I had been looking for 12 months for a project to work on.
As it would only be used in the summer, Mrs Mav suggested I get a convertible. So I though why not. Being a Vauxhall fan I knew it had to be a Vauxhall, so this meant Astra was the only practical option. An old shape Saab 9-3 was considered, but my budget would only get me an X or Y plate Aero with 60+k miles. So I ruled it out.
Besides I have always been an Astra fan. A Turbo was top of my list but finding a decent untouched Turbo convertible was becoming hard to find. There are a few out there but the untouched ones were not in great shape.
So I started looking at the 2.2 16v. I know it's not as quick as the Turbo, but it does have alot of 'overall' potential, being a lighter engine, the handling could be made to be quite good.
After a lot of thinking I decided I had to find one of the two limited Edition models Vauxhall launched in 2002 (Linea Rossa) and 2003 (Edition 100)
Back in June 2010, I found an 03 plate Edition 100 Turbo Convertible, 2 owners and 32000 miles. But after calling to say I would drive the 100 miles to look at it, I was told by the VX dealer that it had just been sold. Pretty gutted but obviously not meant to be.
After another search, I found this :-
Astra Linea Rossa 2.2 Convertible
27000 miles
One owner from new
FVSH
As it was only 50 miles away I decided to go and have a look, but got everything in place so that I could bring it home if it was any good.
I arrived at the small independant dealer and inspected the car. First thing I noticed was that is was filthy, the red leather was grubby, the interior was all in excellent shape, but just dirty.
The bodywork was straight with the exception of a couple of small marks and a couple of car park dints in one of the quarter panels. But as the paint all appeared original but with some swirl marks, these should be easily sorted.
I then went through the paperwork, ALL the original invoices for the car and everything that had been spent on it. Even the original purchse order form was included.
I rang the supplying VX dealer to check the service history and it all checked out fine. I then saw written on one invoice the original owners phone number. So I rang him and he confirmed that the car was as described, never been in a accident and was bought by him when he retired and was only used as a 3rd car.
So after a successfull test drive, I took the plunge and did the deal. The tyres were original and completely shot and this years service needed to be done. So this was taken into account and got £400 off the price of the car.
So I took the day off work and got to work on the clean up. Front seats out, centre console stripped out, properly cleaned and everything put back together. Leather treated and came up really well, it looks much better than it's 7 1/2 years suggest.
The the bodywork was snow foamed, clayed, glazed, sealed and waxed. Only about 3 marks remain, but I am tempted to leave them alone as all the paint is original and I don't want to start having panels painted.
Under the car had 7 years of muck and grime which needed to be cleaned out. The engine bay had a quick clean which to be fair was not too dirty.
I then fitted the following :-
New VX Flat Blade Wipers
New VX Moulded Mudflaps
A new set of number plates without screw holes
Here is the result after the first clean up.
The car was then booked in to my local Vauxhall Dealer Marshall's for the following :-
Full Service
Brake Fluid Change
Coolant Change
Pre-Cat removal
Full software check and update
The only thing Marshall's found was the tyres are knackered (More on that later) and the exhaust back box was pretty rotten, but everything else was perfect. The car has the later 2.2 engine and no pre-cat was fitted, so another bonus.
The 2.2 Engine
I have to say the 2.2 is a nice unit, it has a nice spread of torque across the rev range. After being used to turbo diesels for the past few years, it does feel a little flat low down, but once past 3500rpm, it really does move for a N/A engine.
The airbox has been de-restricted which should help in conjunction with the K&N filter. I also have a Vectra C intake pipe to fit in the near future.
The day I bought the car home, I knew the tyres were shot, so I ordered a new set of Yokohama Parada Spec 2 tyres in the original 215 40 ZR17" size.
I didn't like the orignal wheels are they were only the 7" wide rim and looked a bit lost in the arches. So I ordered a brand new set of GSi 7.5 x 17" rims and Marshall's built them up for me. So I collected the wheels and tyres and set about replacing them.
Here is the end result so far :-
I went for the GSi rims as I am looking to re-create this :-
It's the prototype Astra OPC (GSi) Convertible. A 200PS Turbo and 165PS 2.2 were built in late 2001 for evaluation purposes, but they never made production.
But I think it looks fantastic. The OPC 17's are the early design, but they are are no longer available.
OK, so here are pics of the next set of changes.
Firstly, the mats, as these were original and very dirty and worn, I decided to get a brand new set of Linea Rossa mats, a K&N panel filter and Vectra C air intake.
So the mats and filter have been fitted, the interior looks soooo much better withnew mats. Damn expensive though!
I got them for £106 inc VAT just for the front pair! But I could not bring myself to buy standard Coupe/Convertible mats. They had to be right so Linea Rossa mats it had to be.
