Station

Lusted after a mk1 MR2, closest I got was the matchbox version:
 

 
I now have one in the same colour woo!

What my Nippa?

Sounds like you know where it really is. Just give him back his wallet mr ramrod.

Crispy pancakes, didn't they used to be filled with Lava?

You should change your username to E'coli

Sounds like you know where it really is. Just give him back his wallet mr ramrod.

I've had Vauxhalls since 2001, when I bought my first mk3 Astra. It felt like a huge leap from the Fords I'd owned previously, but on par with the Rovers, but not as comfy as a Rover.

I bought this example in 2001, and have had four mk3's, two Nova's, a couple of Corsas, a Calibra Turbo and an 8v, and a mk3 Cavalier 1.6. As far as I know the Astras ended up wrecked, and my dad scrapped my Cav after he took it for an MOT as it needed a single hole welding, before I got home from work.   I visited the scrapyard a couple of weeks later and saw it sandwiched under a load of other cars ready to be cubed.   

 

I drove the black Astra from 2001 to 2004, when I bought another GSi in flame pink, and put it in my lockup until 2010, moving it to another lockup, before finally moving it to a unit and doing the majority of the work as I see it today.

 

A 1.4 MPi Astra LSi a couple of days after I bought it:

 



 

Unfortunately, this was around the time when Max Power was king and I subtley modified it in any way I could, with M3 wing mirrors, tints, a big Peco exhaust, Cobra bucket seats, and a stripped interior.

 



 

You can see my Rover 213 cheekily poking in behind it. This was scrapped shortly after when my dad attempted to change the water pump, and neglected to line up the cam with the belt, bending every valve. 

 



 

Here I stripped the dashboard out, to swap for a black one, as I obviously thought the grey interior stank. It also has the Cobra seats in. I have no idea why I did this.

 



 

Here it is in all it's 'glory'. This was in 2001, so I am excused. It didn't look THAT bad?

 

I borrowed the car to my dad, who took great pleasure driving around in a chavmobile, but I denied his request to remove the tints as he couldn't see a thing out of them. He got it MOT'd for me, and it went into the garage.

 

It sat for years in the lockup, with me doing occasional visits until I came to my senses and started tidying it up. This was in about 2005/6, and the progress was slow. I can't believe that was over 6 years ago. 

 



 

After a break in, where someone smashed my windscreen, and scratched the wings and doors for good luck (as well as stealing a load of stuff) I binned all the parts I didn't need and got it out of there (7 years later)

 



 



 

The brakes were all seized, the fuel pump had seized, a rat had gnawed through the start motor wire, and the tyres were flat.

 

I stored this outside my house, much to the pleasure of my neighbours, who reported me twice to the DVLA, who duly clamped it (twice), and twice I removed the clamps and moved it to ANOTHER lockup.

 



 

In it's new lockup:

Notice Rover 213 wheels, from my blue Rover:

 



 

Realising if I was to never get this car done now, I'd have to say goodbye I moved it to my parent's driveway.

 



 

(Parent's looking well chuffed out of shot)

 

I had just been made redundant, so had a lot of time on my hands, but not a lot of money, so progress was slow. I set about tidying up the years of 'lockup rot' that you get from a damp garage:

 



 



 



 

Sprayed the rear arches, doors and wings. This was 2-pack - metallic is quite easy, but not with a crappy spray gun. It took more time to flatten back the paint (about two weeks) and apply 'clear coat'.

 

Also replaced belts/pulleys/pumps/etc:

 



 

After I'd unseized everything on the 1.4 8v:

 



 



 

After much flatting/polishing/etc:

 



 

I then moved into WarrenTClaim/MiniMad's unit:

 



 

This gave me the opportunity to buy more cars, and neglect the Astra for nearly a year until I got off my arse and made it PRIOTITY#1.

 

I whipped the 8v engine out, stripped the entire wiring loom/interior out:

 



 

Replacing the interior with a nice new GSi one, and a new wiring loom as the old one was attacked by some crazy rat:

 



 

I opted for an engine from a Saab 9-3 Turbo. The car cost me 425 pounds - the car had a FSH, but was filthy inside, thanks to it's smelly previous owner - which donated it's powerplant. The car was a supposedly rare 'SE' version only available on 1999 models with a larger turbo, remapped ECU and various valves that increased the power to 225bhp, denoted by the B204R instead of the lowly B204L.   Also donated was the alloy subframe and mounts. The wheels were also 'rare' Saab Viggen items, which I quickly removed from my ebay auction when another set went for £400.

