à ² â•­â•®à ² Look everyone at my fucking Astra à ² â•­â•®à ²Â

[Station]

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. 

[KruJoe]

Wow, that's quite a story! I didn't even know you had this, Dave.

It's gonna be mega when you've done. Still a 1.4 on the logbook, right? 

[Morgan84]

Looks a nice car; good underneath is it ?

[Split_Pin]

Excellent car and story.

 

The Saab engine conversion is becoming more popular now. Was the subframe a straight swap from Saab to Astra? How hard is the wiring side of things?

[Station]

Yes it's solid underneath! It's still 1.4, but will change it over when it gets on the road!

Subframes are the same, though Saab put some extra bits on (exhaust mounts, etc)

Someone sells really rough homemade wiring looms for these for 80 quid, so I've worked out the wiring and will get round to making my own (properly).

[Wilko220]

Yeah, great story! Nice to see it coming together.

Are you planning for it to be a keeper or punt on when finished for the inevitable coin loads of profit?

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

R u gonna keep 1.4 on teh log book 4 cheap insuranse m8?

[cort16]

That's a good story. It's nice to have a bit of history sometimes. I've never seen the SAAB motor getting put into one of these so that's a new one on me,

[KruJoe]

Are you planning for it to be a keeper or punt on when finished for the inevitable coin loads of profit?

 

Nice as it is, I reckon it'll never be worth what he has forked out for storage over all these years!

[CreepingJesus]

That's a very good approximation of the car Vauxhall should've built at the time. Lack of balls and/or budget on their part, I thought, so kudos to you!

[overrun]

What a happy story.

 

I was worried for the car after it fell into disrepair.

 

Good call on the SAAB motor. They cannot be beaten, especially for the pittance you pick them up for!

 

Will you not get reamed by the DVLA though? Assuming the car is in  your name.

[fordperv]

Nice plate, wob ironically what these mk3s were full of

[Jim Bell]

Top story man.

 

I know a lad running a similar Disastra saloon running that lump. Has many further mods and reportedly puts out near 500horses power.

But thats unsubstanciated idle car park boasts.

 

Looks great if you ask me. Theres room in the world for Shite and Mod alike.

[HillmanImp]

Top work this, I admire your dedication (or madness) tarting up a pretty basic model to what it is rather than just buying a fast model to begin with (or not keeping your fast model as thats whats happened). Nice to see one of these getting some good loving rather than the usual BARRY MAXPOWA bodykits/filler/lights mods that they have been prone to since they got to the bargain basement prices they have been for a few years. They are so rare on our roads now it will be turning a few heads when it is finished.

[Partridge]

Really interesting thread. It went from looking a bit cack if I’m honest, to something which could hold it’s head up high at track days (if you’re that way inclined, that is).

[hairnet]

does yer dad only do that to your cars eek

 

saab into astra - works

[Lord Sterling]

Nice story Station, kudos to you for keeping this car against all the odds, your story gives me hope for my almost dead mk2 827 Sterling which is also currently in a damp garage:

 

 

I am determined to get it somewhere less damp an get it back to fine fettle as it should be.

[dollywobbler]

Interesting story. Looks much better now! Not a fan of the first range of mods. 

[Rusty_Rocket]

As a long-term Mk3 GSi owner, I echo the comments of the other guys- looks great now

 

Sold mine years back and would love a clean standard one again.

 

 

Saab conversion looks great- the C20LETs are too expensive nowadays

[Station]

Thanks! I'm not a fast driver tbh, but these seem to be so accepting of new, uprated parts and the rebuild process has been faultless. I felt guilty leaving it in the garage, and jokingly thought it was expecting me to take it out for it's MOT everytime I opened those garage doors - but I was just dropping of parts from my -other- Astra.

 

The GSi's are fetching quite a bit of money now, about £2,000 for a good one, hot on the tails of mk2 GTE's which are selling for similar prices the mk3 RS1600's/RS Turbos/XR3i's were as they were entering their 'classic period'.

 

These don't rust tbh, the undersealing was really good and every seam is properly sealed. The sunroof draining pipes block and leak out into the rear arch. Hence the usual rusty arches. I pulled the draining plug on the rear of mine, and a few gallons of water came out - I thought I'd pulled a plug from the fuel tank or something?

 

Early mods were hideous, and was before ebay or selling on the internet, so anything that was made for your car 'aftermarket' on the shelf at Halfords was rare. I remember seeing Kent cams in Demon Tweeks on display for the car and getting excited.

