Nick6425 Zafira GSi Progress Thread

[Nick6425]

So it's about time I started my own progress thread so here goes !

I used to run about in a 1.8 20V turbo Seat Alahmabra until I saw the car in the pictures below...

The day I bought the car...

2004 04 Plate Zafira 2.0 GSi Turbo…
91,000 Miles
Full Police Service History
Half Leather Seats plus all usual GSi spec



Got the car home and pretty much left it as but I did have to get the windscreen replaced as the original one was really badly pitted with stone chips etc, other than that it was just a case of enjoying the standard power and looks etc until I realised that it was starting to use a lot of oil and was starting to smoke on boost and then I noticed it was also smoking on idle too, I then decided to investigate to find that the wastegate had cracked on the turbo so the entire thing came off to be replaced with a brand new Courtenay supplied VXR turbo. This rectified the problem as Courtenay supplied the turbo with the actuator already set and ready to bolt straight onto the Z20LET engine.

Next up was a custom made boost pipe made from a stainless exhaust pipe section by a mate at a Powerflow dealer in Redditch, this was fitted using blue silicone joints and we also replaced the standard air box with a RAMAIR cone filter...



Next up came a Courtenay supplied pre cat decat pipe, this was fitted by me and that made a surprising difference, Courtenay claim an 8-10bhp increase in power and I noticed a small power increase but the power delivery was the biggest difference, the car seemed instantly more driveable with a smoother more linear power delivery.

The standard metal crossover pipe was next to go under the modding hammer ! I replaced the crossover pipe and rearranged the standard intake pipes to create a direct feed straight to the turbo, this increased the noise ten fold and the throttle response also greatly improved.

I then contacted VIEZU Technologies in Bromsgrove to enquire about having the car remapped to make the most of the new goodies, they said that they hadn’t got a specific map to suit the Zaf GSi but they had an Astra GSi map that they could modify once it was put on the car, that way any adjustments could be made live while the car was still on the rollers.

The map cost £295 and this included 8 runs to make changes and adjustments to the map and get it right, the power recorded 299bhp at the flywheel on the rollers with all of the power coming in at once only to drop off at high revs, further changes were made to alter the power band so that the power curve was more flat and linear hence a smoother power curve which meant much more driveable with a good delivery all throughout the range whilst on boost.



2 weeks passed and the grin never wore off in that time but then I decided I needed the car to get rid of its gases a bit better so a trip to MIJ Performance in Walsall was booked and I toddled off over there to have a 2.5” full cat back stainless exhaust system made and fitted, which sounded immense when they pulled it out of the bay, it was epic for the first couple of days until it coked up then it was TOO loud, I then booked it back in to have a centre box fitted to quiten it down, this cost £70 extra and made a big difference meaning it was driveable without waking the dead

Bit of a stupid way of tuning a car but i then decided i wanted a front mount so got in touch with TX Autosport and managed to score myself an absolute billy bargain!!! the larger of their 2 front mounts with all pipe work and 2 x slimline fans for £220.
As i didn't really have any intention of joining any clubs at the time i didn't take any pics of the fitting process but it took me about 2 hours by myself and i must not have done a bad job as to this date i have still not blown a boost pipe off
Here is a pic when i had finished putting it all back together....




I went a while then without making any changes as to me at the time it was just a car. It rarely got washed and I ran it on cheap fuel.

Soon enough the 100,000 mile mark came and as i couldn't recover the entire service history from the police force so I had no idea when the cam belt was last done so thought better be safe than sorry and had the cambelt, tensioners and water pump done.

2 weeks later on the way to wales my water pump failed and i had to get towed to a garage in wales to have the whole lot done again

I then became a member of wmvx and finally realised that i should actually start taking some pride in my car so it then turned into an expensive couple of months

Not too long after joining somebody decided that they wanted to open there door into mine and but 2 nice dents on my car.
They denied all knowledge even though I recovered the footage from the CCTV at my moms pub where it happened. After trying for weeks to get something done about the damage i just gave up and was settled on the fact that i wasn't going to get any money out of them to get it repaired .



After that my first aim was to get rid of the only red pipe in my engine bay but never realised that the one pipe alone was so hard to source so that was put on hold for a while.

Eventually i managed to find an SFS silicone hose dealer reasonably local to me and he was doing a deal on the exact hose i needed with a blue Collins dump valve and blue vacuum pipe for £95.
Considering Courtenay Sport was charging £110 just for the hose I got in my car and went straight to the blokes house to collect it.

I then had quite a surprise as after mentioning to my missus that Chris was selling his BK999's she got in touch with him and actually bought them for me


After the wheels were on i wanted to concentrate more on tidying up the car and just making some subtle mods and also trying to get the damage repaired that was made by the inconsiderate A**hole.
Managed to get in touch with an old friend of mine who does car bodywork and spraying and he gave me a quote that was less than half of what all the garages i had contacted had said. After going to see him we decided that after looking over the car and finding odd scratches and dents that he was going to fully prep and respray the bonnet, both front wings, the front bumper, Drivers door, rear drivers side door, rear quarter panel and then blend half way into the rear bumper and tailgate. He quoted me £350 for the lot and told me it would take around 2 days to complete.

