College Project car

[brammy777]

Well, for those of you whove read my flickr or when I've mentioned it on here, i was working with 3 other people to make a Fiesta MKIV rear engined.But fuck it, it was boring and I didnt feel comfortable doing it.So i swapped groups, and bloody hell, good decision.The project car me and 2 other people will be working on is a 1988 Vauxhall Astra 1.3 Merit. Its mechanically sound(ish), but the steering rack needs replacing.The engine is going to be swapped for a 2 litre Cavalier unit, and its going to be freshened up looks wise, the ideas floating around were for a GTE lookalike, which can be done. We have a year, and about £550 budget, which i hope wont be used up, and we have the engine already.It has no rust either, so thats a bonus!I feel like Ive made a good move here, this is a project i will put all my enthusiasm into, and ill post picture updates as they happen.This car hasnt been on the road for about 3 years now, and would probably have been scrapped.But its saved for now, and might even be for sale if all goes well ( and i decide i dont want it)

[Cavcraft]

Nice one, keep us updated please and remember pictures are for winners.*Just tell me you didn't rape a Mk3 Cavalier SRi for the engine though?

[pogweasel]

It DOES NOT need GTE styling. Simply reduce height and add 'police spec' wheels and bask in the warm glow of WIN.

[brammy777]

Well it was only an idea floating around, we will see what happens.Needs new lights for sure anyway, and it will be resprayed, but not into some garish yellow or purple.And no cavalier SRis were harmed, its an engine the college held onto.Originally a Nova was going to get this engine, but its fucked and is being scrapped.

[HillmanImp]

To be fair giving a car GTE styling would cost more than the car is worth these days because of the rarity of the parts, shirley?

[brammy777]

Exactly, to be fair itd look heaps better with a GTE bumper, and clear indicator lenses. But we shall see, obviously all the engine auxilliaries have priority right now.....

[Guest]

Clear indicator lenses look rubbish man. ORANGE!

[brammy777]

haha, currently it has no indicators whatsoever! Someone knicked the lenses! Fuck knows who in my college wanted astra MKII front indicator lenses......I want to spray it red though, just to see a non faded 80s vauxhall in red would be pretty novel i reckon.But itll look good, i want GEN-U-INEE 80s Vauxhall wheeltrims for it.

[Station]

"Vauxhall Flame Pink" lol

[pogweasel]

Listen, right, forget all about re-sprays, or licky-sticky solutions. These cars are goooood, but once you've got that 2.0 in there, it's going to be too much for the stock brakes and although they'll handle OK, some decent suspension is going to make a whole world of difference, and I am not talking about -60mm springs either. I would be looking to spunk your £550 on an all-round discs solution with bigger fronts, plus some coil-overs for the boingy bits. Things like lenses you can scrabble for nowt as long as you are not buying 'barry' items. A set of Cav SRI steels or alloys will be all you need wheel-wise, and these can be had for feck all too. You have the ingredients to build a really nice sleeper here. Don't let the plebs f*ck it up!

[Arragonis]

It DOES NOT need GTE styling. Simply reduce height and add 'police spec' wheels and bask in the warm glow of WIN.

Seconded and thirded by me and Mrs A. Belmont style 5-spoke wide steelies and everything else standard looking. If it could be sprayed that standard Vauxhall blue from 1987 then it would be super cool combined with a standard grey interior and "tweed" style seats with unpadded "Merit" headrests and 2 spoke L wheel.For the final effect grey bumpers, manual windows and a single fog in the rear bumper.Nice.

[Albert Ross]

Stuff the discs all round idea, use Astramax Hd stuff..........BIG drums at the rear, and big venteds up front! Nice stiff diesel ARB also.

[Gompo]

i dont think you need to go discs all around. Vauxhall brakes are quite interchangable so you should be able to find something that'll fit quite easy on the front. Sure somebody else here knows better.

[Cavcraft]

Well Astra GTE legs and brakes will do the job for a start and are equipped for a 130 lump anyway in most cases. I suspect the GTE 1.8 brakes would do the job but 16V set up best.

[brammy777]

a sleeper is a good plan.And yes, we would obviously need to uprate the brakes for it, otherwise youve got a rocket with no parachute.Interior is mostly complete, door cards etc should be easyish to obtain anyway, i also think maybe 2 door handles have been snapped off, but cheap stuff.Lights wont be barry ones, fuck all that clouded and lexus style, its shit anyway.Its funny, the first years got hot hatches as their project cars, Golf GTI, 205 GTI and XR3i, so perhaps we could aim for a rival to that.And its already that vauxhall blue! in fact everything Arragonis said, it has!

