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Brett
11-01-2005, 11:38 PM
Thought I better get round to doing a thread like this!!! I dont regard the car as a project really, I'm building with bits I see and like, and to the job I want it to as best as it can. Its being built for me and not for attention, but read and enjoy. All comments are welcome.

I bought my F plate GTE 16v in November 2003 for £900, 4 previous keepers, 3 from the same family. The car has never been owned by anyone outside of Somerset and was sold at new by my nearest Vauxhall dealer. It still wears the dealer sticker in the back window. Best of all it had only 68k miles on it and was standard except for 60mm PI springs. Sadly I dont have any pictures of it as I bought it.

In the first few months of having it I did the usual, 16" Team dynamics Tornado's, Manifold back exhaust and a filter. I followed this up with the addition of some quad headlights and some brembo brake discs. About this time I had it RR'd at 164bhp@fly and 131@wheels. Next up I swapped the whole interior for a mint Black one I bought from 'stt' £100. This included the dash and took me 3 days from starting to strip the donor car to finishing mine. SO the whole Easter weekend then:D About the same time I fitted a load of powedercoated goddies and some strut braces, planning for a track day I fancied a bash at.

April 04 saw Castle Coombe, when my whole outlook on cars and car modifying changed... I went on the track. Suddenly the interior seemed unessecry despite having been in for less than a month. I was hooked:D In May I had to repair all the stuff I broke at Castle Coombe, along with track rod ends, the traditional sump gasket leak was cured with a 8v rubber gasket. Then it got broken into, what little stereo I had went bye bye. gutting. New locks and a door followed. Ive never bothered to replace the stereo with anything good!!! (note to all Mk2 Astra owners - your car doors are made from foil. Never, never loose your temper and kick them!!)

http://xs11.xs.to/pics/05022/AstraGTE16v005.jpg

In June I bought a magnex manifold for it and the show season kicked off PVS and Castle Coombe... I came back from Coombe again and this time binned the interior. It just had to go!!! Instantly the car felt more nimble, it was EVEN faster and handled better although the back end could be a bit skitty and the back brakes prone to locking. I spent the next month or so perfecting the inside, I sprayed all boot plastics body coloured as I dont like the exposed 'webbing' and the boot floor was scrapped clean of all the tar and sprayed. I also got a private plate for my 21st birthday which was looks pretty cool! Weight was down to 960kg's.

http://xs11.xs.to/pics/05022/AstraGTE16v002.jpg
http://xs11.xs.to/pics/05022/AstraGTE16v006.jpg

In August I decided that the time had come to get the one thing I missed from my old car (Calibra 16v) and that was the front seats. Ok not in keeping with the stripped out theme but I use this thing everyday and Im a sucker for comfort. Again stt came good supplying a mint set at a very good price. I obtained some LHD fog light switches from Astra Dan to operate the heating off for them. Joey helped me fit them and wire it all up. You cant beat them in the winter!

http://xs11.xs.to/pics/05022/AstraGTE16v010.jpg

September arrived and Billing came and went. There I managed to find an Opel Monza trip computer, which fits in place of the clock and provides useful info on fuel consumption as well as being an unuslual and little known mod. Then the cambelt slipped - although by some miracle it slipped on notch and did no damage. The car was off the road for a week, and my god I missed it. Stt again came to the rescue coming to mine to do the job late one night:beer:

http://xs11.xs.to/pics/05022/Billing04.1.jpg

In October a mate through MIG decided his Astra's days were up, and he had a roll cage. Within about 30 seconds of seeing the add the I was on the phone and the proud owner of a Saftey Devices 6 point bolt in. It then failed the MOT on rust. Stt welded her up for me but by now it was becoming obvious the first half of 2005 would see the car getting a long overdue rust irradication programme. I was at this time saving up for insurance and road tax so it was a question of running the car. As you'd expect the service routine fell around now so I did that. Just couldnt help but tinker somehow.

