langauld
Member
Registered: 23rd Sep 12
Location: Leicester, UK
User status: Offline
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Hi all,
Having owned this beauty for a couple of months and with mods inevitably on the horizon, I thought it time I pulled my thumb out of my arse and started my own project thread.
This'll be the third Corsa I've owned since passing my test 5 and a half years ago. The first was a black '95 1.4 Sport. She had plenty of miles on her before I took ownership (115k+), way too many rust spots to count, significant bolster wear  and persistent EGR issues. After living with it for a couple of years and the EGR issues getting worse week on week, I decided enough was enough and sold it on for the princely sum of £225 in September of 2010.
At this point in time I'd recently met my current missus who very kindly put me on her lease insurance to drive her black '10 plate Audi TT 1.8 TFSI (drop-top of course!). We moved in together pretty soon after we met so I didn't need my own car again for around a year and a half, until we decided to move house a second time. Whilst not very far from where we were previously, I would end up isolated whenever she had to work and I didn't, or I'd have to trek back home on my lunch-break for her to take the car when she had a late-shift, etc. Enter Corsa no. 2 - an Arden Blue '97 Corsa 1.4 Breeze.
My dad's a mechanic by trade, and had rescued this one from where he was working at the time. It'd been a trade-in at his dealership and was going to get scrapped due to a blown head-gasket and having some damage to the near-side rear panel. He offered £50 to save them the hassle and set to work with getting the necessary parts fixed up. By the time I needed a car again he was ready to sell up, so I did the logical thing and drove it away for £250.
This one came with it's own problems. Just as I was getting into buying bits and bobs for it, the head-gasket went again. With it only being an 8v, it wasn't much hassle to get this sorted, but it did make me wonder if it was worth spending any more money on. The backbox then started blowing, so this got replaced. No sooner had I done this did the centre-section start blowing. Whilst the shell and interior were both in relatively good condition for its age (and milage), I was on the look out for something with a little more poke and with less things to go wrong. I'd even drilled the airbox to take my mind off the bad bits and try and make it feel a little more sporty, but it was still just an 8v 1.4.
I've been known to spend hours upon hours browsing Corsa forums. One day I thought I'd give the classifieds section a look through, and lo' and behold, out of nowhere BenC1985's black Sport came up for sale (check out his project thread here). Having not seen or followed his thread before now, I checked it out and instantly fell in love. I offered him asking price there and then, which he very kindly accepted and I've been on cloud nine ever since.
(BenC1985's photo, not mine!  )
I'm its third owner from new, and with both previous owners having not racked up many miles at all, this 15-year old has less than 38k on the clock. That said, I've had a couple of teething problems since taking ownership of her, but nothing like what I've had to endure with the other two!
The first thing I noticed was the dead-lock not activating on a full-turn of the key. My dad took the door to bits to get at the key barrel and discovered the piece of metal that's meant to push on the switch when you twist it all the way around had snapped off. The dead-lock worked fine in my previous Corsa, so we simply took the undamaged part off that one's barrel and swapped it over. Hey presto - dead-lock works! Not only that, but this also activated the factory-fitted alarm neither myself or BenC1985 even knew it had. Cashback!
After a week or so had passed of driving it to work and the gym every day, I decided something had to be done about the scraping. As it turns out, the main culprits were the front mudflaps. As a temporary measure these have been removed and it's barely scraped since. The only other part that catches now is the bracket where the centre-section joins on to the manifold, which can be avoided on sleeping policemen by keeping close to the pavement, but will pretty much always catch on normal speedbumps whenever there's 1 or more passengers in the car, or when I'm trying to get up or down a steepish slope. Nothing I can't live with for now, I refuse to raise it any higher because it looks so damn sexy  The plan is to put the front flaps back on after trimming off an inch or two, assuming it can be done tidily enough and without ruining the look of them.
Another week passed, and on the way to work one day I went over a speedbump and heard a clang I hadn't heard before. It carried on rattling after every bump in the road so I knew it was something to worry about. Once I got to work I gave the car a good look around, to find the backbox had come off it's brackets and was only being held on by where it joins on to the centre-section. My dad came over on his way home from work and tied it on temporarily with some bunjee ropes (it's all he had on him at the time) until the next day when I took it over to his garage and got it fixed back on with the rubbers. It's been solid ever since.
The final issue I've had is with the battery going flat if the car isn't driven for a couple of days, and needing to be jump-started to get it going again. I've got the battery out of the other Corsa ready to swap over to see if this resolves the matter, but I'm yet to get around to fitting it, mainly because I'm lazy, but also because for the last couple of weeks the car hasn't been left for more than a day without being driven again 
I'm exceptionally happy with it, it turns many heads and I've received many compliments on its looks. BenC1985's done a superb job with getting it to where it is now, we must have very similar tastes because I can't think of a single mod I'd have done differently!
