Astra 1.4 SPI - the first car (56K heavy-ish)

[danh]

seeing as im bored and work has begun on the astra i thought it was time to start a diary for it. Its not going to be to great atm due to insurance and all that at 17 but never mind.

1.4 SPi M reg '94 spectral blue with silver bottom half.
78K
for the grand total of under 700 notes

A few from when i got her

some minor dents in the boot panel

back home after a good wash

the engine bay after a bloody good jet wash and degrease - ( didnt get a photo of before hand but every thing was black )

To which it was given a small service
Sparks
Oil filter
Oil Change
Air Filter

that proved to be a learning curve as a rather stupidly set about doing it my self and had no real idea what i was doing. but i changed the oil before the doing the filter so, drain it out and start again with fresh oil.
(but i will never do it again lol)

then i got some clear indicators off of astragsii ( cheers dude )

Old ones out

New Ones in

Front end shot

My old man while endlessly browsing flea bay found this down in sevenoaks
brand new tyre and a alloy that had very little kerbing off an astra van

for the grand total of £7.01
so that was the spare wheel sorted.

then the fun starts - the paint work

The Rear Bumper

Before

Masked

Priming / High Build

Paint

Re Fitting

i will add some more photos of that tomorrow when i can get out there with the camera, and some of the old mans work on the brakes today.


Plans so far

GSI Spoiler
New Alloys
Back box of some description

Danh

 

[Andy_Mk3]

Looks good, same as mine 'cept mine is red!

Bumper looks a lot better than before!

 

[Kev_mk3]

good start there mate bet your parents loved the paint on the grass tho

 

[johnnyboy]

never seen a two tone hatchback like that before

 

[Andy_Mk3]

never seen a two tone hatchback like that before

I think I've seen one before, not too fond of it personally but it's not that bad!

 

[k3v.gsi]

Nice work m8. My first car was a 1.4 expression. same colour as yours 3dr.

and i still have a mk3 astra now.

 

[Balto]

looks alright that not seen any rust on it, you gonna colour code the other wing mirror to match? lol

was the car factory colour coded blue/silver or has it been sprayed?

should see you around soon mate

 

[KinG^Lee]

Looks good mate i like your new silver grass

 

[danh]

Cheers lads, im going to try and get the stone chips in the bonnet well and truly done today providing the rain holds off.

Kev_mk3 - oh yes, lol especially since they had cut it the day before but as i said to them it marks out a football goal for my younger brother lol
Jonnyboy - i hadnt seen one before i saw it on the advert it either.
Balto - yes colour coding the other wing mirror is next on my list of things to do, it looks a tad odd, the passenger side has had a hard life, because there are a few dents and scrapes down it but its nothing to major. As for the paint im unsure if it was a factory paint job or if it was sprayed. it does have S Edition stickers on it so im really not sure tbh. and yep i turn 17 in 11 days so you should see me around complete with L Plates lmao.

Anyway some more photos of yesterdays work.

The Brakes

Before

Old man at work with his new airbrush

After

Start of the stone chips

i havent got a pic of before but i had white spots every where.

Filled in and rubbed down with 1500

Half polished with G3 and lots of water

Todays tasks,
rub down drivers side
paint the other brake calipers and rear drums ( as we run out of time yesterday)

Colour code the passenger side wing mirror

shampoo the interior and get all the dog hairs, fluff, grit and grime out.

Wash, polish and buff
see how the paint has come out.

Danh

 

[Andy_Mk3]

Gopd pregress already! I would've thought it would be better to take calipers off to paint them though lol.

 

[ScrappyDoo]

its just easier to do them with them on and not really keen on the blue and silver looks tacky if im honest

 

[Andy_Mk3]

its just easier to do them with them on and not really keen on the blue and silver looks tacky if im honest

It is easier but to do a proper job it's bet to take them off, clean them up and then you get a good finish without the paint on the disks.

 

[ScrappyDoo]

yeh but can anyone on here honestly tell me that they have never painted the calipers with them still on the car

 

[Andy_Mk3]

I've never painted them at all But when I do I'd take them off. I suppose it's down to whether you can be bothered

 

[ScrappyDoo]

lol i bet ull paint em with them still on the car at one point lol

 

[KinG^Lee]

i done mine with them on, still got a stiff brush to them take all the rust and crap off, but i used a brush so i new i wouldn't get any on the disks etc, its quite hard to not get messy with a spray gun with out wrapping everything up imo.

 

[Andy]

Looking good mate. Are you going to keep the blue/silver theme?

 

[danh]

finally got all the dog hair and grime out, of the inside today

Then i started on the wing mirror.
Primed

Paint

Just waiting for the clear coat to harden before i put it back on

In between all of the painting and cleaning we put some more paint on the bonnet and wings.

and made a start on the boot

it went from similar to this all over

to something like this

then finally to this with a rinse
]

And in amoungst all of this i asked about a back box and dad kindly said theres a coke can in the fridge. So just for the laugh i took him up on it.

The Only rust on my arches

it might have been easier to paint the brakes off the car, but that would then mean bleeding them after so we did them on, and the overspray on the discs came off with a bit thinners.
as for the silver and blue, when i first saw it i thought it looked a bit tacky but it has kinda grown on me. i dont know if the blue and silver will stay, probably will because i cant afford a respray and i dont think it can be done with rattle cans or a spray gun that easily. and in all honesty the car has got to make it through the next year without being wrapped around something.

 

[johnnyboy]

i think your colour scheme would look really cool with gsi bumpers etc.

 

[danh]

i think your colour scheme would look really cool with gsi bumpers etc.

thats what i was thinking would certainly be different