Bedford Astravan MK2

[Robsey]

If you want proper replacement stickers, Opelise on ebay has a couple for the Astra mk2 van.

I put "Opelise Bedford" into my search, but there may be more if you put Astra mk2 or Astramax

[3cav3]

Thank you. I'll take a look.

[3cav3]

Well today me and my mate tried to put the van on the spit and failed. I think due to a combination of the extra weight over a hatchback and the severe rust round the area of the rear valance it tried to pull away from the body. So early next week he's going to modify some tressles and stand the van them instead.

[Robsey]

Oh eck!!

It is a pain when something crops up and puts a stop on everything.

Hopefully it will all start in ernest next week. Fingers crossed.

[3cav3]

Oh eck!!

It is a pain when something crops up and puts a stop on everything.

Hopefully it will all start in ernest next week. Fingers crossed.

No doubt it'll get there. Seeing the speed my mate fitted the spit onto castors it shouldn't take him long to weld it up once he starts.

[3cav3]

The carpets in the van were a bit of a disaster, after a lot of hunting I found the front section on good old eBay, off a hatchback, and after attacking the rear piece with a hot pressure washer it came up surprisingly usable, which is good as I believe that it is unique to the van.
Here they are drying. Just need a hoovering now.

[Robsey]

I washed mine on the clothes line using a hose pipe, and then washed them in the washing machine.

Strangely, mine looked cleaner before going in to the washing machine.
Those carpets are a lot more durable than you expect, so can handle being shoved into the wash drum, and being dragged back out again.

It is nice to see that a good wash brings up the original greyness nicely, and also fetches the pile back up too.

Scarey how much muck dribbles off from the bottom corner too.



"You filthy animal"

[3cav3]

The one thing that really let this van down was the bumpers. The rear one has responded well to a clean with just very minor marks left. The front one however was another matter. Both sides have been badly clipped, probably on walls etc. Originally I was going to fit a gte spec one but since then I've decided that I want to go original.
On the off chance I rang my local Vauxhall dealer. Baylis in Hereford. Ian - the parts manager was very helpful. After a lot of searching he thought he'd found me one, which even though it was very expensive I ordered it. After a few days unfortunately he rang me back and said that the company had withdrawn it from sale with no explanation. He then checked Vauxhalls data base and found one that was apparently in stock in a dealer in Scotland and gave me the contact details. Once I spoke them, they sold it to me, but refused to budge on the price, even though it had been in stock since 1993.
I arranged for my carrier to go in and collect it the next day, however the young lad on the parts counter for reasons only known to him gave it to royal mail, before my carrier arrived ,upon which point it disappeared for a bit, before getting tracked into Baylis in Hereford, fortunately.
Nobody has yet been able to give an explanation as to why??? But at least I've now got it, it was another part still in Vauxhall packaging, but a bit grubby. It has responded well to a clean.

[Robsey]

Hmmm yummy,

Shiny new parts goodness.
They both look like they have scrubbed up well.

A gentle waft over with a hot air gun is great at bringing those old grey bumpers up to a newer looking, even, deeper grey finish.
(Reduces the whitening of stress marks and bloom in the bumpers).

I did that on my old mk2 Cavalier.

[3cav3]

Hmmm yummy,

Shiny new parts goodness.
They both look like they have scrubbed up well.

A gentle waft over with a hot air gun is great at bringing those old grey bumpers up to a newer looking, even, deeper grey finish.
(Reduces the whitening of stress marks and bloom in the bumpers).

I did that on my old mk2 Cavalier.

The front to be fair should of as it is new just been hanging round the store room gathering dust for 26 years. It still even has the warning label inside saying that for the diesel engine, the 1.8 and for towing the bottom cut outs should be removed.
I was really pleased with how good the rear smartened up. Initially I tried the hot air gun, a trick that I used to great effect on my Subaru in the past, however in this instance it didn't seem to make that much difference. This time it was a case of lots of elbow grease and polish.
Hopefully by the time the van has had its respray and the new bumpers along with the new lights and refurbished wheels it should look somewhere near what I'm aiming for. About the only non original things should be the seats, which with my arthritic hip I'm still going for the calibra leather seats I've got, and the only other item non standard will be the stereo, for which I've managed to source a period pioneer OEL CD player.

[Robsey]

They all sound like good plans.
I am hoping that you will be bringing the van to one of the national events next year.
(VBOA / VauxFest), so that I can "drool over it".

I love many of the Vauxhalls from the 80's to the mid-90's.