So the following Monday I dropped the car off to him and let him crack on. I went to see him on Tuesday to see how he was getting on and all seemed to be well at that point, pretty much all the prep work was done and was nearly ready for paint.





He told me that it was going to be painted on Wednesday so i would have plenty of time before TRAX 2012 that was on the Sunday.
Called him on the Wednesday and he said that there had been a problem and he was having to do some more prep work and it was now going to be sprayed on Thursday. Phoned him on Thursday to discover that it wasn't being painted then either, Panic then started to kick in...
Friday came and also went without any contact what so ever
I then decided on Saturday that i was just going to turn up there and see what was going on. To my horror i arrived to see my car just sat in the workshop exactly the same as it was on Tuesday. I WENT MAD!!!!!
I had to leave to join the TRAX convoy at 5am the following morning and my car hadn't even been sprayed so then i decided that i wasn't leaving the place until it was finished! After about 3 hours of constant harassment he finally moved my car into the booth and started spraying.



The car came out of the booth at around 7pm on Saturday meaning i had 9 hours to put it all back together and also for him to mop it.
This seemed easily achievable until at about 9:00pm he told me that the bonnet had rejected the paint and would have to be completely rubbed down and sprayed again. So off he went to do that whilst i rebuilt by car.
Everything was back together and the car mopped and ready to go at 03:30am on the morning of TRAX
Only once the sun had come out and i had chance to have a good look around the car did i realise how much of a horrendous job he had actually done, Good job i didn't pay him in full!!

A few weeks went by and after taking the car back to him to have a look at he told me that once i paid him what i owed him he would completely re-do all of it for free, i was very tempted by this offer but after thinking about the terrible job he did before i just didn't want him touching my car again.
Then came a chat with the one and only Mr Gair who decided that we should try working on the poor areas with some wet sanding and the DA polisher.


This worked perfectly and got rid of all of the dodgy lacquer spots.

Finally then i decided that it was time to crack on with tidying up my engine bay and sorting some new lights out.
First of all i fitted some LED sidelights and fogs.

Then i fitted some LED number plate lights.


Managed to score myself a 200 cell sports cat apparently for the Zafira GSi but after attempting to fit it discovered that the fitment was terrible.
Took it to a friend of mine who is a Powerflow dealer and he cut it into 5 pieces and completely re-welded it to make it a perfect fit for a grand total of........£20

I then ordered myself a courtenay sport 1 piece direct intake hose..... picture to follow lower down

After seeing all the hype about Ceramishield once again the legend that is Mr Gair offered to Ceramishield my car for me so off i went to his where him and jay worked their magic whilst i fitted my freshly painted rocker cover and my ITG filter that i got for less than cost price .





Then came my led dash conversion that was started my Rob and then finished off by Ben


After getting annoyed by a knocking noise i took my car to a friends garage to discover that i needed new tie rods and track rod ends. Also discovered that i had a slight leak on my exhaust manifold so after ringing around for prices for replacement parts Matt managed to source the parts at an insanely cheap price and then also volunteered his services to help fit them so off i went to Stourbridge for a good old fix it day.

Whilst there we managed to achieve....... New tie rods and track rod ends, new exhaust manifold gasket and then we had some fun with some vinyl and wrapped my plug cover, breather box, centre console and gear stick surround in brushed aluminium and then my roof in gloss black.








Even smiffy got stuck in!!!!!


This pretty much brings us to the past 2 weeks in which i have managed to buy and fit......
Courtenay Sport exhaust heat shield and new water return pipe.


New oil filler cap Partly wrapped in brushed aluminium to match with the freshly wrapped plug cover and breather box, also done by Chris


6K HID kit fitted by Mr Gair


Ripspeed turbo timer also fitted by Mr Gair


Tx autosport water hose kit which was completely wrong but is currently being sorted by TX.


Painted my brake calipers blue.



Painted my fuse covers arden blue.


Fitted my Silvatech indicator bulbs to remove the horrible orange sections in headlights and rear lights.



That pretty much brings me up to to date.
The gloss black roof has currently been removed but should be done again within the next week along with my new shark fin aerial.
Have ordered a set of Team Heko wind deflectors which should arrive this coming week.

Its taken me around 2 and a half years to get the car to where it is now and it still makes me smile every time i drive it.

I want to thank every single person that has helped me along the way with the car. WMVX really is a family and im proud to be a member

All comments and criticisms are welcome

Lastly i just wanted to add 2 pics to show a before and after of my engine bay

[Nick6425]

Reserved for future mods!!

[Nick6425]

Reserved for future mods!

[Gairo]

Fantastic progress thread mate

[conrad222]

great progress thread matey

[benz]

Great progress nick the car looks loads different from the start

[Mark]

Such a clean example of a zaf

[Nick6425]

Thanks guys thought it was about time I got a progress thread up lol

[Gairo]

Thanks guys thought it was about time I got a progress thread up lol

I've been telling you this for how long ?

[habi]

I love that engine bay , I need to get some blue in mine