Dougie's 1989-G Belmont SRi

[Dougie_SRi]

I picked the car up on Sunday from Benfleet in Essex for £400, having arranged the sale two months previously. It's had four owners, 85,000 on the clock and MOTs dating back to 1994. It's covered a maximum of 5800 miles over a year during that time but it's typlically done about 3000 a year. The owner Mick only used it for short journies for the last four years - 4 miles a day to work and back most of the time.

Driving it back, it was smoking quite badly! Probably a result of it never having had a good blast for so long; it's cleared now. The overall condition of the car is superb. It drives like new. It's smooth, quiet and responsive - there's barely a rattle anywhere in the interior. The ride quality is way better than I expected (probably down to the 185/65 tyres) and it handles safely enough for a standard car.

Only things I've done so far are to change 5 dash bulbs. I'm going to flush the matrix out tomorrow and sort one of the rubber fuel hoses which is leaking slightly. I've already sorted out some springs for it and a new set of Boge/ZF gas shocks. I'm in no hurry to lower it though as it's so comfortable.

Here's a couple of pics I took on my phone, will get some better ones over the weekend.

http://blog.fph.co.uk/resources/totalvauxhall/Belmont1.jpg
http://blog.fph.co.uk/resources/totalvauxhall/Belmont2.jpg
http://blog.fph.co.uk/resources/totalvauxhall/Belmont3.jpg

[gazo]

brave clean straight looking car dougie and a nice bargan. these belmonts are popping up everywhere but are still rare here in n.ireland. any engine mods planned or are you going to leave her as vaux intended

[Gteman]

Wow nice find there Dougie :applause:

Is she going to be daily transport for you ?

[astrachamp]

iv said it before and i will say it again, those seats are lovely. tartan not BURBERRY before im classed as one of those ned fellows LOL

[Simon]

Love it.....nice and clean :thumbsup:

[James C]

If you come to sell it later on in the year bear me in mind. If there is hardly a rattle inside I am certainly interested! Mine drives me mad :hissyfit:

Nice find there by the way! :thumbsup:

[Dougie_SRi]

Yes it's my new daily driver. The GSi 4x4 is too complex and heavy on fuel.

I want some serious work done on the 130 before it comes back out so the GSi will get some more suspension bits and a set of arches this year and I'll use it as the weekend car. It's great on the road but it's not ideal for crawling into Bath every day.

The Belmont's getting a good service, a panel filter and some paint/cleaning/rust prevention measures. The 1800 motor seems mint and has a decent amount of poke so I don't see any need to change it. It's so straight I'll have no problems showing it either. I might take it out round Combe as well, but it'll be getting some 16v brakes if I do - the standard ones feel good for about two decent stamps of the pedal.

It's a total steal for the money, especially if you consider the price you'd pay for a comparable VW or Ford.

[Dougie_SRi]

If you come to sell it later on in the year bear me in mind. If there is hardly a rattle inside I am certainly interested! Mine drives me mad :hissyfit:

Nice find there by the way! :thumbsup:


I think the reason it doesn't rattle is that it's never been lowered, plus it was always reckoned back in the day that saloons were more refined due to the separate boot - how much truth there is in that I don't know. My mate's got a 100% original K reg Cavalier SRi SEH with 90k on the clock and its the same - not a squeak. Hopefully the springs I have and the new shocks won't make the suspension crash.

[Ian T]

A lovely find Dougie, and it's nice to see that it'll get used as well.

I think you are right about the theory about boots - there was something I read many years ago that described the Astra GTE as being over powered and under tyred, iirc the same article pointed to the Belmont as having a better ride than the equivalent Astra, which they put down to the extra weight at the rear end.

Ian.

[Dougie_SRi]

Are you at the VBOA meet next week Ian?

[Ian T]

Yep. :)

Should I be coming up in the Astra? ;)

Ian.

[dansturbo]

Very nice dougie!! looks like ive got a bit of SRi competition there!!

