The golden buttery base Astra

[barrett]

On 3/20/2022 at 10:28 PM, trigger said:

Wow, i didn't expect that response! It is the same 1196cc unit as was in my old Kadett

 

Hey Trigsworthy I was thinking about that car the other day when accidentally watching this quite bad music video. Do you reckon it's your old one? You never see enough of it to properly ID it but how many RHD bright orange Kadetts are there????

Deffo watch with the sound off though because it's so annoying. I really really fancied their singer (still do) though.

[trigger]

Hey, it looks like mine but it's got wing mirrors rather than door mirrors and looks like it's got quite shitty, faded paint work. I've never seen another orange one in the UK though 

[GrumpiusMaximus]

It's Astra season.  Spotted this in Dover this evening.  1300 'L' spec.

MOT records suggest it was parked up for a very long time before 2017.  33,000 miles or so.

[trigger]

I've been chipping away at jobs on this, I went a saw the previous owner again last week to collect the fuel cap key which he forgot to give me, i printed off the photo of him and his family on the day i bought the car and framed it and he was over the moon with it, i got the original dealers key fop in exchange.

Which was nice, since then dad's been helping me with some of the mechanicals, it's been serviced (£4.60 for the air and oil filters!), changed the fuel pipes and fitted a inline filter, cleaned the carb, drained the old fuel and replaced with fresh, it runs sooo much better now, replaced the coolant and water pump, replaced a rear wheel cylinder and serviced the brakes and chucked a pair of Uniroyal 155/80/13's on the front.

I still need to get my mate to repair this bit but that's all that holding me up from moting it now.

I've also binned the knackered old radio and wired up a new UBS type which is much lighter so it doesn't pull the dash out any more and i also fitted a aerial now too.

But it's looking better, unfortunately it's a little 50 shades of gold which is a disappointment, the front wings have been replaced and painted more bronze but it is what it is.

Check up my opening boot!

I'm thinking of putting on a pin stripe to take the eye of the patchy paintwork but not sure on what colour, thinking the black is better?

  

I don't think I'll be keeping it but I'm pleased that I've hopefully saved it.

[Daviemck2006]

I love this. I had a two astras back in the day then went on to Cavaliers. I keep my eyes open and if a well sorted mk1 astra, or mk1 or 2 cavalier became available at a decent price it would interest me. I had a 1300gl 5 door then a 1.6 sr 3 door. The arrival of the second child saw the 3 door getting changed for a mk2 cavalier 1.6 gl. I had a mk1 cavalier 2000 gls sportshatch previous to the astra days. That was back in the days when Vauxhall's were very highly regarded in this area.

Sent from my SM-T585 using Tapatalk

[Popsicle]

Such a cracking looking car with a lovely history with it. Personally I think it looks better without the pinstripe, but out of the two I reckon the black looks better.

I remember lusting after two of these in 1989, local garage had a red A reg 1.8 GTE and a black one. Both around £4k if memory serves me right. To much for a poor 18 year old me at the time, miserable buggers wouldn't even let me have a test drive!

[Cento16v]

Great job 👍

I like the black pinstripe, looks very period.

[Austat]

2 hours ago, Cento16v said:

Great job 👍

I like the black pinstripe, looks very period.

Agreed, the black pinstripe looks very smart.

[Split_Pin]

Looks great to me, I don't think the paintwork matters too much in my opinion. Nobody minded the lacquer peel in my old Cavalier GLS due to its age. Having said that I know you like your cars to be right.

Either way it's a cracking wee bus.

[HillmanImp]

Remember to get a disklok for this one. 

[barrett]

I reckon with your rattlecan ninja skills you could get those wings looking much more correct with a bit of effort. If you're going to have some paint mixed up to cover the sill repairs, then you might as well give it a go, right?

Anyway, this looks a cracking thing. If you're going to flog it soon please let me know - I've always wanted a Mk1 Astra, though I suspect I couldn't afford this one.

[trigger]

I took Barretts advice and had a go at one of the wings myself, unfortunately as I've got next to no budget I decided to be a cheap arse and use the Hycote paint so the colour match isn't perfect (it's much better than it was though) and I got a run with the lacquer on the wing but on the whole it's much smarter than it was. 

As you can see its getting there, a mate is coming over Wednesday to help weld up a tiny bit on the other arch, the only welding I've found, and then i can finish that side off too. 

I also picked this up at the weekend as it was cheap but I'm not sure I'll bother fitting it yet? 

