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Mk3 Astra. Back from the paintshop


lisbon_road

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Today I made up a sill closing panel and welded/glued it in.  That's the offside finished.  I attacked the nearside and it only has surface rust, albeit quite deep.  I'm taking the car to the bodyshop tomorrow to ask them to paint it.  (They are open and as a key worker using this car for food deliveries almost daily, I think I'm ok doing this).  I will be asking for the front wing to be painted as it is rotten at the bottom and I have another, the top half of the drivers door as there is a bad defect on it, the drivers side sill and the arch on both sides.  I've really no idea what they will quote but I know that they are not busy.  Here's the panel.

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It is booked in for next week.  Paint replacement front wing (old one rotten at the bottom, there's a surprise), top half drivers door, both rear arches, and complete sill.  Should look tidy after that lot.  I've done a fair bit of work on this one and this'll be the only money spent really.  

I go in Tuesday morning and get the wing and various bits off for them.

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The car is in the bodyshop.  I visited today and it is all filled and ready for the next stage, but I had said to them 'take as long as you like' and they got some vans in which are in need of immediate work.  So my car waits, which is perfectly ok as it has given me an excuse to get 'the other' Astra out.  That's my red, two owner from new, LPG 158K mile much cleaner car.  Which begs the question: why do I have two?  I have no idea.  But I got it out of the lockup this morning and have used it for charity food deliveries today.  Some people were really pleased to get some food today, what crazy times we are in.  

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It is back.  They painted the drivers side front wing, which replaced the totally rotted one at the bottom, painted and stone chipped the drivers side sill which was scabby but not rusted through or anything, filled and painted the rear arch drivers side, painted the top half of the drivers door, painted the bottom half of the rear wing and cleaned up the rear arch on the passenger side, again not rusted through and painted it and the bottom half of the passenger side wing.  I put most of it back together though they put the front wing on.

It looks a lot better than before.  I had been told that this was a difficult paint colour to match and they said that they had eight variants but still were not happy with it.  It does show but I guess that's why complete sides of cars get painted.

A lot better than before though.

Since I've had it from Rob:

New exhaust cat back

New tyres 

Alloy wheels

Front suspension (shocks, ball joints, bushes, track rod ends, wheel bearings, top mounts)

Recon cylinder head, water pump, cambelt, aux belt

Service stuff 

Rubber inlet pipe

Replacement dashboard off another car

Body job as above

Not a lot really........

 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I've done the classic job of sealing the plastic trim that goes across the bottom of the windscreen.  If these distort, rain water will pour into the heater and the heater turns into a steam generator.

I used traditional window sealant, the stuff that doesn't go hard, not the modern PU sealant for bonded windows as I'd never get it off.  I avoided silicon for all the paint reasons.

Straightforward enough but thought I'd mention that I think part of the problem is the way the rubber seal that goes around the bottom of the windscreen can be misplaced.  This leads to the plastic panel not fitting well.  This car recently had a windscreen and that seal isn't fitted that well - it looks quite difficult and across the bottom, I'm not entirely sure what it does once the sealant has gone off.  

Part of me is wondering if I should get more of the car painted.  It wasn't very expensive and the areas that are painted don't match well.  

 

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  • 4 months later...

MOT coming up on the silver one.  I'd noticed that the boot on the drivers side ball joint wasn't looking good so thought I'd change it.  I had some old arms with perfectly good boots...…. jacked up, started undoing the nut on the joint and the nut would not come off.  Stayed turning round and round at the top of the thread.  So I drilled a hole and split it.  Split joint, boot is terrible, joint ok but a bit damaged from taking the nut off.  Got joints in the box of new bits (of course).  Noticed that the bush at the back of the arm is coming away, sigh.  Took arm off, replaced bush and joint.  Put arm back, job done, but took longer than I would have liked.  That bush has failed in 25K miles and the joint boot likewise, and all decent brands though I can't remember what they were.  Good thing I have parts on the shelf.  Haven't looked at the other side though I know that the boot looked fine.  

Need to clean up and waxoyl a bit underneath so will have to see if I have time for that tomorrow.  MOT booked for Saturday.  This one is normally ok and not wanting to tempt fate but it normally sails through the emissions test.