[Belmont turbo]

MINT!!! loving it :grinning-smiley-043

[vauxmad]

I'll have no problems showing it


i am sure they'll be space on the mk2 astra owners club stand, nice to see more non gte examples

and i'm sure we'll be very useful to you in your mk2 ownership (nudge for a mention in tv about how wounderful we are, or we'll send :rolf:)

seriously thou mint looking motor that, i like the look of booted cars for some reason

[Dougie_SRi]

Dunno Ian, I've blagged a Meriva VXR off Vauxhall for the weekend so I'll be taking that.

The Belmont's in the next issue, I think I mentioned the site...

I've always liked the saloon versions of cars. It's a bit odd how the Cavalier saloon is considered sportier than the hatch, but the Astra saloon is pretty much forgotten about. The Cav had its range toppers as saloons and the BTCC though, while all the top Astras were hatches.

The SRi itself is generally under-rated, especially when you consider it had an almost identical spec and performance to a 8v Golf GTi - which the mainstream press always rate highly.

[astrachamp]

The SRi itself is generally under-rated, especially when you consider it had an almost identical spec and performance to a 8v Golf GTi - which the mainstream press always rate highly.


you never see any mk2 sri's on the road anymore either, well not up in scotland, im planning on getting another mk2 sometime in the future and if a nice one comes up it will be an sri instead of a gte.

[DarrenH]

It's a bit odd how the Cavalier saloon is considered sportier than the hatch

because they were IRS ? and hatches still had beam suspension dating back to early 80's ?

[Ian T]

Dunno Ian, I've blagged a Meriva VXR off Vauxhall for the weekend so I'll be taking that.

Cool - I'll probably come up in a Vectra - save the Astra for summer.



The Belmont's in the next issue, I think I mentioned the site...


Hey - you'd better have! ;) Actually on a serious note, we ought to update the info you guys print in the clubs section if you haven't already.

Ian.

[Dougie_SRi]

because they were IRS ? and hatches still had beam suspension dating back to early 80's ?


I did mention the top spec models. It's worth noting too that the current Astra still uses a beam. GMs engineers reckon they've got the set up totally sussed now and it also saves space. I'd agree with them too, but then it took them a good few goes to get it right out the box!

[vauxmad]

I've always liked the saloon versions of cars. It's a bit odd how the Cavalier saloon is considered sportier than the hatch, but the Astra saloon is pretty much forgotten about. The Cav had its range toppers as saloons and the BTCC though, while all the top Astras were hatches

i think its got something to do with the car is more balanced with a boot both asthetically and chassis wise, cav hatches for instance look like they have had the arse cut off

[Harvey]

Good to see you finally on here Dougie.

Are you going to get it as clean as my other halfs SRi, click me for a look see (http://www.astra-mk2.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2174)?

[Sipo]

A daily bloody driver?! You trash her and Im coming for you!!

Looking great there Dougie, will have to take a good look at her soon, let me know when you are next over my way.

[bigdrifter]

Very nice looking aquisition there Dougie

[twaddle]

Nice belmont, my mate had one a few year's ago don't see many around now.
Just a quick question did your SRI 130 belong to someone from the Glasgow area
It looks famliar to one that ran about my way a few year's ago

[martybelfastSRI]

very nice!!!! thought my wee find was nice but,,,,,,lucky u, will be watchin closely mate.

[Tom]

Nice find :thumbsup:

I had an SRi hatch with the same 1800 engine, remember that used to go very well !

[Dougie_SRi]

I'm going to give it a proper clean and some paint for the summer, but it doesn't need much.

It drives perfectly, no complaints at all so far.

My 130 was registered new in Edinburgh and spent all its years there until I bought it in 2002.

[Brett]

nice clean car, looked at a tidy red one about 5 years ago now, but couldnt insure it was still only 18.

the 18SE is a good little engine, on a par with the 20NE I reckon, good fun engines with excellent low down torque and a really nice exhaust note, or at least my the one in my MK2 Cav sounds nice:D

[Dougie_SRi]

Yeah I was thinking of putting an aftermarket system on it, but its so quiet I'm undecided. Will get a panel filter in it come service time though.

