Astra progress.

[tomstickland]

http://www.migweb.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=196003

http://www.astra-mk2.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1328

[BazW]

i'd give it time before you make your mind up, i striped & sold my last 16v now i wished i'd kept that as it had a better shell than my current one & it was faster too.

i decided to get rid because it had loads of little jobs to do on it plus it needed a respray & i figured it'd be easier/cheaper to buy another car. turns out in the year the new one was off the road that devolped most of the faults the other one had.

in fact come to think of it i've regretted selling all 3 of the previous astras ive had :(

[astrasteve23]

if you do decide to sell it complete let me know as a good mate of mine who is helping me with my new GTE 16v project will be VERY interested in it!

[tomstickland]

I'm 80% going to sell the parts now. I'm not sad about it. It's time to move on.
I can't decide how much to sell with the shell and how much to strip out.

If I could get £800 for the shell with the brakes, pedal box, quickrack, seats, Koni kit, battery box, wheels etc included then I'd be happy. Not sure whether the gearbox would be included. Might go for the Ebay route.

[Brett]

shell has had a bit to much done to it for what I require sadly Tom...

Its a shame to see the end of your car and project, but I think it goes without saying the shell will only end up in the hands of someone whos going to continue what youve done so far.

[Kris]

I f you strip it i would be interested in the Koni set up Tom .

[tomstickland]

I'm going to try selling the whole lot on Ebay I think. If I don't see a reasonable price for it then I might break it and sell the shell seperately. Will see.

[tomstickland]

I was down the workshop tonight. I sat in the car, in the drivers seat, thinking "I've had many hours in here". Didn't feel any twinges of regret. Did quite like the Redness of the interior though.

The only part of the car that made me think "I still like it" was looking at the shape of the rear tailgate/arches/spoiler. Definitely the best looking part of the car. Looking Red. But, still in the mood for selling it. I'd really love to see the car go to someone who visibly enjoys it. I don't mind if they want to tart it up or just drive it hard.
I'm going to go down on Saturday and jetwash the grime off, take some photos and then put it on Ebay and see what happens. Still gives me 12 days to change my mind!

Sorry if all the posts seem introspective. I'm not looking for attention; I'm trying to document what's going through my mind. Sort of final chapter after all the previous trials and tribulations.

I don't feel any regret about any of the money spent on the car. There were good times and bad times. Loads more good times than bad times. I had hundreds of hours of whooping good times in the car. Chasing a Boxster S down B roads in Wales, keeping up with a 197BHP Elise on A roads, leading a convoy of Elise, Impreza and MX5 down the B road from Dolfor to Knighton and them getting out after 45 minutes and saying "I never thought an Astra could go round corners like that"!

[tomstickland]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=4546743785&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT

[george124uk]

im sorry u have came to the desicion of ebaying ure car tom its been such a great project to watch and gain knolege from i began reading ure website before this website begun i hope u dont give up on the mk2 all together.ure car has been an insparation to all of us and i dont think anyone will disagree.good luck on the sale tom....

[tomstickland]

Thanks for the support. I'm pleased that the website and the car have provided motivation and inspiration to others. I'm moving to RWD now. I will obviously always retain a soft spot for the Vauxhall hot hatches etc. Very much under rated cars. I did a fair bit of educating people on Evo meets, as did Pete (Cavlad) in his Nova GTE.
There is the possibility of a Manta of course.

[Ross_Mk2]

You still gonna be around these parts tom right?

[caul pope]

Shame your ditching this legendary car Tom but I understand that you feel it's time to move in. Sounds like you've had some great times with it, which will stick with you for many years I'm sure.
The ebay post is very informative so fingers crossed it'll do well and go to a good home.

[DarrenH]

its been emotional.

i expect many many people have spent many hours like myself, fawning over your website and both mk2 astra progress.

keep it up with the new project. hopefully still see you on the blackstuff at various events :)

[Jon S]

will be interesting to see if you can out race us fwd fans with your RWD too

[tomstickland]

Thanks everyone. It's nice that you are prepared to accept my decision. I'm always going to be interested in the world of DIY tuning so don't think I'm going to dissapear. I might be less visible on MIG, but this site is a smaller and more friendly place and I'll still remember various random things I've done. TBH the Astra's reputation precedes the car! There's a fair few things that would have to be done to it to make it the car it should have been. But I was more interested in driving it than taking it off the road to paint it.