In Noverber I contented myself by making a custom dash board, which cost me about £60 to make and is something Im really proud of. I've extended the instrument binnacle and will be running some guages in there. Its 'Flocked' to give it a nice finish which is really adds to the whole motorsprt look, and stops all those rattles!!! I also sprayed the roll cage Mistral grey to go with the bodywork.

http://xs11.xs.to/pics/05022/AstraGTE16v014.jpg
http://xs11.xs.to/pics/05022/AstraGTE16v018.jpg

In december the time came to fit the cage, its the single best thing Ive ever done to a car. I cant reccomend it enough. Again a huge thanks to stt for fitting it for me.

http://xs11.xs.to/pics/05022/AstraGTE16v041.jpg
http://xs11.xs.to/pics/05022/AstraGTE16v043.jpg

The main reason for fitting it? Donington Park, my track day dreams all rolled up into one:D an incredible experience that has firmly stamped my interest in this activity. I managed a best lap of 1.33.55 on a car which has only been modified to the degree I've said here. Standard brakes and suspension really. nouthing more. Even in that state the car was amazing to drive. Now I cant wait to see what its like when its got more done to it.

http://xs11.xs.to/pics/05022/AstraGTE16v037.jpg
http://xs11.xs.to/pics/05022/AstraGTE16v034.jpg

Well that brings it up to date. This scratches the surface with what I have done to this car, In the interior the only things that are there from when I got it are the rear view mirror, the handbrake and the electric windwow switches. Thats not an exageration. in 2005 I'll be doing some bits and peices but the bodywork needs attention so hopefully around May It'll be in the bodyshop being sorted out. I plan to take ot off the road for the winter and transplant in a LET. Im on a pretty tight budget hence the relatively slow progress of mods, especially in the suspension and brakes department, so I cannot justify the cost of TB's.

Couple of people I need to thank from on here, mainly Joey (Gander) and Simon (stt) without whom, this car would not be what it is today.

I'll keep this updated as I do more mods over time:)

REMUS
12-01-2005, 12:49 AM
Excellent!! I love reading these journel type posts, oh and about the LET I read a few posts on mig that suggest those suckers are really high maintanence lump's :( but that could just be from a mild/heavy tune? I suppose if you keep the power down below 250 bhp you shouldnt encounter such problems but it really put me off a let and back onto carb's and tb's!

Kris
12-01-2005, 02:06 AM
Looking good Brett ,i like following the progress of your car so its good to see you have started a thread for it .Im looking forward to seeing your car at a show some time ,so keep it up mate :D

tomstickland
12-01-2005, 02:28 PM
Good write up there. I like reading about incremental changes. I've always enjoyed chaning one thing and then seeing what difference it makes to the car.

Tony K
12-01-2005, 06:44 PM
Great looking motor, love the dash!

I've squinted real hard at the pictures and would like to know where have you put the front indicator lights? The quad lights are something I'm looking at but I do'nt want to be cutting holes in the front bumber.

Gander
12-01-2005, 08:57 PM
Great write up and a fantastic car! :cool:
Thanks for the thanks mate, any time, you've helped me out so many times I've lost count!

Brett
12-01-2005, 09:07 PM
Excellent!! I love reading these journel type posts, oh and about the LET I read a few posts on mig that suggest those suckers are really high maintanence lump's but that could just be from a mild/heavy tune? I suppose if you keep the power down below 250 bhp you shouldnt encounter such problems but it really put me off a let and back onto carb's and tb's!

your preaching the the converted mate. Ive got a good plan that should give reliabitly, I'll mod it lightley and go from there step at a time. LETs are high maintenance, but I dont see why a good condition lump (I'll be rebuilding it before fitting it) cant push 220-240 bhp reliably. Im lucky to know Mike Hayward from MIG as they are from the same MIG reigon as me and what they dont know about those lumps just aint worth knowing. Nouthings guaranteed though!!!

Tom, thats the fun of it. waiting to fit the bits, fitting them and the assesing what improvement they've made. Hell I even got excited waiting to see what differnce some new tyres would make!

As for the front indicators, well Im half busted there really. In the pics where it has fog lights, they are in there. 10 mins with a soldering iron and I had modified them to take the indicator bulbs. In the ones without the foglights, which I removed a month ago in a feeble attempt to cool the brakes on track... I dont have any:D

cheers for all the comments. More mods planned at the weekend...

REMUS
12-01-2005, 11:19 PM
T.F.S seem to know alot about the turbo lump as well if you ever need any advice and chip seems very knowlagable but he also seems to think n2o is the answear to everything! :p

Tom
12-01-2005, 11:41 PM
Good reading that Brett, Like the arty photos too :)

Im still impressed with the dash, is it expensive the flocking kit ?

Brett
13-01-2005, 12:47 AM
Flocking is dirt cheap, I did the whole dash for under £30 - although I would order 2 kits and another bag of flock as there wasnt enough glue in just one kit and I had to buy some more!!

I got it from a company called Frost Auto Restoration.

I really enjoy finding somewhere nice to photograph the car. The first Pic is taken in Cheddar gorge where I take a lot of the photos, I climbed that cliff In about 30 degree heat sweating buckets!!!

CraigGreen
13-01-2005, 03:15 PM
Brett's car is quite inspiring in that when I first saw it back in June I think? It reesembled a std(ish) valver with wheels & quad lamps. Now its received a fair waack of mods under my nose.

Keep it up mate & I hope to join you in the Mistral Grey crusade shortly......

Be good with a LET under the bonnet too.

Brett
14-01-2005, 08:11 PM
cheers Craig!

Ive heard a little bit about your planned replacement!

CraigGreen
15-01-2005, 03:51 PM
cheers Craig!

Ive heard a little bit about your planned replacement!

INDEED!

Its gonna require quite a bit of work to get to a std that I'm happy with. (not that my previous valver was anything to go by)!!

Ive got some subtle ideas up my sleeve so to speak. Should make a good restoration diary............

C.G

Brett
16-01-2005, 09:46 PM
you'll have to get pictures up of your new valver Craig!! after a dman good polish!! to be fair though you've done really well to get that shell. And its in the best colour!!

also well done for being one of the few people who havent run up the back of Simons car whilst he tows them!!

CraigGreen
17-01-2005, 12:38 PM
you'll have to get pictures up of your new valver Craig!! after a dman good polish!! to be fair though you've done really well to get that shell. And its in the best colour!!

also well done for being one of the few people who havent run up the back of Simons car whilst he tows them!!


Pics etc all coming soon mate..... Hows the V6 stoppers ??

GET THEM SPIGGOT RINGS FOR GAWD SAKE.

Brett
17-01-2005, 08:48 PM
brakes need bleeding again but Ive still got to fit the new braided hoses to the rear, and the spiggot rings which I ordered today;)

V6 set up is a huge improvement, I could stop on a 50 pence piece now!

stt
19-01-2005, 08:56 AM
also well done for being one of the few people who havent run up the back of Simons car whilst he tows them!!


I was quite glad about that too!

Nice write up mate!

Si

Brett
14-02-2005, 08:42 PM
http://xs.to/xs.php?h=xs15&d=05060&f=AstraGTE16v003.jpg

sorry for the crappy picture!!!

finally completed my brake system overhaul. full spec now;

Vectra V6 front callipers (£30 local scrappy)
288mm front discs (£25 Astra Dan)
Braided hoses all round (£40 stt)
dot 5.1 fluid (£8.99 - Halfrauds non silicone based)
Total Cost £140

total cost of the upgrade was about £140, with the spiggot rings to centre the discs on the hub coming in at a storming £25. But in terms of value for money this set up wont be beatenm the car stops on a 5pence now and the pedal is solid, theres so much feed back and no brake fade even braking down from over 120mph. I'm Delighted with them, I dont think it will be beaten on value for money either

thanks to those who helped fit them, Astrasteve23 and stt, and all the other on here for bits and advice:beer:

tomstickland
15-02-2005, 12:51 AM
Good work, money well spent. I've just got my 284mm brakes working properly and it's well worth it. I'm going to move to 284s eventually because the bits are cheaper and they're bigger.

Ross_Mk2
15-02-2005, 05:47 PM
Whats flocking?

Jon S
15-02-2005, 05:58 PM
Whats flocking?

its a type of fabric covering to prevent any glare reflecting off the dashboard into your eyes , its used all over the the motorsport scene

Mr-G
15-02-2005, 06:41 PM
u apply an adhesive to ure suface and then put stuff on it that looks like dust and shake off the exess

Brett
15-02-2005, 07:49 PM
yeah flocking is pretty much what they said, I used it as I built my own dash and needed something cheap and easy to cover it, cost me £40 to do the whole dash.

Brett
21-02-2005, 06:42 PM
Fitted a cavalier Mk3 SRi 16v equal length driveshaft yesterday.

I seem to be fighting the car less under hard acceleration, the torque steer is vastly reduced and on conering Im having to make fewer and smaller adjustments to the steering. The drivers side wheel is maybe a bit quicker to spin up than it used to when taking roundabouts at speed but no much so.

another small mod Im pleased to have had done.

CraigGreen
16-03-2005, 02:15 PM
Brett: Hope you dont mind me posting some pics I found on my phone from when I popped over before Christmas..

http://tinypic.com/28nub9

http://tinypic.com/28nud5

http://tinypic.com/28nue1

http://tinypic.com/28nvo5

http://tinypic.com/28nvp4

Engine bay & flocked dash looking great there.

Photo's courtesy of Nokia 7610 btw.

Brett
17-03-2005, 07:51 PM
judging by the state of things there craig that must have been the day after the cage was fitted, when you came to get that thermostat housing!

sorry I didnt tb last night mate - I ran out of credit!!

need to pull my finger out and finish the dash off! it hasnt changed at all since!

Tom
17-03-2005, 08:19 PM
Dash really looks good matey, how did you do the bit on the passenger side ?

Brett
18-03-2005, 07:16 PM
expanding foam to fill the 'shelves', then with a bit of fibre glass over it for strength. Finally I used a thin layer of filler over the top and smoothed that with an electric sander!

Anthony
18-03-2005, 07:48 PM
Love the dash mate. Looks a nice quality job too :)

CraigGreen
19-03-2005, 10:50 AM
judging by the state of things there craig that must have been the day after the cage was fitted, when you came to get that thermostat housing!

sorry I didnt tb last night mate - I ran out of credit!!

tis OK mate. indeed was that day. Car looks great though.

Brett
16-04-2005, 08:52 PM
Relieved a MK2 cavalier Estate of its rear beam today with Ganders help. Hopefully that will be fitted in the next few weeks:D

tomstickland
17-04-2005, 10:44 AM
Is that wider track than an Astra one then?
Dash is looking good, that extra space looks standard.
What's on the floor in the passenger side?

weekenny
17-04-2005, 11:46 PM
What's on the floor in the passenger side?
looks like an old door card

DarrenH
18-04-2005, 12:34 PM
Is that wider track than an Astra one then?
Dash is looking good, that extra space looks standard.
What's on the floor in the passenger side?

the mk2 estate beam is allegedly much beefier and allegedly what pilbeam used as part of the suspension upgrade for the mk2 touring cars

Brett
27-04-2005, 07:25 PM
It is one of the doorcards, I had to take them off to remove the storage bins as they fouled the doorbars of the rollcage.

I'll do some pictures of the Cav Estate rear beam at the weekend. Ive spent tonight removing the drums, brake lines and wire brushing it. Its deffinatly different to the Astra beam where the shocks mount on, its much beefier. Its also supposed to be 10mm wider, but having never taken a GTE beam off before I can provide an acurate breakdown of what exactly is different. It was a bit of a find and I jumped at the chance to have it.

the dash I have decided not to finish this year, ive kind of got used to the gaping hole in the extension anyway, its been there 5 months!

Kris
27-04-2005, 08:46 PM
Ive got my 16v beam striped in my garage ,when you get some pics of the estate beam i can take some pics of mine and see if there is any obvious differences between then ?

Gander
28-04-2005, 04:10 PM
the main difference is the suspension mounting points, rather than being at the end of the beam on either side the points are in slightly on a seperate spur.

Brett
13-06-2005, 09:49 PM
Ive been pretty lazy with regards to updating this recently.

not much has been done, Ive been saving up for the rebuild, Im aiming to get this under way sometime in August. Dad's up for the idea of making the garage wider so I can do it at home, so thats a bonus but might well delay things. Ive bought a runaround, a Carlton Estate CDX to use while the cars off the road.