[Brett]

aye, stick to a panel filter, my engine runs much better since I took the cone that it came with off and refitted an airbox!

sure its just a backbox Ive got on mine tbh.

[Harvey]

Stock OE system from the dealer is cheapness at it's best, keep it OE spec and get the proper Vauxhall system as it’s top quality. Dealer no longer supplies the chrome slash cut tail pipe due to cost cutting measures but the one they do supply comes up nice with a bit of Autosol. Here’s the comparison of the old version and the new before I got the Autosol on it.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v214/harvey.emsley/Astra%20SRi/P7270002Medium.jpg

[Dougie_SRi]

It's a bit icy this morning... this car has the worst wheelspin issues out of anything I've ever driven. It spins like crazy in 2nd from right down in the rev range. Don't think the 185x65 tyres are helping much

[CraigGreen]

Lovely car Doug.

My mate had a H plate SRi some years ago in stunning/showroom condition.

He always goes on about wishing he kept it & trgically he sold it for a 1.6 mk2 cabriolet.. nevermind!

The worst thing was though, it was bought by a geezer near to my house & got run into the ground. rust soon appeared & the sills ended up being welded & it generally deteriorated. such a shame.

I'm glad you are happy with it. Leagues above an Orion & rarer.

[GazJevs84]

excellent example, nice find fella :grinning-smiley-043

[James C]

Just seen TV - staff cars!

What's the catch with the price of those new wheels??

Also I see you are not going with the standard idea anymore.

Don't change the suspension - those dreaded rattles will begin!

:)

[Dougie_SRi]

Update: I've now done nearly 4000 miles in the Belmont in two months. It's never stopped! The only component which has actually failed during this time has been an anti-roll bar link, which was replaced for £5.

As nice as the car was to drive, it was lacking in a couple of areas. In the wet the handling was terrible and it would wheelspin out junctions too easily. The standard brakes were poor as well.

To sharpen the car up I fitted the following:

Bilstein springs - secondhand, used to be owned by Oddball I think.
GTE 16v Boge Turbo Gas shocks.

http://www.totalvauxhall.co.uk/resources/totalvauxhall/shocks.jpg

This helped a lot, and the ride quality has hardly been compromised at all, even when thumping into pot holes round town. It's a really easy car to push on with now.

As I had a spare set of Cavalier V6 calipers, I thought I'd try and do a 284mm upgrade on the cheap.

The cost of the conversion was:

Calipers - free
Caliper seals - £23 (rip off)
Brake pads - £15
Fiat Coupe QH 284mm four stud discs - £37 delivered
All in £75 - say £80 if you include brake fluid.

The discs needed the holes opening up with a drill slightly but this was no big problem. I did need to go to B&Q for some washers though to space the caliper carrier which was hitting the disc.

http://www.totalvauxhall.co.uk/resources/totalvauxhall/fiatdiscs.jpg

http://www.totalvauxhall.co.uk/resources/totalvauxhall/fiatdiscs2.jpg

It was a little bit mucking about but for £80 all in I reckon it's a bargain. They really pull the car up quickly - a massive improvement.

In order to clear the brakes, I fitted the wheels I bought from Albert at Vauxhall Car Parts - a set of four BRAND NEW Astra Sport steel wheels which cost £36! I decided to go for some 195/50 Yokohama A539s which cost £120 inc fitting. I haven't had the chance to go for a decent drive yet with these on, but the ride hasn't suffered and the turn in is definately sharper.

Sorry about the camera pic:

http://blog.fph.co.uk/resources/totalvauxhall/Belmontnewwheels.jpg

Oh, and on Saturday on the M4, a lady in an Audi A6 estate managed to clip the back quarter of the car! She's agreed to pay for the damage. Beardy has only just sent a white SRi to the scrappers.. and of course I now need the bumper! Hope it's still there. Bit annoying but I've clipped the bumper back on and got another light cluster on there.

http://www.totalvauxhall.co.uk/resources/totalvauxhall/bashmont.jpg

However, Albert (again) is supplying me with a brand new Belmont bumper for just £10 (sweet!) and, as he's off to Weston for the weekend, I can pick it up from him in Bristol tomorrow afternoon.

http://www.vauxhall-car-parts.co.uk/acatalog/90271230[2].jpg

Next thing to do is get paint on the arches and the scuff on the back, do some rust proofing and fit a CD player.

