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Love what you did with the rear brakes need to do mine but not had chance, may try making one of them rust bath things. Love the sun rise photo!
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Dave b's VXR Powered Gsi Diary
- Thread starter DavebGsi
- Start date
Aweome work on the brakes. You're lucky to have access to that stuff at work. DIY that stuff at home takes hours and hours 
The backplates aren't bad at all tho, I had mine powder coated and there were a few tiny holes but like you say it's just a cover so there's no need for any strength in it.
And yeah hammerite is amazing
Getting new brake shoes?
The backplates aren't bad at all tho, I had mine powder coated and there were a few tiny holes but like you say it's just a cover so there's no need for any strength in it. And yeah hammerite is amazing
Getting new brake shoes?
Aweome work on the brakes. You're lucky to have access to that stuff at work. DIY that stuff at home takes hours and hours
And yeah hammerite is amazing
Not sure whether to bother tbh, they look old, but zero wear cause their only holding brakes. I didn't put them throu the cleaner incase I wanted to keep them haha.
I reckon I may just clean, paint and refit. No need.
All the springs etc are pretty bad thou so gonna replace what I can
Good effort on the work Dave, I admire it so much 
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Yeah fair point, they don't really wear out unless they seize up and stick on.
Got out in the workshop last night, was good to get out there for a few hours! Weather was rubbish and i had a bit of spare time.
decided to have a look at the inner door sill, made a hole in it last time and discovered its actually double skinned and inbetween the skins was just brown
So i cut it out!
luckily didn't have to cut very high up to get to decent metal, so i will weld a new sheet in and weld a sheet to that to keep the double skin that was already there and keep the strength. Also this part is where i weld my bar too! At least it will make that easier being new
I decided to cut slightly higher and have a look inside the axle box section, In the past i have notice some flakey rust falling out of the drain hole, but had a look and its just surface rust so i'll treat that while its apart and spray some wax oil in it at the end like i am going to do with everything.
decided to have a look at the inner door sill, made a hole in it last time and discovered its actually double skinned and inbetween the skins was just brown
So i cut it out!
luckily didn't have to cut very high up to get to decent metal, so i will weld a new sheet in and weld a sheet to that to keep the double skin that was already there and keep the strength. Also this part is where i weld my bar too! At least it will make that easier being new
I decided to cut slightly higher and have a look inside the axle box section, In the past i have notice some flakey rust falling out of the drain hole, but had a look and its just surface rust
so i'll treat that while its apart and spray some wax oil in it at the end like i am going to do with everything.
Spent a day on this today! first time in a long time and really starting to get somewhere!
underside is nearly clean
So just left with alot of holes to fill
one in the floor
anddddd this mess
Yep, thats the seatbelt lol
It gonna be done once and its got to be right! So I just kept cutting untill there was no more rust! It looks a bit rusty still but that is a minor bit left that just needs sorting. But i am nearly at the point of not cutting anymore off the car
So i finish stripping the interior as i have internal welding to do now!
Was also left with a massive pile of astra....
underside is nearly clean
So just left with alot of holes to fill
one in the floor
anddddd this mess
Yep, thats the seatbelt lol
It gonna be done once and its got to be right! So I just kept cutting untill there was no more rust! It looks a bit rusty still but that is a minor bit left that just needs sorting. But i am nearly at the point of not cutting anymore off the car
So i finish stripping the interior as i have internal welding to do now!
Was also left with a massive pile of astra....
Did you sweep up a ford off the floor? You should have a bit more free astra time now
True, that's why plenty of underseal is used an everything cleaned an painted
Todd100
Club Member
Good progress mate, will be well worth it once its all done 
cracking work there , i think yours was worst than mine gd luck withe rest
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At this point it probably feels like there's a lot of work ahead but to be honest cutting out the bad parts and getting to the point of having a clear focus on the way forward is what takes the most time imo.... You'll be surprised how quick you can move on now.
Keep the updates coming
Keep the updates coming
Looking good Dave, to be fair it doesn't look like it's got much worse since I had a peer around in it, how many years ago? 6 or 7?
Yea gotta be at least something like that, I had a poke around the pockets you made and that all seems pretty solid, so top job there
gonna be taking it back to check anyways though cause i wanna blast the whole thing with protection, then i know its good for life! I dare say nearly all the rust i found, the damage had been done before i even owned the car!
Hello Everyone!
Nothing to really update, I have been mega busy getting divorced But all is good in life and it's gettin pretty close to being done and dusted and I have come out of it in the best way possible! Keeping the house and workshop 
So enough of that rubbish, Managed to get out in the workshop today and spent the day rubbing more underseal off. What a boring job haha
but now that my mate has moved in, we sat back and had a look and i decided in order for the quality of the repair to be good, It gonna be tough welding upside down etc. let alone the undersealing and spraying etc.
