Bedford Astravan MK2

[3cav3]

This was followed by etch primer, then epoxy primer put on roughly to help fill the minor blemishes remaining.

[Robsey]

Oh dear... sounds like the next post will be about the drudge of rubbing it all back until you get the finish you can be happy with.

It is coming along nicely.
Well done for keeping going.

I floundered a few weeks ago. As you can tell by my lack of updates.
Hopefully new year, new progress.

[3cav3]

Oh dear... sounds like the next post will be about the drudge of rubbing it all back until you get the finish you can be happy with.

It is coming along nicely.
Well done for keeping going.

I floundered a few weeks ago. As you can tell by my lack of updates.
Hopefully new year, new progress.

No, I'm a lot more positive about the filling process nowadays, I still dispise doing but, I know that when its 98% there, when I hit it with copious amounts of high build in the gun, the filler line seems to disappear.

Like you I go through phases when I get peed off with the project and find i can't get motivated, but slowly and surely I'm getting there. I keep telling myself the longer it takes then the closer I get to the van being tax exempt- The current £325 is in my opinion extracting the urine, but never mind. If I've understood the rules correctly it will eventually become free in April 2029,( when its 41 years old because it misses the March 1st deadline ) and will become mot exempt a year earlier in March 2028.

Unless anything major happens i really want next year to be the year its in paint, and with the other commitments I've got, hopefully it'll be out at the shows in 2025?

[3cav3]

Last night when I looked out the road was totally white in snow, so i wasn't going to go up the unit this morning, however it must of turned to rain overnight so I did end up going. The problem was even though it may of looked a lot warmer it was still floating around freezing.
I started on the tailgate because I stupidly made a very minor ding on it a while ago. With the temperature the filler took nearly an hour to go hard. Here it is repaired.

[3cav3]

As you have seen I'm a bit of a bugger for buying up old low spec stock. It seems to be getting harder to find as time goes on, perhaps because I've already bought most of what's left? My Missus says she's convinced I'm trying to set up my own 1980s Vauxhall parts department, lol. In my defence I normally only buy the items if they are cheap.
Anyway this week I had a job lot of airfilters arrive, these seem quite hard to find in general as I believe the 16da was only fitted to the mk2 Cavalier and the mk2 Astra?



The other items that turned up were a pair of low spec mirrors, I've already got a passenger side but up till now the drivers side had proved elusive, I thought I was going to have to resort to just a new cover on the old housing.

[3cav3]

I was considering having a new set of number plates made up, so finally got round to looking up the name on the front plate.
It turns out it's the name of a bodyshop in Essex that seems to be still trading, guess this confirms my thoughts that this van had a minor bump on the front in about 1989-19990. The lack of a 1 in the dialing code shows this was fitted before April 1995 anyway,and ive already found a 1989 date stamp on the front bumper. Guess I won't be having their name put back on the new plates.

[3cav3]

I grabbed some more time on the van today. I spent a fair few hours rubbing down some of the primer. Tomorrow if the gale force wind and rain stops I plan on recovering them with high build epoxy out of the gun

[3cav3]

The above doesn't look a lot of progress but my hands feel like they want to drop off.

[Robsey]

Looks plenty of progress to me.

Body prep always takes forever, and leaves you feeling that there is nothing to show for your efforts.
But you are still closer to the finish line than you were 24 hrs ago.

Keep at it.. you are doing grand.

[3cav3]

Bloody rain stopped play today, checking the forecast it said I'd get a window in the weather for a few hours this afternoon. Hah! I just set everything up when the heavens opened. I guess that's what you've got to expect in Britain, particularly at this time of the year!

[cavalier1990]

Another wee parts haul there, always worth scooping up hard(er) to find parts when you can and funds allow. My mum was wondering if there was something up as she hadn't recieved any parcels for me for a while! I usually redirect them to folks place if I'm going to be out, it's easier just picking them up there rather than chasing missed post all over the place.

Weather's muck just now so anything you can get done this time of year is a bonus, and another step forward even if it doesn't look like progress.

