the meantime hooked up a car battery and everything powers up.
Pumped all the old fuel out via the HP pump - added some fresh 99 octane just to flush. Unsure about what fuel it should really run on guess 102?
Hand cranked engine - nice and easy.
Cold compression test on engine via starter with all plugs removed - no compression on cyl#2....yikes!!! Removed cam cover and found exhaust valves not fully closing. Scope down bore and no sign of impact with piston. Fully opened the valves and squirted some WD down stem and now its free and making good compression - happy days :-)
Need to get some fresh oil before firing the engine, Mickey has suggested 10W50 racing so I'll try that unless anybody knows better?
Looking at the 888 console there's a switch position for 'prime'. You have to hold this (unlike the ignition position that fixes in the toggle position) any thoughts on how long to prime it?
I'll post up some new photos after breakfast....
Spent most of yesterday getting to know the car, cleaning it and compiling quite a large shopping list!
The Hawker SBS 30 battery was completely dead (expected), no voltage what so ever so got another on order. In the meantime hooked up a car battery and everything powers up.
Pumped all the old fuel out via the HP pump - added some fresh 99 octane just to flush. Unsure about what fuel it should really run on guess 102?
Hand cranked engine - nice and easy.
Cold compression test on engine via starter with all plugs removed - no compression on cyl#2....yikes!!! Removed cam cover and found exhaust valves not fully closing. Scope down bore and no sign of impact with piston. Fully opened the valves and squirted some WD down stem and now its free and making good compression - happy days :-)
Need to get some fresh oil before firing the engine, Mickey has suggested 10W50 racing so I'll try that unless anybody knows better?
Looking at the 888 console there's a switch position for 'prime'. You have to hold this (unlike the ignition position that fixes in the toggle position) any thoughts on how long to prime it?
I'll post up some new photos after breakfast....
fergus said:
I'd try and get some more advice on the engine spec prior to starting it. It may require a water pre-heater prior to starting? Is there any evidence of unions to plug in a water heater?
Is it dry sumped? Is there evidence of any pads (heaters) stuck to the side of the dry sump tank?
What ECU is fitted? Do you have access to the maps? Worth speaking to who ever did the mapping to see what octane fuel the ignition is mapped for. I have for it to be mapped for 102 and you run on 99....
It's also worth reiterating that both the water AND oil need to be warmed up prior to gunning this type of engine. Depending upon what gearbox is fitted (?) you may want to also get the car on stands and get the gearbox up to temp. We used to do this with the Sadev sequential boxes back in the day - removed the wheels as this take a lot of stress out of everything.
You could also consider a slave battery for starting to allow you to run a small on-car battery.
Regarding priming, I would just switch on the fuel pump/s (there may be two, in case one fails) and let it/them prime until you can hear it/them stop. This suggests the fuel is up to the regulated pressure.
No pre-heat connectors on either coolant or oil and it's wet sumped - all looking promising so far.Is it dry sumped? Is there evidence of any pads (heaters) stuck to the side of the dry sump tank?
What ECU is fitted? Do you have access to the maps? Worth speaking to who ever did the mapping to see what octane fuel the ignition is mapped for. I have for it to be mapped for 102 and you run on 99....
It's also worth reiterating that both the water AND oil need to be warmed up prior to gunning this type of engine. Depending upon what gearbox is fitted (?) you may want to also get the car on stands and get the gearbox up to temp. We used to do this with the Sadev sequential boxes back in the day - removed the wheels as this take a lot of stress out of everything.
You could also consider a slave battery for starting to allow you to run a small on-car battery.
Regarding priming, I would just switch on the fuel pump/s (there may be two, in case one fails) and let it/them prime until you can hear it/them stop. This suggests the fuel is up to the regulated pressure.
Oil level is very high on the dipstick - I guess for storage? Will drop the old oil (looks very viscous & yellow) when I get some new.
I've found out that some of the Sodemo engineers now work for Swindon so will try them for info. too.
Need to get a cable for the ECU (EFI) hopefully 888 haven't password protected it.
Yep good advice regarding warm up and gunning it, will also probably need to check oil pressure too.
It's a Xtrac 406 sequential box fitted, looks like clutch is only used for pulling away - all gear changes are 'crashed'
Bought a male Anderson connector to hook up to the female 1 in the car to run an additional battery for cold crank & warm up.
Cheers!
grumpy52 said:
The Nissan we ran was very well set up and easy to use .
It looked like a Primera but under the skin was very different from any road car .
Starting was straightforward if you are used to race cars .
Switch on let the pumps prime up hit the starter , runs like a bag of nails in a blender until it gets some heat in it .
