Warch's Back to the Future Astraargh experience!

[warch]

32 minutes ago, JMotor said:

It should barf any air out on its own. Unless there is another issue.

I'm glad this car serving you well and you like it. Astras are good cars. Simple, tough and not too bad looking things either.

Strange to say, but it's almost fun to own something (by today's standards) brutally basic.  No pretence, just car.

What more do you actually need? 

Yeah I’m sure it’ll do that, I thought it would take quite a bit more coolant than it did. 

I can’t see me buying a newish car again for a while (notwithstanding that we own a modern family car). I just love the driver involvement it’s much more visceral, you do feel much more connected to the road. I also spend much more time actually looking where I’m going, there’s nothing else in the cabin to distract you. 

[warch]

Had my first temporary FTP yesterday thanks to flood water. I had driven down a road to go to martial arts at about 10 am then returned via the same road two and a half hours later. Unfortunately the road had flooded in the interval, and I failed to keep my exhaust clear (should have been in 1st not 2nd). 

Happily the road was quite flat so it was dead easy to push the car (c. 850kg) the 40 metres required to clear the water, whereupon it immediately restarted. There were about three flooded sections in the three miles between me and home but I managed these in 1st gear (very tall gearing on this). 

Not really the nicest way to treat a forty year old car to be honest, but it didn't actually cause any damage to the car so apart from wet feet I was none the worse. 

[warch]

Update; managed to do my first 1000miles in this car. I took my old car to the scrapyard on Friday so I’m committed now. 

Also managed to attain 40.2 (actual) mpg in normal driving conditions which is bloody good for any 80s carbed petrol car, especially in this cold weather and bearing in mind how hilly it is where I am. 

There are a few foibles, the heating system is odd, the central vents only blow cold air and the side vents only warm air regardless of what the temperature setting is on. The exhaust needs looking at (slight blow) and the gas struts for the hatch need changing but I’m still happy with it. 
 
Pictured with an impressive road/rail Unimog earlier in the week.

[warch]

Decided to do some range calculations. Based on a 52 litre tank size it should be good for 400-450miles per tank. 

Managed slightly over 43mpg off my last tank, which was a mixture of long and short journeys including quite a lot of very steep lanes in Monmouthshire. This is bloody brilliant to be honest. 
 

I’ve fitted some new gas struts for the hatch so I no longer need a broom stick to prop it open. One good thing about this car is most parts I’ve ordered seem to be quality old stock, there are no chinesium parts on the market for cars of this age. 
 

I do need to find and fix the blow on the exhaust, preferably with a new section.

[warch]

The poor old Astra has been piling on the miles lately. 

I've fixed the blow on the exhaust, which turned out to be nothing worse than a tiny hole in the centre silencer box.

I'm considering fitting new suspension, as the sheer weight of my kit tends to weigh the rear end down a bit. On the suspension front, it has successfully managed to withstand several trips to Gloucester along the English version of the Bolivian Highway of Death (massive potholes everywhere, broken up tarmac etc). Light kerbweight, soft suspension and titchy little steel wheels and high profile tyres are an obvious advantage here. 

I'm a little concerned about the potential for issues caused by E10 fuel (none of my fleet were designed to run on it). Are there any particular warning signs or dangers to watch out for. I've heard of issues with fuel lines corroding or deteriorating due to the ethanol content, are there any additives to prevent this? 

 

 

[Matty]

2 hours ago, warch said:

The poor old Astra has been piling on the miles lately. 

I've fixed the blow on the exhaust, which turned out to be nothing worse than a tiny hole in the centre silencer box.

I'm considering fitting new suspension, as the sheer weight of my kit tends to weigh the rear end down a bit. On the suspension front, it has successfully managed to withstand several trips to Gloucester along the English version of the Bolivian Highway of Death (massive potholes everywhere, broken up tarmac etc). Light kerbweight, soft suspension and titchy little steel wheels and high profile tyres are an obvious advantage here. 

I'm a little concerned about the potential for issues caused by E10 fuel (none of my fleet were designed to run on it). Are there any particular warning signs or dangers to watch out for. I've heard of issues with fuel lines corroding or deteriorating due to the ethanol content, are there any additives to prevent this? 

 

 

I'd run it on e5. Obvs there's a cost differance but better mpg off e5 (something to do with ethanol releasing less energy when burnt). The placebo effect also tells me it makes my cars quicker 😀 

[warch]

My Astra is the base model (not even a Merit) so lacks basic stuff like rubbing strips on the doors. It does have the OE radio (which I may press back into service when I remember to fit a new aerial) and a rather sad but completely functional analogue clock. One thing it does have which I've never had on any of my cars before (Landrover excepted) is a towbar. It's a reassuringly heavy duty design featuring a sodding great brace incorporated into the boot floor and twin plugs for trailer and caravan electrics. 