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It really sailed through the emissions test and was no problem, but needs wheel bearings and brake pads as advisory.  Pads not an issue, but a bit tedious to have to do wheel bearings after four years and about 25K miles.  I think they were some decent brand too.  Doesn't seem very long to me  - the ones on the red Astra have done 80K and I do remember when I fitted them that they were the Eurocarparts cheapo brand, which I wouldn't rush to use now.  

Always good to have a pass and loads of compliments too.  

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  • 3 weeks later...

Thought I'd rebuild a couple of spare struts as that way I don't have to take the car apart.  Got a local engine rebuild shop to press the bearings out, he asked for £5 so I gave him £10.  Woodmill Engine Services, recommended.

Getting the inner races off is another fun job, lots of grinding and chiselling.  One came off with the bearing - that's a bonus.

Today or tomorrow I will put it all back together.  

And now the red one seems to have OMGHGF.  It started missing, and one of the plugs is covered in something dark and wet.  Looks oily in the overflow tank and the water and oil levels have dropped.  Sigh.  Only slight surprise is that it is number 4, which isn't that close to the pressurised oil passage, but I hope it isn't something more serious.  40K miles or so since it was rebored.  If I have to do it, which doesn't take too long, I might swap the steering rack out too as it has some play and is so much more accessible with the head off.

Seems a message with just a lot to do in it.  That's the reality though.  

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  • 2 years later...

Thread resurrection.  Well I still have 'em both but it seems the silver one has got hairy exhaust syndrome.  Can anyone recommend where to get a better exhaust than this not very old ECP Kalrius one?  I can get EuroFlo off ebay, which I've never heard of, and GSF list Walker but seem to be listing only limited stock at certain branches, though commendably cheap.  

hairy.jpg

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In other news, I've bought another one.  Yes, another Mk3 Astra.  I have no idea why but this is Autoshite.

It is a 52K mile special edition (yeah right) one which has not moved in 12 years.  It looks basically very sound, though the headlining is very mouldy.  The bonnet is rusty and the bulkhead at the bottom, but the wings, doors and arches look immaculate. 

It is the same Titanium Silver as mine.  I will either (1) clean it up, white room it and sell for a fortune.  Or (2) find it is rotten underneath and use the clean panels on mine, save the engine, gearbox, cat, steering rack and other stuff and weigh the rest in. 

Further news later this week.  Including what her indoors thinks. 

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35 minutes ago, lisbon_road said:

Thread resurrection.  Well I still have 'em both but it seems the silver one has got hairy exhaust syndrome.  Can anyone recommend where to get a better exhaust than this not very old ECP Kalrius one?  I can get EuroFlo off ebay, which I've never heard of, and GSF list Walker but seem to be listing only limited stock at certain branches, though commendably cheap.  

hairy.jpg

Might be worth phoning SES - https://www.sesautoparts.co.uk/catalogue/ex-exhausts

They list Klarius, but also GT Exhausts who might be a bit better?

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2 hours ago, lisbon_road said:

Thread resurrection.  Well I still have 'em both but it seems the silver one has got hairy exhaust syndrome.  Can anyone recommend where to get a better exhaust than this not very old ECP Kalrius one?  I can get EuroFlo off ebay, which I've never heard of, and GSF list Walker but seem to be listing only limited stock at certain branches, though commendably cheap.  

hairy.jpg

I have found A2A exhausts from GSF to be much better than Klarius. They fit better for a start!

Not sure if they'll do one for a MK3 Astra but if you call your local branch and ask I'm sure they'll try to help you out 

Euroflo is probably ok, one of our suppliers stock them and I've fitted them with no issues I can think of

As you've found, Klarius parts you're lucky to see more than 2 years from. They're total shit

It's very difficult to find quality aftermarket exhausts, they all seem to be a case of "best of a bad bunch" as they're all ultimately made as cheaply as possible

If it's a car you like enough to keep for many years and is worthwhile to receive it, then a custom stainless system is probably the best way forward. It's a large initial cost but will work out cheaper in the long run than buying shit parts every 2 years or whatever 

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