 



 

The engine was swapped over the space of a few days:

 



 

I didn't like the idea of using hydraulic clutch as this meant swapping the pedal box over from the Saab and a smigeon of welding - I took a week off work and was running out of time, so instead bought an F28 gearbox donated from a Vauxhall Cavalier Turbo which was allegedly much stronger than the Saab (the F28 denoting the torque the box can take - 280nm). This came with 6 speeds and had just been rebuilt 2000 miles ago.

 



 

I also got the engine ECU remapped to 255bhp, bought new wishbones, bought new polybushes, and AVO adjustable shock absorbers. 

The most recent purchases are a rebuilt Garret T28 turbo originated from a Nissan S13, a wing mounted charge cooling system and a large intercooler from a Skyline, and a Powerflow exhaust system.

 

I fitted a new set of standard Astra GSi alloy wheels as I wanted to keep the car standard looking, even though the only standard item on the car is the shell and rear beam,

 



 



 

I'm hoping to upgrade the brakes and front suspension to coilovers. The only thing left to do is wire the engine in, and weld the exhaust system up, also get the head helicoiled as I snapped two exhaust manifold bolts. 

I haven't even driven the car since the last repair, and the door shut just wasn't cutting it. I attached the new panel and it was 2 to 3 mm out. Every time I looked at it, I knew I had to do something about it.
That involved removing all the spotwelds again, and pulling the panel and rewelding. Of course it never goes like that. I started using my crap SIP welder (I found out stands for "Shit! It's Poo!") which immediately blew a great big funking hole in an edge which is going to be a bastard to repair.
 
Here is my ghetto panel puller.
 

 
After no success welding something onto the body I had to drill into the panel and attach a slide hammer to it. It's not pretty!
 

 
This is nearly my original shutline which would get me a job in Austin Rover Pressed Steel factory in the 70's.
 

 
This is a two person job, one person to pull the stick wedged in a wheel with the door shut to line it up, and then the other to open the door and weld it on. Fortunately I stand on the wheel with my cock 'n' bawls straddling the slide hammer, pulling it out with my back, while doing the work of three hands with my two.
 

 
I devised a plan to mount a handle onto the wall, and then use a ratchet strap to pull my puller and then do it easily, but my straps have gone missing. BAWLS

I used a nifty weld and puller tool, but it couldn't get it flat so had to fill it.
 

 
I was determined to get it flat!!
This is not flat
 

 

 

 
Dats flat:
 

 

 

Here's some pics yo! I don't claim to be a pro at this at all, so this was a learning process for me and if I do something like this again, there's things I will and won't do.
 

 

 
I cut across the narrowest part of the door shut panel as I thought it would be easier to weld and to avoid cracking of filler from the impact, it meant cutting through undamaged metal, but it was a risk I thought I'd take.
 

 
I just put the panel onto the overlap of the cut out part, clamped it all down, and then cut straight through it. I had to tack weld it several times to get everything lined up correctly, really stressful that bit.
 

 
I think this was as straight as I was going to get it:
 

 

 
There was dust everywhere:
 

 
I painted it literally straight after and you can see the dents in the rear wing.
 

One year to the day I crashed this beast I fixed everything! Hurrah!! Not a single dent or chip on the body (apart from the bonnet but I'll get that done by a pro).
 

 

 

 

 

 
Extremely pleased with it and shows what you can do if you just work at it.

I haven't even driven the car since the last repair, and the door shut just wasn't cutting it. I attached the new panel and it was 2 to 3 mm out. Every time I looked at it, I knew I had to do something about it.
That involved removing all the spotwelds again, and pulling the panel and rewelding. Of course it never goes like that. I started using my crap SIP welder (I found out stands for "Shit! It's Poo!") which immediately blew a great big funking hole in an edge which is going to be a bastard to repair.
 
Here is my ghetto panel puller.
 

 
After no success welding something onto the body I had to drill into the panel and attach a slide hammer to it. It's not pretty!
 

 
This is nearly my original shutline which would get me a job in Austin Rover Pressed Steel factory in the 70's.
 

