Forums Forums Enthusiast Forums A - Z Autowirral StationMiek's Astra GSi 2.0

All the rust has now been cut out, the arches have been cut to shape and positioned to fit the rest properly, and it's now going to be riveted and welded!! Angle grinders are merciless, they cut through anything, but make an incredible amount of noise, I have to be quick and very infrequent as next door has a newborn babbee.

I'm worried about the petrol aspect, I'll be welding around the filler hole, are there any precautions, as I do not want to go anywhere near the fuel pipes (which is what I'll have to do!)

Huray. Both arches are now replaced and are fibre glassed up, and ready to be painted.

However, I have lost my one and only Clifford remote fob (fell out of a hole in my bag somewhere between Bebington and New Ferry), so now my car is ready, I can't drive it!
Any alarm experts, know how to reprogram a Clifford alarm to a new fob, without the old fob?!?

And anyone know why the +12 lead to my amp keeps going red hot and catching on fire?

Over two months later, and I'm still trying to sort the steering. I can't believe I haven't driven it for so long.
The steering is loose, the wheel moves as you steer left and right. I have traced the problem down to the clutch pedal (it is bolted to it). I've replaced everything in the chain, but no results, the same thing everytime.
Tonight I totally stripped the interior. everything apart from the gear selector and wiring (and a blanket) was left in.
I'm thinking it's the black panel which the pedals and part of the steering column are mounted, it's the last hope really!
Thing is, I can't really ask anyone for help, as this is a structural problem, nobody else has had it.

Haven't we been here before??


The panel:


Hello engine:


Where did I put my interior?


Missing the astra now, I haven't driven it in months.

looks like your having fun

Madness!! Have fun putting that back together!!

itll be christmas at least b4 u get all that s**t back together m8 gud luck hope you sort your steering problem after all this effort ;P

ur a crazy crazy guy,

one qu "why hav we neva seen this beast at a meet i wanna see it in all its glory wen its bk on the road, especially with all its omego bits an every off luxury uv added to to"

The CULPRIT!!



Close-up:



Crack in the bulkhead right in the middle of the steering rack, when the steering rack 'steers', it pulls one side towards the other, and pulls the steering column with it!! You can feel it overlap slightly, you can't see it move, but this is what's caused the whole bendiness.

I took the steering rack out:



As I pulled it out, I caught a hose, which flicked off and sprayed me with PAS fluid. I felt like I was the poor girl in the middle of a gangbang!

Anyways, I have drilled two little holes on either side of the crack to stop it spreading, and will get a mate to weld the 2 inch crack, and cover over with a plate or something. Told it was nothing, and welding would be more than adequate. Phew (again).

Also fully removed the heating system, couldn't believe how much space it took up. You can get tiny electric heaters for kitcars quite cheap, I'm going to make some kind of heating system that isn't in the way whenever you want to do something.
Here it is on my old car, takes up all the space behind the dash.


The coolant system was full of brown sh*te, so flushed it quickly and it's clean now for another winter.
Hopefully, this will be the last time I have my car apart!! :cheers:
Arches still need to be painted though.

OMG

Amazing

I'm suprised so few memebers have not picked up on this topic.

Its Brilliant, and really informative.
Ive never seen the "Guts" of a Astra like that.

I wouldnt have had the balls to go investigating as far as you have.

Hats off to you fella, i enjoyed reading your progress, and i'm saying a little prayer for you when that wiring has to go back in.

Keep us updated on the progress,
and a pickture of the screws that never found a home.

Top Topic

Agree with webby, that's one big job! and hats off to you for doing everything yourself, goes to show how much you really do care for your car.

Thanks for the comments!! My problem is I like taking things apart to see how they work, it always ends up in tears.

I've just programmed the new remote in, bit of a nightmare, but got it sorted out in the end (and I can get rid of my temporary wiring bodge).



Here's my wiring tidying job, getting a MIG welder on friday, so the everything should be back together then. Looks a bit better!



Apart from the arches, at least it looks better than it was (!)



Bad old days:


Arch needs fillering in, etc., just left it till last, must do it before it starts getting wet. Alloy has been 'refurbished' by me, water had reacted under the paint and all the paint was blistered, need spraying again. Quick job, will get around to the hub conversion ...

look good mate, i want to refurb my alloys myself but just dont have the confident to do it myself, did you find it hard to refurb your alloys?

Not at all, the one in the picture had a huge scratch in the paint, and all the laquer had blistered on the edges and all over, really bad condition. I just got some 150 grade sandpaper and rubbed it all over, all the paint came off in about ten seconds, and the blemishes disappeared. Gave it a clean up with a bit of car body filler, and then sprayed it about 8 coats of primer (the white you see), as they're bound to take a few more hits in the future as they're going on my Corsa. I'll spray them the normal colour when I get round to it. I've got new 16" ones to go on, so wasn't too bothered about how it looks. Fortunately, they're quite flat, so other types might take a bit more time, but not much.

Today I put everything back in the car, it now runs, there is no smoke (as the oily deposits have all burnt off the exhaust - hopefully!). The car was making a whining noise (I thought one of the pumps had gone), but it was the alternator 'fan' spinning against the lambda cable. phewee. It's making a rattle under load but I'm suspecting that's a cable against metal or just a tool I've dropped in the engine somewhere (done it so many times, and have it bounce out down the M53 somewhere!!).

wow, that crack, its like finding a peice of hay in a giant stack of needels, well done for that, what a night mere to find though