Anyway, this week I have provisionally arranged purchase of a Rover 80 engine (same engine as they used in the Series II/III Landrover) so needing a trailer to retrieve it I popped round to my dad's and attached his single axle plant trailer to a) see if my car would pull it ok and b) to see if the trailer electrics still worked. 

If I'm honest a 0.85 ton car with a 1300 engine probably wouldn't be the first thing I'd go looking for to tow anything, but it didn't seem to have any issue towing quite a hefty trailer at any reasonable speed. The amazing visibility out the back thanks to thin roof pillars and low bodyline was handy for reversing as was the great steering lock. The lights all worked perfectly once I'd jiggled the plug a bit, and had the added bonus of a buzzer in the cabin for the indicators. 

One issue with the car I hadn't previously mentioned was that the gearshift was quite obstructive. I've inadvertently cured this by increasing the tickover speed, which has also cured a tendency to 'kangaroo' slightly when driving in slow traffic. 

Next job I will be doing is the clutch, the actual clutch is ok but the release bearing is quite loud, so it would probably make sense to change the whole lot at some point. Happily the design on this allows the clutch to be changed without removing the gearbox, you just withdraw the input shaft then remove the clutch plate etc via an aperture under the bellhousing.  

[warch]

Had my first FTP yesterday.

I was a bit concerned about using such an old car without a bit of preventative maintenance. In fairness it has shown every sign of having been well cared for mechanically, but a bit of decidedly unsympathetic treatment (towing a trailer with a 1100kg  water filled IBC on it) caused the bottom coolant hose to fail spectacularly (the entire front of the car disappeared under a cloud of steam). Happily the engine was off when this happened and I was parked on the cricket pitch about a mile from my house (the water was to wet the wicket down for a game at the weekend), so I was able to bodge it back together with a hose pinched off my Land Rover. 

I was able to find a correct replacement hose on ebay for about a tenner so hopefully I can nurse it along for a few days until it arrives. 

[AnnoyingPentium]

Liked for the quick repair, not the FTP.

[warch]

14 minutes ago, AnnoyingPentium said:

Liked for the quick repair, not the FTP.

I just accept it as part of the rich and varied tapestry of shit old car ownership, drivers of moderns probably won't appreciate the feeling of relief that people who drive ropey old bangers experience at the end of every long journey/pulling off the motorway/hearing the engine burst into life.

Having said that, Mrs warch's nearly new X Trail had a similar failure when the plastic thermostat housing failed, that would have probably lunched the engine if it had happened anywhere other than the service ramp at the main dealers where it was in having an MoT, so it can happen to anything.

[New POD]

On 13/04/2025 at 13:08, warch said:

My Astra is the base model (not even a Merit) so lacks basic stuff like rubbing strips on the doors. It does have the OE radio (which I may press back into service when I remember to fit a new aerial) and a rather sad but completely functional analogue clock. One thing it does have which I've never had on any of my cars before (Landrover excepted) is a towbar. It's a reassuringly heavy duty design featuring a sodding great brace incorporated into the boot floor and twin plugs for trailer and caravan electrics. 

Anyway, this week I have provisionally arranged purchase of a Rover 80 engine (same engine as they used in the Series II/III Landrover) so needing a trailer to retrieve it I popped round to my dad's and attached his single axle plant trailer to a) see if my car would pull it ok and b) to see if the trailer electrics still worked. 

If I'm honest a 0.85 ton car with a 1300 engine probably wouldn't be the first thing I'd go looking for to tow anything, but it didn't seem to have any issue towing quite a hefty trailer at any reasonable speed. The amazing visibility out the back thanks to thin roof pillars and low bodyline was handy for reversing as was the great steering lock. The lights all worked perfectly once I'd jiggled the plug a bit, and had the added bonus of a buzzer in the cabin for the indicators. 

One issue with the car I hadn't previously mentioned was that the gearshift was quite obstructive. I've inadvertently cured this by increasing the tickover speed, which has also cured a tendency to 'kangaroo' slightly when driving in slow traffic. 

Next job I will be doing is the clutch, the actual clutch is ok but the release bearing is quite loud, so it would probably make sense to change the whole lot at some point. Happily the design on this allows the clutch to be changed without removing the gearbox, you just withdraw the input shaft then remove the clutch plate etc via an aperture under the bellhousing.  

F16.5 ?  

Back in the day, a good mechanic could do one in 30 minutes. (Apparently) 

[bezzabsa]

with regards to mpg, had an old astra 1.4 High Torque that used to regularly top 50mpg, on a trip to Aberystwyth it managed 65mpg, owned nothing petrol that came even close to this