VAUXHALL ASTRA GTE MK1 CAR PERFORMANCE SPORTS TURBO
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The Snotter

 
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sean
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 21, 2008 10:58 pm    Post subject: The Snotter Reply with quote

I saw this little piggy one morning whilst browsing ebay. It was quite local & had a buy it now for £275. Well i got a bit exited in the few minutes i spent reading the ad, convinced myself i needed a snotter in my life & couldn't help hitting the button. A few days later i picked it up, drove it home, looked at it & thought naa, don't like it....... ill flog it.


Anyway over a couple of weeks i started to clean it up a bit here & there, did a bit of rubbing down & painting etc. Then the daydreams of what i could do with it started. I eventually decided yeah, maybe i do like the little rotter. Even the colour grew on me a bit.


I hatched a plan, I decided i wanted to drop it, strip it, cage it & chuck in a turbo motor. I also decided that the colour would stay & some tasty white bits would compliment it perfectly Cool
First thing i found was a full set of Spax 60mm shocks & springs brand new off ebay for £150. It turned out the springs were wrong mad So i bought some more to fit.
dropping the car like so...


But i wasn't happy. The paintwork was tired, one of the arches was a bit rusty, it needed wings & the sills had a couple of nasty patches. So at this point i thought it best to sell my GTE Sad & go to town on it. So i bagged a couple of wings....


.....Then I stripped it & took it to the local body shop. Typically it pi55ed down driving it to the body shop with no wipers or lights, but i found with the wiper off the tailgate i could reach out of the window to clear the rain enough to see big grin Luckily it was close by...



In the mean time i gathered a few more bits, or wasted a bit more money as the wife called it. I bought new discs, pads, pipes, hoses, bushes etc. I also found a rear beam from a 16v, so i stripped it, painted it & got it ready for fitting


Then i finally decided on some wheels for it. I knew i wanted white, 16" & i knew they had to be motor sport kinda style. So i went for a set of Rota Slip-streams. Ive never seen them before & they fitted the bill perfectly.


The day i got it back from the body shop i spent all day re fitting the parts.
When i sold the GTE i put all the lights back to standard so had some smoked rears & clear indicators in stock, so on they went for a look. I like. The colour was so much brighter & deeper than the 24 year old paint it had. I was WELL happy with it big grin Its nothing like any of the pics in the metal, so you will have to wait for the shows!


I decided the fog lamp had to go, It looked a bit out of place. So i re wired the fog into the off side reverse light & changed the bulb for a red one. Much cleaner.....


Next job was fitting the brakes. I spent a couple of days dodging the rain with these, winter sucks when modding cars, mainly because I'm in a house with no garage at the moment mad


But the newly re-painted body coloured callipers put a smile on my face! I'm so glad i did em green big grin



The next job was to find a cage. Steve came up with the goods strait away with a safety devices 6 pointer! Just the ticket. I got it home, had it sandblasted.....


...Then painted it white. I then pro ceded to f#@k it up trying to fit it big grin I never realised just how tight a fit these things are. So i whipped it out & painted it again. A week later I attempt to fit it again with a little more luck. I got a couple of marks on it but its in & looks cool Cool That's my mate Nick in the pic trying to look like he knows what he is doing....


I managed to get a couple of GTE seats for £10 with the intention of having them trimmed in white leather. I changed my mind on this for various reasons, one being it'd look a bit Micky mouse, so i decided to try & clean them up. They came up pretty well in the end but one has a fag burn right in the middle so i am lookin out for a nice one. I chucked a nice wheel on & some snazzy pedals, too. Ebay again for a nice set of white nova clocks & she's lookin good.


big grin

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Last edited by sean on Wed Apr 08, 2009 9:11 am; edited 10 times in total
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sean
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 21, 2008 11:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

A few more pics













smile

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Last edited by sean on Sat May 24, 2008 10:00 pm; edited 4 times in total
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sean
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 24, 2008 2:28 pm    Post subject: Little update Reply with quote

Today i started to remove the old engine. I did'nt get very far because i have adhd serverely affecting my attention span, ocd meaning i dont like getting dirty, & it started to rain, i dont like getting wet. But its a start & i just have the shafts & mounts to undo. Im better off taking my time anyway so i dont scratch anything or get in a paddy & kick it.



I have a nice turbo engine i bought from Vernon (cheers mate) that ive been polishing up a bit here n there. A few of the plastics had a run through the dishwasher & it works a treat! you really should try it. I have a pair of driveshafts, I picked up an F20 gearbox from turbo Chris off mig in liverpool, & Stu supplied me with a gte petrol tank & a pair of front legs. Im sure im missing bits still but ill crack on anyway. I say crack on, what i really mean is piss about looking at it, occasionaly taking a spanner to it. big grin

Update:-

The old engine & box are out. All was going well until i knocked the engine over causing a huge oil slick on the patio! Lesson learned? drain oil before removing engine. Tomorrows job is to clean the bay. All that crap is underseal so might take some getting off. If i get on well i mighht even lift the new engine in



& i have done a bit of painting....

big grin

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sean
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 5:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Made a bit of progress today, hired a crane & enlisted the help of my mate marmite Mark. The job went like clockwork. No wireing or plumbing done yet though....







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sean
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 08, 2008 8:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Time for an update....

Matt & Steve came up last sat to help me with the wires & pipes. We took over the entire garage block but we got loads done!


& we turned my mess of an engine bay from this.......


To this............


Im really pleased the car gives nothing away.......


Unless you look VERY close........


It remains to be seen how well she keeps her cool as a good chunk of the rad has no air flow. Somthing i might have to address.......

Edit: Maybe by chopping the blank section of the grill out like so....


A few slightly tidyer pics Cool






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PostPosted: Tue May 06, 2008 10:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

How smart is this! very kindly donated to me by Matt thumbsup
A nice white rocker cover. I bought new stainless bolts to finnish it off....


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sean
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PostPosted: Thu May 08, 2008 6:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I had the exhaust made up today, I went for the powerflow in the end cos i had one before & it was good. The guy did a top job of this one, superb welding & a perfect fit. I chose a 3" rolled out tailpipe exiting where its suposed to. Looks pretty retro dont ya think? Im well pleased with it Cool & it sounds f**king AWSOME! I finaly fitted the handbrake cable too.









& a few more nicer shots taken by other members.....
















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sean
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PostPosted: Tue Dec 16, 2008 8:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Cleaned & re painted discs, calipers & buffed up bonnet bits.









Red filter gone.....



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sean
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 18, 2009 11:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

A bit of an update, I have been thinking for a while that the back end of the car really needs to drop, it was a good inch to two inches higher than the front, due to the stripped out rear & rather heavy lump up front.

So today I got the grinder out! I chopped roughly a quater of a coil off at a time & checked them on the car just to make sure I didnt go to far & that the springs sat right.

Its bang on level now & looks so much better, I should have done it months ago smile

heres some pics...







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PostPosted: Wed Jun 17, 2009 10:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Some pics here the retro rides camera man sent to me......


















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Last edited by sean on Tue Oct 20, 2009 10:47 pm; edited 1 time in total
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 30, 2010 9:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Updated pics...












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sean
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PostPosted: Sun May 09, 2010 9:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've wanted to try a set of these on the snotter for as long as i can remember, so when Jon (Ballsac) popped over yesterday, in his rather stunning xe mk1, & bought me a set up i couldn't wait to get them on for a look.

As i imagined, they look the absolute tits on it! I'm soooooo pleased with the results big grin

Thanks LOADS Jon thumbsup








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