Phillips_91
Member
Registered: 20th Jan 10
Location: Blackpool. Drives: Sapphire Black Mk4 Astra 1.8
User status: Offline
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Hi guys  finally decided to start my project thread after owning the car for nearly a year  it's going to be quite a slow thread as funds are a little tight, but i have big plans for the car, and have done quite alot to it upto now.
So to start off, to those who don't know me  i'm danny i'm 18 (almost 19 now :O) and i live in blackpool, i work as a trainee mechanic in an exhaust specialist garage, only just started in the trade recently and hoping eventually to move on to full blown mechanics  ok so thats me  now onto my car.
I bought this car back in november last year, completely standard, unmolested, still had vauxhall mats and stereo in its a 1.4 sport corsa b in arden blue, the car had some minor rust spots on the boot and drivers door, nothing to go crying to mummy about, but the engine was an absolute minter, didnt miss a beat, so i parted quite happily with £795 and drove 200 miles back to my house (with no stereo as the code had been activated and i didnt know how to enter the code) so when i got home the first thing i did was to fit my headunit out of my old car, and take a few pics This is how i bought it:
So after a couple of days i decided that the interior needed a little brightening up as most of the dash lights didnt work, and i didnt know where to source them from, i decided to put some footwell lights in, which brought it to:
Then i got caught being a naughty boy down the promenade, top speed drag strip and ended up like:
Car impounded second section 59, was doing quite alot in a 30, and managed to get away with 35 in a 30
Then nothing really happened to the car as i lost my job and funds were tight, and then unfortunately the cam belt snapped on my way home one night, rang my mate up who was a mechanic, he came and had a look and diagnosed within 3 seconds that it was cambelt, so i got it towed home off another mate, and had to break the bad news to the bank of nana and grandad, little rio was close to being scrapped that night  but i decided i couldnt let her go and set about trying to work out how i would get it back on the road, contemplated the idea of a 20xe, and 16xe, and even a let, but got swayed when my mate said that he didnt feel confident enough to attempt it as he didnt want me to be throwing money away at it, so started looking at other routes, eventual set my mind on getting this engine back on the road! so found out what it was i needed to get and found a lad on here that was selling a cylinder head for the x14xe, paid the the tidy sum of £55 inc postage, then set about getting gaskets, water pump, cam belt kit, and head bolts etc, but while i was doing all of this the mot ran out, so i sourced all of the parts and sent the head off to be skimmed, then towed the car down to my mates house where he set about swapping the heads over and checking the engine block over, thankfully the cylinders where in great condition and hadnt suffered any damage at all from the cambelt snapping, unlike the head which ended up looking like:
so went to pick the car up the following evening after a day out at alton towers with the missus of that time collected the car and it had a slight misfire (or what seemed like a misfire) drove the car home and decided to start fitting the new lights that i had purchased and sprayed while it had been offroad,
Also fitted a debadged grill which i forgot to mention
So then i decided to try and get her back on the road, so enter mot attempt 1, fail 1
She failed on nearside headlight too high,
offside headlight too low,
unable to adjust headlight aim,
idle emissions too high,
fast idle emissions too high,
nearside track rod end excessive play,
and number plate bulb out,
so as soon as i got home, fitted the spare number plate bulb that i had in the glovebox (i have a collection of spare bulbs :lol
and took the car round to another friends house who said he would service it for free if i provided parts, all in an attempt to bring down emmisions and also fit new track rod end, so i shot off and got the required parts and he set about servicing, and tinting rear windows after my failed attempt lmao.
While he was servicing the car, i recieved a nice little packaged courtesy of CorsaSport  so set about fitting those:
Decided to go with the blue ones to match the car, but then decided that they just didnt show up well enough for my liking and eventually changed them to the white ones
After a couple of days she was ready to be taken for mot again, enter mot attempt 2
FAIL 2!  
All was going well, emissions were still slightly too high but the tester said they were that close that they may of dropped enough by the end of the test to allow him to pass it, but then disaster struck!