 

TheTDCiWeigh, are you talking about the clamping? I took them off and kept them at the side of the road. I didn't know what came of them, but got a letter a couple of weeks later, and I said the car had been stolen and was laid up in the parking spot without wheels. I haven't heard anything since, and two years later, I doubt I will.

 

LordSterling, take it out of the garage and give it a good wash. Buy service parts for it and you'll find enthusiam for it again. I had been putting this off for so many years. 

[overrun]

 

TheTDCiWeigh, are you talking about the clamping? I took them off and kept them at the side of the road. I didn't know what came of them, but got a letter a couple of weeks later, and I said the car had been stolen and was laid up in the parking spot without wheels. I haven't heard anything since, and two years later, I doubt I will.

 

 

 

Yeah, clamping.

 

My understanding of the DVLA clamps is that if you can remove them without damage, then you are within you rights to do so (kinda).

 

I like your way around it lol.

[Station]

Today I mostly fitted a new stainless steel exhaust system to my Astra:

 

 

I then tidied up this rat's nest:

 

 

Into a nice new tidy loom:

 

 

Looks standard, complete with connectors and wiring nicked from a scrappy Astra mk3 cabrio! Well pleased

 

 

Bought an Isuzu intercooler and radiator setup on ebay for £1:

 

 

Radiator and intercooler is meant to go in here. I don't want to cut any of the bodywork, and have aimed to keep all this to a mingebag budget:

 

 

So I cut the crossmember off the middle to fit the original Saab intercooler

 

 

And bought some pipes from Demon Tweeks: :(

 

 

Now I need to do loads of other things that I remembered needing doing, but is now lost in the ether, so will have to make another list.

 

I can rest my chin on the clutch pedal, so I'm going to have to sort that one out.

Need to get solid top mounts done as rubbers one last a couple of weeks before tearing out and then top mount vs bonnet

Put the proper steering wheel on

Put ARB drop links on

Put back box on

Fix interior lighting

Fix radio MID display on the dashboard

Reattach side skirts

 

That's my list for now, should take another year.

[New POD]

All I can say is I've written off 3 yes three Mk3 astras.

 

A 1.4i mpi 8V (82 BHP) Saloon

A 1.4i mpi 8V (82 BHP) 5 door hatch

A 1.6 spi 8V (78 BHP) 5 door hatch

 

At one point all I wanted was a GSi

[Station]

I eyed this up a couple of weeks ago and thought 'you've been in this garage for far too long', and was getting sick of the sight of it. It has been a proper ball and chain, dragging it here and there, as probably mentioned previously in this thread somewhere.

 

I used some parts from it for my other Astra GSi, which still hasn't sold, and is in fact sitting in my house garage until I can find the motivation to put it on ebay.

 

I bought a C20LET for it - I saw one on ebay and made an offer on it, unfortunately it was accepted, to which I replied 'oh jesus', before going to collect it.

 

It came with an F20, which would be handy as the F20 on my other Astra is leaking as I haven't got round to tapping a bolt hole to properly mount a seal plate on the diff (it was previously a 4x4 gearbox). I removed and replaced the F20 in a matter of three hours, which must be some kind of record.

 

I lobbed the F28 onto the C20LET and then put it into my ol' Astra:

 

It looks tidy, I didn't get this with my Saab engine, which touched the bonnet and was so heavy I would've had to get bigger springs.

 

 

I came up with the idea of using the rad and intercooler from the Isuzu engine Astra, which fitted and mounted up absolutely great and looks like will need minimal pipe work:

 

 

I'm wondering if the estate exhaust will fit ... ?

 

Tonight I will be taking more bits off the estate and putting it on this thing, including the sunroof.

[dugong]

Put the running gear in the estate

 

[Split_Pin]

Heard that SAAB engines were heavy, no idea how Corsas drive with one!

[Station]

Put the running gear in the estate

 

 

 

Estate is getting scrapped this weekend!

 

Heard that SAAB engines were heavy, no idea how Corsas drive with one!

 

 

Horribly I'd expect!

[New POD]

That's a very good approximation of the car Vauxhall should've built at the time. Lack of balls and/or budget on their part, I thought, so kudos to you!

Google "Astra Mk3 TS200 South Africa Built Police spec Hatch"

 

and see that GM did build an LET 208 Bhp 6 speed version

[Station]

Yes, South Africa got the Opel Astra 200TS Turbo hatchback:

 

 

and the Opel Kadett 200TS Turbo saloon:

 

 

They were used by the police, and 50 went to government officials:

 

 

They were all four/five door.

[DeeJay]

Bugger me, that's a lot of history in 2 pages.

It's going to be a flying machine.