Completely changing the suspension and brakes with oversized parts on this little car can make for a very fun ride and good companion to a stronger engine. In front stock brake discs was 12.7mm thick and 236mm in diameter, and in a sorry state, also the strut towers needs a complete replacement, with a tiered old dead shock absorber.
Going through the struts, hubs come off drilling studs in through the back against the towers, and the drive shaft ut using some metal rods to lock the rotation, the wheel bearings are sized behind rusted springs. Not an easy time, but with a healthy dose of heat from a torch, cold spray to break the bond, and a hammer to slowly lift it out of its groove they get removed. Bearings pulled out and replaced with a special tool on the impact drill. Following this a long time chiseling of rust and plenty of time with the wire brush on a drill and they get a couple of good coats of hammerite to seal.
Mounting new lowered springs at 40mm front with matching shocks (important to use shorter shocks matching the springs), I included some dust protection and at the top a rubber bumpstop to keep the wheel from bottoming out on bad roads. To get good brakes on, I then used some caliper mounts from an Opel Vectra B V6, bigger than anything the Astra came with, which lets me get calipers on that are 50% larger. which of course gets a fresh coat of blue caliper paint, and with a completely new suspension the control arms, even though new, get another layer of rust protection with hammerite.
On the mounted struts all linkages and control arms are new as well. Stock front brakes would be 12.7 mm thick and 236mm in diameter. Instead I’m doubling the thickness to a grooved 25mm thick and the diameter from a vectra b special drilled disk of 288mm from www.mtecbrakes.com which uses vectra discs but drilled with a 4×100 hole astra layout instead of the 5hole version. A not insignificant detail is I also have to use metal spigot rings that adapt the hub size of the astra to the vectra one keeping centering working well, good MTEC pads also go on. This does increase stopping power but mostly efficiency, the grooves helps keep the pads clean and the mass of calipers and disks let’s the brakes work well for longer. The pistons and contact patch does increase clamping force though if that’d ever be needed.
Like in front the rear also had to get an upgrade with old drum brakes, I found a full axle from Spain with no rust, that really helps, including the disc brake setup only available in the astra 150 bhp GSI version. However still had to have some minor work a few hours with a wirebrush to clean it up and a couple good coats of hammerite. Nice little calipers got their coats and also here I had on some grooved/slotted discs. But the suspension also certainly needed straightening up in the rear so removed the stock bushes and added polyurethane ones (purple below).
The rear set of shocks and springs are instead of 40, 60mm lower than stock, a common match as the rear is now not likely weighted down in everyday use, also here a bump stop type rubber addition to keep the springs secured in place.
Lastly I also picked up some very nice 16 inch classic TSW wheels with a massive offset and 205/50 tires on, the wheels can take 225 wide ones but I’ll wear these out first. They do poke out in front which makes it looking really nice, however to be legal I’ll have to pull the front fender out or add fender flares, to be continued.
Restomod Car: Brakes and Suspension 1
Completely changing the suspension and brakes with oversized parts on this little car can make for a very fun ride and good companion to a stronger engine. In front stock brake discs was 12.7mm thick and 236mm in diameter, and in a sorry state, also the strut towers needs a complete replacement, with a tiered old dead shock absorber.
Going through the struts, hubs come off drilling studs in through the back against the towers, and the drive shaft ut using some metal rods to lock the rotation, the wheel bearings are sized behind rusted springs. Not an easy time, but with a healthy dose of heat from a torch, cold spray to break the bond, and a hammer to slowly lift it out of its groove they get removed. Bearings pulled out and replaced with a special tool on the impact drill. Following this a long time chiseling of rust and plenty of time with the wire brush on a drill and they get a couple of good coats of hammerite to seal.
Mounting new lowered springs at 40mm front with matching shocks (important to use shorter shocks matching the springs), I included some dust protection and at the top a rubber bumpstop to keep the wheel from bottoming out on bad roads. To get good brakes on, I then used some caliper mounts from an Opel Vectra B V6, bigger than anything the Astra came with, which lets me get calipers on that are 50% larger. which of course gets a fresh coat of blue caliper paint, and with a completely new suspension the control arms, even though new, get another layer of rust protection with hammerite.
On the mounted struts all linkages and control arms are new as well. Stock front brakes would be 12.7 mm thick and 236mm in diameter. Instead I’m doubling the thickness to a grooved 25mm thick and the diameter from a vectra b special drilled disk of 288mm from www.mtecbrakes.com which uses vectra discs but drilled with a 4×100 hole astra layout instead of the 5hole version. A not insignificant detail is I also have to use metal spigot rings that adapt the hub size of the astra to the vectra one keeping centering working well, good MTEC pads also go on. This does increase stopping power but mostly efficiency, the grooves helps keep the pads clean and the mass of calipers and disks let’s the brakes work well for longer. The pistons and contact patch does increase clamping force though if that’d ever be needed.
Like in front the rear also had to get an upgrade with old drum brakes, I found a full axle from Spain with no rust, that really helps, including the disc brake setup only available in the astra 150 bhp GSI version. However still had to have some minor work a few hours with a wirebrush to clean it up and a couple good coats of hammerite. Nice little calipers got their coats and also here I had on some grooved/slotted discs. But the suspension also certainly needed straightening up in the rear so removed the stock bushes and added polyurethane ones (purple below).
The rear set of shocks and springs are instead of 40, 60mm lower than stock, a common match as the rear is now not likely weighted down in everyday use, also here a bump stop type rubber addition to keep the springs secured in place.
Lastly I also picked up some very nice 16 inch classic TSW wheels with a massive offset and 205/50 tires on, the wheels can take 225 wide ones but I’ll wear these out first. They do poke out in front which makes it looking really nice, however to be legal I’ll have to pull the front fender out or add fender flares, to be continued.