Warch’s Mk 2 Astraaargh!

[warch]

As detailed on my generic thread I bought a C reg Astra Mk2 (second year of production) earlier this year.

It cost 900 quid (plus delivery) and is basically solid but minus a few parts and in need of a bit of welding. It’s the base model, not even an L or Merit, with the better 1.3 engine (the ancient 1.2 was the other option). 

Initially I needed to fit new front calipers as the old ones had gone walkabout. These were easily sourced online once I’d identified what I needed. Ditto a new starter motor which allowed me to run it and see what it sounded like. It did start fairly easily notwithstanding the quirky auto choke mechanism which is thankfully unfamiliar to users of modern cars. It ran smooth and lacked the characteristic death rattle of the time expired overhead camshaft that afflicted many of these engines. All the electrics on the car (there aren’t many) worked fine despite the odd number of indicators (someone had replaced the N/S front wing but hadn’t drilled a hole to refit the side repeater). Happily these aren’t actually required on cars built before 1986.

Being a mid 80s Astra there was going to be welding. Initial examination revealed a crunchy O/S rear sill and a hole in the wheel arch in front of the rear wheel. Further examination with the wheel removed revealed corrosion damage to the rear upper spring mound on that side. A new sill was obtained online and the offending section cut out and replaced. A repair piece was crafted to fit in front of the rear wheel.

I blasted it with zinc primer inside and out. Obviously needs smoothing and painting, this is how it looked after welding and linishing. 

The spring mount was repaired (replacement pieces are also available) and welded back into place.  
 

Next thing to tackle is the corresponding section of sill on the other side of the car. It’s actually technically ok as it’s strong enough to support a jack, but I may as well get it as good as possible especially as it may well not be regularly MoTed after next December when it achieves exemption status under the current regs.

I’m not looking to achieve anything near perfection with this car, my aesthetic is rally car (still a few Mk 2 Astras still on the motorsport scene) so strong and well sorted will suffice. The only other items required are a new battery and fresh set of tyres. 

[stuboy]

looking good, had a 1.3 through a deal... had a 3 door drivers seats from base model... swapped seats from a cavalier mk3 sri, was very snug,  nova gte steering wheel... bloody front calipers kept seizing up... almost killed it driving through floods about 2002

[Floatylight]

Had a F reg 1.3L as my second car, was brilliant, took me all over the country aged 18-21..

[Wibble]

E reg 1.3 Merit was my experience. Bloody quick for a 1.3.

[somewhatfoolish]

They aren't with 5 teenagers in and the rear bottoms out when the inexperienced wheelman taking us to college misjudges a bend and drives over a sunken drain cover.🤣 I cadged a lift elsewhere after that.

[GeordieInExile]

Did these have wheel trims even on the base model? Decadent.

[Dan the van]

Nice.I had a 1988 van,1.6 4 spd diseasel.Bought new,i took it to 347000 miles in 10 years.(second engine).Was a brilliant workhorse.

[FakeConcern]

Nice project there!

I drew a net of a Mk2 GTE many years ago that may be of some slight interest to you

Can be found with a few more on this thread

https://autoshite.com/topic/20735-doesnt-fit-anywhere-else-shite-thread/

[grogee]

My Dad had five Mk2 Astras, all with 1.6 pez. Really good cars, I think only one disgraced itself by snapping its cambelt but non-interference so an inconvenience not a disaster. I learned to drive in one of them. 

Impressive welding skills there @warch. How about a pic of the bASe interior? Does it have a clock? 

[warch]

Here you go Grogee. 
 

I can’t take any credit for the welding, I just cut the pieces for my mate Will (who also did my Landrover) to weld in. 

[Matty]

Love it. Like a manta b dash its the view of my youth. My dad had a series of mk1 2 and 3 diesel vans as i grew up. At 17 i had an astramax for a bit as well. 

Well jell.

