Goodbye Starion

I finally said goodbye to my much detested Starion today, as it was pushed off the driveway and towed off down the road.
Here is it's new home!

It is snuggled up next to the space frame of my kit car, which I had to reposition, on my own, after measurements revealed the Starion wouldn't fit in where it was. I'll have to push it in and out to work on it, and I have to put the fuel tank back in.

The MGF has now moved out of the garage and taken it's place on the driveway. I now have an aim of within two weeks to get the car on the road, it needs for the MOT:

• Two new balljoints (lower/upper)
• Offside sill totally replacing
• Handbrake cable sorting
• Bonnet cable replacing (jams open bonnet, and can't open well enough)
• Brake pipes replacing
  

It needs purely because it needs it:

• Rear vinyl screen replacing
• Seized and corroded nuts removing, and red oxide/general rust prevention
  
• Oil change
• Wing
  

However, I got lucky and found a green MGF in a scrappy near me, and plundered for a rear screen, leather gearknob, and gaiters (all for 20 quid - screens are £80 second hand on ebay). These were put on quite easily (although the rear screen needed rivets removing and new ones put in). The sill is in a terrible mess, you can put your finger through it on the whole length. I have purchased two cut off sills on ebay for £30 (including £12 p&p). I need to retrieve an old ebay purchase of a wing, of which the seller just couldn't be bothered contacting me over courier. I am currently bidding on a Snap On Mig-welder, so I will be able to do a few patchwork on the underside and sills etc.

Back to the Starion, I have a new AFM unit (with pipes and surround etc)., that might cure it, but once again, it probably won't (although it was the only thing that was left on when I changed the engine). I have an image of sticking it in (with everything connected up), and then starting it and it purring like a kitten. I'll kick myself (literally), but I doubt it will.


I was driving home t'other day from work feeling ill, and I exited my Astra to go in the shop, and my door departed from the body. One of the pins came out, and it didn't make me feel better as I wrestled with it to stop it ripping off under the weight. When I got home, I resorted to engine crane (these things weigh a tonne - I've done this by hand too many times), which made it a bit easier. It has been bumping the bottom of the sill when you close, and I realised the door shut wasn't positioned properly, so moving this had the door closing with a nice clunk.

I will update the blog more regularly as I do up the MGF and have a better place for the Starion. However, the nights are finally in (clocks gone forward, and it's dark by 5pm now :¬( ), so I can't do any work in the week at all.

Slow Progress

Here's a compressed 10 second video summary of my month's activities on the Starion!

I haven't been looking at the car much, apart from 'looking' at it with a face of complete disgust and rage, every time I drive or walk past, with grinding teeth, etc. Fortunately, I haven't put a match to it - I did, however, smack the oil cap with a pair of mole grips. The cap disintegrated, and I spent 1/2 an hour getting the bits from inside. I also scratched the wing, as a semi accident. I didn't attempt to -avoid- scratching it, it just happened. It's not deep anyway. I can't help but think if I'd just bought that ECU from a bloke in Ireland on ebay and a new injector, I'd be driving this car. Having it running and -driving it- feels like a vague dream ... It's a very different car now, I don't look at it as a mode of transportation, more as some kind of disease, like a tumour or something. At least tumours don't take £1,500 of you, and lacerate your hands to shreds!

As a strange contradiction, I have put my Starion keys, BACK ON MY KEYRING. I keep losing them, and this adds to my fury, prior to wondering what the hell is (still) wrong with the stupid thing. Four months later, and it still sits on my parent's drive.

The past month has been spent occasionally starting the car and to be honest, getting the same results.
I have had a few interesting incidents, where I put the spark plugs on the wrong way (I was wondering why fire was coming out of the air filter pipe). I corrected this, and it's running rough.
I think a good mechanic with a bit of time could sort this out now. I'm not sure at all what is wrong with it. I changed the Knock Sensor when I received a load of bits from Australia, and haven't changed it back, maybe I should. I'm 99% certain it has nothing to do with that, but I've run out of ideas. I have set the whole thing back to standard. No dump valve or boost gauge. It's -how it was- when I bought it (only in worse condition).

I have removed the fuel tank and have put the fuel pump in the engine bay, bypassing the fuel lines and the filter (of which I have bought another of - over 100 pounds on fuel filters in three months). It's now sucking fuel out of a coke bottle. It sucks a lot. I'm not sure where it's going, but it glugs a whole 550ml bottle in seconds. Must be in the (short) fuel line ... until I went round the back, and saw it was pissing the whole lot out of the return pipe onto the floor! Wah!! The piccie to the left shows the coke bottle with rags around it (to stop it moving with the engine - and to create some kind of molotov-cocktail-esque blazing conflagration when it all goes wrong)
I'm not sure I want to put the tank back, so might actually put a 20l race tank in there, or a custom one made from aluminium with a Bosch pump.

At the moment the car isn't idling at all.

The car is actually for sale! If you want a nice clean Starion that doesn't work!

Can you see the wire running from the fuel pump to the connector in the back along the side?

My Astra sucessfully made another journey to London and back. I think the pump is on it's way out, as it's not doing well under load - or it could be spark plugs, as we have violent popping and flames from the exhaust over 4000 rpm - not good. Typically, it doesn't seem to bother it either way. :) I have so far completed over 70k miles in it!