1990 Astra GL Diary

[The Griffin]

It was away for four and a half months and I thought that was a long time! Safely back home and ready to be put back together. It feels good to have it home.

[Harvey]

Now the fun begins putting it back together. Get some pictures up so we can all see

[The Griffin]

Photo time, Not great pictures at it rained all weekend and I was working in the garage.





















I should have got some pictures of the footwells before the sound pads went on really.

Managed 4 hours yesterday fitting the interior, I'd guess I'm almost half way from having it fitted then it needs a good clean.

[The Griffin]

Another busy weekend, 10 litres of waxoyl should keep the rust at bay, now fully rebuilt and back on the road.







New tyres and tracking to be sorted out tomorrow. My new toy is hiding behind!

[Harvey]

Looking splendid. Loving the new toy, is it one of the limited run in lightening yellow?

[The Griffin]

It's the same colour as the lighting yellow but a turbo. Two turbos on my drive both great fun! Now need a double garage!

[Astra Dan]

That looks straight as a die! Good stuff.

[The Griffin]

Thanks, I'm pleased I spent the money and time on it. The car needs a good clean, it's only had a bucket of water over it since the work. I've been too busy putting it all back together. It's back in today having new tyres and the tracking sorted out then I can enjoy it again.

[The Griffin]

It's now had a week of use and I'm really happy to be driving it again. I have a couple of issues to deal with, the most annoying being that the headlining is starting to come away from the backing. It was fine when it went back in but is now coming away on the front edge along the windscreen. After searching on here I've got some fabric contact adhesive to try.

This is now my everyday runner after buying the VX. I run three cars with the wife's car and can't afford to, or want to, run 4. It is great to drive it on a regular basis again. I will be doing a lot of car cleaning this winter.

[The Griffin]

Nearly 20 years since buying it and I've now covered 100k in it, rolled over to 159k this morning. Running better now than it has in years.

[Astra Dan]

I expect the whole lot will drop eventually. I flocked the one from my 1.3 and it will outlast the car, certainly. The 'new' one in the GTE has started to droop too so I shall do the same to that.

[The Griffin]

I got some fabric contact adhesive which has stuck it back for now, I shall see how long it lasts but ultimately flocking has to be the long term solution, did you have your sunroof shade done to match or the headlining to match the sunroof shade?

[Astra Dan]

No I didn't and I can't remember what it looks like now!

[The Griffin]

After a whole winter of use I was giving it a much needed deep clean this weekend, removed the mats and has a wet drivers floor. Carpet and underlay out of the front to dry out. There wasn't that much water in there and it dried out in the sun on Sunday. We have had a lot of rain and two days of heavy rain last week. There was no surface rust starting so that 's good news.

I felt a bit disheartened about this but need to check all the likely water ingress points. I'm starting with the scuttle as I need to have a look at my blower as it's squealing away!

[Graham]

That looks good.