[pogweasel]

 

Moar pics pls.

 

I do likes a nice Astra. I do I do I do.

 

I have had two of these things, G373SGU (in THAT blue) and H471XGK (white), both were 1.6L estates, utterly lovely old sheds. My mate had one for a few years too, C743OAU a red 3 door Merit, which was a comedy car of epic proportion - took us the length & breadth of Britain, 4 speed box, rumbly wheel bearings and inappropriate 'performance' stickers. All of them are sadly long dead now.

[brammy777]

 

Obviously, minor cosmetic defects at the moment, but hey ho, nothing unfixable!

 

Yeh, this astra is one of my favourite vauxhalls, and this particular one, I am determined to show the road again.

 

Its such a major plus its not rusty, considering the Astra MKII estate we also have is bloody rusty.

[Pillock]

Turn it into a Daewoo-looker.Or paint it white with some classy orange and yellow stripes, a blue light on top, "PILOCE" on the door and those fed-spec wheels that are a dead giveaway on 'undercover' Vauxhalls of old.Then drive around pretending you're in The Bill, circa 1989.edit: I noticed I spelt "Police" wrong, but it actually looks better. So I left it.

[pogweasel]

"PILOCE"

Is that the continental translation of 'PILLOCK'?

[Pillock]

No, it's just my podgy fingers not reacting to my Carlsberg-addled brain as well as they should.And yes, yes.... I do drink that. If I have to.

[VWPowered]

ahh the days of every police car rolling on these steels

 

[r.welfare]

YES! Another vote for those steels. Sleeper is the way forward, 1993 has passed and no-one wants to see GTE styling (and particularly not one of those ridiculous wide-arch kits that used to be all the rage) anymore, unless it's on a GTE of course.Still might be nice to fit a GTE digi dash, mind - while keeping the rest of the interior Merit-spec.

[Cavcraft]

ahh the days of every police car rolling on these steels

 

Yoinks! Pretty much the ultimate shite mobile.

 

Someone on here should find one of those Commanders and buy it, just for shits and giggles like. Then get really frustrated by random electrical gremlins and watch it disintegrate over night. The legend of those cars still makes me rofl years later.

[brammy777]

Those steel wheels are win, fact.theres only one on ebay haha.Il go down to a breakers soon and have a look, and i also need to buy more badges for it, as the old ones broke off.if anyone ever sees a full set of those wheels for sale, be sure to tell me!

[brammy777]

Right so anyway we got a better in depth look at it today.On the outside, it needs a new bootlid, right rear light cluster, new rear fog light and some new wheels.The interior is pretty shabby, but repairable.....The amazing thing is, its got practically no rust.The only rust is on the right rear arch, and its only bubbling so far. Small hole near the bottom but around it feels solid.Engine bay is bloody clean in fact, all shiny still. No dirt at all.Drums are fucked, but discs are okay, needs brake fluid. There is another Astra MKII in our college, an estate and it has rust on both rear arches like leprosy, across both sills, a large hole in the front wing and a blowing exhaust.And it smells like 20 years of painting and decorating.We need a breaker astra desperately, anyone on here got parts?

[brammy777]

Okay well today showed me a bit more of the carnew exhaust recently, within the past 5000 miles id say.Got the broken wingmirror off, basically removing all broken parts to show what we have to replace.Engine is ready to be taken out.I tell you what, removing an exhuast from a car on the ground where the back pipe goes under the rear axle is a pain.Also regarding rust, id say the front right wing is shot.teacher said its solid, but behind the indicator lense there is a good inch hole.

[brammy777]

engine is out, and i cleaned the head of the cavalier engine thats going in.In need of a donor car, either a higher spec astra or a cavalier.This project is going well so far, id say were making better progression than anyone else, thats for sure.We need better brakes, suspension, fuel lines, fuel tank, distributor cap, starter motor and some other bits.

[dollywobbler]

I can't believe I'm saying this, given my love of ground clearance, but a subtle drop and yes, maybe a pair of white indicator lenses (I loved the way the last Astra CD Mk2s looked) is all that needs externally.The idea of razzing past people in an Astra Merit fills me with joy!

[andrew e]

My mum bought a 6 month old Astra CD in 1990. It never had a CD player, I was gutted