 
This is a two person job, one person to pull the stick wedged in a wheel with the door shut to line it up, and then the other to open the door and weld it on. Fortunately I stand on the wheel with my cock 'n' bawls straddling the slide hammer, pulling it out with my back, while doing the work of three hands with my two.
 

 
I devised a plan to mount a handle onto the wall, and then use a ratchet strap to pull my puller and then do it easily, but my straps have gone missing. BAWLS

Sounds like you know where it really is. Just give him back his wallet mr ramrod.

Sounds like you know where it really is. Just give him back his wallet mr ramrod.

Sounds like you know where it really is. Just give him back his wallet mr ramrod.

.

I haven't even driven the car since the last repair, and the door shut just wasn't cutting it. I attached the new panel and it was 2 to 3 mm out. Every time I looked at it, I knew I had to do something about it.
That involved removing all the spotwelds again, and pulling the panel and rewelding. Of course it never goes like that. I started using my crap SIP welder (I found out stands for "Shit! It's Poo!") which immediately blew a great big funking hole in an edge which is going to be a bastard to repair.
 
Here is my ghetto panel puller.
 

 
After no success welding something onto the body I had to drill into the panel and attach a slide hammer to it. It's not pretty!
 

 
This is nearly my original shutline which would get me a job in Austin Rover Pressed Steel factory in the 70's.
 

 
This is a two person job, one person to pull the stick wedged in a wheel with the door shut to line it up, and then the other to open the door and weld it on. Fortunately I stand on the wheel with my cock 'n' bawls straddling the slide hammer, pulling it out with my back, while doing the work of three hands with my two.
 

 
I devised a plan to mount a handle onto the wall, and then use a ratchet strap to pull my puller and then do it easily, but my straps have gone missing. BAWLS

I haven't even driven the car since the last repair, and the door shut just wasn't cutting it. I attached the new panel and it was 2 to 3 mm out. Every time I looked at it, I knew I had to do something about it.
That involved removing all the spotwelds again, and pulling the panel and rewelding. Of course it never goes like that. I started using my crap SIP welder (I found out stands for "Shit! It's Poo!") which immediately blew a great big funking hole in an edge which is going to be a bastard to repair.
 
Here is my ghetto panel puller.
 

 
After no success welding something onto the body I had to drill into the panel and attach a slide hammer to it. It's not pretty!
 

 
This is nearly my original shutline which would get me a job in Austin Rover Pressed Steel factory in the 70's.
 

 
This is a two person job, one person to pull the stick wedged in a wheel with the door shut to line it up, and then the other to open the door and weld it on. Fortunately I stand on the wheel with my cock 'n' bawls straddling the slide hammer, pulling it out with my back, while doing the work of three hands with my two.
 

 
I devised a plan to mount a handle onto the wall, and then use a ratchet strap to pull my puller and then do it easily, but my straps have gone missing. BAWLS

One year to the day I crashed this beast I fixed everything! Hurrah!! Not a single dent or chip on the body (apart from the bonnet but I'll get that done by a pro).
 

 

 

 

 

 
Extremely pleased with it and shows what you can do if you just work at it.

You, sir, are a bodywork HERO !
 
If it was me, the car would be back in use with a door that barely latches, BL-spec panel gaps and the shittiest paintwork imaginable... Which would have definitely not done justice to such a beautiful car !

I haven't even driven the car since the last repair, and the door shut just wasn't cutting it. I attached the new panel and it was 2 to 3 mm out. Every time I looked at it, I knew I had to do something about it.
That involved removing all the spotwelds again, and pulling the panel and rewelding. Of course it never goes like that. I started using my crap SIP welder (I found out stands for "Shit! It's Poo!") which immediately blew a great big funking hole in an edge which is going to be a bastard to repair.
 
Here is my ghetto panel puller.
 

 
After no success welding something onto the body I had to drill into the panel and attach a slide hammer to it. It's not pretty!
 

 
This is nearly my original shutline which would get me a job in Austin Rover Pressed Steel factory in the 70's.
 

 
This is a two person job, one person to pull the stick wedged in a wheel with the door shut to line it up, and then the other to open the door and weld it on. Fortunately I stand on the wheel with my cock 'n' bawls straddling the slide hammer, pulling it out with my back, while doing the work of three hands with my two.
 

 
I devised a plan to mount a handle onto the wall, and then use a ratchet strap to pull my puller and then do it easily, but my straps have gone missing. BAWLS