Photo: eBay seller benminimay11
Sleepers are a special breed of tuned vehicles, as they are imagined to deceive the eyes of everyone watching and impress when accelerating away. Someone made such a sleeper during the lockdown, when a barn-find, two-owner, Vauxhall Astra Estate was acquired. It was then fitted with a turbocharged engine that was tuned to 350 horsepower.
As the seller explains in the advert, a fully-original, two-owner car with just 105,000 miles (ca. 168,981 km) on the odometer and a full service history was acquired in March 2020. The 1995 Vauxhall (Opel's sister brand) had an inline-four-cylinder 1.4-liter naturally aspirated motor.
Its new owner decided to fit another mill from the great GM parts bin, a Saab B204 motor, which is popular amongst tuners due to the higher strength of its internals.
In the UK, the B204 and B234 versions of this motor were fitted in Saab 9-3 cars, but also in Saab 900 models, and they have been swapped into almost all 90s Vauxhall modes, but they can be fitted to about anything vaguely related to them, such as comparable-age Daewoo models.
Do measure ahead of purchase, though, and be sure what you plan to do is legal where you live. It might not be so, you have been warned.
In stock form, a 1999 Saab with a B204 engine would provide 205 horsepower, which was respectable back then. Some do not drive cars with that much power today, so you might say it is more than enough.
Well, not for the owner of this Astra F, who decided to install Deka 630-cc injectors for the large Td04 turbo that has been modified. With a custom map made at the Saabworx group, it provides 347 bhp (351 horsepower) at 19 psi (1.31 bar) of boost.
As a reference, the stock unit worked with 15 psi (1 bar) of boost, so there might be room for more.
Other mods include a 3-inch full-turbo-back exhaust with a 200-cell sport catalytic converter, a 3-inch Ramair induction that is fed from an FMIC Toyosport intercooler that has been expertly concealed behind the stock front bumper. The massive injectors are fed by a Walbro fuel pump that can provide 255 liters per hour, and it is fitted inside the standard tank.
The list does not stop here, as the engine has received a balance shaft delete kit, as well as a new timing chain fitted before being installed in the Vauxhall. It sends its full might to the front wheels with the help of a new Sachs clutch and a Saab FM55 501 gearbox.
All four wheels have been converted to a 5-stud configuration instead of the usual four, and there are disc brakes all-round. A newer Vectra has “donated” its 16-inch steel wheels, complete with matching hubcaps.
The wheels may be the only giveaway from the outside, except for the larger exhaust and its noise. Other than that, it is a perfect sleeper if you think about it. Bidding on its eBay advert has closed.
Its new owner decided to fit another mill from the great GM parts bin, a Saab B204 motor, which is popular amongst tuners due to the higher strength of its internals.
In the UK, the B204 and B234 versions of this motor were fitted in Saab 9-3 cars, but also in Saab 900 models, and they have been swapped into almost all 90s Vauxhall modes, but they can be fitted to about anything vaguely related to them, such as comparable-age Daewoo models.
Do measure ahead of purchase, though, and be sure what you plan to do is legal where you live. It might not be so, you have been warned.
In stock form, a 1999 Saab with a B204 engine would provide 205 horsepower, which was respectable back then. Some do not drive cars with that much power today, so you might say it is more than enough.
Well, not for the owner of this Astra F, who decided to install Deka 630-cc injectors for the large Td04 turbo that has been modified. With a custom map made at the Saabworx group, it provides 347 bhp (351 horsepower) at 19 psi (1.31 bar) of boost.
As a reference, the stock unit worked with 15 psi (1 bar) of boost, so there might be room for more.
Other mods include a 3-inch full-turbo-back exhaust with a 200-cell sport catalytic converter, a 3-inch Ramair induction that is fed from an FMIC Toyosport intercooler that has been expertly concealed behind the stock front bumper. The massive injectors are fed by a Walbro fuel pump that can provide 255 liters per hour, and it is fitted inside the standard tank.
The list does not stop here, as the engine has received a balance shaft delete kit, as well as a new timing chain fitted before being installed in the Vauxhall. It sends its full might to the front wheels with the help of a new Sachs clutch and a Saab FM55 501 gearbox.
All four wheels have been converted to a 5-stud configuration instead of the usual four, and there are disc brakes all-round. A newer Vectra has “donated” its 16-inch steel wheels, complete with matching hubcaps.
The wheels may be the only giveaway from the outside, except for the larger exhaust and its noise. Other than that, it is a perfect sleeper if you think about it. Bidding on its eBay advert has closed.
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