Yeah that's pretty outrageous isn't it
London sucks anyway though, I'd move
******* too right, I only went to heathrow the other day and thought **** this **** lol
had to pay the bloody ulez twice, even though all i did was drive to the airport!
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will it ever stop? (not work safe)
- Thread starter Niffer022
- Start date
******* too right, I only went to heathrow the other day and thought **** this **** lol
had to pay the bloody ulez twice, even though all i did was drive to the airport!
I hate London
It's alive!!! 
I have been summoned…
Yup, I’m still lurking. I pop in once or twice a week to see what’s happening.
Life’s pretty sh*t atm if I’m honest.
Firstly in October ‘21, ULEZ was extended and I essentially lost my mobility/freedom to go on long trips like up to VBOA. Then in April ‘22 I essentially lost my job due to my mental health having a negative effect on my work (they said I can go back to it once my issues are dealt with, but any improvement is looking doubtful atm tbh), and I’ve been stuck in a rut since. Then at the end of last year I lost my mum, which among other things, really took a toll on my personal finances (not having her pension and various benefits to help pay bills etc), plus the added responsibilities of now having to be a grown up. Paying bills etc with just a fortnightly ESA means I have little to no money to myself.
Dealing with all that BS, plus the daily feeling of swimming upstream in a raging river of sh*t… As you can imagine it’s drained pretty much any enthusiasm I had for most things, plus my sleep schedule is f*cked with a capital F*CKED.
Anyway, that’s what’s been happening on planet Andy.
Sorry for the trauma dump… but, yeah.
Yup, I’m still lurking. I pop in once or twice a week to see what’s happening.
Life’s pretty sh*t atm if I’m honest.
Firstly in October ‘21, ULEZ was extended and I essentially lost my mobility/freedom to go on long trips like up to VBOA. Then in April ‘22 I essentially lost my job due to my mental health having a negative effect on my work (they said I can go back to it once my issues are dealt with, but any improvement is looking doubtful atm tbh), and I’ve been stuck in a rut since. Then at the end of last year I lost my mum, which among other things, really took a toll on my personal finances (not having her pension and various benefits to help pay bills etc), plus the added responsibilities of now having to be a grown up. Paying bills etc with just a fortnightly ESA means I have little to no money to myself.
Dealing with all that BS, plus the daily feeling of swimming upstream in a raging river of sh*t… As you can imagine it’s drained pretty much any enthusiasm I had for most things, plus my sleep schedule is f*cked with a capital F*CKED.
Anyway, that’s what’s been happening on planet Andy.
Sorry for the trauma dump… but, yeah.
VBOA: I would love to, buuuut…
I’m in the process of choosing another car, the issue is just getting my sleep schedule back to a decent pattern so I can phone insurers etc. Once that’s sorted, then the process can get rolling properly. But I have my mum’s life insurance payout to help fund that (it was only 5k, so not a massive amount).
ULEZ: … yeeeeeeeeeah, about that.
I could go on an hour plus long rant about that bullsh*t tax on hard working people. All for the sake of an egotistical little rat faced short arse who only cares about their own legacy as mayor…
But yeah, as Dave said. I was stressing out and rushing around trying to return the car back to standard and weighing up my options with what to do with it in the days leading up to the extension. I don’t doubt for a second that it had a negative effect on me and contributed to the decline in my overall mentality.
I still haven’t had a chance to properly think about what to do with the car. I could sell it as is (rusty and barely worth £100), fix it up to a presentable standard and sell it for a decent price, or put a newer engine in it and get it back on the road (I like this option). There’s just so many things that are causing uncertainty etc, that I’ve just put it to the back of my mind to avoid triggering a mental breakdown lol.
STILL ALIVE:
… just about.
I’m in the process of choosing another car, the issue is just getting my sleep schedule back to a decent pattern so I can phone insurers etc. Once that’s sorted, then the process can get rolling properly. But I have my mum’s life insurance payout to help fund that (it was only 5k, so not a massive amount).
ULEZ: … yeeeeeeeeeah, about that.
I could go on an hour plus long rant about that bullsh*t tax on hard working people. All for the sake of an egotistical little rat faced short arse who only cares about their own legacy as mayor…
But yeah, as Dave said. I was stressing out and rushing around trying to return the car back to standard and weighing up my options with what to do with it in the days leading up to the extension. I don’t doubt for a second that it had a negative effect on me and contributed to the decline in my overall mentality.