Radiator had a weak spot and gave way and was in the garage where my mate works so he walks over absolutely pissing himself laughing! telling me that he had said that the fan wasnt working correctly! (b*****d) to which he was corrected by the tester that he had been watching the temperature and it wasnt above normal! soon shut him up so we pushed the car out of the garage and left the bonnet open to allow the car to cool down, after 15 - 20 mins the car had cooled down enough for me to put some water in and drive carefully home (wasnt excessively far) so i got the car home and broke the news to my nana and grandad again that she had failed i then set about finding a new radiator, found one at the local scrapyard and parted with £10, got it home only to find out that it wouldnt fit as the fan was too big and the bolts were seized in so posted an ad on here asking if anyone had a radiator and fan for a 16v corsa b, got a reply and took a trip down to blackburn to collect got home and fitted it straight away Filled it up and it didnt leak  or atleast i couldnt see a leak then decided to take a new approach at trying to drag down the emissions, took it to my local exhaust specialist (where i later got a job :lol and got a new cat fitted, so booked the car in again for an mot, but couldnt bare the shame of going back to the same garage and plus i found it £15 cheaper elsewhere Pics of cat being fitted :
Few rust spots i need to sort out
Enter mot attempt 3!
FAIL 3!
This time i finally got a pass on the emissions! with flying colours
but was failed on the headlight aim again,
and needing welding on passenger side b pillar
So got the car home again and rang my mate who is a qualified welder if he would weld the crack up for me if i bought him a pint so next evening got the car round to his house and we welded up the crack, then when i got home i switched the headlights back to the standards and booked it in again for the next day
Enter mot attempt 4!
PASS!
And a quick pic of the run around i had while mine was off road (needed white sidelight bulbs for my mot and found out my nana's had the same sidelight bulbs so switched them round and this was the result
Bye bye mx-5 was a fun car to drive but just a shame about it looking so girly but i did have fun in it and did experience going sideways got quite good at that by the end lmao
Now that i had my own car back i decided that i would just take some time to enjoy being back in the car i love but then decided that the rust around the wiper was begining to get a little extreme now so whiped out the wiper and motor, then realised that i didnt have enough money to get filler etc and couldnt be arsed sticking the wiper back in so i went and got a rubber gromet, had to get an oversized one as the rust was that bad
Left it as it was for a while, and got on the hunt for some lowering springs got offered a set of 60mm springs from IvIarkgraham, think i paid £30 for them and went and met him at the motorway services at lymm and the fronts were on standard shocks
Got home and pestered my mate to help me fit them and he finally agreed to do it so went round to his and we set about changing
Standard height
Slammed!
Then set off home, lots of speed bumps round my area, the ones where normally you would put both wheels on either side of the bump and not feel its even there, so naturally i wanted to find out if i could still get over like this, slowed right down to about 3mph, and turned my music right down, slowly crept over the bump and heard an awful crunching noise going the length of my car, never trying that again, took the rest of the bumps both wheels goin over and at 5 mph lmao got home and couldnt help but pic whore the new look
After already proving a point to kwikfit the day after the car passed mot by takin it in with the morettes back in and adjusting them myself on their ramp (to their amazment) i then needed to re-adjust the headlights with them at their new height, so i bobbed down adjusted the headlights (again to their amazement) i then asked if they could check my tracking as it had started pulling to the left since the drop, and heres what happened when i tried to get on their ramps
I then got chatting to a lad off here Lewisc0225, he was local to me and we decided to meet up, so i went round and we were looking at each others cars, his being a full on project not on the road as he didnt have a licence and mine obviously a daily runner, and he asked me if i wanted to swap my steel wheels for his 3 spoke alloys which he had given a quick blast with black rattle cans (not sanded) so i obviously said yes and we swapped them over, we had been chatting on here and i had mentioned that i was thinking of stripping my rear seats, so he said that he would help me so we cracked on pics of alloys and stripped rear
Quick pic of the 2 cars together, couldnt really bring his car off the drive as it isnt taxed and didnt want to take the risk
[Edited on 23-09-2010 by CorsaSport1.4Phillips]
So me and lewis then got discussing again, and decided to rip out the shocking window tints that my mate had done, as lewis had some spare film that we could use, so between us we got one side absolutely mint, apart from one crease caused by me melting it with the heatgun and the next day did the other side, which was goin great until i realised that my key had come apart in my pocket and i had lost the only chip i have for the immobiliser, so we spent an hour looking for that until we decided to take the front seats out and sure enough it was sat on the rails underneath the plastic cover but by this time the film had already dried and caused it to crease, but no bother they will be coming off eventually to get proffesionally done lesson learnt and while i was doing this i managed to work out that if you hold the heatgun onto the 'black' parts of the bumpers and arches then it brought the colour back to them so i went round and did all the arches and bumper tops and came out brilliantly