I'm considering breaking it for parts and then selling the bare shell.
Vote in this Migweb poll http://www.migweb.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?p=2066866#post2066866

[tomstickland]

I try to keep the complete story here:


OK, the car is currently on Ebay. Started at 15p in the early hours of this morning, currently at £51 with 21 watchers.

I was thinking about it today. Maybe I'd be better breaking the car. This way I'd probably get more money in total, plus the buyers would be buying what they wanted. eg: loads of people with Astras/Novas might fancy the 288mm brakes or the pedal box etc. The shell could be put on manky old suspension from another car and then finally sold as a bare shell with roll cage and seam welding.

I'll probably raise this on the auction and watch the auction to see how it's going by the 5 day point.

Tonight I'll draw up a price list of what I think each part is worth. If you don't like what I want then I'll put the part onto Ebay and see what it fetches. That way you can bid lower, but if someone else thinks it's worth more then it goes for more. None of this can happen until I see how the complete car auction goes. You never know, somebody might want it. But I'm thinking breaking might be the way to do it. Plus I think I'll enjoy it! It'll be like undoing all the things are returning the car to nothing. The parts can then live on in other cars.

[DarrenH]

TBH the Astra's reputation precedes the car!

if you dont believe that, just put mk2 astra into google world search, and yahoo search.

1st and 6th respectively :D

[tomstickland]

I'm going to break it for parts. The money situation is a no brainer, unless some complete nutter bids for the complete car.

http://www.migweb.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=197354

[Sipo]

Good luck tom :)

[tomstickland]

Master link to Ebay parts: http://www.migweb.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?p=2067796#post2067796

[tomstickland]

Hmm, I'm wondering about doing some selective breaking and then turning it into a mid engined RWD car.

[astrasteve23]

Hmm, I'm wondering about doing some selective breaking and then turning it into a mid engined RWD car.


DO IT!!! :D

[BazW]

if dubsport can fit 2 turbo'd vr6's in a mk2 golf it should be possible to have a mid-engined gte

now that would be a track car :cool:

[stt]

Hmm, I'm wondering about doing some selective breaking and then turning it into a mid engined RWD car.
Got to be done!

[Ian T]

Hmm, I'm wondering about doing some selective breaking and then turning it into a mid engined RWD car.

I guess you've already got the ear plugs... ;)

Ian.

[astrasteve23]

tom i think you should have a vote to see if people think you should sell/break it or keep it and turn it into a mid engined rwd beast!

[Sipo]

That would definitely be a restoration and build to watch the progress of :p

[tomstickland]

I've got a serious buyer via Ebay. He wants the complete car for a racing series. What happens depends on how much he thinks the car is worth. The rear engined thing would be a laugh but it's another money drain. It could still happen though. Just start with a new car so it doesn't matter if it all goes wrong.

[tomstickland]

I've now found 4 potential buyers. I've checked out the Ebay final value fee and it's not bad. Would cost me £35 if the car sold for £1500, for example. So I've told the buyers to get bidding.

I did go down the workshop tonight to sort some more parts for Ebay. I had a moment of doubt about selling the car. It's the rear spoiler I like. Red, very Red. Little beast. Then I looked at all the bits that I'm bored of and thought, nah, sell. So, still a soft spot for the GTE lol.

[caul pope]

I had a moment of doubt about selling the car. It's the rear spoiler I like. Red, very Red. Little beast. Then I looked at all the bits that I'm bored of and thought, nah, sell. So, still a soft spot for the GTE lol.

More doubts Tom LOL

So whats the next vaux project going to be then hey? Go on you know you want to.

[tomstickland]

Check this out though! Load of auctions finished tonight. Total came to £931, with £585 being bid on the rest of the auctions, with 5 days still to go on the car complete.

Looks like the 325 is going to be well within my reach.

[Sipo]

lol good stuff Tom - nice to see the old Astra is still doing what it can to make you happy :D

[tomstickland]

Best thing for me would be to see the Astra going to someone like the guy who wants it for a track car and then seeing it being painted internally and the project taken further forwards. Meanwhile I have to admit, the RWD thing has fully taken hold of me. If you ever get the chance to drive an E30 BMW for a few days (D-J reg 3 series roughly) then do so. The one I'm driving could be mine for £500 and it's a solid car and handles brilliantly.

[tomstickland]

Car is currently on auction complete, with 1527 viewings and 45 watchers. Price has reached £670 from a starting price of 15p with 3 days to go. If it can get past £1000 then I'm selling it complete.

[Sipo]

45 watchers, blimey. I knew you would get interest but that is well good dude! I hope you get the sort of money you deserve for the effort you have put in!

[tomstickland]

Car is currently at £713 with 2days 3 hours to go.
I've been running a spreadsheet through for the umpteenth time.
If I was to break the car down to every bit (bumpers, lights, wiper motor etc) then I reckon I could get £13500 for it. If I was a bit lucky with the auctions then I could get £1500. But let's say £13500. So it's currently at half what I could get for it in bits.

Then I looked at another idea. If I was to keep the shell for a rear engine conversion then there's only some bits I'd sell (suspension kit, engine mounts etc). If I did this then I'd get £500 for the bits. Hence it's only sitting £200 above what I could get for a selective strip at the moment.

I was looking at the car today. One hell of a lot of welding in it. Good roll cage. Solid shell and all that. Was wondering about keeping it for the rear engine project. Still don't know where I'd drive it when finished though. Still thinking about the money. Have to make a decision tomorrow.

Of course, if it went for silly money then I'd probably take the momey.

Do I have to move on or not?

[Brett]

Its a big step getting rid of something you've invested the time and effort in, it was big decision at the time for me to decide to change from the Cally 16v to the Astra as I still owed mum and dad money for the Cally, Id never spent as much time or money on a car and hadnt even had it a year (8 months!!!) I did it anway and havent regretted it at all.

Sometimes it pays to bite the bullit and just make a fresh start, I think thats what you want to do but it sounds as though your worried that you might end up regretting it....

[tomstickland]

Yeah, lot of time and effort. Partially disillusioned with it. Partly wanting to lose the worry about all that money and effort tied up in. Totally comitted to RWD as the way to do things. Quite liking the idea of holding onto the shell. Prepared to strip it all for money. See how the Ebay goes tomorrow. With 45 watchers I hope that it's going to pull up in price on the last day. Hmm. Like you say, maybe bite the bullet and get on with it.

[weekenny]

Thing is tho Tom if you strip most of it now then hang on to the shell for ages but never finish it you could end up stuck with the shell when you do decide to part with it.

[tomstickland]

Yeah, but someone might buy the shell for a reshell. Just put it onto some old wheels.
How about a grass track racer conversion?
I'm happy to say goobye to the car if it means money. But I'm not happy to let it go for £700 complete when that represents the cost of a roll cage and some seats.

[tomstickland]

I cancelled the Ebay auction. Last night I thought about fitting a £300 XE into it and putting it back on the road.

Thing is, I've got a serious £1200 offer for it at the moment, buyer collects. Very 50-50.

[weekenny]

Thats good money tho

[tomstickland]

Yes, this is why it's 50-50.
The parts in the car are worth around £950-£1500 depending on how well they sell.
Would be nice for it to go to a good home.
Maybe sell is the way. There are good things and bad things about the car.

[caul pope]

Wondered where it had gone when I checked last night. So the car could now be destined for xe power hey! Its destiny truely is in your hands - God thats a cr@p comment, surely every cars destiny is in the hands of the owner. I'll be getting my coat (and jump leads) then.

[Jon S]

[runs for cover] break it ! [runs for cover]

[Sipo]

[runs for cover] break it ! [runs for cover]

:eek: :eek: :eek: - You should never ever ever tell a MK2 owner to break their car, there aint enough being kept on the road as it is !!! :D

[Jon S]

:eek: :eek: :eek: - You should never ever ever tell a MK2 owner to break their car, there aint enough being kept on the road as it is !!! :D
WELL its only realy cos i want parts lol
and im sure the shell will live for many years yet
think sum1s bouaght now is the latest news

[Harvey]

Tom

Let me have all the bits I've listed on Mig and I'll even pop down (from Nottingham) and help you take her to bits. Remeber me from last year when I had Rob Fairbrothers Koni and Eibach setup?

Cheers

Harvey

[tomstickland]

Sold complete for £1200 to a guy near Knockhill who wants it for a track car or his girlfriend to race.

[BazW]

glad to see its not getting broke and that its gonna be used for what it was built for

[weekenny]

Cool chances are I'll see it soon then

[Sipo]

The Astra days are over then Tom :( ... Good luck with the beemers dude and keep us posted!

[tomstickland]

Thanks.
Quote from MIG forum. From the less enlightened non Astra MK2 understanders!


£1200 for an astra Mk2 that has rusty wheelarches, no engine, an engine bay that has caught fire and has a multitude of poor paint finishes, half a steering wheel, and some of the worst seam welding I have ever seen. I can't actually believe you are asking if that is a good price, anything over £120 would have been a good price!!!!

Rich

LOL. It's all words.

-One arch has minor rust.
-Interior has multitude of paint finishes - one weekend with spray gun to sort
-Engine bay caught fire once. So what? Only damage was to the bonnet which buyer is going to replace.
-Half a steering wheel. Again - so what? A spare wheel could be sourced for £10 from a scrappy.
The seam welding is structurally sound. It performs its function. I'm happy with it. How you can judge the structural properties of a weld from some cruddy photos I don't know. All that weld penetrated properly.

Basically anyone who could be arsed to spend a week tidying it up would have a solid car.

Furthermore, it might be an old MK2 Astra, but it has a roll cage worth £500, seats worth £250, harnesses worth £100, V6 front brakes worth £100, brake bias box worth £250, braided fuel and brake lines worth £500, equal length drive shafts £80 new, quickrack £100 new, F20 box £50 etc So, even if the buyer just stripped it for parts he'd get the money back.

Either way, it's my car and I've got a buyer for it. It was made for driving and nothing else. It performs its function just as it's supposed to. I don't think all of this is comprehensible to everyone.

[BazW]

i tend not to bother with mig anymore full of opinionated arseholes that can't wait to slag off what they know f uck all about

[tomstickland]

http://www.tomstickland.co.uk/ebay/ebay1.jpg
http://www.tomstickland.co.uk/ebay/ebay2.jpg

[caul pope]

OMG! Lots of prizes, can I do a lucky dip Tom?
Lets play guess the part

[tomstickland]

Well it's been a busy week. Posted things every day. Something like 9 on Monday, 10 on Tuesday, 13 on Wednesday, 25 on Thursday, 9 today! Still got a few to go.
Buyer is leaving Scotland at 4am tomorrow morning to come and pick car up. Paying cash for it.

[richie00boy]

I feel like history is being made! I've been a fan of your website and what you have done as I have a red 8v just like yours was. You are a bit of a legend I think :D All the best and hope to see you around here or Mig from time to time.

[tomstickland]

The buyer Steve turned up at 10.30 this morning. He had a look at the car for a while whilst I found the spare parts. I gave away the clutch plus a spare head and cam box, three rotor arms and a distributer cap. Also bundled in were a spare fuel tank, tailgate and bonnet. A good clear out as far as I'm concerned. Once the envelope of cash was produced then I knew we had a happy customer. After counting the cash then the car was pushed onto the trailer.

We had quite a good chat about the car. I took a few photos and then they drove off, back to Scotland.

[DarrenH]

end of an era tom. glad you are happy with the sale.

get busy with your website. TOM STICKLAND 3, this time its personal.

[tomstickland]

http://www.tomstickland.co.uk/astra/forsale/astra_sold_01.jpg
http://www.tomstickland.co.uk/astra/forsale/astra_sold_02.jpg
http://www.tomstickland.co.uk/astra/forsale/astra_sold_03.jpg
http://www.tomstickland.co.uk/astra/forsale/astra_sold_04.jpg
http://www.tomstickland.co.uk/astra/forsale/astra_sold_05.jpg
http://www.tomstickland.co.uk/astra/forsale/astra_sold_06.jpg

[Jon S]

one happy customer and one happy seller by the sounds of it

[tomstickland]

Yep. He said it's going to be used at Knockhill and he'll update me with the progress. So hopefully he'll get some photos of the work he does.

[weekenny]

I'll keep an eye out for it mate :)

[Sipo]

Fair play Tom, you finally got rid of it as you wanted :) I wont be randomly seeing you cruising up by the river in stroud the next time im up there then :( .Hope your new project brings you as much fun and keep us posted :D

[caul pope]

Yeah keep us posted Tom with your automotive antics
"Its been emotional"

[tomstickland]

Thanks all. The world of E30s is very similar to the world of MK2 Astras. Just the engines drive the rear wheels.

[CraigGreen]

The End Of An Era ??

[CraigGreen]

i tend not to bother with mig anymore full of opinionated arseholes that can't wait to slag off what they know f uck all about

:D haha not wrong there.

[weekenny]

The End Of An Era ??

the beginning of a new one :cool:

[CraigGreen]

His Astra site will be like a ghost town unless it becomes dedicated to the beemer. I heard Tom was toying with he idea of a kit car.

[Sipo]

tbh you couldnt hope to buy a car like that from anyone other than Tom. You just know things are done right and well. How many other people are passionate enough to log it all on their own webspace and on several forums? If you do decide to head for the kit car scene Tom i will be very keen to watch your progress :D

[tomstickland]

The Beemer will be going on to the web site at some stage. I still need to collect up the last 6 months of progress and stick it onto the web site.

[Kris]

I hope you keep us up to date with the progress just as you did with the Mk2 .It might seem that some of your posts go unnoticed with the every day stuff but for me it a good read and enjoyable ,unlike some of the crap you get some better known forums .

[tomstickland]

Aye, thanks, I tend to write things up as they happen. Makes a good record and also soure of info for others.

[tomstickland]

Random update! I've just been reading through this and have to say I have a lot of good memories of the car. Some of the pictures remind me of the Red beast and the great fun I had driving it. I've had a few regret moments, but seeing some of the close up photos just reminds me how much work there was to do.Moving on is moving on and I don't regret selling. It's good to see that the MK2 Astra forum is still active with many projects going on.

I accidently deleted my email from the buyer, so I haven't been able to get in contact to ask him how it's going. He lives up near Knockhill and was talking about taking it out on the track there. His name was something like Stephen Goodhill. Something like that. If anyone sees him or the car I'd love to know what's happening.

As winter draws in then I'm going to transcribe most of this diary into my website and then add the Ebay advert pictures and story, so by Christmas it'll be a finished story.
Meanwhile I will be making a much lower key BMW E30 diary.

I'm absolutely loving the 318iS. It's got much less power, but the way it goes round corners and just the overall feel of the car is great.

[Astraoid]

Do you think you're done with the Mk2 for good Tom or do you think you'll get yourself a sneaky one sometime in the future? I got myself a 318i Lux while the Astra is being sorted, and it's taking me ages to get the feel of it. The tyres are a bit pants so I'm finding less grip through corners than the Astra, and i've been a bit reluctant to push it (although i've been tempted into getting the back end out a few times at lower speeds). I love being in it though, it's an absolute pleasure to drive compared the the stripped out Astra - no leakes, quiet, smooth, etc Have you got any plans for it?

[tomstickland]

Plans for the 318iS involve nothing more than maintenance. Though, reading my Astra dirary almost made me want to do some things to it. I might be fitting a suspension kit some time in the future. Nothing serious though. Cheap, cost effective and fun.

[tomstickland]

Just an update. I've been doing some minor mods to the E30. Z3 steering rack (quicker than E30), Z3 gear shifter, LSD sourced from USA and general maintenance.
Photos here
http://www.flickr.com/photos/92961862@N00/collections/72157600969282464/

Some video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khYLQU16S9A

[Tony25]

Some great mods, how did you know the z3 rack would fit?? Do bmw make some of there parts interchangeable like vaux?