I still haven’t had a chance to properly think about what to do with the car. I could sell it as is (rusty and barely worth £100), fix it up to a presentable standard and sell it for a decent price, or put a newer engine in it and get it back on the road (I like this option). There’s just so many things that are causing uncertainty etc, that I’ve just put it to the back of my mind to avoid triggering a mental breakdown lol.
STILL ALIVE:
… just about.
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Didn't think about that, new ecowrek engine with a cat on it, you'd be away!
Sounds like you've had a rough run of it with everyone, small improvements one day at a time and power through mate
Sounds like you've had a rough run of it with everyone, small improvements one day at a time and power through mate
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All because of that utter pen1s gobbler Kahn.
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Andy, I am so sorry to hear of your loss of your mum. Some people know, some dont that I lost my dad then in a short time became the carer for my mum while she battled cancer. In the end it went south fast and she passed away. It hit me so hard I struggled extremely bad but did get help for it. Still struggle at times but if you want a chat or anything pm is always open.
Lets not talk Ulez but what is wrong with your Astra from memory - Bring me up to speed on it.
TubaMagna8
Club Member
So sorry to read that entire post, and ever so sorry to hear about the loss of your mum, inbox is always open, I battle with a more controlled anxiety, and have the days of being stuck in that rut, but they’re a lot fewer and far between these days.
Life is already expensive to them have ulez on top, and now I see from December 2026 electric cars are to be charged for some zones.
Car wise…. I’ve always thought a 1.4 turbo from the newer corsa would mate well with the mk3s.
Sounds like you've had a rough time Andy. Sorry to hear about the loss of your mum, that is tough to go through along with everything else. Mental health is a big battle for many, there's plenty of help out there to be taken so do so if you wish.
The whole ULEZ thing is a complete joke. It's ruined the lives of so many people, hard working people that can no longer commute in their cars and vans that they need to earn a living. While it would be possible to make a Mk3 ULEZ compliant, it would not be a particularly cheap or easy venture sadly. As TubaMagna8 says, the 1.4 Turbo lump from a Corsa would be a sweet engine for the Mk3 and would make it compliant.
The whole ULEZ thing is a complete joke. It's ruined the lives of so many people, hard working people that can no longer commute in their cars and vans that they need to earn a living. While it would be possible to make a Mk3 ULEZ compliant, it would not be a particularly cheap or easy venture sadly. As TubaMagna8 says, the 1.4 Turbo lump from a Corsa would be a sweet engine for the Mk3 and would make it compliant.
13 days left
You have really been put through it lately!! Life is kicking your ass! You can always blow steam off in here though bud we are all willing to help where we can
Andy, sorry to hear about your mom, sending love Nd hope you find yourself back onto a happier path soon
Thank you all for the kind words, chaps. It really means a lot. I’m taking it day by day, but it’s just so bloody difficult.
Anyway… enough moping.
With regard to swapping the engine to something newer. I’d love to go down that route, but the number one main issue is not having a workshop/drive to carry out all the work. “Why don’t you just do it on your dad’s driveway?” My dad can be… difficult. He’s on my back about get shot of it, and I really can’t see him allowing me to carry out any major work on his driveway. Tbh, I’ll be lucky if he’d even let me service the car there. But… I could just ask, the worst he can say is no I guess.
As far as I’m aware, nobody has fitted one of the newer A14NET/A16LET turbo engines to something like a Mk3, so it’ll be uncharted territory with a ton of unknowns. Though I do like the idea of replacing the current engine with something of similar/more power than the current engine, but with the extra benefit of much cheaper tax (and possibly insurance).
I haven’t done any through research to see what it might involve, plus this will be my first time carrying out a full engine swap or doing any serious modifications, so there’ll be a ton of new things I hadn’t considered.
Thinking roughly about what would be needed to just even mount a much newer engine in the car (adapting or fabricating new mounts, working out which gearbox and driveshafts to use, gear linkages, throttle cable, cooling etc etc etc), and that’s before I even source the engine and even consider the potential nightmare of the wiring.
In an ideal world I’d need a workshop and at least a year to build it by myself.
A later Ecotec out of a Mk4 Astra or Vectra/Omega is apparently ULEZ safe, and essentially a straight swap. My only issue with that is finding a good one nowadays, especially one with all the corresponding ecu/loom and immobiliser parts needed to plug and play.
But… talking about fitting Ecotecs has me thinking about a VXR lump (hi Dave). As far as I’m aware they are based on the X20XEV (which is itself basically the same as the C18XE that’s in the car) so would be a lot easier to fit with minimal modifications to engine/gearbox mounts, plus they’re a lot easier to get hold of.
