SRi 16v W.I.P. (lots of pics)

[Greig Sri]

Today I got the under sealing finnished off under the new arch. Then I made up the new bit for under the floor at the front.

Heres a pic of it



Next week it cut off whats left of the rusty one and weld on my new bit. Then its thats the welding finnished!


Greig

[Greig Sri]

Been busy this afternoon. Got the rusty bit cut out but it turned out to be more rusty than I thought. No suprises there then.

Heres it all cut out




Heres the first hole welded.



Then I had to alter the bit I made on sunday.



So its all ready to weld on , hope to do that Tuesday.

Greig

[Colorado]

Doing a great job with it.

[Greig Sri]

I hope to have the welding finnished on Satuarday .Didnt have time to do it this afternoon. Then ill start on the rest of the striping down and rubbing down the paint work for the respray. Still need to get my new bonnet tho. Its been on order for months, my local motor factors keep getting early bonnets sent to them.

Greig

[Gaz]

keep up the good work it makes a change to see a proper restoration

[Greig Sri]

keep up the good work it makes a change to see a proper restoration

I will, as long as ive got the cash to fix it up. The respray will cost me. Ive still to shop round for quotes.


Greig

[Greig Sri]

Today I got the bit that I made fitted on to the car.



Well thats all the welding done on the car , just need to underseal it and job done.

That leaves me to carry on striping down the car for painting.


Greig

[Colorado]

Nice bit of work.

[Greig Sri]

Nice bit of work.

I tkink so too, im chuffed with my welding skills. Before I started on the car I had never used mig welding ,only gas and stick welding on steel pipes.

Greig

[btcctroy]

good work fella!

[Greig Sri]

Well this weekend I spent most of satuarday fixing the Corsa. That is now back on its 4 wheels and moving under its own power, but the thrust bearing is screaming now and the tracking is miles out. . I then looked at our Astra estate and found that the banging suspension is a broken front spring.

So today wos the cavs turn.I rubbed down the primer and put more on. I then spent ages getting off the sticky foam tape that holds on the side trim, wot a job that is.

Heres the the sticky stuff all gone, the marks on the paint are from 'sawing' the trims off with welding wire.



Here is the stuff I used to remove it.



A heat gun to warm it, a ruler and glove to rub it off, panel wipe to get off the glue


Greig

[Colorado]

Looks like they were firmly glued on.! Bet your glad that job is done!

[Greig Sri]

Bet your glad that job is done!

Its not quite done got the drivers side wing to do. My fingers were sore from all the rubbing and I wos getting p155ed off with it.

Greig

[Gaz]

Try your local paint suppliers for a choccy /caramac wheel they take the glue off in seconds with no damage to the paint

[Greig Sri]

Wish i had known about that earlyer. Would have saved me hours, never mind nearly finnished tho.

Greig

[humbucker]

nice. i love the colour scheme you went for on your cam cover too, looks great.

[Greig Sri]

Its Peugeot steel gray with the plug cover done in vaxhall flame red with the leters polished up, thats how it is now. In the earlyer pics in the thred the plug cover wos a plastic one and the letters are done in the pug steel gray. I wanted the engine covers difrent from the silver and not done in the car colour . I think the pug steel gray works in fine with what I wanted.


Greig

[Greig Sri]

Here are a few more random pics.

This is the head back from getting skimmed and a few of the studs drilled out.


This is it with the valves back in. It wos a nightmare to get the collets fitted back on them with the valve spring tool in the way.


Heres my lether seats waiting to get fitted. My mate and me had a 12 hour drive to get them and take them back. The joys of ebay.


I hope to have the car looking even better than it is in this pic when im all finnished.


An arty photo of the car.


Heres a couple of pics of old opels that I seen on my winter holiday to Tenerife. Thay were in very good condition , no rust on them.





Also seen an Corsa gt (nova sr) and a Vectra GT (cavalier SRi) . Thay only looked like they were a few years old , not 15 plus years old.


Greig

[Colorado]

Love the oldschool Vauxhall pictures brilliant. I think youve done well with the leather as well. The seats look very good. Are you going to connect up the plugs and have them heated?

[Greig Sri]

The seats were fitted a wile ago and are wired in for a warm bum. Very good on cold days.

Greig

[Greig Sri]

Today was an Astra day the cav will have to wait again. I set out to change the broken spring but as usal it turned out a bigger job.
Heres some pics.


Heres the strut nearly off. The drive shaft wos stuck tight in the hub but I got it out. Helps when you have the correct tools for the job.



The broken spring. Then found that the shock had seen better days.


So with the car needing new front shocks I had to strip the other strut off.


With the struts off I got the rust off and painted them. Now looking better than new.


I also went to the local brakers and got a few things for the Astra. Inc this 288mm Vectra Sri front brakes. The discs and pads are hardly used they were fitted for the car getting moted but it failed on lots of things and ended up as scrap. I fitted one of the Astras alloy wheels on to the Cav to see if the 288mm brakes will fit under the 15" wheel, as the cav has 288mm all ready. I found that I will have to grind a very small bit off the calipers to clear the wheel.

There is a huge differance in size. Should stop the car quicker.


When I finished tidying up I washed the car . Then when I looked under the engine I found this,

The sump has rusted and leaking.

This is the car at the end of a long day.


Sundays job will be getting the new front shocks in the afternoon when thay come in and getting it all put back together.

Greig

[Colorado]

Good weekends work then? It looks a very tidy Astra estate.

[Greig Sri]

Good weekends work then? It looks a very tidy Astra estate.

The car is in quite good nick for its age, only has 93k on the clock. Yes a busy weekend working on the Astra. Wos at it most of the day again.

Picked up the new shocks and got everything all back together and painted it all, looking good.


I got the calipers rubbed down and painted. The brackets and the discs are sitting in a tub of vinegar to get rid of the rust.

Need to get new nipples and seals for the calipers. Then get spigot rings and the discs redrilled , then I can get them fitted on.

I drained the oil out of the sump, cleaned it and then put resin over the hole as a tempray fix. A new sump is on order costing £51, ill get that fitted on friday hopefully.


I then had a look at the engine as its getting a bit smoky when its given some boot. I found the air pipes were coated inside with oil from the breather tee on towords the turbo and all the way to the inlet of the engine. Got then cleaned out as best I could. I checked for play in the turbo shaft and it seams fine. So to see if the breather is the cause of oll the oil ,I did a little mod to it.


Need to run round in the car and see if the smoke stops after a wile and if the bottle fills up with oil.

Got to get a move on we the cav next week as its taking way to long to do.


Greig

[Gaz]

looking loads better but get some cav jobs done

[Greig Sri]

looking loads better but get some cav jobs done

My plan the now is to get the sump fitted to the astra. Then go round the local car painters for some prices for getting the cav painted. Then ill carry on striping down the car.Not got a lot to come off so it should be read to get painted after the weekend. Dont know what ill do about sending the car to get painted tho as im waiting on a new bonnet to come. Its be on order since Aug/Sep last year when I took the car off the road.

Greig