It was then comin quite close to august and i was getting excited about going to santa pod for usc, (my first ever car show) and was already planning on going with a friend from work, then after chattin we decided it would be a good idea for lewis to come aswell, petrol cost shared better etc etc, so that meant we had to put the interior back in so that we could all fit in lmao sorted that out and then decided it was time to sort out the rust on the boot properly, i had talked for ages about wanting a semi-smooth boot so now would be the best time to sort it. lewis had done bodywork at college so agreed to help out, we got all the materials and cracked on on my driveway
Then went out and took it for it's first clean since the boot was done (only next day)
i then picked up bargain of the week from scrapyards, a magnex backbox off a corsa c, me and my mate welded pipe etc on to make it fit the corsa b, looked and sounded alright but never sat quite right and was i little too big for my liking, can be seen in this pic of me and a friends cars, standard against mine
Didnt like that one that much so took that off and we attacked the cherry bomb i had lying around, which looked exactly how i wanted it and sounds awesome not too loud it's just right,
And then it was time for pod Was so excited lmao
Tickets ready 
and a few pics from down there
Was an absolutely awesome weekend and has definately given me a bug for shows want to get to alot more next year and will be trying to get to some that cs are going to
When we got back me and lewis were bored and still had a little paint left over from doing the boot so we decided to spray the engine cover and clean up the inlet manifold as they were both covered in yellow gunk
Looks alot better in my opinion, just need to tidy up the rest of the engine bay
Did a bit of pic whoring infront of blackpool tower... not the greatest of pics but i really like them
Then not done anything to it for a few weeks, apart from starting my new job had my car up on the ramps sorting out last touches to backbox, was knocking on axle and spotted the reason why the car still has a misfire! the air intake pipe has a hole in it so ordered a new one along with some other little bits and bobs
Just need to fit a few of those hopefully tonight and that is all upto date
All comments good and bad welcome
[Edited on 23-09-2010 by CorsaSport1.4Phillips]
[Edited on 23-09-2010 by CorsaSport1.4Phillips]
[Edited on 26-10-2010 by Phillips_91]
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vaux.dan
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Registered: 18th May 09
Location: newcastle/gateshead
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lol try having 100mm springs in, thats nothing. i couldnt get most places in mine, ripped my exhaust off once.
personally mate i'd get all that rust sorted, get a new front bumper and refit the morette indicators, the drivers side looks wonky, repaint the morettes and indicators because they look shocking.
paint your arches, they look rather fainted and why try home tint your windows? looks gash remove them. put some nice gm wheels on would look half decent.
dont take it as a dig, every1 gets a bit stick
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Phillips_91
Member
Registered: 20th Jan 10
Location: Blackpool. Drives: Sapphire Black Mk4 Astra 1.8
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by vaux.dan
lol try having 100mm springs in, thats nothing. i couldnt get most places in mine, ripped my exhaust off once.
personally mate i'd get all that rust sorted, get a new front bumper and refit the morette indicators, the drivers side looks wonky, repaint the morettes and indicators because they look shocking.
paint your arches, they look rather fainted and why try home tint your windows? looks gash remove them. put some nice gm wheels on would look half decent.
dont take it as a dig, every1 gets a bit stick
yeah i think one indicator is wonky but they will be sorted, wanting to get a gsi front on so will sort that then, and the paint is shocking on them was just a quick job in my shed, was by no means meant to be perfect, but is better than purple and the arches arnt faded anymore, just not finished uploading everythin i've done to date, just wanted to actually post it to make sure i was uploading pics properly, as i wasnt sure and didnt want to have to re-do the lot if they were wrong, and the diy tints are better now, we redid them again, but they are still comin off again to be done proffesionally, i just like to have a crack at things myself and i'm hopefully getting some gm wheels soon and got a few other plans to do and i by no means i take it as a dig all comments good or bad welcome only makes me more motivated
[Edited on 23-09-2010 by CorsaSport1.4Phillips]
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Phillips_91
Member
Registered: 20th Jan 10
Location: Blackpool. Drives: Sapphire Black Mk4 Astra 1.8
User status: Offline
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Plans are as follows:
EXTERIOR
Get set of Corsa C Sxi Alloys,
Refurb alloys gloss black with arden lip,
Gsi Front and Skirts/Full Kit,
Tigra scuttle (smoothed),
Bad boy bonnet (Unsure on gloss black or arden),
Full respray inc bumper tops and arches gloss black,
Gm wind deflectors
INTERIOR
Colour code bits of the dash,
White dials,
Show Cage,
Finish off ice,
Possibly retrim seats or get calibra leathers,
ENGINE
Change to x16xe,
Inlet manifold,
Fit 4-2-1 manifold (thanks Tom_Simes),
Remove sai,
General tidy and clean up,
Silicone coolant hoses,
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Phillips_91
Member
Registered: 20th Jan 10
Location: Blackpool. Drives: Sapphire Black Mk4 Astra 1.8
User status: Offline
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Ok little update, fitted the 4-2-1 manifold last night, and removed the sai pump and all the pipes connected with it, drove fine and sounded awesome, and a little extra power! but after driving say a mile and a half it cuts out, spent ages trying to work out what it was, tried jump startin, bump startin, and even puttin fuel in, worked out that there was no fuel pressure on the rail, and started to s**t bricks, then found a blown fuse, replaced it and she fired back up, it was the fuse for the fuel pump, dont know why it blew but it then blew 2 more times before i got home, any idea what could be causing it?
