usastra.com

Over the past month, I've been working pretty hard on laying the ground-work for getting some engine upgrade parts worked out for the Astra. Most of them are pretty near being available for sale, and I'll keep everyone updated when they become available.

To wet your appetites however, here's a list of what's coming down the pipeline:

Camshaft
I was working on getting a camshaft regrind package put together, but the lifters were an odd design that most companies didn't want to touch. As such, I'm going to switch to having a new cam made from a core, with greater lift but hopefully not too much more duration. This will take the longest time to bring to market.
Gains: Should be around 8-10% gain in top end power.

Manifolds
Stock exhaust manifold isn't too bad, but the intake side is pretty restrictive as far as making power goes. I'm using the Dbilas manifold now, and I'm working with them to get a group buy on the manifolds, so that more people can get in on it, with far lower costs than what I had to pay to get it  ;)
Gains: Gains around 15hp over the stock manifold

Tuning
I have yet to find a single computer (outside of the dealership) that can communicate with our SimTec 75 ECU. As such, I'm currently running a Unichip piggyback tuning system as an alternative. I'm going to have the wiring harness needed for the Astra made, so that I can offer it to other owners as well. You'll, however, need to buy the actual Unichip computer on your own, and have a shop tune it for you. But since no other software can do it yet, this is the only, and pretty damn good option, as it keeps your ECU stock in case the dealer needs to connect to it.
Gains: On a stock engine, you'd gain around 10hp, with the manifold you'd gain around 15hp.

Pullies
I'm currently prototyping a crankshaft and alternator pulley out of 6061 aluminum, that should weigh about 1/3 the weight of the stock units. This will reduce the rotational mass of the drive system, and reduce parasitic loss to the engine.
Gains: Won't strictly increase power, but will free up power that you were loosing by making the system more efficient. Gains should be around 4-5hp

Hopefully I'll be able to offer these products soon, and many of you will get a few more ponies out of your Astras  :)

Sounds awesome, but have just 1 question. What about an exhaust? I know getting one from Piper in the UK is a b***h with the shipping costs, and people on SaturnFans are going custom? Any chance you know of a bolt-on exhaust that isn't ridiculously pricey?

Going custom is almost always easier for this car. I haven't found any bolt-ons available here in the US, as of yet.

good stuff.

Thanks for the updates.

That's what I had figured, but didn't think it would hurt to ask.

I am asking a few companies about a carbon fiber hood, but they all respond to me like I have two heads on my neck. A nice ram-air hood setup and some weight savings on the front end would be very beneficial.

I agree. I went with a lightweight battery, saves 15-20lbs in one corner at least.

What sort of Battery would that be?  One of the Cell Design one's like the Optima?

an Odyssey dry cell battery

Still patiently waiting.

I am a bit concerned about the price to hp improvement ratio. I mean, I'm not to keen on spending $2K to get 30 hp. I think I could do $2K for 60 hp however. Is that too optimistic?

Any word yet on price and hp improvement?

why hasn't anyone tried nitrous on these cars? If you are worried about hp to cost ratio then that is the ultimate mod. The only thing you would have to research or find is how big of a shot can I safetly do without frying the pistons or starving the fuel system.

Since I know nothing of nitrous and you seem very knowledgeable how about researching it for us.

Thanks

If you enjoy feeling entertaining acceleration everytime you leave a light or need to pass someone than Nitrous is pretty silly. Especially on such a low hp car.

Nitrous is good for a guy that has already taken the easy gains (as in bought a faster car to begin with and modified it) and now needs to get another otherwise very expensive .5 second off his quarter mile time.

But for a very slow street car it's about as useful as tits on a hog.

Clarkson,

Is there any reason why you haven't tried to create a turbo setup?  I would think besides the tuning part it would be pretty simple. I dont really know much. But would it be possible to use exhaust manifold from a vxr/opc to mount the vxr or similar turbo to? (Our the motors similarly laid out?) Maybe you are already in the progress. We probably wouldnt be able to run much boost at all due to internals but it would be a start.

Since I'm still exploring this site...

Has anyone done a direct engine/trans swap to the larger European engines?

Any of them, I wouldn't care. But I was just curious.

This car begs for at least 2.0 and I can feel that she wants to do it too.

Agreed... I think a turbo option would be easily found for our 1.8l considering everything else that is out there.  Has anyone looked into that?

From what I can understand, a turbo would not be a good option for this engine.  It has high compression and apparently can't handle more than 2-3 psi without damage to the internals.  Not to mention if you are able to get boost, you would have to upgrade your clutch/tranny.  There are some people looking into other options with astra owners in mind.  Look over at www.saturnfans.com .  Someone is making a custom exhaust for us to look into and another has found a shop in arizona for tuning options.  It's only a matter of time till we have options available.  Thank You Mr. Clarkson for you research and time to get some stuff available :).

-Jess

Has this completely fizzled out?

All companies gave up on wanting to help....so yes

That is too bad.  It would be a great market for an entry level product designer.  Not enough business opportunity for the bigger companies I guess.

Mr. Clarkson, are you still running with the UNI chipset attached? Did you get a shop to do that? and how much did it cost?(roughly)