I have bought an Escort RS Turbo interior (well, 2 actually) and sold the Calibra leather. first lot was tatty set from Gander for £30. they are much more supportive and I love them!Second set is mint and set me back £80. mums made some doorcards for me to match the seats (legend!)

http://xs33.xs.to/pics/05241/doorcards003.jpg.xs.jpg (http://xs.to/xs.php?h=xs33&d=05241&f=doorcards003.jpg)

Also from Gander has come a spax 40mm kit, my shocks were tierd and my teeth aked from the 60mm spings harsh ride. Handling is much improved but Im still thinking about putting the 60mm back in the back of the car as the back end has become more twitchy. Turn in is much better, grips longer before the front starts to break. Lift of oversteer is more pronounced, useful for the troublesome first bend of the gorge!

trying not to spend on it, really really hard. need to save for the work to be done!

Most recent pictures of the car (inc. Escort RS Turbo seats):
http://www.astra-mk2.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1371
Carlton CDX pics:
http://www.astra-mk2.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1618

astrayorkie
13-06-2005, 10:47 PM
hi mate new on here but met at pvs guy with white cap i was with my mate barrygte from mig anyway thought i would come on the site and say hello

astrasteve23
13-06-2005, 11:13 PM
the door cards look good brett! the interior has a bit of colour to it now. a change from all the black!

richie00boy
14-06-2005, 08:37 AM
Door card looks good.

Brett
17-06-2005, 07:57 PM
hi mate new on here but met at pvs guy with white cap i was with my mate barrygte from mig anyway thought i would come on the site and say hello

yeah I remember you mate, good to hear from you again, sitck around!

cheers for the comments about the doorcards too lads!

Brett
04-07-2005, 07:50 PM
Well, I insured the Carlton today. The Astra comes off the road on Sunday when I get home from Billing, from a week today I will have lost 100bhp/tonne and gained around 25 feet extra length LMFAO!

I cant belive its about to come off the road, Ive been saying I'll do it for a year and here I am about to do it! I'll keep you all posted on progress over the rest of this yerar start of next.

Brett
14-07-2005, 12:34 AM
miss it already:(

Jon S
14-07-2005, 08:47 AM
is this a perminant move?

Addz
14-07-2005, 11:36 AM
How long for mate?

And whats the plans whilst its off the road?

DarrenH
14-07-2005, 07:49 PM
my astra joins you, with its feet up !

Brett
15-07-2005, 07:40 PM
its a long term thing I think, but it will be back, hopefully in time for next summer.

Its got the usual GTE rust that needs sorting out, paints tierd and I want more power.

I plan to have a lot of welding done, all the rust removed, stitch weld the engine bay, the blukhead inside and outside the car. Ive got to gut the car to do this so Im going to re-flock the dash, fit a mint RS turbo recaros etc and revamp the interior and maybe loose some more bits and peices. Then its going to be painted (staying mistral grey) but I wont be doing any dramatic bodymods. I cant even decide on round rear arch's or not! The its having some new suspension including rear beam, the cage is being braced to the A&B pillars, battery to the boot, internal brake and fuel lines and last but not least a LET and LSD.

Better get saving:D

Brett
15-07-2005, 07:41 PM
odders, I just checked your thread n your car but there nowt there. whats going on with it?

DarrenH
17-07-2005, 01:12 PM
stuff on this reply http://www.astra-mk2.com/forum/showpost.php?p=18218&postcount=139

polo just won another year MOT, so i an take my time with the astra. hopefully done before trax.

Sipo
17-07-2005, 02:40 PM
what is the advantage of having the battery in the boot? I have seen plenty of people do this but never understood why?

astrasteve23
17-07-2005, 04:18 PM
to do with weight distribution.

Ian T
17-07-2005, 06:51 PM
Also has some utility in the winter, as the boot stays a few degrees warmer than under the bonnet, although I'd have thought the ligher resistance in the cables would have offset that a bit!

Ian.

Brett
18-08-2005, 01:42 PM
bit of a sad day yesterday, sold the engine out of it for £375 which means its now deffinatly the end of the road for this car:(

I feel sad to see it end like this but, many of its parts will live on in the new 16v shell:D

I'll update this with pics as the engine comes out and bits slowly disappear from it.

astrasteve23
18-08-2005, 11:55 PM
you gonna start a new diary for the yellow one?

BazW
19-08-2005, 09:53 AM
i felt crap when I stripped the last gte but the one ive got now is 10 times better and it hasn't cost me anything to do it. the cash I got from selling the old one in bits has paid for this one :) so i've got more time and money to spend making this one better rather than making th old one presentable