[Ross_Mk2]

I like them brakes mate!!! Top job!

[CraigGreen]

AUDI driving scum!

Lovely car Doug!

[martybelfastSRI]

mate,cant get one of those bumpers anywhere,let me know if u can help cheers:thumbsup:

[Gteman]

Good to see you getting your hands dirty :thumbsup:

That's typical you always need something off of a scrapped car once its gone. I'm determined to hold on to a mk3 at work for odds and sods for my astra like screws and drain plugs for the floor that I'm sure to need if I scrap it.

[Kris]

Good to see you getting your hands dirty :thumbsup:

That's typical you always need something off of a scrapped car once its gone. I'm determined to hold on to a mk3 at work for odds and sods for my astra like screws and drain plugs for the floor that I'm sure to need if I scrap it.


I know what you mean, well you have seen my garage lol

[martybelfastSRI]

dougie,would be intresed in those hub caps if there up for grabs lovin the tv mag great readin:bow:

[Dougie_SRi]

Thought I'd post an update on the Belmont.

I got a new bumper for it from Albert for a tenner but had to cut slots in it to accept the SRi trim.

It was off road for six months while I drove the MkII Cav but it's still covered 14,000 miles (was 85k now 99) since the start of February. Mechanical failures during this period? Nil. Puts many much never Vauxhalls to shame. Considering the £400 purchase price and the fact I cover a lot of business miles in it, it's probably paid for itself already :D

Failed it's MoT first time and needed a few minor patches of welding, passed no problem at second attempt. I found out that the nearside rear arch was quite crusty though and will probably need replaced at some point. I've spent quite a while rust proofing it and pumped a load of Waxoyl into the sills and chassis legs the other week. I also flushed the coolant system and matrix with rad flush for the third time - the heaters finally work properly!!

No plans for it at the moment apart from a few bits of paint to tidy it up. It's in almost constant use, is great to drive and goes a hell of a lot faster now I've pulled about a centimetre of slack up off the throttle cable ha ha.

Will get some new pics up tomorrow/at the weekend.

[vauxmad]

Will get some new pics up tomorrow/at the weekend.

about time too!

[astravanmk2]

Nice car matey I love Belmonts.

[Astranomical Lee]

Nice car matey I love Belmonts.

Me 2!!

[g3dd35]

reading you posts brought back a lot of memories as mine was white,wheel spun like god know wot and i only had 2 prob's the whole time i had mine and it was the untiroll bar link and the temp send on top of the thermo stat(the wrong 1 was fitted)mine only cost me 400 as well lol. i want my old sri back but the boy wont sell it!!it sitting next to the sea where i parked it when i sold it to him about 10month ago not moved aaaaaaaa(shock)
http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g280/g3dd35/astrasri3.jpg

[Dougie_SRi]

Here's my latest addition to the fleet:

http://blog.fph.co.uk/resources/totalvauxhall/LXI1.jpg
http://blog.fph.co.uk/resources/totalvauxhall/LXI2.jpg
http://blog.fph.co.uk/resources/totalvauxhall/LXI3.jpg
http://blog.fph.co.uk/resources/totalvauxhall/LXI4.jpg

The Belmont is off road at the moment, still MoT'd but the tax expired and I've got the Cav GSi and the Nova to use so it's having a rest.

I couldn't resist this for £180. Tax end July, MoT end Oct.

It drives ok but the oil pressure light comes on every quarter of a mile. Switch the engine off and restart it, and it'll go out and run fine again. Points to it being choked up somewhere, so an oil/filter change and a flush out will be done tomorrow.

Looking round it, it's actually a solid shell. The electrics all work, as does the original head unit.

The plans are, give it a thorough clean inside and out, a full service, some new front brakes and run it for a while. Will probably be up for sale again once I've got some other cars sorted out. Until then, it should be a decent parts bus.

