So, everyone knows that I had the Senator arches grafted into my GSI and a full respray in the process, well.....
Here's the finished product, now with the 17s on - Transformed the look from the standard wheels, and they nicely fill the arches, which was the plan.
Plus the ride height is now pretty much sorted: Standard Senator springs in the back (they probably need GSI springs, but hey ho...) and -35mm PI's on the front. The ride height with the -35mm PI's was crap, as most of you know, but with a gas tank in the boot as well as a fair bit of petrol in the tank, it's got a fairly heavy arse.....
I still need some new rear doors cos the ones on it are crappety crap crap, but it still looks ok.
To recap what's been done:
- Senny arches grafted in using the Autobleche shite
- Inner wings built up to suit new arch radius
- Lotus rear spoiler (?50 from ebay jobbie and doesn't look bad...)
- Debadged front and back
- Full respray in E119 Mistral Grey (The original colour it's supposed to be)
Enjoy!
1992 Vauxhall Carlton GSI 24v
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- Posts: 63
- Joined: Wed Sep 12, 2007 12:42 am
- Location: Crewe Cheshire Drives: Carlton GSI 24v, Lowrider Senator 12v
1992 Vauxhall Carlton GSI 24v
A direct copy of my members gallery page from the Autobahnstormers (it dates back to october 2005 when I had the arches done so bear with me - it does get to a much better spec!)
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- Posts: 63
- Joined: Wed Sep 12, 2007 12:42 am
- Location: Crewe Cheshire Drives: Carlton GSI 24v, Lowrider Senator 12v
Recently bought a Mocal oil cooler as I wanted to fit a pacet fan and the original one was in the way, not to mention rotten too....
I couldn't fit the male/male adapters into the original holes as the alternator braket was too close, so I cut off the connectors from the OE pipes and braised them onto the male/male adapters, so the angle is perfect.
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- Posts: 63
- Joined: Wed Sep 12, 2007 12:42 am
- Location: Crewe Cheshire Drives: Carlton GSI 24v, Lowrider Senator 12v
Basically, the standard Carlton GSI has a flat rear arch and to be different I had arches from a Senator grafted in so they were radius rear arches.
The spec as it is now:
1992 Vauxhall Carlton GSI 24v
Rebuilt engine
- rebore
- new pistons and rings
- uprated timing chains
- new big end and main shells with polished crank
- all new gaskets, nuts and bolts
- new tensioners and guides
- ported cylinder head
- silicone hoses
- enlarged throttlebody
- Autobahnstormers MK3 ECU chip upgrade
- powdercoated bits all over
- K&N filter with enclosed filter area, dedicated cold air feed to filter area from a removed fog light
- Mocal oil cooler
- Pacet fan with removed viscous
- oil catch tank
- Zavoli sequential LPG injection system
- Powerflow twin pipe system exhaust
The engine bay not long after the rebuild

A recent picture of the engine bay

The spec as it is now:
1992 Vauxhall Carlton GSI 24v
Rebuilt engine
- rebore
- new pistons and rings
- uprated timing chains
- new big end and main shells with polished crank
- all new gaskets, nuts and bolts
- new tensioners and guides
- ported cylinder head
- silicone hoses
- enlarged throttlebody
- Autobahnstormers MK3 ECU chip upgrade
- powdercoated bits all over
- K&N filter with enclosed filter area, dedicated cold air feed to filter area from a removed fog light
- Mocal oil cooler
- Pacet fan with removed viscous
- oil catch tank
- Zavoli sequential LPG injection system
- Powerflow twin pipe system exhaust
The engine bay not long after the rebuild

A recent picture of the engine bay

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- Posts: 63
- Joined: Wed Sep 12, 2007 12:42 am
- Location: Crewe Cheshire Drives: Carlton GSI 24v, Lowrider Senator 12v
Suspension/brakes etc
- Koni adjustable shockers all round
- Eibach springs (uber rare!)
- EBC turbogroove front discs, standard rears
- EBC redstuff front pads, standard rears
- Goodridge braided hoses
- Superflex poly rear trailing arm bushes and front anti-roll bar bushes
- Poly rear "donut" subframe bushes
- 17" Omega Elite 5-spoke wheels
- 235/45/17 Yokohama A048R track tyres, budget tyres for the road
- Front strut brace (ABS supplied)

- Koni adjustable shockers all round
- Eibach springs (uber rare!)
- EBC turbogroove front discs, standard rears
- EBC redstuff front pads, standard rears
- Goodridge braided hoses
- Superflex poly rear trailing arm bushes and front anti-roll bar bushes
- Poly rear "donut" subframe bushes
- 17" Omega Elite 5-spoke wheels
- 235/45/17 Yokohama A048R track tyres, budget tyres for the road
- Front strut brace (ABS supplied)