Sorry no pics btw, can get pics later if it helps with the diagnosing
quote:
Originally posted by Phillips_91
Plans are as follows:
EXTERIOR
Get set of Corsa C Sxi Alloys,
Refurb alloys gloss black with arden lip,
Gsi Front and Skirts/Full Kit,
Tigra scuttle (smoothed),
Bad boy bonnet (Unsure on gloss black or arden),
Full respray inc bumper tops and arches gloss black,
Gm wind deflectors
INTERIOR
Colour code bits of the dash,
White dials,
Show Cage,
Finish off ice,
Possibly retrim seats or get calibra leathers,
ENGINE
Change to x16xe,
Inlet manifold,
Fit 4-2-1 manifold (thanks Tom_Simes), Done
Remove sai, Done
General tidy and clean up,
Silicone coolant hoses,
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12valver
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Registered: 2nd Oct 07
Location: Luton
User status: Offline
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Left a comment in your problem thread, by the way... Cars coming on well !
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Phillips_91
Member
Registered: 20th Jan 10
Location: Blackpool. Drives: Sapphire Black Mk4 Astra 1.8
User status: Offline
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Thanks alot mate, well seeing as i've just been quoted nearly £300 to replace fuel pump, if i cant get it fixed a hell of alot cheaper all of this work is for nothing because the car will be going :@
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harrisp
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Registered: 15th Dec 07
Location: Derbyshire
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£300 to replace can get them from the scrapyard for a tenner and are easy enough to change (ive done one at the side of the road.)
Can use any corsa MPI fuel pump even from a 12v they are identical, ive used one from a vectra too.
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Phillips_91
Member
Registered: 20th Jan 10
Location: Blackpool. Drives: Sapphire Black Mk4 Astra 1.8
User status: Offline
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Could you give me tutorial on how to change please? never attempted a fuel pump, im good with my hands just limited mechanical knowledge, the garage i work on only do exhausts so im not learning as much as i'd like
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12valver
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Registered: 2nd Oct 07
Location: Luton
User status: Offline
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Pretty straight forward, lift the rear seat base. You'll find a round cover, lift that away from the floor. Underneath you'll find a multi plug for the pump and fuel guage disconnect that. Disconnect fuel lines and undo the locking ring around the pump, pull it up and out. Make sure you replace the seal between the pump and tank. Rest is reverse of removal...
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Phillips_91
Member
Registered: 20th Jan 10
Location: Blackpool. Drives: Sapphire Black Mk4 Astra 1.8
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Thanks alot mate, will try and get hold of one from scrappers or somat and try that!
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12valver
Member
Registered: 2nd Oct 07
Location: Luton
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Ok no problem, hope you get it sorted... If you have no luck finding one, i may have one in a couple weeks off a tigra im breaking
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Daniel119
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Registered: 4th Jun 10
Location: Tadley, Hampshire
User status: Offline
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Car look great, a set of Cesaros would really set it off
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Phillips_91
Member
Registered: 20th Jan 10
Location: Blackpool. Drives: Sapphire Black Mk4 Astra 1.8
User status: Offline
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yeah i really like cesaro's but just really cant afford them, still owe my nana and grandad the money they lent me to get this, then lost jobs etc so they helped out ALOT with insurance, petrol and general maintainence etc, and also me going through a phase of driving like a prick and getting it impounded several times, and they've helped out, so trying to pay them back so atm everything im doing is on a tight budget
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Phillips_91
Member
Registered: 20th Jan 10
Location: Blackpool. Drives: Sapphire Black Mk4 Astra 1.8
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Small update:
Found the problem with the fuses, the wiring loom from the fuel pump was resting on the exhaust at the back and had melted the wires so moved it well out the way and secured it, going to try getting a new loom from vauxhall when i get paid but atleast the problem is sorted now and i can drive long distances without worrying now
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Generation
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Registered: 7th Jul 09
Location: Essex
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Does give off impression its been done on cheap, however it ook ok, moretes should be in gloss black IMO
sELL YOUR LIGHTS AND PAY BACK YOUR GRANDPARENTS INSTEAD OF BUYING NEW STUFF!!!
