Mk2 Astra (still a little shite)

[jarkle]

Hello all, I've been lurking on here for years now and used to post now and then under a different username. God only knows what the password was for that, so I've started afresh.

I've seen a few project-style threads on here so I thought I'd contribute. Most of the pics are from my thread on 'the blue forum.'

 

It started off life as a remarkably rot free mk2 with a 1.4 in it. I ran it like that for a few months and loved it - excellent mpg and hilarious fun trying to get the door handles to touch the floor during cornering, what's not to like? It now has a redtop in it - not exactly ground breaking I know, but one came up cheaply so I thought it'd be rude not to. A friend has also given it a respray in Porsche Sport Grey, which to all intents and purposes is actually battleship grey or primer.

 

 

 

This is it on the OE rear springs - a bit high!

 

A bit lower on some Spax clobber.

 

The engine and bay have been flocked too, which has caused plenty of people to have a bit of a paddy. I figure there's no harm done and it's a nice little experiment, we'll see how it turns out.

 

 

Anyway thanks for reading. I'll try and get a bit more involved in the forum this time round, lord knows I lurk enough and spend way too long looking at the eBay thread as it is!

Cheers, Jamie

[fiatdaft]

Welcome,hope you have a flame proof jacket!

[cort16]

That looks excellent. A bit different from the normal GTE kitted ones anyway

[Rocket88]

Very smart, the very antithesis of Barry modifications. Colour suits it.

[Louise2cv]

That is a nice colour, I like.

[RedSparrow]

Hello!

Very nicely done, quite subtle. I like!

[HillmanImp]

That is really quite nice. I would never have chosen that colour but it suits it really well.

 

I cant see from the photos (although it might be my eyesight) is it discs all round?

[barrett]

I like this lotsly. Only thing I'd do is put some proper grey bumpers & trim on and take out some shares in linseed oil. Otherwise, 14/10 for kool arstra content

[jarkle]

Thank you very much guys.

 

Yep it has a GTE rear axle with discs, while the fronts are aftermarket Corsa jobbies that came with the engine, with 22 spline Corsa shafts.

I’ve always liked the pre-facelift bumpers on these and much as I love a nice GTE, I decided I’d go for these instead. They might well go a different colour soon though. Car still isn’t quite done as I need to source a few bits and bobs. The original plan was to run twin 40s, but for various annoying reasons out of my control that’s no longer an option.

Cheers for the warm welcome.

[mouseflakes]

Looks fine to me - like the colour.

 

The engine and bay have been flocked ... it's a nice little experiment, we'll see how it turns out.

 

Nice idea - somewhere to wipe your oily hands?

[Split_Pin]

Love that, nicely done.

[trigger]

That's very nice, I'm really digging the colour, Not 100% sold on the wheels though but they could be a lot worse.

[Shep Shepherd]

I've seen you car on the RR forums. I like it

[stuboy]

looking sweet...

 

looks like one in TV magazine??

[jarkle]

Yea it's the same car as in Total Vauxhall, I'm the staff writer for the mag.

The wheels are a bit of a weak link I'll agree, they need to be a little wider to work or have lower profile rubber on them. For now I'm just concentrating on getting it on the road, I can swap wheels later on.

[stuboy]

Yea it's the same car as in Total Vauxhall, I'm the staff writer for the mag.

The wheels are a bit of a weak link I'll agree, they need to be a little wider to work or have lower profile rubber on them. For now I'm just concentrating on getting it on the road, I can swap wheels later on.

 

looking good too...........................

[Split_Pin]

I was at a rolling road day at a place in Falkirk not so long ago and Dougie from the mag was there. I got my pic in it, being 3rd least powerful out of 15!

[dollywobbler]

Steelies with wheel trims and Merit badges. Then it'd be sorted. Nice to see one not utterly barried to death though!

[CreepingJesus]

Soooooo much Mk2 Ashtray lately, round these parts! Sooooooo much want.

I like the look of this one, but I'm not so sure I'd go redtop myself; a nicely warmed up 8v would do me fine

I bought the first few copies of TV when it first came out, but gave up pretty quickly.

[jarkle]

Merit badges and rusty steels are on the menu, I do like a nicely done sleeper. (Wenny’s ‘Royal Nail’, anyone?)

 

Dougie doesn’t work full time on the mag anymore, he does one or two features a month, but mainly he’s up in West Calder saving Cavaliers from wreckers.

 

Creeping Jesus – that’s a shame, any particular reason, or just not your bag? If it was up to me there’d be more ‘retro’ content in the mag than there is - I’ve never tried to disguise my preference for stuff from the 60s to the early 90s. Unfortunately the big mag sponsors demand newer stuff, just because it’s so much easier to flog and apply a remap to a VXR than it is to chip a LET.

 

That said already this year we’ve had Baby Bertha and the ex-Brookes Mant 400 on the cover, so we get some good stuff in. Apologies for the TV-essay. ☺

[Pete-M]

Um. It's a Vauxhall. Can I see a pic of the flocked engine bay? Wilkommen.

[jarkle]

Here you go.

[Pete-M]

[jarkle]

Hmm it's a little 'fuzzy felt' like I'll admit.

[vulgalour]

You should get yourself a Fuzzy Felt set and keep it in the glovebox so you can decorate the engine bay appropriately with caterpillars and random houses (which is all I could ever make with Fuzzy Felt) at shows.

[CreepingJesus]

...that’s a shame, any particular reason, or just not your bag? If it was up to me there’d be more ‘retro’ content in the mag than there is - I’ve never tried to disguise my preference for stuff from the 60s to the early 90s. Unfortunately the big mag sponsors demand newer stuff, just because it’s so much easier to flog and apply a remap to a VXR than it is to chip a LET.

 

That said already this year we’ve had Baby Bertha and the ex-Brookes Mant 400 on the cover, so we get some good stuff in. Apologies for the TV-essay. ☺

 

It was too much M** P***r for my liking, even then. To be fair, I used to buy a lot of car/bike (and music) mags, but they all either went under (C+CC, AWOL, Jalopy etc.,) or started taking themselves too seriously (PB in particular) and turned into glossy commercially driven lad's mags. I'm a big boy now, I can reach the top shelf all on my own, should I choose to do so

I appreciate you're trying to put some breadth in it, but for me another article about one of the Berthas, or a DTV Manta isn't showing me anything I haven't seen before.

But anyhow, welcome to AS (which I should've said before), don't be too flocked off with a jaded old git!

[retrogeezer]

liking the Astra.....

[Parky]

That's smart that is, a bit of menace about it but subtle. Grey suits it too, I think it's a nice bit of modding there.

 

Flock paint? I like the look of it but personally don't know about it's heat resistant properties! I hope it's ok, but would recommend a small bottle of CO2 though (just in case)

 

My ex bro in law had a 1600 version of one of these and I always liked it, bloody quick by the standards of the time

[cms206]

Admittedly I am a serial Vauxhall apologist (V-car apologist? I don't think I can pass the 745 off as a Carlton... ) but that looks bloody lovely. I may try a leather engine bay in the Senator...

[jarkle]

Admittedly I am a serial Vauxhall apologist (V-car apologist? I don't think I can pass the 745 off as a Carlton... ) but that looks bloody lovely. I may try a leather engine bay in the Senator...

 

Worryingly I've seen a few Belgian/German cars with a lot of leather in the bay. Not my cup of tea.

 

Thanks for the comments all. It's heat resistant and fire retardant so shouldn't pose too much of a hazard. (I hope!)