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- Posts: 63
- Joined: Wed Sep 12, 2007 12:42 am
- Location: Crewe Cheshire Drives: Carlton GSI 24v, Lowrider Senator 12v
Bodywork
The car is currently in York at a bodyshop, being welded and sprayed. It was rusty as hell, having a hard 230,000 mile life so far.
- New complete sills, both sides
- 4 new doors
- Rebuilt front suspension turrets
- New front slam panel
- New front crossmember
- LOTS of other bits of welding all over the car
- Senator rear arches grafted in to replace standard flat arches
- Lotus Carlton rear spoiler
- LC beesting aeriel
- Full respray (again)
Interior and ICE
- Standard GSI spec half leather black/cloth interior
- Digital dash
- Pioneer head unit (mp3 whizzy one, can't remember which)
- JBL GTO speakers all round
- 3 x JBL 10" subs in parcel shelf
- 2 amps to power the above, one in mono, other in 2ch stereo
The car is currently in York at a bodyshop, being welded and sprayed. It was rusty as hell, having a hard 230,000 mile life so far.
- New complete sills, both sides
- 4 new doors
- Rebuilt front suspension turrets
- New front slam panel
- New front crossmember
- LOTS of other bits of welding all over the car
- Senator rear arches grafted in to replace standard flat arches
- Lotus Carlton rear spoiler
- LC beesting aeriel
- Full respray (again)
Interior and ICE
- Standard GSI spec half leather black/cloth interior
- Digital dash
- Pioneer head unit (mp3 whizzy one, can't remember which)
- JBL GTO speakers all round
- 3 x JBL 10" subs in parcel shelf
- 2 amps to power the above, one in mono, other in 2ch stereo
Stu
I think Matt is a drifter/track day whore like a few of us :thumb:
Nice spec Matt. Any ideas what the car weighs now and what dyno sheets too! What power does this produce (pub figures not allowed, proven stuff only please
)
I think Matt is a drifter/track day whore like a few of us :thumb:
Nice spec Matt. Any ideas what the car weighs now and what dyno sheets too! What power does this produce (pub figures not allowed, proven stuff only please

http://www.auto-genie.co.uk
07733 527430
stuart@auto-genie.co.uk
Valeting, detailing and undersealing
07733 527430
stuart@auto-genie.co.uk
Valeting, detailing and undersealing
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- Posts: 63
- Joined: Wed Sep 12, 2007 12:42 am
- Location: Crewe Cheshire Drives: Carlton GSI 24v, Lowrider Senator 12v
Thanks Bealo!Bealo wrote:Hi Matt
Looks like a fun car, i like the rear arches, What do you use the car for???
road, track, drag, drift etc??????
I use the car for work mostly (99% of the time) as I am self-employed and I travel about 35,000 miles a year.
But I built the car to be the best of all worlds:
- It's reliable (I know the car inside and out - the best reliability you can get IMO)
- It's cheap to run
- It's powerful
- It goes around a track very well
- It drifts very well too
- There's not many of them about, so it's something different to the normal mondeos etc.
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- Posts: 63
- Joined: Wed Sep 12, 2007 12:42 am
- Location: Crewe Cheshire Drives: Carlton GSI 24v, Lowrider Senator 12v
Thanks mate!stuartstaples wrote:Stu
I think Matt is a drifter/track day whore like a few of us :thumb:
Nice spec Matt. Any ideas what the car weighs now and what dyno sheets too! What power does this produce (pub figures not allowed, proven stuff only please)
The car is a bit of a heavy old barge - the standard weight of a GSI is about 1750KG. This one is a little heavier than that because of the LPG tank and the amount of cans of redbull I carry around with me :roll: so probably about 1850KG maybe? Never had it weighed so I don't really know.
I've had the car dyno'd twice now, once with the old original engine, and that produced 1bhp over standard - 205bhp. I was hoping for more power when I rebuilt the engine, due to the amount of mods I did on the engine, but it didn't come out as well as I hoped - 215bhp. But it only had 1000 miles on the engine when I had it dyno'd and since then it seems to have loosened up a little and opened up a bit more power. It feels like it anyway. With the engine mods it should put out about 240bhp ish (I've seen a very similar spec engine produce 249bhp so not that hard to do). I like to think that the "pub figures" on the car (un-proved) is about 230bhp. It certainly feels a lot faster since the last dyno a year ago.
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- Posts: 63
- Joined: Wed Sep 12, 2007 12:42 am
- Location: Crewe Cheshire Drives: Carlton GSI 24v, Lowrider Senator 12v