[3cav3]

They all sound like good plans.
I am hoping that you will be bringing the van to one of the national events next year.
(VBOA / VauxFest), so that I can "drool over it".

I love many of the Vauxhalls from the 80's to the mid-90's.

The biggest delay now is likely to be the welding, next year shows would be nice, so long as it's ready. I've already started to look into Caravan options to enable me to attend further afield shows, this is where I hit a snag. I've got the post March 1997 driving license that I thought restricted me to towing 750kg, however after speaking to DVLA I'm actually allowed up to a combined 3500kg, so long as it's within the towing weight of the vehicle. Looking in the manual this Van is unfortunately only allowed 700kg, so am hunting for a very light caravan that still gives you enough space to swing a cat.

[3cav3]

After waiting and waiting for my mate to start on it, I went and recovered the van back last night. Next week I'm going to make a start on it. Just hope I can get good enough welds as it is pretty ropey in places. Nearly a year of sitting around hasn't done it any favours.

[Robsey]

That sounds a complete pain.

I am sure you will get the hang of it soon enough.
(Easy for me to say after I gave up quite quickly - but then that was with rods and an arc welder ).
I would have got further with my gasless MIG, but it was buried under a load of car parts in my shed.

As others have said in the past, a good simple mig welder with gas should be easy enough to use.
That and good preparation of the weld areas.

Going back to your earlier post.. isn't the 700kg for an unbraked trailer, and more for with brakes?

[3cav3]

Going back to your earlier post.. isn't the 700kg for an unbraked trailer, and more for with brakes?

That's a very good point, I'll dig the manual out again and check. Even for a light vehicle 700kg does sound a tad low

[Robsey]

Just a bit of useless info, discovered whilst googling towing limits.
With brakes should be about 1200kg if I interpret the DVLA rules correctly.
750 without.

The European name for the Astramax was the Opel Combo-A.
(Based on Astra mk2 / Kadett-E).

Strange how the Combo-B, C and D are all based on a dumbed down Corsa.

[iangsi]

Going back to your earlier post.. isn't the 700kg for an unbraked trailer, and more for with brakes?

That's a very good point, I'll dig the manual out again and check. Even for a light vehicle 700kg does sound a tad low

I thought it was 750 Kg combined weight of the trailer & load for unbraked trailers.
I used to tow my grass track mini around the countryside on an old converted caravan chassis with no brakes with no issues until they bought in these laws. I have no idea what that setup weighed, using my mk2 astra SRI as the tow vehicle.

[3cav3]

Have been slowly doing a bit of work in the area of the sill and drivers side floor. It's here that I've run into a bit of a snag. In Vauxhall's wisdom they decided to stamp the chassis number into the floor, and unfortunately right were the number is, there is some pin holes. Wondering what to do about it?
Reading the latest version of the mot manual it states that any sign of tampering with the chassis number is classed as a major defect. The vehicle is genuine, the number stamped on the riveted on plate on the slam panel matches as does the log book. I did consider restamping a new piece of floor but the font would be different. Any thoughts on the best way forward?

[Robsey]

I would -
Photograph the vin stamp section for evidentiary value.
(To show future test centres).

Noting that it is the MOT rules in place at the time of registration that apply.
Repair the damaged area, even if you end up destroying part of the vin stamp.

I had corrosion here on my mk2 Cav, and lost about half of the vin due to the repair.

A common sense test centre will have no issues.

[3cav3]

Went to work at 6 am this morning and managed to attach the main part of the inner sill.

The biggest problem I had was the gas run out on my welder.

[3cav3]

Next I cut off the other end of the inner sill, which in turn opened up the end of the chassis rail. It wasn't planed, but a good job that I did as the end had gone very crusty but no sign from the outside. When it stops raining I will blast it with the little pot I bought years ago from aldi, then replace whats rotten, before re sealing it up.

[3cav3]

Due to the lack of gas I couldn't do any more welding so decided to drop the fuel tank. It looks grotty but essentially solid which is a good job as the only ones that turn up seem to be for the injection hatch backs. As a foot note it may of been my imagination but there appeared to be traces of red diesel when I drained it. Although with the weather I didn't look to closely when I was emptying into our waste oil barrel.

[3cav3]

As I couldn't do any more welding today, I thought I would brave opening the rear arch and bottom quarter up to see the full extent of the rot. Oh Dear! ( or words a bit stronger!)

[3cav3]

On a plus note the underneath looks remarkably sound. Just mainly surface rust rather than rot.

[3cav3]

Found evidence of bad bodges on the rear axle. Someone has welded both rear shocks to it!