Bought another Astra

[Nimraynn]

Hi guys

Well for a while I've been looking at changing to a diesel Astra... and on Saturday, I finally did it... and the modding bug hit me straight away

Spec so far is:

Vauxhall Astra SRi 1.9 CDTi 150
6-speed manual gearbox with SPORT mode
Full exterior pack (Spoiler, sideskirts, front splitter, rear splitter, 18" alloys)
Partially debadged rear
Richbrook Vauxhall "Anti-Theft" Valve Caps
Vauxhall Velour Astra Mats
6-SMD Interior Light
Insignia Washer Jets

So pictures are needed

This was on Saturday night after I picked it up and watched us English draw with you Americans in the footie:






The new Vauxhall velour mats:



The new interior light:



Improvised Astra Owners Network "stickers"... I shoved a few flyers in the windows 



I then gave it it's first wash... How it was before:




Rinsed with a Karacher pressure washer, then went for the wheels using TurtleWax ICE Alloy Wheel cleaner:



Cleaned the bodywork with Zymöl Natural Shampoo:



Opened up a Meguiars Smooth Surface clay kit and started to clay the car. This was just after the bonnet 



Applied some Autoglym Instant Tyre Dressing:



I then polished the paintwork with Autoglym Super Resin Polish & the glass with Autoglym Car Glass Polish:



Finally waxed with Meguiars Cleaners Wax:



Last night, I went out and debadged some of the rear. How it was before:



Removed the Vauxhall griffin:



Removed the VAUXHALL lettering:



Finished result, for now:



Fitted a set of Richbrook Anti-Theft valve caps, as when checking the tyre pressures the other day I managed to break two of the standard caps...



This part is a bit of a work in progress... I'm doing some under-bonnet modding  Gonna be gloss black & silver when it's all done... Picked up a can of Black Sapphire paint and got to work on the engine cover. It's a bit patchy and a few paint runs where I applied it too thickly, but for a first attempt from an amateur painter, I don't think it came out too badly



Tomorrow's job is to find a Halfords store that has a few cans of moonland paint in stock so I can paint a bit more engine bay, also my boot strip & front grille. If I can get that, then I'll also be popping into a Vauxhall dealer to get a new ASTRA and CDTi badge for the boot strip. The CDTi badge on the Astra H is silver and red for the top performing version, the 150BHP engine, which is what I've got... but in the new Astra J and Insignia A (Your Buick Regal), the CDTi badge is silver and black, so I want one of those 

Comments welcome 

[Nimraynn]

My parents said to me this morning, "Why can't you just leave your car alone? What's wrong with the way it looks now?"... so I went out and bought some more stuff for it 

To be precise...



Time for some more paint to go on :mrgreen: Started this evening with the V-grille and hoping to have a go at the boot strip tomorrow 

I put the grille back on for now without the chrome so there isn't a big gaping hole... and it looks, well... odd. 



Sanded down and primered



Few coats of paint



And it's now sat in the garage to dry overnight before I lacquer it.

While I was waiting for it to touch dry before applying another coat, I took a pic of the beading on the roof & spoiler after it ****** down while I was spraying the grille...



 

[Nimraynn]

Guess what? I've been attacking the car with paint... again! 

Before:



Pulled the boot to pieces:



Took the strip off:



Pulled the remaining badges off:



Sanded and primed:



Painted and lacquered:



Pieced the car back together and here's the result:





Picking up some nice shiny chrome ASTRA and CDTi badges from VX on Wednesday 

[phatfire6]

All of these pics look really good, keep up the good work mate!

[Nimraynn]

Cheers

Been doing some more... although I'm not 100% sure about this one... I think I might re-do these star silver at the weekend...













And just to show off a little...

[phatfire6]

I prefer the handles the color you painted them. Will you be painting the rest of the door trim and dash trim the same color? Whats next to the CDs in the door panel? Stickers?

[Nimraynn]

They stand out a bit more in the pictures than they actually do when you're in the car... I think they look good on their own, but would only look good if the rest of the trim was that colour, and I'm not gonna do that... I don't think I'd like the whole lot to be like that... so gonna follow the band wagon and do them star silver...

And they're Astra Owners Network flyers Being south east regional organiser on Astra Owners Network, I'm always putting them on smart looking Astras 

[Nimraynn]

Badges arrived at Vauxhall yesterday 
I think the "ASTRA" badge isn't straight, but my colleague tells me it is... gonna get some more opinions on Sunday at a meet I'm going to...





And courtesy of HERC on AON:



Rolling road on Sunday, will see how it performs. Also getting cruise control supplied and fitted while I'm there 

[phatfire6]

It does appear to be a little crooked. Do you have any larger or more close up pics of the badge? Look at this one, it appears the stock placement is in line with the bottom part, making it at a slight angle. I can't really tell if it's inline with your pic.

[astra3dr]

Your cdti looks good.

[Nimraynn]

phatfire6, I think you're right... it appears to be straight as in level, but doesn't follow the line of the trim, so it looks slightly out... I can live with it for now I think 

Thanks  astra3dr

More updates to be had 

On Sunday, I had organised a rolling road day at AMD Tecknik is Thurrock, Essex. Had a great day & it rolled at 155.1BHP & 239.5 lb/ft torque  Video of the Astra on the rollers is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dd0c26Z1M9Y

While I was there, a guy called Ashley, who goes by the name of Phatashki on some forums, sorted out a few things for me He activated anti-hijack (locks the doors after 7mph) and comfort closing (ability to open and close windows using keyfob)... also, and the main thing, fitted cruise control for me 



In the evening, I went and picked up this nice piece of trim from a member on Astra Owners Network:



And then last night, I took a go at fitting it...

Before:



During:





Fitted:



I'm going to eventually buy & fit the rest of the centre console in piano black, then will get a blue LED conversion 

At the same time, I re-did the interior door handles in Vauxhall Star Silver. I think they look much better and definitely stand out more now:



We've had what in Britain we would call a heat wave, where it's been pretty much over 30ºC since Saturday... which is strange for us as it's usually cold and raining... but this morning for about 10 minutes, we had a bit of a shower & it dried in the heat really quickly so was really showing up the dirt... so I couldn't resist giving it a clean tonight... then went and took some sort of arty type photos while it was clean 











On Friday, I ordered another nice little addition which I'm still waiting to be delivered... As part of sprucing up the engine bay, I've got a new metal casing for the battery to replace the foam padded one. It's gloss black with a silver Vauxhall logo decal on the top. It looks awesome in the pictures, never seen anyone with one so will be nice and unique as well. Can't wait to ft it 

[Nimraynn]

New addition 

[z280]

While I was there, a guy called Ashley, who goes by the name of Phatashki on some forums, sorted out a few things for me  He activated anti-hijack (locks the doors after 7mph) and comfort closing (ability to open and close windows using keyfob)... also, and the main thing, fitted cruise control for me 

Great car you got there. Those extra stuff you added there come with the Saturn Astra 3dr as standard. Also, I noticed this other feature with the car. I guess it's a European thing; with the car off, if you activate your turn signal (left or right), it slightly turns on the headlight - left signal turns on the left headlight, right signal turns on right headlight. It will not drain the battery if left over night. I guess some places in Europe have no street lights, so by doing this it signals other cars.
That's what a BMW dealer said, since their cars have that same feature.