[Split_Pin]

Great work on the spraying it looks a really good match to me. 

I much prefer the original grille with the red badge, it's in keeping with the rest of the car.

[Dick Longbridge]

I love the look of this thing. Prudent to give the other front wing and front valance a lick while you're at it too? I'm with Split Pin on the grille - the car is delicious in it's simplicity already. 

[trigger]

I'll definitely be painting the other wing, the grill was only £20 and is new old stock so I'll probably end up ebaying it on, I've seen one on there for £350!

[cobblers]

That looks a cracking job for rattlecans.

 I'd stick with the original grille, the base spec round lamps really are the icing on the cake of this car.

[D.E]

Impressive job on that wing, it is hard to get the colour to match!

Spoiler

I have just finished mine as well, took several attempts before I was somewhat content with the result.

I like the Hella grille, but imo it doesn't really suit that particular (bASe) car.

[sierraman]

2 hours ago, trigger said:

I took Barretts advice and had a go at one of the wings myself, unfortunately as I've got next to no budget I decided to be a cheap arse and use the Hycote paint so the colour match isn't perfect (it's much better than it was though) and I got a run with the lacquer on the wing but on the whole it's much smarter than it was. 

As you can see its getting there, a mate is coming over Wednesday to help weld up a tiny bit on the other arch, the only welding I've found, and then i can finish that side off too. 

I also picked this up at the weekend as it was cheap but I'm not sure I'll bother fitting it yet? 

For metallic you’ve done bloody well there. Better than my rattle skills. Having somewhere indoor to spray helps massively and not having to have it done in half a day as well.

[trigger]

I think the photos flatter it a bit but then again I'm quite critical of my own work so it probably isn't that bad, you can see here where I blinded up the A post and scuttle that's its not quite right. 

And don't worry about the grill, it won't be going on! 

[captain_70s]

Fuck me. When I rattle can a motor it looks like I blew the paint at it through a partially clogged straw...

[trigger]

Still chipping away at this, I've got the MOT now booked for Tuesday afternoon so the pressure is on to get it ready in time! Some friends popped round Wednesday evening to help crack on with the welding in the lower rear arch. 

Which came out surprisingly well considering my mate isn't a welder, we all watched him do the work as usual. 

Meanwhile in exchange I fitted some coach lines on his camper that he's just got back on the road. 

Since then I've filled and primed the area. 

It's not perfect but I'm sure it will be fine once painted, I then spent this afternoon painting the other wing and front valance. 

I'm not pretending it's perfect but I'm happy with it! 

Just that lower quarter part and sill to paint, stray some Dinitrol under the arches and stone chip the bottom of the sill and front valance lip, a good polish and then it's ready! 

[stuboy]

much better with the wings painted up.

 

sell the grill.

[trigger]

1 hour ago, stuboy said:

Sell the grill.

Already done, made a nice profit too! 

[trigger]

With the MOT date looming I thought I'd had better crack on and get it finished, having spent a solid 7 hours on it today it's now looking much better. 

I've polished all the paintwork, I thought the welded repair came out well. 

I've since ran some stone chip along the bottom of the sill to protect it, I had a play with some coachlines again

I decided I quite liked them so nipped to Halfords and bought a roll to fit, I'm not sure if there's a right or wrong way up to fit them? I then spent ages cleaning the car up, the results speak for themselves I think. 

Much better i hope you agree! It's not perfect, you can see a where I've blown the paint in but all in all I'm pretty happy with it, I'll be even happier tomorrow if it passes! 

[Popsicle]

I reckon you've done a cracking job, particularly for using rattle cans - looks bloody lovely.

[AndyW201]

Glorious! Having a reg number from my neck of the woods is the icing on the cake for me.

Best of luck with tomorrow.👍

[Split_Pin]

Tremendous,  good luck for the MOT today as well.

[MorrisItalSLX]

[wuvvum]

Clean pass!  Nice work.

[trigger]

Thanks Dave! 😀

So yes, this afternoon it went on the ramp of truth...

this was also the first time i had actually driven the car! I need not to have worried, it drove really really nicely, smooth and quiet, unlike a OHV Ford of that period! It's not very quick but it is only a 1196cc after all but it's not awful either.

The MOT was also a success! the emissions was a little high but the tester managed to get it though and remarked how solid the car was all round, phew! I celebrated by taking the long  way home to get some photos, apart from the poor paint match it's really smart, get ready for the photo dump... 3, 2, 1, GO!