Price wise a rough guesstimate I’d be looking at least a couple of grand or more just to buy all the parts, but considering that’s the sort of budget I was planning to buy a new car with, it doesn’t seem so bad.
I really love the idea of still keeping an interesting old school motor on the road (while at the same time giving a massive middle finger to that prick Kahn), instead of just giving up and buying a modern eco box.
But tbh that’s all by the by if it hasn’t already rotted to sh*t being sat where it is for so long lol.
Anyway… enough moping.
With regard to swapping the engine to something newer. I’d love to go down that route, but the number one main issue is not having a workshop/drive to carry out all the work. “Why don’t you just do it on your dad’s driveway?” My dad can be… difficult. He’s on my back about get shot of it, and I really can’t see him allowing me to carry out any major work on his driveway. Tbh, I’ll be lucky if he’d even let me service the car there. But… I could just ask, the worst he can say is no I guess.
As far as I’m aware, nobody has fitted one of the newer A14NET/A16LET turbo engines to something like a Mk3, so it’ll be uncharted territory with a ton of unknowns. Though I do like the idea of replacing the current engine with something of similar/more power than the current engine, but with the extra benefit of much cheaper tax (and possibly insurance).
I haven’t done any through research to see what it might involve, plus this will be my first time carrying out a full engine swap or doing any serious modifications, so there’ll be a ton of new things I hadn’t considered.
Thinking roughly about what would be needed to just even mount a much newer engine in the car (adapting or fabricating new mounts, working out which gearbox and driveshafts to use, gear linkages, throttle cable, cooling etc etc etc), and that’s before I even source the engine and even consider the potential nightmare of the wiring.
In an ideal world I’d need a workshop and at least a year to build it by myself.
A later Ecotec out of a Mk4 Astra or Vectra/Omega is apparently ULEZ safe, and essentially a straight swap. My only issue with that is finding a good one nowadays, especially one with all the corresponding ecu/loom and immobiliser parts needed to plug and play.
But… talking about fitting Ecotecs has me thinking about a VXR lump (hi Dave). As far as I’m aware they are based on the X20XEV (which is itself basically the same as the C18XE that’s in the car) so would be a lot easier to fit with minimal modifications to engine/gearbox mounts, plus they’re a lot easier to get hold of.
Price wise a rough guesstimate I’d be looking at least a couple of grand or more just to buy all the parts, but considering that’s the sort of budget I was planning to buy a new car with, it doesn’t seem so bad.
I really love the idea of still keeping an interesting old school motor on the road (while at the same time giving a massive middle finger to that prick Kahn), instead of just giving up and buying a modern eco box.
But tbh that’s all by the by if it hasn’t already rotted to sh*t being sat where it is for so long lol.
With regard to the car as it is, it wasn’t too bad when I checked around it last year. I just hope it being sat there all this time hasn’t rotted the sills or arches any worse.
From memory, the paint/bodywork needs attention (as it’s always has). The lacquer on the roof is pealing and there’s some surface rust (at least I hope is only surface), and just overall chipped/faded with tiny dents everywhere. The only bad rust is a small patch on the rear arch (can’t remember which side) and on the subframe, but it’s all fixable and superficial.
Other than that the only major work it would need is a full service, some new gaskets, fresh fuel, an MOT/tax/insurance, and I could run it as is. But tbh it’d be a VERY cold day in hell when I’m giving those c*nts a single penny in order to drive it around this sh*tehole city. Which is why I so love the idea of sticking a compliant engine in it, and driving around with a big sticker on the back saying “F*ck ULEZ” and there’s jack sh*t they can do about it.
TubaMagna8
Club Member
I’ve often thought about the 1.4 turbo/1.6 turbo for mine, make it a bit more lively, but it would be new engine mounts going into something that nobody has done before etc and working with different gear boxes, wish I was a bit further forward with it to have offered some help, I still dream of the 2.5 for the sound. I’ve tried searching other forums corsa nova etc for similiar conversions.
My sister has recently got rid of her Astra H 1.6, she went for the 1.4 turbo Astra K, 150bhp and 6 speed auto, quite a punchy engine and goes very well, and good on fuel too.
My sister has recently got rid of her Astra H 1.6, she went for the 1.4 turbo Astra K, 150bhp and 6 speed auto, quite a punchy engine and goes very well, and good on fuel too.
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Somethings telling me not to buy it off you but something says to do it lol
Clegg - Same I really want an estate to V6
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Theres a stunning mk3 5 door in graphite with v6 done for 2.5k its so tempting but i want an estate really.