The Brakes
I found the standard 2.2 brakes were pretty shocking to be honest. So a used set of Turbo 308mm discs and matching calipers were sourced, cleaned up and fitted.
I decided to go blue with the calipers, common sense would have said red was the way to go, but I thought that the red VXR's look pretty good with the contrasting blue calipers so decided to the same to give it a little 'up to date' look. But has since changed, so more on this later.
As you can see in the picture below, the 308's are quite a bit bigger than the standard discs.
The difference is very apparent. They simply bite harder and giver you alot more confidence. I think they look better as well.
I will be painting the rear calipers to suit the fronts very soon. The only I didn't count on is that the brake pad wear sensors would not fit the new pads. So a new pair of GSi brake pad wear sensors have been ordered and will be fitted this weekend.
The eagle eyed members will also notice the LMF dark style side repeaters.
I also bought and fitted an OPC grill along with and a 1994 Monaro Griffin badge to fit. The advantage of using the Monaro badge, is that it is the perfect size to replace the Opel badge, and it's solid backed so you can't see the shape of the Opel Blitz through the griffin badge. I have currently removed this grill as it is being modified to remove the OPC badge and smooth off round the badge where the Opel badge sits. Also, a call to Steve at LMF has resulted in a complete GSi front bumper being ordered.
When I bought the car, it had a few dints.
3 in the near side rear 1/4
1 in the near side door
1 on the offside rear 1/4
I on the boot lid where the past owner had push the boot down.
Fortunately, non of these little dents had marked the paint. So off to see an old friend who owns and runs Dent-Technique in Enderby Leicester.
http://www.dent-technique.com
Paul then proceeded to remove all the little dents and left every panel looking perfect.
So another small step to getting the car as good as possible.
If you have car park dents in your own car, it's well worth giving Paul Phillips a ring, he is the MD of the company and did my dents today for me.
<u>GSi Bumper</u>
After the call, I went to Marshall's to have the GSi bumper fitted. All went well there and think it has truly finished off the car. A good friend of mine works there so we fitted the bumper together early one Saturday morning.
Now the Astra has been taken off the road for the winter, I have taken on the task of cleaning everything up. Having always gone down the modification route in the past, I have decided this time to go for a different approach and try to get the car as clean as possible.
So, first up was the removal of the rear bumper and send it off to my local Vauxhall dealership to have it painted. It has a nasty scuff when I bought the car and it also suffered from the usual mismatch of colour.
So once off, the cleaning started.
I will be doing each wheel arch in turn over the next few months or so.
Here is where we are with the first one.
As the brakes on the car are all original, I have decided to replace everything, so a new disc and pad kit was ordered and collected. One of the discs has already been fitted.
Also I popped over to LMF and bought a new set of Bilstien B4 dampers. I did consider going for the B6's but as the car will be doing about 1500 miles a year I figured it was not worth paying over £450 and also you would not get the benefit from a convertible shell.
B4's are supposed to be a little better than standard, and as mine are original and nearly 8 years old it would not hurt to fit new ones.
They are nice and clean as well so will look better
**One down, three to go! **
Here is the arch re-assembled. Still some overall cleaning to do on this arch, but it's pretty much done.
Still loads of the factory wax covering alot of places which needs to be cleaned off.
New parts include the new disc and pads
Bilstien B4 Damper
I painted the caliper in Vauxhall Rembrandt Silver, which has a touch of gold in it which gives it a look similar to new calipers.
I think the cleaning off of all the wax on the plastics is going to take some time, but I'll get there.
The next stages.
My Eibach spring kit is sitting at Courtenay ready for collection, so I will go over and get them very soon and get them fitted. Whilst there I will be ordering the Milltek Cat back system with their own adaptor for the 2.2.
Future Plans......
Eibach Springs (In Stock ready for collection)
Milltek Exhaust System To be ordered next week
Courtenay Re-Map (Just iron out the flat spots and make it crisper)
Whiteline Rear Anti Roll bar
Supercharger?? Nice idea, but very expensive!
I feel that these modifications will not detract from the original Linea Rossa model and are all reversable. All the parts will be kept to put back if required.
I'll update the post as the project goes on. But with only about 2000 miles expected per year, I think I have a car now that in 4 years will still only have about 35000 miles on it and be 11 years old.
I got a call from the dealer that had the edition 100 Turbo, and he said the original deal had fallen through and asked If I was still interested. I told him to send me pictures out curiosity. I am glad I didn't buy it. The bumpers were scuffed, ALL the BBS wheels were kerbed and the tan leather had worn through on the drivers seat bolster. So glad I didn't buy it.
Comments as always welcome.