Worth keeping an eye on cope parts they always seem to have clearance stuff coming in, although they can be pricey. They had a big discount on omega parts recently so snapped a few things up while they were cheap.

https://www.copeparts.nl/en/shop/astra- ... n-the-shop

[3cav3]

Another wee parts haul there, always worth scooping up hard(er) to find parts when you can and funds allow. My mum was wondering if there was something up as she hadn't recieved any parcels for me for a while! I usually redirect them to folks place if I'm going to be out, it's easier just picking them up there rather than chasing missed post all over the place.

Weather's muck just now so anything you can get done this time of year is a bonus, and another step forward even if it doesn't look like progress.

Worth keeping an eye on cope parts they always seem to have clearance stuff coming in, although they can be pricey. They had a big discount on omega parts recently so snapped a few things up while they were cheap.

https://www.copeparts.nl/en/shop/astra- ... n-the-shop

Thanks for the link, got to admit I'm very tempted on the door cards but with Christmas coming up I've unfortunately got more expensive things to spend my money on at the moment.

[3cav3]

Yet more very boring body prep this morning . I started tweeking the door and drivers side wing this morning, as when I trial fitted them a while ago the profile wasn't right. Sometimes it feels never ending but I know eventually I'll get there.

The wing was off in 2 places;



Along with the edge of the door;



After a bit of reshaping here they are with a skim of filler in the effected areas. I did want to do more but at this time of year the filler is very slow to harden.

[Robsey]

This is going to look better than it did when it left the factory.

It is all heading in the right direction.. progress.

[3cav3]

Been having a bit of a play on and off over the last week with the drivers front wing. Its proving a bit of a nemesis, the only way I can get the bottom profile right to the door is to put the filler in too thick. Where the front bumper meets it just doesn't sit right.



In order to find a solution I started looking very hard for a genuine front wing. I thought id found one in Holland, very expensive , but even though its listed, when I enquired it turned out to be no longer available.

Next I turned up a second hand one in Spain, sadly the postage is ridiculous, something like £450!!! Way to much to justify.

As a last resort I decided to look for a pattern wing. I purposely looked for one that appears to be from a different manufacturer to the previous one I bought that just doesn't fit. I've found an early/ German spec one( the only difference is the lack of an indicator hole that I can soon add) It should arrive early in the new year so hopefully with a bit of tweaking I can get it to fit right.

One thing that did startle me is how much the panels have gone up in price since I started this project, originally I paid £79.99 each for them delivered, now the cheapest I've found are £125 up to £170 delivered.

[3cav3]

Today I finished flatting the drivers door down.

[3cav3]

A couple of hours later, here it is etched primed, then epoxy primed.

[3cav3]

Whilst I was waiting for the paint to dry I thought I'd turn my attention to the wipers. Like the rest of the van they were looking very time worn.

[3cav3]

After rubbing down then painting they started to look a lot better.



Got to admit though that I cheated a bit with the rear one as I recently sourced a brand new one.



As I've mentioned before I've got new wiper end caps



and I've also ordered up a new set of Bosch Wiper Blades.

Another job ticked off the very long list.

[Robsey]

Titivating the wiper arms is a quick and simple thing to do... and does make a huge visual difference.
The littlest things can make a huge impression.

I am jealous of your progress this week.
I have not touched the Cavalier or T3 this week.
All work and no play makes Robsey a dull boy.

[3cav3]

Titivating the wiper arms is a quick and simple thing to do... and does make a huge visual difference.
The littlest things can make a huge impression.

I am jealous of your progress this week.
I have not touched the Cavalier or T3 this week.
All work and no play makes Robsey a dull boy.

It's only a small bit of progress, I've been off work over Christmas so when my wife has been working I've popped up the unit for a few hours.

[3cav3]

As she was working today I rubbed down the front end, etch primed and epoxyed the top and sprayed the bottom black. Next job will be to polish up the I.d plates that I've removed.

[Robsey]

As she was working today I rubbed down the front end,

Well that is one way to keep the missus happy.

[3cav3]

As she was working today I rubbed down the front end,

Well that is one way to keep the missus happy.

I dont think that would of gone down well on the reception desk. Lol.

[3cav3]

I was looking for an easy job today so thought I'd turn my attention to clean up the front window glass. As you can see they were pretty grubby.



After the obligatory glass cleaner I gave some autoglym glass polish a go.




As with other autoglym products, the results are pretty impressive.

To finish I applied some reproduction Philips stereo decals that I bought months ago.



As with the wipers it's only a small job but still one less to do.