So what's next? Well;
- Past 4.5k revs, the grunt of the exhaust just disappears and it sounds a little raspy. I like a bit of noise if I'm revving it, so I intend on either drilling the airbox (or swapping over the drilled box from the other Corsa into this one) and putting in a K&N panel filter, or going down the induction kit route - although I'm in two minds about this as some people say it can ruin the sensors etc. I don't want to break an otherwise perfect, low-milage engine by putting a cone filter on it just for the sake of some noise, so this needs some more thought.
- Fit some 6x9s and an upgraded head unit, as the current ICE set-up is very bass heavy and lacks mid due to it only running on a 12" sub and some average fronts. The 6x9s will be hidden.
- Eventually replace the engine with something a little bigger, ideally a LET but I'm still completely undecided as I read through more and more project threads as to whether this is a good idea or not...
[Edited on 27-10-2013 by langauld]
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Jordancorsab
Premium Member
Registered: 9th Dec 12
Location: Mansfield - Nottingham
User status: Offline
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Glad to see this back on here, looks awesome and I'm glad it's gone to someone who will clearly take care of it!
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Christopher
Member
Registered: 14th Oct 10
Location: Eastbourne
User status: Offline
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Glad top see this is still about an the new owner is on here! Cant believe how clean this looks and you MUST bring it to shows next year!
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BenC1985
Member
Registered: 5th May 12
Location: Northants
User status: Offline
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I do miss that car. But im more than happy with my new car i bought. That battery was only second hand when i fitted it and i paid a tenner for it over 2 years ago so it lasted well tbh The dead lock not working was something i intended to sort out but never did, glad you got it working and had a little bonus for your efforts. Did you lose the rubbers off the backbox? They kept working there way loose on me but i just kept sliding them back on. Glad its gone to a good home and will get whatever work it needs done.
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langauld
Member
Registered: 23rd Sep 12
Location: Leicester, UK
User status: Offline
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quote:
Glad to see this back on here, looks awesome and I'm glad it's gone to someone who will clearly take care of it!
Cheers mate, it will certainly be looked after, I promise you that!
quote:
Glad top see this is still about an the new owner is on here! Cant believe how clean this looks and you MUST bring it to shows next year!
Haha I've been around on here for a while now, just never really posted as I've not had anything worth posting about! I'll definitely be checking out which shows are on next year, having not been to any before can anyone give me any pointers?
quote:
I do miss that car. But im more than happy with my new car i bought. That battery was only second hand when i fitted it and i paid a tenner for it over 2 years ago so it lasted well tbh The dead lock not working was something i intended to sort out but never did, glad you got it working and had a little bonus for your efforts. Did you lose the rubbers off the backbox? They kept working there way loose on me but i just kept sliding them back on. Glad its gone to a good home and will get whatever work it needs done.
No worries on the battery dude, I figured it was on its last legs when it did it for the third time in a row I've got the battery out of the other Corsa ready to plop into this one, just need to get around to it. Will probably sort it out this weekend actually. The backbox is fine, checking for the rubbers was the first thing my dad did when he came to tie it on that night, and they were both still there Was impossible getting the damn thing back on by hand though, hence having to take it to the garage the next day. Got it up on the ramp and levered the fuckers back on as far as they'd go - don't think it'll ever come loose again haha.
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langauld
Member
Registered: 23rd Sep 12
Location: Leicester, UK
User status: Offline
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Just a small update, bought a new set of Porsche stick-on alloy centres as the others have faded from having them jet washed several times. Until I buy some detailing products it's probably gonna keep on happening, but they're cheap enough to replace so not too fussed 
Also been reading up on air filter options and I think I'm going to go down the Pipercross Viper route. Having thought about it, I'd rather invest in something that's built to last and can only improve engine performance, and sacrifice a bit of noise, than pay a lot less for something that has the potential to ruin the internals. It'd be a shame to damage such a well-kept engine for the sake of some noise.
Going to look into a powerbox next, then perhaps a 4-2-1 manifold, and stop there. Upgrading the ICE is probably going to happen before those two things though.
Oh, and the missus bought me a private plate today, so that'll be going on shortly! Well chuffed Does anyone know of any places that do cheap (but legal) pressed plates that don't have ugly identifier numbers/logos on them?
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Christopher
Member
Registered: 14th Oct 10
Location: Eastbourne
User status: Offline
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Shows to look for next year - PVS, billing, trax, castle combe are the main vaux ones that i know of.
As for pressed plates ebay would be your best bet, but will legally have to have the address of who made them on it! Look for road legal ones as some arent reflective!
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kedowan
Member
Registered: 8th Oct 11
Location: Irvine
User status: Offline
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Love this little motor, glad its still on here. Looks spotless!
Dave
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Haimsey
Premium Member
Registered: 8th May 05
Location: Nottingham Drives: Corsa B
User status: Offline
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Gorgeous corsa. Always thought it looked spot on.
Sounds like it's gone to a good home
Marcy Marc 
White Sport Progress Thread
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langauld
Member
Registered: 23rd Sep 12
Location: Leicester, UK
User status: Offline
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To PVS, or not to PVS...
