Fab Corsa - End of the road

[Austin-Rover]

The past two months have seen a mammoth effort to revive this twenty year old Corsa. Now, even I'll admit that with these things being worthless and eBay full of examples that might have been better - all of the work undertaken is completely and utterly without reason or logic.

 

Anyhow, this poor thing has been in the family since new and prior to moving here to Huddersfield, it had only left North Wales twice in its life. It hadn't been washed this century and had been chain-smoked in for twenty years. Out of duty to an ageing relative, it was agreed to change hands for far more than its true worth...with no clear recollection from anyone just how good (bad?) it was. An idea was born that it would be an ideal run about for someone on the other side of the family returning from abroad. This was back in October...and the good work to turn the car around only finished today! Phew!

 

The day we went to collect it was one to remember. It had moved so infrequently in recent years it had its own mossy outline on the driveway and was slowly turning green itself. Despite appearances, it ran fine and made the trip to Huddersfield without issue. The most obvious problem at the time was some huge holes in the boot opening (what an odd place to rust!). Nothing insurmountable...that is until I decided to clean the muck out of the wheel arches - the muck brought the fuel filler pocket out with it. Oops.

 

What followed was a rather involved repair and re-creation of the filler pocket plus re-assembly. I should imagine a lot of Corsa B's run around with rot here as it is completely invisible, especially when chock full of road grime. All this welding coincided with what felt like forty days and forty nights of non-stop rain. The gazebo shanty town we made over the car was impressive to us, if not the neighbours.

 

On the inside, the nicotine ran like a yellow river off the trim, headlining and seats. Autosmart G101, Autoglym Fabric and Upholstery cleaner and my trusty Vax can truly work miracles. Everything feels nice to touch, smells lovely and you can once again see the colours in the fabrics.

 

The whole project was topped off with a service, cam belt and five (!) new tyres.

[Split_Pin]

Thats a grand job. The rot on the boot is odd, never seen one go like that there. The filler neck tunnel is a favourite rot spot. Both my Corsas were tickled here. I now clean it weekly with a toothbrush and even after that period of time there is still a lot of crap that comes out.

 

That looks a lot smarter now, Ill be the first to say "you can do mine next"!

[AlabamaShrimp]

I want to say something but I'm not sure what

 

Glad that you saved it as we know most now just go to the scrap. Is the plan to keep it as is for ages or just get rid?

[Rusty_Rocket]

That's cleaned up a treat, nice work!

[Austin-Rover]

It's in daily service from today, for a period of time unknown. After that...third car, replacement for the rotten Cav sneaking in shot above, occasional dog transport. Not sure.

[Station]

Good work!

[lisbon_road]

Shame if that Cav in the background is rotten.

 

Looks good though.  There's a lot of like for 90s Vauxhalls on this forum - even if it isn't universal!

[Austin-Rover]

Shame if that Cav in the background is rotten.

 

Looks good though.  There's a lot of like for 90s Vauxhalls on this forum - even if it isn't universal!

The poor thing has been around a bit - 168,000 miles. It's got 'issues' round the front and rear screens and something scary looking going on in the metalwork inboard from the rear wheel arches in the boot. The pic here shows it this summer after a little tarting up and a repair to the sill to get it another MoT. It had been off the road for a few years up until this point. Same name on the log book since 1991!

[DVee8]

Some may say why bother it's only a Corsa,but good on you for keeping it going.

[blguy1975]

Good Job Austin ..Proves what I  say, Anything can be restored if you have enugh time and effort .

I would mount the Cav on a plinth for all time to celebrate automotive greatness

 

Fancy restoring an Aggro?

 

[Austin-Rover]

Crap Corsa has been in daily use and abuse since December, and not complained once. I've got it back for three weeks at the moment so have taken the opportunity to give it a little more attention in readiness for the MoT next month.

 

The off-side sill has had an MoT standard patch at the back a few years ago, plus the obligatory black tide mark of doom all down the side of the sill afterwards. We've removed said welding and used a proper repair panel to make a neater job...and also repaired the membrane part of the inner sill whilst the opportunity was there. A bit of filler to neaten it up and it'll look loads better. The back tide mark is going, too. Some fresh stone chip covering and some silver paint and you'd never know anyone had ever been there!

 

 

[Dick Cheeseburger]

Nice work. Good to see a pov spec Corsa being treated well, and back from the brink. Shame to read about the grot on your mk2 Cav a few posts above. I hope the old girl is still going - I've got a real soft spot for them and used to love driving them.

[Kiltox]

I have two Corsa Bs in my yard that will go to scrap shortly, if anyone is interested in reviving them rather than scrapping you can have them for free!

[Austin-Rover]

Thanks! That Cav has two weeks left to run on the MoT, then it becomes a driveway ornament > spares car > off to the bean tin factory (in that order). I should imagine the stripping down will take many weeks, so as not to waste anything.

[Dick Cheeseburger]

Thanks! That Cav has two weeks left to run on the MoT, then it becomes a driveway ornament > spares car > off to the bean tin factory (in that order). I should imagine the stripping down will take many weeks, so as not to waste anything.