[MAF260]

I had a Mk2 SRi in about 1991. Great car which only ever suffered a cracked distributor cap which was a fortune from Vauxhall to replace at the time. I had to sadly sell it when 'hot hatch' insurance prices went  through the roof, downgrading to a Nova 1.3 SR.

 

[warch]

30 minutes ago, Matty said:

Love it. Like a manta b dash its the view of my youth. My dad had a series of mk1 2 and 3 diesel vans as i grew up. At 17 i had an astramax for a bit as well. 

Well jell.

Me too. I can still remember sitting in the passenger seat of my Mum and Dad’s B reg Opel Kadett estate thinking how futuristic it was (I was 7). It lasted long enough for me to pass my driving test in 10 years later and was still going strong when my brother wrapped it around another car on a mini roundabout in Hereford a couple of years after that. 

[grogee]

6 minutes ago, warch said:

Me too. I can still remember sitting in the passenger seat of my Mum and Dad’s B reg Opel Kadett estate thinking how futuristic it was (I was 7). It lasted long enough for me to pass my driving test in 10 years later and was still going strong when my brother wrapped it around another car on a mini roundabout in Hereford a couple of years after that. 

I agree that looks like quite a futuristic interior for its time, very sculpted and quite cleverly laid out. I guess the outside was a bit 'future shock' in 1985 as well, although we'd had the jelly mould Sierra for a couple of years by then. 

1.6 felt quick then, the 1.3 didn't hang about either. Both great engines. As Matty says - well jell. 

[warch]

26 minutes ago, grogee said:

I agree that looks like quite a futuristic interior for its time, very sculpted and quite cleverly laid out. I guess the outside was a bit 'future shock' in 1985 as well, although we'd had the jelly mould Sierra for a couple of years by then. 

1.6 felt quick then, the 1.3 didn't hang about either. Both great engines. As Matty says - well jell. 

I borrowed the battery off the Landy and fired it up today. A slight alteration to the idle speed and adjustment of the drive belt tightness was all it needed. What strikes me is how modern it feels, surprisingly smooth and free revving, much more like a 90s or early 00s car. It also doesn’t stink of petrol/fumes like many 80s cars used to. 
 

My brother had a 1.6 Astra GL which was fantastic really, supposedly only 82hp but went much better than my allegedly 105hp Orion Ghia. 

[beko1987]

Happy memories here! My grandad ran a J (or g, can't fully remember) 4 door Astra in that red as his work shitter during the 90s and until he retired in the early 2000s.

He worked very near where I lived at the time so would pick me up on a Friday and take me home for a weekend regularly (mum wasn't well when I was a kid), so I'd spend alot of time in it! Usually in the back though, 

Granny had a blue nova 4 door 'Luxe' at the time too (which replaced a d reg 3 door nova in green) . Proper Vauxhall lickers they were

[danthecapriman]

My parents nearly bought a C reg mk2 in that pale yellow colour after my mum passed her test. I remember going to see it with them. The colour put them off though (naturally I liked it and still do!) so they bought a Datsun instead from the same dealer. 
A mate from college had an E reg 1.6 hatch too which went like shit off a shovel. Very similar colour to yours.

This era of Vauxhall (up to and including the mk3 Cav) were Vauxhall’s best era imho. Really good mechanics and great looking styling to them. Just a pity they weren’t rustproofed a bit better!

[JMotor]

Lovely little thing that Astra.

Closest I came to having a MK2 Astra was a Daewoo Nexia. 

Yours is the spec I'd like to have an Astra in.

[warch]

Mine is the one at the top.

[Zelandeth]

I have to laugh at 185/60 tyres being described as ultra low profile.  My supposedly luxury Volvo from 2007 has sodding 45 profile tyres on it!  Why can't we go back to sensible tyres sizes where comfort was a thing...

[Talbot]

3 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

I have to laugh at 185/60 tyres being described as ultra low profile.  My supposedly luxury Volvo from 2007 has sodding 45 profile tyres on it!  Why can't we go back to sensible tyres sizes where comfort was a thing...