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taylorboosh
Member
Registered: 3rd Apr 07
User status: Offline
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Yea i also liked this
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Christopher
Member
Registered: 14th Oct 10
Location: Eastbourne
User status: Offline
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To PVS obviously
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BenC1985
Member
Registered: 5th May 12
Location: Northants
User status: Offline
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Any updates on the corsa? Wish i could of kept this locked up and use it in nice weather. Missing it tbh.
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langauld
Member
Registered: 23rd Sep 12
Location: Leicester, UK
User status: Offline
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I'm considering PVS but still in two minds, for the following reason: every alloy is scuffed. Only the very outer rims where the lip meets the tyre, mind. They otherwise look spotless. But I can't bring myself to have it on show with them looking the way they do, so it totally depends on if I can get the money together to give 'em a spruce up in time for it.
Also got a tiny stone chip in the windscreen about a month and a half ago, which is barely noticeable to anyone else but it's always in my line of sight! So I need to get AutoGlass to sort that out for me soon, too.
Have discovered one of the alloys is slightly buckled, but nothing a balance can't sort. Just means driving in 50's can get annoying with the steering wheel wobbling non-stop!
The car's otherwise running like a dream. I've had the drilled airbox from my old 1.4 Breeze temporarily fitted for the last few months, but that'll be coming off again soon as it doesn't fit perfectly (slightly different shape as it's from an 8v), and that one's up for sale at the mo so won't be around much longer.
Have been getting it cleaned at the local hand car wash every couple of weeks pretty much since I took ownership of it. Really do need to invest in some detailing products though as I've started noticing swirl marks from their dirty sponge rags all over it now. Nothing a bit of elbow grease (with the right detailing product) won't get rid of, though! Just need money, and a sunny day.
No new pictures really apart from a fancy one I stuck on Instagram a while back:
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Christopher
Member
Registered: 14th Oct 10
Location: Eastbourne
User status: Offline
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Honestly mate I used to be exactly the same, but once you go and realise how shit the majority if cars are that go on other stands you soon feel good about yours and the little defects really dont matter!
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langauld
Member
Registered: 23rd Sep 12
Location: Leicester, UK
User status: Offline
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Hmmm... I'm still not sure, haha. I'll see how I feel (and what the financial situation's like) in a month's time
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gidged500
Premium Member
Registered: 18th Aug 09
Location: Lancashire
User status: Offline
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As everyone else has said before glad someone has got this who is going to look after it the Opel grill is my old one and i know if Ben sees this he will kill me !
I had a Opel boot lock badge that he was after and I found it today ! It's all that's needed to finish this car off !
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vx-scottw
Premium Member
Registered: 8th Feb 11
Location: sheffield
User status: Offline
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nice to see it back on here still looks the part
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tom130691
Premium Member
Registered: 13th Sep 08
Location: Daventry
User status: Offline
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kerbed wheels, local hand car wash 
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BeetleGav
Member
Registered: 27th Jun 10
Location: lancashire, nelson
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by tom130691
kerbed wheels, local hand car wash
This. Previous owner should have kept it
Dirty car is better than a fucked washed one
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LukesCorsaSXi
Member
Registered: 2nd Jan 11
Location: Sheffield
User status: Offline
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It amazes me how you can even kerb a wheel? How do you end up that close to a kerb that is scuffs your alloy?
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andys sxi
Premium Member
Registered: 19th Jan 06
Location: Chester Drives:Scirocco tdi bluemotion
User status: Offline
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Bloody hell leave the lad alone,I'm sure everyone has parked close to a kurb, they can be refurbed again there only a set of wheels
Stop going to the hand car wash and use the money you save to refurb the alloys , park a foot away from the kurb I'm future 
April 08 feature car
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Christopher
Member
Registered: 14th Oct 10
Location: Eastbourne
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by LukesCorsaSXi
It amazes me how you can even kerb a wheel? How do you end up that close to a kerb that is scuffs your alloy?
I kurbed the d90s because poke and tight spaces!
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langauld
Member
Registered: 23rd Sep 12
Location: Leicester, UK
User status: Offline
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Wow, chill out guys! Not all of us have the time or money to invest in researching which are the right cleaning/detailing products. Just so you know, I've already got some AutoGlym bits on order, so to those quick to criticise, it's not like I don't already know the error of my ways.
Like I said, I've been keeping on top of keeping it clean up until now by using the local car wash. It was never my intention to do this forever. It has become a car that's meant to be looked after, not spoilt.
And just for info, the kerbing happened when I first took ownership of it. I scraped two going round corners, because I was used to the wheelbase of my old Corsa and misjudged both. I scraped another on a kerb whilst parking, again for the same reason. Now that I'm used to the car and how much wider it is than my other (be it only a small amount), they haven't touched a kerb since.
Sorry for feeling the need to explain myself.
Edit: Oh, and the stone chip got fixed yesterday by AutoGlass and that quick-drying resin process of theirs. The alloys are going to get sorted once funds allow.
[Edited on 02-03-2014 by langauld]
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gidged500
Premium Member
Registered: 18th Aug 09
Location: Lancashire
User status: Offline
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Buy my boot badge
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