Have you thought about fitting a live switch so if your in traffic you can turn it on as you wish
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Astra mk3 Arctic 3.0 V6 + F28 with Quaife
- Thread starter harvey
- Start date
harvey
Club Member
I'll let the fan switch sort it as I don't want to add aftermarket switches to the interior.
It cost me less than £15 for both switches so you can see how much the 'tuners' make selling these for £30 a pop.
It cost me less than £15 for both switches so you can see how much the 'tuners' make selling these for £30 a pop.
Nice. I must admit I'm quite used to having a manual fan now, a main advantage is I can flick it on the moment I know I'm going to be sat in traffic or whatever.
harvey
Club Member
Removed the OE fan switch which is a 100/95 and dug out the Febi replacement 95/90 as I thought the QH 88/83 was a little too extreme as the fan would be on just about all the time.
New switch installed.
Found a perfect plug in my Vauxhall wiring spares to make an adaptor loom so no chopping of the existing car wiring.
All done and car ran up to temp. Dash temp indicates just over 90 when it kicks in and just below when it goes off. That should help keep the temps down a little in traffic.
New switch installed.
Found a perfect plug in my Vauxhall wiring spares to make an adaptor loom so no chopping of the existing car wiring.
All done and car ran up to temp. Dash temp indicates just over 90 when it kicks in and just below when it goes off. That should help keep the temps down a little in traffic.
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Nice little touch. Should definitely help keeps temps down.
harvey
Club Member
The mk3 is current SORN and due out again in a few months. Just as I was hibernating it last year the darn ABS warning light pinged on and fault codes indicated it was the front left sensor. I’d used some original Astra mk2 sensors which were 27 years old so bought a pair of brand new generic brand sensors and replaced both last week. The light is now out and fault codes cleared.
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Nice easy fix. Any plans for this year?
Love this car, infact I love all of them, keep up with your 200 on VVOC, well did before the forum died, I think your friend is on retro rides with the mk2 Astra rally car as well?
Nice easy fix, hopefully see it in the flesh this year
Nice easy fix, hopefully see it in the flesh this year
harvey
Club Member
Thanks for the comments guys. No plans as such mod wise as it's about there. Just use & abuse it this year with a few shows & meets thrown into the mix. I do want to get it back on the rollers at some point now is been driven a little more & the rear bank timing has been tweaked.
Quite a good position to be in, enjoy it
harvey
Club Member
Dug the motor out from its Winter sabbatical to have a new alarm installed on Thursday. The existing one was no longer on the Thatcham Cat 1 approved list and the siren had died with no replacements available. I had a local mobile installer complete the work and he did a top notch job so recommend Joe at Top Marque Vehicle Security to anyone. He also does house and business alarms as well as being a fully qualified electrician.
I was going through my spares looking for something else then came across a fuel filler cap & had one of those “I think I need this” moments remembering the one on the mk3 was pants. I lost the original mk3 cap after leaving it stuck on one of those magnets at a filling station years ago so grabbed one from the scrappers to replace it. I’d obviously got a better one at a later date but had forgot about it.
Current mk3 cap on the right and one I found I had on the left looking much better.
I noticed the plastic body was larger and easier to grip on the old manky one so swapped them over as they simply clip on. The OE supplier must have revised the design at some point.
Job done, much happier with a shiny cap. Yes I know nobody will see it but I know it’s now sorted.
I was going through my spares looking for something else then came across a fuel filler cap & had one of those “I think I need this” moments remembering the one on the mk3 was pants. I lost the original mk3 cap after leaving it stuck on one of those magnets at a filling station years ago so grabbed one from the scrappers to replace it. I’d obviously got a better one at a later date but had forgot about it.
Current mk3 cap on the right and one I found I had on the left looking much better.
I noticed the plastic body was larger and easier to grip on the old manky one so swapped them over as they simply clip on. The OE supplier must have revised the design at some point.
Job done, much happier with a shiny cap. Yes I know nobody will see it but I know it’s now sorted.