At what width though?  if they are 245 or wider, then the sidewall height is equal to or more than the 185/60 mentioned.

That said,.. I do miss tyres with a decent sidewall.  I just do not understand why people have been conditioned into believing big wheels with a thin smear of rubber on them is better than actually having a spine.

[Dyslexic Viking]

We also got these in 2 door estate, did UK get that?

[Dan the van]

4 minutes ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

We also got these in 2 door estate, did UK get that?

Yes we did.In fact the van version was an estate shell without the side windows so it had the nice long doors.plus a half bulkhead.

[warch]

19 minutes ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

We also got these in 2 door estate, did UK get that?

Probably the holy grail of Mk 2 Astras (apart from the GTE 16v).

Beloved of psychopaths the Bedford Astramax was popularly considered to be the quickest car on British roads during the 80s and 90s (one even made it into a car magazine article about Cossie killers, i.e. cheaper alternatives to the popular performance Ford).

[beko1987]

Used to see many of those astra estates around Peterborough in the late 90s/early 2000s in that colour or red! 

Faded to utter beyond pogweasel fuck and usually a tradies hack (which they probably replaced with the mk4 astra estate as I saw and see plenty of those covered in paint at the back end 😂) but bombing about up and down the parkways

[Dan the van]

1 hour ago, warch said:

Probably the holy grail of Mk 2 Astras (apart from the GTE 16v).

Beloved of psychopaths the Bedford Astramax was popularly considered to be the quickest car on British roads during the 80s and 90s (one even made it into a car magazine article about Cossie killers, i.e. cheaper alternatives to the popular performance Ford).

Ah,fond memories of the Astramax.Had a nearly new bASe spec one(vinyl seats,no carpet etc) as company van.C919 ULH if memory serves.Got done for speeding on the M3,89mph.I was just slowing down from an indicated ton but not quickly enough😁.I could never stop the blasted back doors rattling either.

 

 

[grogee]

52 minutes ago, Dan the van said:

Ah,fond memories of the Astramax.Had a nearly new bASe spec one(vinyl seats,no carpet etc) as company van.C919 ULH if memory serves.Got done for speeding on the M3,89mph.I was just slowing down from an indicated ton but not quickly enough😁.I could never stop the blasted back doors rattling either.

 

 

Ours did that or similar, from memory it was the boot catch working loose. 

Actually it also rattled inside the drivers door which we never got to the bottom of. 

I briefly had a late Mk2 1.8 LXi estate bought off my uncle then sold to a mate, it went really well but the ride was dreadful. 

[tooSavvy]

AVAS..... Meh 😉

🚙💨

[sierraman]

Our neighbour had an F plate 3 door diesel, it’d had the bumpers painted body colour in an attempt to cheer it up which didn’t work. Then my dad chopped in his Sierra for a 3 door facelift 1.4 on a 91 H which wasn’t bad. Bit gloomy in the back but it did him ok for a few years, it was much much better than the Mk3 1.4 L that he erroneously replaced that with, strangled with a cat and SPi in that dreadful dark blue with tweed upholstery combo. Things must have been pretty bloody desperate in our house when he got lumbered with that. I’d have kept the Mk2! 

[sierraman]

On 30/08/2024 at 09:04, danthecapriman said:

My parents nearly bought a C reg mk2 in that pale yellow colour after my mum passed her test. I remember going to see it with them. The colour put them off though (naturally I liked it and still do!) so they bought a Datsun instead from the same dealer. 
A mate from college had an E reg 1.6 hatch too which went like shit off a shovel. Very similar colour to yours.

This era of Vauxhall (up to and including the mk3 Cav) were Vauxhall’s best era imho. Really good mechanics and great looking styling to them. Just a pity they weren’t rustproofed a bit better!

I remember that colour, piss yellow it was known as at the time. A carry over from the Mk1 - fortunately terracotta hit the dust with the Mk1.