The last pic is Galahad 'recovering' my bike from Bath to go and pick the car up :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[Brett]

Somerset registration on that one too, local car. Whats the milage?

Nice find either way, I like that.

[Dougie_SRi]

It says 24,000 odd on the odometer so at a guess I'd say 224,000. Not a problem, our Staples to Naples Cavalier SRi130 had done 250,000 and ran as smooth as. The engine in the Astra is perfectly smooth and quiet - until the oil pressure light comes on anyway hahah!

The former owner lives locally and has owned the car since 1997, going to give him a shout, see what he says about it.

[Brett]

if thats covered 200k on Somerset roads Im bloody impressed its still going tbh!!

begging for a lazy V6 that IMHO.

[Ross_Mk2]

begging for a lazy V6 that IMHO.

Pardon!

[astravanmk2]

I do love LXi estates great find

[Brett]

Pardon!

LOL Ive just inadvertantly offended half the site... erm... whoops!

[Dougie_SRi]

Fixed it at the weekend, pics to follow.

The sump was FULL of sludge and the pick up pipe was getting blocked. Drives fine now :)

[Dougie_SRi]

Right, so the estate had an oil pressure issue. I did the obvious thing and flushed it, and fitted a new filter. The oil was £9 from Lidl. I did this on Friday night.

http://premium1.uploadit.org/bosshogg//estatejacks1.jpg

http://premium1.uploadit.org/bosshogg//estateoil.jpg

Was feeling pleased as the light went out, but a mile up the road it was on again. So, I had to keep switching the engine off and restarting all the way home.

Sunday. Up on jacks and off with the exhaust. The oil I'd added on Friday was filthy when it came out.

http://premium1.uploadit.org/bosshogg//estatejacks2.jpg

With the sump and pick up off, it was clear what the problem was. Yuck! Don't think it's had many oil changes in recent years.

http://premium1.uploadit.org/bosshogg//estatesumpfilthy.jpg

Pick up pipe clogged up with crap:

http://premium1.uploadit.org/bosshogg//estatepickup.jpg

Attacked it with white spirit and degreaser along with some rags.

http://premium1.uploadit.org/bosshogg//estatesumpclean.jpg

And... the problem is now fixed. I put in some new chinese (Nanjing Spark Plug Corporation - they were free) spark plugs, cleaned up the contacts on the dizzy cap and put in some 20/50 Asda Smart Price oil which cost £4.97. It'll need another change soon anyway I think so this will be fine.

It drives pretty well now, for a neglected mega miles engine it's quiet, smooth and doesn't smoke. You have to love the old 8-valvers.

Now being used transporting many car parts - estates are great :bananajump:

[BazW]

You have to love the old 8-valvers

if that had been an XE or LET it would've been knocking it's tits off!

[Tony25]

Good work another one saved, agree on the 8v durability my sisters 1.2 nova had silly miles on the clock (200k +) when it was scraped, engine was still perfect but body had dissolved.

[martybelfastSRI]

estates are nice ,,was the estate the only mk2 astra to carry the lxi badges?

[Ian T]

LOL... that oil is more expensive than Trade Club 10/40 Semi then... ;)

Nice to see this car getting some love, we really don't see enough of these in the club, particularly still in standard trim. :)

Ian.

[Astra Dan]

Yep, 10/40 Semi works out to £8.38/ gallon, if you use the buy 3, get one free deal.

[galahad]

LOL... that oil is more expensive than Trade Club 10/40 Semi then... ;)

Nice to see this car getting some love, we really don't see enough of these in the club, particularly still in standard trim. :)

Ian.

Thats two i've saved now..... waiting for my MBE from the Queen.

[Ian T]

Thats two i've saved now..... waiting for my MBE from the Queen.

Yeah, good on you Phil. :)

Keep em coming, one day I'll be allowed to have one.

Ian.

[Dougie_SRi]

I have plenty of Vauxhall semi in the lock up, but I wasn't putting it in the Estate heh heh. When the light first came on it was outside Lidl, so I bought some to top it up.