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Nice job. Little touches eh lol.
harvey
Club Member
I’ve never been happy with the front and rear door side trims and no matter what I did they kept lifting at the ends. Enough was enough and it took some finding but I’ve managed to obtain brand new genuine trims which have been dropped off with my paint man.
Got a new aircon pressure switch to be installed as it’s weeping from the main body of the existing one.
Got a new aircon pressure switch to be installed as it’s weeping from the main body of the existing one.
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harvey
Club Member
Why thank you for the kind words. I do try & do things right first time but it doesn't always plan out that way, such is life.
harvey
Club Member
When the alarm was replaced it came with a stupidly bright blue LED which looked completely out of place in a 20 year old car.
I’ve new replaced it with a more subtle green version in keeping with the vehicle colour.
I had a suspicion the exhaust was blowing as the paste I had used had dried, cracked and fell off yet for the second time. To try a more permanent fix I’ve used high temp silicone, the same stuff used when building engines. First impressions are its working but time will tell so I’ll keep an ear out for it blowing.
You can see the original A/C hi/low pressure switch on the left and the switch body moulding on the underside where it’s weeping from. I’ll be getting the A/C man in soon so it can be replaced with the brand new switch that I’ve bought.
I’ve new replaced it with a more subtle green version in keeping with the vehicle colour.
I had a suspicion the exhaust was blowing as the paste I had used had dried, cracked and fell off yet for the second time. To try a more permanent fix I’ve used high temp silicone, the same stuff used when building engines. First impressions are its working but time will tell so I’ll keep an ear out for it blowing.
You can see the original A/C hi/low pressure switch on the left and the switch body moulding on the underside where it’s weeping from. I’ll be getting the A/C man in soon so it can be replaced with the brand new switch that I’ve bought.
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harvey
Club Member
The original door trims haven’t been playing nicely as the trim tape I used wasn’t up to the job and has caused me a few headaches with the ends bending back and lifting.
I had a call from my paint man at Fleets Ahead saying the new door trims were ready for collection so popped in on Friday. As always he’s done a cracking job and comes highly recommend.
The most important part is they all have the original mounting tape.
Ben at Fleets Ahead also loaned me some commercial grade mounting tape made by KENT so I could pop extra at the ends of the trims. I really hope that’ll stop them lifting.
Old trims removed, surface cleaned and prepped ready for install.
Gentle heat applied to door and tape prior to a very firm press when in position as its pressure activated mounting tape. All fingers crossed that does the trick and they don’t lift again. Failing that I’ll get them bonded on with Tiger Seal or similar.
I had a call from my paint man at Fleets Ahead saying the new door trims were ready for collection so popped in on Friday. As always he’s done a cracking job and comes highly recommend.
The most important part is they all have the original mounting tape.
Ben at Fleets Ahead also loaned me some commercial grade mounting tape made by KENT so I could pop extra at the ends of the trims. I really hope that’ll stop them lifting.
Old trims removed, surface cleaned and prepped ready for install.
Gentle heat applied to door and tape prior to a very firm press when in position as its pressure activated mounting tape. All fingers crossed that does the trick and they don’t lift again. Failing that I’ll get them bonded on with Tiger Seal or similar.
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I've removed my door mouldings for paintwork and was recommended the Kent tape for refitting so I'll be interested to see how it performs.
Are your mouldings the same colour as the tailgate panel? They look great.
Are your mouldings the same colour as the tailgate panel? They look great.
harvey
Club Member
I used Granville RTV silicone (rated to 250°C) as it's what I had in stock as I use it on sumps, thermostat housings, water pumps, rocker covers etc. More info on the Granville site here where I also noted they make a higher spec XHT silicone (rated to 343°C ) so if the RTV gives up I'll try the XHT.
First time I've tried silicone on exhaust joins but from what I researched it's better for sleeved joins where paste is better for flanged joins. I left the silicone to set for 24h but it still smoked and stunk for 5 minutes when I brought the car up to temp so if you use it make sure it's well vented.
The side trims are Vauxhall Technical Grey paint code L177. The rear panel has also been painted to match as have the bumper tops, grill mesh and wheels