The engine is a Nissan block but is further back in the chassis and much lower .The inlet /injection is at the front as opposed to the road car being against the bulkhead. The front grill and underside of the bonnet all forms part of the inlet for the injection .
Three on board settings for the ECU ,sprint ,distance and wet .
Brake bias control and anti roll.bar control .
Twin multi pot brake calipers on the front and single multi pots on the rear .
Adjustable everything on the suspension . Onboard air jacks and race fuel tank with quick fill churn type safety connection.
Very little happens below 5500 rpm and a 6 speed sequence box only needing the clutch to get off the line . Seperate reverse lever for the box .
Brakes feel like they have seized until they are warmed then you will.realise you haven't tightened the seat belts enough .The tyres need working and heat to be effective.
They are race machines and only work if you treat them properly,they only look like normal cars .
You get used to the acceleration pretty quickly , the brakes ,grip and corner speeds takes a lot longer to get used to .
You will need to replace the tyres as they will either have gone rock hard or will shed pretty quickly . Second hand will be adequate for the first while of running it . No point using new expensive rubber until you know how to cycle them to optimise the performance.
You might have problems with noise at track days , they tend to run to a lower limit than race days and touring cars were never quiet!
Great insight right there cheers! Reassuring and scary It looked like a Primera but under the skin was very different from any road car .
Starting was straightforward if you are used to race cars .
Switch on let the pumps prime up hit the starter , runs like a bag of nails in a blender until it gets some heat in it .
The engine is a Nissan block but is further back in the chassis and much lower .The inlet /injection is at the front as opposed to the road car being against the bulkhead. The front grill and underside of the bonnet all forms part of the inlet for the injection .
Three on board settings for the ECU ,sprint ,distance and wet .
Brake bias control and anti roll.bar control .
Twin multi pot brake calipers on the front and single multi pots on the rear .
Adjustable everything on the suspension . Onboard air jacks and race fuel tank with quick fill churn type safety connection.
Very little happens below 5500 rpm and a 6 speed sequence box only needing the clutch to get off the line . Seperate reverse lever for the box .
Brakes feel like they have seized until they are warmed then you will.realise you haven't tightened the seat belts enough .The tyres need working and heat to be effective.
They are race machines and only work if you treat them properly,they only look like normal cars .
You get used to the acceleration pretty quickly , the brakes ,grip and corner speeds takes a lot longer to get used to .
You will need to replace the tyres as they will either have gone rock hard or will shed pretty quickly . Second hand will be adequate for the first while of running it . No point using new expensive rubber until you know how to cycle them to optimise the performance.
You might have problems with noise at track days , they tend to run to a lower limit than race days and touring cars were never quiet!
Edited by grumpy52 on Monday 31st July 16:06
Result!!!....
Got it started yesterday evening, cranked it for a while on the starter to get the fresh oil circulating, primed for approx. 3secs with the fuel pumps running then hit the starter button and she fired up straight away! Needed to hold the throttle slightly open otherwise it would stall but as it progressed through the warm up it seemed more keen on idling , seems to be running a map to blip the throttle (1k – 3.5k rpm).
We restarted it a few times just off the racing battery (initially we were running an aux battery too) and it seemed happy to start each time however this may have been an error, the alternator started to smoke quite badly and now appears to be shorted out – I guess it was overloading trying to charge the somewhat depleted battery from too many starts . Not the end of the world and lesson learnt!
Here’s a vid of the car running….
https://youtu.be/yJGmhCo96pc
Got it started yesterday evening, cranked it for a while on the starter to get the fresh oil circulating, primed for approx. 3secs with the fuel pumps running then hit the starter button and she fired up straight away! Needed to hold the throttle slightly open otherwise it would stall but as it progressed through the warm up it seemed more keen on idling , seems to be running a map to blip the throttle (1k – 3.5k rpm).
We restarted it a few times just off the racing battery (initially we were running an aux battery too) and it seemed happy to start each time however this may have been an error, the alternator started to smoke quite badly and now appears to be shorted out – I guess it was overloading trying to charge the somewhat depleted battery from too many starts . Not the end of the world and lesson learnt!
Here’s a vid of the car running….
https://youtu.be/yJGmhCo96pc
PDStill said:
BlackRat. I would be interested in talking to you regarding your new toy. Not sure if you could PM me,. I have just joined ths forum So I am limite in what I can do on here.. I run the Touring Car Register site.
Hi there, can't PM you, I think there's a setting you need to change in your profile so I will send you an email via the address on your site. Gassing Station | Track Days | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff