1995 Opel Astra Saloon. Gaan voort met die roes herstelwerk.

[Imhotep]

In fairness though if you don’t need the entire panel, why bother for that price?

Still can’t wait to see this welded like. Needs to be on the road again.

[JMotor]

That's the same conclusion I came too as well.

It would have been rendered scrap for the sake of taking a couple of cuts. Rest of the inner tub on the car is good enough. 

100% does need to be back on the road.

[bezzabsa]

looks likre SA didnt bother with rust proofing!!!

nice save tho

[JMotor]

1 minute ago, bezzabsa said:

looks likre SA didnt bother with rust proofing!!!

nice save tho

Aye. You be correct. They didn't at all.

I have not seen one drop of cavity wax anywhere. 

How it's not worse is a mystery to me.

[JMotor]

Spent a little more time on the car yesterday.

New panel is close to being fully welded in.  Mostly connected to the floor and fully attached to the A, B and C pillars. 

The seat rail is next on the jobs list. That needs welded back in. I'll give that and the floor a going over with rust treatments and lashings of paint. 

Still waiting on the fuel filler neck repair sections to come in. Have to chase the supplier at some point. 

[JMotor]

Some more panels came in the end of last week.

The inner arch piece needs modification. It's one for an estate/van Astra. The back arch edge is different for the rear bumper.

I have a hatch/saloon section to show the difference.

That section is flatter. A silly detail but means I have to chop them about if it's going to fit. Nothing new really. Never straight forward.

What is worrying me will be chopping into the rear quarter panel to access the rusty shit behind. 

As the panel is pretty good. Very slightly nibbled on the fuel neck area. Something to ponder and might take a look at other projects to see how they've done the same area.

[Marshall2810]

Love this thread, incredible work mate

[rm36house]

Awesome work! Very inspirational, I know where I'm going very soon after some advice for car's body work.

[JMotor]

Today's work.

One seat rail back in. Another weekend should have the thing back in fully. Sorry, finished off. It's like five plug welds away. 

Yeah. I'm happy with the progress so far. 

[lisbon_road]

Impressive work.  As others have said, less impressive rust proofing, these cars here aren't bad for rust.

You can get plastic inner rear arch panels for these on ebay.  Not especially cheap.  I've never seen them on actual cars but possibly an addition, might be for the Eastern European market where they last longer and were made for longer in Poland.  I have a pair and could share pictures if of interest. 

[JMotor]

Thank you @lisbon_road (also apologies, I got that bearing kit just fine thank you 🙂).

Ah yes, I think I know what you mean with those rear liners. Funny enough it was lads in eastern European countries I've seen use them. My goodness they have stitched up some horrifically rotten Astras! 

For this car I'm not going to get a set as I'm not sure if they would end up causing rubbing issues with my larger wheels and the lower ride height I intend to go back too. Thank you for the suggestion though.

Thinking of using 2k epoxy for the whole underbody with something over the top of that. Not looking forward to doing all that work. But needs to be done. 

[DavidB]

I bought a mk3 GSi in 2002 which went off the road in 2004 and spent 15 years in various lock-ups and didn't see the road, so it never succumbed to any of the typical rust spots these do now.

Most hatchbacks needed the rear arches doing if they had a sunroof (most of them), as the drains got blocked and the area behind the arch literally filled with litres of water. The saloons and estates seemed to have different drainage systems and don't seem to have that problem.
The cross-member under the radiator gets a bit crusty, as does the spare wheel well. They all went in the same areas - rear sills, front cross member, and arches, and barely anywhere else. The Cavalier is exactly the same.

I really love these, especially the GSi, they really did a good job with the bodykit, I've had so many mk3s!

[lisbon_road]

16 hours ago, JMotor said:

Thank you @lisbon_road (also apologies, I got that bearing kit just fine thank you 🙂).

Ah yes, I think I know what you mean with those rear liners. Funny enough it was lads in eastern European countries I've seen use them. My goodness they have stitched up some horrifically rotten Astras! 

For this car I'm not going to get a set as I'm not sure if they would end up causing rubbing issues with my larger wheels and the lower ride height I intend to go back too. Thank you for the suggestion though.

Thinking of using 2k epoxy for the whole underbody with something over the top of that. Not looking forward to doing all that work. But needs to be done. 

That make sense.  These aren't exactly legendary for good ride and handling and some say that lowering isn't such a great idea - but if you've done it before?

Rust.  I have a suspicion that the Mk3s made in Germany were actually worse than the ones made in Ellesmere Port.  I had a friend who had a German one which was basically rotten, where many UK made ones I have seen have been loads better.  Also it looks like the GSi ones were made in Germany and often I see stuff about them that makes them seem really rusty too.  Just another car forum theory. 

[JMotor]

I did think the grot found in GSi's was down to the side skirts holding dirt and damp. 

I always thought it was the earlier PH1 cars rotted the worst. Later cars appear to have a bit more wax squirted about the inner sections. Though the German built cars from my experience were the better ones. Then again, these things were just rusty BASTIDS in general 😆.

Learned the hard way with lowering these. Best set up I used and will fit to this car was Yellow Bilstein dampers with Eibach springs. Luckily I won't have the need for this car to be a full on daily. So I can live with the trade off in ride.

I want it to look good on the Speedline wheels I had on it years ago. 

The suspension geometry does suck! That old German strut design is awful. Zero steering feel in them too. VAG used a similar design in few cars way back too I've noticed. 

[JMotor]

On 16/03/2025 at 21:35, DavidB said:

Love these. 

They really do look good with the kit. Suit the Turbo fan blades or the Sport Steelies.

I have a set of the original centre caps for the steels stored away. 

Can't help but think I remember these two cars from MIGweb? But I could be wrong.

[JMotor]

Sum total of this weekends work.

Lower inner arch rebuilt.

Tried repairing with a donor section. Waste of time as it was too flea bitten to save. Cut a portion out of an inner arch section and used that to make a new piece. 

Minor tweaks required, will do that when the sill goes back on.