It runs well enough now (had it up to a ton the other day) and the oil has stayed clean, but the exhaust centre box has blown a hole in it and a plug lead fell to bits. Think I might just cut it out and replace it with a straight pipe, got plenty of bits lying around. :)

[Dougie_SRi]

http://premium1.uploadit.org/bosshogg//BELMONTJAN09.jpg

Belmont's been off road since April last year. I've got a new lock up now, so it'll be moving down there once my Nova goes in the next few weeks, and I get the Mk2 Cav back on the road.

I need to think of something interesting to do with it.

http://premium1.uploadit.org/bosshogg//1800turboENGINE.jpg


Hmmm :)

[astravanmk2]

wow that looks a fair old state whats the plans i'm assuming the red front end is the cavalier?

[Harvey]

Chuck it in the Belmont and downgrade the front brakes, that should give you loads of fun ;)

[Dougie_SRi]

wow that looks a fair old state whats the plans i'm assuming the red front end is the cavalier?

No, the Cavalier is fine, it's been parked up for the last 15 months but passed it's MoT on Saturday. The car in the pic was a rotten Mk1 Astra GTE. It was part stripped by the time I got it, and we killed it on the weekend.

[astravanmk2]

marvellous mate marvellous i look forward to it

[Dougie_SRi]

Update.

The Belmont has been back on the road for a few weeks. It was off road since April '08! It's had new fuel lines front to back, repairs to the n/s wheelarch, a full new exhaust (with pea shooter tailpipe so I need to weld on the oval I kept from the old one), dizzy cap, leads, plugs and a service. It's running well, although it's filthy - I haven't washed it since I brought it back out. I need to sort the wheel alignment out soon too, the steering is a bit on the vague side.

Have also found a mint white Mk2 CD in a breakers so I'm getting the front bumper with washer jets (awesome as mine has a broken one) and foglights, front wings (I have rust coming though at the front of mine) and bonnet (mine has a couple of dents)... well happy with that!

I also bought this recently. It's a one owner from new, 71,000 mile 1.3 L in Mexico Red. It didn't run so I've had to swap the cam box and carb over from ones from a 1.2 Nova. Hopefully should have it on the road soon as it has four months MoT. Not quite sure what to do with it, but it was going to the scrappy so I had to step in.

http://premium1.uploadit.org/bosshogg//astra1300L3.jpg
http://premium1.uploadit.org/bosshogg//astra1300L1.jpg
http://premium1.uploadit.org/bosshogg//astra1300L2.jpg

[mick g]

The Astra looks tidy mate... Is it a quick sort out and sell on?

[1800turbogte]

Which ones the 1.8Turbo going in then???:thumbsup:

[Pigeonrat]

Fancy someone trying to scrap the B-plater, that looks like the cleanest unrestored Mk2 I've seen for ages. Got the beige-tastic interior as well I see, awesome stuff :)

[Astra Dan]

I have a spare 2E3 carb and fuel pump if you'd like a loan?

[bowman]

5 door gte rep mate with turbo:Banane47:?

[1800turbogte]

5 door gte rep mate with turbo:Banane47:?

Im still trying to do that. Just dont have the time:(

[Dougie_SRi]

I can't get it to run at the moment, has petrol and spark but I don't think the compression is there. It tries to start sometimes. I think I'll have to get it all piped up and then tow it...

It's defo going up for sale as soon as it's running OK, moving house at the end of Jan so need to trim the fleet to a sensible level!

[cavalier]

Bet you wont sell your cav though!

You still got NSX Cav?

[Dougie_SRi]

Uploaded some photos of the car to Flickr that I took over Christmas - right it the middle of the big freeze.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/47413265@N07/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/47413265@N07/4345547031/sizes/l/

[belmont_dazz]

how much is it lowered by? looks really good

[Dougie_SRi]

It's got standard Cavalier SRi springs on the back as I often put my full toolkit in the boot and the car was properly on its arse. The front is some random red lowering springs. It has brand new GTE 16V spec BOGE shocks when I first got it and they made a hell of a difference!