[Edited on 09-10-2010 by Generation]
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Phillips_91
Member
Registered: 20th Jan 10
Location: Blackpool. Drives: Sapphire Black Mk4 Astra 1.8
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by Generation
Does give off impression its been done on cheap, however it ook ok, moretes should be in gloss black IMO
sELL YOUR LIGHTS AND PAY BACK YOUR GRANDPARENTS INSTEAD OF BUYING NEW STUFF!!!
[Edited on 09-10-2010 by Generation]
Non of it has been done on the cheap, it's all been done with alot of hard labour by myself, its only the parts that have cost me, and they dont cost a great deal tbh, the only things i've had too buy is the morretes, hid kit, induction kit (which only cost a 10er) and 4-2-1 manifold, not had too pay any labour on it, and my grandparents are getting their money back, they've lent money too me before and they always get every penny back plus more, like atm i only owe them less than £4500 but i'll be giving them £5000 back, i would never take money from them if it put them in a position where they had no money! i'd rather have no car and no food than bankrupt them!
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12valver
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Registered: 2nd Oct 07
Location: Luton
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Glad to see you got the problem solved, sounded like a straight forward fault... Now you can carry on, and get more things you wanted to do done to the car
[Edited on 09-10-2010 by 12valver]
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Phillips_91
Member
Registered: 20th Jan 10
Location: Blackpool. Drives: Sapphire Black Mk4 Astra 1.8
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yeah well i went and spoke to a technician at vauxhall and he said he doubted very much it would be the fuel pump (didnt expect vauxhall too be that honest thought they would be digging for sales/work, said it was possible it could be the relay or the wiring, told me an easy way that i could find the fault, said connect a 55w halogen bulb in replacment of the fuse, siad when it lights up would be when it normally blows the fuse but it wont blow the bulb, so said do that and wiggle the wires, so thought might aswell get a new relay just to try it, replaced that, old one was rattling like mad so must of been on way anyway, but wasnt that, and then i was round at SteM's house and whilst i was under the car noticed the wire touching exhaust lifted it up and spotted a red wire with blue tracer, the wire that vaux technician said to look for, and it was melted and making contact with exhaust, so lifted it out of the way and tested it and worked brill just need to change the wires now to make them safe again thanks for the help btw
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12valver
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Registered: 2nd Oct 07
Location: Luton
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Thats ok just edited the post just above, cause i was half asleep lol! Glad it was a simple fix though, as i know it only takes something like that to make you loose motivation. As i found earlier in the week with a knackered battery, having to bump mine all the time lol...
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Phillips_91
Member
Registered: 20th Jan 10
Location: Blackpool. Drives: Sapphire Black Mk4 Astra 1.8
User status: Offline
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haha with this blowing fuses ALL THE TIME it keeps flattening the battery so i've got quite good at bump starting the car on my own at the road side lmao, had too do it earlier on the duel carriageway and as i pulled up along side someone who drove past as i was bumping, they gave me a round of applause fault all warm inside
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12valver
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Registered: 2nd Oct 07
Location: Luton
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Lol, yeah i think its abit of an art form lol... Must admit after bumping it a good 3-4 times on my own, i became quite good at it too! Thankfully for the moment, i havent got to worry about it. Just hope my temporary battery lasts me until i can get hold of another cheap. Hate having to spend money on needed things, rather than wanted
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Phillips_91
Member
Registered: 20th Jan 10
Location: Blackpool. Drives: Sapphire Black Mk4 Astra 1.8
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im quite releived really that i've not HAD to replace anything was just simply moving the wire, adjusting the exhaust tomorrow to fit better, and going to try getting a new loom as i dont like bodges
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jonny65991
Member
Registered: 7th Oct 10
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lovely
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Phillips_91
Member
Registered: 20th Jan 10
Location: Blackpool. Drives: Sapphire Black Mk4 Astra 1.8
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by jonny65991
lovely
Thanks
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