1990 Vauxhal Astra mk2 merit, project OAP, aug '14

[darrenh]

Oh haaai ! I bought another mk2 astra :applause:

I went up to meet Neil today and purchased the 1.6 merit, big thanks to him for coming out to meet me in Tolkein-esque Lincolnshire, crazy beautiful scenery round that area, he wouldn't have looked out of place with a long white beard and a staff

The brief was simple, I was after a new run around which had to be basic and easy to drive, cheap to insure, not need much work, still be old, easy to maintain and hassle free, so here is all of those things !

Its a 1990 1.6 merit, 16SV engine so around 82bhp, 42,000 miles (which have to be genuine given the astonishing condition) the very popular glacier white, so that means more favourable face lift black interior. the only thing we can fault it on is the rear corner of the sill which I will replace this is possibly the best condition most untouched original astra I've ever laid eyes on. its quiet, taught, smooth, comfortable, if you ever see those adverts for "time warp" condition cars, this is one

[Deleted]

blimey

[soretro]

Sweet looking little ride nice and OE.Personally only thing I would change is change to OE alloys,GSi tail lights and the white front indicators and maybe a GSi steering wheel nice find mate well done love it and enjoy it.

[darrenh]

i hear you mate, i'd love to change to alloys due to the brakes and superior tyres that it allows, but pretty loathe to alter the car

might try and get a set of 15" 4 stud vectra steels together for some OEM+

first stop is a pair of rear arches to use as repair sections for the brown bits.

[406v6]

Ha ! I was there ! Saw you doing the transaction in the car park at Metheringham station. At the time I thought the Astra looked really tidy. Poverty spec is a bit - well poverty - but leave it as it is given how it's in such good shape. I didn't say anything at the time as you were both busy going over the car and examining paperwork. Doubt you noticed my 406 leaving the car park either but it's just another fairly modern car, albeit with a rather more potent engine than most.

Good luck with your new purchase.

[darrenh]

cool, should have said hi ! that was a long old train journey from kent

[barryj75]

Very nice shame its a auto.

[darrenh]

whys it a shame ?

[barryj75]

Might be just me but iv never had a good auto in a Vauxhall and been a Vauxhall nut I have had a few

[darrenh]

fair enough lol, i'll try and make sure it has the least impact on your day to day life by continuing to own it myself

[darrenh]

arches arrived, but of course i will only use the last 12 inches or so at the sill end. under the carz2 sticker are klokkerholm stickers, i think we have heard of them before here

[darrenh]

to repair these areas

[soretro]

It always amazes me how the cars in europe eat through arches due to your roads, I've owned 2 kadett D's,3 kadett mach 2's, 5 monzas I think you call them belmonts and not one of them has rusted on the arches, only soft points I ever had was on the mach 1's front lower doors,mach 2 kadetts around the holes for the boot spoilers,and monzas corners of the rear windscreen otherwise solid as a rock. Good on you for taking on a job like the arches would scare the hell out of me. Looking forward to see the progress

[darrenh]

i made a start on the rear arches, i need to apologise for the middle pictures as the sun had come round in my face and was giving me major flare.

so this is just jacked up, wheel off and wire cup in angle grinder on all the brown bits



bottom corner no surprises



the i started chasing the return lip of the outer arch, brown dust was coming out of with the 1mm disk in the grinder. i thought there's no point fixing the bottom corner if there is rust sandwiched between the arches. so i cut it all the way round and released the spot welds



i wire cupped the lip of the inner arch, bought it all up shiny, and then cut out the bottom



granville rust cure



welded in repair section on the bottom corner, and this is with a first pass with grinding disk



second pass with 80 grit flap disk



then i cut the lip off of my repair section, pre drilled some spot weld holes, then spot welded it to the inner arch lip, then (in 1 inch sections) stitched the lip to the outer arch



pass with grinding disk, followed by pass with 80grit flap disk



had to tidy up as rain clouds were looming and it was getting late, but its in primer at least

[Deleted]

Jun 2, 2013 16:52:55 GMT barryj75 said:

Very nice shame its a auto.

iv been driving autos for a few years now....bad left knee..makes using a clutch pedal very difficult
iv found it actually easier to drive with an autobox...especially in stop/start traffic

and if autos are so bad..why do Bentley/merc/bmw/rolls Royce and the like fit them to their cars??

I agree its nicer to drive with a manual...especially on track days....but autos are just as good

[countvauxalot]

Erm WANT! very cool wish I could find a reasonable mk2 estate or van. Keep up the good work

[Deleted]

Those were astonishingly tidy arches to begin with (for a Mk2 Astra for this vintage at any rate) and now they're just unbelievable. Everyone will think it's finely crafter filler, you know.

[darrenh]

thanks guys the acid test is if i can get the paint finish ok, i'm so impatient, especially when it says wait 24 hours for it to dry, which invariably means wait 24 hours before you can rub down the mess you made.

[grifterkid]

That is unreal...! To see one of these without the standard issue rust, ermm, issues is like a dream...

What a blinding old motor...

[darrenh]

nice one cheers today i'm just using the toffee wheel to get the side strip glue off. and laying down coats of glacier white every 15 mins. probably just keep going and use the whole tin up (maybe 8 or 9 coats) that way i'll have plenty of meat to flat it off with 1500 W+D and then cut after