Shame, but at least it'll be a decent source of spares I guess.

[Austin-Rover]

Welding complete...for now! As well as the repair to the repair to the sill (above), the closing piece to the sill on the near side also needed replacing. Seems every 80s and 90 Vauxhall rots here - very odd! Re-doing the repair on the off side sill was a good opportunity to remove the black tide mark of death that the MoT tester had put on this sill after his own welding. It now looks loads better on this side for being the correct colour once more. I also treated an ugly scab at the bottom of the passenger rear door too, but typically the day I get it out of the garage the heavens have opened for yet another monsoon so I can't get polishing.

 

The last job before bringing it out of the garage was one of those jobs that makes absolutely no difference to the safety or reliability of the car...but is immensely satisfying. Namely, fixing the exterior temperature display on the dashboard. It was a dead easy fix too, one of the wires to the sensor had snapped!

 

MoT booked 0900 Friday morning.

 

 

[Austin-Rover]

Hard to believe that this time twelve months ago, the weld-a-thon under a gazebo on the driveway was in full swing! If we'd have known, we never would have started. Thankfully since hitting the road just before Christmas last year, the Crap Corsa has redeemed itself by being utterly reliable and dependable. Every time we get our hands on it, we've managed to make more improvements each time (see above). It'll never make it to the show circuit, but hopefully neither will it return to being semi-derelict. 

 

At the moment it's in the garage, back from its deployment with family (they're on holiday) for an oil change, waxoyling, and a couple of other bits and bobs. We've bought it four new plastic wheel arch spats and two rear light clusters from carz2.co.uk for pretty good prices. They're not genuine GM, but they're better than cracked / scuffed / faded originals. The front wheel arch liners are out whilst the spats are off, and there's a good few scabs lurking behind them that are in the process of being cleaned up.

 

Waxoyl, an oil change and a coat of polish are in the pipeline, then it's back on deployment to the mean streets of Bury.

 

 

[Split_Pin]

Both my current and first Corsa had rust in the inner wing there. Glad it's doing a good turn, the old 8v lumps are hardy things.

[vulgalour]

I missed this the first time around, makes me feel a lot better about our little Corsa B which likewise has been utterly dependable and had more spend on and done to it than perhaps such a basic car warrants.

 

Here's Nugget. Read more

[Pillock]

Didn't Nugget also rust in that weird place inside the boot opening / rear light area?

[vulgalour]

Slightly differently.  Nugget rusted under the trim strip but not under the lights.

[They_all_do_that_sir]

I do like a corsa B. They get a hard time but in years to come I imagine they'll be pretty rare. The prefacelifts like yours and nugget are bomb proof mechanically too.

 

Corsa Cs on the other hand are utter wank

 

Sent from my D6603 using Tapatalk

[Split_Pin]

Corsa Cs are ok but the fact that they have a clutch slave instead of a good old cable plus a subframe for added complexity puts me off.

[They_all_do_that_sir]

Corsa Cs are ok but the fact that they have a clutch slave instead of a good old cable plus a subframe for added complexity puts me off.

IMO they are terrible.....there used to be loads round here and they've all disappeared yet you see the odd corsa B soldiering on.

 

My mum had a C years ago and it was a bit like triggers broom by the end. At the time I had a B with well over 100k on it, hers had 40k and mine was by far the better car

 

Sent from my D6603 using Tapatalk

[jakebullet]

I had a corsa B, a 1.5 TD more doors L reg. It was a hateful shitbox that fucked my knee. It's also the only car that managed to get out of my ownership alive.

 

Somebody loves it though. Last mot:

• Test date 18 October 2016
• Test Result Fail
• Odometer reading 109,033 miles
• MOT test number 8055 3360 8785
• Reason(s) for failure
  
  Exhaust emits an excessive level of metered smoke for a turbo charged engine (7.4.B.3b)

  Battery insecure (1.9.1)

  Drivers seat insecure (6.2.A.1)

  offside rear Body or chassis has excessive corrosion, seriously affecting its strength within 30cm of the body mountings seat fixing for drivers seat (6.1.B.2)

  offside rear outer Body or chassis has an inadequate repair, seriously affecting its strength within 30cm of the body mountings sill (6.1.B.2)
• Advisory notice item(s)
  
  nearside Front wheel bearing has slight play (2.5.A.3c)

I'd have thought it would be bean tins after that, but it's on sorn.

[Lacquer Peel]

They are utter misery to drive but I respect their reliability and solidity.

[vulgalour]

^ I would agree except for one thing and that's the butt clenching mild peril when attempting corners briskly in the wet caused by the bodyroll and understeer of a stock B with no antiroll bar as standard.

[cms206]

The rear door handles annoy me immensely on 5 door Corsa Bs but good work anyway!

 

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

[barefoot]

The rear door handles annoy me immensely on 5 door Corsa Bs

Since this was pointed out to me a couple of years ago, I can't stop seeing how wrong they are.

And there's not a right place to put them either.

[Austin-Rover]

Can someone point out the door handle thing? I can't see it. ...or is it best I remain blind to this 'issue'?