So I Have decided to buy a spit! Found one on ebay, Mega feed back, more than 8000 sold, 100% good feedback, £200! I thought that was a good price considering i think the design, buying the metal cutting it up, gettin it delivered, It wasn't worth the messing around for how cheap it is in my opinion!
I also messaged the chap and he said he had a frame for a mk3 astra! Was shocked by that so that should be here friday! I'm excited!
Nothing to really update, I have been mega busy getting divorced
But all is good in life and it's gettin pretty close to being done and dusted and I have come out of it in the best way possible! Keeping the house and workshop So enough of that rubbish, Managed to get out in the workshop today and spent the day rubbing more underseal off. What a boring job haha
but now that my mate has moved in, we sat back and had a look and i decided in order for the quality of the repair to be good, It gonna be tough welding upside down etc. let alone the undersealing and spraying etc.
So I Have decided to buy a spit! Found one on ebay, Mega feed back, more than 8000 sold, 100% good feedback, £200! I thought that was a good price considering i think the design, buying the metal cutting it up, gettin it delivered, It wasn't worth the messing around for how cheap it is in my opinion!
I also messaged the chap and he said he had a frame for a mk3 astra! Was shocked by that
so that should be here friday! I'm excited!
this is the spit...
ROLLOVER SPIT, ROTISSERIE, JIG, Vauxhall Viva,Nova, ford 100e, bmw e36, triumph | eBay
Saved myself £50quid if i weld it together myself , well worth it i think!
ROLLOVER SPIT, ROTISSERIE, JIG, Vauxhall Viva,Nova, ford 100e, bmw e36, triumph | eBay
Saved myself £50quid if i weld it together myself , well worth it i think!
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Cant wait to see the spit in action
So for 200 quid, what a lovely bit of kit! The tube didn't look very big but its very thick wall, about 1.5mm i reckon so all good, nicely cut up aswell in kit form.
Got the welder out, was really enjoyable to weld together, lovely brand new thick metal, wacked the welder power right up and wire feed speed and made sure all my welds were perfect, no dramas though was easy!
Now to say i was nervous is the understatement of the year, The bars bolt into the bumper holes which are an m8! not sure how i felt about that but I have to keep reminding myself that you are lifting the car with the clamping force of the bolt, not the bolts itself.
So i made some nice thick spreader plates for the front bolts to go through, the rear bumper holes are re-enforced from factory so no issue there.
So i bolted the car on and dropped the ramp away and stood nervously for a little while
I left the car hanging on the spit with the ramp just underneath for about 5 hours untill my house mate came home, then we went for it!
and done!
There was some horrible noises, probably most were coming out my bum haha and once it was upside down, i took the decision that the roof of my astra was worth more than the 100quid ikea matress in my spareroom. So it has been sacrificed although if i had wrapped it in plastic, i probably could of kept it clean... to late now!
Only real key point are the shell is very top heavy due to the fact the sunroof is still in there and windscreen. But also the spit spins so easierly (which is great) however the shell doesn't actually sit flat unless it is locked with the pin because the steering coloumn is still in the car! so its deffo a 2 man job to roll it. apart from that i'm mega happy! will make cleaning and spraying the underside ALOT easierly, which mean i will do a better job, but also there is plenty of light aswell and that will make spotting rust easier. Welding upside down is alot rubbish so I'm mega happy.
No excuses now, crack on Dave!
Got the welder out, was really enjoyable to weld together, lovely brand new thick metal, wacked the welder power right up and wire feed speed and made sure all my welds were perfect
, no dramas though was easy!
Now to say i was nervous is the understatement of the year, The bars bolt into the bumper holes which are an m8! not sure how i felt about that but I have to keep reminding myself that you are lifting the car with the clamping force of the bolt, not the bolts itself.
So i made some nice thick spreader plates for the front bolts to go through, the rear bumper holes are re-enforced from factory so no issue there.
So i bolted the car on and dropped the ramp away and stood nervously for a little while
I left the car hanging on the spit with the ramp just underneath for about 5 hours untill my house mate came home, then we went for it!
and done!
There was some horrible noises, probably most were coming out my bum haha and once it was upside down, i took the decision that the roof of my astra was worth more than the 100quid ikea matress in my spareroom. So it has been sacrificed although if i had wrapped it in plastic, i probably could of kept it clean... to late now!
Only real key point are the shell is very top heavy due to the fact the sunroof is still in there and windscreen. But also the spit spins so easierly (which is great) however the shell doesn't actually sit flat unless it is locked with the pin because the steering coloumn is still in the car! so its deffo a 2 man job to roll it. apart from that i'm mega happy! will make cleaning and spraying the underside ALOT easierly, which mean i will do a better job, but also there is plenty of light aswell and that will make spotting rust easier. Welding upside down is alot rubbish so I'm mega happy.
No excuses now, crack on Dave!